Bitter laughter fills the forest.

 

Null can’t believe it, after losing the other witches, after being so thoroughly defeated, after being bound in place, arms held up in the air so that her feet can only just touch the ground, her opponent, the target she’s meant to eliminate, chooses now to properly reveal herself, seemingly taunting Null with her very existence. What else can she do but laugh?

 

“All this time…” She says as she starts to collect herself. “The one who’s been causing all these problems was just a doll that got too big for its britches!? I’m gonna have to take your head back with me, the matriarch won’t fucking believe this otherwise!”

 

“Former doll, but yes, my existence is indeed an unusual one. I don’t see how you’re going to be taking my head though, you’re not exactly in a position to do anything of the sort.”

 

“Just you wait, doll. As soon as I’m free I’ll be headed right for the house to take you down, I’ll destroy the whole fucking thing and everyone in it if I have to! Your illusions won’t be able to help you!” Null grins deviously.

 

“First of all, dear, you can call me Athena, not ‘doll’. Secondly, even if you were capable of finding your way there in the dead of night, do you really think you could do so while being targeted by multiple spells specifically designed to keep you away and throw you off track? Why, even Penelope on her own managed to keep you busy for a while back there.”

 

Null’s smile fades as she begins to grow agitated. “It doesn’t matter how long it takes me, you’re fucking dead the moment I find you! As if drawing witches away from the coven to abduct them wasn’t enough, your very existence is a crime against witchcraft that can’t be ignored!”

 

Athena pauses, the confident witch caught off guard for just a moment.

 

“I’m sorry, what’s this about abductions? I thought they were all sent here to investigate the area.”

 

“Bullshit! The matriarch stopped sending witches out months ago, but several chose to come here on their own and haven’t been heard from since! We know you must have contacted them, used your magic to fill their heads with lies, why else would they fucking come out here!?”

 

Athena chuckles. “Is that so? I think I understand what’s happened here then. I’ve been learning a lot of things about your coven from those who have joined me, I’ll have you know. How hard they were forced to work, the horrors they had to endure, it was enough to break a lot of them.” She looks down as she says that last part. “So let me ask you then, if you were in that situation and word had started to spread that anyone who entered the forest never came back, what would you do?”

 

Athena points a finger in Null’s face, who attempts to bite it off in a fit of anger, but her teeth fail to find their target.

 

“My, you are a feisty one, aren’t you? Try to remember that you’re dealing with an illusion, dear.” She turns around and paces a bit. “What I think has happened, is that those witches decided that they’d rather take their chances with whatever they found out here than continue working under your matriarch for even one more day. From where I’m standing I’d say their gamble more than paid off, to be completely honest.”

 

“You expect me to believe that!? For all anyone knew those witches were getting killed on the spot!”

 

Athena pauses for a few moments before responding. “I have no doubt that you’re aware of what happens to those who don’t meet your matriarch’s expectations. Even if all that awaited here was death, would that not be better than losing an arm, an eye, or even worse, only to be forced back into servitude?”

 

“That’s their problem! Maybe if they just did what they were fucking told they wouldn’t be scared of getting punished in the first place!” The implication that her matriarch is doing something wrong only serves to further Null’s anger.

 

“I’ve seen firsthand the kind of tasks that your witches are given, and I’m not going to let you claim that this is just a matter of ‘doing what you’re told’. They were being worked to death!”

 

“If those worthless fucking witches didn’t like it then they shouldn’t have joined the coven in the first place!”

 

Athena sighs deeply. “Is this truly where you stand on the matter? Is it not possible for the two of us to have a proper conversation about this, about you?”

 

“I’ll be more than happy to talk after I’ve destroyed you with my own hands, doll!”

 

“Fine, I suppose there’s not much choice then.”

 

Athena holds out an arm, and Null feels waves of magic wash over her.

 

“What the fuck are you doing!?” She yells as she struggles against her restraints. “Leave me the hell alone!”

 

“Relax, I’m not doing anything to you my dear, just giving you a quick look over. I promised Penelope I’d help you out, which means I need to find out how that matriarch of yours has you wrapped around her finger, and since you aren’t interested in talking I had to resort to other options. Just stay still and this will all be over in a few moments.”

 

“No! Don’t fucking touch me! Rrragh!” Null yells in a fit of rage as she tries ever harder to escape Athena’s grasp, but her protests are ignored as the powerful witch continues the scan of her psyche.

 

Athena continues holding her arm out, searching for some sort of sign inside Null to explain how she turned out this way, digging deeper and deeper in search of anything out of place, and then she finally picks up on something. Something unexpected.

 

“But… that would…” Athena quietly says to herself, a look of confusion washes across her face as she digs deeper. Suddenly, her expression changes to one of shock, then to heart-wrenching pain.

 

“No…” She lowers her arm. “I… I knew she was a horrible person… but to go so far as to do something as inhumane as this…” She looks at Null, sadness clear on her face. “I am so, so sorry.”

 

“Shut up, doll!” Null spits at her. “Where the fuck do you get off calling her horrible after everything you’ve done!”

 

“...Of course you’re so loyal to her, you’re literally unable to think otherwise.”

 

“I’m loyal because she’s my fucking matriarch! That’s all there is to it!”

 

“No… there’s so much more to it than you know.” Athena takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “Your matriarch took the witch named Nova and… ripped her soul into pieces… leaving only fragments behind, the parts that were useful to her, and bound them to her will…”

 

“Shut up! What would a fucking doll know about souls!?” Null tries fruitlessly to kick at Athena, her legs going right through the illusory witch.

 

“A doll would have much more of its original self intact than you do, Null. Turning someone into a doll is a gentle, healing procedure. You… you’re the leftover scraps of a person that was mutilated by someone without a shred of remorse, and then reshaped by the same hands that broke you in the first place.”

 

“Lies! You don’t know a fucking thing about me! My name is Null! I’ve always been Null!”

 

“In some ways, that’s unfortunately all too close to the truth. Even if she didn’t wipe your memories, the version of you that now exists is unrecognisable from whoever you were before. She even hexed you to make sure no one would recognise you as the same person. I think Penelope was only able to see through it because it’s so similar to her own magic.”

 

“I don’t care what you say! You’re fucking dead once I get out of here!” Null’s breaths are heavy, and even when she’s not struggling her body is trembling with rage.

 

“Null, you poor, poor thing…” Athena puts her hands on Null's cheeks, resisting her violent attempts to shake her off. “I don’t think I can fix something like this, not when there’s so little left of the original, but I promise that I’ll still do what I can to help.”

 

“Stop fucking touching me!”

 

“Even if most of your soul is gone, we could still grow new parts to fill in those gaps. You could be whole again. You would be able to feel happiness again, and all those other emotions you’re missing.”

 

“I don’t want to be happy!”

 

“I know it’ll take some time, but don’t worry.”

 

“Shut up!”

 

“I’ll always be looking out for you, okay?”

 

“Shut up!” Null’s fists clench harder than they ever have before, she’s making one last desperate attempt to break free.

 

“No matter what happens, I will save you.”

 

“Shut up!”

 

A shadow suddenly appears around Null’s right hand, accompanied by a sound that Athena has started to become all too familiar with, and moments later Null’s wrist slips right out of her restraints, on account of the fact that everything past that is completely gone.

 

“Aaaaaggggh!” She yells as she starts swiping at Athena with what remains of her arm, blood spraying everywhere in the process.

 

“Dear god! What on earth are you doing!?” Athena yells in shock.

 

“DIE! DIEEEEEEEEE!” screams Null, oblivious to whatever Athena is saying.

 

Athena quickly places a palm against Null’s chest, sending a pulse of energy through the witch that causes her to go limp below the shoulders, cutting off not just her connection to the rest of her body, but also her magic. This does nothing to calm her down, as she continues to scream at Athena.

 

“I really wish I didn’t need to resort to something this extreme, but I won’t let you hurt yourself like that.”

 

Athena gently picks Null up in her arms before dispelling the golden restraints and lying her down on the ground below. She takes hold of Null’s wrist, using healing magic to seal the wound and stop any further bleeding. After confirming that she’s safe and stable, Athena stands up and looks upon the snarling beast with pity, now understanding the full extent of just how far gone she is.

 

Null’s mind and soul have been rebuilt to hold little more than undying loyalty to her matriarch, and an unquestionable willingness to carry out any orders given to her. Take away her fangs, her means of serving the matriarch, and the only thing she has left is unending, directionless anger. Even now, unable to move anything past her neck, she still thrashes her head about, her screams only growing more incoherent.

 

Athena sighs, and takes a moment to collect herself. Even after learning how bad the damage was, she still genuinely hoped to reason with Null, to convince her to stay here so that she could help her. She realises now that such a thing isn’t possible, not when the matriarch has such a concrete hold over her very being. Trying to bring her back to the house would just put everyone and everything there at risk. 

 

If she was able to make even the tiniest amount of progress in showing her how much everyone is suffering, who’s to say the matriarch isn’t just going to immediately undo that when Null returns to her? It’s clear at this point that she’s far from beyond messing with someone’s mind to get what she wants.

 

Feeling defeated, she waves a hand in Null’s direction, and the witch slowly starts to fall asleep. She then casts a spell to imprint her words into Null’s mind, ensuring that she’ll remember them when she wakes.

 

If I can’t save you, then all I can do is ask you to give a message to your matriarch. Please relay this to her when you go back to your headquarters:

 

Leave us alone.

 

All I want is to take care of those who find their way to this forest, and every witch you send here only serves to strengthen my coven. I will not complain about you relinquishing more of your victims to me so that I may help them heal, but know that each one pushes me closer to the point where I no longer need to be afraid of you, or what you could do to those in my care. If this continues, it’s only a matter of time before even your precious Null will be within my grasp, and you will be left with nothing but guilt and shame over all the damage you’ve caused.

 

To make it perfectly clear, this isn’t a plea for mercy, this is a warning.

 

Once she’s done, Athena opens a portal leading far from the forest, and gently places Null inside. By the time she wakes up she’ll be able to move again, and can find her own way back to her headquarters.

 

With the encounter finally having come to a close, all is now quiet in the forest, barring the faint sound of tears hitting the ground as the illusory copy fades away.

 

---

 

“There, there... It’s okay, little one, they can’t hurt you anymore.”

 

Back at the house, the real Athena has been doing what she can to comfort the new arrivals. She now sits on the floor holding a sobbing Elle in her arms, stroking its hair, and providing a warmth and comfort that has been absent from the doll’s life for a very long time now.

 

“You’ll be safe here, I promise. We’ll all take care of you.”

 

Eventually, Elle starts to calm down, and Athena releases the hug as the two stand up.

 

“T-Thank you for saving this one… It was r-really scary back home…”

 

“It’s okay, Elle. This can be your new home now, you’ll never have to deal with that place again. Now, I believe there’s someone here who’d like to see you.”

 

A doll with wavy lilac hair enters the room, and Elle’s eyes immediately light up.

 

“F-Felicia!?”

 

Elle immediately runs to the other doll, jumping into its arms.

 

“Thank goodness you’re okay! This one was so worried about you…”

 

“This one’s really glad you’re okay as well, Elle!”

 

The dolls giggle as they embrace each other, finally reunited after all this time. Athena looks on with a warm smile.

 

“Felicia, how about you show Elle around its new home?”

 

“Great idea Miss! Come on!” Felicia grabs Elle by the hand and runs out of the room.

 

Athena chuckles, the two of them will likely be running around for a while. This place has grown quite a bit in a short period of time to accommodate all the new witches and dolls who have come to call it home. It feels like the place is changing all the time, which is good for the residents who need a distraction from everything they have going on, and some of them have also requested new facilities to help them recover, or in the case of some of the witches, to help them further their magic. The events that transpired tonight have led to the need for yet another expansion, although she suspects that Elle and Felicia won’t mind sharing a bed.

 

Athena can’t relax yet though, there’s still one person she needs to speak with. She walks to the other side of the room, passing Amelia on the way carrying a hot drink for Maya, who Athena has already tended to. The witch exchanges a smile with her doll as their paths cross. She opens a door on the far wall to see Penelope sitting at the end of a dining table in the middle of the room, slumped over the wooden surface. Athena wordlessly takes one of the seats next to her.

 

“I’m sorry. I had no clue just how deep the damage went, I… I couldn’t save her…”

 

Penelope sighs heavily, not moving to look at Athena. “There was nothing left to save.” She says without emotion. She’s already cried all the tears she’s able to, and there’s very little spirit left in her. “It’s my fault for getting my hopes up, for thinking that there was ever any chance of things going back to how they used to be.”

 

“How are you holding up?”

 

“Pretty fucking poorly. I just found out that Nova’s long gone, and the person I’ve been chasing for years was basically a mindless slave wearing her skin. Then you gave her that warning to stay away before sending her home, and I know I should be happy that I’ll never have to see that face again, but I just… I don’t know why but the thought of that hurts so much…”

 

“...Actually, I don’t think we can count on that coven staying away. It’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.”

 

Penelope tenses up. “Don’t tell me something like that.. I don’t think I have it in me to deal with any more of this shit.”

 

“I’m sorry, and we don’t have to discuss this right now if you don’t want to, but the two of us are more aware than anyone else of just how far your old matriarch is willing to go in order to maintain control over what she thinks belongs to her. That warning isn’t going to stop her, not when she now knows you’re all still here, especially not when she learns what I am. More than anything, I was just making it clear that I wouldn’t let her take you all back so easily.”

 

“So you were just taunting her?”

 

“If it comes off that way, I apologise. I’ll be the first to admit I’ve developed a flair for the dramatic since coming to life, but my top priority is keeping everyone safe.”

 

Athena sighs. “I probably did say some things I shouldn’t have, though. That… that was the first time I wasn’t able to save someone, and I got caught up in the heat of the moment.”

 

“Why not just wipe that puppet’s memories then? It’s not like she wouldn’t be used to it.”

 

“No.” Athena says flatly. “No, I could never bring myself to do that. I’m sure I could figure out a way to do so, but I’d never be able to forgive myself if I did.”

 

“So what’s going to happen now, we’re just gonna have to keep fighting for our lives until we're all dead, or there’s no one left for her to send?”

 

“That’s not going to happen. I wouldn’t let you all go through something so cruel.” Athena reaches over and takes one of Penelope’s hands.

 

“I have a plan, something that can keep us all safe, but I won’t pretend there isn’t a lot of risk involved. I’m going to need all the help I can get if I’m to pull it off.”

 

Penelope stays quiet for a moment, clearly picking up on what Athena is asking of her. “I…I don’t know if I have any fight left in me. I’m not sure if I even care about what happens to me anymore, what do I have left to live for? Why bother trying to save myself when I couldn’t save her?”

 

“I understand Penelope, it’s your choice and no one will make you help if you don’t want to. Just know that you don’t need to do it for my sake, you don’t even need to do it for your own sake, but if you do, you’ll be helping to make sure no one else ends up in the same situation your Nova did.”

 

Penelope clenches her hands, and sits there silently before huffing loudly. Then, she slowly pushes herself up from the table, instead choosing to slouch back in her chair.

 

“I’m in no condition to even think about any of this, let alone actually do anything about it.”

 

“I understand, I won’t trouble you about this any further.” Athena says before withdrawing her hand and getting up to leave. She makes it halfway to the door before she’s interrupted.

 

“Just give me a couple days to sleep so I can work through this funk, we can talk about what you need me to do then. Pretty sure I’m gonna be real angry about all this, so I’ll need something I can use as an outlet.”

 

Athena looks back with a beaming smile. “Thank you, Penelope. I promise you won’t regret it. I’ll do whatever I can to get us through this. All of us.”

 

---

 

“That’s everything I have to report. Once again, I’m sorry for losing so many witches.” 

 

Null is kneeling in a room that appears to have once been some kind of library, dimly lit by candles lining the sides of the walls. Her right arm has been wrapped up in bandages, a grim reminder of what she sacrificed in her unsuccessful, desperate attempt to eliminate her target. In front of her is a small set of stairs, and at the top is an older looking witch with slicked back, black hair, seated in an ornate wooden throne.

 

“This is very troubling, Null. Very troubling indeed.” The matriarch says calmly.

 

“I know, and I’ll do everything I can to fix this, I’ll-”

 

“Quiet. I know I can trust you to do what I ask to the best of your abilities, Null. This mission wasn’t unsuccessful due to incompetence or lack of effort on your part, which is more than I can say for some of our other witches. No, we lacked information. Information that we now have. Do you know how long it’s been since another witch tried to take a stand against me, Null?”

 

“I believe you once told me it had been upwards of seven centuries, matriarch.”

 

“Correct. All that time without any difficulties keeping everyone in line, and now not only does someone decide to disrupt our operations, not only do they start stealing my witches from me to form her own coven, but the one behind it all is a doll, of all things. If word of this gets out, it will only inspire more to join her.” The matriarch slowly starts to stand.

 

“Well, there’s only one thing for it, isn’t there?” She starts to walk down the stairs, her heels clicking with each step.

 

“What do you plan to do?”

 

“I shall call everyone back to headquarters and initiate a lockdown. There are many things to prepare, but the only way we can quell this rebellion is to make an example of everyone involved, especially that Athena you mentioned. If she’s as powerful as you claim, and I have no reason to believe you’d ever lie to me, then we’ll need to take this threat very seriously, and strike back with something even stronger in turn” She doesn’t give Null as much as a glance as she strides past her underling and towards the doors.

 

“Very good, matriarch.” Null gets up to follow her. “I will-”

 

“You will stay there, Null. When I return we’ll need to reset your memories again, you’ll be needed in the coming weeks and I can’t risk the possibility that those traitorous witches put any ideas in your head that would compromise your usefulness to me.”

 

“Of course, I’ll wait here for your return, and I’m sorry for losing myself to my anger, I promise I won’t let it happen again.” Null starts kneeling again, this time facing the exit to the room. 

 

“Think nothing of it. You only ended up in that state because she thoroughly outclassed you. For her to so easily neutralise my strongest witch only goes to show how much of a problem she is, which is why I must immediately start preparing countermeasures.”

 

The large wooden doors creak as they close behind the matriarch.

 

Null stays exactly where she is, awaiting her matriarch's return. Someone else in the same position might choose to use this time to think about everything that’s happened, what Penelope said about who Null used to be, what Athena said about who she is now, what the matriarch said about resetting her memories, and how this apparently isn’t even the first time that she’s done so. Null doesn’t do any of that though. She remains where she is, patiently carrying out the order given to her, and when the matriarch returns she’ll do whatever is asked of her without question. Even if her matriarch truly does intend to remove her memories of this mission, she will allow her to do so if that’s what she wants.

 

And why wouldn’t she? This is all part of the job she was given when she joined the coven, after all.