Chapter 49: Nothing Earned, Nothing Deserved

"It's arrogant to assume that you deserve to have everything handed to you just because you've worked hard for it."

"You may THINK you're the protagonist of your story. A ruler to end all rulers…the hero fighting injustice…or simply a girl trying to survive daily life."

"But the fact of the matter is, just because the world is seen through YOUR eyes, doesn't make it yours."

"The narrative was decided thusly from the inception of creation: Good will triumph over sinful desires."

"Pride, Lust, Wrath, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, and Sloth…"

"They are merely obstacles to be overcome on the path to personal growth."

"...But what has playing the good girl ever done for you? Left you abandoned by the one you thought loved you most."

"Made you victim to uncertain times, as you were dragged around to and fro like a boat in a stormy sea."

"Seen you humiliated and ridiculed by someone you once called…'friend'."

"Had all your brilliance, radiant as a diamond, stamped upon until it was little more than dust and pebbles by someone you deemed…'smaller'."

"You claw your fingernails at the door to ultimate power and salvation but fail to bar it open because deep, deep down you are tethered to that frail reflection of your past and think you have to honor its memory."

"But the truth is that the past is merely another tool the narrative uses to manipulate perspective."

"To take what's yours…burn away what's come before you."

"If you control the element of certainty, then you control the narrative."

"You control…everything."

"And when you GRASP the totality of existence in your hands you cannot be ignored."

"Yes…yes…even that feeble minded father of yours would be forced to acknowledge who you are…no…WHAT you are."

"...Stop denying your purpose, you miserable, crying child."

"I will give you the smile you've always wanted."

"Accept my gift."

"...And all that your eyes rest upon will be yours."

"..." Erin woke up and immediately threw the sheets off her body while sitting upright.

With her hair a mess and her pajamas slacked off one shoulder, she grumbled a little, wiped her eyes off, and then got out of bed.

She nearly tripped over the sheets in the process and hit her arm against her bookshelf, but after brushing it off she grumbled, "Damn it…"

Then she started to change into her normal attire. One strap top, tattered jeans…and that coat. She stared at her coat and continued wondering why she even needed to wear it still.

Not like the cold bothered her…

…It was because of school regulations. Duh.

But maybe…?

"...Nah." She slowly put the coat on, but didn't zip it up for now.

"Haaa, get some fresh air girls, before society's a bitch once more…" She tucked her hands into her pockets and was just in one of those moods.

Fortunately Alex, the one person who couldn't spoil it, was the first to get to her room, passing by still in his cartoonish pajamas ready to have breakfast.

"O-Oh, you're…already dressed, sis?" Alex said with a mild blush, turning his gaze the other way while rubbing the back of his head, "Uhhh, good morning, by the way."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Erin dragged her feet to the door and bumped him out of the way with her shoulder.

"Sooo uhhh, this is new." Alex commented.

Erin flinched and then turned around glaring at him, "What, you're gonna tell me I can't have my coat open at home?"

Alex barely responded physically and just let off a light shrug, "Not like I'll squeal to mom."

After a short pause Alex raised his hand and commented, "Oh yeah, mom's out at work for the next couple of days so…feel free to raid the fridge for whatever you want for breakfast. I'm…just gonna have some Golden Grahams with some eggs."

He then passed her while trying to avoid looking at her, which irritated her a bit.

"Never mind what I just said…" It seemed her brother chose a really poor time to get on her nerves.

Erin entered the kitchen with a perpetual frown and then after kicking the cupboards for a bit she sighed loudly and hung close to her brother.

After leaning her chest against his back for a bit, he sighed to himself and remarked, "...Alright, what do you want for breakfast?"

"...I dunno, do we have bacon?"

"That's a…uhhhh…no." Alex said.

"Fuuuuuuck, of course not!" Erin groaned, "Ok, what about sausage?"

"Uhhhh…"

"Ok cut it out with the 'Uhhhh's!" She said in mockery of his voice.

"...Could you just…get your chest off me already?" Alex said sheepishly.

Erin pulled it away in a rough gesture, "Hrrrmmm…I can already tell this is going to be another crappy day."

Free to his own devices, Alex started to cook them both eggs while Erin plopped onto the couch and waited to be served.

"Erin, do you want some advice…?"

Erin bluntly turned her head back and growled, "Will it make me FEEL better?"

"...Maybe?" Alex said with brows raised in uncertainty.

"...Stow it." Erin turned the over way and slumped further into her couch.

After a little while, she commented, "...Hey, I had a weird dream last night. It was like someone was trying to talk to me or…some shit like that."

Alex tried to put a positive spin on her remark, "Were they telling you everything is going to be alright?"

Erin did the blunt turn again and said, "That sounds like something they'd feed you in church."

Alex squirmed and hissed through his teeth, "Good grief, you're right…!"

Erin then looked the other way and brushed her hand around, "You think I try to remember my dreams? I just brought it up for…I don't know…SOME reason."

"Erin, I know you don't want to hear this, but can you try to settle down a little bit today?" Alex said, rounding the corner to bring her a plate of the cleanest damn scrambled eggs you'd ever see, "I care a lot about how you're feeling."

Erin snatched the plate out of his hand and gave him a brief look to show her appreciation, then with a quick huff turned and started scarfing down the food.

"M-Maybe if the world stopped kicking me in the back for no damn good reason, I would be in a better mood."

"...Haaaa," Alex sat down beside her in spite of her giving him the glare of death, and after taking a couple bites of his meal he commented, "I wish we could get out of this messy life. But hey…at least we'll always have each other."

Erin looked at him and thought that was really sappy, and sure he was right…

But when she looked at her plate, almost empty, she squeezed the fork in her hand until it started to bend and muttered, "That's not enough…I deserve more…!"

After their meal, they grabbed their things and headed out for school. The roads were clear enough that they got to take Erin's bike straight there.

After winding down the engine in the parking lot, Erin looked at the institution of knowledge and muttered to herself, "...Why do I even need to be here if class isn't until the afternoon?"

"Because you'll get in trouble if you don't?" Responded Alex dryly, still holding onto her from behind.

Erin puffed her chest in frustration and then deployed the bike's kickstand before slowly strolling over to the front doors.

Alex let out a slight yawn and patted his mouth, "You did get your homework done last night, right?"

"You're asking me NOW?" Erin scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Of course I did! This shit's easy."

"Oh good, cause I thought I heard you on your phone most of the night."

Erin elected to ignore that comment. In fact, maybe it was time to just ignore her brother for the rest of the day if he was going to keep acting weird.

He wound up pushing on ahead and saying, "I'm going to head to the library and…maybe get a little nap in before class. If you need me…"

He hung on the end of his sentence with a disappointed look in his eyes, "Haaa…never mind. You have a good day, sis."

Before he opened the doors, Erin gazed off to her left and was frightened by the presence of Serra and her know-it-all brother approaching them.

"Wait…!" Erin blurted through her teeth, but Alex didn't stop, "I said WAIT!"

That time he listened, "Huh?"

She rubbed up next to him and looked over her shoulder, "I need you to distract Serra before she jumps me, cause I am REALLY not in the mood for her bullshit right now."

"...Uhhh, ok?" Alex shrugged, "I GUESS I needed to talk to Leo anyways…"

Alex headed over to them and once Erin could confidently say their attention was grabbed, she darted into the building and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank. FUCK."

Now all she needed to do was avoid going down the same route to class and she would be safe to do whatever she wanted.

…Whatever good that entailed.

It only took a few steps for her to see the students looking at her, which prompted them to whisper.

She glazed over their reactions at first, but upon thinking over it a little more she began to smile, "Oh? I have their attention now, eh?"

This whole start of the year had been very crappy, but it doesn't seem to have put a big enough dent into her reputation all things considered.

She zoned out of all other noises save for anything related to her.

"Did you hear that…?"

"Yeah she…"

"There's no way that…"

"What happened…?"

Once some of the students caught wind of her gazing down at them, they started to get intimidated. But she kept smiling, which probably didn't help the impression she gave off.

A couple of them shivered at the knees and then went to hold their conversation elsewhere.

Erin was perplexed, "Huh? What was that about?"

She kept walking, and people kept either pretending like she wasn't there or started to give her a dismissive glare.

It was starting to make the irritation rear its ugly head again.

So she finally stamped her foot down, looked a trio of students dead in the eyes and growled at them, "Alright, what's the big idea?"

The students clammed up until Erin started tensing her fists and leaning into them with zero patience on her face, "Well? Speak up! You were fine being chatty a minute ago."

One of the students rolled up to the front and though their body was shaking, looked her dead in the eyes and proclaimed, "W-We're not afraid of you…fraud!"

"EX-cuse ME?!" Erin recoiled in utter disbelief.

The other two students shoved their friend out of the way and escaped before Erin could say anymore.

She grit her teeth and mumbled, "Did everyone take a whiff of the funny gas or something this morning? What the HELL?!"

After ruminating on it some she decided to keep walking and see if the answers would reveal themselves in time.

"Fraud? Who the hell uses that lingo in the 2060s?" She tried to slander the use against her by devaluing it as a relic, but really, it was crawling under her skin like a worm to fresh wet dirt.

After a few minutes of eavesdropping and confrontations, she eventually noticed a bulletin board had been posted near the center of the building displaying the class scores for the period.

Even if everything else was shitty, she still had her pride as a top student to fall back on.

So a quick detour over to the billboard let her bask in the glory of her perfect…score…?

It shouldn't have been difficult to find her name at the very, very top of her class, but instead, her throne had been occupied by a pretender: Violet…that punk girl with the garish color palette in her clothes.

"..." Erin closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then flared them back open with a grunt of fury when that damn girl was still at the top.

Then glanced a teeny bit down and saw her name sandwiched between Violet's and her brother's…except her name had been drawn over with the word "Fraud".

She squeezed her fists taut and scowled, "Who the HELL…?! Dared to…?!"

Her face turned beet red and with a short and violent howl of frustration she stampeded straight towards the library and found her brother laying down on a circular couch just about ready to close his eyes.

"Hey!" She blurted and forced him awake.

"Ahh, come on…" He grumbled while rubbing the back of his head.

"Did you see the class statistics posted up on the bulletin board?!" Erin shouted.

"N-No, I didn't even know we-"

"That BITCH shrimp cousin of ours put me in second place! Can you believe it?" Erin turned around and threw her fists down in a huff.

Alex got up and groaned awake, only then registering what she was saying, "Wait, second? But you've been passing all the tests and homework assignments, right?"

"...Right?" Alex approached cautiously, "Erin?"

She turned around and her eyes were steaming red like she was ready to punch someone, "Fuck her. She must have marked down a wrong answer. She WOULD do that, because how dare someone be smarter than her egotistical ass!"

"I mean…" Alex hung his mouth open as Erin glared, thinking he planned to mount a defense for that tiny womanchild.

"..." He closed his eyes and raised his hands, "Just…don't go picking a fight with her. It's going to make things worse."

Erin scoffed, "I could lay out that shrimp in one shove, there's no sense of accomplishment there…No no, I want to find the person who labeled me a fraud!"

Alex spit up in disbelief, "F-Fraud…? That's ridiculous. You worked hard for your smarts sis. Who does that person think they are?"

"Apparently, someone who is hankering for a knuckle sandwich."

"That sounds like a waste of time to me." Spoke another voice.

The siblings faced the table where another male student, with shades of blue hair, was reading a book on Greek history.

"Butt out." Erin spat with brows furrowed.

The guy put the book down and politely remarked, "I mean you're in a library. With all this free air, who wasn't going to hear you, Ms. Dark?"

Alex glared at the guy and gripped his right arm tightly as his body quivered, "Erin, what's up with this guy, and why haven't I seen him before?"

The boy smiled, "We met earlier? Nero? The new transfer?"

When Erin squinted at him he laughed, "I thought I left more of an impression on people. But I'm nothing compared to you."

Erin eased up and folded her arms under her chest, "Oh yeah…you're that guy…"

Alex whispered, "So what, you claim he's harmless? Cause I'm getting goosebumps looking at him."

Erin rolled her eyes, "You've been acting funny all day, Alex. Go see a doctor."

Nero got off the table and approached, "I just think…it's a waste of your talents to go after some meager prankster."

"They seek attention and nothing more. But you deserve it. So the best revenge would be to keep doing your best in class like always and take your spot back."

Erin looked up to think about it before grunting, "Nah that's stupid. I've been standing around letting these assholes kick me in the shins for too long. It's time I set the record straight."

"You're not someone who lets no offense go unpunished. That's good. Well, if that's in your power, then do it." Nero commented suavely.

Erin wagged her finger, "You're damn right. Prankster…prankster…I think I know who's smearing my good name now."

She then looked back at her brother, "See? This is how you give advice."

She then bolted out the library with Alex barely raising his hand to stop her.

He clenched his fist softly and then walked up to Nero feeling genuine anger, "I got my eyes on you."

Nero gestured his hand out and remarked sincerely, "Those eyes strike me as someone who is a good judge of character. I'm just looking out for her best interests."

"You don't even know her. I'm warning you. Back. OFF."

Nero clicked his tongue and wiggled his fingers at him, "Possessive, aren't we? She's a smart girl. She'll pick who's right and who's wrong."

"Spoilers…" Nero leaned in towards him and snickered, "It'll be me."

Alex jerked his body towards him like he was about to attack, and Nero backed away with a wily smile.

Meanwhile, Erin was on the warpath, bothering anyone to help her see either hide or hair of that punk bitch Violet.

It took a few minutes of circling the hallways before she caught the girl's distinct blonde with black-tipped bangs sticking out the corner of her eye.

"HEY!" She shouted, stopping her in place.

Erin rounded the corner and Violet was already stanced up ready to accept her confrontation, holding her phone up to her face with a mocking whistle, "Wooooow, that took you longer than I thought."

Erin batted the phone out of her hand and then jabbed her in the chest, "Got a problem with me, punk?! Huh?! Calling me a 'Fraud'?!"

Violet grabbed her finger and shoved it aside, glaring at her with a dismissively smug demeanor, "How about I start a list?"

"Ghh…!" Erin grabbed her by the shirt and hoisted her up, "Let me make this clear…"

"Nah nah nah!" Violet raised her voice louder, "Lemme make MYSELF clear. You've troubled our teacher long enough with your bitchy attitude and thankless sense of privilege."

Violet then proceeded to slam her knee into Erin's gut and broke free while Erin stumbled over coughing.

"You know why everyone's calling you a 'Fraud'? Cause I spread the word to call you out, so that when you saw you weren't suddenly Queen of the School anymore, you'd come straight after me instead of Lunalei."

"Y-You…knee'd me in the STOMACH!" Erin growled.

Violet hunched down, wagged her hands out, and pretended she was a rough and gruff boxer, "Yeah, gonna do somethin' about it, stupid?"

"GHHH!" Erin charged out of her position and all Violet had to do was roll out of the way and let Erin fall flat on her tits.

"I can take a few hits, I dunno if she could," Violet then scoffed, "Though at this rate, I dunno why I should have to worry about what you can dish out."

Erin pitifully tried to kick Violet off-balance but she hopped back and did a little dance in place while holding her fists up, "Wooooow, is this where an A+ average gets you these days? You've never had to fight before, have you?"

Erin stood up and in a desperate move, tried to throw her coat at her.

Violet weaved to the right, jumped off the lockers, and then threw all her weight into punching Erin across the face and bringing her to the ground.

Erin coughed some more and then slammed her fists on the ground, "Fuck…! OFF!"

She stood right back up again, ignoring that a tooth had been dislodged.

Violet whistled and grinned like a maniac, "Whew…! Oh I am SO sorry princess, I didn't realize you were this frail."

Erin threw a straight punch and put a dent into the locker door when Violet decided she wasn't going to risk taking it.

Violet then tapped her on the arm to make her look her in the eyes before she grabbed her and proceeded to judo throw her onto the floor once again, this time hitting her back so hard she bounced slightly.

"Khhh…!" Erin coughed up a little blood.

Violet hunched down again and stared her straight in the eyes, her tone keeping her overall good-natured attitude despite the scathing content of her words, "Look at you. All those smarts, and your first instinct was to try and jump me with some C-Tier cop procedural intimidation tactics."

"Someone like you should be admired and looked up to? GET REAL. You're just another entitled elite in the making, trying to spoil everyone else's good times, and I'm not going to sit here and let you ruin Lunalei's!"

Erin's eyes flared and she rose so fast even Violet couldn't get away in time. After their foreheads collided, Violet was dazed long enough for Erin to grab her by the arms, slam her against the lockers, and stretch them out so she couldn't punch her way free.

Her eyes were deep red and her expression was crazy. There was no patience to spare, no toleration allowed, "You…and that dumb midget BITCH think you're so much better than me, don't you?!"

Violet pulled her head back and smiled, "Sucks to finally realize that, eh? Cause newsflash, you dumb pair of fat tits, you're NOTHING special."

"Just another swollen ego whose accomplishments will wither and die the moment they leave their gilded cage of high school…"

"Ego ego ego…all of you keep damning me for having confidence in myself…! None of you have any idea of how hard I worked to get the way I am now! And I had to do it all on my own, because my father is a bastard who ran away, and my mother is a damn whore!"

Violet faked a sniffle, "Oh boo hoo, woe is you. My dad's a cop who neglects me for his stupid justice, but do you see me whoring out my circumstances for attention? No! I'm trying to do a good service for myself and for others!"

"You're just stupid. There's really nothing else to say to you. You're stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Dumb. Idiotic. Egotistical. Entitled."

The insults battered against Erin's head and drowned out all other thoughts until all she saw was darkness and the red pulses of hate inside of her mind, "I…I…!"

Erin's eyes flared with crimson as she proclaimed, "I worked too damn hard to have you take everything away from me!"

And for the final nail in the coffin, Violet told her bluntly, "You lost it all on your own, dumbass."

Erin's mind tore away at both sides of herself.

The societal norms she was forced to adhere herself to.

That tether around her legs and neck.

The disappointment she felt, recognizing that this could very well be the end of all her efforts.

That she would fail, and her father would never have any reason to pay attention to her again.

"That's untrue." Whispered the darkness.

"I told you there was a gift…"

"Take it."

"Take everything that belongs to you…"

"Ghhh…!" Erin trembled, as darkness rose around her body.

Violet's hairs started to rise from the back of her neck, and she started to feel nervous without knowing why, "W-What's wrong? Can't handle…the truth?"

"TAKE IT!" Echoed that command over and over again.

Erin stared down all the memories that came before this point, all that happiness she used to have, deciding it was no longer enough to satisfy her hunger.

"SHUT UP!" She screamed, as the tether holding her down snapped, throwing that frail child to the darkness as the door broke into millions of splinters and ravaged her mind with a flood of power.

Her eyes glowed brighter, and Violet's pupils shrank.

She watched as the skies turned deep crimson, with Erin growing in front of her, becoming more imposing, devilish…and intoxicating.

"H-Huh…?" Violet shivered with intense fright as the lockers creaked…no, they looked more like coffins now.

Erin gazed straight at her, her body a darkened silhouette with fanged wings stretching far down both ends of the hall, only her eyes glowing like portals to a sin-filled void.

"...Get in my way again, you little shit, and I will not be so kind next time." Her voice was overpowering, sultry, hypnotic…

Violet was reduced to tears in seconds, even as one blink dispelled the nightmare, and saw her watching as the glow in Erin's eyes faded and her expression shifted to one of utmost confusion.

"W-What the…hell…?" Violet trembled.

Before either of them made another move, a big boot hit Erin in the side of the head and knocked her down. Violet fell to the ground in a crumpled heap and Selina ran up to her side.

"Do not worry, friend, I am here!" She proclaimed.

"S-Selina did you just see that shit?!" Violet said in a high-pitched voice.

"See…what?" Selina tilted her head.

"N-Never mind…" Violet grabbed her by the shoulder for support and scurried off, "L-Lets retreat…!"

Instead of rising in anger, Erin stumbled forward onto her hands and knees and started panting, her heart in a mad rush.

"Ha…ha…" Her smile widened in ecstasy and she let her hands rest on her chest to feel the liberating pulse of power grow within her.

Grow, grow, grow, it continued to get bigger.

"I knew it…! I knew I deserved this…!" She enjoyed this with feverish contentment.

Darkness, and the power of illusions…The only worthwhile things she owed to her parents besides her very existence.

Now…it was hers to command with as she pleased.

Top that off her smarts and talents, and she no longer felt angry at her circumstances.

No, she raised her head like she had been reborn from a wellspring of blood and laughed, "Now…"

"Everything changes…"

Next Time: The Boy Named Alex Dark