S3, E9 | Sovereign

\ Realm of Reality /

“Why the fuck does it have to be so cold!?” Scarlett exclaims, climbing into the passenger seat of Vic’s truck as she resides beneath a pile of coats bundled atop her. “Because it’s Switzerland, what did you expect it to be?” Vic responds with less vigour, handling the frigid temperatures with more grace than her blonde counterpart, “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but we’re not in the Maldives anymore.”

Rolling her eyes, Scarlett nods her head as she removes the gloves from her pale hands, holding her palms against the vehicle’s ventilation unit as cold air gradually turns warmer. “Yeah, leave it to Lincoln to ruin another good thing for us from the fucking grave” Scarlett grumbles, fastening herself into the seat as Vic sits idle, letting the car warm as her head rests against the back of her seat, the sides of her face as red as her nose.

“Are we gonna get going?” Scarlett asks, staring out at the vast array of mountain peaks just beyond their windshield, their stowaway home occupying a mountaintop of their own. “Let the car warm up first- I’ve barely thawed out!” Vic humorously quips, flashing Scarlett a smile as her hands rub gently together, her dark strands of hair blown back as her vents blow hot air over her frostbitten face.

Sitting quietly for a moment, the girls settle into their seats, growing more relaxed as the minutes pass, almost forgetting the reason they’d entered the vehicle. “You never told me where you grew up” Scarlett remarks, her head turning toward Vic as the statement leaves her lips. Her lips forming a smile, Vic glances back toward the mountains for a moment before replying, the warm air that trickles over the sides of her face provides a welcoming atmosphere.

“Washington- the state, not the capital” Vic answers, pushing further into the headrest as she nestles into the seat, “we moved to Georgia when I was ten, and Louisiana when I was fifteen.”

Gently nodding, Scarlett glances through the windshield as a brief pause fills the air, each second that passes without the sound of a voice being spent in a comforting silence. “What about you?” Vic whispers, her voice sharing the same presentation as Scarlett’s the longer they speak, each girl’s tone softening.

“I was born and raised just outside of New Orleans” Scarlett answers, her arms wrapped around her chest as she hugs herself, kept warm by thick layers of winter apparel. “I had family that lived in Minnesota, and relatives that lived in Hawai’i” Scarlett continues, an ingenuine frown finding its way to her face, “unfortunately, we weren’t ever really close with the relatives in Hawai’i.”

Laughing through her nose, Vic’s hand takes to the gearshift and pulls the truck out of their parkway. “I knew the family on my mom’s side better than my dad’s, but that’s not really saying much” Vic confesses, Scarlett’s hand pulling the lever to tilt her seat back as her friend continues, “that’s probably the biggest reason I chose to lay low after what happened.”

Eyes kept on the road, Vic swipes hair from her face with her free hand as Scarlett goes quiet, thinking to herself. “You got all of the death out of the way early, huh?” Scarlett queries, a downcast reflection in her voice, “it’s a pretty morbid way of getting lucky, ain’t it?”

The liveliness in her eyes slowly fading, Vic shakes her head, tightening her grip on the steering wheel’s rubber covering. “We both got fucked over” the driver replies, prompting Scarlett’s head to turn toward her, “we’ve lost people that we shouldn’t have. The most important thing is that we’re here now- it’s that we survived it.”

Passing a look toward Scarlett, Vic finds her friend’s expression unchanged, disconnected from the favourable light Vic had taken toward. “But the question is- for how much longer?” Scarlett responds, watching Vic briefly turn in her direction once more, the dark-haired driver returning her sights to the road ahead.

“The worst part of it all is that I don’t think I have survived” Scarlett admits, speaking openly whilst Vic listens in, somewhat convinced that she’s meant to. “My parents, my friends, my home- both of them- they’re all gone” Scarlett recalls, her eyes trailing toward her lap, where the knuckles on her hands gently tap against each other, “I can’t stop blaming myself for letting it happen. It’s like I doubt that I can keep doing this for much longer.”

“What do you mean by that?” Vic soon queries, her hands held on opposite ends of the wheel’s top. “I mean just that. I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this” Scarlett responds, little hesitancy in her remarks before they’re made, as if she’d already come to accept the predicament for which she braves.

“I think about what we’re up against every day. I think about it when I wake up, and I think about it when I go to bed” Scarlett continues, “I can’t live without remembering that, whenever it happens-”

“Then you need to stop thinking about that!” Vic explains, her voice raising from its whispered tone as she abruptly cuts Scarlett short. “We’re here! We’re here, and we’re alive even if we shouldn’t be” Vic follows on, her glances in Scarlett’s direction becoming more frequent, “yes- you’re right- we’ve lost shit-ton to make it this far, but we’ve done it! And more importantly, we still have each other! That literally cannot change until the very-fucking-end, do you understand me?”

The question left unanswered, Vic slows the truck ahead of a hairpin turn before setting the vehicle into park, overlooking the sights of snow-covered trees along the Alps’ steep, downward slopes. “I asked you a question!” Vic repeats, her elbow pressing into the centre console as she looks Scarlett in the eyes, the passenger’s uncertain expression reciprocating the gesture, “it’s us until the end, do you understand me?”

“How can I not!?” Scarlett quickly shouts, a fair question for the fate that awaits them at such an aforementioned end, “it’s ‘us until the end’ until it’s ‘us or the end’- what do you think I’m kept up at night by!?”

Her head hung, Vic sits back in her sight, eyes taking to the road ahead as Scarlett continues, her words tapping a nerve Vic conceals as best she can. “Vic, I love you like family just like you do, but we can’t keep dancing around the inevitable!” Scarlett exclaims, Vic’s eyes gradually turning toward her own, “however the realm makes its decision, it’s going to get what it wants. It doesn’t want you and I, it wants one or the other. Please, tell me, how am I supposed to be sure of anything?”

“Scarlett-” Vic remarks, grimacing as her dominant hand rests over the steering wheel’s top, interrupting herself without more to add, unsure of how to respond. “You can’t. You can sit there and be mad at me for as long as you want, but you can’t tell me-” Scarlett continues, watching Vic’s head bow for a moment as the car quiets, filled with Scarlett’s voice until the moment Vic’s grows louder, capturing the power from the passenger’s own.

“Because I’m not going to kill you!” Vic screams, her face filling with anger at a moment’s notice, the muscles in her arms more defined as Scarlett falls silent. “Because I never wanted this! Because I don’t care about being king- or whatever the fuck the realm wants from us!” Vic pushes onward, her tone never dropping an ounce, “because I wanted to live a good life and die! That’s all I ever wanted! There’s nothing the realm can give me that would make me want to kill you for it!”

Her lips pressing together tightly, Scarlett looks into Vic’s face, her cheeks flushed red and her eyes watery, the tears that wish to fall being refused the chance to. “If the two of us are gonna kill each other over some stupid-fucking--throne, I don’t want it!” Vic finishes, her screams having fallen to a more audible growl as she simmers down, “all I ask is that you make it painless so I don’t have to be afraid when I go- is that good enough to be sure of, Scar!?”

Lip quivering, Scarlett watches Vic settle back into her seat, her breaths calming as she reaches for the gear shift, prepared to put the car in drive. Resting her hand against the spherical knob between them, Vic’s hand feels the touch of another prevent her from moving a muscle, Scarlett’s palm resting against her dorsal.

“I don’t want it either” Scarlett replies, her voice remarkably lower than the one Vic had spoken with. “I couldn’t have asked to go through this with anyone other than you. It’s been hard and really fucking tragic, but I still don’t want it to end” Scarlett confesses, visibly distressed as her chest grows tight, “but- if it does- please, just do the same?”

Her eyes lowering, Vic feels the weight of their admission settle in, unsure if she’d ever remembered fully allowing herself to accept what future had awaited them. Her friend’s hand turning over, Vic’s palm graces Scarlett’s, their fingers wrapping around the other’s hand. “I promise” Vic answers, not only speaking without certainty over how else to respond, but with a genuine willingness to provide Scarlett with the end she desires being met with.

Nodding, Scarlett covers her mouth for a moment as she calms her disposition, her opposite hand squeezing Vic’s tightly. “So do-” Scarlett answers, her body violently jolting forward as Vic’s leaves the driver’s seat entirely, the air filling with the sickening twist of metal colliding with a similar framework.

Their truck providing a second, less-damaged car with an unfortunate blockade to keep it from falling off the road, Vic and Scarlett discover themselves to be less fortunate. Their hands forced apart, the rate at which their truck slams into the ground and rolls along the Alp-slopes ferociously rips Vic’s body through the shattered window, Scarlett’s entangled person held to the tumbling confines by the strap of her seatbelt.

Skipping through the air before colliding with rugged terrain once more, the truck rolls for as long as the mountain’s declivity lasts, all that exists to cease its descent being the ground below. Her mind scattered, Scarlett’s body takes enough of a beating to twist her understanding of the sudden chaos, the strikes to her head and whiplash of her ordeal taking a few, drawn-out moments to fully render her unconscious.

With gruelling force, the vehicle’s carcass crashes into the rocky ground below, wrapping around sturdy tree trunks and shredding its own remains apart along solid stones. Resembling nothing short of a horrifying mess of mechanical engineering and human error, the truck’s corpse finally slows to a stop, entombing itself in the natural makeup of the mountain itself, its odds of ever being able to travel once more snuffed just as the lives of its occupants are.

= Dream Sequence is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards =

\ Realm Beyond - Eternal Office /

Her eyes shooting open as she draws in a deep breath, Vic’s sight lay upon a blinding light that force her eyelids shut, a sight all-too similar to one she’s seen before presenting itself yet again. “Hello!?” Vic exclaims, her mind wanting to push her body forward, though her ability to do so evades her, the hands that rest by her sides as immobilised as the rest of her body.

“Vic!?” Scarlett exclaims, the woman’s voice seemingly emerging from the position beside her, though the muscles in her neck refuse to allow her head rotation. “Scar, I’m here!” Vic exclaims, wincing in pain the louder her voice is forced to be, the heavenly white light that drowns the mid-2000’s era office space proving less than optimal.

“I can’t see you!” Scarlett exclaims, struggling just as Vic does to achieve similar results, the rigid, statue-esque posture they’ve been forced into proving impossible to break from. “Get ready girls” a distant voice remarks, prompting the pearly lights to fade into a menacing shade of red, the ground beginning to rumble as deja vu comes upon them.

“Shit! Vic! This is just like that first night!” Scarlett exclaims, the quaking ground increasing in its rapidity as the girls recall what rages ahead. “It’s coming” the echoing voice remarks, its sound carried through the dark red halls with an ominously quiet tone.

“Don’t struggle!” Vic calls back, releasing her tense hold on fighting the realm’s restraints, her body going limp as her mind shares the same course as Scarlett’s, easing with the thought of freedom preserved. “Get ready, girls” the voice calls out once more, provoking the realm into shuddering with greater intensity.

Their binds removed, Scarlett and Vic’s feet land upon trembling freedom, their balance gained through instinct as their eyes take to the intact wall just ahead. “Scar!” Vic exclaims, providing her friend with the answer to their ongoing issue as she leaves the ground, taking to the air as Scarlett soon follows. As a unit, the girls prepare for what lies ahead, their hands balling into fists as they set their sights upon the ground, waiting for the premier opportunity to present itself.

His skin glistening beneath the ruby-coloured lights, the familiar beast tears through the walls and marches on, his targets already privy to his impending entry. In unison, Scarlett and Vic descend upon the ground, their fist colliding with the featureless tiled floors as a wave courses through the realm.

Swiping his hands through the air, the beast aims his attack wildly, unable to gauge the women’s positions as his wits are dishevelled. Their service dagger summoned, Vic and Scarlett pierce the glow of their incompatible blue weapons through the beast’s rough flesh, refusing to stop until the last of its life leaves its body, the fight he had entered with depleted in its entirety.

Their butchering set aside, Vic and Scarlett catch their breath as their weapons are relinquished, hands placed on their knees as their faces meet, their persons separated by the large corpse between them. “What happened up there?” Vic inquires, barely able to remember much aside from her head slamming into the truck’s roof, “are- are we-?”

“Don’t even say it” Scarlett responds, setting herself upright as she wipes at her brow, the headache she’d recalled having quickly vanishing. The room falling silent, Vic and Scarlett struggle to make peace with what they’ve come to believe had just happened, unsure of how to react to it. “We need to find Esotera” Scarlett remarks, leading the charge down the nearest hall, following the same path she’d remembered taking in the first few days.

|

\ Realm Beyond - Eternal Office /

Their initial red scheme lessening into a dark shade of pink, the realm’s lights appear as odd as the encounter it’d presented its keepers with. “I know this is probably the last thing I should be concerned with, but I really hope this lighting isn’t a permanent thing” Scarlett remarks, trying to bring light to an otherwise disturbing situation, “I already know I have a vagina, and I’m not so sure I need this place reminding me of that.”

Rolling her eyes, Vic remains quiet, wanting to share the high-spirit in Scarlett’s attempt at diffusing the situation, though can’t bring herself to do so. “Esotera!” Vic exclaims, finally joining Scarlett in uncovering familiar sights. With a gentle push, Vic and Scarlett step through the double doors they’d grown so accustomed to, the desk-filled room with faceless employees sat behind them embracing their presence with one caveat.

With her hands by her sides, Esotera stands in the room’s centre, staring at the back wall as the girls enter, immediately recognising her upon their entry. “Hey, what’s going on!?” Scarlett inquires, stepping further ahead of Vic as she questions the woman, concerned by their guidance’s slow turn and silent demeanour.

Silent, Esotera looks to the girls with a smile, the faceless figurines that work diligently behind her guiding their attention to Vic and Scarlett immediately upon the emergence of her perfectly white teeth. “Right on time” Esotera murmurs softly, Scarlett’s progression stopping upon the sound of the spirit’s voice a few metres ahead of her partner.

Her eyes narrowing, Vic stares into Esotera’s eyes and notices something odd, the absence of character, even for the standard of existence Esotera had set herself forward as, strikes her as off. “Scarlett, get back” Vic mutters, stealing her friend’s focus momentarily, the command confusing Scarlett as soon as it’s uttered.

Though unintentional, Scarlett refuses to obey Vic’s orders, her head instead turning back to take a second look at their guardian’s face, its lack of emotion noticeable upon a second look. As Esotera’s eyes take to Scarlett’s own, the blonde gazes toward, inspecting the being with a high level of curiosity, almost enchanted by the mystique that she appears to be plagued by.

“What are you?” Scarlett suddenly murmurs beneath her breath, finding it impossible not to question the presentation Esotera has laid before them. Without any reason to ask the question, Scarlett allows it to leave her lips, an instinctual doubt having come over her. Her smile only widening, Esotera responds with a gesture, the hands she hangs by her side now lifting to her chest, her open palms pressing together as her sights remain upon the foremost woman.

Her soft, synthetic skin wrinkling, Esotera’s appearance begins to soften, lessening until her eyes and nose seal up, the teeth she presents eroding until all that remains is the cracked lips around her mouth. Mumbling empty remarks to themselves, Vic and Scarlett step away, not entirely convinced that what they reside within is the reality they’ve always known.

“It has now begun” Esotera proclaims, her true profile having now revealed itself, the faceless personnel behind her standing at her attention, her role as the girls’ guardian having concluded as she resumes her position as Mother to the realm. On command, the pinkish lights turn white, the walls remaining as empty as they had stood before, all within the realm returned to its normal state.

“You’re Mother!?” Scarlett angrily questions aloud, her hands balling into fists as they rest by her side, Vic’s manner assuming an entirely different display as her back presses into the double doors, a look of betrayal worn in her face.

“I am whomever I’m needed to be” Mother responds, taking a step forward as her body dawns a long, black robe. Infuriated, Scarlett summons her service dagger, presenting it toward Mother as a symbolic display of intimidation, one which does not phase the realm’s truest overseer.

“Your act of defiance will not gain you access to anything of importance” Mother warns, stepping further toward the enraged blonde as her tone begins to echo. “I don’t care what it will or won’t do-” Scarlett replies, steadying it’s aim toward Mother’s throat without consideration over what’s at stake, “-you’re gonna pay for what you’ve done.”

“And what exactly have I done?” Mother quickly combats, the strength of speech used to wage war on Scarlett’s outlook. Without an answer, Scarlett remains adamant in her quest for conflict, keeping silent as Mother approaches. “I’ve chosen the two of you to prove your worth to this realm. I’ve given you chances to prove yourselves worthy and unworthy all the same” Mother explains, “I’ve set the board for you to play on- every move that’s been made thus far has been your own.”

Her service weapon relinquished, Scarlett stares down Mother with an expression filled with no less anger than what she’d held prior. “What was all of this for?” Vic finally speaks up, redirecting the attention of those that stand ahead of her toward herself, “we’ve told Esotera- or you- how little we wanted this countless times. You have seven billion people to choose from, and you picked two that never wanted this. Why?”

The corners of her lips forming a smile, Mother steps past Scarlett, approaching Vic with little concern over how her blonde counterpart would react. “Haven’t you ever wondered why dictatorships and kingdoms have fallen? Why the strongest of forces crumble just like any other?” Mother asks aloud, her head tilting toward one side as she draws nearer, “the people that want such power, or the people they leave it in the hands of, never use it for the greater good.”

“So you force us- two people that don’t want it- to fight to the death for it?” Scarlett quickly speaks up, re-earning Mother’s attention, “that’s a pretty shitty rule of thumb to choose your next leader with.” Her lips pressing together, Mother turns her back to Vic once more. “The two of you want it for different reasons- you just don’t know it yet” Mother replies, her face guided toward the tile Scarlett stands upon, “that is where your moves are made.”

As her remark concludes, Mother’s head bows, the ground that Scarlett stands upon giving out with no warning provided, allowing the woman to descend toward whatever fate resides below. “Scar-!” Vic exclaims, unable to finish uttering the woman’s name before Mother summons a service weapon of her own, its point held toward Vic’s throat.

“She’s alive and you’ll see her again” Mother warns, returning her attention to Vic’s face as the young brunette stares at her angrily. “Do yourself a favour and try to fathom what is at stake” Mother pleads with a frail voice, her dagger relinquished to the realm she presides over, “consider everything you’d known Christoper and Suzanne’s struggles to be and question whether or not you want that for yourself.”

“Scarlett and I are not going to kill each other to control your fucking realm” Vic stubbornly refuses, her voice lowering a slight amount as she speaks with confidence. “Yes, you will” Mother replies, the control she has over the conversation itself proving the authority she wields. “Regardless of whether or not you accepted it, I’ve told you how all of this would end” Mother recalls, “the difference in your colours, the shortening of your name- I even put you in the literal driver’s seat!”

Her face inching closer, Mother presents her empty face to the woman, her trust left in Vic’s possession. “You’ve seen what happens when I don’t approve of the person that sits upon my throne, do you really want that to be the life Scarlett lives?” Mother queries, her head pulling a slight amount from Vic’s face.

“Scarlett’s not corrupted anymore. Her dagger glows blue, you’ve seen it- you know this” Vic counters, cut off before another word can leave her lips. “How do you know she won’t be corrupted by the next time you see her?” Mother answers, the question pulling Vic’s spirits further beyond the chasm they’ve fallen into, “how do you know this isn’t where your stories are meant to end?”

Stuttering over her words, Vic finds herself unable to speak with any further coherence, the question Mother asks proving too difficult to answer. “Christopher wasn’t after the power when he and Suzanne collided” Mother reveals, her hand allowed to rest upon Vic’s shoulder as the brunette sheds a tear, “one was after clemency- the other was after control.”

Lip quivering, Vic’s attempt at speaking is interrupted, a pair of doors opening in the back of the room captivating her. “Vic?” Mother whispers, returning the young woman’s attention to her as the unspoken question remains unanswered. “Do you understand?” Mother qualms, her chin raised toward Vic’s, the blank facade she presents returning to the familiar features she’d known Esotera to have.

Wiping a tear from her face, Vic looks Esotera in the eyes, answering the woman’s question with one of her own. “What do you need from me?” Vic queries, watching Esotera’s smile re-emerge, the spirit’s head bowing as the floor gives out, releasing Vic into whatever lays below.

|

\ Realm Beyond - Eternal Office /

“I am not listening to you!” Scarlett shouts, verbally combatting Suzie’s rhetoric as best she can, the brilliant blue hue of the service dagger she wields held in the apparition’s presence. “You’ve said it yourself- you’ve questioned yourself more with every person that dies!” Suzie exclaims, the only colour in her appearance being the dark, red glow in her blank eyes, “can you really trust yourself at a time like this!?”

“Vic is not gaslighting me- you are!” Scarlett shouts, her dagger’s point drawing closer to Suzie with every line of dialogue spoken. “I’m not the one that just got you killed! I’m not the one that’s controlled you ever since we met! For as evil as you make me out to be, I’ve only ever been honest with you!” Suzie exclaims, matching the shouting tone behind Scarlett’s voice, “I was only ever out to redeem myself, and I’d do anything to take the throne!”

Readied for war, Scarlett rests the point in Suzie’s direction, her feet carrying her back so as to gain separation. “Think about what’ll happen to you if you don’t take that throne, Scarlett” Suzie furthers, her voice dropping a few octaves as their feet begin to circle, the abrasion that sits in the distance providing a backdrop to the altercation.

“Is this really what you want for yourself?” Suzie inquires, her hand waving toward the ground, presenting Scarlett with a detailed look at her hologram-like appearance, “do you want to spend eternity trapped here? A life of torture and agony in a forever-purgatory just because you didn’t have the nerve to lose one more person?”

Scowling, Scarlett goes silent, her face falling as she conceals the fear Suzie’s claim strikes within her, the look in her eyes proving the effort futile. “Can’t you understand why I’d fight Chris just to stay alive? To rule this realm even though I was explicitly told it wouldn’t welcome me? It’s because I had the same hope that you have” Suzie explains, her encirclement stopping as they return to their initial places, Scarlett’s back directed toward the abrasion.

“I believed- up until the very last minute- that I’d be fine with Chris putting me down. I didn’t want to kill my brother- I had to” Suzie explains, “your dagger may shine blue, but there’s still red in your heart- and that will never go away.”

“I’ve changed” Scarlett quickly responds, the confidence in her voice having fallen, the self-doubt she’s tried to set aside slowly beginning to creep toward the surface. “You’ve changed, but you haven’t changed enough” Suzie replies, casually stepping forward as Scarlett’s guard raises, “and when push comes to shove, you’ll find yourself in the same shoes as me. You’ll have let that weakness inside of you- those imperfections- you’ll have let them take everything.”

Closing her mouth, Scarlett stares into Suzie’s void eyes, the apparition’s soul appearing as incapable of being trusted as it had whilst alive. “All hail the king” a legion chants, each member sat behind their collective desks with their sights set upon the blonde woman, Scarlett’s head shaking as they chant. “I’ve seen it first hand, there’s still a fire behind those ocean eyes” Suzie murmurs, again presenting Scarlett with the horde’s chant, “prove to Mother that you deserve the throne!”

“All hail the king!” the legion exclaims once more, forcing Scarlett’s guard to descend, her dagger growing pale as she swipes at Suzie’s apparition, its presence vanishing as the swarm persists. “All hail the king!” the mob cheers, forcing Scarlett to relinquish her dagger as her hands cup each side of her head. “No!” Scarlett shouts back, her voice nowhere loud enough to convince the legion’s chant to cease.

“All hail the king!” the pack screams, prompting Scarlett to shake her head as her eyes press closely together, no amount of pressure she places to each side of her head is able to drown out even the slightest amount of noise. “All hail the king!” the flock hiss, forcing Scarlett to her knees as the pressure mounts, the veins in her forehead visible beneath her skin.

“I’m not your king!” Scarlett screams, the top of her head pressing hard into the ground as the howls persist. “All hail the king!” the army proclaims as Scarlett’s teeth press together, the will to vanquish her tormentors lessening with each chant, her breaking point beginning to near. “All hail the king!” the herd bellows as the ground begins to shake, Scarlett’s struggle bending to their will as they seek out her destruction.

“All hail the king!” legion declare, standing from their seats as Scarlett leaves the ground, ascending through the air as her voice outmatches each of those that reside beneath her. 

“SILENCE!” Scarlett commands, bringing the crowd to a standstill as she drops to the ground, landing in the three-point pose as her head faces the ground, the touch of a hand against her shoulder receiving her undivided attention.

“I never misjudged” Mother remarks, vanishing as quickly as she had arrived as a pair of feet fall from the heavens, colliding with the ground just as the rest of her body does. Rolling through the impact, Vic takes a quick glance through the room she’d been hurled into, her sights first taking upon the createrous abrasion she stands just before the entrance to.

“What the-!? Scar!?” Vic momentarily questions in silence, her freedom from Mother allowing her mind to return to the task at hand. With a simple turn, Vic rests her sights upon the room’s opposite end, the curious outline of a figure in the near distance immediately drawing her interest.

“Scarlett!” Vic exclaims, taking off in a sprint toward the woman before her progress halts, her hopeful expression falling into curiosity upon her friend’s rejoinder. Her hands held at her side, Scarlett stares into the distance as Vic’s scurry halts, the sound of her name’s calling prompting her to gradually turn around.

Her blonde locks shining brilliantly beneath the drab bureau, her eyes shining a demonic red as her face meets Vic’s. Silent, Scarlett takes a few steps forward, her weaknesses replaced with impenetrable strengths, the perfection the realm had wished for Scarlett to take herself now forced upon her. “Scarlett, what happened to you!?” Vic exclaims, matching her friend’s progression with retreat, one step backward taken for each step Scarlett takes forward.

“I’m sorry, Vic” Scarlett responds, visibly struggling at times to move forward, almost as if a second force, more buried than the one she appears with, desperately tries to assume control. “Scarlett, don’t do this” Vic warns, leaving the ground as she hovers back, drawing closer to the abrasion without yet becoming aware of it.

“I can’t end up like the rest” Scarlett responds, leaving the ground to join Vic mid-air, the distance quickly closing as Vic takes notice of the danger she nears. Her face scrunching, Scarlett spots her opportunity, extending her dominant hand whilst lunging through the air, her sights set upon the brunette. 

“All hail the king!” Scarlett shouts, slamming into Vic as their dominant hands take each other by the throat, the momentum carrying them through the abrasion as they re-emerge on whatever rests beyond its borders. Left standing without a leader, the legion stare toward the portal-like crevasse, the room they occupy as empty and lifeless as it had been prior to the girls’ arrival, the realm’s status quo resuming as if the moment of truth it had set in motion hadn’t just been initiated.

== Dream Sequence ==