Beginning hesitantly follows Judgement back to the front of the church. The fire moves with the two of them, slithering along the floor behind Judgement, lapping at her ankles. Even while standing, Judgement carries herself with a distinct sort of pride, shoulders held tall and posture all but impeccable. She's downright regal, Beginning thinks.
By the time they reach the cemetery, the others have gathered. All of them stand almost paralyzed, just beyond what remains of the broken gate. For once, no one is shouting. Every eye is fixed on Judgement, something close to terror etched in every one of their faces. Beginning would have never imagined seeing any of them look so scared, but with Judgement standing right there, she suddenly understands every ounce of fear.
"Jealousy," Judgement begins, moving straight into the middle of their little group, "everyone is here, correct? No one has strayed behind?"
Jealousy stiffens, stuttering out her reply. Judgement smiles as she stumbles over her words, slowly eyeing the others. Even Hysteria has gone notably quiet, chewing on all three of her lips. Cowardly, far in the back, Beginning notices, is shaking so badly she can barely stand.
"Are we, um-- Are we going to check on the thing again now?" Cruelty asks, forcing a terror-stricken smile, blood-drenched chin trembling.
"Indeed." Judgement's smile stretches wider, showing far too many teeth. "Aren't you all excited? We're getting so close, my dear girls. We even have sweet Beginning with us today, such a pleasant new face. Now..."
Judgment flicks her right hand forwards, gesturing theatrically towards what might be the most intimidating headstone; a massive angel carved out of dark, worn stone. Her wings are the only part that hasn't been somehow damaged, stretching out a good five feet in either direction. Almost instantly, a spark of red flame flickers into being, centered on the angel's forehead.
Slowly, with so much tension in the air Beginning can all but feel it, the spark begins to grow. It expands outwards, carving a blazing circle into the fog until it's formed a wide ring hovering in the midpoint between the angel's wings. The inside of the ring, for an instant, is a smothering black.
But then, the view begins to clear.
The black ripples and parts. Beginning's breath catches in her throat. Little by little, a night sky-- rich, glittering blue-- comes into focus. Judgement swings her hand down, and the view shifts, angling towards a tapestry of brilliant light below. It's a city, she realizes, a real, living city without a dash of fog in sight. On some instinct, Beginning knows what belongs there. People. Real people, not like those within the fog.
And then, the view zooms in. Just as Beginning thought, there are thousands of humans amongst the light. Colorful, breathtaking, brown and peach humans whose jewel-tone world barely seems real.
"You see, Beginning. These are our enemies." Judgement croons, and Beginning's blood runs ice cold.
"Those are humans, as I'm sure you've been told. And their world is so much different than ours. It's chaos, simply chaos." Judgement shakes her head with sympathy, expression pitying. "They fight amongst themselves. They live crowded together like insects. They're arrogant. All they believe is that they're the ones who own this world. But you see, that's just not true. We live forever. We don't need to eat or sleep. We're perfect beings, my dear, and the humans are simply taking up space in our world."
Then, Judgement's voice runs very cold. "My point, Beginning, is that these humans simply don't deserve to live. We're worth so much more, you see, and... if we only did a little bit of population control, they'd learn so quickly. Wouldn't it be nice to put them in their place?"
Her grin has reached a terrifying intensity, eyes glowing with something dangerously close to delight. Beginning suddenly isn't so sure if Judgement is drunk on power or just plain delusional.
What Beginning does know is that she hates this with every fiber of her being. Judgement's rule is sick. Beginning's stomach churns with something between terror and disgust. She doesn't--, she doesn't know enough about the world of humans to understand why, but the lights in the view below are dazzling. She can't imagine wanting to hurt creatures that have done nothing but live, can't believe that Judgement could be right.
It's then and there that Beginning realizes that she's never going to be able to fit in here. She's never going to be like the rest of them.
"And now, the fun part."
Judgement strides over to the angel, leaping up onto its bent knee with stunning grace. She holds herself, suddenly appearing strangely small, with an arm looped around the angel's outstretched arm.
Then, Judgement sticks an arm through the ring of fire.
"See, there's always been a divide between our worlds," she laughs, eyes glittering with blazing delight, "but now, it's thinning. The world of the humans is closer than ever to our reach, and I'm the one who will verge that gap. My powers are special, you see. I can reach between the dimensions, and soon, I'll be able to hold these portals open for much, much longer."
Judgement hops back to the ground, and a second later, the portal closes behind her, flickering out of being just as suddenly as it appeared.
"Isn't this grand?" she calls, dramatically swinging an arm to gesture at the girls. "I just know that you're all so excited. Soon we'll all be able to do so much more than just sit idly in the fog."
"Yes, Judgement!" Jealousy says instantly, almost mechanically obedient. Every one of her eyes is focused intently on Judgement.
"We'll fuck 'em up!" Selfishness laughs, claws flexing by her sides.
"Yeah, they totally deserve to die. Humans are pathetic," Negativity chimes in, shockingly not breathing a word about Judgement herself. She doesn't so much as reach for the thorns dangling from her lips.
"Of course, Judgement. We'll all do our best for you," Manipulation smiles, grinning sweetly with both mouths.
"I'll kill every one of them! I'll kill more than anyone! You'll never be able to look away," Hysteria shouts at an ear-piercing volume, flailing her arms around in a desperate attempt to catch Judgement's eyes.
"Such ugly creatures. I'll eradicate every one," Vanity deadpans.
Beginning thinks, silently, that every one of them looks terrified. Looking at Judgement, a red blaze in the midst of the ever-clinging fog, she understands exactly why. She doesn't know what Judgement would do to someone who tried to tell her no, but she can definitely guess.
"Wonderful," Judgement croons, condescension dripping from her tone. "I'll be taking my leave for now, of course. I expect that everyone will be very good until our plan is ready?" A series of near-frantic nods.
Judgement all but vanishes, then, a swirl of fire the only thing remaining of her presence. As soon as she's gone, some invisible line of tension bleeds out of the girls, allowing their shoulders to drop, seeping the fear out of their wide-eyed gazes. It's strange to see them so afraid, to see them feeling just like she has, even if someone like Judgement is the cause.
They start to wander off after a moment, after, Beginning thinks, everyone is sure that Judgement is gone. There's a bit of whispering, soft, tense hissing between a few of them, but no one dares to speak.
Beginning herself thinks that now would be a very good time to take her own leave. She should probably go back to Obsession's house... but she really, really doesn't want to. Since sleeping doesn't seem to be possible, she might just have to walk around until her head clears.
Sighing once, heavily, and letting her shoulders droop, Beginning slips away, feeling a weight lift off her shoulders as soon as she's out of the creepy cemetery. The farther away from Judgement, the better.
And then, a hand closes around her wrist, tight enough to bruise.
Beginning is abruptly yanked back, fast enough to make her squeak. She's pulled tight to someone's chest, someone a good few inches taller.
"Hi, new girl," Inconsistency laughs, intentionally drawing out the words. Her red-white eyes are blown wide, something almost frantic dancing across her pupils. She yanks one of Beginning's arms back, forcing her closer to her chest. Beginning's skin crawls. This is way too close.
"So Judgement likes you, huh?" Inconsistency presses, leaning her face in inches away from Beginning's. "Aren't you a lucky one."
If she stays still, she's going to get hurt. Inconsistency has a mean look in her eyes, and Beginning doesn't want to stick around and find out what will happen if she lets things get out of control. Praying it will work, she gets her free arm against Inconsistency's chest and shoves.
A second later, Inconsistency is on the ground four feet away, eyes almost comically wide.
"P-Please don't do that ag-again," Beginning stutters, trying to sound braver than she feels. She has a worried feeling that Inconsistency is going to try to hurt her now, but it, it has to be better than if she'd stayed still. "I don't like being, um, being yanked around. Don't do th-that."
"You ain't kidding!" Inconsistency shrieks, eyes narrowed viciously. "The fuck was that?" She gets to her feet quickly, brushing off her bizarre patchwork of a dress with all four arms. She looks furious.
Beginning swallows hard, but stands her ground. She's figuring it out, little by little. She's starting to think that her body is just as strong as theirs, and if that's true, then she should be able to defend herself even if they get mean. Beginning thinks of the gate, crumpling under her hit, and tries to convince herself that she's just as strong as any of the others.
"So we've both got horns, huh?" Inconsistency suddenly grins, anger flickering out of her eyes almost instantly. "Mine don't look quite like yours, but we both have 'em! You think maybe you were meant to look like me?"
That's... strange. Beginning feels sort of like she should have expected it, but the change is shocking all the same. It makes sense, in a weird way, that this person would jump between personalities so rapidly. She supposes that someone like Inconsistency has quite a bit of name to live up to.
"Um, yes, we do. I don't know if we were meant to look like each other, but your horns are, uh, very nice?" The last bit is almost like a question. Inconsistency's expression is quickly approaching something almost frantically fond, and Beginning really, really doesn't know how to respond. This is getting weird, quickly. She hopes that acting nice will get her somewhere, even if that somewhere is ignored.
Instead, Inconsistency breaks into a broad, intense smile, baring viciously sharp teeth. All four of her eyes are painfully wide.
"That was a compliment, right?" she grins, stepping closer to Beginning all over again. "So you like me, right? See, you get how cool it is that we look like each other! We're the same, don't you think?"
Up close, Beginning can see that all four of her arms are covered in twisting scars, mangling the dark flesh. The lines look like they were torn by claws. Beginning can't imagine Inconsistency staying still long enough to let anyone do that to her, which raises a whole new series of questions.
An instant later, she notices that Inconsistency's eyes are going shiny and wet. Beginning almost jerks back in shock. It's the first time she's seen any of these girls cry, and to have it be Inconsistency of all people is just weird. She's getting more and more of an impression that there's something wrong with this girl, something far beyond what she can handle.
"You're a good person, Beginning," Inconsistency sniffs before Beginning has a chance to respond to her earlier words. "Y-You understand how lonely it is. No one here is like me, not even you, but you get it. Don't you feel sorry for me? I'm alone, just like you."
Yep, weird. This is quickly getting uncomfortable. Beginning wishes she could believe that this emotional reaction is genuine, but she has a feeling that it's as fake as anything Inconsistency has shown her yet.
"Hey, um, please don't cry," Beginning starts, feeling a bit resentful. Even if it is probably faked, whatever conscience she has won't let her ignore tears. She's probably just being used, she thinks bitterly, raising a hand to pat Inconsistency's muscular shoulder comfortingly.
Inconsistency makes a noise that's dangerously close to a whimper, and a second later, latches herself onto Beginning, claws digging into her back hard enough to draw blood. Beginning winces. This is exactly what she was trying to avoid the first time, and even though this little show is supposed to be pathetic, not intimidating, she can feel her skin crawl all over again. Inconsistency really has no idea of what personal space is.
Beginning stiffens up, painfully unsure of how she's supposed to react. Her throat is closing up, unable to find the words to tell Inconsistency to please get off of her. She thinks that she might get hit if she says it.
And then, when her actions earn no more pity, Inconsistency suddenly draws back, glaring at Beginning with burning, blood-red eyes.
"You don't want to help at all! You're just mocking me, aren't you!" she shouts, claws digging even tighter into Beginning's skin. "You awful little bitch! You just want to make fun of me, don't you! You're the worst!" She grabs Beginning by the shoulders and shakes, hard enough to make her vision blur, abruptly enough that Beginning freezes up all over again.
When her vicious reaction doesn't get a response, she screeches. A second later, Beginning's head is knocked to the side from a vicious slap, her head spinning and ears ringing, pain lancing up her nerves.
Inconsistency laughs wildly, grabbing Beginning by the hair and threatening to rip it out. A flash of anger hits Beginning like electricity, and she's seconds away from hitting her own breaking point when Inconsistency is suddenly pulled back, black tendrils winding around her arms.
"Come on, Inconsistency, dear. There's no need to get so rough." Manipulation's honey-sweet voice cuts through the tension like a knife.
Inconsistency bites something nasty back, but drops Beginning. The two of them fuss for a minute, Beginning not really hearing their words. Her head is still ringing, and she can feel a bruise forming on her cheek.
Eventually, though, Inconsistency storms off, shouting some awful insult over her shoulder, barely audible over the clatter of her hooves.
"Are you alright? That girl roughed you up, didn't she?" Manipulation smiles, leaning down to offer Beginning a small, dark hard. Both of her mouths are smiling softly, dark, dark eyes staring intently down at her.
Beginning, feeling very distinctly like she shouldn't trust this person, takes the offered hand. She's learning, she thinks. Whatever Manipulation is planning, Beginning isn't going to think for a second that she's truly being kind. By this point, she knows better. Much, much better.
"Uh, thank you," she mumbles, waiting for Manipulation to lash out.
"It's no problem at all! Why, how could I not help someone as sweet as you? It's like you and me are the only ones here with any manners at all." As she speaks, Manipulations hair, the thick, dark tendrils of it, begin to wave lazily behind her like a cat's tail. Every lock appears to have a mind of its own, floating around her shoulders and waist almost searchingly.
Manipulation reaches out suddenly, taking one of Beginning's hands in her own. Her skin is cool and rough, her fingers bony and strong, and she grips at Beginning's hand so tightly it feels like she wants to tear it off.
"See, dear, I want to help you. There are so many things to learn in the world, and I want to teach you some of them. You won't... well, you simply won't survive here if I don't." Both of Manipulation's mouths stretch into almost mocking smiles, lips curling up in obvious excitement.
Beginning has never felt more like someone's toy.
"Alright, Manipulation. What do you want to teach me?" she asks, half shocked by how even her voice sounds. Perhaps she's finally getting braver. Perhaps she's just slowly becoming numb to the girl's awful ways.
"Oh, how wonderful!" Manipulation squeaks, squeezing Beginning's hand even tighter. "I'll be so good to you, I promise!"
She then takes Beginning off down one of the side streets, hooves an even tapping on the stone. Beginning follows, hesitantly, expecting to be dragged off to somewhere strange once again. But instead, Manipulation stops only a couple blocks away, right across from the remains of a half-collapsed building, rotting slowly in the ashen dirt.
"Now, dear, this is very simple, but it will help you oh-so-much. Here, watch me." With those words, Manipulation glances over at the wreckage. Her coal-black eyes narrow, and a second later, one of the jagged remnants of wood starts to move, shuddering slowly under the weight of the rubble on top of it. Little by little, it pulls itself higher, sliding out from under the rest of the debris and slowly floating over to where the two of them stand.
The piece of wood lands neatly on the ground in front of Beginning, who takes a hesitant step back. That's... not what she was expecting. Harmless, mostly, but the unreality of it has her head spinning. Manipulation did that, Beginning is sure, but the question is how.
She's never seen any of the others do anything like that, and yet, Manipulation is smiling patronizingly, like what she did was obvious.
"See, honey, we all have this sort of magic. You can move things just by thinking about it if you really try. All of us can do it, and I'm sure you can too. I'll teach you how, so no worries." Manipulation smiles again, and Beginning gets the distinct feeling that she's being made fun of.
Even so, she can't afford to be left behind the rest of them. The weaker she is, the less she understands about what her own body is capable of, the worse off she'll be among the monsters who know all of it.
"Alright. Um, thank you, Manipulation. Please show me how." Beginning forces a smile of her own, trying not to look like she feels like either hitting Manipulation or running away then and there. Maybe both.
"It's easy! Just look at what you want to move, and think about where you want it to go. It can help to point or something, so just do whatever works for you, okay? Maybe try something little at first." Manipulation's voice is almost sickeningly sweet, like she's talking to a child, like she's just waiting to watch Beginning fail at a task she sees as pathetically simple.
Beginning feels a familiar burst of anger surge hot in her chest, followed by a sense of bitter determination.
It's like jumping, she tells herself, eyeing one of the biggest pieces of wood. She cleared her first building by four feet. It's like breaking the gate. She was so much stronger than she thought she could ever be.
If only to prove to Manipulation, if only to prove to someone that she's not useless, Beginning takes a deep breath. She stares intently at the beam, a good eight feet long. She pictures it moving, flying, throwing itself as far as she possibly can make it move. No matter what, she's going to get this right. No matter what, she's going to do something right.
And then, for a split second, Beginning pictures the wood hurling itself straight at Manipulation, forcing her to quit making fun of her. A dizzying rush hits Beginning, spinning the world on its axis.
Something inside her head clicks into place.
The wood slams into the building across the street.
Manipulation, who somehow ducked fast enough to avoid the debris, stares at Beginning with huge, pitch-black eyes.
"Wh-What...? How--, you--, what..." Manipulation trails off. Her shoulders are shaking. A second later, her eyes go shiny and wet, then spill over, tracks of brilliant red dribbling down her cheeks in place of tears.
Beginning thinks that she should probably feel bad. A smarter part of her reminds her that Manipulation had been setting her up to fail in the first place. Remembering her mocking smile, the honey-sweet tone of her voice with every patronizing word, it's hard to imagine that her tears are genuine.
"You're faking," Beginning states as if it's obvious to the both of them. "You wanted me to mess it up, right? I'm not a toy for you to play with. Don't treat me like I'm stupid!" The words bubble out of her before she can stop herself, rising to the surface along with tears at her own eyes. Beginning sniffs, hard, then walks away. She doesn't want to face this anymore. She doesn't want to hear any more of Manipulation's lies.
Beginning keeps walking, with no idea of where she's going. It doesn't matter at this point. The town is an endless wall of fog and rotting buildings, and Beginning is once again tempted to just keep going until she leaves it all behind. Her eyes are burning, tears blurring her vision worse than the fog.