Chapter 74. Clarity.

"What are you doing back, Fenn?" Everly asked wearily as she began stripping off her armor.

"Why aren't you ever surprised to see me?" Fenn asked instead of answering her question. "I mean, look at me. I'm visiting you from beyond the shores of mortality. Honestly, you should be acting a little more impressed than you have been."

"Oh, whatever," Everly snorted. "I'm a necromancer. I defy the natural order and consort with the dead all the time. You're the one who's been dragging her heels."

"Wow, you just have an answer for everything, don't you?" Fenn shot back. "Blondie's just too cool to acknowledge a miracle. I bet you were that one crappy kid at the annual haunted house every Halloween, who had to yawn and loudly say it wasn't scary, just so she could ruin the fun for everyone else, weren't you?"

Everly smiled at her accusation. "As a matter of fact, I was! I really was a little brat."

"Was?" asked Fenn.

"How can you see through me so easily?" Everly wondered. "You're the one who's a ghost."

"Your nonchalance about my status as a nonliving being really makes me want to slug you, especially since you're the reason for my condition," said Fenn.

"So, how long have you been watching over me from above?" Everly wondered.

"Huh?" said Fenn. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, yeah, you made contact with me in that dream, but that makes me wonder how long you've been keeping an eye on my activities. You have been, haven't you?"

"Well…yeah, off and on," Fenn admitted.

"Which begs the question: have you ever checked me out while I was taking a shower?"

"Everly, WHAT THE HELL?" Fenn erupted.

"You have, haven't you? Eww!" Everly said before swooning dramatically. "Won't someone help me, please! I'm alone in my room with a stalker! She's weirdly religious and peeks at me while I bathe! Now I feel so ashamed of myself! I need counseling!"

"Everly, shut up!" Fenn said as she began to grow angry.

"Don't silence my truth you nasty creeper!" Everly shouted at her. "I won't be your victim any longer!"

Annoyed beyond endurance, Fenn punched Everly in the shoulder as hard as she could and was surprised to hear the other girl begin yelling in pain as she was knocked over to her side.

"Fenn! Goddamn it! You cavegirl BITCH! ARRRGH!" Everly said in an agonized scream as she grabbed her shoulder and began rolling around on the floor.

"Blondie? Did that actually hurt?" Fenn asked her in shock.

"Yes, it fucking hurt, stupid!" Everly yelled. "Your psycho grandma beat the hell out of me and stabbed me through both of my shoulders! I'm in a lot of fucking pain right now!" Everly whined through her tears.

"I didn't know that! How was I supposed to know that?!" Fenn said as she moved to Everly's side and tried to rub her shoulders only for Everly to howl even louder at her touch.

"Fenn, damn it, get away from me! God, you're a monster! How can you treat a fellow human being like this!" Everly said to her.

"You MURDERED ME!" Fenn yelled at her now with tears of her own beginning to leak from her eyes.

"When are you going to let that go? All you do is bring up the past! What about all the fun we used to have?!"

"WHAT FUN?!" shrieked Fenn.

"Well, I mean this is kind of fun right now, isn't it?" Everly asked her wryly while once again wearing that insufferable smirk.

In response, Fenn kicked her in the abdomen and sent her spinning away.

"FENN, GODDAMN IT, I HAVE A STAB WOUND THERE!" Every screamed.

"You're right, Everly, that was kind of fun," Fenn said nastily before returning to her earlier sitting spot.

Across the room from her, Everly continued to moan in pain.

"Hey, this is kind of nice, though. Very cinematic," Everly said a few minutes later.

"What's that?" Fenn asked her.

"Well, I'm lying over here. Bleeding. And you're sitting over there, brooding. Don't you think all the space currently between us visually symbolizes our emotional distance? That's some golden globe award-winning cinematography right there."

"Everly—" Fenn began to say.

"I'd personally rather win a people's choice award," Everly continued without stopping. "But we'd probably lose to a Marvel movie. They're really good at marketing."

"EVERLY," Fenn said forcefully to cut her off. "Are you okay?"

"Fenn, why would I be okay right now? I just got stomped on harder than if I'd worn purple at a grape harvest. One of my dupes, probably Nev, is making a move on me, and I'm hiding in my bedroom with my mommy, because I'm too fucked up to handle my own business. This is not a good day to be me."

"Why not just use Discordia's magic to heal yourself?" Fenn asked her.

"Because I can't," Everly groaned. "My rogue dupe, probably Nev, is messing with my connections! I can't call upon any of them! They're just static in my head right now."

"Wow. You might be in some real trouble here," Fenn said with a nod. "My goodness, if only someone had tried to warn you that something bad was about to occur! That sure would have come in handy, wouldn't it?"

"Is that why you came back?" Everly asked her. "Seriously? Just to gloat because you were right, and I was wrong? Honestly, Fenn. I didn't know you had it within you to act like such a loser."

"I'm not a loser!" Fenn yelled at her. "And I didn't come here to rub your nose in your misfortune, blondie!"

"Then why did you return?" Everly demanded to know.

Now it was Fenn's turn to slowly drop to her side and assume a fetal position.

"Because I've got nowhere else to go," she said miserably.

Earlier that day.

"Fenneth, darling. What exactly were you thinking?" asked the disappointed voice of one of Fenn's esteemed ancestors.

Here in the next life were now gathered the entirety of the deceased members of the Godwell family, the greatest of whom sat at a stone table overlooking her in the center of the grand hall.

Preparing to pass judgement.

"Honestly, that's what I'd like to know," said another. "Fenneth, we all love you, dear. We do. We really do. But we honestly can't say that we're thrilled about your recent choices."

"I'll say," said the original. "Fenn. That necromancer girl is a mad dog. Nay, a rabid one! A disease spreading mongrel destined to bring ruin to the world unless we quickly put a stop to her antics. To that end, we've assigned the right person for the job, and we're delighted to hear that the results have been spectacular."

"Anne is really giving it to that fiend!" exclaimed a particularly enthusiastic voice. "Ha! I could watch this for hours!"

"It's a shame she never plays with her food. I'd really love it if she'd put on more of a show," said another voice. "You know, really make that insolent cur suffer!"

"You sent Anne after her?" Fenn asked in surprise.

"No, no. It was our operative who did that," said the lead voice. "Anne despises many of us for reasons known only to her and would never follow one of our suggestions. Fortunately, our agent in the field has a real talent for leading her around by the nose."

"Who?" asked Fenn. "Who is it?"

"Now, now, Fenneth," said the first voice, the Elder. "I really wish I could share that information with you, but you've already proven yourself to be untrustworthy. And that's just one more disappointment in a long list of disappointments. So much was expected of you! And now it's come to this. I'm sorry, dearest, but we just can't let this slide."

"Indeed," said the second voice. "Fenneth, this afterlife that we've provided for you would ordinarily be an unconditional paradise that any member of the Godwell lineage is permitted to enjoy. Through considerable effort, we managed to acquire our own demesne in the astral realm for our glorious dead to reside in."

"Considerable effort!" echoed one of the others.

"Wait," Fenn said. "Wait, do you mean to tell me that this isn't really heaven? That this is some kind of false paradise?"

"There's nothing false about it at all, dear. This is merely a custom job more to our liking," said the elder. "Although faith is a wonderful means of keeping the rabble in line, there are certain aspects of religious instruction that just don't fly with our family's way of thinking."

"Yeah, all that tripe about all people being equal in death was just ridiculous," said the second voice. "I absolutely refuse to spend eternity dwelling alongside the poor. I'm a Godwell."

"Quite right! Quite right," said the elder. "When you're already better than everyone else, why should that change in the afterlife? Most people would just accept the status quo, but we Godwells actually did something about it! Unlike others, we never lack the resolve to act when it benefits our family."

"Oh, my god," Fenn said to herself despondently. "And I thought my living relatives were snobs."

"Fenneth, you've never truly understood the responsibilities borne by our family, nor the weight of our legacy and the immensity of our sacred duties. What gives you, who never achieved anything in life, the right to question how we choose to collect our eternal reward? Missy, you got in here on the basis of your last name alone! Do you really believe that you did anything that warranted your admission in our realm?"

"I was kind to others!" Fenn shouted. "I always tried to do the right thing! I respected my parents and did as my father wished of me instead of what I wanted! I loved my sister—"

"Ugh, how long do we have to listen to this?" someone said cuttingly.

"Teenage melodrama," huffed another.

"So bloody soft-hearted. It's almost embarrassing to look at her."

"Now, now. Quiet down, my blessed brethren," said the elder. "Fenneth. You're very young, and I'm certain that from your perspective, you lived according to moral principles. And let me assure you, your assembled family here still loves you no matter how much of an underwhelming failure you were in life."

"A failure? I-I was the maiden of the holy sword!" Fenn stammered.

"The shortest reigning maiden in history," snickered someone rudely.

"She was TERRIBLE! Compared to her sister, she was absolute trash."

"Brethren! Please control your emotions," the Elder said. "But they do raise an excellent point, dear one. In addition to your lackadaisical performance in life, spreading information to an enemy is an unforgiveable act of treason."

"Worse than that!" shouted someone else. "It was a sign of bloody weakness!"

"Weakness?" Fenn asked incredulously. "I forgave my killer! I tried to save her life to give her time to redeem herself! How can that possibly be considered weak?"

"Because you're a loser!" the voice said scornfully. "What else could your actions possibly make you? You're a weak-willed, bleeding heart! A mewling little wretch! That witch murdered you and made the family look bad! Yet how do you respond? By rolling over on your belly and begging for her attention like a dog!"

"I agree!" shouted another ancestor. "This girl is a loser! She's an absolute disgrace to all who bear our holy name! THE GODWELLS MUST NEVER BE DEFEATED! Throw her out!"

From across the room, the voices erupted with anger and contempt. By the second, the shouts grew more numerous and louder as others joined in the chorus.

"Throw her out!"

"Throw her out!"

"Throw her out!"

"THROW THIS LOSER OUT!"

All around Fenn the voices continued with their demands for her ejection, mocking her, condemning her, rejecting her. The voices of her family. Her ancestors. Telling her that she didn't belong. That she was lacking. That she wasn't good enough. That she'd never be good enough.

Before the onslaught of their unified scorn, she dropped to her knees and wept.

"Oh, look at the worm now weeping," said a familiar voice. "Poor widdle Fenneth. Not so precious anymore, are we?"

When Fenn tried to focus, to remember the name attached to those hateful words, the Elder began to speak, overriding the others.

"Fenneth, dearest one. I'm afraid a consensus has been reached. Although it breaks my heart to have to do it, for I love all my descendants, past and present…for the sake of justice and peace, you will no longer be allowed to dwell in the afterlife of the Godwells. Just as you have rejected the noble principles by which we abide, so too will we now reject your presence among us. Instead, you will languish in the astral realm, friendless and alone, an outsider to all. And let your fate be an example to others. The Godwells may love…but we never forgive."

"Power to the Godwells!" the voices now shouted.

"Power to the Godwells!"

"Power to the Godwells!"

"POWER TO THE GODWELLS!"

As strong hands lifted her to her feet to escort her from the room, Fenn tearfully asked the elder, "Wait! Wait, please! Isn't there anything I can do? Please, can't I somehow try to make this right?"

"Oh, Fenneth," the elder sighed in a weary voice. "Even at the end, you're still unable to comport yourself with a Godwell's dignity. Perhaps the others are correct in their assessment of you. Perhaps you really are a loser? Take her away."

And that was the end of Fenn's time in paradise.

__

"Fuck them. Fuck all of them. I'm not a loser," Fenn said to herself. "I'm not."

"The evidence would imply otherwise," Everly said in a bemused voice.

"Fuck you too! This is all your fault!" Fenn said with her hands covering her face.

"It kind of is, I suppose," Everly said as she stared at the ceiling of her room.

"Now she finally admits it. When it's too late to matter in the slightest," said Fenn.

"Hey, tone it down, crybaby," Everly warned her. "If you're hoping to crash on my sofa, I'd better start hearing less sass and more begging and pleading for aid. Come on, let's hear you fawn over me. You know you want to."

"I don't want to," Fenn said defiantly.

"Huh? Is that really the tone you should be taking? I'm not operating a charity for homeless ghosts, Fenn."

"You'd seriously throw me out into the astral sea?" Fenn asked her. "After everything that's already happened to me because of you?"

"In a heartbeat, choir girl," Everly said cattily. "I'm running a tight ship here. I've got no room on board for proven failures. But I always have time for a suck-up with no dignity! So, let's hear it, Fenn! Start sucking away. Verbally, that is."

"Get fucked, Everly!" Fenn shouted hatefully. "Hit yourself in the face ten thousand times with a rusty pickaxe! I hope you die an uglier death than I did! I hope they find pieces of your corpse mixed in with cow droppings! I hope your mom grows to hate you more than she ever loved you!"

"Bitch, you did not just say that," Everly growled.

"I sure did! And it felt great! Know what else? You're a nerd, Everly!"

"I'm a what?" Everly asked with a dumbfounded voice.

"A nerd! You're a fucking nerd! But not in a cool way. Not in a marketable way that makes other people want to join in. You're one of those hardcore, unbearable Edge Lord freaks who lives in a fantasy world hiding away who she really is because other people would otherwise find you UNBEARABLE. You're unbearable, Everly!"

"Take that back!" Everly barked.

"Or else what? You'll kill me! Ha!" Fenn spit out as a savage feeling of elation began to sweep throughout her body. A feeling of finally, finally getting something off her chest. "You think you're so special, Everly. You think you've got it all figured out, but you don't. You're clueless, naïve, and arrogant, but somehow you think you can look down on everyone else because you think you're a chosen one. But you're not! You really aren't and it's so fucking hilarious that you don't even know it!"

"What are you even talking about?!" Everly shouted at her.

"I found out all about it when I died, blondie! I FOUND OUT ALL ABOUT IT!" Fenn said with a demented gleam in her eye. "My ancestors revealed it all!"

Fenn crawled over to Everly's side and leaned in, to whisper in her ear.

"You seriously think you willed yourself into this world? Really? Really? No, Everly! You didn't! You thought I was the one holding you back with that soul link? NO, Everly! It was the opposite! THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE!"

"What are you saying—" Everly began to ask before Fenn clamped her hand over her mouth.

"No, you hush!" Fenn said to her. "I'm the one who gets to speak now! Everly, I was the one who was summoned here. Me. I was supposed to be the hero that defended the kingdom from the seven demon kings. I'm the chosen one! You were just a random lunatic that somehow got caught up in my wake! You're not here because you wanted to be, you're here because you hitched a ride!"

"That…that can't be right," Everly said softly to herself.

"Well, it is!" Fenn said triumphantly. "I'm not the one who lies! That's what I learned and now you know it too! So how about that, huh? Who's the loser now?"

Everly was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "Well, technically, it's still you. I mean, if you were meant to be a HERO and you failed this badly at it…? Come on Fenn, even if I am just some lucky freak who got caught in your wake, look at everything I've done on my own."

Everly sat up and then began laughing at how silly it all was.

"I mean, Jesus! You've got nothing! No achievements, no victories, not even a place in the afterlife! Sure, you're the hero and I'm just some rando nobody, but come on! Compare yourself to me and know despair! You thought learning I was a mistake was going to break me or something? Damn, Fenn, you should be feeling even worse about yourself! I'm a dark horse who turned out to be a champion, and you're the chosen one who's allergic to success!"

Everly rose to her feet, with a new light of determination now burning brightly within her. How could she have ever doubted herself? How could she have ever believed even for a moment that she was second-rate? All she had to do was look at Fenn to see a real failure in action.

In that moment, Everly realized that this was destiny in motion. That this was what fate had provided for her. If ever again, she felt doubt or misery, if ever again she believed she was unworthy of her many, many gifts, then all she had to do…

…was remember how much Fenn sucked at everything!!

"Fenn. Thank you," she said to the crestfallen spirit who had lapsed into a stunned silence. "Thank you for being here right now in my moment of need. It was important for me to hear your words. I needed to understand. Because I've realized now that luck is just as important a power as the ability to make your enemies explode. I'm a lucky girl. A very lucky girl. Especially when compared to the countless billions of faceless nobodies who will never be able to experience life from the lofty heights upon which I now stand. And I'm especially lucky when compared to you!"

Everly leaned over and kissed Fenn affectionately on the forehead. "You can sleep on my couch for as long as you want. But don't be one of those weird houseguests that just sits around all day without changing their clothes. I know, it'll be hard because successful efforts just aren't something that come naturally to you, but I'm going to be rooting for you anyway. You might be a failed hero, Fenn, but from now on, you're my hero of failure!"

"That sounds…terrible," Fenn said in a broken voice. "That sounds absolutely fucking terrible."

"Don't overthink it, Fenn. Past precedence shows that thinking is not your forte," Everly said helpfully as she walked to the center of the room. Through a fierce act of will, she managed to draw just enough energy from her elementals to open another gateway.

"W-where are you going?" Fenn asked her.

"Where do you think?" Everly smirked at her. "We can't all sit around whining about our ruined careers and short lives. Some of us have jobs to do! And my job right now is to kick Nev's ass and make her regret trying to rebel!"

"But you're still wounded," Fenn said.

"It doesn't matter! Winners always find a way to tilt the odds in their favor. You wouldn't know anything about that, but that's okay. Victory doesn't suit everyone! Wish me luck, Fenn!"

And with that, Everly stepped through the gateway, leaving Fenn alone with the still slumbering Lyona.

"I'm not a loser!" Fenn insisted as she collapsed to the ground.

But she didn't believe herself at all.

__

Meanwhile, in the headquarters of the Royal Bay Hobbs, Neverly was wondering where her boyfriend had gone.

"Guys, hasn't anyone seen Tyler? Anyone? Come on, there's only so many places he can hide! Damn it, am I going to have to put a collar on him or something?"

That was actually a very attractive idea now that she thought about it. She wondered if it should be a black one with jagged spikes on it. That sounded pretty cool! But at the same time, a pink one with a heart-shaped pendant in the center would be absolutely humiliating for Tyler, and the constant public embarrassment he'd feel at being forced to wear it could be a source for all sorts of amusement later down the road.

Decisions, decisions.

Still, before she could decide on a proper way to demean her toy for daring not to appear on command, she first had to find him. He'd apparently skipped school too, which was why she decided to stop by the hideout, only to be disappointed to find that there was work that had gone undone thanks to his absence.

Heh, school had been a riot. The news had finally reached Kelsie about what had happened to her father at the border. She'd been broken upon hearing the words killed in service. It was all Neverly could do not to claim credit, even though technically she had been responsible for the deed.

She wondered how many more of her schoolmates had parents serving at the fort. She wondered how many more orphans she was going to get to see weeping in the halls of the academy.

Heh. Good times ahead.

Good times indeed.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but we still haven't found Mr. Tyler," said one of the members of her gang, apologetically. He was a tall oaf whose name she couldn't remember. She left that sort of thing to Tyler. These days she liked to remain one degree separate from any criminal mischief that could possibly catch the notice of the law.

Tyler was good at acting in her stead. He remembered the names of the rank and file, he gave out Neverly's orders, he collected the profits, and when the time came, he'd be the one to take all the blame when Neverly decided she didn't need him anymore. It was a beautiful arrangement that suited them both. She got to singlehandedly wield all the power in their relationship, and he got the privilege of serving at her leisure.

It was a win-win, as far as she was concerned.

But where was he?

"Well, are our carriers ready to go, at least?" she demanded of him. "We've got a lot of product that needs moving, tiny. Those decadent noble fops aren't waiting around to inject themselves with syringes of dream dust, now, are they?"

"Is…is that what we're calling the product now, ma'am?" he asked uncertainly.

"Does it sound good?" she asked him.

"It actually does, yeah," he said after giving it a moment's thought.

"Okay. Cool. Dream dust, it is," said Neverly. "Now get it moving!"

"Our lads will be out the door right away, Miss," the underling said fawningly.

Suddenly a glowing doorway opened in the middle of the room, startling the men and shocking Neverly as well. What the hell was going on? Which one of her sisters could possibly be stupid enough to open a gate in front of all these witnesses?

From the gate emerged Everly, wearing a sleeveless shirt over torn trousers and a dented pair of greaves. For some reason, she was dirty, bruised, and bleeding all over the place.

"Nev," she said curtly as she approached her astonished duplicate.

For her part, Neverly was furious at this unexpected intrusion. "Everly, what the actual fuck? You can't just port in here like this! Eris is acting weird so I can't erase their minds! Now I'm going to have to get rid of all these witnesses—"

In response, Everly delivered a straight right jab that connected directly with Neverly's nose, crunching it into her face with a nasty sounding pop that sent her tumbling backwards head over heels. When she sat up, a heavy trickle of blood began pouring out of both nostrils of her broken nose that quickly ruined her white school shirt.

"Everthly, wath the fckth ith yourth problem?!" she yelled angrily.

"That's my question to you, psycho-me! What's your problem!" Everly shouted at her in return. "What gives you the right to kill Cleverly over someone as irrelevant as Tyler? And why are you messing around with our connection to the elementals? You've really been making a truckload of problems for me lately, and I've had it up to here with you!"

"Wuth the ATTUAL FVKTH ARE YUU BABBLING ABOUTH?!" Neverly screamed at her as she got back to her feet.

"I'm talking about you trying to help Anne kill me!" Everly yelled at her.

"BITCH. Do I LOOKTH like I'm helping Anne with ANYTHING?" Neverly screamed again with increasing fury.

"Uh, I mean, now that you mention it, there doesn't appear to be an outward connection between the two of you at the moment, but that doesn't mean you can't jump around between locations to cause trouble!"

"uh, other Everly?" said the henchman who'd spoken to Neverly earlier.

"NO, WRONG, FALSE!" Everly said indignantly. "I'M Everly, SHE'S the other Everly. Get it right!"

"Uh, okay," the underling said nervously. "Uh, the other Neverly has been here for hours. She's b-been setting things up for a delivery of uh, goods and uh, having us look for Mr. Tyler. She hasn't been out of my sight at all, I swear it."

"Really?" Everly asked him with visible disappointment.

"Really," he insisted.

"Well, nuts," Everly muttered to herself as she scratched her chin. "If Neverly doesn't know about Tyler then she doesn't know about Cleverly. And if she doesn't know about Cleverly, then how could she know what else has transpired?"

Everly turned to face Nev, while saying, "Well, it looks like I may have made a slight mistake."

Then she was smashed into unconsciousness when Neverly broke a steel folding chair across her face.

"YOU THINK?" Nev said before spitting a gob of bloody saliva on the floor.