My Recovery

Viola – or Ellen, since she was now in the body of the one person she thought was her friend, pitifully whimpered and cried to herself as she lay on the ground where her father had shot her. It had been over ten minutes since her father had wounded her so badly, and she had continued to call out for her daddy, wishing for him to come back and save her like he always did when she was in trouble. He had to know that the girl he thought was his daughter was fake, right? He had to know!

"D – Daugh..." She tried to call out, but she just coughed up more blood, tasting the coppery liquid dripping from her mouth. With that last attempt for help, she collapsed to the ground, her blood mixing with the dirt on the ground. She wished she could see – she had no idea what time it was, or how long she had been in this body, it had to be a dream! It had to be! There was no way this could be true! She would just wake up, and be in her bed, and then she could go visit Ellen and talk it over with her, about the horrible nightmare she had.

She tried to crawl forward, moving one hand forward to drag herself up, and then the other. She felt her strength leaving her with every time she pulled herself forward, and finally she stopped, gasping for air. The bullet wound in her shoulder, in addition to all the blood she had lost, was finally getting to her. She again allowed her head to fall to the ground, and she wondered now if this was how she was going to die – in her friend's body in the middle of the forest, pitifully weeping and crying for help.

Her thoughts turned to Ellen – How could she do this to her? She was only trying to help relieve the pain even for a little bit... She had felt so bad and sorry for the girl who had no parents, who lived alone in such a big house. The girl who would smile widely and whose golden eyes would glitter with joy when she saw her. Why would she do this? Why would she steal her body, and her life? Everything from her...?

She never knew she could feel something so strongly before, but she was easily able to identify this feeling. This feeling she felt throughout every fiber of her broken body. She hated her. She hated Ellen... Her supposed friend.

Her ear twitched when she heard something, and she moved her head over to the sound, even though she couldn't see. The animal, person, or whatever, came out from the treeline, she was sure of at least that much.

She heard a female voice gasp in horror, "What in the world?"

"Wh – who...?" Viola wanted to smile, since she finally was able to say something coherent, but the immense pain and worry she was in prevented her from even doing such a small thing.

"Oh my god," The woman who had seen her had rushed through the grass and landed at her side, and she quickly reached into her pocket to pull out something – Viola couldn't see at all, but she felt the older woman force something to her lips, and she greedily drank whatever it was. Viola could suddenly feel the pain begin to whither away, and she couldn't help but let out a sigh at the relief she felt.

"Who...?" Viola attempted to ask again.

"My name is Mary," The woman said, "But that's not important right now," She stated, and Viola felt her body being lifted, "I need to get you to my house..."

"H – Help...?"

"Yes, I'm going to help you." Mary confirmed.

Viola couldn't help start to gasp in and out quickly – if she still had eyes, she was sure she would be weeping right now. Someone had come to help her! Her nose was running, and she pressed her head against the chest of the woman who had picked her up bridal style, she was so afraid that the woman would just suddenly disappear! That all of this would be an illusion of her dying mind!

"You poor thing..." Mary muttered, rubbing Viola's head lightly, "Who would do such a thing?"

Viola could feel her eyelids drooping – for the first time in the last day she felt safe and secure. Someone was willing to help her, and not run or try to murder her.

"No," Mary shook her lightly, "Don't sleep quite yet, dear."

"Wh... Whay?" Viola whimpered, slurring on the word.

"I know it's tough," Mary whispered reassuringly to the girl, "But you've got to be strong. You're so badly injured right now that your body will probably shut down if you go to sleep."

"Uuuaw..." Viola let out a pitiful cry.

"It's ok," Mary whispered, "It's going to be all right. Just be strong for me, ok?"

Viola nodded her head tiredly, keeping her arms wrapped around the chest of the woman carrying her. She couldn't tell how long she had been holding onto the woman, but it certainly felt like days. She felt herself dozing off a few times, but she would force herself to stay awake. Occasionally, the woman holding her would let out a whispered curse, and reach back into her pocket? Purse? Viola was unsure, but the woman would make her drink something, and her tiredness would go away, and she'd feel better too.

"Whaz that?" Viola asked, after drinking the third dose of whatever liquid the woman was giving her.

"Magic." The woman answered.

Viola jerked at the word, and she could feel Mary's grasp on her falter, and she fell to the ground, letting out a scream as an immense pain shot through her.

"I'm sorry!" The woman cried, "I didn't think you'd react like that!"

"M – Magic..." Viola whimpered, "No..."

"Wait." Mary gasped, "You mean... Whoever did this to you used magic?"

Viola nodded, unable to do much more.

"What?" Mary yelled, "To abuse a power in this way!" Viola could almost feel the tremors in the ground as the woman began to shake in fury, "Magic is supposed to help life, not destroy it!"

Viola felt genuinely happy that someone was mad for her sake, but she was still in pain, "H – Help..."

"Oh!" Mary let out a startled gasp, "I'm so sorry!" She picked the girl up again, "I'm sorry, but when I hear about magic abuse, it just sets me off! To explain it better to you, what I've been making you drink is a potion of healing made from the local herbs in this forest, and I use my magic to make it more potent. The problem is that it only works when the person drinking it is conscious, so that's why I need you to stay awake."

Viola nodded, "I s- see..."

"We're almost to my house," The woman claimed as she continued to walk at a brisk pace through the forest towards her home, "It's starting to get pretty late now too. I'm glad I decided to stay out for a while longer, otherwise I might have not found you!"

Viola didn't answer, and instead focused on trying to stay awake. The pain had subsided from the fall, likely due to the healing potion that the woman who was holding her had made, so she decided to ask her question, "A – are..." She coughed, "You... Witch?"

She felt the woman tense a bit at the question, but she relaxed a little, "I suppose if you want to call me that, then yes, I'm a witch. I only help people though, believe me."

Viola had little reason NOT to believe the woman at this point, and it wasn't like she really had a choice either way. She simply nodded into the woman's chest, "Th – Thanyou."

"It's no problem, dear." The witch said, "there was absolutely no way I would leave you out there to fend for yourself in your current state!" She suddenly stopped, and Viola heard what sounded like a door opening up, "We're here!" Viola held on tight as the woman rushed around, and then she heard stomping as the woman went up some stairs, and then another door opened, "This is my guest room, I usually bring in people lost in the woods or people like you who need help."

Viola felt herself being set down on a very comfortable mattress, and she momentarily hesitated when she started to rest – she must have been filthy! She would get blood and dirt all over this nice feeling bed, "B – bath...?"

"Not yet, dear." The older witch said, rushing all around the room, "I need to heal you first, and then afterwards when you wake up, yes, you may take a bath as long as you'd like."

Viola nodded, allowing her head to rest on the pillow. She never thought she would feel the comfort of a bed again, and not be in intense pain, but here she was. She wished she could cry, but without her eyes, she could do little more than let out a pitiful wail as she lay there. Now that she was hopefully safe, she felt the memories flooding back to her – her dad had shot her! Her dad! How could he do such a thing? He never came back for her either! If it wasn't for Mary, she would have died!

"It's ok," The woman came over and began to comfortingly rub the side of her face, "I promise I'll save you, shh. It's ok..."

For some reason, the witch's words did reassure her, despite the fact that a witch had been what had put her in this predicament in the first place. Mary was different – she sensed no malice from the woman, and instead she could feel both pity and a genuine concern for her. The most Ellen did for her was force her to drink something that burned her throat and made her unable to even talk... She tried to prevent her cries from being heard, but was unable to do so, since the emotions she was feeling was so powerful.

"Whatever did this to you must have been very traumatizing." The woman mumbled, "Don't worry, I'll help you in any way I can. Please, just relax, and try not to think about it. Also I'm going to need you to drink several potions."

Viola did as was asked of her, and she felt another bottle being pressed against her lips, and she eagerly opened her lips and allowed the liquid to flow down her burned throat, and she again felt the soothing coolness of the healing potion that she had been drinking all day.

"Ok, now I'm going to start to try and fix you up. This next potion is going to knock you unconscious, are you prepared for that?"

Viola started to shake when the woman said that, "N – no..."

"I'm sorry dear," The witch reached over and began to rub the side of her head, "I know you're afraid. It's common for people to be afraid of things they can't see. I promise you that you WILL wake up again. I promise that I'll save you."

Viola nodded slowly. For some reason. She trusted this person.

"Thank you," Mary stated sincerely, "I'm going to give you another healing potion first, and then I'll give you the one that will let you rest, are you ready?"

Viola nodded again, "R- ready..."

Mary didn't wait for another confirmation, only reaching forth and pressing a potion to Viola's mouth, which the girl drank, and then after that one almost immediately another potion was pressed to her lips, which Viola again drank. With that one, she could feel herself growing more and more tired, and she couldn't help but start to shake.

"It's ok." She heard the witch talking from her right, "I promise, you'll be fine."

Her voice grew more and more distant, until finally it was no more. Viola had lost consciousness.

XxXxXxX

"Daddy! Please, don't leave me!" She screamed, watching the man walking away with Ellen beside him, the girl's purple hair swaying as she glanced back and started to laugh at her pitiful state.

"I promise, I'll take good care of him!" Ellen said, her golden eyes filled with mirth, "Thank you for giving me this chance!"

The two walked away, leaving her to die n the middle of the clearing of trees. She looked around at all the trees, standing tall, their shadows casting on the ground menacingly. She went to take a few steps back, but realized that her legs were gone! She shadows grew longer and longer, seemingly reaching over to her, and she saw evil lurking in the shadows, monsters smiling at her with their sharp teeth and grotesque bodies. She knew that if the shadows reached her, she would die! She tried to crawl away, but it was no use. She looked away, unable to watch her death come.

"Wake up!"

Viola's eyes opened, but she quickly closed them, since the light blinded her. She let out a startled gasp as she felt around the bed, and started to scream when she felt arms restraining her to the bed.

"Let me go!" She screamed.

"Calm down!" She heard a woman saying, "It's ok! You were having a nightmare! It's ok!"

Viola calmed down her intense breathing, and finally opened her eyes again, squinting as the bright light again poured into her vision. Where was she? What was going on? She looked around the room, and realized that she was in a bed situated against the wall in the middle of the room, and all around her she saw many drawers, some opened up, with their contents scattered about. She saw plenty of bottles scattered all over the tops of the dressers and counter tops all over the room, and even saw a few towels gathered on the floor, the crimson color of blood painting them.

"Who are you?" Viola asked.

"I'm Mary." She answered. Viola took a good look at the girl before her. She had light violet hair and bright red eyes, and wore a green dress. The woman seemed to be in her early thirties at the very least, and was actually not all that bad looking. She could see some stains in the green dress though, which looked an awful lot like blood, and the woman herself looked exhausted.

"Why am I here?"

"You don't remember?" Mary asked, her eyebrow raising in surprise.

"I remember..." Viola looked at the ceiling intently, "My friend... Ellen..."

Mary watched as horror and realization suddenly dawned on the girl's face, and the girl suddenly sat up, her eyes blinking as she looked down at her body. She was still wearing the clothes that she had on the previous day, dirty as they were, and she was still missing her legs, but her eyes were back! And she could talk with no problems anymore! She reached up and grabbed a stray bit of her hair and put it in her vision, she frowned when she noticed the color, and she looked over at Mary.

"Do you have a mirror?" She asked.

Mary nodded, "I do. You have very pretty eyes." She smiled, trying to sound reassuring as she stood up and went over to one of the desks in the room and came back with a hand mirror.

Viola grabbed it immediately when the girl offered it to her, and she looked directly into it, examining her face. Her hand began to shake violently, her breathing picked up, and she started to hyperventilate as she dropped the mirror, and covered her eyes with her hands, "No, no, no, no!"

"Wha – What's wrong?" Mary asked, startled by the girl's reaction.

"I – I'm still in her body!" She cried.

"What?" Mary gasped out, "In her body? You mean..."

She nodded, "This is Ellen's body!"

"Your friend?" Mary asked, sounding startled.

"My friend?" Viola spat out, "She's not my friend!"

"Then..." Mary covered her mouth in horror, "Ellen, she switched bodies with you... When she was like that?"

"She did it to herself!" Viola screamed, "Then she made me drink some stupid potion that made me unable to talk!" She let out a aggravated wail, "My voice sounds just like hers too! I'm her! No! She stole everything from me!"

"Switching bodies..." Mary whispered, "That's demonic magic."

Viola continued to cry, "Why did this happen to me? Why..."

Mary reached forward and wrapped her arms around the girl, but wasn't sure what else to do or say. She couldn't tell the girl that things would be ok, since things surely wouldn't be for the girl. It wasn't a hyperbole to say that her entire life had just been drastically changed.

Viola had wrapped her arms around the woman, and continued to cry in her shoulder, and soon she was out of tears, she looked at Mary and sincerely said, "Thank you... You've been kind to me the entire time."

"It's the least I could do." Mary answered, "Would you be willing to tell me your name now?"

"Well..." Viola bit her bottom lip and looked aside, "This body is Ellen..."

"Not the body's name," Mary said shaking her head, "What is your name?"

"Viola." She answered.

"Viola," Mary tried it out, "That's a very cute name." She smiled brightly at the girl.

Viola blushed, "Thank you..."

"Let's clean you up." Mary broke the silence as she stood up, trying to get the girl to calm down for the time being, "I need to clean the sheets too, since they're so messy."

"Um..." Viola looked down at her missing limbs, "What is going to happen with her legs?"

"Her legs?" Mary asked.

"It's not my body." Viola answered.

Mary couldn't help but allow a pained expression to cross her face, wincing as the girl said that, "V – Viola..." She started, "You're... You're probably going to be stuck in that body for the rest of your life."

Viola was silent.

"Viola?"

"Oh." She mumbled, "I see." It was clear that the girl didn't. She was probably still in a state of shock at everything that had happened to her, and probably would be for a very long while. She shoved the thought aside and again asked, "So... m – my..." Tears dropped from her eyes at the acknowledgment, "My legs. Are they going to be gone forever?"

"No." Mary said, her heart going out to the girl, "I can fix them."

"E – Ellen..." She felt warm tears coming down faster, "Well... Me now... This body has been sick since childhood... She told me that she was going to die soon..."

"What?" Mary said as she blinked in surprise, "No. I didn't detect any diseases as I worked on you."

"Wait... What?" Viola looked up, her golden eyes widening as her mouth dropped open.

"Your body is fine." Mary repeated.

"But... But..." Viola gasped out, "That is why I – I agreed..."

"You agreed to switch?" Mary crossed her arms as she looked down at the girl laying down in the bed. She didn't say anything more, not wanting to come across as condescending to the girl, despite the fact that she thought it was a very stupid thing to do.

"She said for just one day!" Viola said, "I – I didn't want to at first..."

"But you felt sorry for her." Mary finished.

"Yes!" Viola shook her head, "She was sick! She wanted to run around like a normal girl! So – So I thought I'd give her that chance!"

"Then... How did you end up like how I found you?"

"Before we switched..." Viola cried, covering her eyes, "She cut off her legs, and stabbed out her eyes... She never intended to give me my body back! Then... When I was chasing her... D – daddy came and..." She shivered as she reached up to her shoulder.

Mary couldn't help but gasp in realization, and she quickly reach forth to the girl and wrap her arms around her, again feeling immensely bad for her, "I'm so sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for." Viola mumbled, "But... Thank you again."

Mary hesitantly spoke, "Well... Let's go get you cleaned up. Are you ok with that? You can decide what to do once I'm done treating you."

Viola nodded, "Ok." She allowed the older woman to pick her up, and she quickly wrapped her arms around the woman's chest like before. This time though, she was in considerably less amounts of pain, and she could see where they were going. When they got into the hallway, Viola looked around as the two then entered the bathroom, where Mary gently set Viola down on the edge of the tub.

"We need to get your clothes off," Mary told the girl, and the older woman assisted the young girl in taking off her bloody, and dirt covered red dress. Viola blushed faintly as she got completely naked, and didn't look down at her body, since it wasn't really hers, or at least, it still didn't feel like her own. Ellen had matured a little earlier than she had apparently, and it was clear that she was going to grow up to be a very beautiful woman. "You're so cute when you blush like that!" Mary couldn't help but crack.

"I – I can clean myself!" Viola said indigently, "Thank you for your help, but I – I'm fine!"

Mary let out a laugh, "Fine, fine. Just call me when you're ready to get out!"

Viola let out a sigh when the older woman left, but she couldn't help but smile fondly at the door. The woman was very kind and understanding. Her smile disappeared as she looked down at her body in a mixture of disgust, interest, and wonder. If what Mary had said earlier was true... Then this would be her body for the rest of her life. She reached up and touched the scar where she had been shot on her shoulder, and her lips began to tremble.

"Daddy..." She mumbled out, feeling hot tears forming at her eyes. She quickly shook her head, trying to get the thoughts out of her head. She didn't want to think of that for now. Instead, she focused on how soothing the warm water was against her body, and she couldn't help but relax and allow her mind to empty as she leaned back against the wall of the tub, unconsciously playing with her much longer purple hair as it floated in the water.

She finally let out a small groan and began to lather her whole body in soap, being sure to tenderly clean the stubs on her legs, the spot was one of the few places on her body that still really hurt. Mary had promised her that she would fix them, and she couldn't help but look forward to walking again.

Inevitably her mind wandered to the memories of her near death, and how horrendous the experience was. "Why would she do that?" She wondered.

It was then that a stray memory came up in her head. One of her – no, not her, Ellen – watching in glee as a demonic figure ripped her parents apart in their bedroom late at night. Her mother was screaming in horror as the demon smashed her father's skull, and she felt the immense amount of glee and amusement from the memory. Ellen had wanted that? But why? She shook her head, trying to get the memory to leave her, but she still felt sick to her stomach.

"What was that?" She cried.

"Viola?" Mary knocked on the door, "Are you ok?"

"Uh..." Viola prevented herself from saying 'no', and instead said, "I – I think I just saw a memory from Ellen! What happened?"

Mary opened the door, stepping in and giving Viola what she hoped was a reassuring look, "Well... When you switch bodies, you basically switch lives almost. She got all of your memories prior to the switch, and vice versa."

"So..." Viola gritted her teeth, "She... She murdered her parents..."

Mary frowned, "Murdered?"

"I always wondered why she had no parents around, but I never wanted to ask because I thought it would be uncomfortable for her... She..." She closed her eyes, sifting through the second set of memories she had, "She hated them... She wanted them to die. So she made a pact with a demon to kill them..." She continued going through the foreign memories, "It taught her a spell to make her pain go away – The spell she used on me!" She looked up, "I know how to switch back!"

"Viola..." Mary mumbled, "You shouldn't."

"And why not?" Viola asked, "Sh – She thinks she can get away with this? With trying to kill me and taking my life?"

"In order to do so, you'll have to make a pact with a demon." Mary said.

"So what?" Viola cried, "I want my life back!"

"The price for working together with a demon is too high." Mary explained, "If you make a pact with a demon and it gives you what you wish for, then after death your soul is devoured by the demon."

"Wh – what?"

"Your friend paid a terrible price for what she had done." She shook her head, "Instead of allowing fate to take its course and die, allowing her to be reincarnated, she decided she wanted to be happy now, and damned her soul to eternal death."

"But... She wasn't sick, according to you." Viola said, "Why would she do this?"

"I don't know." Mary answered. Viola was silent, and nearly jumped when she felt Mary reach forward and touch her shoulder, "Come on, let's get something to eat. After that I'll focus on fixing your legs. If all goes well, you should be able to walk tomorrow."

"But what should I do?" Viola asked, trying not to cry.

Mary rubbed her back soothingly, "If you want, you can stay with me as long as you need to."

Viola smiled faintly, despite her tears, "Thank you."

With that, Mary helped the girl out of the tub, and into a set of pajamas that she had. They were a little large on the little girl, but not enough that they would just fall off. She then helped the girl get the knots out of her hair, and dry it out, and finally the two made their way downstairs, Viola again in Mary's arms. Viola looked around the house – it was a very nice place, modern looking and it was clear that Mary took very good care of the place.

Once they were down the stairs, Mary immediately turned right and walked into the kitchen, where she set Viola down on one of the kitchen chairs.

"I hope you're fine with soup," Mary said as she went over to the stove, "I'm not an amazing cook by any means, but my homemade soup is fantastic, if I do say so myself!" Mary lifted the top of the pot she had on the stove, and put in some salt and pepper to the soup, and then she looked over at Viola, who was curiously watching her, "Do you like to cook?"

"I do." Viola answered, and smiled, "I always cook for daddy and I. He's so bad at cooking that the last time he..." She paused, and started to frown, her lips trembled, "He..."

"I'm sorry." Mary said quickly, "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No," Viola shook her head, "You didn't know."

After that, both girls were fairly subdued, neither really saying much at all. Mary was focusing on the soup, while Viola was doing everything in her power to NOT think about the past and what had happened to her, and instead found herself looking around the house. There was a cabinet to the left of the table filled with very expensive looking dishes. She looked out the window over by the front door, and saw that there was a car parked neatly outside, and there were trees – lots of trees everywhere.

"Do you live alone?"

"Well, I'm married, but my husband is away right now, so yes, I guess I'm living alone right now," Mary answered, "No neighbors either. It's a pretty quiet place."

"My dad talked to me about a rumor of a witch being in the woods..."

Mary chuckled at that, "Oh, that silly rumor? Someone started that almost ten years ago, when I first moved here. Though I suppose in my case it's true."

Viola looked up, "I thought it was referring to Ellen."

Mary sighed, "I'm sorry for making you think about that."

"It's not your fault." Viola shook her head, consciously avoiding looking at her purple hair as it came into her vision, "It's just natural for me to think about it..."

"I know," Mary answered, "I just wish there was some other way for me to help..."

Viola couldn't help but smile at the woman's sincerity, "Is the soup done yet?"

"Ah, yes, it is!" Mary grinned, glad that the girl wasn't dwelling too much on her memories for now. Dinner was also a very quiet affair, and Viola found herself growing tired after she was done eating. Mary had apparently caught on, and the older woman brought her up to her room without a word, and put the girl down on the bed again.

"I'm going to give you a bunch of potions again," She said from her position at the side of the bed. Viola was able to notice that there were at least ten different vials of potions on the nightstand table beside the bed, each liquid was a different color, "I'm going to make you drink a dreamless potion too, so you don't have nightmares."

"Thank you." Viola sighed, feeling relief.

"I should have made you have that one yesterday too," Mary mumbled to herself, "Oh well, you'll be fine this night!"

Viola nodded, and took the potions as they were brought to her mouth, one after another. Soon, she felt herself growing tired, and her eyes closed.

She found her thoughts drifting off to what Mary had said earlier that day – that Ellen hadn't been sick. Why would the girl switch bodies if she wasn't sick? Didn't Ellen know that she was fine? Why would she want to make a pact with a demon despite the massive consequences that it would cause? Why did she murder her parents?

As her thoughts grew fainter, she at least knew one thing.

She wanted to get revenge on Ellen, no matter what.

XxXxXxX

The next morning came quickly, and Viola opened her eyes to look at the ceiling. Blinking a few times as the sunlight filtered into her room, she sat up, and noticed that Mary was again there, but this time the woman was sleeping in the chair beside her bed, lightly snoring. Viola removed the blanket covering her body, and couldn't help but let out a cheer when she saw that she now had legs! She had no idea how Mary had done it, but the witch had completely repaired the body she was in.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and went to stand up. However, her legs seem to give up when she put just a little bit of weight on them, and she collapsed to the floor with a loud bang.

"Wha?!" Mary shot up from her seat, looking all around, and then finally to the floor where Viola had fallen, "Viola! Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Viola groaned.

Mary quickly helped the girl up onto her bed, where she sat on the edge, "You JUST got those legs back! You need to slowly adjust to them. They won't be able to take all of your weight at first!"

"So... How do I get them to work?"

"Here, just lean on my shoulder." Mary said, offering her shoulder to Viola, who gratefully wrapped an arm around the older woman's neck and stood once more. She was able to put a little bit of pressure on her legs, but there was no way she'd be able to walk for a little while. Mary started to walk around the room holding tightly onto Viola, allowing the girl to get used to the motion of walking and getting her legs used to the pressure.

"How long will this take?" Viola asked.

"Eager to leave?" Mary asked jokingly.

Viola frowned, her joy having been tempered by the question, "I – I want to know why she did it..."

"Switched bodies with you?" Mary whispered.

"Yes." Viola nodded, and reaching up with her free hand and getting the purple hair out of her face, "I need to know why she would switch bodies with me despite the fact that she wasn't ill."

"What do her memories say about it?"

"That's the thing." Viola said, "In her memories, she is absolutely certain that she is sick and going to die... I can recall her helplessness and hatred at the situation. She felt that her parents didn't care for her at all and that they deserved to die because of it. When she met the demon her body was wasting away, and she needed to do something to stop it, and the demon gave her an out..." She shook her head, "She was absolutely certain that she was going to die."

"Odd." The woman mumbled, "What do you intend to do?"

"I – I'm going back to her house." She shivered at the mere thought of doing as much, "Maybe I can find some clues."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Mary asked.

"No." Viola shook her head, "This is something I have to do myself."

Mary nodded, "If you say so. I'll be here if you ever need help, just so you know. I'll be waiting for you."

Viola nodded, "Thank you."

"I have one request though..."

"What's that?" Viola asked.

"Don't seek revenge for what she has done."

"What?" Viola gasped, "She stole my entire life! You know what she has done! You saw what she did to me! Why shouldn't I go after her?!"

"I know it's hard to hear, but please, listen to me."

"I'm listening." Viola allowed.

"She took your body, and your entire life." She saw Viola wince at the truth, "For all intents and purposes, she IS you now. If you go to her, and if you do something to her, how would your – her – father react to it? How would her friends react? How would the media react? As far as the rest of the world is concerned, magic doesn't exist, and you'll just come across as insane if you try to explain things to them as you have to me."

"But..." Viola shook, "What she did is wrong! She..."

"I know." Mary said, "I know how much you hate her for it, and believe me, I hate her just as strongly for doing it, but there's nothing you can do."

"So what?" Viola ask, glaring up at Mary, pushing the woman aside, and shakily standing on her two legs, "You want me to just let her get away with it?"

Mary let out a sigh, "Is there anything else you could do?"

"I can contact a demon! Make a pact with it and take my place where I belong!"

"I told you last night what the price of a demon is!" Mary said, looking visibly distraught, "Please don't throw your life away!"

"My life? I don't have a life anymore!"

"That's not true," Mary shook her head, "I mended that broken and battered body – you can go on and do whatever you wish to do now!"

"And I want to kill Ellen!" She screamed, "I'm going to kill her!"

Mary was silent, and simply shook her head, "Is that your choice?"

Viola was raggedly breathing, but she took a quick deep breath, "I – I so want to say yes." She admitted, "I want to go after her, and strangle her! She... She..." She closed her eyes and wiped away her tears of anger, "But... I'm going to give her a chance... I'm going back to her house, and I will find out why she thought she was sick, and see if her parents were really so despicable that murdering them was justified. I want to see proof that contacting a demon and stealing my body was really her last hope for living."

"Can't you just look through her memories?"

"Her memory is probably biased. I haven't lived in her shoes, and I doubt I really ever want to, but you should know that all memories are painted in the image of those who created them."

"I'm aware of that," Mary nodded, "So you'll seek proof, and then what?"

"I don't know..." Viola answered, her anger from earlier withering, "I – I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"It's understandable, given your position." Mary said, "But I stand by what I said. I don't want you to go after her. You should leave it be, and try to live with the second chance that I've given you."

"I – I don't think I'll be able to do that." Viola whispered, "But thank you for believing that I can."

Mary shook her, "Very well. Do as you wish." She let out a deep sigh, and replaced her sad frown with an obviously fake smile, "Well, I'm not quite done treating you yet! Come on, I'm impressed that you managed to stand on your own this long, but if you try to take a step I bet you'll fall!"

Viola nodded, "Y – yeah..." She allowed the woman to come over and take hold of her again, and the two went out of the room and down the stairs to eat breakfast.

The rest of the day was simply a series of exercises for Viola to get used to walking on her mended legs, going out in the woods around the house with Mary, and walking around in the yard. Later that night, Viola again took a bath by herself, refusing to look into the mirror, and again avoided looking at her body as much as possible as she began to clean herself. Afterwards, she had a quick dinner, and went back to bed in the guest room that Mary had given her to use for now.

"Here," Mary handed Viola a few colored drinks for the night, "Another dreamless sleep potion, and another healing potion, just in case."

"Thank you," Viola said, gulping down both potions immediately.

"It's no problem, dear." Mary answered, setting aside the vials that Viola handed back to her.

"If it weren't for you, I'd be dead." Viola muttered, "So... Thank you for everything."

"It's the least I can do for you," She assured her, "There's no way I would have left you to die back there."

Viola smiled, but it quickly went away as she said, "I – I'm going back tomorrow."

Mary didn't react, probably already having deduced as much earlier, "I see."

"Can you lead me back to where you found me?"

"I can." Mary said, and a silence reigned between the two of them. "Are you sure?" Mary finally asked, before things got too awkward.

"Yes, I'm sure." Viola nodded.

"I'll wait outside of the building for you," Mary decided, "And I won't take no for an answer."

Viola smiled, "Thank you for caring for me."

"Like I said, It's the least I can do for you."

With that, Mary left the room, leaving Viola to rest. Unfortunately, her mind continued to wander about what she may find. She continued to remember Ellen's past, and she couldn't stop remembering the moment when she begged her father for help, and only got shot in return. She shifted from side to side, trying to push aside the thoughts and memories, and instead focused on her objective.

Tomorrow she would learn the truth, one way or another.