An ocean of blood. Dead loved ones as far as the eyes could see. The lingering scent of gunpowder. The deafening silence.

Selene had been kneeling on the floor, petrified and staring vacantly into the nightmarish surroundings. Her blank expression belied her immense suffering and heartache, and her hands were shaking restlessly on her knees. She felt as if her voice had been ripped out of her, and had been unable to let out a single utterance.

It had been three minutes since Black Dahlia and the Medici assassins left Contiello Manor. As they were departing, one of them attempted to shoot Selene in the face, but Black Dahlia stopped her, and instead ordered her to leave her handgun behind. I want her to finish our job for us, she had said with morbid glee. The assassin obeyed and left her gun on the floor at the foot of the door with one bullet left in the chamber.

Gradually coming out of her initial shock, Selene stood up and continued surveying the corpse-ridden ballroom. Turning to the north wall, she felt her heart sink: she'd seen Squigly lying dead on the floor, her head leaning against the wall and her arms sprawled out at her sides. Bits of Squigly's brain, hair and skull littered the area around her head, and a thick splatter of blood coated the wall above her, with a streak running down from when her head slid down it. Selene cupped her mouth with her hands and slowly walked over to her daughter's motionless body.

Selene was horrified upon closer inspection of Squigly's corpse: her left eye had been blown out, and in place of her left pigtail, there had now been a gaping hole that continuously gushed blood down her face and onto the floor, creating a pool around her body that dyed her yellow dress a deep red. Her jaw hung slack, and her right eye had still been open, with tear streaks still visible underneath it.

Selene knelt down beside Squigly in the pool of blood and began sobbing profusely. "Oh Sienna..." She held Squigly's dead body in her arms and shut its eyelid. "...Please... forgive me..."

Selene carefully raised Squigly's body and hugged it, placing its head on her shoulder. As she continued to weep, she looked to the door and noticed the handgun on the floor. Knowing what its purpose was, she gently laid Squigly's body back down, then stood up and walked to the gun, picking it up and seeing that it had been intentionally left loaded.

Utterly bereft of all hopes or cares, Selene held the gun at her side and took one final look at the carnage. She had attempted to locate Roberto, but he'd been nowhere to be seen. She then glanced back over to Squigly's corpse and felt sharp pangs of grief and remorse like knives through her entire body. Her hand quivering, she raised the gun to her head and stuck the barrel in her mouth.

Beloved family... I shall soon be with you again...

Selene's index finger hovered mere centimeters above the trigger, and she winced tightly.

...What was that...?

Right before she had shut her eyes, Selene had seen a strange though familiar object a short distance away, peeking out from under a broken table. She reopened her eyes and carefully removed the gun from her mouth, then squinted in attempt to get a better view of it.

No... it... it can't be...

Selene dropped the gun and sprinted over to the object, splashing through the sea of blood along the way. She pulled it out from underneath the table, and anguish and rage instantly washed over her face.

The box. The box that the Medici had come to recover. The box that had lead to the death of everyone she loved. Selene lividly threw it open and revealed its contents: a small black skull, shaped like a human heart and engulfed by an ethereal blue and white flame.

"YOUUUUU!" She bellowed at the seemingly inanimate object. She picked it up and squeezed it, hoping to crush it in her hands. "YOU did this! YOU killed my family! If not for that accursed woman who gave you to me, they'd still be–"

"I sense that you are in great pain," a voice suddenly echoed from the skull, startling Selene and halting her tirade. "If your heart is pure, I have the power to restore your happiness."

"W-what...? What... are you...?"

Selene suddenly recalled what Black Dahlia had said to her as she terrorized her and Roberto. She remembered her referring to the object as the "Skull Heart", and that the Medicis believed it contained incredible "power", so much so that they chose to preemptively kill the Contiellos before they could unleash it on them.

"The... the Skull Heart..." she whispered. "You are the Skull Heart... aren't you?"

"Yes. I am the Skull Heart," the skull replied.

"And you... you have some kind of... 'power', don't you?" Selene began to tremble.

"That is correct. Tell me your deepest wish. If it is pure, I will grant it unconditionally."

"You can grant me... any wish...?"

"Yes. There is no limit to my power."

Selene gripped the Skull Heart tightly, then looked up at the lifeless bodies of her family that lay around her. She gulped as she looked back down at the Skull Heart; she knew deep in her heart her greatest desire – the only wish she could ever make.

"Please... give me back my family," she pleaded, sniffling. "Roberto... Squigly... Save them all!"

"Your request... is impure," the Skull Heart responded. "It is driven by personal desire to alleviate your grief. Your family is deceased, and bringing them back would only service you, satisfying your own emotional need. Nevertheless... it shall be granted."

Selene gasped as she was suddenly levitated, and she and the Skull Heart began emitting a radiant yellow glow.


Roberto was curled up behind a table next to the short stage at the far end of the ballroom, holding onto life with all of his strength and clutching his stomach in tremendous pain. Emerging from his shoulder, Leviathan had successfully been able to remove the bullet from the inside, and attempted to slow the bleeding by plugging the wound with his tail. His preservative properties had also postponed the failure of Roberto's punctured organs.

"Stay strong, Master Roberto," encouraged Leviathan. "As soon as your bleeding stops, I shall get you immediate medical treatment."

"Th... thank you, Leviathan," Roberto grunted, finding it painful to speak. "I am... truly in your debt."

"Incorrect, Master Roberto," said Leviathan. "It is I who lives to serve y–"

Leviathan's statement was interrupted by the sudden dousing of the lights. He paused and winced in confusion – for a split second, he'd thought he had seen one of the corpses start to move on the other side of the table. Shaking his head dismissively, he'd reasoned that his eyes had been failing him, but when he looked again, he had indeed seen a corpse standing fully erect. Before he could look away, another corpse followed suit – then another. The grisly and inexplicable sight made Leviathan gasp, promptly drawing the attention of his host.

"Leviathan, what is it? What do you see?" Roberto looked up at him with a face full of alarm.

"M-M... Master Roberto..." Leviathan stammered. "Either I am surely losing my sanity, or... your deceased kin are... rising from the dead..."

"What? H-how is that possible?!"

"There is... but one circumstance I am familiar with that allows the dead to rise en masse. ...I... I pray this is not such a circumstance..."

Roberto mustered his strength and propped himself up onto the stage to confirm his parasite's claim. Though it was difficult to see in the darkness, it was just as Leviathan had said: it appeared that at least half of the corpses had been revived, with even more rising by the second. Roberto watched in horror as his blood-drenched, bullet riddled friends and family members shuffled disorderedly throughout the ballroom, seemingly attempting to congregate.

As he and Leviathan continued to survey their gruesome surroundings, the sight of something bright and reddish-yellow suddenly caught Roberto's eye from the opposite end of the ballroom. He shortly came to recognize the striking object as the dress that Squigly had been wearing, and, after sharpening his focus, he immediately gasped in disgust at what he'd then seen: there in the distance was his young daughter's dead body, brought to life and made to shamble aimlessly amidst the undead horde – her arms dangling limply at her sides, her eyes grayed out and her face entirely void of expression, and the hole in her head spurting blood onto her face and dress with each labored step she took. Roberto felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his chest and hung his head with a weary sigh, overcome with despair and unable to bear the sight of Squigly's mindless reanimated corpse.

"Sienna... Sweetheart, what has happened to you...?" Roberto wept, his breath heavy with anguish. "My family... my friends... what did we ever do to deserve this?!"
Roberto's exclamation drew the attention of the revived corpses, who began slowly but menacingly approaching him and Leviathan. As they began to surround the two, Roberto could sense that his remaining time wasn't long. With his final moments nearing, he resolved to protect his precious daughter above all else, and decided to do the only thing that would have a chance of sparing her of the terrible fate that awaited him and the rest of their family.

"Leviathan," Roberto strained. "Right now, I need you... to go to Squigly. Return her body to her... and restore her mind."

"Master Roberto, I'm... I'm not certain I can..." Leviathan said with regret. "Why, I-I've never inhabited a non-living being before! I'm afraid my powers... may be insufficient for what you ask of me..."

"You need to try, Leviathan," Roberto sternly responded as the risen corpses drew closer. "Do whatever you must. Just please... do not let my daughter... join the mindless undead."

"But what of you, Sir? I must tend to your injuries! Without my power, you will surely perish!"

"I do not care... Squigly is all that matters now. Leviathan, you must... protect her. You must... keep watch over her. You must... give her the love that... Selene and I no longer can."

"Master Roberto, I-I couldn't possibly–"

"That's an order, Leviathan!"

Leviathan gulped, then gave Roberto a hopeful smile. "Of course, Sir. I solemnly swear to uphold your order," he bowed. "For as long as I live, I will see to it that your daughter is protected from everything and wants for nothing. As for yourself, please hold on as long as possible. ...It has been an honor serving you, Master Roberto."
Leviathan exited Roberto's body through his shoulder and hurriedly slithered off the stage. "Don't let anyone touch her, you understand...?" Roberto instructed as he crawled away, leaving a path of blood behind. "Stop anyone who gets close – even me!"

Leviathan didn't look back as the corpses closed in on Roberto, and diligently began searching for Squigly's body; though he had still been in doubt over whether his powers could recover her consciousness, he was nevertheless determined to locate and protect her at any cost. He stayed out of sight of the undead legion, weaving in between their erratic footsteps as he hurried across the ballroom.

Eventually Leviathan had made it over to Squigly's body, which he'd found moaning and shambling about in a disorganized stupor near the ballroom doors. The sight of Squigly in such a pitiable state had filled Leviathan with deep sorrow, but he'd kept his emotions from distracting him and remained intently focused on his objective. Wasting no time, he tightly coiled his serpentine body, then sprang up and launched himself directly into Squigly's head, entering through the bullet hole in the top left of it and passing his tail through what remained of her brain and out her right ear. Having never inhabited a dead person before, he had been admittedly unnerved by her body's lack of heat, but he quickly shrugged off the odd sensation as he began acclimating himself to his new host. Once he'd stopped her bleeding and situated himself firmly in her skull, he carefully laid her on the floor and pulled her to safety underneath a table, separating her from the rest of the undead horde.

"Right... now then..." said Leviathan as Squigly convulsed on the floor, unaffected by his presence in her head. "Let's pray this works..."


"Roberto. You're alive."

"S... Selene...?"

The resurrected corpses that had engulfed Roberto had suddenly frozen in place, and were then made to retreat. Roberto looked up and his eyes widened in fear and disbelief.

"Selene, Love... what's... what's happened to you...?"

Roberto had seen his wife Selene levitating before him: her hair had come loose and her eyes shone a piercing red, the colors of her clothes were muted, and the shawl she had worn was now in the shape of black skulls that draped over her shoulders. A halo of bones arched over her head, and her hands and arms had become entirely skeletal. Her body gave off an intense golden aura and was surrounded by a cloud of skulls. Her dress and hair billowed, and her pupils contained pale half-skull symbols. Alongside her head floated the Skull Heart, giving off an eerie blue-and-white glow.

"Roberto, I have been reborn," Selene stated monotonously. "Unspeakable power now courses through me. I have used this power breathe life back into the Contiellos."

"So it was... you who... revived them?" he asked, struggling to pool strength to talk.

"Yes. I have brought them all back. They live again to serve me," Selene answered.

"'S-serve you'...?"

"They are my undead minions. They possess no minds of their own, and they all bend to my will."

"Even... even our daughter...?"

"Yes... even Sienna. I now command and control her body, as I do all of our family."

"You're... commanding them? So then... you had commanded them... to attack me?"

"Understand, Roberto: they were going to attack you because you've yet to be revived. Your being alive – and thus, inability to be revived – presents a problem for me."

"My being alive is... a 'problem'? Love... what are you saying...?"

"Roberto... my minions and I... together, we shall reap brutal revenge on the Medici who sought to wipe us out. We shall utterly destroy them, along with anyone and everyone who would ever seek to harm us. I want you to be apart of this glorious undertaking."

"Selene... I love you, truly I do, but... you must return to your senses! You would have my life, just to use my body in your thirst for blood? I cannot... agree to this."

"Roberto, look at yourself. You are suffering. You will inevitably die here. Relinquish your life to me, so that I may give you greater purpose in death. Become one with my undead army."

"They are NOT your army! They are our FAMILY!" Roberto angrily sputtered, coughing. "Please, Love... please realize that, and release them..."

"Roberto... if you will not give your life to me... I will take it from you."

Selene commanded two of her undead minions to pick up Roberto's body by slinging his arms over their shoulders. Roberto, already on the verge of death from his gunshot, had been powerless to resist them.

"Selene!" Roberto weakly cried out, gasping for air. "Please, Love... whatever spell you've been put under... break free from it!"

"Roberto, you are mistaken," responded Selene. "It is I who shall be freeing you."

Selene summoned a third corpse to her, and in its hands was the loaded handgun. Roberto looked up pleadingly at Selene, but she'd returned his gaze with an indifferent stare. Selene gave the order, and the armed minion raised the gun and shot Roberto through the heart, killing him almost instantly. Selene's aura intensified and Roberto was revived, and his body began standing up on its own without the aid of the two corpses that supported him.

"I'm glad you could see things my way, Darling..." Selene put on a satisfied, cruel smile as Roberto's corpse fell in line with her undead army. "Now that our family has finally been reunited... let us bring our wrath down upon this evil world."


Underneath a table at the far end of the ballroom, Leviathan had finally succeeded in transferring his restorative powers into Squigly after several failed attempts. Though they had been weakened from the strain of overcoming the Skull Heart's power, their effects had steadily begun returning feeling, heat, and above all else consciousness to her body. Squigly stopped convulsing and lay still on the floor, and Leviathan smiled down at her as she looked up and blinked her eye a few times, it having changed color from a dull gray to a vivid red.

"Miss Squigly..." Leviathan softly spoke. "Thank goodness... you've finally–"

"...AAAAAAAOW! MY HEAD! MY HEEEEEAD!"

Squigly began shrieking loudly as she curled up and grabbed the sides of her head in her hands. While her outburst had startled Leviathan, he realized that, since the feeling in her body had been restored, she had now fully felt the burning pain of the gunshot wound all throughout her head, made even worse by his own occupation inside it. Squigly cried and wailed vociferously as Leviathan swiftly and frantically worked to heal her intolerable pain.

Just as Selene had collected Roberto's corpse and was about to lead her undead horde out of Contiello Manor, the sound of Squigly's cries had suddenly pierced her ears from across the room. Confused and perturbed, Selene halted the march and turned toward the table Squigly had been hidden under, proceeding toward it with a scowl across her pallid face.

"Miss Squigly! Everything will be alright, I assure you!" Leviathan worriedly attempted to becalm Squigly, to no avail. "Please try to stay calm, my lady! We mustn't alert your mother...!"

His words fell to deaf ears as Squigly continued screaming and writhing on the floor, clutching her bloody head in sheer agony. Leviathan used every bit of his power to ease her suffering, and before long, Squigly stopped crying and began to calm down as the pain in her head faded away; though, because his abilities weren't at their peak, she had still been left light-headed, and greatly disoriented. Leviathan gave a sigh of relief, and Squigly caught her breath and rubbed her hand on her aching forehead.

"Miss Squigly... are you alright?" Leviathan asked. "How do you feel...?"
"Le... Leviathan...? Is that... really you...?" Squigly exhaustedly murmured as she sat up, her throat hoarse from screaming. "What happened...? Wh... why are you... in my head...? Where are... Mother and Father...? W-why does my body feel... strange...?"

"My lady, I'm afraid I have something rather... unfortunate to tell you. You see, you–"

Before Leviathan could finish his statement, the table he and Squigly had been under was suddenly flipped over. The two gasped and glanced upward, and Squigly's mouth gaped in fear and disbelief at the sight of her mother's ghastly form, levitating before her in front of their family's upright corpses and staring down at her with beaming red eyes.

"M... Mother?! Is that... really you...?" said Squigly as she shakily stood up and wiped blood off her face with her sleeve. "W... what has happened to you? What has happened to... our family...?"

"Sienna? Those were your screams?" Selene replied with a perplexed wince. "...Whatever is the meaning of this?! Why haven't you fallen in line with the others?"

"'F-fallen in line'? What do y–"

"Squigly will NOT be your slave, Selene!" Leviathan emphatically interjected, coiling around Squigly defensively. "Her mind and body are hers and hers ALONE!"

"This is none of your concern, Leviathan," said Selene tersely. "Relinquish my daughter to me, so that together, we may extract our vengeance on those who tore us apart. If you truly serve our family you will obey my command."

"Selene... the Skull Heart... has consumed you. You know not what you've done..." Leviathan sighed and shook his head regretfully. "...If only I could've been there to protect you from it. It truly does pain me to see you in this state, Madame. Now... I fear I have no choice..."

"W-what are you talking about, Leviathan?" Squigly spoke up, her expression turning to worry. "What 'choice' don't you have...?"

"So you mean to stop me, Leviathan? You are but a parasite – I couldn't ever expect you to understand," Selene sneered. "Do you not see what I've done? The Contiellos live once again because of me, and now I shall lead them in the slaughter of the Medici Family that took them from me. With my power, no one can ever hope to oppose us... including you."

"Leviathan, please..." Squigly whimpered. "I'm... quite frightened. What is Mother saying...?"

"Miss Squigly, this will be difficult for me to say and for you to hear... but please heed all that I have to tell you," Leviathan forewarned. "Let me start by saying that, right now, you should be dead. All of your family should be, in fact. The reason you are here... is because your mother has revived you all."

"We're supposed to be... dead?! But... how then–"

"I have brought you and everyone back, Sienna," Selene abruptly answered. "I have given you new life, so I ask that you join the rest of your family. Repay the gift of your rebirth by lending us your aid."

"You mustn't listen to your mother, my lady... she is not herself. Her heart and mind have been swallowed up by a sinister artifact known as the Skull Heart. She is now a Skullgirl... a monster that commands legions of undead and exists solely to spread chaos and death throughout the world."

"Sienna, listen to me, your mother. I need you to help me avenge our family. We have an obligation to them that we must fulfill."

"Miss Squigly, do not let your judgment be clouded. Your family, as you know them, no longer exists. The people you see before you are but mindless corpses – incapable of thought or free will, and made to follow Selene's every command."

"But wait, Leviathan..." Squigly interrupted. "If that is true, then how is my mind still intact? Why am I not being controlled by Mother?"

"That is precisely why I am here. My powers are currently preserving and safeguarding your mind, preventing your body from being added to the undead legion that your mother has amassed. After witnessing you rise from the dead, it was your father's dying request that I protect you from everyone and everything, including her."

"He is lying, Sienna. Your father is here, with me." Selene then made Roberto's corpse step forward, and Squigly revolted at the site of the bullet wounds in her father's body and the dead-eyed expression on his face.

"Please trust me, Miss Squigly: this Selene is not the mother you know and cherish. She has realized that she cannot control you, so she is now trying to sway you over to her side by leveraging your emotions. Whatever you do, you mustn't give into her!"

Squigly was torn – she did not know who or what to believe. She had desperately wanted to believe her mother and side with her, but couldn't ignore the facts that Leviathan had presented. "Mother..." She looked back up to Selene. "You say you've brought our family back... well, now that we're alive, what is it that you plan to do with us...?"

"Sienna, it will be wonderful..." Selene grinned wickedly. "I shall use my undead legion to rain death upon the Medici household. Then, we shall destroy this evil world and everyone within it. Everyone that would do harm to us, everyone that would separate us – join me, and we will annihilate them all!"

Squigly was utterly appalled by Selene's ambitions; she had realized that her mother truly was lost to the influence of the Skull Heart, and a passionate anger built up within her. "Mother... no, you are not my mother. Selene," she seethed, scowling fiercely at Selene. "I will never be party to the atrocities you would have me commit – neither in my life, nor in my death. Abominable Skullgirl, return my mother and let my family's souls rest in peace!"

"Good on you, Miss Squigly!" Leviathan cheered. "You shan't fall prey to her manipulative tactics!"

"That is how you will be, then? You would defy your own mother? Such insolence," Selene hissed. "I would think loyalty to your family would supersede the ravings of a parasite, but it matters not to me. What is one undead when I have an army of minions at my command?"

"You release them right now!" Squigly shouted. "Our family has suffered enough! I will not allow you prolonging their torment by desecrating their bodies with your heinous designs!"

"Suffering? Oh naive Sienna, I have ended their suffering. I have freed them from the burden of will, and they exist now only to serve me. Try as you might, there is nothing that you can say or do to 'release' them."

Selene turned away from Squigly and started levitating toward the doors of the ballroom, intending to lead her undead army out of the manor and unleash them upon the city. "The hour grows late. I shall bring my wrath down on the heads of the Medicis as they least expect it," she coldly spoke. "I have no more time to waste here. Farewell, Sienna – it is such a shame to see you so easily misled."

"Leviathan, what do we do?!" Squigly panicked. "We can't just let her leave! How do we get through to her?!"

"Miss Squigly... in the state she is in, I'm afraid she cannot be reasoned with," Leviathan gravely replied. "There is... but one way to stop her: ...through force."

"I... can't do that. For as wicked as she is... deep down inside of her, my true mother still exists."

"Madame Selene... cannot hope to be saved. It deeply grieves me to acknowledge this, but... the only way to free your mother... is to release her soul from the Skullgirl's husk."

"Leviathan... I... I can't!" Squigly began to cry. "I cannot do it! You ask too much!"

"There isn't much time left, Miss Squigly! The Skullgirl is about to depart with the bodies of the Contiellos in tow! It absolutely must be done – not just for her or their sakes, but for the sake of humanity itself!"

"I love my mother, Leviathan. ...I cannot kill her..."

"My lady... your mother's soul will always be with you. Right now, it cries out to you to release it from its prison... and you are the only one who can help her. It will be alright, Miss Squigly... I have faith in you. I will be supporting you the entire way."

Leviathan gently lifted Squigly's chin up with his tail and wiped her tears, and she smiled gratefully at him as she began to compose herself. She then looked over to Selene and her army, who had reached the doors leading out of the manor; taking a deep breath, she steeled herself up and began sprinting toward them.

"SKULLGIRL!" She shouted ferociously. "I will end you and release the souls of my mother and the rest of my family!"

Selene turned around and saw Squigly rapidly approaching her, and flashed a confident grin. "Really now?" she replied, unfazed. "You have the audacity to take on your mother? Fine then. I have given you life twice, but now I shall take it away!"