All characters, except the OC's are property of Réné Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.
I rushed to get this posted before leaving to Germany until the end of the week. So I hope there are not too many errors. Also I hope I am not making mistakes versus what happened in earlier chapters. I just lack the time to study the previous chapters when I start a next one…
Obelix injury was nearly invisible by the time Asterix got to him. Obelix resentment for Bonny still lingered slightly, but he could not deny that her healing abilities were amazing. Together with his new knowledge about both Phyllis' spiky character and the powers that she shared with Mesmeron, he felt it became hard to hold things against Bonny. Phyllis was not an easy person to be friends with
"She shouldn't have done that," Bonny said indignantly, staring at the faint scar on Obelix' arm.
"She shouldn't have," Asterix agreed.
Obelix had other things on his mind. "I don't know, don't you think she went easy on me?" Asterix looked at him incredulously. "Why, because she did not actually try to kill you? You won fair and square, Obelix, you did also hold back enough not to injure her seriously…."
"Was she injured?" Obelix asked worriedly.
"Just a bit of a sore arm…much like you," Asterix said quickly. "Getafix tended to her, she's fine."
"She went out of line!" Bonny said. "Did you see how your fellow villagers looked at her? She's terrifying them….just like before. Those powers may help her to fight Mesmeron, but they alter her personality. People sense that. They don't trust her, and therefore she ends up alone."
"Do you trust her?" Asterix asked, suddenly very curious about the answer. He was sure that they would not stand much of a chance if Bonny and Phyllis did not work out their problems. Manilla was a different matter, she had more distance from the situation. But Phyllis and Bonny suffered over their ruined friendship, and he could not see it turn out well.
"I love her…but I don't know if I trust her." Bonny hesitated. "Maybe I'm overestimating the influence of those 'dark' powers because I have seen the damage Mesmeron did with them. I hate to see how they intensify her mood-swings, but to tell you the truth, she was always pretty intense."
She turned towards them. "Only when we were younger, it was not bad, it was fun. I mean, she could be so cheery that you just danced along, and when she felt injustice, she was always the first to take action. She was a bit fierce, but it was never out of control….generally I just felt good around her. She could take interest in everyone and everything, she was not prejudiced. Sometimes, when something really gripped her, she acted almost obsessively, but she snapped right out when you needed her….I would have trusted her with everything. But now, I don't know…she's different."
"At first I thought it was all an act, a shield." Asterix said. "But now you're not that sure?" Bonny asked. "I don't know either. But I know something else. The way she acts towards you is the friendliest she's been with anyone for a long, long time. You have reached out to her, and I can tell it means a lot to her. I do trust that she will do everything in her might to protect you. I just don't know if that extends to the rest of us."
It seemed a little odd to Asterix, that Phyllis had been invited for dinner at Vitalstatistix'. Impedimenta had been quite wary of Phyllis the day before, but when he inquired with Vitalstatistix as to how his wife felt about Phyllis's visit, he learned that Impedimenta had been the one to invite her in the first place. When Asterix questioned this, Vitalstatistix shrugged it off: "Women. No use trying to keep track with them."
Later that evening, while Obelix and Asterix were playing dice, Vitalstatistix came by, looking quite disgruntled.
"Trouble?" Asterix enquired, while he got to offer his boss some drink. "Depends on what you define as trouble," Vitalstatistix replied. Asterix raised an eyebrow. "They chucked me out! No, what am I saying, Impedimenta let me do the dishes and THEN she chucked me out. Women's business she said."
"Well..." Asterix had no idea what to say to that. He was glad that Phyllis had not completely freaked out the entire village after all. But again, this was in contradiction to what her rant about not needing friends "… better let them be at ease for a while then," he finally said "A beer chief?"
The next morning, quite a few villagers were gathered in Vitalstatistix' hut, since Phyllis had announced to Vitalstatistix that she wanted to try out with everyone who would be likely to fight. So Fulliautomatix, Unhygienix and Geriatrix were there, their bard and quite a few other men. Quite a few women too. Asterix was not surprised. For one thing, Phyllis no doubt made them curious, a small girl, barely a woman, that had given Obelix quite some trouble just the other day. And secondly, they were faced with a serious threat. If the women usually didn't join in on their fights, it was because victory came easy with the magic potion. However, with their men now facing real danger, they were bound to join. None of his fellow villagers were the type to watch and wait. Eventually Vitalstatistix decided his home was crowded enough, and demanded for the rest to come back later.
"Asterix, have you seen Phyllis?" Obelix asked, his eyes darting around the room. He knew now to expect the unexpected from her. "No I ...haven't" Asterix replied, and the hesitation in his voice made Obelix follow his gaze towards the door. Immediately his question was answered, since Phyllis was just walking in.
Asterix knew it was Phyllis, but yet, she looked nothing like the scrawny, pale girl he had seen yesterday.
For one thing her hair was loose, but shiny and wavy rather than tangled like it had been in the forest. It was obvious what they had chucked Vitalstatistix out for yesterday. The sides were combed back a little, and they were put together at the back of her head with a hair pin. She wore light green, elegant looking dress, somewhat in between a roman and gaulic design, and it fit her so well it had to be her own. And her skin had a healthy glow. Suddenly, there was nothing girly about her, as she looked down on him with a somewhat mischievous smile. There was a golden sparkle in her eyes.
Wait.
She looked down on him? Phyllis was not taller than him, he was completely sure of that, he had stood next to her often enough and he had always looked right into her eyes. He stared at her feet, and saw simple green shoes. He glanced back up, and this time her eyes leveled his own, and her skin looked a tad paler than before. But she still had the same sparkle in her eyes, a slight blush, and she wore the same green dress...
"Oh yeah, the dress is real all right, it won't vanish." He started to flush a little, but there was no malice in her words, her smile had only widened now Asterix was no longer staring at a point on top of her head. "You saw through that quickly. Not that this is the real work, but illusions usually come in attractive packages at first, so if I thought to create that atmosphere a little."
"It was not so difficult; I know we're about the same height,"Asterix said.
"So does Impedimenta. And Obelix knows I don't tower over you normally either. But they don't seem to remember that right now."
She was right. Obelix' and Impedimenta's eyes were fixed on a point on top of her head, and they, together with the others, were gaping at her. Some even with a slightly love-sick face. To Asterix' immense relief, Obelix was not one of them.
"Now, after yesterday, wouldn't you expect I'd have trouble finding volunteers for my next "lesson"?" Phyllis asked. She raised her voice a little: "Well people, who's willing to demonstrate a few mind-control effects with me?"
Nearly everyone raised his or her hand. Only Obelix, Getafix, Manilla and Bonny stayed immobile. And Asterix, Phyllis noted as she looked sideward. "Are you not volunteering, Asterix?" she asked, with a little pout. "I don't see the need, when you announced you were going to try out the effects on all of us," he countered, a bit agitated. She was making this into a little too much of a joke for his liking.
"Always the clever one, aren't you," Phyllis replied automatically. Her attention was drifting a little though, since there wàs a point to what she was doing. Her appearance was a partial illusion, strengthened with some acting, and it was not only meant to set the mood. It was a way of testing who was sensible to the illusions and who was not. She had not expected Obelix to forget their fight overnight. Well, he could have, but he was set on protecting his best friend, and that made him attentive. He was still not staring at her face though.
Getafix, Manilla and Bonny didn't surprise her either...they had seen right through the illusion. She knew it took all her power to have some effect on Bonny, and she was only using a part of them right now. From Manilla she had not expected less, but Getafix reassured her. She had gained respect for him when he had treated her without questions, and it also helped that his cures had worked excellently. But since she was not too willing to rely on those three too much, she had work to do with the others.
"Good to see you are all willing to work with me," she said. "However, since I'm representing your enemy, the real challenge will be to work àgainst me. We'll start with a simple thing. I'm going to give an order, and you have to NOT follow it up. Pretend I'm Julius Caesar, if it helps, or your wife. Whatever works best. Your will is the only weapon you have against these kind of orders. I can give you more tips later, but they'll all go back to the strength of you own mind."
"A harmless order will do Phyllis," Manilla warned.
Phyllis threw her a sickingly sweet smile. "Harmless it is. Asterix, could you go and stand next to Obelix? The others are looking at me, I can judge the effects better if you do too."
Asterix moved and seconds after he turned, he saw the golden sparkle in her eyes intensify. He just had the time to wonder if this was a signal that could indicate someone about to plant an illusion over you, when Phyllis spoke again:
"Ok, here comes the order: sit down."
There was a rustling noise as the bunch of people sat down, with different levels of hesitation. Only Manilla and Getafix remained unfazed, and Bonny stayed on her feet as well, although she staggered slightly. But then her eyes hardened, and she straightened up.
Asterix was already halfway down before he realized he did not want to sit down. He quickly placed his hands to prevent being totally seated, and stopped in an uncomfortably crouched position. He cursed under his breath. There was nothing sneaky about Phyllis' approach this time. She had even clearly stated that this was the order they weren't supposed to follow up, but his mind seemed not to have registered that. It was a strange sensation. He thought he would have to fight his own body disobeying him, but it was not quite like that. He had to fight the strange conviction that it was better to be seated. Even as he thought it, he lowered himself closer to the ground, and he had to fight the impulse to let the pressure on his arms drop.
Phyllis had her eyes on him now, for the others seemed to have made their decision about sitting or staying up. She saw him struggle to steady himself, and he did. As he looked up, he saw her eyes sparkle gold as she repeated: "sit down, Asterix."
It was impossible not to listen, and impossible to do so at the same time. Two voices in his head were fighting for dominance, and his body was cramping over which one to obey. There was no danger in sitting down, but if he did he had no chance to make it through this adventure. He started to push himself up, sweat drops appearing on his forehead. To put his weight back on his legs seemed impossible, he was afraid to drop to the ground if he tried.
"Asterix…" Phyllis voice sounded different this time, and as he looked, he saw that one of her eyes was its normal light green again, while the other still sparkled. She extended one hand, which he took hesitantly. It was another sign of how split her mind really was, if she could help and work against him at the same time. She gave a light pull and he was back on his feet. Phyllis smiled.
"Good, good, not bad for a first try. You all hesitated. Many people don't even do so."
Asterix looked around, and saw that the rest of the villagers reflected his own discouraged mood.
"The first time is the hardest, because you have never felt it before. Well, you have, everyone has been manipulated before. But not quite like this. Now, you have no doubt realized that it is in your head you will have to win this battle. So let me give you a few examples of situations in which it would be very unwise to sit down, and we'll try again…."
They practiced for two more hours, and at the end, most of the villagers managed crawl back up, to at least a crouched position. Asterix could remain standing like Bonny, but he was not able to move much, because the moment he tried, he felt himself drawn to the ground. They were progressing, and Phyllis called it a day. Much too soon for Asterix' taste, but the others seemed glad. He couldn't blame them; it was unpleasant to feel out of control, especially for people who cherished their freedom like they did. Maybe Phyllis realized, because she had handled the whole lesson with care. The complete opposite of yesterday. Getafix had at one time whispered at him: "Maybe she's taking you advice at hand after all."
He had no idea. All he knew was that in a real fight, he would not be much better of standing immobile than sitting. And Phyllis gentler approach left much room for guessing. He had the feeling she was holding back. He could feel it by the way she let her powers increase and decrease with ease; this was not even near her full potential.
Lost in thought, he only noticed Phyllis' approaching when she sat down on the bench beside him. He looked at her legs. She was back in black pants and a simple tunic. Her hair was still loose, and she was concentrating on a knot in one of the black strands.
"You don't seem very happy," she said lightly, not taking her eyes of her hair.
"We're not exactly there yet, are we?"
Phyllis shrugged. "That's difficult to say. I mean, this is not like a fight, you can't simulate a state of mind that easily."
"And you're even holding back."
"Yeah, but so are you." Asterix threw her a confused look, and Phyllis tried to explain.
"You know that this is just training, and you can't just flip that knowledge off. It lessens the strength with which you try to fight me off. You do better than the others probably mostly because you realize what's behind the exercise."
It made sense, a little, but it did not offer Asterix the information he wanted: "How did you learn? Was it as difficult for you as…"
"Not nearly as difficult." Phyllis said promptly. She sighed. It was obvious that she couldn't just leave it at that, but she didn't really want to discuss this. "I learned in different circumstances, and I can't possibly create them for you. Well, I could, but trust me, you don't want me to."
"Manilla told you to keep things harmless….Something tells me you didn't follow that up for yourself."
Phyllis smiled a little: "Well, I didn't have a very willing teacher, so things were a little tense to begin with. But I learned most of it during real situations anyway. My healing powers help, since they are actually a form of mind control as well. That's not most important though. "
She paused for a while, staring off in space.
"When you imply your will on someone, that's dark energy. There's no denying that. The biggest difference between the both of us is our motivation. Your mind is set on protection, mine is set on revenge."
Her eyes darkened a little. "An illusion is only as strong as the will of the person who applies it. And I want Mesmeron dead much, much more than he could ever want me to obey him. As long as I focus on that feeling, the illusion doesn't stick."
She suddenly looked at him: "Do you see why I can't replicate that? Sure, I could threaten to harm some of you friends, and you'd find it much easier to resist me. For Obelix it would be even easier, he already dislikes me. And I don't care, but neither of us can fight Mesmeron alone so….I think you might be right. It is not a good idea to increase that dislike."
She had been listening. It would have made Asterix feel good, if it had not meant there was no way to learn any faster.
"That's very true," he said carefully, "But I would like to see your illusions full power…just to know, be better prepared. You don't have to imply it on the others, only on me."
"We'll see." Phyllis said, getting up. "In any case, there is not any benefit in getting you to do what I want, except for showing you my powers. That's not the strongest motivation, so you can't expect full power on that. The true deal will be when Mesmeron finds out you destroyed his control over me….The best way to deal with that is to make sure he doesn't find out in the first place…. See you later," she concluded, heading towards the place where Goliath was amusing herself with a large stack of hay. It was good to see the mare had regained her appetite. Asterix had lost his.