Chapter 40
"You took care of me even though I'm not worthy of it."
Before she had much time to ponder what was exactly going on, Sinag was continuing.
"Will you take care of her for me... when I'm gone?"
"Of course, Sinag... The child may not bear my blood, but she is yours and therefore, will be my child."
"Please take care of my Sucy if you haven't heard from me."
"You do not know if you are going to survive, do you?
Sinag turned away. "None of my ancestors who tried to destroy the doll has ever lived. All the spells backfired. Don't worry, about me. You saved me, Bernadette. Twice. Let me do this on my own."
"Courageous actions shouldn't end in tragedy. So I beg you... come back to me."
Sinag smiled sadly, but she stayed strong for her. "Of course I will; I'm just saying I don't know how long it will take, and I don't like the idea of you here alone and unprotected."
"You should at least leave the child to me."
She placed a caring hand on her womb. "This child needs another form of protection that neither of us can provide. She needs to grow up religious or surrounded by those people; we've talked about this, Berna."
"I know," she gulped. Bernadette despised the idea that they possessed neither of the only defense to ward of the Manbavaran evil magic. If she knew this would have happened, she would have gone to the Philippines, unearthed Southeast Asian Magic and study them or even go back to her old faith, the religion she was born in. Yet as Sinag always say, nasa huli ang pagsisisi—regret is in the end.
"But I am afraid. Not just for me, but for the both of you."
"You should be afraid. It's natural to be afraid." Sinag said. "Before I leave, I want you to have something." She reached into her pocket and withdrew a necklace with holy beads and a cross. She handed it to Bernadette, making her take it. The fact that Sinag can hold onto it without repercussions has said a lot about the lack of malignant forces within her. "Whoever you are afraid of. Don't be afraid to use it."
"I am fine. But be careful though. I want to see you, at the very latest."
Sinag nodded firmly in agreement, smiling, and trying to reassure them both. "I think I can handle it."
"Okay. Go get them."
With a wink and another smile, Sinag sprinted off on foot, leaving Bernadette and the two Luna Nova high school girls behind.
As soon as she was gone, it didn't take a minute for Bernadette to return to her composure. As if just a few seconds ago, she hadn't said goodbye to the woman she loved dearly. "I want you to do me a favor, Chariot, Croix."
"Anything," one of the girls said, eagerly, but the redhead looked distraught.
Bernadette grasped the holy relic tighter. She has refused to wear it around her neck. "Sinag will try to destroy the doll, and if she does so unsuccessfully, the rosary won't be able to protect me."
"We can ask help from the Church." Croix yelled, "Or any religion in fact!"
"No, the Church doesn't want me, not after I confessed my sins to the head priest."
"W-what did you do?"
"I had promised Sinag I'll protect her child if she never comes back, but I know I can't fulfill it. So I took some drastic measures. I contacted the witches from France. They will arrive shortly."
"What some sort of shady business are you having with them?" Croix asked.
"I'm going to clone myself, use my other self as bait to the doll so I can fake my own death and live as a different person."
"That's too risky. We don't know for sure if all will go accordingly. What if the doll won't take the bait? What if it will still find you?"
"I don't have an ending yet. No one handed it to me and no one took it from me yet. But if worse comes, then I trust you to take care of the other me."
"Yes, I will. Chariot and I promise." With some anticipation, she looked at Chariot, who was looking at her with a kind of indecipherable emotion. "Won't you, Chariot?"
Chariot nodded hesitantly.
With a gentle smile, Bernadette ruffled both of the girls' hairs. "The witches told me that there's a huge possibility that if we clone myself, it will take years or merely hours for her to grow, whichever route it will go, this clone will be my child. And it will take a while for her to process everything. We have the deep-seated need to interact with our children. It helps us discover who we are."
Taking a quick glance at the horizon, Bernadette scanned her surroundings but found nothing of interest or importance. It was a crisp and clear night, and the rustle of the leaves in one of the trees, unusually loud at this time of night, sounded somewhere in the distance, but it was probably a cat or squirrel or something equally mundane.
"I have to hurry and meet them there," the Cavendish Head muttered as she left them and called for her Chauffeur.
Silence settled in the room. Breathing heavily at the thought of the unknown future, both Chariot and Croix took a half step away from each other, each taking the temporary lapse to catch their breath and regain their composure. After only a few minutes that actually felt like hours, Chariot broke the awkward stillness.
"Croix?" she inquired softly, gathering up her courage to look her in the eye.
"Yeah?"
"I don't want, any of this. The doll is cursed and everyone who is involved will die!"
She blinked before shaking her head quickly in disbelief, still digesting what Chariot had just told her. "But we can't just leave Bernadette! She entrusted us with a mission. We promised her!" Croix's voice was rising, a hint of panic discernible.
Chariot paused, her eyes growing ever wider as more time elapsed. She looked back at Croix, almost on the verge of tears, but her self-control which was once amazing was now shattering.
Croix leaned over and put her hand on Chariot's shoulder to reassure her that everything was under control. "Shh, it'll be alright. Just try and relax."
The redhead recalled the sharp pain in her temples and her lower neck when she was pricked with a needle. "You haven't seen the horror of the doll! You haven't felt its magic on you."
"Chariot..." she started, softening her gaze as to not frighten the girl. "Sinag was very sorry for trying to kill you before, you've seen the genuineness in her eyes. She's changed. She's in love."
"She can't be easily redeemed, Croix. And you're crazy for trusting her so easily!"
Her shaking shoulders indicated she was crying, and Croix stroked her hair, this wasn't the first time she had actually seen the girl show any kind of vulnerability. So she exactly knew what to do and what to say in order to make her feel better.
As Chariot rested in Croix's arms, her sobbing now reduced to a series of hiccups, Croix's brain was frantically trying to work out what had happened. But no matter what scenario Shego was able to propose, the result would always end up the same: Chariot was traumatized.
The concept of not being in control of your own body was something alien to Croix, as she had never been once subjected to the whims of the voodoo doll's magic. She also thought about how frightening it must be to not be in control of one's own body and the thought of dying from an imperceptible pain from an otherworldly force. She cringed mentally and squeezed Chariot in a tighter hug. "All I wanted was to save you. I even vowed to help in any way that I can to destroy it. I'll do anything. Anything I can! Anything to help your healing process."
"The scar's still here, Croix. I'm not going to be easily mended. I need to be far away from the doll as I can be."
"What are you going to do?"
Chariot trailed off, and Croix could sense there was an unasked question still lingering in the younger girl's mind. She let Chariot go, and looked into those confused red eyes. She looked back at her, and Croix could tell she was mentally debating whether to say a particular demand. She opened her mouth before quickly closing it again.
She smiled down at her, urging her on. "It's okay. You can tell me anything."
"We could disappear now. Take new identities. The doll can't find us. Tonight. We can leave a note for the ones we will be leaving behind."
Croix swallowed. This was the statement she was expecting, and this was the statement she was most afraid of answering. Wanting to say no but having to say yes. That's just how life went. She thought about how easy it would be to tell Chariot that they can run away together. It was a tempting thought.
Her teal eyes met Chariot's and found an expectant expression gracing her face; Chariot was waiting for a confirmation.
Croix took a deep breath and chose her words with the utmost care. "Forgive me, Chariot. I do believe that I'd rather stay and fight. You can take a break and be safe."
Her eyebrows stitched together, her red eyes having a sudden flare. "Are you implying that I'm a coward for running away?"
"I said no such things. I said you're taking a break."
Chariot scoffed. "Why do you want to stay? Bernadette and Sinag, they can fend for their own! We've known their secrets. We've kept their secrets. This is enough; this is the best we can do for them!"
Unable to form coherent reasoning, Croix managed to look at her with tired eyes. "I guess this is how we do our separate ways. Take care, Chariot."
"A lot of Diana's friends and acquaintances from school had visited her already. Miss Avery has fully recovered and will be out in no time." Chariot told her. Instantly making Croix's train from memory land come back to the present.
"Perhaps this means we'll be adding her to more of Diana's visitors soon. Everyone who visited Diana had been so sweet." Croix replied, "Especially Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum."
"Croix," Chariot growled. "Miss England and Miss Parker aren't twins."
"Not even half-siblings?"
"We don't know for sure." Chariot let out a chuckle, smiling a bit before it faded entirely. "Akko's still nowhere to be found."
"That one's preoccupied."
"No one can blame her." Chariot said as she grabbed the newest bouquet Chloe sent Diana.
Chloe promised to send a new batch of flowers every week and never once failed. She didn't need to do it but she insisted.
She gave the bouquet a rinse under the sink. Smiling as she heard the exasperated sound of Croix opening the door for another visitor dropping off a get well card and began untangling the flowers from the clear plastic wrap and myriad ribbons. Producing a vase from one of the cabinets, and with an almost practiced ease, began to skillfully arrange the flowers.
Smiling at her finished work, she made her way towards Diana's bed to place the flowers on Diana's nightstand, wondering where exactly Chloe was hoping to end up with all of these gifts.
"In the end, we couldn't even protect them, less their children." Croix mulled over.
"You have saved enough people, Croix. In spite of our best efforts," Chariot replied, giving her the reassuring squeeze.
"A ceasefire isn't permanent. The cycle can continue." Croix gritted her teeth, thinking of the future generations of the Cavendish if Diana were to continue her legacy. "In the end, even if we took separate roads, the outcome is still the same. We failed the promise we gave to Sinag and Bernadette."
"At least they didn't die. That's an upgrade."
"Yeah sure, Sucy won't ever like the fact that she's bound to Di—"
"Could you enjoy being alive for one damn second?" Chariot asked.
"Chariot," Croix finally muttered, prodding at her with tentative fingers. "We failed them. We still failed both Bernadette and Sinag. We managed to keep them alive, but for how long? They won't live at all."
Chariot's eyes connected with hers for a long while, until she looked downwards, head heavy with all sorts of feeling. "I know."
Shame and sorrow battled in equal measure, as well as apprehension and relief. For a second, Croix thought she might actually throw up. But nausea passed, and she opened her eyes again to find that nothing really changes even if time went on. History repeats itself and the old and wise will get to watch it unfold all over again.
They both knew this would happen. They both knew Sucy and Diana were beyond their help. It doesn't stop the pain, though.
"What now?" Croix whispered.
"What now?" Chariot replied, turning away.
Croix stared at the window, the sky spotted with haze and weak sunlight. Minutes stretched and passed. They don't speak. No one came to see Chariot or called for Croix to pull her away and go back to work. She almost wished someone would.
Until Chariot's fingers moved, brushing against Croix's. "I'm sorry about all those years ago. You did nothing but protect me and everyone around you, yet I was being unreasonable."
"No, you're not. You were traumatized. You needed to get away. We have an interesting relationship. We respect each other. There are certain issues we don't agree on, and usually, we end up fighting over them. But, I do care for you ever since."
"I'm glad everything worked out for the both of us, despite everything that has occurred around"
"I'm glad, but honestly…" she pulled her closer. "There was only one person so important that I needed to save. I didn't expect it to do that much damage, Chariot. If you hadn't come out of there all right… I don't know what I would have done." She grabbed Chariot's hand and kissed them softly, right where her injuries were."
"Don't think about that," Chariot said quickly, pushing a curly lockout of Croix's eyes. "You did what you had to do. Now...just look forward."
Croix let out a deep sigh. Everything everyone had feared over their lifetime would have broken a weaker person, but Chariot was as resilient as steel, and as ever, Croix's pride for her verged on awe.
"I wonder what the witches are going to do with the Manbavaran tome. Should they burn it or should we hand it over to Diana?"
"We've decided to hand it over to Miss Cavendish." An old voice said as she knocked on the door. Croix and Chariot gasped at the sight of Luna Nova's Headmistress visiting the poor girl, "If she ever wakes up after five years."
Akko gently held but kept a firm grip at the doll hosting a new soul. She could hear the pitter patter of the little footsteps following her. Salem was a witch's familiar, she was sure with that. But Chloe and Lotte merely raised their brows at her speculation. If she wasn't a familiar, then why the heck was Salem such a convenient pet? Who sent her to Akko as a gift?
The mystery of her cat's origin could wait. For now, she has the biggest problem to worry about.
Akko nodded at the guard positioned outside of the patient's room, then stepped in, staring at the girl lying comatose in the bed.
Diana looked diminished. It wasn't just her exhausted body, or the bandages encasing most of her arms and torso. It was something in her sleeping face, she didn't just look beaten—she looked broken.
Akko stood by helplessly. She had been so focused on trying to find a way to reverse Sucy's curse that she hadn't allowed herself to think about what the adults might tell her about Diana once she got there.
"Akko, you've finally come." The Italian woman began. Her original hair color grew a few inches from the roots. "This is your Headmistress, and local witch doctor, Professor Miranda Holbrook."
"Nice to formally meet you, my dear," Lotte's grandmother extended a hand, and Akko shook it numbly. She took the voodoo doll from Akko's hand and placed Sucy comfortably on the bed beside Diana. "I'm sad to be the bearer of bad news, but the curse Miss Manbavaran placed on Miss Cavendish is irreversible. She is now bound to the new voodoo doll."
Akko grumbled, balling her fists. "How's Diana?"
"Still asleep, and we will monitor her carefully. She's a strong woman."
"Do you want to sit with them?" Detective Inspector Croix said. "I can have someone bring you food."
Akko nodded and collapsed onto the chair next to Diana and Sucy. She curled up next to them, her hand on Diana's chest, feeling her heartbeat under her palm. She listened to her soft breathing, steadier now.
"I take it you weren't able to find anything that can put Miss Manbavaran's soul back to her dead body." Headmistress Holbrook said.
Akko abruptly stood, taking a few staggering steps forward, nostrils flaring and adrenaline coursing through her. "You're supposed to be witches! How are you different to the doctors if magic can't even reverse a spell made by magic!"
"Magic, like actions, is absolute, Miss Kagari. You may not be able to save Sucy Manbavaran or Diana Cavendish, but at least... they are alive."
"Alive?" Akko scoffed. "You must be kidding me!"
"We might wish for a broken teacup to be put back together, but no matter how we wish, it can't. We can try magic; we can try with some adhesive. But the side effects and the long-lasting impression can't be removed or forgotten. They will be forever scarred. This is the best solution we can offer to both of them."
"THEY ARE MORE THAN TEACUPS! TO THINK THAT THEY ARE COMPARABLE TO—"
"Akko, enough!" Chariot yelled. "You've lost your manners."
"This state for the both of them is worse than death! You can't expect them to live like this!"
Chariot put a steadying hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay. Sucy is here with us, Diana is alive." Her guardian pulled her into a hug. "You should be proud of what you did for both of them. At least they are alive."
Akko wrapped her arms around Chariot tighter, tears have swelled out of her eyes. "I can't help but feel I made everything worst! I've made everything worst by caring too much!"
"Had you tried extracting Sucy's blood out of her veins?" Detective Inspector Croix asked.
"Like a juice box indeed," Headmistress Holbrook said. "We've been using all the stocks of Diana's blood type to the point of that I dread we have abandoned the other patients who needed them more. I fear that Sucy's DNA is stuck in her like they transplanted Sucy's bone marrow in Diana, continuing to provide her the cursed DNA."
"What do you propose we do?"
"We can surgically remove it in an exceptionally high-risk procedure. In the rare event that the operation is successful, there still would be side effects. We can't guarantee a hundred percent well-being."
"I don't know or care how you intend to make that happen, but you will do whatever it takes, or I swear to god, I will make your life such a living hell!" Akko bellowed.
"Akko, please, your manners!"
The events had taken their toll on Akko. The bits of paranoia and grief that followed weren't surprising.
"In any case, this procedure may or may not help."
With one last worried looks from the adults, Chariot and Croix exited the classroom. Akko listened to their footfalls fade into the distance. They left her alone with Diana and Sucy for most of the day. Akko felt strangely numb. For nearly half an hour, she simply stayed where she was, studying the breathing movements of the comatose girl and the doll who suddenly floated midair.
"Sucy?" Akko asked.
The doll nodded. Sucy cannot relay her message in the way Akko can hear, but she knew the Filipino girl was able to hear her.
"Forgiveness is such a profound conscious and unconscious state of affairs. You can't actually choose to do it. It simply happens. Does forgiveness happen to you, to any of you—Sucy?"
"I died. I'm between deaths."
Akko swung her body around to see Lotte watching over the scene from outside the door.
"That's what Sucy said," Lotte added, relaying what she heard. "Mostly, the important among the stream of incorrigible words anyway."
Akko refused to linger her stare at the Finnish girl, but she had so many questions to ask. "Why are you here?"
"I know you're mad at me, Akko." She tiptoed carefully inside. "And I know you'll never forgive me. Chloe made it pretty certain she won't forgive me as well, so I understand any ill will you harbor towards me."
"You understand completely?" Akko almost snorted."Do you? Do you really? If you did what prompt you to tell Sucy where we hid Diana? Diana's your friend too! Why on earth would you let that happen?"
"Would you believe me when I'll say I didn't know?"
"Bitch," she snarled.
"I was trying to be on Sucy's good graces. Because you know," she blushed. "I like her."
With one last scalding glare directed at her, Akko said. "You're despicable."
Lotte scratched the nape of her neck. "I'm sorry."
"You say you practice a little bit of South East Asian magic, but why can't you reverse the curses implanted on both of them?"
"Manbavaran is a form of sorcery that is resistant to the ministrations of Western medicine or Western magic. Only a Mananambal can reverse the effects of such sorcery. You see, Akko, the truth is... the magic is lost. What's left are quack doctors whose magic are filtered and watered down. I say I practice, but I only know the lower tiers of magic. I took a quick look at the Manbavaran tome while surrounding myself with white magic, and found that the spell that cursed Sucy is caused by malignant spirits. Diana's curse is easy to reverse, but would you do so and risk Sucy's life?"
"So the cycle will repeat? Sucy will find a way to mislead one of Diana's descendants and change souls? Is there any other way I can save them? Or at least one of them?"
"What happened with Sinag and Bernadette had been preordained. As was with Sucy and Diana. You cannot simply choose one over the other. You can't merely destroy the doll without killing Diana. And you can't just kill Diana for without her, Sucy will have no human to latch onto and destroying Sucy's soul trapped within."
"You're telling me Loa's soul isn't destroyed when they died?"
"Loa was human before, weren't they? I'm certain the soul of whoever Loa used to go to the purgatory if you believed in that."
"This is unfair! All of this is unfair."
"Akko, if you really need a solid opinion, I believe that you should sacrifice them both."
Akko gasped at her.
"For the greater good of themselves and the future unborn children from Diana's lineage," Lotte added quickly. "Sucy and Diana will die either way. It's just a matter of time. There's no resolution to this. There's no resolution. Except for death."
"And where will I be?"
"Moving on isn't just a distraction. It's a rebuke. The point is, don't blame yourself for what happened to them."
"No," Akko shook her head profusely. "I've got everything backward. I am to blame for what happened to her. If we never met, she would still be alive today. Someone I love was annihilated because of me."
THE END
A/N: I'd love to personally thank each and every one of who you stayed till the end. Especially those who were here since the beginning. Thank you too for those who read despite the constant pain and angst. I hope your fates will be kinder to you than the characters of this fic.