Chapter 71. Back Stabber

"You know something bad is about to happen, right?" Fenn said as she sat beside Everly at the beach, leaning against the other girl on the bench they shared as they watched the sun setting over the ocean.

"Are you about to take some sort of supernatural revenge or something?" Everly asked as she squeezed the other's girl's hand. "It makes sense. I did a pretty terrible thing when I killed you."

"You really did," Fenn agreed. "Thank you for apologizing."

"That wasn't an apology," Everly replied. "I'm just commenting on something that happened, that's all."

"God, you're still a hopeless mess, aren't you?" Fenn said with a roll of her eyes. "You could just admit you made a mistake and ask my forgiveness. An apology takes nothing but a little humility."

"Still bossing me around, I see," Everly snorted. "Well, I guess I'm glad to see that you've bounced back. Hey, how does one go about recovering from a broken heart, anyway?"

Fenn laughed at Everly's words as the evening breeze blew against the two of them, causing their hair to stir slightly in its passing. "I'll let you know whenever I experience it for myself, blondie. I had a crushed heart, remember? Yours was the broken one."

Everly looked at her right hand and was unsurprised to see that it was once again stained red with bright, fresh blood. As she stared at it, the blood began to collect in her palm and then drip downward, staining the hem of the white dress she was wearing.

"Huh. I suppose you're right," she said. "Shoot, I thought this was going to be a fun dream."

"I'm enjoying myself," Fenn said as she leaned back against the bench with her hands behind her head. "Beautiful weather, and the sound of gulls. I miss this. I mean the company isn't very pleasant, but it's not like I'm hanging out with that dude who ran Miramax."

"Shut up, you love me," Everly retorted.

"Maybe I could have. Guess we'll never know," Fenn said quietly.

"Fuuuuck, I knew this was going to turn into a shaming session," groused Everly. "The ones who say they bear no grudges are the ones who hold the worst grudges of all It's a fact."

"Well, since it's been brought up, why did you do it?" Fenn asked her after a few minutes had passed in silence. "That's probably a stupid question to ask, considering that I didn't know you very well. But I'd still like to know why."

"Does it even matter?" Everly asked her. "You're still dead."

"Call it peace of mind," Fenn said.

"I did," Everly said darkly. "That's exactly why I did it. For peace of mind. My peace of mind. We were soul linked, Fenn. I couldn't just have you out there being a vulnerability that anyone could take advantage of! I trained so hard to become strong, what right did you have to be a Win-button on two legs?"

"So, I was an inconvenience to you, is that it?" Fenn said. "And for that reason alone, I had to go? Jesus. Well, at least you have the guts to say it to my face. You're an absolute chode, by the way."

"It wasn't fair," Everly said sullenly.

"Shouldn't that be my line?" Fenn retorted.

Everly crossed her arms and shut her eyes. She spent a few moments breathing sharply before centering herself enough to keep speaking.

"Fenn, you're not wrong to feel ill-used. If you hate me for what I did, then I welcome it. I'm not a coward. I won't hide behind any excuses," Everly said. "I wronged you. I'm not ashamed of it. I refuse to be ashamed of it."

"Really? Then why didn't you boast about your achievement? You killed the maiden of the holy sword, didn't you? Why not crow about it to the world?" Fenn asked her. "You keep saying you want to be the villain. Well, why not let everyone know what a mega-bastard you really are?"

Everly knew that this was just a dream. A remnant of the guilt that had been deliberately implanted in her by Discordia. Indulging it was a pointless exercise in self-recrimination. She didn't have to explain herself to anyone, much less a figment of her own imagination.

Even so, it angered her to be questioned. To have her motivations examined and judged as though she were a criminal being examined in court by the prosecution. Ha! As if any prison existed that could hold her. No law could punish her. She was the one who decided which laws mattered.

Desperate to assert herself, to show this phantom that her words meant nothing to her, Everly turned towards Fenn and pushed her off the bench to the ground, then jumped over her to pin her in place.

They stayed in that position for a while, staring at each other.

"Did I touch a nerve?" Fenn asked her.

"Knock it off, okay?" Everly commanded the dead girl.

"You're dialing the wrong number, blondie. Customer service is the other department."

"I SAID stop it!" Everly shouted before slapping the girl across the face as hard as she could.

Fenn frowned angrily at her. Then she lifted one of her hands, placed its palm against Everly's chest, and shoved her backwards so forcefully that she was sent flying backwards down the beach to crash heavily into the sand.

"I'm not your victim anymore, Blondie," Fenn said sourly as she rose to her feet. "You stupid, arrogant little bully. I'm here doing you a favor, but you still can't stop trying to control everything around you! Why are you like this?!"

"How did you do that?" Everly asked as a strange mixture of surprise and unease began churning within her. "This is my mind. Nothing should be able to harm me here."

"Is that what you think?" Fenn spat. "God, you really are full of unwarranted confidence."

Everly stared at the other girl who in turn stared back fearlessly. She clenched a frustrated fist and was the first to break eye contact. "Fuck this. This isn't real, this is cheap dollar store melodrama. You aren't real, I'm just fucking with my own mind."

Fenn sighed in annoyance before irritably kicking a clump of sand in Everly's direction. "For God's sake, Everly. Someone is coming after you! Someone who can hurt you badly. It's a freakin' miracle that I'm able to reach out and warn you, but how does the great wannabe Empress respond? By trying to shoot the messenger! You suck so much it's making my head hurt!"

"Fenn, you're not a damn ghost, okay?" Everly yelled at her.

"Everly, I swear to God, I really want to punch you in your stupid face right now," Fenn said darkly. "Fuck! We're on a gorgeous beach, we're rocking these awesome matching sundresses, and I was just about to forgive you for being a self-centered murderer, but no, you just had to ruin it. Why does this surprise me, though? Your nature is to ruin everything, isn't it?"

"You were going to forgive me?" Everly asked her in surprise.

"Past tense, Everly! You fucking blew it!" Fenn shouted at her.

"Fenn, how can you be so stupid?" Everly asked her. "I murdered you. You were an obstacle, so I swept you off the board! You're not supposed to forgive me, you're supposed to vow vengeance! You're-you're supposed crawl from your grave and seek justice! You're supposed to be the hero! Why are you doing everything wrong?"

Fenn was stunned. Now it was her turn to compose herself before speaking.

"Everly," she said as calmly as she could. "Do you mean to say, that you expected me to return to life, just so we could have a…a sword fight or something?"

"YES!" Everly shouted. "Yes! And I waited for you for months! Why didn't come back, Fenn? Why'd you leave me alone! We're supposed to be bonded!"

"You…you really didn't care about killing me, did you?" Fenn said with dawning realization.

"Oh my god, Fenn, noooo. We already covered that! That was just Discordia being a pill!"

"God. DAMN IT. You suckered me again," Fenn said bitterly. "I'm freakin' dead, I don't need this shit. I could just hang out in paradise, eating nectarines and watching Real Wives. I could be taking guitar lessons from Hendrix, I could ask Kurt if Courtney had anything to do with it, I could be doing ANYTHING AT ALL except THIS. Do you know how many rules I broke manifesting here, trying to give you a heads up, you psychotic barbie?!"

"Nope," Everly said bluntly.

"You DUMBASS! I'm only supposed to pass warnings on to the worthy! Somebody heroic and just! Not some...not some fucking NECROMANCER!"

"Stop yelling at me! I find it triggering!" Everly shouted at her.

"Triggering? I got shot to death because of you, Pendeja!"

"I'm waking up. I'm waking up right now," Everly said angrily. "If you want to have a real conversation without any of this pointless blaming and yelling, just let me know, okay? I'll be sitting in the adult section."

"Everly, don't you fucking move a step! Don't you dare!" Fenn shouted while furiously pointing a finger at her.

"Sorry, can't hear what you're saying, too busy returning to the real world, byeeeeee," Everly said as she slowly faded from sight.

Fenn couldn't believe she'd done it.

"Oh, you biiiiiiiiiitch," she growled.

__

A few moments later, Everly awoke in her bed chambers inside her mind palace, lying on top of her sheets in her nightgown. To her surprise, across from her on the bed, with her head resting atop her hand, Fenneth lay glowering at her.

To her amusement, Everly saw that Fenn was now bluish white and translucent.

"Everly, what you just did was gaslighting," Fenn said through gritted teeth.

"I don't think I've ever met a successful person who used terms like that," said Everly.

"You're doing it again," Fenn said.

"Fenn, is there anything happening with you that I should know about? I feel like all we ever do lately is fight," replied Everly.

"Hey, stupid!" Fenn shouted again. "Someone that you trust is about to ruin your life and kill you and we are absolutely never going to see each other again, because your ass is totally getting dragged into the NetherRealm, and you know what? I'm fine with it. I'm fucking fine with it!"

"Ha! Now who's the one who's lost it?" Everly giggled. "My people love me, Fenn. I am their sun and moon and special Pikachu edition."

"Everly, please, just listen to me," Fenn pleaded. "You're going to die! There are forces being arrayed against you, and you can't fight them all alone—"

"Discordia!" Everly suddenly shouted.

A moment later, Discordia appeared in the bedroom. "How may I serve you, mistress?" she reluctantly asked Everly.

"Check it out," Everly said as she pointed a finger at Fenn. "Your dead loser of a former mistress is hanging around trying an Obi-wan gambit. Pretty sad, isn't it?"

Discordia ignored Everly's words and turned incredulously to face her former partner. "Lady Fenneth?" she asked uncertainly.

"Hey, Dee," Fenn said gently as she climbed off of Everly's bed. "It's been a little while, huh? How are you doing?"

"Lady Fenneth!" Discordia repeated. She ran to her former mistress and threw her arms around the other girl, sobbing as she did so. "Is it you? Is it really you?"

"Obviously, silly," Fenneth said as she ran her hand down the crying Elemental's hair. "Hey, don't be like that. It looks like we were right! Not even death could keep us apart."

"I'm so sorry," Discordia continued to weep. "I tried so hard to do as you would have me do. To survive and keep your memory alive. But I put my own selfish desire for revenge ahead of your wishes, and now I've been enslaved by your enemy."

"No, Discordia, it's my fault for not realizing how important you were to me until we were separated forever," Fenn said sorrowfully.

"But Lady Fenneth, how are you here right now? How is it that I speak to you? Hold you? What makes this miracle possible?" Discordia asked in wonder.

"I can't really say. Maybe I'm coming back soon, Dee," Fenn said with a tear-smudged smile. "Haven't you ever read a Marvel comic? The heroes never stay dead for long. Not when there's evil to be fought and profits to be reaped by a huge corporation!"

"Those stories you speak of are creatively bankrupt," Discordia said miserably. "But if their example could one day reveal a path for you to return to me, then I will pray feverishly for that to happen."

"Hey, anything's possible, right?" Fenn said as she squeezed her old friend tightly. "All we can do is hope."

"YAAAAAWN," interjected a bored Everly. "This is way too wholesome. Discordia, get out of here."

"Please, Mistress. Let me have a just a little longer with her," Discordia begged.

"Permission denied. Get lost, I said," Everly said coldly.

Discordia's face snapped towards Everly, and now in addition to her tears, her eyes blazed with fierce anger. "When will you tire of hurting us?" she asked.

"I dunno," Everly smirked. "When does it start getting boring?"

Fenn opened her mouth to say something when suddenly, a voice cut into their conversation. It was Titania. EVERYLY! Everly, I'm sorry! Everly, I'm sorry, I've failed you! Please forgive me, I've failed you! Thundered the voice of the elemental painfully into her mind. It was laden with fury and grief, as well as fear. Everly had never heard Titania sound like that before.

"Titania, calm down!" she ordered. "Settle yourself! What's wrong?"

Everly, I'm so sorry. I don't know how they did it, but someone has her. Someone has Lyona!

"What? What did you just say?" asked Everly with a stunned voice.

Everly, someone has taken Lyona...

"THEN GET HER BACK!" Everly shrieked with unhinged fury.

Someone had touched her mother.

Someone was going to die.