Dissonance at the end of Vindication.
A dark, spindly hand shot out from the fragile surface of the dream, the air around it riven into pieces as it opened its palm to reveal a ball of swirling darkness. From that sinister orb came a sickly yellow glow, and as it unfolded like a cocoon, the Harrow emerged before dropping onto the rocky floor.
The hand soon disappeared, leaving its subject to stew in silence. It stood at the exact center of Rena's dream, twitching with impatience as it looked down at the floor. A rupture sprang forth from the creature's staff, shattering the landscape with ease, its rusted surface riven into a thousand pieces.
Rememberance of the Lenora's history, and all that came with it, was wiped away in an instant, replaced by an empty void of rocky islands and hobbles torn asunder. Nothing but the girls and the creature remained within the dream. Whatever the Harrow was attempting to communicate had clearly run its course.
Rena's time was up.
Crown me with your shame.
- - - - - - - - - - -
"Shit." Lila's boots skid across the floor as she stretched out her hands to hold Lunae back. "That can't be good."
A gust of wind shot through the upper levels of the Lenora, wiping away its life and color as the ceiling above the girls disintegrated as if taken by a storm. Lunae could sense the coming darkness and was visibly disturbed. They hadn't yet encountered the Harrow, but were already certain of its strength.
"It's drawing her out." Lunae panted, pointed towards the center of the island, now visible through all the swirling fragments. "Rena!"
"Shit again." Lila frowned. "This is happening too quickly."
Unbeknownst to the Earthling, who had frankly been through too much over the past week, it had already been nearly a day since she entered the dream. Her bearings were thoroughly shot.
Lunae's sharp eyes scanned the horizon, searching desperately for her friends and that girl who had taken her heart. Lila heard the girl gasp, her tail gesturing towards a silver twinkle on the horizon. It seemed someone else had their eyes peeled and had spotted the pair first.
"Ivy!" Lunae's reptilian eyes narrowed, capturing the clear image of the heiress holding her staff high in the air to produce a beacon of light. "It's her!"
Lila didn't need any further confirmation. She wrapped her arm around the girl next to her, tossed out a tangle of Psionic energy, and swung across the floating islands with unmatched confidence. Lunae was a bit surprised to see her friend so able and daring, and couldn't help but smile a smidge.
"I didn't know you could do this." She whispered into Lila's mind using her Psionic voice. "Ivy must have you feeling brave."
"It's like what my uncle once told me. With great power," Lila spoke in a comedically stoic voice. "Comes great big booty bitches."
Lunae had to stifle a laugh. If Ivy were there, she would make a comment about what did in fact lie beneath her skirt. Lila was a bit lucky in that sense.
Then again, so was Sonera. There was a lot of responsibility to go around.
- - - - - - - - -
"I can't face her." Sonera shook her head with uncertainty as Ivy climbed out of her arms.
"Sure you can. You're not the first to push past your shame for a girl." Ivy chided loudly as she held her staff high. "Lunae does the same for you."
"She should desert me."
"That's not what she deserves."
"I can't give her what she needs."
"Neither can I. Yet we try. For them."
Ivy held out her hand, accepting Sonera's grasp as the assassin's tender fingers wrapped around her own. They stood together, accepting each other for their mutual flaw. Such a stark similarity was present even back when they fought.
"She acts like it's all a game. Yet she trembles like a flower," Ivy spoke softly, watching as Lila drew closer in the distance. "In her, there's a power."
Sonera muttered her own doubts, sharing in Ivy's moment. "Is it innocence? Merely a guile?"
"I see it in her eyes."
"But something tells you she lies."
They spoke in tandem. "Still."
It didn't really matter what doubts they harbored. Fate had given them Lila and Lunae. And they had fully resigned themselves to that truth.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Rena stood atop a precipice of ruin, looking down at her nightmare in the apex of the storm. She shivered as if trapped in an icy storm. Such was her fear that she hardly even noticed Alia by her side.
"It's calling to me."
"Just tell it what it wants to hear, Rena." Alia shook her head. "You can't hide. Not from them."
Rena didn't disagree. But something within her felt responsible for those who had followed her into the dream. They felt like family to her.
Even Ivy.
"Leave while you can." Rena despaired. "Alia."
The dancer stepped closer, leaning against Rena's shoulder. She was a good bit shorter than the pink-haired girl. And her breath was somehow more labored.
She had something to say.
"You were the first."
"What?"
"Lying awake at night, I thought I would face this alone. Yrix was inevitable for someone like me. But then you came."
Rena didn't pull away. She looked down at Alia's black hair and sighed. In her heart, she knew her words were honest.
"It was just a favor."
"Sometimes two things happen at once."
Rena began to understand how Lila felt when it came to the heiress. Once a girl notices the foreign beauty of another, she cannot turn back. And Alia was beautiful.
Her dark skin, her tiny, petite figure, and the golden accessories that dangled from her limbs came together to form the visage of something sensual and vivid. Rena knew then that she was not alone. Though it would take some time to accept the greater scope of those feelings.
Or perhaps not. Lila wasn't the only one coping with her preferences.
Alia smiled as she spoke. "I'm not scared of it. We're both monsters. I'll face it with you."
"Well, at least I know what I'm getting into," Rena smirked. "With both of you."
"Don't joke!" Alia pouted. "I'm serious. You won't get your goody-two-shoe Lila with me, Rena. I'm not a good person."
"Selfish?"
"Obsessed with my own goals."
"Then why cling to me?"
Alia blushed and flinched a bit before taking a deep breath.
"Even I get lonely. From time to time."
"The countess and the common girl?" Rena leaned against Alia, the top of her head resting on the girl's much shorter peak. "Something like that?"
"I was always more of a...what you Earthlings call Amira." Alia rolled her eyes.
Rena scoffed. "I'm not from Earth, silly."
"You act like one. Where I came from makes me closer to Lunae than you."
"What a freak."
"A sexy freak." Alia taunted, trying to press her tiny breasts into Rena's side. "Admit it."
"You or Lunae?"
"Both of us."
Rena sighed loudly.
"I'm too old for this gay shit."
The girls stewed in their silence for a moment. But when Rena stepped forward, Alia held her back with a firm grasp.
"Allow me," Alia whispered.
With a snap of her fingers, the two girls disappeared, their bodies wrapped by a shimmer of energy.
- - - - - - - -
"Finally." Yrix yawned, staring down at the girls who still slept soundly. "Took them long enough."
The Arch-Flayer could see well into the dream and was monitoring its outcome. Her two remaining students, however, could not. A part of her felt the need to share every update as they wandered closer like curious cats.
"Rena moves against the Harrow with Alia," Yrix spoke out loud so that the twins, Mina and Dina, could hear her words. "And our iconic quartet is reuniting."
"Will they win?" Mina asked with a shrill voice.
"I hope they do," Dina spoke sluggishly, like she was always tired.
"I'm surprised you care. You're usually all so reserved. Fighting in the shadows, only for yourselves." Yrix snapped. "What changed?"
"It would be lonely if they die." The twins responded in tandem. "We like watching them."
"Agreed." Yrix sighed. "But they won't lose."
"Alia and Rena are flirting again, aren't they?" Dina complained.
Yrix groaned loudly. She controlled so much of her students' fate, yet none of her calculations had considered the debauchery of love. It was all so annoying for the Arch-Flayer.
"Two girls are weird." Mina nodded. "Why didn't you kidnap any boys?"
"I truly should have." Yrix sighed. "I didn't think you ladies would get all freaky on me like this. I mean...what are they even doing?"
"Finding refuge from you." Dina shrugged, fiddling with her fingers. "We can't imagine they were all like this...before you."
"They weren't." Yrix shrugged. "Only Ivy and Lunae were previously so...depraved."
"So you made them wacky?" Mina giggled.
"Don't you get any ideas now, you two." Yrix chided.
"We're twins."
"That wouldn't stop anyone here. At least not now, I think."
It was strange to see Yrix so uncertain for once. But for all her bluster, she did care about her students. And it was strange to watch their love for eachother grow just as fervently as their mania.