Gehenna

      Oh, what tangled webs we weave, when we practice to deceive!

      A line from an old song passes through my head as we arrive at a small-looking castle. There isn't much to it, just a solid black castle, smaller than the Academy, stands before us. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

      "Let's face the end together." To which the girls all nod. Pushing open the heavy door leads way to a brightly lit atmosphere so unlike what I would have imagined. My eyes go out of focus at the blinding light and force me to look away.

      "Welcome to my secret garden. My precious place filled with so many at once. Even I don't know how to react. Pain? Pleasure? Surely just the end as I'm pushed over the edge." A familiar, twisted voice full of innuendo echoes throughout.

      "Gehenna. Once more, can't we just end this here? Enough has been done. If your concern is being shackled to me, then surely I could just dismiss you from your role?"

      "The fact you ask that proves you are not who you think you are. Not yet. No, Eve. We cannot simply be freed." She bashes her fist on the arms of her mighty throne. The slithering vines surrounding it recede in fear.

      She catches herself, and lazily sets her head back on her uprighted fist. “There is but one way to free me from this curse. You owe it to me. But I do not wish to die without ever reaching the peak. So, let’s play with one another and see who comes apart first.”

      She stands from her throne with a mighty presence so unlike the Gee I knew. With a wave of her hand, the girls are all trapped in a barrier of sorts. “You can’t get them out and oxygen is so hard to come by as you’re screaming. There’s a reason you made me Queen, Eve.”

      I stare in awe at the dome-shaped bubble the others are in. I place my hand on it, and they reach for me; yet we cannot connect. “If you wish them to be free before they’ve gone from this world breathless, you will take me seriously.”

      She walks down the stairs step by step with a sway to her hips that almost hypnotize me. I shake my head and clear my mind. I’m so unsure of what I could possibly even do to Gehenna. She gives a little hop off the last step, standing level with me. The white of her eyes darkens to a pitch-black like never before. Irides appear within the blackness- presenting themselves as a blood ruby.

      “I am the Faux-Queen of the Beta, Gehenna. Let us lap at one another… one… final… time.”

      Before I know it, she’s behind me. Her backhand sends me spinning away. She yells about how weak I am. Smashing into the wall, it takes all my effort just to stand again. Most of my ribs, and likely my jaw, are broken.

      You have to let go. They will die if you do not.

      The voice of, “me” echoes inside my mind.

      You! You’re the one who started all of this!

      They will die, Eve.

      Who cares? They will just end up back in the place you all come from!

      We call it the Metaverse.

      I don’t give a damn!

      You are not the kind of soul to let them suffer, even if it means little in the end.

      Maybe I should be.

      But you can’t.

      … Then what do I do?

      Give in.

      But then I’ll lose who I am.

      No, you will merely become a part of the whole. Are you not willing to do that for them? For Gehenna?

      I look over at Gehenna as she continues to berate me for not taking this seriously. Past her, I see the others falling to their knees inside the barrier. Kay’s pulling on the collar of her shirt. Their air is definitely running out. I could easily let them die. Hell, I could die easily enough. It won’t matter.

      But… that won’t save Gehenna… Gee. She’ll just do this all again. Is there no way to truly save everyone?

      Death would be her salvation. True death. Only the kind that could be brought about by a god. You, the only one who could sever the thread of those outside of Fate’s machinations.

      I hate you.

      Yes. That is partly why you find yourself in this predicament.

      “Gee.” She stops her ranting and cocks an eyebrow at me. “You’re beautiful. You know that I love you all the same as the others, right?”

      A small crimson mark spreads across her copper-toned skin. “Then you will take my proclamation seriously.”

      “I will. But you have to let the others have air. If you hurt them, I won’t give you want.”

      “Eve, my love, you haven’t given me what I wanted since that first time so long ago. The touches we shared, the fluids we swapped. Ah, the ecstasy of it all.” She glances at the others and snaps her hand. “But there, air for the mortals.”

      “I see. Thank you Gee.” I stand straight and relax. I breathe deep and relive through the meditation practices Grandpa drilled into me as a child. I wipe all things from my mind and focus. I think back to that day with Rachel and the darkness thereupon. It occurs to me just then, “That day that Rachel died, that was you there, twisting her… wasn’t it?”

      “Ah, it feels like a lifetime ago. Your orders were always the harshest with me. Why you wanted one so young to be twisted so… perhaps those of us so below, can never truly understand “God’s” mind, hm?”

      My shoulders dip, my head hangs low. It won’t make you proud Rachel… nothing I do will. But perhaps, this is some amount of penance for it all. I see clearly now, the boarded-up cracks within my mind. Rei did a fantastic job of “cementing” them closed. It’s likely this would hold the rest of my life if I didn’t force it. I tap on it, hearing a dizzying amount of sounds leak through.

      “Gee. I want you to know that I’m sorry, and that I will set you free.” I walk past her, and rest my forehead on the barrier. The others try to touch me again.

      “Mimi, Rose, Kay, Charlie… goodbye.”

      They’re pounding on the barrier now, yelling my name. I kiss my index and middle finger and let it drag across the barrier. I’ve made my decision. The best decision I can, to grant the happiest outcome I can. I turn and look at Gee.

      A smile teases the corners of my lips. Who would have thought at the beginning of my story that this is how it would end? I fought long and hard to be myself, to resist the growing malfeasance within. I even gave up everyone and ran away just to retain who I am. And in the end, I never actually knew myself, did I?

      To be who I truly am, I have to give up the me of now. I have to erase myself to save those dear to me. And you know what? That’s all right.