Chapter Nine: The Fall

I winced from Gennifer's words, but they had been said, and it was final.

I stood up, glancing over my shoulder as Gemma emerged from the shadows behind us. Her eyes flashed yellow under the moon as she walked over to me, a wicked smile on her face. The shaken and shocked look on Gennifer's face clearly spelled out that she was not expecting to see her sister at all.

"Hello, Gen," Gemma whispered, walking ever closer to her sister. I was paralyzed, literally rooted to the spot. I wanted to stop this unnatural reunion, but it was happening regardless.

"Gem…" Gennifer breathed, her amulet slipping from her fingers. "Are you—"

Gemma's fingertips danced along her sister's face. "I'm here to take your hope, Sister."

"Okay, okay," she obliged, waiting for Gemma to do what she had to do.

I turned away, not able to watch. This was it, the fall, the rise, the turning. My eyes landed on Gennifer's once amulet. As Gemma commenced to take her hope, the brilliant object began to char over as if it knew the betrayal taking place.

I turned away, not able to watch. This was it, the fall, the rise, the turning. My eyes landed on Gennifer's once amulet. As Gemma commenced to take her hope, the brilliant object began to char over as if it knew the betrayal taking place.

"Welcome to my world, Gennifer," Gemma said with such finality, I wondered if this was the same girl who had stolen my hope. Indeed, was she even the same girl whose hope Stanton had whisked away?

Gennifer looked to me. What I saw was not natural. She seemed drained; her eyes held little now that she was like me, a low Initiate. The change seemed to hurt her hard. But then, if you went from representing hope to being hopeless… Well, that would probably take its toll.

"How did you know, Gemma?" Gennifer asked softly, looking back at her sister.

Gemma pat the fallen goddess's cheek, a look of feigned pity on her demonic face. "Why, he's my Initiate, of course. Oh, you didn't know, that's right…" She tsk'd, her tongue clicking along her teeth. "Might as well start you bright Atrox day filled with the truth."

I couldn't take it. Not like this. "Shut up, Gemma!"

Gennifer blinked slowly, but she seemed a little devoid. "I want to hear this."

"You hear that, sweetie?" Gemma sang sweetly—diabetic overdose sweet—at me.

"Stop."

"Gen, my dearest sister. I think we're bothering him."

"I want to understand what's going on."

"No. Gennifer, nothing is."

Gemma inclined her head and that smile of hers returned. The one where she held her ambition of power. "Oh, I get it. Okay, Gennifer, you see, you don't demand anything of us. I will be your lecta, and he a Follower. And you are just an Initiate."

Gennifer finally looked stunned again, her head snapping back at such a tone coming form her sister. I sighed in relief that Gemma didn't tell what I had done, but what came next might have been far worse.

Gemma stroked my arm, a teasing look in her eye. "Another thing, Sister…He's mine. I made him… He belongs to me."

Gennifer quickly swung her eyes to mine. "Her? Gemma was that girl who promised you a party?" She cried shrilly.

I didn't answer her. What reason was there to? The evidence seemed plain enough. Gemma seemed plain enough.

"I don't like others touching my property," Gemma warned with conviction.

XXXXX

We had done it. Gotten our illustrious "promotions". Because, after all, who doesn't want to be risen to the status of a Follower? It's not a very demeaning term at all. Follower… What was the Atrox thinking? We have more opinions than Manson's cult members put together (of course, that came a few years later, though).

And Gemma got what she wanted; she got high praise. She got that Cold Fire to touch her beautiful skin and burn away the mortality hindering her.

I remember the chanting, and the way her title rolled off my lips despite myself. But what I remember most is Gennifer as she stood close to the fire, the flames reflecting off her face. She watched her sister closely. I don't know what made me do it, but it was like being in the past, and I let myself slip into her mind though she now knew I could and was.

--destroy you, Gemma. I will find a way to—

Quickly, her head snapped up and she was looking at me. I pulled from her mind, but she was smooth and entered mine instead. I tasted her power, felt her thirst for it, saw how much more powerful she truly was.

Why do you follow her? Why do you let her control you? I see what she does.

I don't know.

I shut down my mind, blocked Gennifer off before she had a chance to invade my mind even more. I couldn't risk Gemma finding out. I couldn't risk anyone knowing.

Maybe I did have a piece of my hope restored, just enough to keep me going, to let me live as a Follower, among these idiots and thieves and schemers.

XXXXX

Kristina's choice came and went. She was true to her word, intensely sober and picked to be human. I watched from a distance. She was accompanied by a woman I assumed to be Miss Margaret—who, by the looks of things, didn't seem much older than them.

In an odd way, I felt proud of the wayward Daughter and hoped that she would be a good mother to the child I found out she was carrying. Sober or not, Kristina was still an open book.

I just hoped that… That I wasn't the poor kid's father.

Our years of servitude went on, but the toll of Gennifer's did not lessen. I carried the guilt of that incident like a lead weight within me. I questioned it often. Did Followers feel things like guilt? It wasn't like I could just ask anyone, and screw going to the Head Shadow for helpful advice.

And as I toiled in my position, comfortable to remain a lecta's lapdog, Gennifer rose in ranks, growing powerful, commanding, seductive.

Often Gemma and Gennifer would meet together, each twin testing the other.

I felt it would end badly. The fall had twisted something in Gennifer, and I believe it had to do with me.

The end was coming close, though, if only someone had warned me. But if we knew the future, what fun would there be?

AN: This story is coming to close soon. A few more chapters, and that'll be the end of Fell From. Early warning. :D

Next: The Demon