Wizards Aeterna
The Battle for Everything
Chapter Six: Destiny
"You're sure he's after The Lair?" Justin asked, trying to piece everything together.
"Yes," Alexandria answered, lowering her head in shame. "He said he wanted to see both worlds burn. And now, thanks to me, he has what he needs."
Silence fell over the group. Everything was becoming cold. "…What happened?" Harper finally broke the silence. "Juliet said you sealed it off to everyone but you." The vampiress turned to her friend, her expression urging the young woman to reveal everything.
Reluctant, Alexandria rose to her feet, clenching the remains of her wound. "I made alot of mistakes," she declared, staring at the floor. "I'm so sorry for everything…after everything that happened with Riley…I didn't feel like I had anything good left in me…So, I did something to save myself: To save all of you." Jerry stared intently at his daughter. "I kept it a secret because I thought it was the right thing to do…But you found out, Justin."
"Just enough to know you'd changed yourself," the young man answered, growing unsure of his choices. "I didn't know what to do."
"So you told Juliet," Alexandria concluded, harboring little resentment. "…You went behind my back, Justin. But I understand. Thank you, Juliet…for trying to help me. I'm so sorry I failed you. I left you alone to suffer. I should've…"
"You did what you could," Juliet replied, her hands cupped atop her lap. "You spared me as much pain as you could… But you need to tell them the whole story, Alex."
"It's Alexandria," the young wizard argued, her tone dry and laced with sorrow. "…I used a spell to separate myself into my good and evil halves. It was the only way I could redeem myself for what I'd done…For who I'd been." All was still for what felt like thousands of years. Theresa covered her face with her hands, lowered her seated posture, and sobbed heavily: Sobbing out of sorrow for her failures and what her daughter had done to herself. Max remained still and awestruck.
"So, that's it?" Harper demanded, slowly rising up. Anger fueled the redheaded young woman's usually calm, lightly shrill voice. "After everything…everything we went through…All the things you told me, and you still did something like this. You kept this a secret from me…"
"Harper," Alexandria gently pleaded. "You kept me at peace…No matter what, you're my best friend. You're my sister…I made this decision. You did everything you could to help me. But I had to help me." Harper remained staunch as the young wizard's voice began to crack and tremble, tears forming and burning in her eyes. "Harper, you didn't do anything wrong…I did this for myself. This is what I had to do to live with myself."
"Then who are you?" the redheaded girl replied, anger still in her voice. "Alex, you're not living with yourself…You ran away. You threw everything away. You were so afraid of yourself that you killed off a part of who you are. I tried so hard, but you wouldn't listen. Alex, I'm losing you…the only person I ever counted on. Now she's gone."
"But I'm still here," the young wizard persisted. "Harper, I'm still me…I only got rid of the bad parts. The person no one loves."
"There was no part of you we didn't love," Theresa declared, her voice trembling. "Alex, you've always been my little girl…how could you do this to yourself? To all of us?"
"Mom, that's not true!" Alexandria cried out. "I messed up! I messed up with everyone! I made mistakes, hurt people…I'm trying to stay your little girl…and Daddy's little princess."
"Not like this, Alex," Jerry refused. "You betrayed everything you ever were."
"Do you even paint or write anymore?" Justin added, fighting off his desire to break down crying. "Or are you hiding from that part of yourself, too?"
Turning away from the disappointed faces, Alexandria tightly crossed her arms, her face contorted into a tortured, defeated look of shame and sorrow. "Yes, I'm hiding from that part, Justin," she tearfully answered, her emotions forming anger within her. "Yes, I am scared of that part of me. Every single time I expressed myself, people hated me. No matter how good I thought it was, everyone used it against me. Yes, I am hiding from all that. I don't need you to force confessions out of me! And since when did you ever care?"
"…I've always cared about you," the Italian young man answered, his voice trembling. "And I thought you believed in yourself…not in the critics."
"Until I realized they were right," Alexandria replied. "Until I realized all of you were right! I always caused all of you pain. I don't even understand why you're still here with me."
"Because we love you, Alex," Harper answered. "And don't you dare try to tell us that's not your name. Alex, we forgave you for every little mistake you made. You forgave all of us, too. You always gave everybody a second chance but yourself. Don't you get that? You'll never be done punishing yourself for sins that aren't there!"
"Alex, you never let us down," Max finally stepped forward. "Whenever you made a mistake, you gave everything to make it better. You're a great big sister and friend. Yeah, you were never perfect, but neither were any of us. We're still not. And Alex, this doesn't make you a better person…It just means you hate yourself so much, you were willing to take away your entire life."
"Shut up!" Alexandria sobbed, her breaths growing frequent, loud, and constant. "All of you! Just shut up and leave me alone! I didn't mean to hurt anyone! I didn't do anything wrong this time. I was just trying to be good. I was just trying to…" Falling to her knees, the young woman began wailing and crying without control. Theresa crouched down beside her suffering daughter, gently holding her in her arms like when she was an infant. "I was just trying to…"
"Alex," Juliet exclaimed in a whisper, her heart breaking for her friend.
"Sssh," the mother whispered to her child, slowly stroking her hand on the top of her back. "Sssh. It's okay, angel. It's okay."
"Isn't this fuckin' wonderful," a cruel and vicious perversion of Alex's voice declared. Suddenly, all of the world seemed to grow colder. "Do you still love me, Mommy and Daddy?"
"Love is a lie," Gancanagh happily added, flaring out his fingers and thrusting everyone but Theresa and Alex against the walls. Max felt his leg smash the glass of Alex's window. Tightly holding her daughter, Theresa glared at the attackers. "Isn't that precious."
"Go to hell!" the Hispanic woman snarled, nearly spitting on the assailants.
"So shall we all," the monster replied. "All thanks to your little girl." The evil Alex smiled intently.
Touching her finger tips to her mother's shoulder, Alex rose onto her feet, pulling her wand from her boot. "Leave my family alone," she ordered.
"Don't you mean our family?" the dark side sneered, standing directly in front of her other half. Alexandria brandished her wand. "Whatter you going to do, little Alex? I have all your evil. I doubt you could take a life." Reaching out her arm, the beast clenched Alex's hand, breaking it almost without effort. Crying out in agony, the young woman dropped her wand and collapsed on the floor, tightly grabbing her wounded hand. Theresa attempted to comfort her daughter, hiding her own fear.
"Puniendum!" Justin's voice echoed as a massive blast of ruby-hued mana struck Gancanagh and the wicked form of Alex. Screaming in pain, the dark side smashed into the wall behind her, shattering a framed photograph, while the spawn of evil remained in place, feeling his skin singe. Standing bold, and aggressively pointing his wand towards the dark ones, Justin focused his eyes on the targets. "Get out of here, now!"
"Prideful after-birth," Gancanagh whispered, walking forward.
Slashing his ruby-crowned wand in all directions, Justin cried out with rage and strength like unto a lion. The bolts of mana faded upon contact with the demon until it reached its target. Clenching the teenager's face in his clawed hand, Gancanagh slowly tightened his grip, stabbing Justin's lower jaw and cheeks.
"Justin!" Theresa and Jerry cried out in horror.
"You don't scare me, bastard," Justin boldly declared, jutting his wand into the monster's ribs, causing a stabbing pain in its body.
"Just is the nature of the weak," Gancanagh declared, his eyes shining with their true, red energy. Clenching his claws into a complete fist, the monster felt the true nature of his attack.
Screaming in agony, Justin felt his entire soul-self shatter, sending a raging surge of pain through his entire body and numbing his spiritual side. Everything became quiet: All empathy making him one with nature was torn out of him, leaving him hollow and broken like a raw and rotting wound. Feeling a part of her break inside, Juliet felt the hunger overtake her body once more. Her eyes lacing over red, the vampiress flared out her claws as her fangs became exposed. Falling into an uncontrollable rage, the young woman screamed for her lover's great loss as her nerve endings began to burn.
"Please god, no," Alexandria whispered, her world slowly falling apart as well as her brother's. The break was overbearing, restricting the young wizard's movements. She felt her brother's pain, but could do nothing to help him. Knowing this, the evil side of Alex grabbed the crown of her other half's hair and pushed her face into the floor.
"You bastard!" Max screamed, focusing his energy into one thin, solid blast, which tore through the hollow space that once held Gancanagh's heart. The beast, taken by surprise, fell to his knees for a moment.
Turning towards her ally, the evil Alex heard an intense hissing from behind her, looking back to see Juliet plunge her fangs into her inner shoulder, drawing blood. Screaming, the wicked thing closed her eyes tightly. Tasting the dark blood, Juliet felt her senses return for an instant. "They're down!" she cried out. "He can't absorb energy like this!"
As time appeared to stand still, Alexandria rose to her feet, muttering a spell of healing upon her broken hand, her eyes on Justin, Harper, and her parents. "Center on him!" she ordered, projecting the light of her mana into Gancanagh's eyes, burning them. You're the absolute evil, the young woman told herself, remembering all the horrid things the monster had done. "Mom, run." Attempting to rescue the wounded, Theresa ran to her husband and Harper as they tried to move Justin's unconscious body away from the crossfire.
His emerald mana forming streaks of lightning, Max electrocuted the demon, leaving him vulnerable for the vampiress to get close to him. "You'll never take from anything again!" she screamed, slashing her claws down Gancanagh's throat and chest, severing his dark veins. Cut off from the mana of the world, the monster felt its body tighten with rage and its blood burn. In a flash of energy, the beast threw its attacker off, smashing her into Jerry's chest and bruising several of his ribs. Terrified for her family, Alexandria rushed to their care, unable to remain in battle.
"We have to get to The Lair!" the evil Alex declared, struggling to heal her near-gaping wound. "Now!" His primal nature growling, Gancanagh grabbed his ally and tenaciously ran out of the room with her, staggering forward before vanishing in a cloud of black smoke. As they rematerialized, Gancanagh fused his dark energy with Alex's dark side, healing her wound and brining a wicked, red glare to her corrupted eyes.
Max attempted to follow the two, only to hear his sister calling him back. He was needed here.
"Alex," Jerry whispered. "You, Max, and Juliet have to stop them. We knew the risks. You have to consider the good of everyone over ours."
Forcing herself to accept the decision, Alexandria finally nodded her head, whispering a spell of protection over her family and best friend. "Be safe," she wished. "I love you." Max and Juliet said the same before the vampiress kissed her suffering lover. Gathering together, the group closed their eyes and prayed for the strength they would soon need.
"Transportium Nextorbitorium," Alexandria recited, transporting Juliet, Max, and herself in front of the doorway into The Lair. Gancanagh and the evil Alex stood before their enemies. "You're not getting through that door."
"Wrong again, little girl," the beast mocked her pure side, her voice laced with a demonic undertone. "Kill them, but spare Alexandria. She hasn't paid her penance yet."
"If only your deaths could be eternal," the demon declared, flaring out his claws as he approached Max and Juliet.
"Like hell," Max declared, clenching his wand and readying a high-level spell his brother had taught him. Her rationality and humanity returned to her, Juliet prepared herself for another kill; the ultimate moral torture.
Slowly walking forward, Gancanagh licked his lips, already tasting the fatal blood in his mouth. The wicked Alex grabbed her opposite's shoulder, slowly digging her claws into it. "Do you wanna kill me?" she asked, tainted energy surging through her veins as she looked Alexandria in the eyes. "Or are you too good for that?"
"The world'd be a better place without you," the young wizard sharply answered, her sapphire mana forming a talon-like gauntlet over her hands as she threw her dark side off. "There's no reason for to live."
"Other than the fact that I'm you?" the beast scoffed, her face locked into a twisted smile: a corruption of the smile that greeted Harper, kissed Mason, and made her parents feel hope. "Won't Mommy and Daddy be upset that their baby girl's never coming home?"
Clenching her enchanted hands into fists, Alexandria thrust a right hook at her dark side, knocking its head to the side and causing a major bruise to form on her cheek bones. Continuing with a punishing left upper-cut that knocked the wicked thing backwards, the young wizard felt herself losing the will to go on, as well as faith in what she was doing.
"Juliet," Max said. "Get behind me." The vampiress did as instructed, knowing what was coming. Putting her hands on the boy's upper back, Juliet felt a part of her mana flowing out of her body. As Gancanagh struck downward with his bestial claws, Max and Juliet projected their light and strength into a massively wide blast, consuming the monster's entire body in emerald fire.
Crying out in agony, the demon cupped his bladed hands and slashed them outward like a drowning animal cutting through the tides, peeling four deep streaks of flesh from Max's left cheek, and knocking Juliet back. Sensing her loved ones' pain, Alexandria released her soul-self in the form of a bolt of mana, tearing through Gancanagh's physical and spiritual bodies: The darkness of a realm unseen burned the young woman's spirit like the very fires of hell. Darkness covered all there was, tainting it into nothingness, and it was cold. Man and Woman fell from Eden, the snake guided Lilith to her crestfallen lover, and evil happened. Roses wilted and died, leaving only lifeless black thorn lash. The sun became dark, and all stars died without light or hope. Opening her spiritual eyes within her physical self, Alexandria gasped in pain and terror. In that instant, the young wizard realized the evil her dark self had become a part of. "You monster!" she screamed, tackling her wicked side as Max and Juliet converged on Gancanagh, Max's power blinding him as the vampiress drove her fist into the monster's stomach. The impact caused the demon to fall against a metal cabinet, tearing it in half. Unrelenting, Juliet leapt forward, driving her feet into Gancanagh's chest and breaking one of his ribs.
"How could you do this?" Alexandria screamed, repeatedly punching her dark side with both hands, causing several bleeding scratches and the blackening of the beast's left eye. "How could you help him when it means taking all those lives?"
"Like this," the perversion of Alex's voice replied from behind the young wizard. A blow to the side of the head with a black, twisted version of Alexandria's wand knocked her off of the pale imitation, the crown of her head smashing into a floor tile. Running towards The Lair, the evil thing placed her hands atop the seal, absorbing its power and causing it to vanish. "Only Alex Russo could get through. Too bad you decided to sever her." Entering The Lair, Alex's dark side used her tainted energy to project a bolt of her solid essence into Juliet's back, causing a small section of her flesh to burst open, scattering splashes of blood into the air and throwing her onto the ground, forcing her to let out a shriek of sharp, stabbing pain. Smelling the salts in the room, Gancanagh clenched the vampiress' head and dragged her weakened body into The Lair, dodging Max's blasts of mana. The evil Alex released waves of force from her hands, shattering glass vials of potions, heirlooms, family gems, and crystal balls as she carelessly proceeded.
"Let her go!" the boy screamed, struggling to remember lethal curses that could bring his enemy to his knees.
"Be gone, child," the demon ordered, waving his arm away, causing a blast of force to throw the youngest Russo sibling through a wooden wall, knocking him into the Sub Station.
Before blacking out, Max looked out the window to see fading images of deformed creatures raiding the streets. "Where are they…" he choked out, letting his heavy eye lids close.
Approaching a cabinet enchanted with vampire salts, Gancanagh lifted Juliet higher off the ground until her feet dangled. Clenching at her throat, the vampiress groaned and hissed, trying to escape. Remaining in control, the demon bashed Juliet's face against the cabinet, the salts burning the tips of her nerve endings. Screaming in pain, the young woman's true voice broke through: she was vulnerable and suffering.
Her head throbbing and pounding, Alexandria forced herself onto her bloodied feet and charged into The Lair. "Stop it!" she screamed, projecting a blast of fiery sapphire mana at the demon.
"Not this time, mortal," Gancanagh scoffed, his claws tearing through the energy. Juliet remained in her torturous position, pushing against the enchanted wood and burning her hands in an effort to pull her eyes from the stinging heat.
The dark energy of the demon shining through her eyes and lacing her hands, the evil Alex phased herself halfway into the doorway to the Magical Realm, clenching the anti-matter layer and ripping it from its stained glass setting. The mental image of a key forged of solidified blood burned within the beast witnessed the gateway close, separating The Lair from the Magical Realm and shattering the nexus between worlds.
"And they said you were the chosen one," Gancanagh muttered, digging its claws into Juliet's skull.
Forcing her eyes shut, Alexandria released a growing, circular blast of mana, filling the entire room with a blinding light that burned the evil ones. Forcing her strength into her legs, Juliet kicked back with enough force to break herself free from the monster's grasp. Blindly searching for Gancanagh, the evil Alex finally felt its skin under her fingers and teleported herself and her ally away from the area with the anti-matter. Falling to her knees, her entire body weak and drained of all energy, Alexandria felt the smoke of her exhausted mana drift from her eyes and mouth, her breath heavy.
Staggering out of The Lair, Juliet made her way towards Max, lifted him and held him in her arms, and carried him back into the ruins that once served as a haven for the Russo family. Soon, Jerry, Theresa, and Harper brought Justin down the stairs with his siblings and lover. Silently coming to witness their great losses, the group formed a circle, shutting the door to The Lair behind them. Sorrow, pain, and loss filled the air as the wounded and the broken slowly awoke, their bodies throbbing, bleeding, and drowning in the stench of failure.
The war's over: Everybody lost