A/n: Okay; even though the confusion has not exactly been stated in the comments I know that there is some confusion over why I decided to just have both Apple and Faybelle be Raven's OT3, to that the simple answer is because:
1: The idea is funny as hex and after the cruddy past few months of dealing with insane people so I really didn't care because it was just that funny.
2: I wasn't in the right mindset to choose between the two or do a split thing at the end where one epilogue would have Apple win, and the other have Faybelle in, again: my work was just that cruddy on my creative juices.
3: Because ROYALTY! Yep, that's right, I even did some research into it, and you know what I found? Royalty, insanely rich people, and world leaders tend to take the odd way around things that would be done completely differently in the lives of peasants.
4: I wanted to do something with a poly couple at some point in these stories and it just seemed to make sense! Since Raven/Faybelle is a crack pairing, why not make it even more so with Faybelle/Raven/Apple?
5: Have I mentioned that royalty tends to do things differently? That's why they're so entertaining to read/watch/wright about!
So that's why I did what I do, hope that cleared some things up.
XXX
I dare think that old Snowy has gotten even more vindictive and manipulative over the years. Clawstorm mused as she watched in horror as absolute pandemonium broke out in front of her.
For reasons that only made sense to her royal fair highness, the four converted goons were brought in to the next large concrete dungeon room to talk to their chained and doubly guarded with borrowed jabberwocky golems and everything, co-workers and try to convince them to believe them about the death-suits.
"What's with the big boxes on wheels?" Clawstorm had asked Snow White after joining the other woman to watch the proceedings in an adjoining room with a large one-way mirror to hide them from the prisoners on the other side, the witch had eyed the metal boxes on trollies with wires hanging all about them with a distrust that had come from years of having to deal with Snow White's usual secretive attitude.
In response Snow White had held up a finger, telling Clawstorm to wait a moment before speaking quietly into a walkie-talkie to someone in the other room.
And that is when a witch guard stepped forward to tell the five prisoners who were still wearing their death-suits to not try anything to disturb the boxes all around them for Snow White's forces had just barely acquired the machinery possible to stop the self-destruct signals that would cause their uniforms to explode.
And almost right on cue, before three of the prisoners could voice their dubious complaints about how they were obviously lying about the exploding uniforms since there was no way that their employers could possibly get rid of such valuable assets such as them, two prisoners "miraculously broke free" of their assigned guards and knocked two metal boxes out of commission, both going into a ranting fit about the glory of death and the destruction of the impure just as everyone's uniforms started beeping and glowing their warning that they'd be exploding soon.
Clawstorm immediately sent raw power into the golems she had lent out, aiding the converted prisoners and the White family's witchy soldiers in ripping the clothing off the panicked non-ranting mercenaries. The two who had been ranting had to be knocked out before their uniforms could be ripped of completely as well.
"Miss Janet could you please activate the emergency dampening technology and be prepared to activate the blast doors in room C, sector A." Snow White continued speaking calmly into her walkie-talkie even as she slung a companionable arm around Clawstorm's waist. "Help heard everyone to the far right of the room dear, and feel free to just throw those tack clothes to the far left, don't worry I've got this all under control, you'll see." The queen assured the witch
And being far from stupid enough to ask demanding questions from an obviously insane lady who was freaking humming merrily to herself while everyone scrambled into place, Clawstorm's golems chucked the uniforms as far away from the others as possible before flying behind what appeared to be a transparent three foot thick wall of glass coming down from the ceiling, parting the room and the observation mirror into two sections.
"Shouldn't we be getting out of here too?" Clawstorm demanded desperately.
"Oh we should be fine, the glass is magically blast resistant, and if it isn't then I'm more than confident that your magic will be strong enough to protect us." Snow White practically sang as she snuggled closer. "I honestly can't believe that those men were just going to leave my precious little Apple an orphan along with hurting her former roommate and best friend! It's a good thing that my people have caught them or I don't even know how they'd be treated by the other realms.
A good thing for them my ass, if they'd been caught in the Queen Lands they'd all be arrested and simply be given deals for a more comfortable life in prison in exchange for any information they'd give us about their employers. And wouldn't Anton and Prince Charming be the ones to take over raising Apple? Clawstorm thought to herself as she raised her hands and put up a magical shield that encompassed the entire wall where the window glass was affixed.
A tense silent moment went by, one where Clawstorm was actively trying to convince herself that Snow White was clinging to her because she was preparing herself for the explosion like a decent fair maiden and definitely not snickering at the terrified looks of the prisoners in the right half of the room.
One of the naked men piped up. "I don't think that anything is gonna hap-"
A loud boom accompanied by a brilliant orange and white explosive fire and bits of green material flying everywhere interrupted him.
XXX
"They-… They tried to kill us! The witches were telling the truth!" A naked man gaped after a stunned silence.
Some people jumped when two figures emerged from a swirl of reddish-purple magic, the nude men instinctually covering themselves when two female figures emerged, the one wearing all white and gold clinging gleefully onto the arm of the one wearing black and silver.
"Alright! Now that the imminent threat of having a bunch of exploded hired men splattering the walls and floor in large jam-like red smears has been avoided; let's discuss what just happened. The people who hired you lot just tried to kill you since your use to them is no longer needed, your fellows have already established that everyone who works for your former employers wears a version of these exploding uniforms, we also know that the two men who have been pulling the strings behind everything from the killing and abducting into slavery of witches and magical kin to the attempt on multiple fairytale royalty's lives are Councilman Tomak of the witch's council and his some Kline, both warlock, both actively betraying their own species and both having readily planned that at some point or another every single one of you who regularly wears these uniforms will at some point that is convenient to them, be terminated, whether you be on the battlefield or at base with your friends and- if you have them- lovers and children as well." Clawstorm spoke from her diaphragm, her voice booming in the concrete room.
"Now is the only chance for you to make a deal with her fair ladyship and her people, we need everything you can give us on your employers, the people who work for them, and the layout of where you work and live, we don't care how small or insignificant the detail you will be telling us everything. If you don't, well that's too bad for you, because we don't have the time or patience to play a game of trade or run around the bush, those who do not cooperate will be put into solitary confinement- or in the two bozo's who tried to help your imminent demise along, they will be put in a nice padded room and will be given straight jackets to wear- the sane ones will be in some hole in the ground miles away from the outside world for the rest of your lives because we are trying to save your fellow soldiers and if you are too bothered about being captured to save the people who you served beside then you're just not worth dealing with." The witch glowered, daring anyone to argue.
"Those who do cooperate with my people will be able to negotiate what happens next, the more helpful you are the better things will be for you in the long run. I can ensure with an eighty percent certainty that with cooperation and good behavior your names and faces won't be leaked on any media outlets and wherever you end up your known crimes will be for less… brutal charges." Snow White continued. "And trust me that is very generous considering what you all were ordered to do to our families and the rest of the fairytale kingdoms who would be very keen in knowing exactly who was willing to help these people go through with these unspeakable crimes."
"And let's not forget that we won't be killing you or blowing your pants off, rather we will be aiming to rescue innocent people, and do our best to reunite them with family on the outside as well as offer opportunities for displaced people to earn some money so that they can provide for their family members." Clawstorm finished staring pointedly at young Todd. "Pretty cushy deal considering…"
"So you will rescue them? My girl and my child?" Young Todd pleaded, leaning against the glass wall with both hands.
"Help us out and I'll even bring you along to aid me in getting her and your kid back safely." Clawstorm swore thinking about the spare leaper sticks that had to have been confiscated from all these men from earlier.
"I was wearing standard issue knickers a moment ago. I wear the damn thing to bed!" One of the naked men piped up before young Todd could say anything else. "My knickers exploded! They was gonna blow my crotch off!"
Murmurs and grumbles of horror as the rest of the men realized the same thing.
"These guys won't be going down very easily, there will be bloodshed." Said the man wearing goggles. "Are you going to employ your research in an emergency battle situation?" He asked almost hopefully, like a cross between a kid excited for the new toy to come out and a hopeful man praying for a hale Mary to see him through the upcoming battle.
Clawstorm smirked thinking about Kline and the little "gift" that she gave him several weeks prior, oooh he had to be rightly itchy by now.
"I already have." The witch assured all self-satisfied. "Now a show of hands; who wants to get dressed in non-explosive clothing and start making your would-be murderers pay?"
XXX
"Wow, you two look so pretty in these pictures!" Apple exclaimed brightly as she flipped through the images on Maddie's phone, she sat beside Faybelle as the two patiently waited for the designs on Raven's face to dry.
"What is she doing here again?" Kitty murmured to Charlotte, as the witch, herself, and Maddie stood a little farther away from the rest of the group.
"If by "she" you mean Apple White, let's just say that the three of them have reached… a truce of sorts, as long as Apple is in some way involved with all of this, that Raven is not completely taken away from her, she is content to aiding this process along in the name of… well I'm not completely sure exactly what she hopes to gain from all of this, but the point is that Faybelle's not putting up a righteous fight about it and the lot of them seem to be… well kind of happy about the arrangement to be honest." Charlotte explained to the best of her knowledge. "It's just a theory on my part but I'm half wondering if the three of them are attempting to… well be a threesome or something close to that because both Faybelle and Apple don't seem keen on losing Raven and Raven had seemed keen on walking away a few weeks ago because she couldn't choose between them."
"Ah." Said Kitty flatly. "So in other words this is Ever After royalty dealing with politics and love the best way they know how; to do exactly the opposite of what the common people would do in this situation."
"And by that you mean the three of them at best staying mere friends or at worse completely going their separate ways or having Apple and Faybelle battle for Raven's attentions?" Charlotte guessed.
"Those would be the options taken in Wonderland, the queens and the biggest influential clans are the only ones who have harems." Kitty informed.
"Well as long as Raven is happy with the relationship I suppose it's alright." Maddie mused sagely, or as sagely as she could get while bouncing around on her feet and giggling madly because she was terribly amused. "Even if she has managed to confound our loopy doo Wonderlandiful heads on her choice in partners."
"It just doesn't make sense!" Kitty hissed. "Apple and Faybelle?"
"It's like you said; we're royalty." Charlotte pointed out in fake exasperation, which was undermined by barely concealed snickers. "When faced with an obvious choice we ignore it completely and go in another direction. It's kind of our specialty."
"…Maybe that's why Alice was so mad to begin with." Kitty shook her head as if in an attempt to shake off the ponderings on how this was going to work out.
Maddie giggled at the whole thing, life was much more entertaining when you just took it in at a sideways angle and an open mind.
"I wonder how things are doing back at Ever After now that Apple is here and her mother is there?" Kitty wondered. "I understand that the two are not getting along but how that would affect the behavior of a woman with such… specific dreams for her child who is currently adamant not to fulfill them, I wonder how the fairest of them all is doing keeping up appearances while also keeping her cool…"
XXX
"Might I ask why you have a dungeon room that is explosion resistant and has some sort of large high tech transparent blast doors right in the middle of it?" Clawstorm asked with a growing sense dread as Snow White led her down a concrete corridor.
Snow White chuckled, sounding slightly nervous, the skip in her step faltering. "Oh you know; the dungeons aren't used much in this day in age and well… I thought to myself one day earlier in the year that if they weren't going to used for their intended use then why not renovate them for personal uses!"
Oh dear gods she's lost it! "I have heard that controlled explosions can be rather therapeutic." On cable TV, on one of those science shows or how-we-do-special-effect-in-the-movies documentaries. Clawstorm mentally added to her carefully diplomatic words. Not alone, underground, having your servants set charges just to feel better about the world, and oh sweet ancestors that's exactly what she's been doing down here hasn't she?
"Oh I'm so glad you understand!" Snow White seemed to relax. "Things have been so difficult lately what with Legacy Day and my Apple being so angry with me about-… things." The queen faltered again. "So, uh… as Mira have you had the chance to interact much with Apple?"
"She is a very good girl who has been very kind in looking after my daughter in the face of these past uncertain months. I was particularly impressed with how Miss Apple has this veracious appetite for knowledge and how fascinated she can become on subjects ranging from culture to advanced mythmatics. If we were in another dimension I'd be on the front lines to suggest her for an internship program with my lab." Clawstorm freely admitted the truth.
The queen looked conflicted between proud and worried. "Oh! That's… nice. About that whole… finding cures for poisons business that you talked about earlier…?"
"I quietly abdicated the throne and became a citizen in a dimension that views fairytales- as difficult as it was for me to believe at the time- just stories that someone made up centuries ago to tell young children an important lesson. I used the opportunity of being completely anonymous as well as the distinct public belief that fairytale do not exist to pursue my true passions over the past eighteen years which do involve inventing better ways to help people and improve that particular world in general… I never did have my full heart into villainy or taking the throne of my homeland, not that they really need a monarch over there in anything more than just for international relations and in name, the government is almost completely a republic now and… well I probably would have ended up doing more harm than good if I had stayed, a rather useless ruler I do believe I would have made." Clawstorm mused, carefully censuring her words, walking a tightrope with her emotions in order to avoid argument.
"You… did fantastic with my story." Snow White coughed. "Even though you didn't sign the Book… um."
"Whatever made you happiest your fair highness." Clawstorm stoically intoned lightly making Snow White flinch slightly in guilt. "Will you be willing to prepare a team to use one or two confiscated leaper sticks to help young Todd gather up his lover and unborn child after I make a few calls to see if his story checks out? I know of the witch that he speaks so highly about who teaches those trapped in Lance to read and write, she is well known in the Underground Railroad circuit."
"You think that he is telling the truth?" Snow White tried to keep the suspicion from her voice.
"He certainly did not appear to be very pleased to nearly being blown to pieces by his employers. It's worth checking out at any rate, the Underground keeps meticulous records of all citizens from those brave enough to venture out of the Queen Lands in an attempt to gather an accurate number of those still trapped inside so that plans can be made to fool the enemy's weekly census and smuggle those people out. I honestly shudder to think about how many hoops we would have had to go through if the enemy was actually invested in keeping all of those people in those kingdoms rather than merely being content to keep enough there to fool their royal puppets into thinking that they are serious about making their dreams of the perfect elitist playground come true." Clawstorm shook her head in disgust.
"Wait, you mean that this whole situation with those four kingdoms could have been worse?" Snow White gaped.
"Much, much worse." The witch assured gravely as they stepped inside an elevator. "This isn't Tomak's first attempt at obtaining power for himself, at the very least he has learned by now how easily his plans can go wrong if he makes things too elaborate, he merely needs to keep those lords delusional long enough to have them be around to become the perfect fall guys for when he's to rise to power as everybody's hero king."
Snow White thought about that for several moments. "But can it really be that simple to just… take over everything." She finally asked under her breath as they stepped out to keep her words out of earshot of several maids who looked up at them curiously, from the lack of recognition in their faces it was apparent that word had not reached them yet that the "Evil Queen" was in the building.
That or Snow White had actually managed to keep things quiet with downstairs gossip to which Clawstorm found this hilariously improbable.
"That's why I believe that he's got an ace or two up his sleeve. What he has been attempting would be utterly suicidal even for the most power hungry mongrel to even contemplate attempting, he's got something that is making him believe that he's got a fair shot at all of this! That he can manipulate the system and it's people to do his bidding! I hate to say this but he and Kline are fairly smart, they've got something that is in fact a viable threat to the world as we know it."
"You're talking about… the erm… machine… correct?" Snow White muttered looking down, actual guilt hanging off of every pore of her body.
Good. The witch thought with feeling but pushed the vicious feelings of satisfaction aside for the moment. "No, I'm talking about something far more dangerous than that."
Snow White's eyes were wide as the two stopped outside a guest room door. "What could that possibly be?" The woman hissed, her voice nearly shaking at the possibilities. Obviously nearly being assassinated was beginning to hit the woman's natural deliberate obliviousness pretty hard if she was so willing to believe that she was imagining worse things than a machine that could send space rock hurtling down from the sky.
"I have a hunch about what it really is…" Clawstorm hummed looking to the door, then to the maids trying to be inconspicuous, the witch could see one of them mouth "Did ya catch wot they be sayin'?" while the other shook their head in the negative. "Is the girl in here?"
"Yes, with a social worker, she hasn't spoken a word since she's arrived and we've separated her from that Lovelace woman." Snow White informed, an edge creeping into her tone towards the end of her words.
"I take it by your tone that you don't necessarily approve of Madam Lovelace." Clawstorm was amused.
"The woman has the personality of a wet bag of rocks, and a fake damsel act that could grate on even the most virtuous of souls." Snow White hissed. "That… and she implied certain… things which you have, ah, ascertained aren't true about… certain machines. As well as my and my daughter's legitimacy to the throne." Snow White cleared her throat delicately. "If you catch my drift."
Ah so Madam Lovelace had attempted black mail upon the most vicious black mailer and manipulator that Clawstorm had ever met. Reluctantly the witch's respect to the lover and mother of her enemies just went up a few notches… not that Snow White would merely just let that slide without some serious consequences to Madam Lovelace.
Clawstorm stepped away from the door slightly, just in case her voice would be carried inside if she didn't. "Oh I'm more that confident that you can deal with her just fine my queen, such "false" allegations to the fairest queen of them all? Surely the woman has lost her wits, sounds like a serious case of survivor's guilt to me; after all she had killed her abusive husband in a fit of animal survival, ran away to work as a simple maid before the loneliness and the guilt of killing a man had consumed what was left of her sanity and had therefore abducted some innocent child to fill the void. After all in her own mind how best to atone for her sins would be to raise an innocent child in a world padded with nothing but sanitized protection from harsh reality."
"Yes!" Snow White seemed to catch on, her eyes flicking to the maids who were now listening in more obviously to the sudden rush of non-hushed and now decipherable whispers, utterly entranced by the story being woven. "That was more or less exactly what she said what her motives were. Of course the woman was never in any sane state to raise a child and between that, the fact that the child is not hers, and the healer's suspicions upon the child's illness… well I must say this international crime has turned out to be quite the affair Doctor Grimmbook, to the point of scandal that they had to call in to request my personal help! Thank you for coming down on such short notice."
Clawstorm nodded understandingly. "Oh yes I understand the need for discretion, from what I've read in the report the child must be utterly traumatized considering having to deal with this brand of abuse and, oh dear lord, that rather nasty thing you discovered as well from the mad woman on top of her own mysterious illness. I'd have to be some kind of bad monster to just ignore your call for my consultation on this matter. I do hope we can find out what this oddity is with the girl's system, I have my theories, or at least an initial place to start doing research upon from the report your healers have given me but I'll know more once I examine the patient."
"Of course, right this way doctor." Snow White walked over to open the door, from the corner of both women's eyes they could see the maids sporting open horrifically shocked faces as they whispered things about how heartbreaking this task must be for their beloved queen and how they were wondering how this dear child, whom they've never met or heard about until now, must be fairing in the midst of such great strife.
Clawstorm knew by the end of the day the kid that they had in custody and her abridged life story was going to be the talk of the palace, maybe to the point of reaching outside news magazines based over rumors of the royal family and by the end of it, if they were careful, they could have effectively spirited Tomak's lover and his daughter away to the point where not even he could trace their whereabouts back to them because by the time news reached the outlets the story would be so distorted that not even he could decipher what was truth and what wasn't.
This has got to be the most evil thing that I have ever done since Wonderland. Clawstorm internally despaired before squaring her shoulders and walking forward.
XXX
Clementine was exactly the same as Clawstorm remembered her. Literally. The exact same age, appearance, she even wore a dress that Clawstorm had seen her wear on more than one occasion when they used to play together… as children.
Clementine was still a child in body.
It was so jarring, despite Clawstorm's initial suspicions towards this exact circumstance that the red glamour over her hair fell away to its natural black state.
Clawstorm inhaled deeply, walking forward slowly to the little blonde witchling, taking off her magic dampening regalia as she went. Clementine hadn't turned around from her place on the bed, merely staring listlessly at a cloth doll that the social worker watching curiously from beside Snow White must have given her, that or it was on the blonde girl when they took her.
Clawstorm began humming softly. "Clementine, Clementine, my dear friend Clementine how does Mary's garden grow? She's so ordinary, I dare say contrary, with flowers of cockleshells and silver-bells and-"
"Pretty maidens all in a row!" The little girl perked up, singing the end of the song almost on instinct. She cast Clawstorm a wearily curious look. "My best friend came up with that… how did you know it?"
"You don't recognize me Clementine?" Clawstorm mock pouted in an exaggerated fashion. "It took me forever and a day to find my best pal again but I haven't changed that much…"
Clawstorm slipped off her shoes and plopped cross-legged down on the floor in front of the girl, setting aside her dampening jewelry in favor of extending a hand that she lit up in reddish-purple magic.
"Have I really changed that much over the years to the point where you can't even sense me?" Clawstorm pouted a little more.
Clementine gasped hopping down from the bed and taking the other witch's hand in her own. "Clawstorm?" The girl asked, sounding almost uncertain.
Clawstorm felt foreign magic flood her body, she consciously forced herself to relax and not fight the onslaught of magic as she felt her form shift and shrink. Clementine would not harm her; she had always taken care with Clawstorm around her far greater magic.
"What the-?" Snow White crossed half the room in alarm when within a few heartbeats an adult witch had been enveloped in soft white light and in her place was a dark-haired child, a mini version of the woman she had spent most of the day with.
"It is you!" Clementine burst into tears as she threw herself into Clawstorm's arms. "Oh I have missed you! It has been so lonely! Everybody I know has grown up and gotten old and I've been left all alone! No one has been treating me the same as they always have, I thought things would get better since brother came home but he hasn't been treating me the same either! I want to age just like everybody else but father and mother say that I can't, that I have to stay special and- I have been so lonely! They said that I'm not allowed to have any more friends! And my brother hasn't been acting like my brother and I hate them! I just want to be normal, I want my friends back and I want them to treat me like they used to!" The blonde witchling sobbed.
"It's your special magic isn't it?" Clawstorm's voice came out a lot younger than it had a few moments ago when she asked. "That's why you haven't been able to age or hang out with me anymore right? Why you had to suddenly disappear one day and why I couldn't find you no matter how hard I looked for you?"
"Yes!" The distressed child wailed. "I don't want to be the fairest of them all anymore! I don't want to become queen or save anyone after the stupid war! I don't want- I don't want you to have to die! Father said that when the troubles came from the evil humans that everyone, even you, will all die or will be proven unworthy by taking up the swords to slay their fellows and friends! That there was nothing to be done to save you and that I had to become queen because I can't age and I'll always be innocent and fair and only the fairest of the fairest of them all can lead people and become queen of everything! But I don't wanna! I don't wanna be queen anymore, I don't wanna have to learn how to sit on a throne and be all-knowing even though father and brother promised to do all the work, I want my friends back! I want my life back to how it used to be when I was still able to grow! And I don't want to replace this other lady who is already the fairest of them all even though mother says that she is so fake looking and that her daughter is such an airhead!"
Clawstorm swore that she could feel the air in one part of the room suck right out into a vacuum of indignant wrath.
"…And what do you think about that? Do you agree with your mom?" Clawstorm carefully asked.
"I dunno, never met the lady or her daughter so I just… I dunno. I always thought that fair maidens were born fair and stayed that way… kind of like how mama-… mother and father say that I'll always be fair and pure for the rest of eternity." Clementine shrugged, sniffling wetly into the other witch's shoulder. From across the room Snow White made a relenting huff though Clawstorm could see out of the corner of her eye that the woman's hackles were still raised. "Mother's been acting weirder and weirder lately, so has father. It's happened once before… I'm not sure how long ago, it's getting harder and harder to tell time apart and my memories keep getting all blurry and my head feels so… heavy it hurts lots sometimes but I remember you I-I'll remember this. I promise I will try my very, very best!"
"Can I try something?" Clawstorm asked. "With my magic? Will you let me try to clear up some of that heaviness?"
"You can try." The blonde sniffed. "But papa- father says that it is the price of being a fair maiden, to experience some hurt before becoming queen, that once I'm crowned that I'll feel lots better and I'll get a happily ever after for all the people to celebrate. He says that my being born this way is a sign from the ancestors and that it is because they like me so much that I have gotten off so lightly since other fair maidens have to deal with really scary stuff in the stories- Ah! Huh? …Clawstorm I feel better already! Thank you!"
"No probl'm." The dark haired witch grunted under the effort of leeching some of the witchling's excess power from her body and into Clawstorm's own body where there was a magical link inside her magical core to her homeland's power. The land was the only place where such immense build up of magic could be dispensed safely, and even so Clawstorm could only siphon off so much before risking damage to herself, despite wanting to save her old friend from this fate. "'M gonna see if I c'n take care 'f th' pain f'r good kay? Hold out a lit'tl longer an' I'll see 'bout that f'r you."
"You'd really do that? For me?" Tears sprung to Clementine's eyes. "Oh Clawstorm thank you so much! Oh it's so nice having my friend back again!"
Oh Clementine my old friend, what have they done to you? Clawstorm wondered as the girl broke contact to hug her again, the older witch suddenly fitting all the puzzle pieces together in her mind around what this whole affair was about and getting as close as she'd ever come to praying that she could perhaps save her friend's life, or what was left of it, while she was in the process of saving everybody else's.