Willow was kneeling on the bed, screaming at Kim, shaking her, shedding furious, uncontrollable tears for Calum Woof. Demanding over and over again What did you do? What did you do?
Kim could barely sense Willow next to her. She was too numb. It was all too much. Having Kanye suddenly so close, after all this time, and then having to make such a terrible decision so quickly. Was it even the right decision? She'd been thinking only of Kanye's safety, and Perrie had been bleeding, convulsing, dying right in front of her eyes. Thinking: They are only safe if they are far away from me. She hadn't had time to think through the what-ifs, to follow every line of thought to every possible conclusion. She'd had to act. She'd had to decide. It's what she did. It's what was always demanded of her. To do the things no one else is capable of.
But now she had sent Kanye and Little Mix away, and realized too late what that meant--that her animal friends, her faithful companions, her guides, her team, had had their lives cut short by the hasty carelessness of her spell. Well, sort of cut short. Technically Tiny Monkey was already dead, but he was gone for good now. Kim felt it. Whatever magic had been keeping him connected to Kim was now severed. Calum Woof and Tiny Monkey and even Tiny Banana were gone.
Kim stared off into the empty black abyss that had opened in front of her, scorched around the edges where the circular portal had been, only seconds ago. She couldn't take any more. As bad as it had been in KKHollywood, as clearly as the world had become diminished and broken in her absence, it had still been a kind of escape from the pain and difficulties she felt every day in the real world. But now Kim saw that it was all a lie. Nothing mattered. There was no such thing as escape. Pain and trouble and heartbreak always find you, no matter what you do, no matter where you go.
Let this black hole before her grow, let it take these feelings, let it take these memories and emotions, let it take her life, because it was all just too much. No more choices, no more feelings. Let her entire existence be swallowed up in the void of its complete and utter darkness.
Or wait.
Actually.
It wasn't complete darkness.
There was a light, a very faint light, coming from the dark space beyond where the bedroom wall had been. Something flickering, so dimly it was almost invisible from the relative brightness of Willow's room.
Kim stood up, her eyes unblinking, afraid to look away from the soft glow, for fear that she wouldn't find it again. She took a step, and then another, crossing the room.
Willow, still crying, stopped mid-scream as Kim rose.
"Umm hey what are you doing I'm still yelling at you," Willow said, distantly.
At the edge of the black hole Kim saw a strange incongruity becoming visible before her. The blackness wasn't an absence, it wasn't the parts of the room that had disappeared. The blackness was a revelation of something that had been there, beneath the room, all along. Behind the pastel, cutesy decorations of Willow's bedroom, beyond the part of the bedroom that was now missing, there was another room. A room of dark, gray stone, old and mildewy with age. Like a dungeon in a castle.
In removing the portal, Kim had erased not just everything within it, but something more, something unseen, a spell that had been underlying the reality of the bedroom, a spell protecting the visual integrity of the villa itself.
Kim hesitated, wondering if what she was seeing with her eyes was a reality that would support her. Then she stepped out of the bedroom, through the black in-between-ness, into the stone room, closer to the shimmering silver light.
"Kim, wait," Willow said, panic rising in her voice. "Don't go in there."
But Kim kept walking. She already knew. She could feel it--the sweet, clear, singing voice of the richest sort of magic--calling her.
"Kim, please let me explain!" Willow called, pleading.
The stone room was cold, almost devoid of warmth. Kim exhaled and her breath rose up in vaporous tendrils around her face. As her eyes adjusted she saw that in the center of the room there was an altar--a stone table, rising up off the floor. And lying upon the table was a single, shimmering K-Star.
The sight, so unexpected, caused Kim to catch her breath. It took her a moment to recall the last time she had seen an actual K-Star up close. It had been when she killed Other Kim. She had forgotten how otherworldly they are--so heavy-looking, but somehow lighter than air, as bright and glittery as though they were made from every star in the sky.
Kim stepped closer. Hovering directly above the K-Star there was a series of emoji. Two Women Holding Hands, Money Bag, Newspaper, and Electric Plug, circling in a steady loop around each other. And inside that circle of emoji, held in perfect suspension, was a crystal bowl. A bowl just like the one that had rested on the nightstand next to the bed in the Miami condo.
Kim took another step closer and peered into the bowl, afraid of what she would find there, but knowing, somehow already knowing. Gracefully curled up inside was one long strand of hair, which Kim instantly recognized as her own.
"Oh my goddess," Kim said. "I'm so stupid." She clenched her fists to keep her hands from shaking. "It was you. It was you all along."
"Kim, wait. Let me explain."
"This is your spell. I can feel your energy all over this enchantment. You've been preventing me from becoming the #1 celebrity. Ever since Miami. It's been you."
"Kim," Willow said, her voice trembling, "Please get away from that spell right now. Please come back and talk to me."
Kim shook her head. "I have lost too much today. This ends now." She reached out to touch the K-Star but immediately stopped when she heard the glinting metallic glissando of a sword being unsheathed behind her.
Kim slowly turned and saw Willow standing in the bedroom, her eyes lowered. In each of her upturned hands she channeled a Knife emoji, and hovering all around her were hundreds of razor-sharp knives, all pointed directly at Kim. The blades vibrated in the air from the tension of being held back only by Willow's resolve.
"Kim," Willow said, her voice calm and steady. "That is the last K-Star, and it is mine. Do. Not. Touch it."
"You don't get to control me anymore," Kim said, holding Willow's furious stare. "I am Kim of House Kardashian." She turned and reached for the K-Star.
"NO!" Willow screamed as she launched her knives at Kim.
The instant before the knives would have torn through her body, Kim used the Cloud emoji, becoming a vapor in the shape of herself. The blades passed harmlessly through her, clattering against the stone wall and disappearing.
"I am the Born Protector of KKHollywood," Kim continued, as she reverted to her natural form and used the Rocket emoji to disappear and immediately reappear right behind Willow. "I am the Patron Deity of the Betrayed." She kicked Willow's leg out, sending her falling to the floor and causing Willow's phone to scatter out of reach. "I am the Wind and the Lightning." Kim bound Willow with the Closed Lock With Key emoji, and swiped the Speaker With Cancellation Stroke emoji to mute her voice and cease her protests. "I am the Sin-Eater, the Restorer of Balance."
She Rocket emoji'd back to the K-Star, letting its light fill her eyes. "I am the Once and Future #1 A-List Celebrity." She looked back and saw the fear and terror in Willow's eyes, the eyes that she had loved so fully, so completely, until moments ago. "And I am your sworn, eternal enemy," Kim said, filling each syllable with pure hatred as she spat them in Willow's direction.
Kim plunged her hands directly into the K-Star and its energy was immediately absorbed into her body. The enchantment broke, the crystal bowl falling and shattering into hundreds of pieces against the stone alter as the room erupted in a endless shower of lightning bolts and money.
Kim eyes glowed pure white as she leveled up, wave after wave of pure energy surging through her, sweeping up through her body and out through her fingertips.
"You're just like all the other witches, Willow," Kim said, as her newfound power crackled in the air around her. "Pretending to care when it's convenient, but all the while jealously plotting my downfall."
Kim cast one last look at Willow where she lay on the floor, bound, with tears in her eyes.
"Everything in the world is exactly the same," Kim said. She swiped the Rocket emoji and vanished, and fuck Florence forever, tbh.
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OK. Wow.
BETRAYAL by Willow Pape? How could this be??? It looks like she was willing to do whatever it took to remain the #1 most popular celebrity in KKHollywood. Unbelievable.
Now that Kim's eyes have been cleared and her full power has been restored, she'll probably make short work of fixing up the world, right? I mean we'll see. There was that whole zombie army thing...
Please tell me what you think! Please vote & comment! Thank you!