They had already driven for hours, the only way Maria knew was thanks to the clock on the news channel of the tv. For hours now she had sat there, staring at the ever-same pictures of the manor she had left in ashes, of frightened people being interviewed, of heroes looking stoic to hide how shaken they were. Every few minutes her picture came up, naming her the new "arch-villain", the "mastermind", or other flattering titles. For the last ten years that she could remember there had never been such visceral and raw emotions shown on the news, with everyone from interviewers, the anchors, even the host looking just as shocked and helpless.
And she couldn't feel a thing. It cut to commercial, and she began to aimlessly switch channels. Past pictures of riots in neighbouring cities, scenes of chaos caused by smaller villains that saw her as a form of rallying cry, falling statues and monuments. Spreading to every corner of the country. Finally she cut to the coverage of a big conference, held at her old school, which she recognised immediately. It made sense, being the largest and most appropriate arena for a big show of force, especially given the school's history of producing some of the most capable hero talent in the country. Seeing these big living legends on the same stage where she had graduated not long ago filled her with disgust, but beneath it also with a lingering sense of satisfaction at the hurt she could see through their confident facades.
They started to give statements, each sounding just like the one that came before. The same trite and simple empty phrases of needing to persevere and stay strong, to carry on the Captains legacy and bring the evil villains to justice. Halfway through she turned the TV off and laid back down on the mattress, staring onto the opposite wall of the van instead. And so she could not see that the last speaker was James, in bandages and on crutches, helped by two other heroes to even get to the microphone. She could not see the hurt and betrayal in his eyes as he spoke about her, or the vehement resolution he ended his speech with. "The captain didn't die for nothing. We are still here, and we will defend the peace he died for."
"Not much longer," she muttered to Elaine, who was sitting by her side. "we'll get the other beasts and swipe all of these idiots to the side. They wont stand a chance against a real queen." Her words caused Elaine to smile brightly and nod in silent agreement. Maria opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off when they suddenly halted. Without haste she got up and peeked through the lid to Sin. "Why did we stop, is everything alright?"
It was telling that Sin was not looking at her, but at the road. She had already undone her seat belt. "We are halted. Someone is waiting for us there, someone who cannot be ignored. Take Elaine with you, and don't leave her side."
Not once had Maria heard Sin speak in such a serious tone, it caused her to tremble and shake. Without a word she took Elaine's hand and exited the van with her, following Sin who had already gotten out and was marching off into the dusk. The road had been empty for hours, with no car passing them in either direction. Nothing was around them but a few bushes and trees on the wayside, open wide fields left and right. The first stars were glimmering in the sky as the sun had set.
They did not have to walk for long before Maria could see a figure standing in the middle of the road. A woman, dressed in an immaculate red dress and high heels, her arms covered in long gloves that went up to her shoulder. Long Platinum Blonde hair flowed down her back and Maria's heart felt like it was about to burst. She did not even look at the sabre in the woman's hand, all she could stare at was her face.
"Elizabeth." Her voice was little more than a whisper, the most she could utter without losing any and all composure. Her love was standing right in front of her, in a dress out of her dreams, the embodiment of beauty, grace and nobility.
Elizabeth looked at her, and despite being the same height Maria began to feel very, very small, withering under her gaze. "You've surprised most everyone that has known you, including myself, darling." The word caused Maria to squeal, her entire body squirming, much to Sin's disapproval which she voiced with a growl. "So the old geezers show their hand by sending a pretty doll to fight, well let us have it hm?" She already made her first steps towards her. Unphased Elizabeth raised her right arm to the sky. "Morning star, hear my dream, know of my desire and grant it to me. My foes stand before me." With a bright flash thin golden lines began to spread from her hand down her arm as her blood awakened, causing Sin to stop and stare at her. "Elaine, shield the master, now!"
"Make them perish." Maria could barely see the shimmering of threads around them as the sky was cracked with a blinding flash. All her vision turned gold, and her ears rang with the sound of a single, all-encompassing bell. Her senses overloaded, she could not smell a thing, not even feel her own body anymore.
The dark returned only slowly, and with it the eerie silence and smell of burned flesh. Elaine was barely on her feet, staggering and staring at her hands in shock as they stood in a sea of her threads, cut off from her and slowly dissolving. And in front of her stood Sin, or what was left of her. All Skin was torn off her body, her flesh, now a black oozing mass was falling and gliding off of her bones, and it was a mercy for her master that she could not see her skeletal face, where two burning flames had replaced her eyeballs. With a howl she slammed her foot onto the ground, causing the asphalt to shatter, her anger causing her body to slowly reassemble. The black mass began to spread out across her bones, hardening, forming muscles and finally new skin, her hair that had been a a writhing mass of tentacle-like tendrils calming and forming the elegant pink braid she had sported for as long as Maria had known her.
Elizabeth looked at them without a change in expression. "Your servants are harder than they look, darling. I would give them praise after this, if you can live until then that is." Maria stared at her, adoration having given way to abject terror. Sin leaped forward, charging Elizabeth with a bone-chilling howl. But this time, her opponent was faster. Elizabeth stepped aside and swung her sabre in an arc, severing Sin's right arm from her body. Black blood sprayed out of the wound, forming three writhing tendrils that began to coil around each other, forming a new arm in the time it took her to turn around. "Oh you will pay for that"
"It does not appear you have lost anything but some of your pride, Sin. Does it truly hurt this much for your master to see your limits?" Sin answered with a barrage of chains, before leaping off of the ground and kicking the air, the air rippling as she surged towards her opponent, claws outstretched. Elizabeth cut the chains with three swift and broad swipes, then waltzed forward to meet Sin. Her blade flashed through the cold night air again as they passed each other. Elizabeth had a single small red line across her cheek as well as a fair droplets of blood on her face. Without urgency she took out a handkerchief and wiped her face, as both of Sin's arms fell to the ground, severed and swiftly replaced.
This time there was no howl of anger as they circled each other until they returned to their opening positions, though Sin's otherworldly hatred was palpable. She reached up into the air, with the hilt of a blade appearing in her hand. "So you want to sword-fight like in the days of yore, yes? Sure, why don't we. Why don't I show you a weapon that will wipe that damn confidence off of your face?" Her words were fast and barked rather than spoken as her chest rose and sunk fast.
"You could, and I would most certainly die. That blade of yours is unmatched in this world. But tell me, Sin." With these words Elizabeth snapped her fingers. "While you lose yourself to that curse and tear me limb from limb, who will protect your master? Several red dots appeared on Maria's chest, all aligning to the left towards her heart. She stared down at them and nearly fainted as she forgot how to breathe. Sin stared at Elizabeth, trembling with rage.
For a minute they stood this way, with no noises except a quiet trickling and the rustling of leaves in the wind. "Will that be your choice then, Sin? Sacrifice another master to win?" Her words earned her a scoff. "Will it be yours, will you let me send you to hell so you can kill my master?" Both sides went silent again, until Elizabeth leaned onto her sabre with both hands, sighing. "Why would I wish for mutual destruction? My family, I, will not gain anything from it. Can you still speak, darling? Or could you not hold onto that as well?" Maria quickly shook her head, still too tightly gripped by fear to feel shame. "What do you, want then if you aren't going to kill me? You're, my, enemy, aren't you?" Every single word she spoke made her want to throw up, disgust welling up within her.
"Now now, darling. Your path leads to conflict with mine. We may make war upon each other, but you are not my enemy." Elizabeth shook her head. "If anything I must thank you, for giving the signal for upheaval. This order has lasted quite long enough." Finally Sin found her words again, and they were followed by maniacal laughter. "Don't bullshit my master. You are the heiress of the morning star, I bashed the head in of the last one who held that title. If you were one of the lesser families I may buy it but you? Not in a million years would your light see my master as anything but your mortal enemy!"
During Sin's rant Elizabeth had closed her eyes, only opening them again after her laughter had run its course. "Times change, the cards are shuffled and redistributed. My family, I, have not much to gain anymore from the current arrangement. It would be in our, my, interest if you were to shake things up. You asked me why I came here, if not to kill you? To warn you, in your own best interest: By all means, continue your journey. You can recover your beasts, you can tear at the other families and the world they built. But do not interfere with my operations. Do so, and I will make sure you are the last lady of the beasts that this world has seen." A sharpness followed her last words, enough to make Maria lose her balance. She collapsed into her puddle and bit her teeth together. "That is all, I believe." With her words the red dots vanished from her body.
"And you really think we are dumb enough to believe you? My master is not going to be content to cut out a little corner for herself like you and the others, heiress of the morning star." Sin had completely changed tone, even her smile had returned along with her politeness, albeit underlined with malice. "The aim of Len-Fey has not changed." Elizabeth dismissed her with a wave of her hand. "You are not the lady of beasts, as much as you try, you do not make their goals. And just how many times did you try to do that, anyways? The records speak of ten failed usurpation, are you really that keen to make it the eleventh?" She shook her head with a light chuckle that wiped Sin's smile off of her face. "Darling, if I can give you a recommendation: Reclaim what is yours, build your own little realm like we have, and leave it at that. There is no shame in being the first among equals."
Maria scrambled back to her feet, meeting the gaze of her love with a face turned crimson. "Why don't we, fight together then? You don't like the way this world is, I don't either and I, I." she began to stammer, losing her train of thought. Elizabeth looked at her with sincere pity. "You love me?" her words pierced Maria's heart harder than any bullet. She wrung her hands together, her body writhing as she weakly nodded. "Y-yes. We can both be queens, I do not mind at all to share this world, I would, I would like nothing more than that!"
Amusement was written clearly across Elizabeth's face, but in answer she only shrugged. "The lady of beast and the daughter of the morning star, Len-Fey and Merlayne. The two great heiresses, ruling the world hand in hand? It has a certain poetry to it. I am not surprised, your letters were always full of such wonderful elegance." Her words once more had Maria almost fall over again. "You, you read, them?" The shock, disbelief and faint hope was so sincere in her voice that Elizabeth could not help but laugh warmly, wiping a tear from her cheek. "What lady does not keep letters from her secret admirer, especially when they put all of their heart into it. Darling, no. Maria, I should address you properly. Your imagination is quite lively, a welcome change from the last dregs that Sin dug up to serve as her fullfillment. Please do your best to stay alive, I will watch your exploits with great interest." With these words she turned to leave, as did the shadowy figures that had been laying in hiding all around them.
Before she could vanish into the night however, Maria ran past Sin and towards Elizabeth. "Please, wait! One more, I need to know one thing!" While Elizabeth did stop, she did not turn around. "Very well, I shall answer you one more question."
Maria clutched her chest, feeling her chest about to burst as she thought back, to the one thing she had to know, what she had buried deep within her so she didn't have to think about it. Since that day it was festering and growing, it had already become unbearable. She needed to know.
"Did you, really send me, the letter and, and those, people to, take me?"
A light breeze washed over them, causing Elizabeths fine dress to flutter in the wind. She looked back at Maria, with nothing but guilt. "I did. On that day I was still heiress to my name, not heiress to the morning star. It was my duty, not my wish." She straightened her back, flashing a weak smile. "For a while I was fearing Sin may not be as swift as she used to be in saving you, I am glad to have been wrong. And glad that you hurried my inheritance. Consider my withdrawal from this war as my repayment for that favour."
With this Elizabeth continued her march into the dark, the lines across her arm glowing again. "For now I then wish that you fare well, Maria Len-Fey. Interfere not with mine and I shan't interfere with thine." The golden glow enveloped her body and began to dissolve it, leaving nothing behind as her servants vanished into the shadows.
When Maria turned around she found Sin next to Elaine, holding her close and running a hand through her hair. The short servant was distraught, clawing at her face and sobbing. "Forgive me my beloved master, I beg you forgive me for not protecting you, I could not, I could not when I needed to, please my beloved master, do not cast me aside, I can grow, I can strengthen, please forgive me!" Her words caused Maria's stomach to churn. As she reached the two Sin let go of Elaine and walked to the van. Maria took her place and wrapped her arms tightly around her servant. "It is alright, please, don't hurt yourself. You did all you could, and you saved my life, I wont cast you away, I wont ever do that." Her words caused her to calm down even if just slightly, though her legs were still trembling almost as bad as her master's, who picked her up and carried her to the back of the van and inside.
After dropping Elaine on the mattress Maria began to rummage through the clothes they had brought along with a crimson read face as she looked for a new skirt and underwear. Having changed and calmed Elaine down enough that she was no longer tearing black lines across her face Maria stepped out and around to the passenger seat of the van, sitting down next to Sin who was already revving up the engine.
"Was that, what a real mage is like, Sin?" Her words caused her servant to shake her head with a low growl. "That woman is an heiress to a great power, much like yourself, my master. I did not realise soon enough, I didn't think they would find a replacement so soon after I killed the last one to save you." She gripped the steering wheel hard enough for her knuckles to turn white. "I should've known then, that old fool had already surrendered most of it to her by then, but I was too distracted to notice. This was my failure, my master. I accept full responsibility."
Maria shook her head and bit her lower lip. "It's fine, after all we, we survived. Are we, still very far away? I would like to try and get a bit of sleep." Finally Sin turned to face her, managing a smile. "We are nearly at our next destination, but a good night's sleep still separates us from there. Please do try to rest, my master. Standing up to her must have been difficult for you, and you handled it admirably." Never one to handle praise well, Maria began to blush and avert her gaze. "I don't, I didn't act very, royal yet but, thank you, Sin."
On her way back to Elaine Maria's mind began to wander, immediately back to Elizabeth. But not her power, her words, the near death experience. But her smile, the new dress she had worn, that she had kept her letters. When she laid down with Elaine in her arms her mind continued to race back to her. How she had called her darling, used her name, that she had smiled at her. Not just in her direction, not without knowing she was there. But directly at her. These thoughts gave her enough peace to fall into slumber, with her final thought being the most overwhelming.
How she had not rejected her.
