Tally stared wide-eyed down at her, looking like she had seen a ghost. "Are you-are you actually here this time?" Tally slowly backed away from her. "This isn't another one of your tricks?!" Tally turned to Nicte frantically.
She didn't know if she had seen Tally looking so panicked before. The cadet was usually so put together, but Alder couldn't blame her, not with everything she had been through in the past few days.
Another one of Nicte's tricks though? That made her think. So when she had heard Tally pleading with 'the general' to stop, Nicte was playing some kind of mind game with her, just as she had suspected. But what did that wretch have to gain, and what horrible things did she show her? Goddess, she couldn't even imagine.
Nicte shook her head with a chuckle as if Tally had just told a joke. "You haven't forgiven me for that Red? I assure you this is your sweet General," Everything about the way she said that hit Alder the wrong way.
Alder followed Nicte's scanning gaze over her and Tally as she continued, stopping on Alder for far too long. "Anything she says or does is all her, including the lies that will surely flow freely from those pretty lips,"
"Nicte, get away from her," She groaned as she finally gathered herself off the floor of...her office? Now that she was looking around, it was bizarre. It had to be almost, if not exactly, identical. The fireplace was lit, crackling and sending shadows dancing on the walls, the curtains were drawn but still parted enough to let a sliver of moonlight through slicing across the carpeted floor, a soft familiar tune played delicately on the record player, and even her favorite glass was resting half full of aromatic amber whiskey on her desk. There wasn't one thing out of place, but it wasn't right.
When she finished taking in the space around her, she settled her gaze on Nicte and Tally who were both watching her closely, though their expressions were entirely different from each other.
Nicte stood arms crossed, leaning casually against her desk, a stupid, irritating little smirk plastered on her face. Alder wished she could rid her of it. Nicte's dark sinister eyes were silently challenging her.
Tally, on the other hand, was more difficult to read, but her best guess was nervous. The girl was backed up almost flush against the bookshelf, fidgeting with her hands, her eyes shifting between Alder and Nicte.
"Cadet," Tally's eyes snapped to her and stayed there. Goddess, why was she finding this so difficult? "Tally," She corrected. "I need you to…"
Tally shook her head and held up her hands stroking toward her, waving for her to stop before she had the chance to say anything. "Why don't you start by telling me how you are here and why?" Tally's signature impatient need to know everything, even now. In this situation where she was literally being held captive. She still had to be difficult. Goddess.
Nicte snickered, the arrogant sound grated against Alder's ears and she gritted her teeth.
This girl would be the death of her, quite literally. The game was to earn Tally's trust, and it felt like the most insurmountable task as she stood there.
Alder straightened herself out, squared her shoulders, and looked at her intently. "It's complex, and difficult to explain, but Tally," Tally stopped fidgeting with her hands and instead crossed her arms, mirroring Nicte. Not a good sign. "I need to know if you are hurt. Did she hurt you? Can you tell me anything about where you are?"
"I-" Tally was about to respond, but it didn't matter, she didn't get a chance to speak because Nicte cut her off with a scoff, to Alder's unyielding irritation. More than that though, Nicte followed her scoff with a saunter the few steps over to Tally and shocked them both by cupping her cheeks. Tally appeared to jump slightly, and she looked wildly uncomfortable but she didn't squirm.
"Aw, are you hurt Red? Did I hurt you?" The short brunette shot a wicked glance at Alder.
There was no stopping herself from scowling fiercely, and her jaw hurt from clenching too tightly.
"Oh if I did, I promise I didn't mean to, unlike someone," Alder's eyes followed Nicte closely as she stepped around Tally and let her hands remain on the girl's shoulders. "Why don't you answer her questions, Sarah?"
Preoccupied with the concerned look on Tally's face and the fact that Nicte hadn't removed her hands, she almost didn't hear the question. "She's right. Answer me. Uh- respectfully, General," The way she corrected herself and went back to fidgeting with her hands didn't go unnoticed.
So Nicte hadn't won her over yet. "Oh for the love of," Nicte released her and threw up her hands. The first real break in her nonchalance. "She doesn't deserve your respect, Tally. You deserve hers. You are the one deciding her fate, she should act like it," Nicte's eyes glowed with hatred as the fire danced dangerously in her eyes. "That is the answer to her question. Isn't it, Sar-rah?! You know she has the power to destroy you with just a word, that's why you're here, to make sure she doesn't talk,"
This couldn't be worse. With their newly revived connection, Alder could only feel Tally's distrust growing. "Tally, I can explain and I will when you are returned safely to Fort Salem, but right now is not the best moment to do so," She pleaded with Tally, but the girl appeared unphased. "I am only here to help you, Tally Craven, that is all, I want to bring you home safe,"
Nicte waved her off flippantly. "Pshh. How often does General Alder usually concern herself with the well-being of individual soldiers? Never. So why should she believe you give a damn about her?"
Alder didn't give Nicte the satisfaction of responding to her directly, instead, she kept her eyes on Tally. "Tally, you cannot trust her. I don't know what she has told you, but I promise you, it can't possibly be the whole truth,"
"Oh, you promise to explain, you promise that I'm lying, you promise you promise you promise. Your promises mean nothing to those who have no trust or faith in you. You can believe me, that we have neither. I told her everything, I showed her everything," Nicte laughed in such a way that Alder shivered from the overflowing malice in the sound. "But you're right, of course, she shouldn't trust me either, and she doesn't," She glanced around them. "Can't you feel it? Her unease, her confusion, her mistrust, and her apprehension. For me, for you, for the weight of the information she carries. But all feelings were present before I came along, I might add," Nicte finally let Tally go to return to leaning on the desk again, as if suddenly bored. "Deflecting doesn't help her trust you. Why should she expect anything but more lies and more deceit?"
Alder stood her ground. "I've deflected nothing, but by some method, Nicte, you claim to know everything, which means you are well aware of the very lies you are feeding her," Alder narrowed her eyes but forcefully softened her expression when she returned her eyes to Tally. "Tally, I guarantee whatever she told you was not the entire truth," She held out her hand to her but Tally didn't move.
The young witch looked down at the offering but something was stopping her from taking it.
"But at least some of it was true, wasn't it?" Tally's voice was soft but the accusation wasn't absent from her eyes.
"Tally," The general paused and attempted to soften her own voice to match. "Give me anything. Anything at all to help us find you? Collar and Bellwether are devastated by your absence. Help me help them rescue you," Alder responded, stepping tentatively closer to her. She halted immediately when Tally reflexively took a step back in turn.
"Would it be rescuing me if they brought me back to you?" Alder didn't have a response to Tally's quiet yet deafening question. Izadora's warning rang in her ears. ' I cannot fix issues of trust, those will be yours to live with,' She could feel Nicte's smug eyes on her.
"Tally Craven," She tried again to step closer, but this time Tally didn't move. "I don't want to hurt you. There is no need to be afraid of me," Looking at her now, seeing the fear in her eyes, it was true, she never wanted to hurt her again. Forever, til the end of her days, she knew she would regret bringing any harm to her.
"That is rich, coming from you, of all people. Sarah, I know you lie as easily as you breathe, but I still cannot believe you had it in you to look at this poor girl, in her eyes, and say she shouldn't fear you. How else should she feel about you after what you did to her?!" Nicte snarled far more viciously than Alder would have expected. Her former comrade was taking whatever she thought she knew about the incident with Tally, like she, herself had been personally attacked by it.
"General," Tally got her attention again, her voice still soft and the hurt in it was overpowering. "She is right, isn't she? You can't look me in the eyes and tell me that you didn't order the special ops team to torture me," Tally glanced down at her feet but as she brought her eyes back up to meet hers, she felt the stab of guilt rip through her.
Shit. Shit. She would kill to know precisely what Nicte showed her. "I can't deny it and I won't, because I don't know what she told you, but you must trust me, I'm trying to help you so we can bring you home,"
"Are you really, Sarah?" Nicte spoke up again. "Are you not trying to help yourself?"
Tally looked over at Nicte and then back at Alder.
"After all, this one knows soo much about you, bringing her home or killing her are the only ways to...keep things the way they are," Nicte stated, drumming her fingers against the desk. Tally tensed at the second option. "Trouble is that we don't want things to stay the same, do we?"
"She has a point, General, things cannot stay the way that they are now, they can't, not now that I know the truth. Not all secrets can be kept,"
There is only so much she can take of such nonsense and she is fast approaching the end of her rope. Unfortunately. "You don't know what the truth is! She certainly didn't show it to you," Alder knew she had let her frustrations get the better of her.
Tally rolled her eyes. She was going to reprimand her for insubordination when they got back, she was done with this attitude of hers.
"Maybe, but clearly I'm not going to learn it from you, you…uh,"
"I believe the word you are looking for, sweet Tally, is…murderer," Nicte sneered, and Tally looked away at that moment. Alder felt it all around her, suffocating as it was. Tally didn't disagree with Nicte.
How was she supposed to respond to that? From Nicte, it was expected. But knowing Tally thought of her that way, she couldn't stand it. Alder shook her head, with a humorless, disbelieving chuckle. Goddess, what had she done to deserve being put in this situation? "Mhmm. Is that so? Really?" Beside herself, she struggled to come up with a cohesive response.
Nicte clapped her hands. "Well now this truly has been fun, but I think I've allowed this for long enough,"
It was apparently Nicte's turn to be on the receiving end of Tally's glare. "No. I'm not done here,"
"You misunderstand, Red, you are not calling the shots here," Nicte stood and stepped menacingly toward Tally. The girl backed away and Alder took the opportunity to get in between them without a second thought, staring Nicte down.
"Back off, Nicte," Alder hissed.
The shorter woman took an exaggerated breath. "Sarah Sarah Sarah. Did you forget you have no power here? You couldn't protect her even if you wanted to. This might be her head space, but nothing is stopping me from doing what I want with the rest of her, which is safely out of your grasp," She closed her eyes for a moment.
"Shit!" Tally yelped.
Wide-eyed Alder spun around. "What happened?!" Her eyes locked on Tally clutching her left palm, blood dripping onto the carpet.
"See what I mean, Sarah? If I wanted to hurt her, I could. I won't, 'cause she and I are on the same side, but I just might if you try anything at all," Alder looked between Tally's hand and Nicte. "That little cut is nothing compared to what I could do, and I get a distinct feeling that you wouldn't like it if something a little more permanent were to happen,"
Imagining Tally at Nicte's mercy was not something she could entertain and she couldn't stop herself from lunging forward and grabbing Nicte by the throat. "If you hurt her, Nicte, I swear to all that is good on this earth, you will learn what it means to truly suffer,"
"Ooh...Sounds fun...I can't wait," Nicte mocked and smirked, even as Alder tightened her grip.
"Let her go!" Suddenly Tally was prying Alder's hands off the other woman and pushing her away.
"Aw, Red," Nicte coughed from where she had fallen to the floor when Alder released her. "You shouldn't have, how's the hand?" Said with a smirk. Of course, she fixed Tally immediately.
Alder just watched Tally help her up. Her cadet was helping and caring for her mortal enemy. What fresh hell was this? It was one thing to watch Nicte put her hands on Tally, but Tally returning the gesture was making her feel all kinds of things she did not have the capacity to identify at this moment.
"As I said, we're done here, stay out of it or…Red?"
Tally stood beside her, unmoving.
"What's she doing?" Nicte looked at Tally for a moment then turned on her. "Sarah. What did you do?"
The audacity of that woman. "Nothing! I would never. What did you do?!"
"Noth-" Nicte disappeared before she could finish denying it. Vanished. She blinked to make sure Nicte was gone.
Now it was just her and Tally left in the illusion of her office. Though it wasn't her office anymore was it? It was morphing and changing around them. The quiet creaking of the old wooden floors gave way to shouting and the smell of fire. Her skin crawled and her body ached just imagining what horrible wasteland they were going to be thrust into.
Carefully, she crept up to where the girl was still frozen in place. "Tally?" Nothing. No response. "Tally?" She tried again, her concern rising. This was just like when Tally had been tied up the other day. When she had fallen into one of her memories during the fake interrogation. Only this time she was here, she could feel her, kind of, and she now knew where Tally's mind had been whisked off to.
She recognized this place and it was not pretty. They needed to move. Soon the valley they now stood in would be flooded when the dam up the river was blown to pieces by the opposing forces.
Without too much thought, she took Tally by the shoulders and shook her, gently at first but not completely without desperation. It was an interesting feeling, actually touching her, like she crossed a line, yet she didn't completely hate it. "Tally! Look at me!"
Slowly Tally's eyes seemed to find hers, coming back into some kind of focus. "Hmm? General? What - what happened?" Alder released the breath she was holding and felt so relieved that she was almost tempted to hug her. Thankfully her better judgment kicked in and she realized that would be entirely the wrong choice, considering Tally was already squirming to get out of her grip and backing away. "Where are we? Where is she? Where's Nicte?" Tally looked all around until she glared back at Alder with an unforgiving look in her eyes. "What. Did. You. Do?!"
Hands up innocently, she didn't dare move. She knew clearly that Tally was already not her fan at the moment, and arguably she hadn't been for some time now. Nicte's incessant lies were pulling Tally further away, and she knew that she had not done herself any favors in earning Tally's loyalty. Not even just recently. Never.
Granted she hadn't truly had her eyes open enough to care until recently, but still. She should have known better. Maybe she deserved this. No. She, Sarah Alder, did deserve this, yes, but Tally did not. Tally did not. She shook herself out of her thoughts and refocused on Tally, who was still steadily stomping up to her, a scowl on her face. She kinda looked cute. Focus. "Nothing. Tally, I swear, I did not do anything, I did not do this,"
Tally got very close to her. Toe to toe. Inches away. Her breath caught in her throat. She was very close. "That's funny, cause I do not believe you,"
Every time she said it, it stung a little more than the time before and Alder was getting tired of these feelings. She is the General of the United States Army. No part of her should care about one soldier having a problem with her. Except that soldier was now eternally connected to her, and she was still actively trying to save her from her nemesis, so she had to care a little. Yet, it was still frustrating.
She deflated a little. Her usually squared-off shoulders slumped marginally and she let her head fall for a moment as she released her defeated breath. "I know," That was not what she intended to say, but she had nothing better. "I know you don't, Tally, and that is okay,"
She turned away. This was her memory, one she vaguely recognized. There were far too many others that had since occupied her mind that this one often got waylaid. Strolling away from the muddy river bank, up a small hill, away from Tally, she steeled herself for what she was about to see. It wasn't new.
"You're just going to walk away?!" Tally yelled after her. She couldn't answer her, she just shrugged. There was no space for her rigid formality in this place.
After a short moment, the sound of shuffling footsteps approached and she felt Tally's presence beside her. "Ma'am?"
From their position, they could see a whole town spread out before them. Soldiers were running around shouting directions trying to get the civilians out. Tally's formality had not gone unnoticed. "Yes, Tally?"
"I've seen this one before,"
Alder sighed."I'm so sorry,"