Good morning ^_^

So, things got out of hand last time. Some times, the best way to get motivated is to turn your brain off and just type. I did that with chapter four, and encouraged by the approbation of my esteemed colleagues, went through with what I had written. I planned for chapter five to be the end, but, because of the way four ended, I clearly needed to fix things a little, and that is what we have here; aftercare ;)

I cannot believe this story is going to crest 20,000 words when it's finally finished XD Anyway, I hope you enjoy our most sedate chapter so far XD

Through the hysterics she cried, and shocks that still lingered, Eda heard Revy. She could tell in the maniacal screams for forgiveness that Revy knew she had gone too far, and now, she was dying inside because of it. They both thought they knew what this game was about. The risks, the rewards, they were even pretty good at it up until now. It was one thing to think they both knew what was going on between them. It was another to find a rose on the door, greeting Eda, and it was something entirely different to hear Revy, a murderer, apologizing for anything, let alone hurting someone. Yet here they were, hysterical in each other's arms, victims of what they thought they knew.

Someone needed to say something, to do something, and Eda would be the first one to make the attempt. She placed a hand on Revy's back and with broken speech offered, "I wanted this, it's not your fault!"

"I should have known better, dammit!" Revy remarked. "I was fuckin' sloppy! I'm better than this, better than some fuckin' rookie mistake!"

"I could have stopped you!"

"But you didn't, and I hurt you because I thought you could take it," Revy said, a hand on Eda's face wiping an endless sheet of tears. "I didn't even think; I was sure you could take it."

"You couldn't know-"

"Because I went too far too fast!" Revy shouted, causing Eda to wince. "I wasn't paying attention to you! I was too wrapped up in what I doing for you –to you- and didn't notice that you were hurting until it was too late! Four sessions in and I took everything from you! I knew nothing about your limits and I fucking threw that out the window! What the fuck was I…"

Revy trailed off ranting about the depths of her mistake when it suddenly dawned on Eda, the sting that ran across her back. She was shaken, there was no denying this, but what Revy thought and what actually was, were once again not quite right this evening.

The gleaming tile walls of the CIA restrooms were almost hypnotic. The black grout lines moved like lines in an Escher painting; too clean, too perfect. The black countertops and stall doors offset the slightly gray hue of the wall and floor tiles. It was the epitome of a neutral room, until, Edith burst through the door, quickly spinning on her heels to lock it behind her. She rasped for breath, and then doubled over, catching her mouth with her hand before charging through a stall door to empty her stomach.

Such would be her life from now on. One person makes a request, then they make a request, and down the hill it traveled until it rolled onto someone's plate; someone like Edith Montgomery. It wasn't everyday she would give an order that she knew would see people die, maybe worse, but, it was her life now. The smug looks on her superior's faces as they chided her, "If you can't do it, we can always find someone else who will." She'd never give in to their bullshit, and clearly, she'd suffer every day for it.

After flushing the toilet and wiping her face, she leaned back, sitting upright with her knees planted on the cold tile; so cold it should have bit her. So why didn't it? The taste in her mouth had to have been catastrophic, so why didn't she taste it? Her throat surely had to burn, but it didn't. So why? Why could she feel nothing? She panicked, tapping her fingertips together to hear the numb, wet sound of flesh on flesh, but feel nothing. Not even the pressure in her joints as she squeezed her digits together.

"What the fuck?" she quietly whispered as panic gave way to hysteria. Tears rained from her eyes as she tried the other hand, the toes on her feet, even putting a palm to her face, and yet receiving nothing; no sensation whatsoever. Her eyes lit up for a second, and from her pocket, she retrieved a flip-open knife, and without thought, ran the blade across the palm of her hand. A splash of red shot across that perfectly clean floor, and then there was pain, wonderful, blissful, dark red pain. Pain that not only meant she was alive, but could feel as well, and that was more than she had just a moment ago. All of her panic, all of her tears and hysteria vanished in an instant, and at long last, there was calm.

Still at full gallop, dousing herself with blame upon blame, cursing herself to never lay a hand on Eda again, Revy sounded like a high school girl on speed. Eda grinned slightly at the sight of Two Hands all worked up as she was. Yes, Eda was shaken, and completely at that. But, she wasn't shaken because of the pain, and just as Revy felt she needed to care for Eda, Eda needed to care for Revy. She reached up, cupping Revy's face with both hands, and before she could receive the slightest of protests, put an end to this ruse they both insisted on carrying out.

As their lips crashed together, there was finally silence, save for the slightly muffled noise Revy made before relenting completely. Her eyes fluttered closed, and her hands gently wrapped Eda's wrists. For a moment they stayed like that, calm, and serene, neither making any further movement or gesture. It took longer than Eda thought it might, but before long, Revy's tough-girl act kicked in. She pushed away from Eda and barked, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Revy," Eda said.

"What the fuck do you mean you're fine?" Revy spat. "I just-"

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Eda shouted, pouncing atop Revy, asserting herself as she pushed Revy onto the bed, a wrist in each hand as she once again claimed her lips. Again, Revy fought for a second before giving in. She needed to fight; it was just who she was. But, much as she needed the fight, she needed the release of that kiss every bit as much. The feeling of warm lips pressed to hers, that they were the soft lips of a woman just made the kiss that much better. Eda pulled away, and Revy sharply inhaled, hoping that she'd come back, only to open her eyes and find Eda above her and smiling.

"I'm fine, Revy."

"But your back, I…"

"You never noticed did you?" Eda asked.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"The cuts," Eda said simply. "About ten years ago, I had this 'issue', and I started cutting; it was the only thing that made me feel anything in this shithole world." She raised her arms into Revy's view; turning and twisting it to more specifically show her. "Guess I got pretty good at hiding these scars, don't you think?"

"So your back-"

"Feels alive," Eda finished for her. "I. Feel. Alive."

"Then what the fuck happened back there?!" Revy spat. "I thought I was killing you!"

Eda's cheeks turned red, and all at once she was faced with several questions. Does she tell Revy who she really is? Does she make up a story? Does she feign ignorance? Does she say it just scared her? Maybe just a part of it was too much?

"It's a couple things that just all went wrong," she said as she eased off of Revy, sitting back on the bed. Revy sat up as well to see her friend eye-to-eye. "When I was five years old I got electrocuted in my house; I was a stupid kid and I put my finger in a socket. 'Course my parents rushed me to the hospital and I was fine, but that feeling of voltage running through me, of being unable to control my own body, I never wanted to feel that again."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Revy asked. "All I do is take away your control."

"Yeah, but you're you," Eda said. "You have eyes and ears, maybe even a heart and a brain…"

"Bitch."

"The point is, you can watch and adjust accordingly," Eda said. "Electricity is like being dominated by a machine; it never stops, never relents, no matter what. You didn't know what this would do to me, you couldn't have. We both dove head first into this, we never set any rules or anything. Shit, I might never even have thought to add that to a list of rules!"

"It's been pretty great though, right?" Revy asked.

Again Eda blushed, "I've never had anything like this; not with anyone."

"Me neither," Revy said.

"Wait, so how…"

A woman's shrieks filled the walls of The Goofest. These weren't screams of pleasure, but of absolute pain. "STOP IT! PLEASE STO-" she was interrupted by her own screams as the abuse began again. She was hardly restrained, her hands tied above her head, pulled taught to the ceiling by a pulley system, though the rest of her body was bare. The man attacking her was under contract to do so. Rowan was paying him top dollar to drink his booze, do his drugs, and then have fun with the resident slave. She had no say in what happened to her, no rights, nothing; she was a canvas for him to paint red, black, and blue, and the crowd The Goofest attracted just loved that sort of thing.

From the bar, young Rebecca Lin watched on, shaken, and sorry for the girl. She watched this show every night, and every night it was the same. She wondered sometimes if it would go to far, and she would die on stage.

"Fill it for me, would you, Becky?" Rowan asked as he strolled up to the bar, spinning his rocks glass over to her. She filled it as usual and handed it back to him, and as the beating continued, he couldn't help but notice her cringing. "Somethin' wrong with the programming tonight?"

"Nope," Rebecca replied, sure to keep herself in check with the boss.

Then it happened. A flurry of whip strikes, endless shrieks, and then she was silent. He was aiming for her neck, and as the crowd cheered louder and louder, he hit her harder and harder, finally, opening an artery. If he'd stopped then, it may have been fixable, but the lashing continued, hitting the same location over and over again, until a rip became a tear, and a tear became a hole. Still, Rebecca watched on, furious, terrified, and broken by the sight, yet unable to say a word. As life poured from her neck, the girl's twitching slowed, and Rowan offered his own applause for his trusty dom, and the crowd followed suit; applauding the death of a girl.

Just as she tried to wash the pain of the sight away, Rowan turned to her and wearing the widest of Cheshire grins, commented, "Looks like you just got a promotion, Rebecca-baby."

"He put you up there?!" Eda spat as Revy tended to her back. For all the alcohol she applied to Eda's open wounds, the blonde hardly flinched; pain truly was a dear friend to her.

"Yeah he did," Revy replied. "I was up there for a full week taking that guy's shit, lucky to be alive every time he finished with me."

"What did he-"

"Same shit; he beat me. He whipped me, he cut me, he punched me and kicked me," Revy said. "It wasn't the S&M show Rowan billed it to be; it was torture."

"So what the fuck did you do?"

Half way through what was working out to be her last performance, Rebecca got one hand loose, and from there, the game was over. He was too drunk, and too high to let go, and more over, to realize what was going on. He never bound her feet, and that would be his end. She caught the whip in the next lash, and her life depending on it, pulled the whip and bringing her attacker towards her in a stumble. The whip was around his neck a moment later, and the cheers of the crowd erupted. She spun him around, forcing a foot to his back, and pulled as tight as her arm would allow, until his hands fell from the whip. Even after he'd gone limp, she kept pulling, and that's when the crowd fell silent; they were terrified.

Finally, she let go of the whip, and pushed forward with her foot, kicking the dead sack of meat to the ground. After loosing her other hand, she looked out onto the crowd with the eyes of a mad dog. "Who the fuck is next?" she asked. "Who wants to be my bitch next?"

If they knew how serious she was, they may not have clapped as cheered as they did. Rowan of all people should have stayed away, but instead, he ran right up to her, smiling wide as ever, and placed a hand around her shoulders, "Looks like you just got another promotion!"

"So he made you his resident domme?" Eda asked, the two girls now sitting across from one another.

"Damn right he did," Revy affirmed. "If he didn't it was his balls right then and there. No matter how big a smile he had on his stupid face, he knew."

"And you still deliver to that fucker; good for you," Eda said.

It was at that moment that Revy realized she may have painted herself into a corner. She had just described one of her first and worst experiences in this city, concerning a place she planned to bring Eda to next week, to publically dominate. Damage control was necessary.

"Thing is, after that, Rowan and I sort of had this unspoken respect," and she meant it. "He knew that I would deliver for him on a daily basis, and I did. I took care of his girls best I could, and when it was their turn on the block, I always knew when to stop, but still give a great show."

"I'll bet he still stiffed you on pay though," Eda remarked.

"I demanded twenty-five percent of the door and he gave it to me without question; I made a fortune working for that asshole."

"No shit," Eda said. "So, do you ever, you know…talk about that shit?"

It can't be this fucking easy, Revy thought. "What do you mean? Talk about the old days with Rowan?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, sometimes," she said as she pulled a pack of cigarettes from the nightstand. "He always asks me to come back and do one last show for him, but-"

"Would you do it?" Eda asked as she took the smoke Revy had retrieved and threw it to the floor of her room.

"What? Another show?" Eda nodded, and Revy replied, "And cheat on your ass? Not a chance. I told you this shit was between us, and us only; I'm not going to go domme some other bitch just because there's a paycheck in it."

"What if it was me?" Eda asked. "Maybe split the pay?"

"You'd do that? After this shit tonight, you still want in at all?" Revy asked.

"I was doing this shit before I knew you were into it too, bitch," Eda said. "Now you're telling me that there's a chance I can get paid for you to get me off?"

Revy stared into Eda's eyes for a moment, hunting for a tell or sign that she was testing the waters, but none ever appeared. "If you want me to make the call I-"

"Do it," Eda said with a smile.

"You're fuckin' crazy, bitch," Revy said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Yeah, and you love it, cunt," Eda replied, placing a kiss on Revy's lips.

It was the first time they had fallen asleep together. No clothes, no sheets, just skin against skin, and arms wrapped around one another. Revy's eyes blinked open, and she gazed at Eda, finding her to be soundly sleeping. Fucking crazy, she thought with a grin, and placed a kiss on her forehead. She stood from the bed and slipped on a tank top, shorts, and finally, her holsters. A moment later, she was out on the street, payphone in hand. "Pick up, asshole," she said in impatience.

"Sup?" Rowan answered on the other end.

"Rebecca," Revy replied.

"Rebecca-baby, what's shakin' besides dem fine-ass titties?"

"One thing about next week, not a word about our arrangement; you know the drill."

"You got it, baby. Anything else I can do for you? To you maybe?"

Revy looked up to her window and smiled, "Nope. Later, Jackpot."

And that's all for that chapter :) Now just to put on a show at The Goofest XD This is complex issue for me, because, I had my plan all worked out, and I guess it still works, I'm just not sure how far I should take it now XD

Anyway, as always, thank you Horsemen for putting your eyes on this for me, and thank you for reading :) Hope to see you for one last chapter :)
-jm