I stare in shock at what Anai has done.
Her hands shake as she rips the dagger out. "You need to shut up and listen to me for once. I was obedient. I did what you said. I allowed you to make me your soldier. To make me a monster." Anai glares at her father, still holding the knife towards him.
She's afraid he'll attack. It doesn't matter if he doesn't have a weapon.
"And it was all on the promise that it was what my Mother wanted. But you lied to me. You lied about my mother, about Elian..." she sighs.
"You arrested your own brother just so you could have someone to blame. I could have been a Star Being. I could have had people who actually cared about me." Her eyes grow cold. "Because obviously, you don't."
"Please mel, have mercy. Be forgiving-" Anai cuts him off with a laugh. "You don't get my forgiveness, you bastard." She snarls, stabbing him again.
This time, he crumbles apart like an ancient stone that has finally given.
Anai stares at Adira.
"Mother I... I am so sorry. For everything." "Anai it wasn't-" "Was I not in control? Was I not fully aware of what I was doing? I may not have been able to stop the monster's creation, but I sure as fuck reveled in it."
Adira nods silently, knowing that Anai is right on this.
Then, she too, crumbles to pieces and fades from existence.
Anai just stares for a moment.
Then, she falls to her knees and screams.
It's a howl of anguish, pain, and years of pent up trauma.
And, for a moment, the villain I've been fighting against for so long... disappears.
All that's left is a broken young adult.
She stands and slashes her claws across the mirrors reflecting her, shattering them.
She stands there for a moment, staring at the shatters pieces of herself, panting.
"Go." She finally says.
"What?" "Go. Leave. LET ME DIE HERE, GODDAMIT!!!" Anai screams. I stand and back away, heading back to the others.
They're all frozen in place. But the ice melts the moment I cross the threshold. "Is she...?" Natalie asks. "No. She wants to stay here." "What? But this place is coming down. Does she want to die?" I stare at Caleb for an uncomfortably long time.
Everything rumbles and shakes again, a reminder that this place...
This strange house of memories and past selves...
Is about to come down on our heads.
A white portal swirls open where the red portal let me out. "So we leave her then?" Damien asks. Natalie hesitates, but only for a moment.
"Yes, we do."
Damien is the first to step into the portal. Then Caleb. Then Maxine, Gabriel, Hade, Karson, Mateo, and Natalie.
Lane stops before she steps inside. "You coming?" She asks. I nod. "Yeah I'll uh... I'll be there in a minute." I say.
Lane smiles and steps into the portal.
I glance back at the room where I left Anai.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" I mumble, starting back towards the strange room.
Anai is on her knees, her breathing heavy and labored.
She doesn't seem to notice I'm even there.
"Anaideia-" "DJ, what are you doing? Did I not tell you to leave?" Anai says, straightening up.
"I'm not coming back to save your ass. I'm coming back to drag you through that portal and into a court so you can pay for the multiple war crimes you've committed." I snarl, grabbing her arm and pulling her back towards the portal room.
"And what makes you think I'll comply?" "The fact that your entire purpose in life was a lie told by your ass of a father."
Anai doesn't respond to that.
As I step into the next room, I realize that the portal is shrinking.
Rapidly.
"No!" I rush towards it, still dragging Anai behind me.
But I don't make it in time.
The portal closes, and I watch my future slip out of reach.
"NO!" I yell, staring at where the portal should be.
I hear the house of memories rumble once more.
"Good job. Now we both get to die here." Anai grumbles.
"Will you just shut up?! I just saw the way back to everything, my friends, my family, my life, my fucking girlfriend, CLOSE UP! I CAN'T GO BACK! I'M STUCK IN A CRUMBLING CELESTIAL BUILDING WITH YOU OF ALL PEOPLE!!!!" I scream. Anai laughs.
"I guess I really do ruin everyone's life." She mumbles. I raise an eyebrow.
"I ruined my mom's by needing to be protected. I ruined my dad's life by not doing what I was told. I ruined millions of lives by slaughtering anyone who stood in my way of you and your stupid "family." Now I'm ruining yours because you decided to come back for a WAR CRIMINAL who was FINE WITH DYING HERE!!!"
I flinch.
"Sucks for both of us. I could have really been your friend, y'know? I could've done what Elian did and turned my back on my father."
She shakes her head.
"Too bad."
I jump as a column falls and cracks in half.
I watch as Anai pulls off one of her gloves.
I stare in horror at the black, charred looking skin beneath.
"I mean, I would've died a horrible death anyways. Healing is a big no when you're tied to a god of destruction. When I healed the eye you ripped out of my skull, that happened to my hand. It started to grow and... well eventually it would have spread until my body couldn't take it and I would crumble to ash."
She shrugs.
"At least this'll be quick."
We sit in silence, watching as the world falls apart around us. "I hate this." I groan.
"I hate that I'm in a crumbling building about to die. I hate that I just had to come back for you. I hate that I'm dying with you by my side. I hate that I won't ever be able to see my girlfriend again. I hate that I won't be able to see my family again. I hate that out of all the times I could've died...."
I sigh.
"This is what gets me."
Anai stares at me. "I hate that you won't let me die in peace. At least shut up and let me enjoy the chaos." She grumbles, looking away from me.
I scoff.
"Listen to me, your highness. I'll talk all I fuckin want. You're not the only one about to die here."
Anai's shoulders jerk.
Is she...?
I hear a clear laugh ring out through the sound of columns and walls crumbling.
"Damn. So you don't have to sound like a psychopath every time you laugh." "Shut up, DJ."
For a moment, the absurdity of talking with Anaideia Timor like this almost makes me stop.
But only for a moment.
"I am sorry, Delilah." Anai says out of the blue.
"What?" "DJ, I threw you off a cliff twice in one day, have attacked you multiple times with the intent to kill, actually killed both you and your girlfriend, threw you in prison after torturing you.... The list goes on. I did some terrible shit."
"Yeah. You did."
Anai nods, understanding that forgiveness isn't going to be given for those instances.
I watch as a fresh crack splits across the floor.
And then a hunk of ceiling falls directly between Anai and I.
I yelp in surprise and scuffle away from the large chunk of marble.
"Oh right. Impending death." I hear Anai say dryly.
"NOT THE TIME FOR SARCASM!" I yell.
A flash of white catches my eye.
Relief floods my chest.
The portal is open again.
I rush at Anai, grabbing her by the wrist and sprinting back towards the portal.
It's closing rapidly.
"Delilah, we're not gonna make it." "We have to make it." I huff.
We start to close in.
And, by some miracle, we make it to the portal in time.
"You sure you don't want to leave me?" "Shut up and move!" I yell, shoving Anai through the portal.
I practically throw myself through to the other side, falling flat on my back.
I sit for a moment panting.
Then, someone tackles me.
"DJ YOU DUMBASS!!!" "Hey darlin...." I laugh sheepishly. Lane hugs me tighter, almost squeezing the air out of my lungs.
"Don't ever do that again. Please." I nod, kissing her neck.
"I won't. I promise."
"So what do we do with red here?" Hade asks, gesturing at Anai. "Arrest her? Ask if she'll call off her army? Do I fucking look like I know?" I say.
Anai stirs.
"Oh shit."
She slowly sits up, her black and red hair falling over her shoulders and blocking her face.
She looks around the room, dazed.
Her gold eyes finally settle on me. They're back to normal.
She raises an eyebrow.
"Who are you people?"
Some Maxine with a different hairstyle, some drawings I meant to show off a few chapters ago and forgot to, and a little sketch I call "no cops at pride, only Hade with a baseball bat"