With inhuman strength and a roar that seemed to resonate through the air, the girl launched herself at her enemy in a single bound and smashed a fist into the shield-cannon that was raised to block her, denting metal on impact. A push from the barrier shoved her back through the air while the other cannon took aim and fired, but the target easily moved out of the way, a blue streak dashing around the battleship's side while reaching out a hand towards the bloodied shovel, launched a distance away by the explosive murder, now enveloped in blue haze and streaking through the air towards her.

The girl snatched it out of the air and leapt at the murderer once more, who instinctively raised a shield to defend, despite knowing that the ordinary human tool should do nothing to her.

As expected, the shovel's shaft snapped from that single strike, but not before carving a deep groove into the abyssal metal.

From that point on, other objects lying about on the beach were dragged into the fray, from rocks to driftwood to the remains of the shovel, enveloped by Evelyn's color and sent streaking towards the battleship as impromptu missiles. Rosabeth was forced to either block the projectiles with her shields, or be struck directly, often in the head or neck or shins. The successful impacts weren't enough to cause much more than bleeding welts or stagger her, but that in turn led to the berserking little demoness getting past her defenses and landing another painful blow somewhere.

Eventually, a successful shield bash finally launched Evelyn back onto the water. It was upon touching the sea again that she suddenly felt her familiar's presence call out to her, breaching through her maddened bloodlust enough for her to realize there's a better way to go about this than what amounted to throwing a supernatural tantrum. At least, it was like that back then, now she just brawled first for the satisfaction of fighting something, doubly so if it's beating this bitch up with her own two hands.

She would like to say that she devised some ingenious way of baiting her opponent into the water for her trap, but it kind of just… happened on its own. Rosabeth must have figured that being on the water would eliminate the mobility issues she suffered on land, as she started running out onto the water on her own volition, guns blazing. After that it was just a matter of surviving until Wailmer prepared the ambush, avoiding cannonfire and feinting approaches. She still remembered that stupid sneer on the woman's face, probably thought she finally regained the upper hand, as if being able to beat up a kid was something to be proud about.

The swarm of Carvanhas leaping out of the water to bite down on her wiped it oh-so-satisfyingly off.

With the massive cannons her hands were holding, there was no way she could yank the Carvanhas off of herself, so she could only drop her main means of defense if she wanted to stop herself from being devoured alive. The battleship frantically ripped the gnashing monsters off and threw them away, not even having the time to crush them first; so busy screaming and struggling she was that she never saw the torpedo coming before it exploded against her face. Nor the next one, because she was blind. Nor the next one, because she was dead.

Evelyn let her aura dissipate and sailed up to her handiwork. It was the first time she actually killed a living, thinking person. She remembered that her response back then was 'Ugh, GROSS' and promptly returning to the beach, after lifting the corpse with her newfound telekinesis and throwing it as far as she could in the opposite direction. For all her unwillingness to kill before meeting these jerkwads, to this day she never developed the slightest ounce of guilt over it. It must just be part of being half Abyssal, was the excuse she chose to believe, though she's sure she'd never regret the deed either way.

In the real world, she had proceeded to gather up what pieces she could of Jared and dug a grave for him with her bare hands next to Isabelle's. Her only thought back then was that she didn't want to leave Jared's remains lying around to be eaten by seagulls. Looking back on it, it's hard to believe she actually did that without throwing up multiple times, the preceding events must have left her in clinical insanity, and while she's glad she did as much to honor the man, despite allowing herself to reenact history tonight, that was one part she'd much rather skip.

Once the grisly deed was done, she had considered resuming her original plan to seek help, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized how many flaws that plan held. For starters, it's those supersoldiers' job to hunt hybrids like her, it's more than likely they'll just disregard what she says and attack on sight. Even if they do believe her, what's to stop them from pretending in order to capture her? They're part of the government, and protagonists can't trust governments! Really, if they cared about a populated island like this then wouldn't they have sent someone by now? No, that won't work.

And neither will acquiring her own fleet of hybrids. Not only can she not be certain of how long that'll take, but how will she even make her way back here? What's to stop the people she recruits from being jerks who want to join the tyrants? And in the meantime, how many more people will die to those bitches because of some petty reason? They're going to notice one of them never came back, what if they get scared and leave, but not before killing everyone to spite her, just like how Rosabeth threatened her?

In hindsight, maybe she got a bit too paranoid against going to Fleet Girls for help. Maybe she was just trying to justify doing the deed herself. Afterall, she was thirsting for vengeance and just got a major power-up out of nowhere like a shonen protagonist, the conclusion was only natural. And hey, it worked out! Barely, but it worked out, and that's what matters.


Night had fallen by the time she returned to the 'capital' of the Queens' kingdom, and by then she was prepared to end their tyranny once and for all. In the preceding timeframe, she had left Isabelle's floaty back at the gravesite to avoid damage and salvaged a variety of kitchen knives as backup weaponry from the abandoned hotels and houses nearby, as well as a coat with many hidden pockets with which to hold those knives. For her main assault though, she had Wailmer create a dozen torpedoes, and having hidden the stash of explosives nearby, she waited for night to fall and observed from the darkness of the woods, waiting for an opportunity to strike. As luck would have it, two of the remaining ones left the palace, the two heavy cruisers, as Sasha told her. What were their names…? Eh, not important, especially with how easy they went down.

One had walked off into the woods for a late night stroll while the other remained in town, headed off to the bar for free drinks. Soon as they were sufficiently isolated, she made her move, and it was as easy as chucking a knife in the backs of their necks. Without their invulnerability, they were nothing. It was almost disappointing.

With half of the enemies taken care of, only the Queens remained, as well as that one girl who was there when she first woke up on the island, Sasha. They talked for a while before they walked in on Jared's execution, and she seemed like a decent person, if incredibly timid. Evelyn remembered thinking she'd just scare her off if she could instead of killing her, since she doubted Sasha was guilty of much more than being stuck with the wrong crowd. She knew someone like that from school, so she knew the signs. The girl smiled wistfully while she returned to her stash of explosives. How differently things turned out in the end.

As night fell deeper, Evelyn started moving her explosive stockpile to the palace. The plan was simple: Wait until the Queens were asleep, go up to their bedroom window, and chuck as many torpedoes at them as she could. Even if they had sent their minions out looking for her, they only did so out of spite and not because they thought her a threat. They wouldn't be prepared for an assassination, and they won't have time to turn on those red auras of theirs. Even if their defenses remain as strong with the auras off, this many explosives HAS to do something to them, especially enhanced by her own new power!

The plan even proceeded smoothly, she managed to move the stockpile up to the royal bedchamber's balcony and the two sadist bitches were already sound asleep, oblivious to their approaching end. They didn't even bother locking the windows after the previous break-in, she could've just walked in and stabbed them, though she wanted to be more thorough, knowing the Queens were a lot stronger than their lackies, she'd be in trouble if the knife failed. Plus, is it too much to ask for a climatic, explosive end?

And it would've worked too, if it wasn't for that FUCKING BIRD!

Literally a second before she launched her salvo at the sleeping forms, a loud monstrous squawk pierced the midnight air. She should've launched the torpedoes then and there, but instead she flinched from the shock and turned to look for the source, spotting that flying abomination streaking towards her with talons outstretched and squawking up a storm. Shielding herself from the assault with one arm, she could hear the Queens waking up and immediately launched half a dozen torpedoes in their direction, but her aim had gone off from the panic. Grabbing the infuriating creature by the leg, Evelyn snarled in rage and smashed a fist right through its glass eye, tearing out the flesh underneath and killing it instantly and satisfyingly. With nothing but disdain, she tossed the disintegrating body off the balcony. More than a year later and she still hates that thing with a passion. At least it makes for good stress relief.

Regardless, the damage had been done. Through her heightened instincts, she sensed the power spike from within the smoke cloud and leapt out of the way as a barrage of energy shots streaked out from the ruined bedroom towards her. The humans have been alerted to the battle now by the series of explosions and panic started to fill the streets, the terrified screams of townsfolk awakened from their own slumber and those trying to evacuate before they get caught in the crossfire. Evelyn had no time to pay them any heed though, not when the final boss battle was about to begin.

From the smoke and dust emerged the twins, snarling with fury in their eyes, enshrouded by red haze that burned with their anger. It was a little hard to see the wounds with all that red, but one seemed none the worse for wear besides torn clothes and light cuts from shrapnel, while the other at least lost an arm to the opening salvo, the broken limb dangling uselessly to the side, and a large wound over her stomach implied a second direct hit. Disappointing considering that was 6 enhanced torpedoes against two unwary targets, but it was better than nothing. Six more remained, lying in a pile behind the Queens who hadn't taken notice, their attention solely on the one who tried to assassinate them. She can still save this situation!

"So it was you, brat?" The relatively unharmed one sneered, her voice dripping with arrogance. "I see you learned some new tricks, and that makes you think you can sink us, you stupid whelp?"

Evelyn stared back at those cold eyes with equal hatred. Her dreams really do make an accurate reconstruction of it all, Apollo's smug face was just as punchable as she remembered it to be. Or was this one Artemis? Eh, whatever. The little girl smirked and pointed at the other twin. "I'd say I stand a better chance now, don't you?"

It was only then that the first twin noticed the wounds on her sibling, who hadn't said anything about it since emerging from the smoke. There goes that smug arrogance, sneer wiped clean as horror took its place.

"My dear Artemis?! How did this happen?! You said you were fine!"

"I am fine, Apollo, a few measly flesh wounds are nothing to me."

"No, this is more than just a few flesh wounds! Please, rest, we will not need both of us to crush that brat!" The one who was apparently Apollo declared and directed her attention back towards Evelyn, seething with bloodlust. "YOU! How DARE you wound my dear Artemis?! How dare you wound US, you insolent worm! I promise you, your punishment shall be a THOUSAND times worse than what you have done!"

Screaming in uncontrollable fury, Apollo opened fire with her cannons, an attack Evelyn dodged by vaulting off the balcony and sending the three torpedoes she's been levitating behind the queens' back straight at Artemis. The wounded twin still managed to notice the attack and evade somehow at the last second, maybe she sensed the aura energy? Regardless, the explosives struck the floor instead and completely destroyed the balcony, sending everything still on it tumbling down to the ground. Evelyn immediately seized control of the last salvo and sent it rocketing down to where she expected the queens to land.

The timing and positioning were on point.

More cries of pain amidst the explosion and the dust and smoke, the young avenger having to shield herself from the shockwave, but as Apollo moved herself and her twin out of the smoke screen, the results were encouraging. Their armored leggings had blocked a good chunk of the damage (Did they summon them like their guns? Did they sleep with them on…?), but Artemis' legs were a mess of blood and shredded metal, she won't be standing after that. Apollo was once again the lucky one though, only one foot damaged and not nearly as much as her sibling's. At least that's one crippled. Only problem now is that she's out of torpedoes. All she has left are the collection of knives in her coat.

She took one out and infused it with her blue aura, facing the queens who were now even more furious than before. She's come this far. She can do this.


It had been some time, maybe not an hour but definitely more than a few minutes, the two girls sitting by the bonfire in silence. Firewood was running low, but it's not like they need the light or heat. Sasha's torrent of tears had dwindled with the help of time and company, and only the occasional sob remained, though the guilt-wracked girl remained as downcast as ever. The actual crying had subsided a while ago, but awkwardness had prevented Rei from restarting the conversation herself, wanting to make sure that Sasha was ready. The shyness probably went both ways, knowing the girl's temperament, though just before Rei finally decided to say something, Sasha beat her to it.

"…Thanks."

"Hmm?" Rei glanced over towards the girl.

"Thanks for… p-putting up with me. Even after everything I told you and I s-started crying… I'm really sorry…"

"Don't mention it, I've been with a lot worse than that." Rei gave her a reassuring smile and gently patted her on the shoulder. "Although, I remember Evelyn said that you helped her in the end, didn't you? That means you DID do something, right?"

The miserable girl thought about it, then shook her head. "I guess you could say that, but I was barely any help at all. I don't think that counts…"

"What did Evelyn say about it?"

"She said I helped and she was grateful for it, and that's why she lets me stay here with her. T-That's about it…"

Rei suppressed her grimace. Ugh, that damn Evelyn being a stupid tsundere about it… "Can you tell me what happened during her fight with the Queens then? Don't skip over anything, tell me what you did during that too."

"Alright, if you insist…" Sasha said with a sniffle and resumed her story. "After Evie was rescued, the Queens were really mad for a while, and sent the rest of us out to search for her and her rescuer. But no one really bothered trying, we were sure the Queens would get bored and move on in a few weeks, Evie would've healed and run away by then, so we searched the island offhandedly and that was about it."

"Then one day, Rosabeth didn't come back. It wasn't that strange, she'd wander off to visit the coast sometimes, so we didn't think much of it even though she shouldn't be gone that long. The night went on as usual, Rita went to the bar to get drunk, Rain went on one of her late night strolls, Ganymedes was still out on patrol and I was cleaning the palace again. Then I suddenly heard Ganymedes tell me that Evie was back and attacking the Queens, followed by explosions that shook the whole building, and then Ganymedes was killed again…"

"I raced up to their room to see what happened, but by then the fight had moved to the ground outside. Artemis was heavily damaged, and Evie had the same kind of power aura the Queens had, but hers was blue. It was… It was all so sudden I wasn't sure what to do."

"You didn't try to help the Queens?" Rei interrupted, simply wanting to confirm. Considering how her peers had treated her, it wasn't surprising for Sasha to just stand by and let them fight. Even someone as submissive as her would have a limit.

Sasha shook her head and directed her eyes downward guiltily again. "I didn't want to do anything to hurt Evie, so I just hid upstairs and watched. I'm really bad at fighting, so me being there wouldn't have mattered anyway… It was like that even before, when we had to fight Fleet Girls, I'd just be a distraction. Everyone else did all the work…"

"So what changed your mind and made you help Evelyn?" Rei asked patiently.

Surprisingly, rather than encourage her, the question only made the girl slump further, as if several more layers of gloom and shame had physically settled on top of her. "I… It was…" She stuttered, hesitating, trying to find the right words, until finally she… chuckled, though the faint upward curve to her lips held nothing but emptiness. "It was because I found out the others were already dead. Apollo was calling out for Rita and Rain to come back, and Evie said she killed them already, and Rosabeth too. It was just Artemis, Apollo, and Evie, and Artemis was already crippled. I thought… this means Evie might actually win."

The distraught Princess giggled again, looking up at her companion with hollow eyes and a hollow smile. "That's how pathetic I am. I only helped her because she could win anyway. If we still had reinforcements, I would've stood there and done nothing. I might've even helped them so they wouldn't punish me later. I don't deserve to be her friend. I don't deserve your help. I don't deserve to be here. She should've just sank me like the rest."

"Sasha-"

"It's okay, you can stop." Sasha looked away again, staring down at the ground. "You have more meaningful worries of your own, I don't deserve your time."

'Welp, you heard her, let's go-'

"It's my time, so let me be the judge of that." The tailed girl said, throwing the last of the firewood into the bonfire. Her tail, its own patience at an end, turned around and growled at her.

'Come on, you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped! We'll be gone by tomorrow anyway, just let her wallow in self-pity, who cares!'

'I care, so you can shut up. Plus, I think I see the problem now.'

Ignoring her tail while it rolled its invisible eyes, Rei cleared her throat. "You said you only helped Evelyn because you thought she could win, right?"

"Yeah, I-"

"I don't think that's true."

Sasha blinked, dumbstruck, and turned to look at her listener. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Maybe knowing she stood a chance helped you make that decision, but that's not all there is. Were you certain that she wouldn't kill you like she did to your fleetmates?"

"…No. It was the opposite, I thought she'd kill me anyway…"

"Then why didn't you just run away?" Rei turned to watch the girl stutter, unable to explain her own decision. "Either Evelyn would've won and killed you, or you'd be left with the ones who abused you the most, you had every reason to run, but you didn't. You stayed and fought because you wanted to help the oppressed humans. You wanted to make sure Evelyn didn't just have a chance to win, but definitely would. You didn't want her to get hurt anymore, even if it means she might kill you for it. None of that is anything you should be ashamed of. If anything, it's heroic!"

"B-But I still-"

"So what if you made sure she stood a chance before you stepped in?" Rei interrupted before she could argue any further, "You'd be insane to do something you know has no chance of succeeding! Maybe it's nothing to be proud of, but it's nothing to be ashamed of neither!"

Sasha fell silent and averted her gaze, but the heavy aura of negativity had begun to fade. She hadn't completely accepted that reasoning, but she wanted to, and that's a start. Rei continued.

"I don't know what happened after you stepped in. Even if you tell me, I doubt I'll get a better grasp of how much you helped than Evelyn herself, and she decided to befriend you afterwards, so I'd think she's pretty grateful you stepped in, don't you?"

"I… guess so?"

"That means regardless why you decided to help her, you still played an important part in saving her and the people of this island. They think you deserve to be here, and that's what matters. Or do you think you know better than them?"

"N-No, of course not!" Shaking her head, Sasha frantically denied the accusation and looked up, her eyes widening upon seeing a gentle smile.

"Then it's settled. You're important, you deserve to be here, and Evelyn thinks so too."

The depressed girl hesitated, thinking it over. To Rei's relief, a little bit of warmth seemed to return to her features, if just for a moment before something else came to mind. "Umm… B-But then, why is she so mean to me sometimes…?" Sasha mumbled, before she realized her own words and shook her head frantically. "W-Wait, I don't mean she's been bullying me or anything, she's been really nice to me and I'm really grateful! I-It's just…" The girl fidgeted and squirmed uncomfortably, as if she felt guilty just considering saying the words. "P-Please don't tell her I said this, but… sometimes it feels like she's just tolerating me… I-I mean, she's a lot better than even Rosabeth or Rain were to me, but… I don't know if she really wants me here… sometimes…"

'Well what d'ya know, you got her to admit it afterall.' Plasma remarked with a mental yawn which Rei ignored, though a sense of satisfaction coursed through her nonetheless, both girls watching the final embers of the bonfire slowly dwindle. "I think she's trying to help you with your confidence, she's just… going about it the wrong way. She might not act like one usually, but she's still a kid, she can make mistakes. Heck, even adults make lots of mistakes. Maybe you should try doing what she said and speak up when she's making you uncomfortable."

"W-Won't she get mad if I talk back though…?"

"I think you'll be surprised. She's not like your old fleet, is she?"

"No…"

"Then have some faith in her, Sasha."

For a moment, the girl said nothing. Even still, Rei could feel the air around her changing, the invisible weight of the mood lifting; the small yet sincere smile on the storyteller's face made the night's efforts all worth it. "Thanks. I… I will."

They remained in silence after that, content to just stay like that for a while. Satisfied with having inspired some change in the timid Princess, Rei closed her eyes to rest and enjoy the quiet for a bit, a quiet she was soon sadly deprived of.

'Think she'll actually stop being such a doormat or if it'll all reset by tomorrow?'

'Here's hoping for the former. I didn't know you were that interested in her mental health.'

'I'm not, I'm just impressed you actually achieved something with her, or you looked like you did.'

'It was mostly luck, admittedly, but I guess I picked up a few things from Ikazuchi.'

'Heh, maybe if we survive the war we can go be a professional therapist or something.'

'Says the split personality of a mutant schizophrenic who will never reach adulthood. I think it'll be rather hard to get a license.'

'A professional legal loli then? We even fit the monstergirl fetish! We'll bring all the weebs to the yard!'

'Wha- Shut the fuck up nanodesu!'

'Is that a na-NO-desu then?'

Growling while her mental pest cackled both in her head and out loud, Rei glanced towards her companion, expecting weird looks and a need to explain herself, only to find that the other girl had fallen asleep at some point, head bobbing while she snored lightly. The bonfire having gone out on its own, Rei decided it was time and got to her feet, gently picking Sasha up into a princess carry without waking her up and heading back for the hotel.

'I just realized she hadn't even finished her story yet.'

'She helped Evelyn kill the Queens and was allowed to stay, I doubt there was much more to it than that. It was mostly a setup to figure out the source of her problems anyway, I don't need to hear the rest.'

'But we were just getting to the fight scene!'

'You really think Sasha can describe a fight well?'

'Point taken. She probably barely did anything anyway.'

'Hmm, I think she did more than she took credit for.'


She may have thought she had the upper hand, but it was gradually proven that was not the case.

Even if she had managed to catch them off guard after they've been sitting on their haunches for so long, once the fight got going, their battle instincts were still plenty sharp, and they didn't lead around a group of lackeys by being weak. Evelyn was reminded of this the hard way as she failed again and again to land a decent strike while having to evade constantly herself, already down to her third knife.

Apollo remained close to Artemis, guarding the latter from any attempt to finish her off. Artemis herself, while having lost her mobility, was still more than capable of shooting straight and still had one arm to defend herself with. Neither of them really needed to move neither, not when Evelyn no longer has anything powerful enough to be a threat unless she can get a good stab in the right place. Even the enhanced knives were having a hard time digging into the flesh, thanks to the red aura that seemed to flow and fluctuate to reinforce wherever she tries to strike. Even if she has telekinesis and they don't, they still have far more experience having one of these power auras than her, and it quickly showed.

They reminded her of Clamhead, an opponent with both power and intelligence, completely unlike the basic animal-like Abyssals she's been hunting; they could see through her movements and parry her every attack while strategizing themselves, and this time there's two of them. Even if she's been successfully evading their shots and whittling away at them, she's losing far more stamina than they were and she knew it.

Pulling two more knives from her coat and controlling them via telekinesis while holding a third, she charged again, sending the first two knives ahead to slash at Apollo from both sides. One however changed course at the last second, instead flying straight for Artemis' eye. Unfortunately, the tyrant's reaction speed won out, and her functioning hand came up to catch the knife successfully, holding on tight and slamming it into the ground even as the blade cracked and dug into her palm. The other one remained on course, slashing at Apollo's eye in the hopes that she would've been distracted by the one that went for Artemis, but she didn't fall for the feint and simply swatted the knife away, hard enough to send it flying far out of control range. All the while, cannons fired while Evelyn zig-zagged the shots, first one, then another, then two shots at once. Instead of entering melee range, the kid jumped high up and backwards over the third barrage, throwing the knife she still held. With her full focus, the third knife dodged one of Apollo's hands while the other hadn't recovered from swatting the first knife, and now it had a clear shot towards the eyes, a definite weakspot even their inhuman toughness shouldn't be able to defend them from…

Apollo leaned up and caught the blade with her teeth.

She then proceeded to yank it back out of her mouth and throw it back at Evelyn, with such force that the girl didn't even bother trying to slow and retrieve it with her telekinesis, simply dodging it as she remained half-stunned by the failure of her plan. If she had more time to train with her power she might've been able to overwhelm the enemy by sheer number of projectiles, but she barely had more than an afternoon to get the hang of it. Outside of clustering several objects into a single bundle and moving them as one, she could only control three at a time with any semblance of finesse, using her hands to help guide one each. Evidently that wasn't enough.

And then she got shot.

Artemis had thrown away the knife that targeted her as soon as Evelyn's focus on it left, and retaliated at just the right moment. Was it luck? Was it skill? Evelyn didn't know nor care. All that mattered was that it FUCKING HURT!

The red blast of energy had struck her left shoulder and sent her careening off into a wall, not even having time to scream before she shoved herself off the wall as hard as she could, the place she stood a mere second ago soon nothing but a smoldering crater. Torn flesh, burns, fractured bone; she couldn't see it, but she could feel it. Disoriented by pain and sudden movement, she tripped over and fell to the ground; it may have been the end right then and there, if the Queens hadn't completely spent all their ammo and needed to reload.

Instead, Apollo lunged forward before she could get up and stomped down on her injured arm, making her scream as bones cracked and the metallic heel dug into her flesh. Her remaining arm was pinned to the ground, and a hand wrapped tight around her neck as the battleship's full weight bore down on her. For a moment, she even forgot it was all a dream; she couldn't breathe, she couldn't think, only struggle in futility against the stronger monster.

"Finally, you filthy worm!" Apollo leered down at her suffocating form, the grip around her neck tightening further and further. The Queen was going on a tirade, something something slow death, hang her mangled corpse like a flag, she wasn't really listening. The pain wasn't on the forefront of her mind though, nor the fear of impending death. More than anything, she felt guilt, that she had failed to save these people and that Jared had died for nothing.

And then, just as her vision started blacking out, the crushing grip around her throat let up, at the same time as screaming came from the background. Evelyn couldn't look, gasping for air, but Apollo could, and whatever she saw when she turned around made her shriek; it was an unearthly sound, a mixture of disbelief, white hot fury, and the anguish of despair, piercing the air and ringing in Evelyn's ears, and then just like that, the monster was gone.

More confused by this sudden turn of events than relieved, Evelyn sat up to see what had driven Apollo into such a frenzy…

…Hmm. Artemis with a slashed neck thrashing and bleeding to death. Yeah, that'd do it.

The culprit, that timid-looking girl who she hadn't seen since she first woke up on this island, had already been punched through several walls of the palace, though Apollo didn't pursue just yet, not with her sister mortally wounded. Whatever sappy vomit-inducing dialogue was going on between the two, Evelyn didn't care.

This was her chance.

Swift and silently, the girl withdrew every remaining knife she still had, levitating them in the air, and held the last in her unbroken hand. Forcing the pain and exhaustion to the back of her mind, she dashed forward for one last finisher while her enemy was still distracted. Whatever battlecry she shouted remained internal, and the half dozen knives flew silently at her target with as much telekinetic force as she could muster.

Kneeling by the corpse, the remaining queen still had the awareness to notice the projectiles and shield herself at the last second, blocking the one targeting the eyes from reaching its mark, but all the knives struck something regardless, puncturing her arm, legs, side and stomach. Even still, none went deep enough to be crippling, but that's okay. There was still one more in hand. Unable to suppress her adrenaline-fueled roar, Evelyn lunged forward the final stretch, knife raised and ready to bring down justice.

Apollo caught her wrist, flipped her into the air and slammed her into the ground. Hard. In hindsight, that was a really stupid move that was full of openings, she really should've expected that but got over-excited. She had no time to ponder her mistake then however, as the hand let go of her arm only to grab hold of her head, lift it up, and smash it into the ground again, her entire body wracked with pain from the impacts, powerful enough to have left a crater in the ground. A lot more than her left arm felt broken now, something was torn in her right arm, but it all felt oddly distant. The head smash had left her with a fractured skull and a concussion; her vision swam and thoughts dulled as something wet dripped down the back of her head.

Dazed and in agony, she was only vaguely aware of the woman standing above her raising a foot over her face, pointy metal heel poised to stab her right through the forehead, if the rest of the foot coming down doesn't crush her head like a watermelon already. The woman was saying something, but she couldn't hear what; the red aura blazed bright like an inferno, it was painful to look at. A voice somewhere was also yelling at her urgently, but she didn't know whose it was, or what it was saying. She just lay there, staring up at impending doom, trying to understand.

Right before the boot went down to finish her, a third voice joined the fray, this one nothing more than a sustained scream. A red blur flew at Apollo from the side, only to be viciously backhanded away, delaying her death by mere seconds. Yet, instead of being sent flying far away as it should have, the same blur came back nearly instantly, catching the Queen by surprise and latching on, yanking her back. It bought Evelyn just enough time to finally understand who the mysterious voice belonged to.

It was her own, and it was telling her to GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!

As if waking up from a dream, the fog left her mind and she quickly forced herself to get up, even as her legs quickly failed her and she collapsed to her knees again. Turning around, she saw what the red blur was.

It was the missing Abyssal, Sasha, that timid servant girl who looked like she wouldn't hurt a fly. Though, she looked a lot less harmless now. The same angry red aura enshrouded her body, and she was thrashing and screaming with a frantic hysteria, trying to slash Apollo's throat with a dagger in hand. Only one…? Evelyn looked towards Artemis' corpse; there, lying inconspicuously on the ground, was the other one, dropped when Apollo first punched her away. The moonlight reflected off its sleek black surface, like a quest item begging for the girl's attention.

She reached out and let her power grab hold of it.

In the end, even fueled by desperation, Sasha just wasn't that good at fighting. Apollo quickly grabbed ahold of her and forced her off, throwing the girl to the ground. Instead of trying to crush her, the tyrant simply aimed her cannons at the prone form; the satisfaction of a hands-on kill no longer mattered, as long as her enemies die.

She was too blinded to see it coming, first by hate, then the black dagger piercing through her eye socket.

The remaining Queen fell with little more than the start of a shriek, cut off before it could continue. Immediately after she hit the ground, Evelyn was already on her, pulling the dagger out and stabbing it back in again, and again, and again, and again, until she realized she was just mutilating a corpse. The first strike had pierced the brain and killed Apollo instantly.

She had won. It was finally over.

Evelyn gazed down at her handiwork, gasping for breath. Ugh, she could taste the blood and eye juice… Unsteadily, the girl got to her feet and spat to the side, trying to wipe the blood from her face with not much effect. Then her broken knees buckled and she fell over, barely stopping her head from hitting the ground hard again. She gave up trying to stand and rolled to the side to look over towards her unexpected ally instead; Sasha had sat up and was watching her in turn, having seen her finish off Apollo. With false flippancy, Evelyn mustered up a crooked smile and a thumbs up, and Sasha made a sound like a dying giggle before promptly collapsing unconscious, the remnants of her fiery determination flickering away.

The adrenaline quickly faded, and with it the strength to force her broken body to keep going. Satisfied, Evelyn let her eyes close and wondered if she'd still be in this world when she wakes up. Eh, she's survived worse than this. Though if she wakes up to find Mom and Dad waiting for her, she wouldn't complain…


The girl stretched and yawned, sitting up and rubbing her bleary eyes; the drab hotel room and the sunlight streaming through the windows welcomed her when she opened them. She remembered the dream she was having. How could she not when she's had it so many times? It's to the point where it doesn't even feel natural. Another Abyssal thing? Ah, whatever, it's too early to be thinking about stuff like that… She sighed and allowed herself to lounge on the bed for a little while longer before slipping out from under the covers, stepping out onto the balcony and squinting at the sunny beachside view and the clear blue sky. It's not Mom and Dad, but it's still a sight that never quite gets old.

Smiling faintly, Evelyn turned around to leave and head downstairs. She could just jump off the balcony straight to the ground and be fine, but she liked to pretend to be normal sometimes. She'll go summon Wailmer, ask it to catch some fish while she gets firewood, visit the graves and then wake Sasha up for breakfast. Oh yeah, speaking of Sasha, there was last night. Wonder if Rei had any luck playing therapist…

Probably not, but a girl can dream.


Author's Note:

And that's it for the flashback. Would've uploaded a few days ago but then I got sick and forgot ._. I hope the chapter and Evelyn/Sasha's backstory in general were decent, I would appreciate some reviews. Next chapter's… probably not coming out in April, unless I somehow get it down within the first two weeks before I have to start focusing on finals. We should be resuming the plot by then.

Until next time!