Shimmer |✓|

//Goddess// Part 1

Between the fever-dreams and hallucinations, the excruciating pain was my only solace. It meant I was still alive. For the time being, anyway.

Two of Tidus' female sires, the very attendants I had massacred, drew me a warm bath with epsom salt and dried lavender. The water wasn't enough to make me whole again, but after the women washed my hair and scrubbed the blood away, I was restored enough to drown them–until Tidus had the good sense to secure me to the bed with anti-magic handcuffs. 

"I'm not sure which I fear most, Naomi. You, or life without."

"Fear both--because both will surely kill you. Get out." 

I turned my back, until he left me to my prison of sweat-soaked sheets and pillows, no doubt to devise further plans to rid me of the many poisons in my system. Between the wolfs-bane and the magic, I was half-dead in the water, not a life jacket in sight. And still my friends kept faith.

When Ethan dropped by, I told him Claudia truly loved him--then laughed in his face when I revealed her secret right after–that she had turned the rabid on purpose.

"Y'know what, Naomi, you and Claudia are more alike than you think. You hurt whoever you want, whenever you want--on purpose." He left the room, more tortured by my cruelty than I at the mercy of the wolfs-bane.

And when Adelle came to visit, I sent her away with the nasty reminder that the clock was winding down for her too--tick-tock--and that when I died, Catherine would certainly kill her.

"I took my chances with you, I'll take my chances with Catherine. And there are three guys downstairs, right now, who would sooner kill themselves than see you dead. You're stuck with us. Love ya too, bitch."

Adelle slammed the door behind her. Exhausted, I sank into the pillows with a happy smile, eyes rolling in the back of my head as I sank into the coma of darkness...

*        *        *

I wasn't fooled, it had to be a dream.

I looked down, fingering the edges off my spotless yellow sundress in distaste, examining my fingers for any sign of the evil within. Nope. The magic was still there, but I was me again. For now, anyway.

I threw my head back, letting the sunlight warm my face. It filtered down through the canopies, warming the forest, encouraging the birds to sing and the woodland creatures to forage for food. I frowned. This isn't Gentle Forest, but someplace like it... Where am I?

Twigs snapped in the brush up ahead. I stood still with bated breath, expecting Tidus to emerge. Instead, a white Wolf trotted her way forward, her wide-set golden eyes trained on her master. I sank to my knees when she approached, scratching between her ears.

"Hang in there. Addy, Tidus, Ethan, they're all looking out for us. What's that you always tell me? Patience, idiot? Well, I think I've learned..." I grinned, rising to my feet, turning in a circle as I scanned the trees once more. "Or maybe not. Ti?" Surely, he had to be the reason my spirit was here...

"Feels good to be free, don't it?"

That voice, I hadn't expected to hear it nearly so soon. I whirled, confirming that it was Catherine behind me, looking just as innocent and grandmotherly as she had during our first meeting. What a picture she was in her jeans and flannel shirt, with a pretty sunhat tied beneath her neck, a wicker gathering basket dangling from her arm, half-filled with leaves and flowers.

"You--" I started forward. My Wolf mirrored my sentiments with a deep growl, hot on my heels...

Catherine raised her free hand and with a snap of her fingers my Wolf disappeared.