Don't Close Your Eyes: The Lamb and the Knife

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Inside the dreamer's nightmares...

Jubilee, Meggan, and Amara have a showdown with Selene on the streets of NYC. Meggan is used as a sacrifice. But the girls get the upperhand and break out of the nightmare.


A giddy glow emanated in her eyes like dark jewels. The smile was little more than an upturned corner of her mouth, more smirk than smile really, but the young woman at her side could feel the joy radiate from the woman. A thin hand stroked through the girl's hair, the touch both loving and possessive. It was an eerie mirror of the way her mind brushed through and whispered through her protégée's. "Love." Her voice held the sneer that never made it to her face. "Love is no way to rule, my dear poppet. Fear," the sound of the word rolled in her mouth, thick and sweet and savored. "Fear will give you loyalty love could never gain." The adoring looking on her face as she gazed upon the girl was marred only for the instant it took for her eyes to light upon one in the screaming, fleeing mass of people around them.

The newest victim struggled but was drawn to the dark-haired woman by some unseen force. Within reach it only took the barest of touches before the man gasped, eyes wide, and began to lose his color. Selene rolled her shoulders in a languorous, feline fashion humming a low, "Mm..." as the man's life drained from his body. The feeling she shared with her young student through the link she'd created between their minds was only a short step away from orgasmic.

It was so reminiscent of the last time, but feeling as though she had never been freed. As though Amanda and Kurt and everyone else hadn’t succeeded in getting her back. If you ignored the killing, the swirling miasma of sickening evil flowing through her was the very same. Inwardly, in the small place she was still able to think for herself and understand the horror, Meggan just wanted to cringe away from the other woman’s touch. On the surface, with Selene firmly entrenched in her mind and never giving her a moment’s peace, she just couldn’t control the wicked smile that welled up with each life shed, and each drop of blood spilled. Meggan breathed in deeply as the energy flowed through the two of them, and found herself relaxing in a satisfaction that wasn’t hers, leaning into the touch for the barest of instants before withdrawing.

Meggan frowned then, pulled from her thoughts as she heard a squeal of terror from behind them. “What about the woman? Do you want her, too?” A strange eagerness ran through her words. There had been a woman accompanying the man Selene had just claimed, forgotten until now. If she had remained silent where she cringed, there might have been hope for her, but it was a slim one, one which would bring nothing but disappointment.

Selene wore a smile like the edge of a knife. She'd forgotten about the woman, even with her insipid screaming. There was such a chorus of screams it was hard to pick a single voice out from the cacophony. But her young protégée was a sharp girl. Nothing got past her. She would do so well under Selene's loving tutelage. " Mm...yes, yes I do want her. Why don't you fetch her for us?" The eagerness in Selene's voice was little more than a whisper, but Meggan could feel it easily. With Selene's power running through the young woman she could do almost anything she set her mind to. Her mentor was anxious to see all the wonderful ways in which she would use it.

That wasn’t mere terror in the woman’s screams, it was devastation thrown in—very distinctive, and very loud, both vocally, as well as emotionally given what she had witnessed. That easily stood out for Meggan, even if others around them were yelling and running in droves like so many mindless sheep, going wherever the tidal wave of humanity took them, without any feeling other than to get away. “At once, mistress. Shouldn’t be long before you have her,” she replied with an obedient nod.

It was easier than she’d expected to obtain her, once the woman seemed to have gone into a sleepwalking state of shock, ceasing her flailing after a few paltry slaps and just one attempt to stumble away in what should have been a run, before Meggan had her by the wrists. It was too easy. Meggan had a flicker of remorse and sympathy for her, before it drowned again under Selene’s power. Disgust at the cries rose instead, and she shoved her the rest of the way, making sure she stumbled and fell at Selene’s feet. It seemed an appropriate spot to place her. “She’s yours now, just as I promised,” she smiled, as she returned to Selene’s side.

"Now, now, my pet," she cooed to the woman. Selene stroked a hand through Meggan's hair again even as she leaned down toward the sobbing woman. "It doesn't have to hurt." A hand caressed down the side of her face, filthy and streaked with tears. "If you just give in it can be so much better. If you realize how we can take all your pain away." Her touch inexplicably calmed the woman. Contact, however, was very important and so her hand remained on the woman's face, a thumb brushing back and forth over her cheek over and over again.

Selene turned to Meggan, eyes brightening for a moment. "Would you like to learn how to take pieces of her mind, poppet?" The whispering in the young woman's mind turned into a caress that promised to teach her how. It promised that with Selene's power riding through her she could be capable of so much.

Meggan had been silently waiting for the woman’s death, but now her eyes lit up in delight. “Yes. Oh, yes, I would love to,” Meggan whispered without hesitation. It was why they were here, wasn’t it? For her to learn. The idea horrified the small sliver that was still herself, but she knew she couldn’t stop. When the power sang through her mind again, blotting out everything else around them, she wondered why she would even want to.

A look like a proud parent crossed Selene's face for just an instant. "Now, poppet, you're going to have to find her mind with yours and then feel around for what you want to take. Hope is always good. Happy memories. The pieces where those reside are powerful and without them she'll be much more obedient, you see. Just concentrate and I'll guide you." Quiet murmurs through Meggan's mind directed her where to go, told her the things that words couldn't quite convey. Selene shared the secrets to hollowing out this woman's mind with her young student. Shells weren't very useful for much but practice dummies, but oh the things they could practice on her.

Meggan listened to the instructions, both within and without, nodding carefully before they dove in after a shiver of anticipation went through her like a flame. It was almost hypnotic, that level of focus. Following a moment more of being guided, of being nudged around like a baby bird to flight, and she found that which Selene had described. She went directly for all the memories where love factored in, or the quiet joy of a graduation, an engagement. They were easy to find, with the woman being so raw with pain now. Remove the laughter of a honeymoon, or love of a birth, anything which the removal of would satisfy Selene—satisfy their purposes. She reached out with a steady hand, removing each carefully, as one would a puzzle piece.

Leave behind the fear of a mugging here, the sorrow of a funeral there. Meggan left hope for last, hesitating for a moment for reasons she couldn’t voice, before carving that out carefully, gradually, so none would be left behind. Should she shatter the pieces still left out of mercy, or just leave it? There wouldn’t be much left to even function as a human being, and she looked to Selene. “Should I keep going? Do I need to do anything else?”

"Do you want anything else, poppet?" Her look was dangerous. Selene was growing drunk on the life force they had been drinking all night. And she was growing steadily more youthful as a result. The image of her flickered back to one of a rotting, emaciated corpse for no more than the blink of an eye before her youthful appearance reasserted itself. An evening's decadence with her eager protégée had rewound the years and decades, leaving the psychic vampire somewhere in her early to mid-twenties. "There is power in what's left, but there are other skills to hone on someone like her should you choose to learn them." Images flashed through Meggan's mind of people being strangled by the patterns on the wallpaper, being trapped in paintings, being marionettes whose strings they pulled.

Then, with a sharply focused glance a man who must have thought himself a hero running toward them with a crow bar in his hand was lifted up off the ground by a street light. The thick metal wrapped itself around him, pinning his arms and his legs to his body. Immobile he was still defiant. So the metal grated and screeched as it slid against itself, tightening around him like a boa constrictor slowly enough that he didn't even know what was going on. "So very many skills, my dear," Selene purred with an elated note.

The flickering between one appearance for Selene and the other had startled Meggan the first time it occurred at the start of their night of mayhem, but now she seemed to be growing accustomed to it, barely blinking this time. If the remainders of the woman’s life could be used for anything at all, then she wouldn’t destroy it. “There’s a chance, yes. We save the leftovers, then, until we’re finished playing. Try one or two of the things you showed me out on them later,” Meggan suggested, with a frosty smile.

Her gaze turned to the man tied up by the bar. He didn’t seem like a screamer, she distantly mused. Or he didn’t have the breath for it, not now. Trying to save the woman who was now like a lifeless doll at their feet only shortened his life that much sooner. Revulsion and pleasure warred in her soul, but the reigning emotion was obvious from the start. “Or maybe him. Make him into a marionette, it'll last longer,” she pleaded with a chuckle.

The smile crossing Selene's lips was proud, affectionate and utterly decadent. Those dark, jewel-like eyes fixed on the man and a hand raised. It was an unremarkable gesture, nothing more than a raised hand slightly limp at the wrist with faintly waving fingers. Whether the gesture was what undid the lamp post or whether she simply did it for show was hard to decipher. Either way, the man began to slip out of the metal grasp and free fall toward the ground. A precise, sharp cant of her hand pulled her fingers into a gentle curve. The motion seemed to catch the man in the middle of the air.

"And what would you like to us to do with our little puppet?" she asked her young student, voice like silk wrought through with barbs.

Meggan observed that the man appeared to have his face stuck in a horrified grimace, and beamed in delight. Her eyes turned cold and calculating, then, as she debated what they should try with him. “If he’s not fun enough when we’re playing…we make him dance a ballet for us. Through the oncoming traffic. If he doesn’t make it, we could always grab someone else, couldn’t we?” He would be easy to replace. It would thrill her if the man survived their games. They could put him through his paces, into ever more delicious humiliations.

* * * * *

Something thick and ominous hung in the air. It wasn't quite palpable yet, more like the intuitive leap that a storm was on the horizon because the wind had picked up. The sky was bright, not a cloud in sight, yet that feeling hung there. It was punctuated by the sudden appearance of a woman running at a dead sprint. It was just her at first, but soon after a man followed. A few moments later a screaming girl came. All of them had emerged from the same direction, injecting chaos into what could have been and otherwise calm afternoon in this part of the city.

Jubilee, perched on the side of a building above , watched the screaming people, and wondered what they were running from, or to. She pushed off from the building, landing with a roll on the building below , before heading toward the fire escape beyond. It was time to find out what exactly was going on, and the only way to do that was either talk to one of the people seemingly fleeing (Not likely from the looks of them.) or head toward the source.

Afternoons in New York were always guaranteed to be somewhat unusual, but the odd feeling in the air had put Amara on edge. It had kept her on the streets when most sensible people would lock them indoors.

And then she couldn't help but notice the people. One running, screaming person might be brushed aside as just New York being New York, but there were more of them, which meant something was wrong. An attempt to stop one of them and find out what was wrong was met with a terrified look and a warning to run, at which point Amara knew she had to check it out, to see if there was something she could do to help.

"Amara!" Jubilee called out, noticing the other woman on the street as she headed at a jog in the direction the people were fleeing from. "Wait up."

Whatever was happening, it was never a bad thing to have company, and especially company that could do the things Jubilee knew Amara could do.

"Jubilee!" Amara was relieved to see a familiar face, and she ducked through the crowd so she could catch up with her. She didn't know Jubilee particularly well, but well enough that she knew if there was trouble, they had a pretty good chance of being able to handle it.

"Do you know what's going on?"

"Not a clue," Jubilee replied, the grin she was sporting getting wider at those simple words. She always had enjoyed anything even remotely resembling an adventure, and this certainly felt like one. She watched several more people run by them, the crowd of people seemed to be getting thicker the further in they went. "I figure if we just head in the opposite direction from these folks, we'll eventually find something."

As the two young women moved through the streets, following the rough path of the fleeing people laid out for them, the feel of the area began to change. A heavy feeling pressed down on them and the scent of death promised nothing they wanted to find. It started with one body, withered and wrinkled as if it had been laying there for centuries. Then came another ancient corpse. In the middle of an intersection lay a small pile of them. People hung lifelessly from power lines like scarecrows. A lump in an awning squirmed as if something were trapped inside it but there seemed to be no seams, no zipper, no opening of any sort. It only grew more bizarre from there.

It hadn't taken long for Amara to press her lips together to keep from gagging at the sight of the corpses, and things hadn't gotten better the more they moved through the city streets. Without her realising it, her hands had become wreathed in flames, an automatic response to the disturbing tableau unfolding before them. Her relief from finding Jubilee had long faded, her instincts screaming at her to turn and run in the same direction as everyone else, to run away from the danger. But she knew she couldn't, knew that someone had to face whoever was causing all of this death.

Her eyes lingered too long on one figure that ran past - she was sure the person shouldn't be able to do that, run without their skin. Surely that should have killed them, but apparently it hadn't. She began to hurry, breaking into a jog as she pushed herself to keep heading against the tide of people, towards whatever they were fleeing.

"Someone's having fun," Jubilee muttered, almost to herself as she kept pace with Amara. The scene around them didn't shock or horrify her, although there were moments when she thought she might lose her cookies at some of the more gruesome sights. Whoever was doing this had a perchant for torture, especially of the slow and inevitable death type.

"And a lot of people aren't." At the sight of the mutilated corpse of a young child, it's eyes hanging from it's skull and the rest of it withered Amara had to pause, holding back whatever food was left in her stomach. This was - whatever it was, it was monstrous. After she swallowed hard, managing to keep herself from throwing up, she started to move again, this time in a flat out run. Whatever was happening, they had to stop this. Whatever the cost.

The next intersection revealed the spring from which the panic and fear had spring. A dark haired woman stood in the center of the crossroads with one hand raised, fingers moving as if she were quietly conducting music only she could hear. A man hanging mid-air seemed to react with each gentle motion of her digits as he pirouetted down the street. Cars with no one driving them would gun down the street and promptly turn at the corner. They piled up on each street to the side of the woman, sometimes crashing or screeching to a halt while others would simply break softly and stop before the engines cut out. She wore a joyous smile, eyes glittering like onyx in the light. And at her side her protégée enjoyed the show.

For all anyone knew based on his utter lack of precision, it could just as easily have been a segment from the Nutcracker put on by an amateur, or a mediocre elementary warm-up exercise from a failing student. Meggan applauded as she caught sight of a semi, before it whooshed by, swerving at the last second. She wouldn’t be disappointed at the near miss for long. The wind had blown him just the wrong way as it passed, causing him to tumble before the entertainment forcibly continued. The next vehicle just ever so slightly clipped the man’s foot as he performed a jerky pirouette, causing a maddened whirling. She could feel just how much he was suffering, just how much he wanted to stop due to waves of pain and exhaustion and unable to voice it, but she was just too delighted with their games to care. “Oh, you almost finished him off that time. Missed him by a few inches,” she beamed. What did it matter, if he died now or died later? They could always find someone else to play with.

When Amara and Jubilee finally found the cause of the horror, Amara stopped short, unable to believe her eyes. Her brain wouldn't even process the corpses that lay around the place, her gaze lingering over long on the poor man being forced to dance. How could anyone --

Her gaze finally fell on the perpetrators of the horror, and all thoughts of 'how could' fell from her mind. This was - this was - it no longer surprised her that such horrors were being performed, because the Dark Goddess was here, and she was the mother of all horrors. Part of her wasn't even surprised that Selene was here - why would it be a surprise that a goddess had returned from the dead?

But she had Meggan - again - and this was not okay. She didn't know where Amanda was, and thoughts of contacting her somehow flew from her head. They had to rescue Meggan, and they had to stop Selene. Again.

"Distract them," Jubilee said, already moving away toward the closest tall building. She needed to get somewhere high, the better to launch a running attack.

Amara just nodded, snapping out of her horror at Jubilee's words. She couldn't afford to stay frozen now. In fact, she needed to do just the opposite.

"Let him go!" Amara called across the space, one moment a pretty blonde and the next a figure from myth herself, all light and heat and flame. "And let Meggan go as well." Tiny flames leapt from her form and fell to the ground as she moved closer to the goddess and her protégée, ignoring her instincts to flee in the other direction.

The command, or rather the attempt at one, drew a lazy smile to Selene's lips. She found the flaming young woman easily enough and the sight grew her smile until it threatened to crack her face in two with the delight of it. For long moments all she did was stare, fingertips still dancing and pulling the invisible strings of her puppet. Another vehicle came careening down the street and Selene's fingers went suddenly stiff and straight, pointing to the sky. The SUV crashed into the man's momentarily frozen form and kept going with him as the new hood ornament.

No longer controlling her marionette, her hand fell to Meggan's hair and began to stroke through it lovingly. "Poppet, we have a new toy," she whispered into the young woman's ear while her eyes remained on Amara.

Raising her voice so the fiery girl could hear her properly, Selene's voice was as smooth as snakeskin over gravel. "My darling Amara, what sort of greeting is that for your goddess? You please me so very much of the time, but I worry your time away from Nova Roma has clouded your mind. Must you be reminded of your place in the world, my servant?"

Amara winced when the vehicle hit the man - and all she could do was hope that the impact had killed him, and finally put him out of his misery. A quick death was the most mercy Amara could imagine Selene showing anyone.

"I'm not your servant," she said defiantly, moving quicker towards Selene. "Not anymore. And never again." A part of her trembled at the words, at the thought of displeasing a goddess. But all Selene could offer was darkness and death, and Amara knew there was more than that in the world.

Her words did nothing to displace the smile the witch wore. "Of course you are. I made you. Your very existence possible. You shall always be my servant. I am your Goddess. I am your mother I gave you life." Her smile quirked at one side as her free hand made a swiping motion. Amara's fire instantly went out. "And I can take it away. Never forget who controls you, Amara. These illusions you have of being your own person are very cute but horridly inaccurate, I'm afraid."

The fond stroking of Meggan's hair continued through all this and now Selene's head tilted until her temple rested against the young woman's head. "Poppet? What should we do with her? Defiance can hardly be tolerated from one of our own."

Meggan leaned into Selene’s touch with exquisite pleasure, while trying to devise a suitable punishment. If she were herself, she would have tried to run straight for Amara’s arms. But she wasn’t, and so many fiendish thoughts were flitting through her mind. “I say…we burn her,” she suggested sweetly, tone contrasting darkly with the wicked smile curling her lips. “In a volcano. If you’ve put out her fire here, her flesh could burn so easily. She’d make a wonderful sacrifice.” A moment’s thought, and the empath added, “If it doesn’t, then we’ll have such fun before the rest of the city becomes ashes from the lava. Does that please you?” Size didn’t matter when a volcano was involved, did it? There would be so many screaming people, screams of agony echoing even louder in both thought and feeling than they already were as their skin peeled away, pavement melting beneath their feet.

Selene rewarded her protégée with an affectionate, almost motherly kiss to her temple. "Yes, that would please me quite a bit, I suspect." She didn't need the gesture to set Amara aflame again, but Selene liked pop of her fingers that seemed to ignite the girl. "She can be our first sacrifice and then the others will come and their power will be our power. My dear poppet, you have no idea what power my misled little servant here will give us." There was an eager hunger plain on Selene's face and just like that her mind whispered through Amara's, repressing her misguided hero instincts and tugging her strings just the right way.

Meggan was content, now that the idea had met Selene’s approval. “That sounds wonderful,” she breathed in anticipation. This was so much fun. She fell silent now, watching keenly as the other woman enjoyed playing with Amara. She was tempted to one or two tiny bits of rifling through as Selene had taught her, just to test the waters, but it wasn’t much. It was Selene’s banquet, after all, and she knew not to interfere, lest she accidentally do some sort of damage to a brand new toy, before anything could be wrung from it. Killing someone with a volcano was a far higher priority than her playing, after all, and she refused to look away, having never witnessed this variety of death before.

At the suggestion of the volcano, Amara had been horrified. She wouldn't do it. She wouldn't. She couldn't sentence anyone to die that way, could not again listen to the screams of people sinking into lava.

But who was she to fight the will of a goddess? In the end, she could not. Her mind had been Selene's for so long, and there was nothing she could do to stop her from taking it back.

"I'm sorry," she whispered despairingly, before she began to do as she was ordered. Aflame once more, she raised her hands, and began her fight with the earth. The asphalt cracked and groaned, while deep below the earth's crust split as Amara called forth the molten rock at its core.

Meggan shook her head in amusement at the apology, before her eyes widened momentarily as the ground shook. She resisted the desire to cheer, waiting for Amara to hurry up and get to the best part of the show. The death. Right now, she felt that even if Amara didn’t turn into a Roman candle and become a burnt and crispy blackened husk in the depths of the summoned volcano, it would still be glorious. Maybe some hapless fool could wander by and fall in from his lack of survival instincts. Or maybe they could dunk someone in slowly, and listen to their screams. This would be spectacular.

The joy of the young woman beside her was shared by the dark-haired woman through their link. A deep-seated satisfaction came from it. She had always known Meggan would be the perfect young woman to mentor. She was so very like Selene deep down, she only had to be shown. Once shown she outdid even Selene's expectations. It was lovely.

As the volcano raised images chased themselves through Selene's mind of the people they could sacrifice. Of the power, the blood, the screaming... Oh, the screaming. It was one of her favorite parts. "Shall we sacrifice the wayward servant, my dear, or shall we take her and remind her of her place under us again?"

Jubilee had finally achieved a good vantage point only to realise that while she'd been busy, Amara had succumbed to Selene's influence. So now instead of simply two people, she was facing three, two of which she couldn't harm considering they were both controlled. She needed to figure out some way to lure Selene away from both Amara and Meggan so she could take care of her, and hopefully snap the two of them out of whatever mental control they were under.

"We totally need to find another city to live in, this one is like, completely overrun with crazy," Jubilee muttered to herself, crouching down on the rooftop to watch for a chance to act.

Meggan got to choose how they dealt with her? How exciting, even if it was difficult to make that decision. “Sacrifice! Can’t we do both, though? If she doesn’t burn when we try to sacrifice her…then we remind her of her place,” she smiled. Provided she still had her legs, following the attempted sacrifice. Might get a little messy otherwise, since one couldn't bow before someone without legs.

Selene held up a finger, lips parting slightly, and paused. She looked for a moment like a teacher about to correct a student. "How much fun is it to simply throw her into the lovely lava she has brought us? I think, poppet, that we should consider allowing her to fully appreciate what she has brought us first." Her eyes lit up for a moment and she smiled. "Perhaps a sacrifice to whet the palate of our beautiful volcano and then we can allow it to cannibalize her?"

Meggan listened, understanding that the fun would be over too soon any other way. “Yes, you’re right, that’s so much better. We can see her suffer for longer, prolong the experience.” She looked over the crowd that frequently thinned out before growing with more mindless fleeing…sometimes in the wrong direction. “Can we make it a game? The next person we see who’s trying to be a hero, or is just too dumb to get out of our way, gets to be our sacrifice,” Meggan pleaded with a chuckle. There were several people that could fit the bill. There was a child parted from its mother…she was having trouble deciding if that would be too easy for them to even contemplate. If she had gone with the next screaming person, that would have been the entire town. That would be getting ahead of things.

"Hm...perhaps a little more selective, my dear. After all, not all sacrifices have the same effect. Why only stab when you can twist the knife in the wound?" Selene smiled again and let her student look over the crowd of people. Perhaps she would find someone suitable. In the meantime the cracks in the pavement began to writhe and slither their way up Amara's legs. They coiled around her, weaving into a tight mesh that pinned her arms and legs to her body so she could do little more than wiggle in her struggle. Then Selene slipped out of the blonde's mind to leave her with only her own desperate thoughts of how to escape and fight. She'd never be able to burn her way out of the shadow shroud. Light could make shadow retreat, but nothing truly obliterated it.

***
Jubilee had been watching the events below, unsure if she should keep silent or try something, even if it was suicidal to go up against someone like Selene who could certainly outclass her with sheer ability at magic. She wished Remy was here, or Amanda, either would know what to do better in this situation then she would. Things had gone too far however, and she couldn't allow Amara to die, or Meggan to be manipulated anymore.

"Selene," she called out, standing on the roof of a Brownstone building, not unlike the one she lived in. The light from the fire played against her face, casting it into shadows and highlights. "How about you stop picking on children, or are they the only thing you can handle these days?"

True, Amara wasn't technically a child, but Jubilee figured that technicalities were hardly what you looked for in an insult. It was all about getting her attention, and pissing her off as much as possible. 'Picking on a child, and an adult who is less trained to deal with complete bastards then I am' was a bit too much of a mouthful to make a really effective insult.

The small tilt of her head was mirrored in the quirk of her mouth. Selene looked...amused. "I am educating. Education involves examples and practical experimentation. Should you find someone who does not qualify as a child you are welcome to send them my way in order to further enlighten my student." A woeful sigh deflated the woman only for the barest of moments. "However, the adults have all sensibly run away. All I see here are children." The comment was pointedly meant to include Jubilee herself.

"It's sad that you think you're still a child," Jubilee replied, tone mournful. She crouched, making a smaller target of herself, and also making it more likely that she'd be able to move quickly should Selene try anything. "They've got hospitals for that, you know. Ones with wonderful drugs that'll make you feel alllll better."

"As ever, Miss Lee, your wit is razor sharp. It wounds me," the witch deadpanned.

Selene turned to her young protégée hand coming to rest on her shoulder as it finished a stroke of her hair. "I think we've two lessons to teach, poppet. She is the one to teach it, I believe." She gestured to a corner where shadows peeled back to reveal a girl standing by the street sign. There was something immediately familiar about her in that way of a word on the tip of one's tongue that won't quite fully manifest. She was also vague, oddly fuzzy around the edges. "Would you fetch her for me, poppet?"

Meggan was reluctant to leave her side, but inclined her head in affirmation, hurrying in the direction of the person being held fast until she was able to get a better look at their face. When she did, she paused in confusion for an instant. How had she not known this person looked like her before? Either Selene had made someone else look and move exactly like her, or…she didn’t know what. Emotionally, even, it felt like her. A test of some kind? She shook her head, all doubt flying out the window again, as an arrogant confidence began flooding her via the link. Don’t question it, then, follow it through to the end. “We’re not going to keep her waiting, now, are we,” she whispered in the ear of the other her. She wouldn’t wait for an answer, she didn’t need to. She did pick up on the element of fear virtually pouring off her.

Meggan seized the arm of the one that looked so much like her. Even the arm she was grabbing felt like her own. Her or not, Selene needed to use this one, and she couldn’t disappoint her. She didn’t want to. With that one’s arms bound, it was an easy matter to get her the rest of the way. A solid shove in the back propelled her duplicate the rest of the way, nearly causing her to trip over her own feet as she came to a halt, where with a simple reach Selene could embrace her, if she so chose. The thought intrigued her, even as it confused her, and she looked to the other woman for guidance. “Here she is, just as you instructed.”

"Lovely, poppet." Selene's voice was one of purring approval. Fingers trailed down along the side of the fearful doppleganger's face until they grasped her chin firmly. "Aren't you a pretty one. So sweet. Pure. Like throwing Christmas in the fire." The witch smiled, the look more cruel than glad. "Mm...you'll be such a treat for us, pet. A feast. How unexpected."

Still smiling, Selene looked up at where Jubilee was perched. "Coming to save her before we watch her burn, my little hero?" She nudged the girl up the volcano, each step urged on with a sharp poke to her lower back not unlike shards of glass stabbing through her flesh.

"I don't think so," Jubilee replied, staying where she was.

She knew enough about magic and what you could do with it that she was suspicious of this doubled Meggan, it smelled too much like a trick for her to willingly move any closer then where she was.

"Ah, it's such a pleasant surprise when the supposed heroes step aside and allow fate to continue on its course uninterrupted." Selene had her doubts regarding the Asian woman remaining station. She was prepared for the idiot child to spring into action to save the day. Until then, however, she would continue as planned. She nudged the sweet little doppelganger again with a sharp jab to the base of her spine.

That really was a perfect likeness, and she found herself admiring the power Selene must have drawn on to create it. Meggan watched in utter fascination as the doppelganger stared from her to Selene and back again in delicious fear and confusion, before staggering onward, inching closer to death ever so reluctantly. "Oh, don't worry,” she called over mockingly, as it became apparent that she had halted all progress again. “It will be an excruciatingly painful death.” The words startled and revolted the other her, but she was closer to the volcano now. It was difficult to prevent herself from getting entangled in the other one’s feelings, seeing as they were practically her own. Or would have been her own, if she wasn't in the right place, at Selene's side. Even if she couldn’t separate the two of them well, it might make for a more interesting sacrifice if she could feel every single terrifying second from the end of the other her.

"You really don't think I care that you're sacrificing a doppelganger, right?" Jubilee called down, having moved further down the roof into the shadows. "Because dude, seriously? Nobody is that stupid."

A look of delight lighted upon Selene's face again. "Am I? Are you sure about that?"

The witch paused and turned to the sweet girl being forced closer and closer to the edge of the volcano's mouth. Her head tilted as she stared at the young woman curiously. "Are you real? Or are you a fake? It's okay," she purred as gently as Selene possibly could. A finger trailed down the girl's spine, "You're allowed to talk for now."

Meggan watched in amusement as her double shivered in what could only be terror at the feather light touch. “I’m real. Of course, I’m real. I’m no fake, I promise you I’m not. I’m me. I think I’d know if I weren’t. I wouldn’t shove anyone into a volcano, either,” the duplicate insisted shakily as she looked down. There was no question as to what she was thinking, there. She didn’t want to be shoved, and was gathering her thoughts, preparing to plead her case as much as needed if it saved her life.

The real Meggan couldn’t help but briefly wonder if they had the same set of memories up to now, too, before the curiosity shriveled and died. They weren’t here to test things and bond with pathetic chatting and giggling like sisters, they were here to throw someone into a volcano, whether they looked exactly like her or not. Meggan barely refrained from laughing at the continued look of horror as the other her watched Selene, one would watch a lion moving in for the kill. Holding her tongue, sending Jubilee nothing but a mocking look, would breed more confusion than taunting her would. She felt a deep sense of satisfaction that Selene was drawing out the terror, mingling with a warm pleasure from the link. How could anyone ever doubt her? She never would.

Smiling, Selene challenged the doppelganger. "Can you prove it? No one seems to think you're you. And no one will save you. They'll watch you burn with a smile in their hearts. They'll watch your skin blacken and crack and peel off. Because you're not real." The joy in her voice as she said this suggested very much otherwise.

“Yes, I am,” the doppelganger argued, sounding very much near tears, before she swallowed it down. “I know that I am. We…probably both have the same memories of family, the same powers, so I…I can’t prove anything like that. I know what I feel, and I have to be real,” she insisted, as she glanced back and forth between Selene and the real her. All she received in answer from the real one was a mocking shake of her head that feigned sadness.

The real Meggan thought that simple belief was enormously amusing, and almost convincing to her own ears. Such conviction, for such a flimsy counterargument. She could sense how close to the precipice of feeling utterly defeated the other her was. If she weren’t positive she was real herself, with every fiber of her being, she might begin to wonder about little things she couldn’t quite name. That other one gave up a little bit faster than she would, she felt, but maybe Jubilee wouldn’t notice that. She was patiently waiting for Selene to rip the hope of being saved away.

Selene wore her most patient face and patted the girl on her shoulder, clearly disappointed. "I don't think you were quite convincing enough." Then she jabbed the girl hard in her back, the force augmented by the vampire's magic so it hit her sharp and hard though the movement was casual and light. A little cry sounded as the girl took another step forward. How lovely.

"Jubilee!" Amara had been struggling against the prison that Selene had created for her, to no avail. She should have been able to melt the road surrounding her, but she still found herself trapped.

"It doesn't matter which one is real, or which one isn't. What if you're wrong? That's Amanda's little sister. You can't just stand by and do nothing."

Couldn't she? Jubilee wasn't so sure, and that Amara had been controlled so quickly at the same time Selene was seemingly controlling both Meggans, whether one was a doppelganger or not seemed to indicate that Jubilee going down there was a bad idea. It wasn't that she didn't care, or that she didn't want to save both girls, she wanted to desperately but it wasn't wise to get closer. It certainly wasn't wise to go up against Selene all by herself. She'd had close hand knowledge of just what the woman was capable of, and as powerful as she knew she was, magic was an entirely different ballgame.

"I'm sorry," she said, glancing at Amara and both Meggans, but in her head she was talking to Amanda as well. "I can't help you."

She turned, readying herself for a jump to the closest roof and hopefully the start of a path toward help. She needed to find Amanda, or possibly Emma, they needed to stop her before she could kill or destroy anything else.

As the young woman poised for her jump a cracking sound began. The section of wall she was on quickly sank as the wall beneath her rearranged itself. Bricks slid out and up, moving from below the roofline to above it with such speed an accuracy most people would never believe it possible. Soon Jubilee was trapped in a brick cell three feet thick. There was a small window for her to see out of which gave her a rather unadulterated view now that she was nearly on eye level with Amara and Selene. The witch smiled broadly. "So good of you to join us, Miss Lee."

A thin arm slid around Meggan's shoulders and she led the girl the rest of the way to the lip of the volcano. She was almost gentle with her as she led her lamb to slaughter. The pair paused at the top, staring into the boiling lava below. "Now remember, poppet," she said to the doppleganger, "even your death benefits your goddess. There was never really any escaping me." Then she pushed the young woman over the edge.

The remaining Meggan flickered and blinked out of sight as well. Then Jubilee and Amara found themselves freed.

* * *
People were screaming and running through the streets of New York. The chaos was intermittent here but quickly growing more prevalent as the young women raced ahead. People had clearly tripped over outdoor book displays, chairs and tables. Flower pots laid broken on the sidewalk. Purses, wallets and high heeled shoes were strewn haphazardly across their path and cars stood in the street abandoned, most of the doors still partly open.

Amara halted suddenly, grabbing Jubilee's arm. There was something wrong here. Or wait - no, not wrong. Familiar. She'd - they'd been here before. But why were they back here? Where was Selene, the volcano -- oh god, Meggan.

"Wait. There's -- there's something not right about this. We've done this before."

"I...," Jubilee began, feeling as if she'd had a great shock not long ago but unable to quite touch the memory. "Think you're right. Question is, is this just deja vu or something more?"

"I'm not sure." Amara looked ahead of them, a frown on her face. "I remember seeing Selene again. And she had Meggan again." Her frown deepened. "Why are we here again? How are we here again?"

"Magic maybe?" Jubilee suggested, a frown forming as she contemplated just what this all meant. "Selene's known for playing with people, it wouldn't take much for her to simply teleport us. There's really only one way to know anything for sure."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Amara said darkly. She took a deep breath, looking over at Jubilee. "I guess we're going back in." There was a pause before she continued. "I'm not sure we should split up this time. If we're going to try and stop her, I think we should be together." Last time them splitting up hadn't worked at all. Maybe this time they'd have more luck.

"I agree," Jubilee replied, wrinkling her nose as she went over options. God but she hated when enemies had magic, what was a benefit quickly became a pain in the ass times a thousand when it was in the hands of your enemy. "We need to have some sort of plan, especially if Meggan is there again. Do you think if I attack Selene directly, you can grab Meggan and get the hell out of range?"

"I can," she confirmed with a nod, before hesitating a moment. "But if we get the chance - we have to stop her. Selene. That's more important than saving any of us." Just looking around at all of this carnage - again - Amara felt sick again. All of these people dead, because of Selene.

"Oh, don't worry about stopping her," Jubilee said, moving forward now, seemingly unconcerned about the screaming people moving in the opposite direction. "I'm totally gonna make sure she can't hurt anyone ever again."

* * *

"Volunteers!" The demented delight on Selene's face was bright and eager at the sight of her two favorites who had slipped through her fingers previously. And now they were walking right up to her. "How lovely. Are you here to be instructional tools for my student?" Her hand rested on Meggan's shoulder possessively, arm stretched across the girl's back. "Or have you seen the error of your ways and come to grovel for forgiveness from your goddess?" With that last bit something darkened the witch's face. Something that promised pain if their answer displeased her.

"Of course," Jubilee replied, walking confidently toward Selene, an ingratiating smile firmly plastered on her face. She bowed slightly from the waist, hands to her sides as she drew to a stop in front of the sorceress. "We've seen the error of our ways, Goddess. All we ask is a chance to serve you."

Jubilee hoped that Amara would take advantage of the chance to talk to Meggan while she kept Selene's focus on herself.

An eyebrow perked at that, though it was critical rather than intrigued. "Have you, then? And what has brought you to to this? You've been quite an errant little girl for some time. All screaming and spitfire for no good reason. What makes you think this is adequate groveling to get back in my good graces?" A lip curled up into a sneer and Selene forced the Asian girl down onto her knees and her forehead to the ground. That was a much better position for someone to beg forgiveness from.

Something about them showing up out of nowhere seemed off to Meggan, like it had happened before. Hadn’t there been something about being thrown into a volcano? Her mind was soon diverted from those thoughts by Jubilee going to her knees. A moment of feeling conflicted, before she had the strong feeling that, yes, that was exactly how Selene should always be greeted by lesser subjects. “So, you’ve come to serve the side that’s not being flayed alive? Smart,” Meggan mused darkly. Could it really be that easy? No fighting? She wasn't sure.

"Mm...smart, but sincere?" Selene didn't sound too much like she was convinced on that point. She regarded her protégée for a moment while she kept the Asian girl in her place. “I believe she should have to prove her sincerity, don’t you, poppet? Words are very pretty but they hardly mean a thing if the intention behind them isn’t strong. What do you suggest for proof of her loyalty?”

Selene was right, they needed to prove her loyalty first. “Maybe…get her to find us another person to torment, someone that might usually strike a nerve,” Meggan suggested after some consideration. “If she doesn’t try to interrupt with silly little heroics, we’ll know she’s sincere and wants to serve you.” The thought of what would be done if she weren’t sincere didn’t need to be uttered.

Consideration was obviously being put to the suggestion. "You, poppet, have become quite a brilliant girl. I'm very pleased with your progress." She was such a good student and learned so quickly. Her hand squeezed Meggan's shoulder it laid upon gently in an approving gesture. Her eyes fixated on the kneeling Asian and the errant Nova Roman with her. "You two heard her. Find us a sacrifice."

"I-- I'll find someone," Amara stammered, finally raising her gaze to look at Selene and Meggan. She swallowed, forcing the next words out with some difficulty. She wasn't accustomed to lying. "But it has been so long since I have been in your service, my Goddess, I have forgotten how to please you. Perhaps your companion could help me remember?" She just needed to get Meggan away from Selene for a few moments. And then they could act.

Dark eyes narrowed at the blonde. Was she up to something? The suspicion was clear on her face as she studied her wayward student. Selene looked to her protégée, mind whispering through the younger woman's through their link. "If she tries anything, poppet, you put her down. Though I'd rather we drink her down for her gross error in judgement, ultimately I don't care how you do it. No one will deceive us, poppet. No one."

Meggan was equally suspicious, not sure how Amara could forget once she had learned. Being ever so slightly rusty when it came to rounding up people the correct way, now that she could almost understand. She nodded at Selene’s instructions, sending back her own feeling of agreement and eagerness to please her. Nothing should go wrong if Amara wasn’t trying to lure them into a trap, but if it did, she would act. She could leave her mostly alive, and Selene could drink her. That thought had its appeal. “It all depends on just how much you’ve forgotten, Amara…what you need to know…but we’ll talk.”

There was a dark alley just ahead they could duck into for a moment or two—if need be, Meggan could grab a brick or other piece of debris. She glanced back over her shoulder as she moved in that direction, an air of twisted amusement apparent in her. “You first, Amara.”

Amara nodded and led the way, walking down the alleyway before turning back to look at Meggan. There weren't any other people here, thank goodness, Amara didn't have to pretend she was looking for a sacrifice.

"I was never one of her devotees back in Nova Roma," Amara said suddenly. "She was our goddess, and we all worshipped her, but there were some who were more... ardent than others." It was those people who had tried to sacrifice Amara, and had sacrificed her mother. Or the woman she'd believed to be her mother. She looked straight into Meggan's eyes, not flinching at the darkness she could see in them.

"I know you're not either," she continued. "There are some people who followed Selene by choice, devoting their lives to her dark ways. And then there are some who have to be forced. I know this isn't you, Meggan. Amanda and Kurt wouldn't love you like they do if it was." She stepped closer, tilting her head. "Do you remember them?"

Meggan had casually lifted an old piece of crumbling stone as they entered the alley, and now she turned it over in her hands, as though fascinated by it. She listened, at first just to humor her…but then Amara’s words slowly began to sink in. Maybe it was distance from Selene’s side that was allowing her to even feel like listening, but she was. “Vaguely,” she admitted with a frown. She took one step back, as though nervous of Amara getting closer, even if it didn’t show on her face yet. “Like a dream, almost but not quite there. More than I could before.” Some of whatever mental block Selene had placed in her head must be near to weakening, if she could think that much.

She wasn’t sure if she was warning Amara, or taunting her, as she murmured, “You realize Selene wants me to kill you, if you were lying about serving?"

"I know," Amara replied simply. She clasped her hands behind her back, watching Meggan carefully. She was fairly sure she could block the other girl if she did try to attack, but she was going to keep a careful eye on her anyway.

"People have tried to kill me before, in her name. And yet I am still here." She paused for a moment, before pushing forward. "Amanda once helped me escape them. She's helped you before as well, more than once. You're like a sister to her." Mentioning her adopted family had seemed to help bring the true Meggan to the front, and Amara hoped this was the key to breaking Selene's hold on her. "She loves you. As does Kurt. I think they'd tear the world apart to make sure you were safe."

“Yes, you’re still here,” Meggan agreed drolly. She wanted to follow Selene’s orders, but the urge to do so was gradually lessening, small increments at a time. She frowned, unsure if she should throw the rock aside or bash Amara’s head in. She could almost remember certain things, but it was foggy. “I…think I remember that. Barely. I know they do. I...I love them, too,” she whispered. It was like she was starting to wake up, finally, but it was so hard. Away from Selene, she wanted to remember, and more was coming back. But Meggan also realized that if they took too long here, Selene would wonder what was keeping them. Then, she wouldn’t care to remember anymore.

"You do," Amara said quietly, unclasping her hands and letting them fall to her side. "And they wouldn't want to see you hurting people like this. Or helping Selene to do it. Would they?" Amara was sure it was too soon to push Meggan into helping to stop Selene, but if she could get her to agree to stop helping her... that would be a start.

The longer they were standing here talking, the more unwilling to go back to Selene’s side Meggan became, and she shook her head. She could still feel that little nagging thread of darkness in the back of her head, but it wasn't overwhelming her thoughts in this instant. “No, they really wouldn’t,” she confirmed slowly. Guilt was finally breaking through, the more she was able to think. “I don’t want to, I really don't. Even if she makes me want to help.” The stone now hung loosely in her hand, forgotten for the moment.

Amara held out her hand to Meggan hopefully, a smile on her face. She'd gotten through to her. Now she just had to hope she could keep Selene's influence from overwhelming the other girl again.

"It's okay," she said soothingly. "You don't have to go back to her if you don't want to."

“I know, but I think I have to. She’ll hurt Jubilee or someone else out of annoyance, if we’re too much longer, won’t she?” Even if Meggan was terrified of being put back into Selene’s thrall, and helping to hurt everyone even further, they still needed to do something. Pretending she was still a willing protégé without a hint of a conscience might just be the only way to get anything done. No matter how sick it made her feel now that her head was relatively clear again.

Suddenly noticing the stone she was still clasping, she quickly let go of it, letting it fall to the ground. She didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else being hurt. A strange moan intruded on her thoughts, and she turned back to Amara with a look of horror. “We weren’t gone that long,” she whispered in denial. She was almost afraid to peer around the corner.

Amara froze, listening carefully. Someone was in pain - maybe they'd been too long, or Selene had gotten inpatient. She was supposed to be getting Meggan away, but clearly that wasn't going to be an option.

"You're going to have to pretend you're still under her influence," Amara whispered back. "Whoever that is -" and she hoped it wasn't Jubilee, or that something hadn't happened to the other woman " - we have to save them. Just go along with whatever I say." Taking Meggan by the hand, Amara stepped out again, and almost recoiled in horror. It was Jubilee that had moaned, Jubilee that Selene was playing with. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

"My goddess," Amara called, adding a tremor to her voice, her eyes cast down. "Your servant has reminded me of my true place in life, has shown me the error of my ways. I should never have forsaken you, I know that now." She raised her eyes, making herself shake a little.

"Please, let me kneel at your feet, to worship you as I once did. To dedicate my life - and my death - to you."

Selene barely seemed to take note of Amara's presence. She was focused sharply on the Asian girl and the wispy little scene that was playing out in front of her again. Selene had promised it would come to pass if Miss Lee tried to turn against her goddess. From where Amara and Meggan stood it was vague and distant, but from where Jubilee knelt it was vivid and detailed. Doug Ramsey hung limp and chained to the ceiling. His skin had been peeled back from much of his torso. Muscle was being carved off by phantom knives and chopped before being added to a large stew pot. The more they cut into him the more his organs seemed to threaten spilling forth. Only Selene had ensured Jubilation really understood what that would be like for him. The girl felt everything as if it were being done to her while she watched it happen to him.

Jubilee had tried to hold in the noises she was making at first, but past a certain point she'd completely forgotten that she was trying to be strong and instead had done what she used to do so long ago when her step father had thought using his fists on her was a good idea. She shut down all emotion, allowing herself to go as blank inside as she watched and felt Doug's torture.

She began to say something cutting, but faltered after that first small word, breaking off with a scream as knives bit into her skin, no his, both their skin again.

"Please," she moaned eventually.

"You'll need to be more specific than that, dear," Selene said in a disturbingly maternal fashion. Phantom knives sliced into Doug's arms, shearing his skin away from the underlying muscle. As they worked the witch noticed her protégée had returned with their servant. "Ah, we have guests again!" A cat-that-got-the-cream grin began to spread over the brunette's increasingly skeletal face. "Now, what was that about your death?"

Amara shifted slightly so it looked as if Meggan was the one leading her back to Selene, though she had a death grip on the other girl's hand. Her gaze flickered to Jubilee for a moment, and then back to Selene, the fear in her gaze not at all feigned. Once they reached Selene, Amara knelt at her feet, lowering her gaze.

"I only wish to please you, dark goddess. If my death would please you, then so be it."

A crack formed, the ground groaning and protesting as Amara once again called up magma from the earth's core. Her gaze shifted to look at the hot liquid bubbling up, and then to catch Jubilee's eyes, then Meggan's. Once she had, she looked up at Selene for a moment, before her gaze dropped to the magma again. She hoped the other two understood what she was trying to convey. She would not be a sacrifice for Selene's hunger again.

It was the signal that Jubilee had waited for, and all signs of pain and emotion vanished from her as she pushed her hands out and launched a large force of plasma into Selene's chest, following up with an uppercut as she surged to her feet from her prone position on the ground.

Selene clearly hadn't been prepared for the sudden assault and went flying from her feet. She landed only a few feet from where she'd been standing, but her rage spiked. Her skin seemed to break out into black flame that mirrored her eyes as she stood. "You dare try to defy me?" Her mind whispered through Meggan's, We'll hollow them both out and they'll play the pretty puppet for us, poppet. Death will be too quick and too good for these stupid little girls.

Hearing the words echo in her mind now caused Meggan to shake her head once she walked closer, partly trying to keep her mind her own and not fall back under Selene’s spell, partly as a vehement denial. “No,” she whispered fiercely. Meggan saw that her guard was down, this was probably her only chance, and gave Selene a hard shove just as she levitated and lashed out to kick at the woman’s side. It was the best she could do, and she hoped it was enough. She didn’t want to be too close for too long and lose herself again. “I’m not playing your sick games anymore; I’m not hurting anyone else.”

Selene reached out toward Meggan, her hand making a gesture as if she were clamping down on the girl's throat. She didn't have to touch the young empath to strangle her, magic could do it for her just fine. Her rage boiled and wrapped around that porcelain neck, tightening inch by inch with sharp, jerked increments. On her feet now, her other hand reached out toward Jubilee and a flock of raven's erupted out of thin air. They dove for the young woman, beaks pecking viciously everywhere they could reach.

"No!" The aura of light and heat around Amara flared and grew hotter and brighter, and the ground beneath their feet started to rumble further, the crack Amara had created in the ground starting to widen and lengthen. A blast of flame in the direction of the ravens scared many of them off, freeing Jubilee from their attack.

The flame was quickly followed by a blast of magma directly at Selene, the molten rock able to pack far more of a punch than the blast of flame she usually reserved for combat.

Jubilee took the moment of respite Amara had granted her and let plasma rise from her body, forming a net a foot from herself of small plasmoids that then spun gently around in a circle, dropping the birds as they renewed their attack. She then turned her attention back to Selene, adding blast after blast of plasma to Amara's blasts of flame to drive Selene backwards toward the hole Amara had created.

Magma had taken Selene dead center in her chest. It was enough to pull her off her feet once more but somehow she never found the ground again. Plasma spun her with each impact, pulling her attention away from the girls who dared defy her. The witch tried to rise, to hover over the earth, but flame and plasma drove her downward. What she found beneath her wasn't hard, solid ground. The gaping hole in the earth gave way to licks of molten lava hungry to swallow the psychic vampire. Selene screamed as the lava pulled at her skin and dragged her down. Soon she was little more than a squirming, screaming mass of quickly diminishing flesh. That was gone just as quickly once the lava spilled down her throat and silenced the witch.

Jubilee let the plasma she'd created sputter and die, watching carefully until she was sure that Selene wasn't coming back, or finding some way out of what they'd done to her. It was only when she was sure that she allowed her eyes to close, slumping to her knees as she let exhaustion claim her.

Meggan carefully massaged her throat now that she could get air again, wincing when it felt sensitive to the touch. Almost raw. She didn’t feel the witch trying to scramble back into her head anymore. She had felt Selene’s agony as the lava engulfed her, she’d forced herself not to look away until the very last instant, afraid it was another trick. It had to be over now, even if it was difficult to believe. She finally allowed herself a moment to relax, they were free of her now.

Amara stared at the magma that was bubbling up through the crack in the earth, for a moment finding it difficult to believe that this was all finally over. After a pause, she closed the crack, drawing the ground back together in an effort to make sure Selene couldn't make a miraculous escape, come flying out unscathed. Her aura flickered out at the point, and she likewise slumped to her knees, exhausted. It was all over. It was finally... over.