Damnation
Chapter 2
There was a tangible thrum of static in the air. The smell of cigarette smoke and burning rubber overwhelmed the mind and the senses; dirtying them both. The horizon sparkled with illuminated chemical particles, which both dazzled the eye and slowly killed any who would accidentally breathe them in. Broken glass glittered over uneven pavement; a few shards attached to the diseased remnants of tainted needles.
Cheap neon lights flickered below massive billboards, attracting pale moths to flitter about the product they advertised. Buy a Honda. Drink Coke. Use Viagra.
Utena had noticed every one of these faded pleas for consumer dollars hundreds of times before, every single day she left her dormitory for work. They were a meaningless constant - one of those things you never seem to notice until one day it's not there anymore. And then you drive yourself half mad trying to figure out what's missing...
They were just a splotch of color tossed onto the grimy, gray canvas of the city. But in her haze, Utena found a small comfort in them.
The pain had subsided, and the only voice she could hear now belonged not to a shadow in her head, but a half drunken prostitute.
"You know I don't mind playing both sides of the field..." A warm finger trailed over her cheek, smudging a few drops of oil she'd forgotten to wipe away in her panic to leave the shop.
Swallowing hard and shaking her head, Utena looked away from the Coca-Cola polar bears and did her best to deal with the matter at hand.
"I...I'm sorry, you must have the wrong idea about me. I'm not interested..." The scent of cheap perfume almost threw her into a coughing fit, and the bruised, fuzzy feeling of a fever began to throb between her temples. She wanted nothing more than to drag herself the rest of the way home, and fall into the comfort of her bed.
The whore twirled a lock of Utena's hair around her finger, oblivious to her discomfort, and began to whisper temptations into her ear. Beginning to feel strangely violated, Utena tensed up, prepared to state her disinterest once again in no uncertain terms. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked down at the painted woman who'd sidled up to her. "Like I said before, I'm not-''
The rest of her sentence trailed off as she took a closer look at the woman before her. Her eyes softened and she felt a piece of her heart tear. A single curled lock of chocolate swirled hair fell over her forehead, and soft wisps framed her cheeks. Though her face was an unreadable mask of street and sin, her dark eyes betrayed her. They were haunted and afraid; wavering just enough to spell out a denied addiction.
They also betrayed her youth.
Utena's hands shook as she placed them on the girl's shoulders. Her heart felt like it was being crushed in a ruthless, icy fist. "I'm sorry," she stammered, "I...I...you don't have to do this."
The girl stiffened under her trembling touch. Narrowing her eyes, she pulled away, wrapping her arms around herself. "If you're not interested," she murmured coldly, "then keep your hands off. None of this comes free."
Shocked, Utena could only blink before shoving her hands into her pockets. "Please, no," she said, not wanting to scare the girl off or give her the wrong idea. "I...I didn't mean it like..." she fumbled over words, fighting the sudden urge to break down.
"Didn't mean it like what?" the girl stepped up to her, hands clenched into fists. "Don't you dare try to preach to me, or tell me what to do. You don't know anything!"
"I wasn't trying-"
"You don't have to do this" a high pitched mocking of Utena's stuttered declaration just seconds earlier. "Let me guess...you think you're doing me some big fucking favor, telling me there's some other life I can just wake up and start living tomorrow simply because you told me I didn't have to seduce you-''
Grim determination settled across once softened features. "No. I'm telling you that you don't have to do any of this because you don't. Not with me, not with anyone."
The girl was taken aback for a moment. Her hands fell meekly to her sides, and her head fell low. She looked so familiar...
"You really don't understand anything," she whispered softly. "It's too late for that kind of thing. There's no way I could...I'm alone, and..." she tapered off, running her hands over her arms. There was a chill in the air that only the two under the streetlight could feel.
"No...no, it's not too late for anything. You don't have to be alone...I can help. I can..." I can do anything for you, she'd wanted to say. I don't know who you are, but I'm falling apart, seeing you like this. Something in me loves something in you...please, make me remember...
She shrugged her jacket off, and slowly made her way toward the girl. Brow furrowing with concern, she draped it over her shoulders, hoping that maybe she'd gotten through to her. Hoping her heart would stop bleeding.
Dark eyes looked up at her, clouded enough to hide any intention from being read. "Are you saying you're going to save me?" the girl whispered in a voice rough with emotion. She pressed up against her would-be savior, running her hands up along her arms...shoulders. "Are you going to be my knight in shining armor?"
"I want to help you...I..." Utena's reply was cut short as the girl stood on her tip-toes, and brushed her lips against her own.
"Are you going to be my Prince?"
"I can..."
One sharp movement and a flash of intense pain, accompanied by a sickening crack.
Utena stood in stunned silence, suddenly alone under the flickering streetlight. Slowly her hand moved to her bleeding cheek.
A sneer from the girl in the shadows. "There is no such thing as a Prince. Not now - not ever." And with a sharp turn on her heel, she strode away, pulling Utena's jacket tighter around herself.
Seconds ticked into minutes as she watched the female figure get swallowed up by the street. A small trickle of blood seeped between her fingertips, staining a trail. The fist that had clenched her heart from the moment she saw that girl's eyes crushed it completely now, leaving nothing but a broken, pathetic mass within her chest.
Weak neon lights blurred into one another, and the world melted into one big collage of color and sickness before her. Starting to feel the dam within herself break, she stumbled into an alley and threw herself against a rough brick wall behind a garbage bin. She clumsily brushed a tear out of one eye, and shook the other away. Her body began to wrack with deep, heavy sobs, and she let herself succumb to the misery that wanted so badly to overtake her.
Misery over faces not remembered, and feelings that could never be forgotten.
Misery over fairy tale princesses that never existed, and princes that never could have saved them if they had.
I'm sorry, was the only thought her soul had left. I'm so very sorry...
There it was. The shattering.
After so long, it could finally heed the call of a master again.
Almost soundlessly, a rose signet key turned in its ignition, sparking life into a long cold engine. Small explosions thrust valves into motion beneath the hood, and a slow, steady purr broke a half decade of silence.
She was ready.
Its patience had paid off.
Twin beams broke through the darkness, blazing the road ahead. It had a long journey ahead of it...but it would find her. It could sense her, now.
There was a barely audible clicking as a well oiled gearshift slid into position. Tiny pebbles shot out from beneath its wheels as they first spun, propelling it into motion.
It wouldn't be long now.
And so it was that the cherry red car that had driven as far as the end of the world would make its way to a new home tonight.
It would fly again.
If your soul hasn't truly given up...you can hear it.
Droplets of midnight dew spotted her entire body, giving the already chilly evening air an extra bite. For a moment, she couldn't remember where she was or how she'd gotten there. The sting on her cheek was quick to remind her, however. The pain lancing through her stupor, Utena sat up and wiped the grit from her eyes with the back of her hand, noticing only that the sky was no lighter than it had been when she'd first fallen here.
She couldn't have been asleep for long.
If your soul hasn't truly given up...it will serve you.
The girl.
The memory of the girl stabbed through the numb cold that had penetrated her skin, rejuvenating her sadistically.
The girl.
Why had she felt so drawn to her? She'd never seen her before. And although she was attractive, she certainly wasn't a raving beauty. Why had she felt as if she could finally bridge that gap of nonexistent memory if only she could hold her?
If your soul hasn't truly given up, you can have it all back...
Tired of questions that were better left unanswered, Utena pulled herself to her feet and took a few slow steps towards home. It wasn't far, only a few blocks really. Surely everything would make sense again after she'd gotten a good night's rest. Dreams were odd things, but they were usually very good at making you forget.
"Dammit", Utena shook her head and did every sailor an honor with a string of curses. "My keys...my wallet..." she saw a flash of the girl walking away again, wrapping her jacket tightly around her shoulders. Completely ignorant of the contents that lay inside the inner pocket. She slapped her forehead and cursed her stupidity. "What was I thinking?!"
And a soul such as yours...it could never truly give up, now could it?
That was when she heard it. Her hand dropped to her side, and her brow furrowed...
There you are, Chosen of the Rose.
She had heard it before. No doubt about it. There was something completely unmistakable about that sound...
But things are a little different this time, Chosen. You won't simply be a passenger spared a cruise, will you now?
Images bombarded her, flashing through her memory as if trying to stir a sleeping dragon. A woman in a red dress with floating cuffs. A power...a power laying within her breast. A blade in her hand, and the woman draped erotically over her arm.
The car skid into a clean halt in front of the alley. Sleek and red. Top down...
A carnival. Bright flashing lights swirling and dipping. The smell of popcorn and cotton candy. Shrieks of terror, followed by joyous whoops. A large, masculine hand holding her own. The silk of his sleeve tickling her wrist.
She moved toward it, entranced. This car...
A spark between clashing blades. A once noble face contorted into a taut mask of unrestrained fury. A desire to destroy him completely pumping through her veins. A beautiful woman in a red rag of a dress, sprawled across a stairway, eyes hooded by locks of violet.
This car was now...
The momentary warmth of a kiss pressed against her shoulder. An offensive stance. The grim determination that always came when knowing how high the stakes really were. Then...marble rushing up to greet as she fell to her knees, watching her own blood seep out of her chest, and spill onto the virgin white of the floor...
This car was now hers.
A lopsided smile at finally pulling away the stone.
Part of a legacy left to her when that hand reached for her, and the world crumbled away.
The car began to push open its polished door. Inviting her. Flashes of things forgotten sunk back into the dark recesses of her mind. Some things are better left unremembered. Some things don't matter anymore. She stopped in front of the car, her front teeth biting into her bottom lip. No, this wasn't right. She pressed her palm and closed it.
The car revved a little, almost as if it was concerned.
A deep breath and a half grin tugging at her lips. "I think...," the same hand that closed the door now gripping it, as an athletic body vaulted over it and landed in a passenger seat that was already formed to her every curve. "...that's the way its done, isn't it?"
A gear sliding into place. An affirmation.
"...thought so," Utena mumbled, letting her head fall back against the leather seat. "I have to go home now. Do you know the way?"
The car swerved into a smooth U, and turned around. Of course it knew the way.
"Alright then." Lethargic hands brushed against a few well formed metal objects as they found their place on the steering wheel. A new set of keys, looped on a white rose ring.
"Lets go."
The purr of an engine long faded, the warmth of a body long sucked out of the concrete. An alley that was the world's only witness came to life suddenly, with two shadows playing against it.
"Wonder, wonder, do you know what I wonder?"
A silhouette sits with her legs crossed, seeming to float in midair. Her hands are clasped in prayer, and turban two sizes too big slides over her head. "Have you heard the news? Have you seen what I've found?"
Two fingers encircle the second silhouette's ear as she leans closer, an astonished gasp escaping her lips. "News? What news? Tell me, tell me all about things that are new!"
"Ah," a shadowed finger is held up in a gesture of quiet. "But this isn't new at all! It's very old! Do you see? I found a magic carpet!"
"Oh! I see it now! But...where did you find it? May I have one too?"
"No," a sad sigh, "there is only one, and it is my very own. It was in my attic, behind the bookshelf. I found it by accident when I tripped over a loose board!"
"So this carpet, it has been yours since the very beginning? And there are no more?"
"Yes, it was always mine. Right under my nose! I was just never looking for it! And no, there are no more, I'm afraid. It's one of a kind."
"Well if there are no more, maybe, could you share it?" Shadowed feet spinning in a little, hopeful dance. "For surely it would be alright for me to try!"
"No, no I'm sorry, but I cannot share it. It's too dangerous, you see." Dark, slender fingers hold up a loose piece of fringe on the carpet. "It is holding me now, but I'm very sure it will unravel soon. How horrible I would feel if it fell apart while you were on it!"
Black hands covering a horrified gasp slipping out of a shadow mouth. "It is dangerous then! Not a good magic carpet at all! Please, you must get off of it before it tears!"
"But I can't. If I get off, someone else will find it. And then they could get hurt."
"So you will stay on it until it breaks, to make sure no one else will ride it? But what about you? What if you get hurt?"
"Well, I just try not to think about that."
The unseen animation fades from the stone walls, leaving only a tinny echo in its passing.
"Wonder, wonder, do you know what I wonder??"
Home wasn't a place it could take her yet. As much as it wanted to return to the place it knew so well; travel the road that led to everyone's very own eternity, it knew she would go back yet. In fact, it may be a long while before it could make her see reason. Before they could convince her it was the best thing to do. She had the power in her - it had felt it within him many times before. When he would lay soft young girls down in the back seat...when he would show faltering duelists whatever they needed to see...to give them a shred of hope. When he himself would duel the victor at the end of it all, disarming them within seconds and claiming their self righteous nobility.
There was no doubt about it. She too, could run the game. Her hands were strong enough to hold revolution once again.
But now...she needed rest. It hugged the corner and curved into the vacant parking lot, ignoring her sluggish tugs on the wheel. Next time, it would let her stay in control.
For now, let her believe all it wanted was to drive her home.
Chapter 2
There was a tangible thrum of static in the air. The smell of cigarette smoke and burning rubber overwhelmed the mind and the senses; dirtying them both. The horizon sparkled with illuminated chemical particles, which both dazzled the eye and slowly killed any who would accidentally breathe them in. Broken glass glittered over uneven pavement; a few shards attached to the diseased remnants of tainted needles.
Cheap neon lights flickered below massive billboards, attracting pale moths to flitter about the product they advertised. Buy a Honda. Drink Coke. Use Viagra.
Utena had noticed every one of these faded pleas for consumer dollars hundreds of times before, every single day she left her dormitory for work. They were a meaningless constant - one of those things you never seem to notice until one day it's not there anymore. And then you drive yourself half mad trying to figure out what's missing...
They were just a splotch of color tossed onto the grimy, gray canvas of the city. But in her haze, Utena found a small comfort in them.
The pain had subsided, and the only voice she could hear now belonged not to a shadow in her head, but a half drunken prostitute.
"You know I don't mind playing both sides of the field..." A warm finger trailed over her cheek, smudging a few drops of oil she'd forgotten to wipe away in her panic to leave the shop.
Swallowing hard and shaking her head, Utena looked away from the Coca-Cola polar bears and did her best to deal with the matter at hand.
"I...I'm sorry, you must have the wrong idea about me. I'm not interested..." The scent of cheap perfume almost threw her into a coughing fit, and the bruised, fuzzy feeling of a fever began to throb between her temples. She wanted nothing more than to drag herself the rest of the way home, and fall into the comfort of her bed.
The whore twirled a lock of Utena's hair around her finger, oblivious to her discomfort, and began to whisper temptations into her ear. Beginning to feel strangely violated, Utena tensed up, prepared to state her disinterest once again in no uncertain terms. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked down at the painted woman who'd sidled up to her. "Like I said before, I'm not-''
The rest of her sentence trailed off as she took a closer look at the woman before her. Her eyes softened and she felt a piece of her heart tear. A single curled lock of chocolate swirled hair fell over her forehead, and soft wisps framed her cheeks. Though her face was an unreadable mask of street and sin, her dark eyes betrayed her. They were haunted and afraid; wavering just enough to spell out a denied addiction.
They also betrayed her youth.
Utena's hands shook as she placed them on the girl's shoulders. Her heart felt like it was being crushed in a ruthless, icy fist. "I'm sorry," she stammered, "I...I...you don't have to do this."
The girl stiffened under her trembling touch. Narrowing her eyes, she pulled away, wrapping her arms around herself. "If you're not interested," she murmured coldly, "then keep your hands off. None of this comes free."
Shocked, Utena could only blink before shoving her hands into her pockets. "Please, no," she said, not wanting to scare the girl off or give her the wrong idea. "I...I didn't mean it like..." she fumbled over words, fighting the sudden urge to break down.
"Didn't mean it like what?" the girl stepped up to her, hands clenched into fists. "Don't you dare try to preach to me, or tell me what to do. You don't know anything!"
"I wasn't trying-"
"You don't have to do this" a high pitched mocking of Utena's stuttered declaration just seconds earlier. "Let me guess...you think you're doing me some big fucking favor, telling me there's some other life I can just wake up and start living tomorrow simply because you told me I didn't have to seduce you-''
Grim determination settled across once softened features. "No. I'm telling you that you don't have to do any of this because you don't. Not with me, not with anyone."
The girl was taken aback for a moment. Her hands fell meekly to her sides, and her head fell low. She looked so familiar...
"You really don't understand anything," she whispered softly. "It's too late for that kind of thing. There's no way I could...I'm alone, and..." she tapered off, running her hands over her arms. There was a chill in the air that only the two under the streetlight could feel.
"No...no, it's not too late for anything. You don't have to be alone...I can help. I can..." I can do anything for you, she'd wanted to say. I don't know who you are, but I'm falling apart, seeing you like this. Something in me loves something in you...please, make me remember...
She shrugged her jacket off, and slowly made her way toward the girl. Brow furrowing with concern, she draped it over her shoulders, hoping that maybe she'd gotten through to her. Hoping her heart would stop bleeding.
Dark eyes looked up at her, clouded enough to hide any intention from being read. "Are you saying you're going to save me?" the girl whispered in a voice rough with emotion. She pressed up against her would-be savior, running her hands up along her arms...shoulders. "Are you going to be my knight in shining armor?"
"I want to help you...I..." Utena's reply was cut short as the girl stood on her tip-toes, and brushed her lips against her own.
"Are you going to be my Prince?"
"I can..."
One sharp movement and a flash of intense pain, accompanied by a sickening crack.
Utena stood in stunned silence, suddenly alone under the flickering streetlight. Slowly her hand moved to her bleeding cheek.
A sneer from the girl in the shadows. "There is no such thing as a Prince. Not now - not ever." And with a sharp turn on her heel, she strode away, pulling Utena's jacket tighter around herself.
Seconds ticked into minutes as she watched the female figure get swallowed up by the street. A small trickle of blood seeped between her fingertips, staining a trail. The fist that had clenched her heart from the moment she saw that girl's eyes crushed it completely now, leaving nothing but a broken, pathetic mass within her chest.
Weak neon lights blurred into one another, and the world melted into one big collage of color and sickness before her. Starting to feel the dam within herself break, she stumbled into an alley and threw herself against a rough brick wall behind a garbage bin. She clumsily brushed a tear out of one eye, and shook the other away. Her body began to wrack with deep, heavy sobs, and she let herself succumb to the misery that wanted so badly to overtake her.
Misery over faces not remembered, and feelings that could never be forgotten.
Misery over fairy tale princesses that never existed, and princes that never could have saved them if they had.
I'm sorry, was the only thought her soul had left. I'm so very sorry...
There it was. The shattering.
After so long, it could finally heed the call of a master again.
Almost soundlessly, a rose signet key turned in its ignition, sparking life into a long cold engine. Small explosions thrust valves into motion beneath the hood, and a slow, steady purr broke a half decade of silence.
She was ready.
Its patience had paid off.
Twin beams broke through the darkness, blazing the road ahead. It had a long journey ahead of it...but it would find her. It could sense her, now.
There was a barely audible clicking as a well oiled gearshift slid into position. Tiny pebbles shot out from beneath its wheels as they first spun, propelling it into motion.
It wouldn't be long now.
And so it was that the cherry red car that had driven as far as the end of the world would make its way to a new home tonight.
It would fly again.
If your soul hasn't truly given up...you can hear it.
Droplets of midnight dew spotted her entire body, giving the already chilly evening air an extra bite. For a moment, she couldn't remember where she was or how she'd gotten there. The sting on her cheek was quick to remind her, however. The pain lancing through her stupor, Utena sat up and wiped the grit from her eyes with the back of her hand, noticing only that the sky was no lighter than it had been when she'd first fallen here.
She couldn't have been asleep for long.
If your soul hasn't truly given up...it will serve you.
The girl.
The memory of the girl stabbed through the numb cold that had penetrated her skin, rejuvenating her sadistically.
The girl.
Why had she felt so drawn to her? She'd never seen her before. And although she was attractive, she certainly wasn't a raving beauty. Why had she felt as if she could finally bridge that gap of nonexistent memory if only she could hold her?
If your soul hasn't truly given up, you can have it all back...
Tired of questions that were better left unanswered, Utena pulled herself to her feet and took a few slow steps towards home. It wasn't far, only a few blocks really. Surely everything would make sense again after she'd gotten a good night's rest. Dreams were odd things, but they were usually very good at making you forget.
"Dammit", Utena shook her head and did every sailor an honor with a string of curses. "My keys...my wallet..." she saw a flash of the girl walking away again, wrapping her jacket tightly around her shoulders. Completely ignorant of the contents that lay inside the inner pocket. She slapped her forehead and cursed her stupidity. "What was I thinking?!"
And a soul such as yours...it could never truly give up, now could it?
That was when she heard it. Her hand dropped to her side, and her brow furrowed...
There you are, Chosen of the Rose.
She had heard it before. No doubt about it. There was something completely unmistakable about that sound...
But things are a little different this time, Chosen. You won't simply be a passenger spared a cruise, will you now?
Images bombarded her, flashing through her memory as if trying to stir a sleeping dragon. A woman in a red dress with floating cuffs. A power...a power laying within her breast. A blade in her hand, and the woman draped erotically over her arm.
The car skid into a clean halt in front of the alley. Sleek and red. Top down...
A carnival. Bright flashing lights swirling and dipping. The smell of popcorn and cotton candy. Shrieks of terror, followed by joyous whoops. A large, masculine hand holding her own. The silk of his sleeve tickling her wrist.
She moved toward it, entranced. This car...
A spark between clashing blades. A once noble face contorted into a taut mask of unrestrained fury. A desire to destroy him completely pumping through her veins. A beautiful woman in a red rag of a dress, sprawled across a stairway, eyes hooded by locks of violet.
This car was now...
The momentary warmth of a kiss pressed against her shoulder. An offensive stance. The grim determination that always came when knowing how high the stakes really were. Then...marble rushing up to greet as she fell to her knees, watching her own blood seep out of her chest, and spill onto the virgin white of the floor...
This car was now hers.
A lopsided smile at finally pulling away the stone.
Part of a legacy left to her when that hand reached for her, and the world crumbled away.
The car began to push open its polished door. Inviting her. Flashes of things forgotten sunk back into the dark recesses of her mind. Some things are better left unremembered. Some things don't matter anymore. She stopped in front of the car, her front teeth biting into her bottom lip. No, this wasn't right. She pressed her palm and closed it.
The car revved a little, almost as if it was concerned.
A deep breath and a half grin tugging at her lips. "I think...," the same hand that closed the door now gripping it, as an athletic body vaulted over it and landed in a passenger seat that was already formed to her every curve. "...that's the way its done, isn't it?"
A gear sliding into place. An affirmation.
"...thought so," Utena mumbled, letting her head fall back against the leather seat. "I have to go home now. Do you know the way?"
The car swerved into a smooth U, and turned around. Of course it knew the way.
"Alright then." Lethargic hands brushed against a few well formed metal objects as they found their place on the steering wheel. A new set of keys, looped on a white rose ring.
"Lets go."
The purr of an engine long faded, the warmth of a body long sucked out of the concrete. An alley that was the world's only witness came to life suddenly, with two shadows playing against it.
"Wonder, wonder, do you know what I wonder?"
A silhouette sits with her legs crossed, seeming to float in midair. Her hands are clasped in prayer, and turban two sizes too big slides over her head. "Have you heard the news? Have you seen what I've found?"
Two fingers encircle the second silhouette's ear as she leans closer, an astonished gasp escaping her lips. "News? What news? Tell me, tell me all about things that are new!"
"Ah," a shadowed finger is held up in a gesture of quiet. "But this isn't new at all! It's very old! Do you see? I found a magic carpet!"
"Oh! I see it now! But...where did you find it? May I have one too?"
"No," a sad sigh, "there is only one, and it is my very own. It was in my attic, behind the bookshelf. I found it by accident when I tripped over a loose board!"
"So this carpet, it has been yours since the very beginning? And there are no more?"
"Yes, it was always mine. Right under my nose! I was just never looking for it! And no, there are no more, I'm afraid. It's one of a kind."
"Well if there are no more, maybe, could you share it?" Shadowed feet spinning in a little, hopeful dance. "For surely it would be alright for me to try!"
"No, no I'm sorry, but I cannot share it. It's too dangerous, you see." Dark, slender fingers hold up a loose piece of fringe on the carpet. "It is holding me now, but I'm very sure it will unravel soon. How horrible I would feel if it fell apart while you were on it!"
Black hands covering a horrified gasp slipping out of a shadow mouth. "It is dangerous then! Not a good magic carpet at all! Please, you must get off of it before it tears!"
"But I can't. If I get off, someone else will find it. And then they could get hurt."
"So you will stay on it until it breaks, to make sure no one else will ride it? But what about you? What if you get hurt?"
"Well, I just try not to think about that."
The unseen animation fades from the stone walls, leaving only a tinny echo in its passing.
"Wonder, wonder, do you know what I wonder??"
Home wasn't a place it could take her yet. As much as it wanted to return to the place it knew so well; travel the road that led to everyone's very own eternity, it knew she would go back yet. In fact, it may be a long while before it could make her see reason. Before they could convince her it was the best thing to do. She had the power in her - it had felt it within him many times before. When he would lay soft young girls down in the back seat...when he would show faltering duelists whatever they needed to see...to give them a shred of hope. When he himself would duel the victor at the end of it all, disarming them within seconds and claiming their self righteous nobility.
There was no doubt about it. She too, could run the game. Her hands were strong enough to hold revolution once again.
But now...she needed rest. It hugged the corner and curved into the vacant parking lot, ignoring her sluggish tugs on the wheel. Next time, it would let her stay in control.
For now, let her believe all it wanted was to drive her home.
