Author's Note: It's hard writing this after it's been so long, but I'm just going for "done" and not perfect at this point. I think my writing definitely fell off in this second book because wow is this one convoluted plot pretzel. Working with what I left my future self though! It is what it is. And I'm a little rusty because I went the better part of 4 years without writing anything other than DND campaigns.

Also, I forgot how view counts work. I woke up and went WOAH 40 views overnight? Oh wow someone read all of book 1 and book 2 overnight? Oh. Wait. That was me. I might be stupid.

Edit 2: Wait hold up between 10AM and 2PM today someone DID read... all of this? Whoever you are you just made my day!

Shatter Me

Melanie swayed on her feet, meeting the compound eyes of her warped mirror self. She tried to ignore the horrible roars coming from just a few rooms over. Tried to tell herself it wasn't Ben, or the ruined form of The Puppeteer. She had to focus.

"I know you won't understand me if I just talk to you. We could be so damn stubborn sometimes," she said, voice trembling. "But I found something good here. Something worth doing anything to protect. I'm sorry you didn't get to have that too. I have this crackpot theory... that I might be able to finish this fight... but I'm not sure if I have the strength to do it." She collapsed and leaned against a cold chunk of marble.

Her other self stared at her, oddly silent. "I hadn't expected this to be hard." Her voice was surprisingly quiet. "I was only able to cross over to this timeline because we had converged enough to meet in the middle. So how... how are you still so determined to defy me?"

"I don't think it's that I was growing closer to you... I think it was..." she drew in a shaky breath. She readjusted so her wounds wouldn't hurt so much. "I think it was growing apart from everyone that did it. They were my light. I just reflected all the good things they brought into my life. They got me out of that dark place, after my parents died."

"I just don't understand how you're content to traipse around with murderers. Even going so far as to... to- to fall in love with one!" she said, lip curling in disgust.

"Well... maybe, on some level, I knew what I had the potential to become, if things had gone differently. We've killed too."

"It was retribution! It was justice!" she shrieked.

"It was murder. We aren't special just because of our powers."

The spider queen groaned and raised herself up on crooked legs. "Are you done with," she waved her hand vaguely, "whatever the hell this is? This sappy heart to heart shit? If you won't join me willingly, then I'll beat you down until you don't have a choice but to be my slave."

"You won't get the chance," a voice called out from behind Melanie. She gasped and tried to stand unsuccessfully.

"Toby? Is that you?"

"Oh God, not this one," Moira groaned, picking up pieces of the broken metal balcony with her many legs. She took aim. "I always hated this little creep the most."

"NO!" Melanie screamed. Without even meaning to, she had sent something towards her opponent. It was a ripple of shadow through the ground that cracked the pavement and splintered off in every direction. Moira gasped as tendrils of it snaked around her and immobilized her limbs. It wouldn't buy much time. Melanie didn't get the feeling it would matter anyway. It felt like her life was an hourglass, and she was watching the last few grains flow through to the bottom. Moira would never kill her. That would sever her link to this universe, at the very least, and her goals would never be accomplished. She wouldn't do it. But she wouldn't stop until everyone else had suffered and fallen before her. This had to stop. She just wished there was a little more time...

Toby walked across the room like someone on his second keg of beer. He was careening all over the place. When he finally arrived at Melanie's side, he collapsed into her shoulder.

"Toby- the knife, your chest, when did-" the sight of her love's pale, shaking form threatened to dredge up some new evil in her. God, she wanted to make that bitch pay with everything she had... she had to fight it. She had to enjoy these last few moments. She didn't even know if her plan would work. It all hinged on luck and heart. She wasn't guaranteed anything. These could be their last moments together.

She pulled him closer so that he was mostly on her lap. He buried his face into her and she stroked his soft brown hair. "Melanie, w-wi-" he gasped.

"Don't try to talk. It's okay. It'll be over soon," she whispered, throwing a frightened glance back at her opponent. She was struggling against the tendrils, shooting them back with beams of energy as fast as they could regrow.

"Melanie, will... will you..."

With enormous struggle, he pushed himself into a more upright position. "-marry me?" he asked. His breath hitched, and a trickle of blood leaked from his mouth. He looked down at his chest, finally, and saw that it was the end. He slumped against Melanie, motionless.

"Yes... yes! Toby? No... we were supposed to spend our lives together... no... no!" she cried. She looked at her mirror self. She actually looked frightened. If Melanie had seen herself from across the room, she would have seen someone with the countenance of a demon. Dark tendrils of energy sprung from her like dark armor. Her eyes were glowing with rage. Her darker self now looked rather small and weak compared to this monstrosity that was staring her down. The shell that somewhere contained Melanie stood slowly, gently lowering Toby to the ground, before sending a wave of every bit of strength she had slamming into Moira. She pounded her again and again, tapping into this newfound and horrific strength. She left no time to react. In no time, the spider woman had been shoved into the wall. She was breathing hard, too injured to move. One of her sharp, sturdy legs had snapped off and was lying on the ground in front of her. Melanie stormed across the room, closing the distance.

She picked up the broken leg and held it like a lance, pointed straight at the other woman's heart.

"Candy-Cane?" a cautious voice called out from the right side of the room. The dark energies around Melanie receded slightly, and she paused. The spider queen was weakened and at her mercy. Killing her... no, that hadn't been her goal. She wanted everything to go back to the way it was. Not even that, further back. She wanted to fix things. Seeing Toby's lifeless body had made her sink back into that dark place again. It was now or never.

"I'm sorry. I hope this works," Melanie whispered, driving the weapon into her own heart.