Lisa Simpson: Animal Avenger

by Bloody Simpson Chibi

A lot can happen in eight years. People can die. Relationships can wither. What was cruel can become kind-hearted and what was innocent can become the very thing nightmares are made of. This is the story of a girl named Lisa Marie Simpson and her descent into darkness. Rated M. Takes place 8 years after the main timeline. AV by kittiesofcupcakes and used with permission

21. Careless Whisper Part 2

Chapter 21: Careless Whisper (Dance With The Devil Epilogue) Part 2

(Son of a bitch! Not only is FF refusing to fix the Email situation but now my Caps Lock keeps reversing for no reason! Son of a bitch! *sigh* Relax, I'm not going to use that as an excuse to stop writing this chapter until further notice. That's not me. I just needed to let a bit of steam out.

So as I mentioned before, this will be the finale of the first season/arc, not the end of the series itself. In fact, I only intend to take a small break from the story after this to further plan the next arc as well as make a few revisions to what I've written so far. (Why did no one tell me I was spelling Isaac wrong?)

Suffice it to say, this will be a long chapter so grab a snack or something. Maybe even a nice doughnut. Mmmmm...Doughnut!

Well, there's no point in wasting any more time. Let's get on with it already and remember, this is and always has been a horror story above all else...)

Bart lost track of the time he had spent with Jessica on the dance floor. At least, that's what he would think if he ever bothered keeping track of time in the first place. He knew they had been on the dance floor for a while, maybe even an hour or so. But that didn't matter to him. All he cared about was how beautiful Jessica looked as they danced, the way the hem of her dress spun as he twirled her. The look of joy in her eyes every time they met with his. The gentle grip of her hands in his, soft and warm. All thoughts of his parent's constant arguing, his approaching adult hood, and even Jessica's past deeds were miles away from his mind. All he cared about was enjoying this evening with his date and as he happened to look around him, he could see everyone else at the dance was feeling the same.

He and Jessica were surrounded by an sea of dancing teens, black tuxedos and dresses of all colors shimmering under the neon lights like the ripples on a disturbed lake. Sweat peppered all exposed skin, the lights from above glistening on hands, backs, and shoulders. Most of the teens were quiet but among the crowd there was the occasional giggling and howling. Amongst the dancing bodies, Bart happened to spot two couples somewhat keeping to themselves. He quickly recognized them as the twins Sherri and Terri and those two guys he would sometimes talk to, Lewis and Richard. The overhead lights were only reason he was able to make them out at all as all four teens were dressed head to toe in goth attire, the boys wearing tuxes with skull bows. It was like something out of a Halloween party and Bart should know, he crashed quite a few of them in his lifetime.

"Ugh! Can you believe it?" Jessica remarked. "Those freaks should have done everyone a favor and stuck to the graveyard!"

Bart felt a little uncomfortable at the remark. "I'm pretty sure Lewis and Richard are only pretending to be goth for the girls." He was certain he heard them discussing something of that nature a while back.

Jessica gagged. "That's even worse!" She scoffed. "I swear, guys into that stuff have got to have a screw loose somewhere."

"Hey!" While he had never gone through a goth phase himself nor had any attraction to Sherri and Terri, he couldn't help but feel that comment was just a little uncalled for. Deciding it wasn't worth starting a fight over, Bart continued to dance with Jessica and tried to push the sudden return of her venomous tongue out of his mind. He would not be given the chance, however, for before long, they wound up dancing near the snack table where Uter was leaning. The poor boy was looking down at the floor, his eyes saddened and his mouth stained with the remnants of the snacks he had consumed to ease the pain of his loneliness. He happened to look up as Bart and Jessica passed by and quickly pulled his head down again, unable to stand the sight of the happy couples for more than a few seconds. Bart felt his heart go out to the poor boy but Jessica just stifled a chuckle.

"Poor Uter," She said. "Now that the snacks are all gone, he's forced to relive the crushing patheticness that is his life." She scoffed again. "Such as the existence of fat people."

"Hey!" Bart replied. Growing up with Homer Simpson as a father taught Bart, among a whole bunch of other useless crap, that fat people didn't always need food to be jolly. Of course, his father usually had beer and TV when he didn't have food. Regardless, Bart shook his head and begrudgingly continued the dance. A few minutes passed and it seemed as if Jessica's episode of snarkyness had ended. Bart almost let himself relax a little. But as the song that was playing started to come to a close, they happened to pass Nelson. He was leaning against the wall, watching all the teens dancing with a saddened expression on his face much like Uter. Every once and a while, he would glance toward the front doors, clearly waiting for Lisa to come back from where ever the hell she had gone. Bart would have to confront her about that.

"Poor, poor, Nelson," Jessica mockingly cooed. "Stood up by the school bookworm. Can't get more humiliating than that!"

"Alright!" Bart growled as he let go of Jessica's hands. "That's it!"

"Huh?" Jessica asked. "What's the big idea?"

"The big idea is that you're regressing into your better-than-thou attitude and I don't like it!" Bart said. "I thought you learned your lesson about humility!"

"I did!" Jessica refuted. "But that doesn't make anyone here any less lame!"

"What's the deal with you!?" Bart asked. "Why do you feel the need to tear everyone down?"

"I can't help it!" Jessica whined. "I've been at the top ever since high school started! This is all I know!"

"Well newsflash, Princess! You're not the Goddess of High School anymore!"

"I know!"

"Than why are you still acting like you are!?" Bart angrily inquired. "Why are you still pretending you have clearance to disrespect anyone you want?"

"Because it makes me feel better!" Jessica shouted back. You would think the sudden shouting would have turned all eyes toward the arguing couple and indeed a few heads did turn with quizzical expressions on their faces. However, the blaring music, even as it was dying, drowned out the bulk of their shouting and those that did notice quickly wrote it off as a lover's spat and continued with their own dancing.

Bart and Jessica remained silent for a few moments, each processing what the other had said, each breathing heavy as they entertained the possibility that this would be the end of their night together. When the silence was finally broken, it was by Bart and through a single word.

"Why?"

"...Why what?"

"Why do you need to make yourself feel better tonight?" Bart asked. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

"Of course it is!" Jessica answered. "What kind of stupid question is that?"

"Then why are you trying to make yourself feel better by going on Total Bitch Mode toward everyone?" Bart asked.

Jessica opened her mouth and then closed it. She struggled to think of a reply that would get Bart off the trail of her emotional turmoil, rubbing her bare arm as she pondered. Unfortunately for her, Bart was too quick on the draw this time.

It's about what you were talking about with your parents earlier, isn't it?"

Jessica gasped quietly as Bart continued.

"Look Jessica, I really don't want to pry into your personal business. That's just not the kinda guy I am unless it's for a prank. But Lisa told me that sometimes, people need to...well...you know...talk out their feelings to work through them..." He rubbed the back of his reddening head, clearly embarrassed to be talking about something like this. "I don't want to pry, I really don't but...But if there's a chance talking it out somehow can help, then I want to...talk about it...if that's ok?"

"Bart," Jessica felt herself blushing as well, for exactly what, she didn't know. She turned away for a moment, looking out at all the happier couples on the dance floor and this time, not on the look out for people to mock. She turned the other way and faced Nelson again. His gaze was downtrodden and much to her surprise, she felt pity for him. She sighed heavily and turned back to Bart. "Ok, but is it alright is we dance while we talk?"

Bart smiled warmly. "Of course." He held out his hand. "My lady,"

Jessica couldn't help but giggle. "You big dork!" She grabbed his hand and allowed him to lead her to the middle of the dance floor. By now, the previous song and ended and Vampire Heart by HIM was starting. Bart and Jessica eased into the song for a moment before the conversation could start.

"Bart," Jessica began. "Mom and Dad. They didn't want me to go to prom with you."

Now it was Bart's turn to scoff. "Yeah. I could tell that much from the interrogation your old man was giving me."

"So...So they gave me an ultimatum," Jessica continued. "Either I find someone else to go to prom with, my Mom was pretty adamant about one of the Flanders brothers-

Bart blew a raspberry. "Why didn't they just ask you to run a blanket under the sink and take that to prom?" Bart was surprised when Jessica pressed her finger against his lips.

"Let me finish." She said. "The ultimatum was, take someone else to prom, don't go to prom at all, or...

"Or?"

"Or...I spend the summer at Mr. Davy's Bible Camp for Willful Youths." Jessica finished.

Bart uttered a quiet gasp of his own. "You...You're kidding! I mean, you're almost an adult! They can't send you to bible camp against your will!"

"They can if I live under the same roof as them," Jessica said. "That's how it's always been. When I dare to be different than their vision of a perfect little Reverend's daughter, I get sent away. That's how its always been, ever since I was a kid."

"But...But Jessica...this will be your first summer as an adult!"

"And what better way to spend it then learning to be a God-fearing submissive woman?" Jessica said sarcastically. She followed this with a distressed sigh.

"B-But Jessica!" Bart said. "I-If that was the case, than you shouldn't-

"No!" Jessica responded. "Don't even bother saying it! I already made up my mind long before you came up to that door." Her eyes shone with tears and her lips trembled. "If they want to take away my first summer as an adult, try to mold me into someone they want, then fine! Let them!"

"But Jessica! Oof!"

Jessica suddenly pressed her face against Bart's chest, gripping his shoulders tightly with both of her hands. "I don't need a whole summer to myself if I have you for a night!" She cried.

"J-Jessica..."

"You were the only one to give me another chance after I screwed up." She continued. "You knew that I had played you like a fool but you still took me to prom! You still reached out for me." Jessica wept a little. "I...I don't think I'm ready to be an adult yet. I'm scared. But if I can just have this one night, this one moment with you, then I think I can face it." Jessica looked up to Bart, her teary eyes pleading. "Will you give me this one night, Bart?"

Bart was silent for a moment, taken aback by the sudden outpour of emotion from the former Goddess of High School. He grabbed Jessica's hands and pulled them down to her stomach, then he raised a hand a placed it over her right cheek. "Of course I will."

Jessica finally allowed the tears to flow from her eyes as she smiled. "Thank you, Bart." She kissed him right on the lips. Bart's eyes widened as Jessica pulled away and met his gaze, a blush creeping onto both of their faces. "Come on," She whispered. "Let's ignore our problems together."

"R-Right." Bart stammered as he continued to lead Jessica through the rest of the song. With her mind clearer, her movements carried a warmth with them now, her face and body even more beautiful to Bart as she twirled under his arm. As the song entered its dying verse, Jessica pressed herself against Bart's chest once more. He looked down with a smile as he held her close, the both of them swaying gently to the fading rhythm.

"Let's ignore our problem's together huh?" Bart thought as he looked back up at the rest of the dancing teens.

Oh if only it were that easy.

As he watched them dancing, twirling, and laughing together, Jessica's words of fear of adulthood crept into Bart's mind and it dawned on him just how close to the edge everyone was in here. For many of the teens here tonight, this would be the last big night they would enjoy as a teen before graduation thrust them into adulthood and for those younger it was a taste of what to come. They were growing up. He was growing up.

Bart Simpson was growing up. He hardly gave a thought to his future. It had been this way ever since he was a child, another mindset he had inherited from his father. But now, as he looked down at the girl resting against his shoulder who had admitted her fear of adulthood, she realized he felt the exact same way. He wasn't ready to grow up either, for more reasons than their were stars in the sky.

"What kind of crappy job will I have to get? What if I'm never able to do better than Jessica? Will I still be able to keep my title as King of Pranks?" Not wanting to think about it anymore, Bart shook his head and tried to focus on the dance. Adulthood was still not here, even if it was right outside the door. For now, he would take Jessica's advice and focus on this one final night of adolescence. As a new song began to play, however, and Bart and Jessica moved through the crowd, he spotted Nelson once again, the former bully still standing against the wall, his eyes glued to the floor.

"Poor guy," Bart thought, surprised to find himself gritting his teeth in anger as he thought to his sister. Dammit Lis! Whatever you're doing, you better wrap it up and fast!"

---

The wind howled through Springfield Park, blowing through both Lisa and Clementine's dresses. Neither girl seemed to take notice, even as the invasive winds chilled their exposed skin. Both of them were much too preoccupied with the even fiercer storm that was in their minds. Within Lisa's mind, The Beast waited like a animal on the hunt, ready to pounce. As the wind died down, it was Lisa who broke the silence.

"W-What are you talking about?" She asked. "The-The Animal Avenger?" She offered a forced, nervous chuckle. "What makes you think-

"Lisa," Clementine interrupted with a slightly strict voice. "Let's cut the bullshit okay? We both know I'm the one who left you the message in your locker."

Lisa's mouth fell agape. Had Clementine really just said that? Inside her head, the Beast offered no pity, only confirmation.

"Quit playing around, partner." She said. "Closing your eyes and wishing for it to go away won't make it any less true."

Lisa stifled a sob as she realized the both of them were right. "H-How long have you known?"

"I got my hunch on that day at the cafeteria, you know, when we were discussing that video that you uploaded after killing Tobias. Remember?"

"I remember that day," Lisa confirmed. "We were discussing whether or not the Animal Aveng-...err...whether or not I was in the wrong for killing those people and you compared them to parasites that weren't needed."

"Yeah," Clementine confirmed with a smile as if she was relishing in a sweet memory. "I remember the look on your face when I brought that up. There was guilt behind those eyes. Worry too. Of course, that could have simply been you being afraid to show support for the Animal Avenger so I couldn't exactly take that look to the bank." Clementine closed her eyes and rubbed her chin as she said this, as if really contemplating the situation the way a detective would. Then, she opened her eyes with a huge grin. "That is, of course, until the day after the next when I caught you in the library."

"The library?" Lisa repeated quizzically, what are you talking about? I never-

Then she gasped as she recalled the movement near the bookshelf. The movement she saw after Janey had left. "No way...y...you were there.."

Clementine nodded. "It was luck really. I happened to be in there before you even came in. I overheard everything, including your conversation with your little friend."

"Oh God!" Lisa felt her soul leaving her body and didn't bother fighting to put it back in. She wasn't sure if Clementine was talking about her talk with Nelson or the Beast, either possibility was mortifying beyond all words. Part of her hoped Clementine intended to kill her once she was through. She would have welcomed it.

"Oh don't be embarrassed!" Clementine hand waved. "I'm not judging you. Trust me, I'm the last person on Earth qualified to do that." Clementine sighed after saying this, looking to the ground with a saddened expression on her face. Before Lisa could ask what was wrong, Clementine snapped back up, her smile wider than ever. There was a crazed look in her eye and Lisa couldn't help but feel just a bit unnerved. Inside her, she could even feel the Beast tense up with caution. "But the real proof, the real clincher, is this." Clementine reached into her dress and pulled out her phone. She messed with it for a few seconds and showed the screen to Lisa. On it was a video of Lisa leading the rattlesnakes gathered for Richard Texan's roundup to the nearby woods, her shoulder still bleeding from the bullet that grazed it and her face still covered in her fox mask.

"Oh my God!" Lisa gasped. "Y-You were recording the entire thing!?"

"Not everything," Clementine admitted. "Things got a little too hectic after Richard Texan's little fall so I wasn't able to film much." Clementine turned off the video and pulled her phone to the side. "But I think it would be enough to at least lead the police in the right direction, wouldn't you?"

The Beast growled. "This little bitch thinks she can toy with us like this! What are you waiting for, Lisa! Kill her already!"

Lisa didn't respond, not even mentally. If she had, she most likely would have brought up how she didn't have any weapons with her. Not only that, but as Clementine was turning off the phone, she noticed something stabbed through her dress over her left hip.

It was a dagger.

Lisa gulped as she realized just how unmatched she was in this situation. Sure, she was certain to have the upper hand when it came to direct combat, thus there was a chance she might be able to take the dagger away from Clementine before too long. But then, what if she was wrong? What if Clementine had a black belt she had kept hidden from her so called friend or what if someone else was waiting in the bushes to snipe Lisa when the time was right? What if Clementine had already contacted the police with the information she had?

"No!" She thought. "I have to calm down. I have to think rationally." Lisa took a deep breath and shifted her gaze from left to right. "No one else is in the park besides me and Clementine, that much is certain. And somehow, even with the evidence she had against me, I just don't think getting me arrested is Clementine's endgame here. But then, what is it? What's her plan?"

Without much choice and against the Beast's furious will, Lisa submitted to Clementine. "Alright, Clementine. You win. Just tell me what you want." Against her better judgement, she stepped closer. "But I want to know why! Did I take someone from you? Is this about revenge?" Another step closer. "Look Clementine, I want to resolve this issue as peacefully as possible so just tell me what you want. You win, okay?" A million thoughts passed through Lisa's mind as she pondered just what was in store for her. Was she to be killed? Was she to be arrested? She gulped as she stepped even closer.

Clementine didn't answer at first. Once Lisa got too close, she quickly ripped the dagger away from the pocket she had made in her dress and pointed it at Lisa, this was enough to get the Animal Avenger to step back. "Whoa! Okay!" Lisa giggled nervously. "Take it easy, Clementine. No need to do anything crazy."

"Tsk! Look at you! Begging for mercy from a nobody! You're pathetic!"

"Shut up!" Lisa growled beneath her breath as she took another step back. She sighed and continued. "Look Clementine, we can talk this out. No one needs to get hurt."

To Lisa's surprise, Clementine's expression changed to genuine hurt. "Hurt? You really think I would willfully hurt you?" Clementine said as she looked over her dagger. "Lisa, I'm hurt that you would even think that. After all," She slowly looked up from her dagger, a predatory, almost seductive look in her eyes. "Why would I want to hurt the one I love?"

"Love!?" Lisa felt herself blush which only served to make her feel less in control of the situation. "Y-You still love me? I-I mean...you love me...even knowing that I'm the Animal Avenger?"

"Oh Lisa. You silly, silly girl," Clementine whispered. "I love you because you're the Animal Avenger." She turned her phone on again, this time switch to an older video in her saved library, the video of Lisa stomping Tobias to death. She played it on full volume, allowing Lisa to understand what she was watching even as the screen was turned away from her. "From the moment I first heard about you, I was intrigued but when you uploaded this video," She bit into her bottom lip a little, a blush creeping on her face. "I was in love."

"Clementine?" Lisa asked, feeling just a bit unnerved at her friend's reaction to the video "Are you alright?"

"Lisa," The Beast spoke in a surprisingly calm voice. "I know you don't want to hear this but I think we both know what's going on with your little girlfriend."

"W-What are you talking about?" Lisa said.

"Are you blind? Do you not see the way she's drooling over Tobias's demise? The orgasmic look in her eyes? It's obvious that-

" Shut up!" Lisa muttered as she gripped her head. "Just please shut up!" Lisa squeezed her skull, trying her damndest not to let the cold logic of what the Beast had just said fully sink in. But it was too late. It had already sunk and Lisa felt a cold shiver of revulsion spread throughout her body. "C-Clementine...do you..."

Clementine looked up from the phone, her blush deepening. "There's no need to finish that sentence. We both know the answer. We both know what I am.'

A second wave of revulsion shook Lisa to the core and she found herself stepping back. Clementine seemed to notice this and her saddened expression returned. "Are you disgusted? Do you hate me now?"

"W-What!? N-No I d-don't!" Lisa defended, even as she realized she was partly lying. "I just...I...I don't know how to process that information, alright? I-It's not every day people...let you see that side of themselves." Gulping, Lisa took reclaimed a step forward, wanting to show as little fear and disgust as she could. "Have you ever...you know..."

Clementine chuckled softly as she shook her head. "You can relax Lisa, I've seen countless videos with all sorts of different animals but I've only ever practiced on insects. Every one expects you to step on those, don't they?"

"I...I..."

"Why are we listening to this bullshit?" The Beast asked, a hint of excitement all too apparent in her voice. "Even insects are still animals to you right? You said it yourself, you'll only kill someone if they hurt animals for no good reason, right? Well, I don't know about you but I'd say killing them to feed some fucked-up desire is grounds for slaughter!"

"Shut up!" Lisa shouted, causing Clementine to jump a little. Lisa realized what she had just done and could helplessly look Clementine in the eyes as her mind raced for a sane explanation for her sudden outburst. "Clementine...I...

"You don't need to explain yourself Lisa," Clementine said. "I get it. I understand what its like to be sick in the head. I've been sick all my life." Now it was Clementine who stepped closer. "That's why I chased Janey off for you when she started sniffing too close. That's why I asked you to prom that day. That's why I asked you to come here tonight! I love you Lisa! I love you! I love you!"

As Clementine stepped forward, Lisa stepped back, over and over until both girls were on the edge of the street light. Within her head, The Beast continued to bray for Clementine's blood, demanding that Lisa rip the dagger from the crazed girl's hands and stick it in her throat. But Lisa ignored The Beast. Both out of fear and because, despite what she learned of her friend tonight, despite risking the end of life as she knew it if not life itself, Lisa could not bring herself to attack Clementine.

"I love you! I love you! I love you!" Clementine was in Lisa's face at that point, the bridges of the two girl's noses rubbing against each other. A single bead of sweat fell from Clementine's forehead and dripped onto Lisa's cheek. The dark-skinned girl stared deeply into the eyes of her starfish-haired desire and the moment, for both the girls, seemed to last forever. Then, Clementine's eyes sparkled with tears which dripped down her face. "But you don't love me." She whispered in a mournful voice.

"Clementine...You don't...

"Don't try to spare my feelings, Lisa." Clementine said. "You might have some affection for me. That kiss we shared proved it. But even now, as I look into your eyes, I can see fear and resentment." Clementine backed off a little and sighed. "I don't know what it is and I'm not going to pry but there's something about me that bothers you, maybe brings back bad memories."

"Clementine..." Lisa said, completely dumbstruck that her admirer could mentally dissect her so easily. She felt gutted, invaded, naked. Isaac's face and voice appeared in her mind but she was too shocked to even try to fight it off.

"I love you so much," Clementine choked up. "But I see that damned look in your eyes every time we speak, no matter what. I know its the reason you chose Nelson over me. I know you and I will never be together." She raised up the dagger to her chest as if getting ready to strike. "That's why-

"Clementine! No!" Lisa dashed toward the crying girl. She was scared out of her mind, the first time she had felt this way since the Rattlesnake Roundup. She had to fight through this fear. She had to act hard and fast. She could worry about the evidence afterward. Right now, she need to protect her own life. And so she dashed toward Clementine, faster than anyone in her family, hell, hardly anyone in her school could move in a second. Yes, Lisa moved fast.

But Clementine was faster.

Lisa gasped as she felt pressure in her stomach. Clementine had shoved the dagger into abdomen, right above the navel. Instinctively, Lisa grabbed Clementine's hands tightly but it was too late. She could feel the object pressing against her. She stopped moving almost as soon as she had started, only inches away from Clementine's crying face. "It's over." She thought. "This is how I die. Killed in the middle of the park on prom night. And you know what? Maybe I deserve it. Maybe this is just Karma's way of finally catching up with me. It was a good run. I just hope everyone understands why I did what I did. Good-bye." With that last dark thought, Lisa closed her eyes and waited for the pain, the blood and finally, the black.

But none of these things came.

Lisa opened her eyes and saw Clementine's crying face. She felt no blood running down her stomach. No agony inside of her. Only pressure. Looking down and sliding her hands further along Clementine's wrist, she saw that while she had been hit with the dagger, it was only the handle digging into her stomach. The blade was pointed toward Clementine who slid her hand out of Lisa's loosened grip while leaving the dagger in her palms. She slid her hands over Lisa's and closed them over the dagger's handle while pointing the blade upwards. "I know we can never be together, Lisa. But I love you." She stared right into Lisa's eyes as she spoke her next words.

"I love you. And that's why I want you to kill me."

Lisa froze completely. At that moment, as the wind blew through her, she couldn't even be sure if she was still breathing. The street light still cast its light over her but she couldn't feel its warmth. The crickets living within the grass still chirped but Lisa couldn't hear their songs. All she could hear was Clementine's words echoing in her head over and over again, stinging her heart and ripping into soul with each repeat. Her mouth had gone dry and the dagger felt like a heavy rock in her hand. Even the Beast, who just a minute ago was calling out for Lisa to dismember the girl in front of her was silent.

Silent but grinning.

"W...What did you just say?" Lisa finally choked out, a small, fragile part of her praying to Buddha, God, and whatever deity would listen that she had somehow misheard Clementine.

Her hopes died as they were born.

"I said I want you to kill me." Clementine repeated without hesitation, her gaze completely locked with Lisa's. "I want you to do with me what you do what you did to all those other parasites. You can use the dagger or..." Clementine blushed. "You could kill me like you did Tobias."

Lisa choked up. W-Wait, Wait! Hold on a minute, Clementine! Do you have any idea what you're saying?"

"Of course I do, Lisa!" Clementine suddenly shouted. "Do you think I would ask such a thing for shits and giggles?"

"Dammit, Clementine!" Lisa shouted back. "Will you just think about this for a moment?"

"What's there to think about?" Clementine asked. "Believe me, I've thought about this. I've thought about this for a good long time!"

"A..Are you fucking kidding me!?" Lisa screamed. "Y-You're really going to throw your life away just because of a broken heart?"

"There's more to it!" Clementine growled through clenched teeth as she grabbed her head in frustration. "Besides, you're the Animal Avenger, aren't you? I already told you about the bug stomping didn't I?"

"I'm not going to kill you over a couple of bugs, Clementine!" Lisa said. "Regardless of the reason!"

"Quit being so stubborn!" Clementine screamed. "Right now its bugs but who knows where it'll go?" Clementine grinned, a wide and forceful grin of insanity. "Maybe it'll be mice, or newborn kittens or maybe even a fucking guinea pig!" Her eye twitched as she said this.

"How do you know it'll come to that?"

"I just do!"

"Bullshit! You can't just make such a awful assumption about yourself!"

"Of course I can!"

"How!? How could you possible guess something like that?"

"Because it already happened!" Clementine screamed loud enough to produce and echo. However, both girls would be the only one to ever hear it as it danced on the air and faded into nothingness. Lisa once again found herself dumbstruck, rage and sadness flowing through her like plasma in a lava lamp. Clementine, on the other hand, lost what little control of her tears she had and began to cry softy, covering her face and turning away. "I...I lied, ok?"

"Clementine," Lisa said once she had rediscovered her words. "What are you talking about? No more bullshit. Just say it."

"W...*sniff*...When I was a little girl, around 7 or 8, my parents got me a guinea pig." Clementine said. "I named him Soot because that was the color of his fur." Clementine wiped her tears and turned back to Lisa, although she still sniffled. "I love Soot. He was my best friend. My only friend. I played with him all the time. I fed him and housed him and...and I did everything a pet owner should do. I loved Soot. There wasn't single fiber of me that hated him...and yet...

"And yet?" Lisa repeated.

"I...You know Lisa, the thing about...desires like mine...they're born our of things we experience in our childhood. Most people don't like to think about that because childhood is supposed to be innocent and all that but it's a simple fact of life. Of course, it's never like that when you're actually a kid. When you're a kid, it really is for an innocent reason, like you think it's cool or because you think it's funny or...you just like how it sounds."

"Sounds?"

"I don't really know when it started, maybe when I was five but ever since I was little, I enjoyed the sound insects made when I crushed them. It was satisfying, like the crunch of a potato chip. At first, it was just the hard-shelled ones like beetles and snails, just bugs that would give me that satisfying crunch. But then, I started moving to softer bugs like caterpillars or grubs. There was no crunch but there was the squish and the smell of the liquid that came out. I...I just found it relaxing."

"Oh God," Lisa whispered as she could very well predict were this story was going.

"One day, I was playing with Soot in my room, just letting him walk around and sniff the air. I don't know where it came from but as I was watching him scuttle around, a thought occurred to me. I...I'd only squished insects so far. What...What would crushing something other than that feel like."

"Clementine, please!" Lisa pleaded in a nauseated voice. This was the first time in years that the thought of gore made her sick. "J-Just skip over that part!"

Clementine seemed taken aback again but quickly fixed her face in understanding. "Sorry. I get a little carried away when wandering down Memory Lane." Clementine sniffed again. "Anyway, it was over before I really realized what I did. I got my answer and the sound Soot made when I did it alerted my parents. They burst inside to see me standing there, a...a mess beneath my foot. I don't know what expression I had at that time but it must have scared the living shit out of my Mom because she started screaming and crying into my face." Clementine sighed heavily as she rubbed her arm. "I went away for a while after that. Saw a couple of psychologist who all came to the same conclusions. I was sick in the head and had to be watched carefully."

"W-What did you do next?" Lisa asked.

"I-I was just a kid," Clementine whined. "I know that's no excuse and I hated myself for what I did to Soot. But I was more afraid of the doctors. What they were saying. How they were talking like this was going to be problem for the rest of my life." Clementine let out a humorless chuckle. "It's funny just how many things in this world are incurable. Makes you wonder just why the fuck we even have doctors in the first place!" Clementine took a deep breath. "I...I tried to fake getting better. I told them what they wanted to hear so I could go home. So I could pretend that it never happened and that I was a normal unsick little girl."

"Did...Did it work?"

Clementine nodded. "At least, the first part did. They sent me home and my family was just as eager to sweep the whole incident under the rug as I was so no one brought it up. I was able to pretend for a few years that it had all been a bad dream and that Soot had died of natural causes. But then I grew up, I entered my teen years and that innocent childhood thing became something...depraved. I realized what I had done and I didn't want to. I was afraid of who I was. What I was but I couldn't help it. The feeling...it was just too strong."

"Did you hurt any other mammals?" Lisa asked.

Clementine shook her head. "No, I only stuck with insects since then. I swear to you! Soot was the only one." Clementine wept quietly into her hands. "Lisa, I'm sick! I'm sick and I don't know how worse it'll get. I'm scared!"

"Clementine," Lisa walked up to the weeping girl and placed and arm on her shoulder. "You don't have to be scared. Help is much better than it was back then. If you would just-

"No!" Clementine pulled away from Lisa. "I can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Are you kidding me? If anything, help is worse then it was before! Its all about money, money, money! They won't want to help me, Lisa! They'll want to drag it out! They'll want to dope me up on useless placebos and when I step out of line, they'll expose my dirty little secret to the whole world!" Clementine panted heavily after her rant, gripping her knees as sweat peppered her dark skin. "I...I just can't live like that, Lisa." She started to cry again. "I'm just not strong enough."

Lisa felt a familiar sensation in her body, like a airy coldness that only belonged to the dead. Her palms were sweaty and the dagger felt as if it would slip out of her grasp at any moment. The Beast remained silent but Lisa could still feel her watching and waiting for her partner's next move. "Clementine's serious about this." She thought. "She'd really rather die than let people know..." Slowly, she looked down at the dagger in her hand. "Why?" Lisa asked as she looked back up at Clementine. "Why me?"

"I already told you Lisa," Clementine said. "Because I love you. Because you're the only person I met who can truly understand what I've been going through all this time. You know what its like to be haunted by monstrous desires that no one else would even try to sympathize with."

"Wait!" Lisa shouted. "I don't have a-

"I know." Clementine interrupted. "I know our reasons aren't the same. Yours are far more noble. More useful to the whole world. You...You're a beautiful monster, Lisa but me, I'm just a parasite that's better off dead. And if I am to die, I'd want to die by the hand of the one I love."

Lisa teared up and she shook her head. "Clementine, please! We don't have to do this! We can talk it out!"

"Would be willing to talk it out after I've sent this video to the police!?" Clementine lifted her phone back up, its screen once again showing Lisa in her mask. "One push, Lisa! One little push of a button is all it will take and both our lives will be over! Do you understand, Lisa Simpson! Do you understand!?" Clementine practically snarled her last sentence, her eyes betraying a ferocity that rivaled even Lisa's. In another life, she could have been a dangerous predator like Lisa, a worthy adversary, partner, mate.

But she had already made up her mind. And in doing so, she had trapped Lisa in a situation far worse then even the most vile of animal abuser have put her through. The feeling of coldness within Lisa spread and she fully understood what was happening. Inside her mind, the Beast chuckled darkly, knowing what had to come next. "Clementine, you're...you're not giving me a choice here, are you?"

"No," Clementine answered. "I made up my mind a long time ago. If I'm gonna be honest, even if you had chosen me over Nelson, I would have pulled this further down the line and that would have only been because I didn't want to fuck up your prom. But you picked him and fucked everything up so I have to do it this way. Either you kill me, claim me as another one of your victims or I end your spree here and now and offing myself afterword! You decide, Lisa!"

Even as she threatened Lisa, however, even as she glared at her with the same predatory hate that so many of Lisa's victims had seen as they died, the tears sliding down her cheeks betrayed her utter brokenness, exposing the truly wounded little girl inside of Clementine who missed her beloved pet and was terrified of the monster in her mind. This only became more apparent when Clementine fell to her knees, defeated by her tears.

Lisa felt the coldness engulf her soul as she piece every last part of the puzzle. Clementine. Isaac. It all made sense now and the sound of the Beast's laughter told her that masked bitch knew it all along.

"I...I'm sorry!" Clementine wept as she wiped her tears. "I know what I'm asking for is completely selfish. But I can't stand it anymore. And I can't face the look on my parent's faces from that day. If they say I have to live like this, then I'd rather be dead!"

"Clementine...are you sure about this?" Lisa asked in a almost emotionless voice, a cold sense of Deja Vu tainting her soul. "Are you sure there's no other way?"

Clementine stifled a sob as she shook her head.

Lisa watched as the girl that had wormed her way into her life cried on the ground. The crickets seemed to have gone quiet and the wind was nowhere to be found. Silence had completely dominated the park, leaving behind only Clementine's crying and Lisa opening her mouth to speak. "Alright. I'll do it."

Clementine didn't atomically stop her crying of course, that would have been impossible with how far into her weeping she was. However, she did look up at Lisa, the smallest glint of hope in her teary eyes. "Y-You will?"

Lisa nodded. "You're right, Clementine. This way of life, these poisonous fantasies. It's not for everyone. And let's face it, it would be hard to find a shrink who genuinely cared for you." Lisa stepped forward, clinching the dagger tightly. "I know you may not believe this, Clementine but I really do love you and I don't want to see you suffer. So I'll do it. I'll kill you." She raised the dagger up as if she was going to stab Clementine. "But first, can I ask one final favor from you?"

Clementine was shocked. After everything she just put Lisa through, she was asking her a favor? "Uhh...sure...W-What is it? I'll do anything!"

Slowly, Lisa lowered the hand holding the dagger and offered her empty one to Clementine. "May I have this dance?"

Clementine gasped, completely caught off-guard by Lisa's offer. "Y-You mean it?"

Lisa nodded, the faint hint of a smile on her body. "You dragged me away from prom for this. It's the least you can do."

Clementine couldn't help but giggle and with one final sniff, she wiped her face free of tears. She took Lisa's hand and allowed the Animal Avenger to lift her from the ground. Once she was back on her feet, she took a moment to wipe the grass and dirt away from her dress. As she finished dusting herself off, she looked up at the Moon, hanging over them like a giant disco ball, the stars acting as the spots of light decorating the ceiling. Clementine took in the night air, one of the last times she would do so on this Earth and smiled with contentment, know she could not ask for any better circumstances in which to end her life. She matched her gaze with Lisa's once again and performed a curtsy. Lisa returned the favor and with the thumb wrapped around the dagger, took Clementine's other hand and led her into a dance.

There was no music other than the howling of the wind but that didn't matter to either of the girls as they danced beneath the moonlight. The sweat on their bodies cooled against their skin, sending chills with only served to surge their excitement. Lisa took charge the entire time, lifting her arm and twirling her partner with no complaint or resistance. After they had done that, Clementine would press her cheek against the top of Lisa's chest. Even in the grasp of the emotion-stunting cold of her past, Lisa could not help but blush as her bare skin contacted Clementine's She would looked down at the girl pressed against her, seeing her content face still dripping with tears and wince as she knew what was to come. What had to come. And the cold of her soul would snuff out that bit of emotion and the blush would fade in preparation. It was a reflex akin to a great white shark rolling its eyes back before attacking, a defensive maneuver for her psyche.

"It...It needs to be this way, doesn't it?" She thought. "There's no helping Clementine at this point and despite everything, I don't want to see her suffer. Somewhere in my soul, I do love Clementine back, just like I loved Isaac." Lisa shivered as the inner cold within her grew. "That's right, I remember now, this coldness, this empty feeling in me. It's just like that day with Isaac in the woods..."

Lisa offered no resistance as her memories swept her off to that dreadful day.

---

It was the smell of the air that Lisa first experienced when she came too. Actually, it was more like she had been stunned for a moment. She definitely recalled being dragged along the ground and propped up against something before her hands were bound. She had "awoke" to the scent of rain and decay. Suddenly, she felt a single ice-cold droplet of water fall in her nose. Then another. And then another. It was drizzling and the chances that the downpour would only increase were high. Slowly, Lisa began to open her eyes, having the shut them briefly when a raindrop fell into the right one. She blinked the excess water out and looked out ahead of her.

Standing there, holding the deceased Snowball II by the broken neck and a rock in the other, was a gleefully smiling Isaac. "Wake up, Sleepyhead." He cooed.

Lisa's eye widened as she spotted her dead cat and everything came back to her. With a panicked sob she tried to run only to find herself stuck in place. She looked down to see that two stretches of rope were binding her against a large tree. A quick check overhead confirmed it was that same great oak Lisa had found Snowball II. Now that she was directly underneath the tree, Lisa could see dozens of cats, small dogs and other animals stuck within the branches. Some were hanging and others were simply laying on the branches but they were all dead with rope around their necks and giant cuts on their stomachs.

Just like Snowball.

Lisa whimpered as she forced herself to meet Isaac's gaze. "Isaac...Why?"

"Why?" Isaac repeated. "Why what, my dear?"

"Why...Why did you kill Snowball?" Lisa felt hot tears leak from her eyes as she asked this.

Isaac gave her a quizzical look before bringing the cat's body up. "You mean this mangey thing?" He asked as he pointed at it. "Well that's easy. Because it tried to embarrass me in front of you. That's why." Isaac chuckled darkly for a second before his face suddenly grew stern and he tossed the dead cat away. "No one makes me look like a fool and gets away with it. Those are the rules."

"R-Rules?" Lisa asked with a sniffle. "What rules?"

"My rules, of course!" Isaac said as he started to approach Lisa. "You see, Lisa. There are certain rules that everything must abide by. One of them is to never try to make me look stupid. Of course, not everyone has gotten the memo yet, you know? There's still so many animals and people that just won't listen to me. That keep trying to make me look stupid." He sighed. "I'm just not strong enough to inflict my will on them but I'm getting there. I already punished every animal that didn't show me respect as you can see." Isaac gestured toward the oak he had tied Lisa too. "It was easy enough setting a trap for them, just grabbed a cage from my Father's garage, put in some food and voila! The real tricky part was seeing if they obeyed me, let me pet them. Some did and I let those go. But these guys, these guys chose to resist, chose to bite or scratch and hiss rather then obey." Isaac chuckled to himself. "They paid the price."

"P-Paid the price? For not obeying you? What are you talking about?" Lisa asked. "Where's all this coming from?"

"What do you mean? I just explained to you that they refused to obey me and paid the price. What's so hard to understand?"

"Isaac, stop and listen to yourself!" Lisa shouted. "They way you're talking, it's like-

And then it hit Lisa. Even through her fear and sorrow, the back of her mind had been working to analyze the situation as well as the troubling things Isaac was saying. He was insane, that much was clear. But as Lisa, carefully considered his words, it dawned on Lisa that her boyfriend (Most definitely ex-boyfriend once this was all over.) suffered from a very specific kind of madness. One that until this moment, she had only read about in psychology books.

Solipsism Disorder. The belief that only the sufferer was sure to exist.

"Isaac," Lisa said. "You...You think you're the only real person in the world, don't you?"

Isaac's eyes grew wide in surprise at what Lisa had just said. Then, much to her shock, he started to cackle. It was a good hearty cackle as well, forcing Isaac to hold his side. If Lisa was scared before she was downright terrified now. "W-Wow! Just wow!" Issac said as he wiped a single tear from his eye. "You know, Lisa. That's why I like you. You're not like the others. You're smarter. So much smarter. You're the first person to ever figure it out!" He chuckled again as he came up to Lisa, his sneering face inches from her crying eyes. "The truth is, this world is just a dream. My dream."

"You're insane!" Lisa cried out. "Are you really saying you believe that? You really think this entire world is just your dream?"

"I don't think. I know!" Isaac answered as he turned around and walked away, his hands behind his back. "All my life, I never had dreams like a normal person supposedly has. No images. No sounds. Nothing. Just the sensation of not being awake, the kind you only realize after you've reawakened. I was really young when I figured out why." He stopped and turned back to Lisa. "Its because I am in the dream already. This whole world is my dream. My domain. Now its just a matter of figuring out how to bend it to my will."

Lisa shook her head. "Isaac, that's crazy. You're not the only person that exists."

"How can you be sure?" Isaac said. "How could you be sure that anything exist except your own mind. After all, computers can generate random numbers and sequences if asked. How do you know your life story wasn't just fashioned by an algorithm in the back of my mind?"

"So what are you saying," Lisa asked with anger in her voice, even as she still cried. "That I'm just a figment of your imagination!?"

"Exactly!" Isaac laughed again as he approached Lisa. Once again, she struggled against her binds and actually felt one of the ropes loosen but Isaac was already upon her. Not wanting to jeopardize her only hope of escape, Lisa ceased her struggling. "But you don't have to be."

"Huh?" Lisa asked, confusion joining fear sorrow and rage in the boiling pot of emotions inside of Lisa. "What are you talking about?"

"I can make you real, Lisa." Isaac answered without missing a beat. "I can make you into a real person, more real then anyone else in this world."

"What? You mean like you?" Lisa asked in a mocking tone but Isaac seemed to miss the tone in his own madness because he started to laugh again.

"Of course not," He said. "I'm the only real person here. There's no one that can be my equal!" Isaac placed his hand on Lisa's cheek. "But you can be my girl. You can enjoy perks no one else can once I figure out how to rule this world properly. You'll be more powerful than anyone else aside form me! Sounds like a good deal, right?"

Rage won over the other emotions in the boiling pot as Lisa suddenly snapped at Isaac's hand, his fingers one second's movement away from getting bit. Isaac grabbed his hand defensibly and stared at Lisa in shock. "Are you kidding me?" She screamed. "You lied to me! You killed my cat and led me to her corpse before tying me to a tree." She uttered a quiet gasp. "And I bet you're the one who hurt Tyrone in the bathroom! You're insane! A freaking animal-murdering nutcase! What makes you think I would ever be yours after all this!?"

Isaac responded by hitting Lisa across the face as hard as he could with the rock he had stunned her with. A scratch formed on Lisa's cheek and a single tooth fell from her mouth although thankfully, she would later learn that was in fact one of her last remaining baby teeth. Didn't make losing it any less painful nor did it lessen the intense fear Lisa felt as Isaac pulled a switchblade from his pocket, opened it, and pointed toward Lisa.

"Because you have no choice, bitch!" Isaac screamed. His face was red from both anger and embarrassment and he was breathing heavily. "I just got through explaining that I'm the only one that exist in this world! I'm going to be God some day and you think you can refuse me?" He poked the point of his blade into Lisa's uninjured cheek, drawing a small trickle of blood and causing Lisa to whimper again. "I could erase you right now even as I am, just like I did to your stupid cat! Is that what you want!?"

Lisa didn't answer. She held her head down and began to weep. Her tears, the blood from both of her cheeks and the rain droplets all mixed into a reddish smear on either side of her face like some horrible rendition of a blush. Isaac felt a rush of power in seeing his future wife like this and petted her head. "Good girl." He once again walked away with his hands behind him like a general about to lead his troops into a hopeless war. "Now, as you can imagine, there are a few rules you'll have to abide by to be my wife." He held his finger up. "The first rule is that I come before everyone and everything. That includes your career, your friends and your family. Hmmm." He scratched his chin. "I never did like that brother of yours. Maybe once I finish off that asshole Tyrone, you can help me take him out of the picture."

Isaac continued to prattle on about his envisioned future for himself and Lisa but she wasn't listening. She was sinking into her own mind, trying to convince herself that she was just in the middle of some horrible nightmare. "That's what its got to be, right?" She whispered to herself. "This is just a nightmare. A nightmare! And I'm going to wake up from this and be just fine. It's just a -

The image of a dead Vinny Wormwringer appeared in her head.

"Nightmare..." Lisa choked up as the memory of that awful day reared its ugly head. Thanks to the time she spent with Isaac, she found herself thinking of that day less and less to the point that part of her wondered if maybe, just maybe, she really had dreamt ramming that syringe into a man's eyes and having his blood spray on her. As the cold droplets of rain fell on her back, she was pulled back to the equally cold reality of her situation. The boy she loved was nothing more than a facade put up by a maniac with a God complex that had killed her precious cat and had tied her to a tree in order to subjugate her into being his bride.

No amount of closing her eyes would open them back to the ceiling of her room at dusk. No amount of reassurance from herself would have any affect on the situation. This was no nightmare, just like killing Vinny was no nightmare. This was a fate far worse than any nightmare.

This was her reality.

"I...It's just not fair," Lisa thought miserably. "Why do I keep running into people like this? Why do people like this even exist? People that would kill animals for no reason at all. What kind of loving God would let monsters like this be born in this world where they can just ruin people's lives like this? What gives them the right?" To Lisa's surprise, that surge of anger she had felt earlier was reemerging, growing stronger within her, the only semblance of warmth afforded to her at this moment. "Who...Who does give them the right to exist? Why should monsters like these be allowed to walk the Earth?" Desperate for warmth, Lisa allowed her anger to spread throughout her being and found herself gritting her teeth even as she stared at the wet soil between her legs. "W-Why did I ever feel guilty for Vinny? He tried to kill my dog for no reason! He succeeded with so many other dogs before he got ours too. How many of them had owners? How many of people had to find their beloved pets dead in a cage on TV? How many of them were kids like me?" By now, even her fear and sorrow were being swallowed up by her rage until only it remained, the only flame of emotion in the otherwise lifeless block of ice that enveloped Lisa's heart.

"The world's better off without someone like Vinny. That's just the way it is. Even if he was a human- No! Someone like that doesn't even deserved to be called human! One of the definitions of humanity is benevolence right? So someone with no benevolence shouldn't be allowed to call themselves human! Vinny lost his right to be mourned the second he put down his first dog! God, I can't believe I let myself be afraid over such a worthless piece of garbage! Its no wonder I never got caught and punished for it! I didn't do anything wrong! Nothing of value was lost when I killed Vinny!"

Slowly, she picked her head up and faced the boy that had lied to her, her expression hardened and her eyes predatory. "And it'll be the same with Isaac!" With one final lunge forward, the already lax ropes fell from her body and she was free. "Stupid fool couldn't even tie the ropes right," She mused as she started approaching him, first with a few silent baby steps, the soil sticking to the bottom of her shoes with each step and creating resistance which Lisa hardly noticed. "You lied to me, you delusional bastard!" Her pace increased to a brisk walk and then a outright run, what little resistance the soil put up vanished.

It was around this time that Isaac finally heard the footsteps increasing toward him and turned around, the triumphant look on his face vanishing as he saw Lisa at him. With no other recourse, Isaac lunged at Lisa with the switchblade, only for the girl to suddenly grab his wrist just as the blade touched her cheek again. With no hesitation, Lisa headbutted Isaac, breaking his nose. A single trickle of blood flowed from his left nostril and as Isaac felt it leak onto his lip, he grew angry and tried to smack Lisa with the rock in his hand. "How dare you!" He screamed in a high-pitched voice.

Lisa grabbed that wrist too, both the blade and rock inches from her face. Before Isaac could try to struggle to get free, Lisa suddenly delivered a sharp kick into his crotch. Unbelievable pain spread throughout Isaac's body as he opened his mouth to scream. All that would come out, however, was a pathetic squeak of pain as tears leaked from his eyes. He dropped both the rock and the switchblade as he fell to his knees, his hands cradling his injured groin. He whimpered as he fell to his side, his face getting sprayed with soil he threw up as he fell. He looked up at Lisa with hate in his eyes, already thinking of the horrible ways he would punish her for this indignation. No one humiliated him and got away with it. No one!

But as he met her gaze, however, all traces of hatred vanished, replaced with complete and utter fear. His hate, petty and loud, was no match for Lisa's, quiet and born from a unthinkable nightmare. Of course, Isaac would never come to know of this. His main concern was that Lisa, while still locking eyes with him, had picked up the rock he had dropped and got down on one knee next to him. He opened his mouth to pled with Lisa, to beg for mercy and to let him explain but once again, nothing came out aside from the grunt Isaac uttered as Lisa smashed to rock against his forehead.

...

It was the sensation of rain lightly tapping against the back of his neck that brought Isaac back to consciousness. He groaned as he awoke, his head throbbing like a heartbeat. He tried to move his hand up to his head, only to find it immobilized by the familiar sensation of rope. The shock fully banished any sense of stupor that still remained with Isaac and he looked down to see himself tied to the great oak. It was with the same rope he used to bind Lisa earlier, leaves and bits of soil stuck stuck to the fibers. Panicked, Isaac tried to move about, trying to loosen the ropes with his movement and with the aid of the falling rain. However, all he succeeded in doing was hurting himself as the tightly tied rope rubbed against his struggling body, chafing the skin of his arms. At his wits end, Isaac began to whine as the pain continued to grow against his movement.

"Hurts, doesn't it?"

Isaac stopped moving at once. By now, he was breathing heavily and felt at the verge of passing out again. He wasn't even completely sure he heard what he thought he heard. Gulping, he slowly picked up his head to see Lisa standing in front of him. The rock she had used to knock him out was nowhere to be found but his switchblade was in her hands, being used to clean the undersides of her fingernails. She had a mostly disinterested look on her face, the kind Isaac hated to see on girls looking at him and would have hated on her too if not for her eyes. Still angry. Still predatory. Still draining every other emotion out of Isaac aside from fear. He found himself shaking and mentally convinced himself that he was just cold from the rain.

Yep. Blame it on the rain.

"You know, for the apparent creator of our reality and with how smart you carried yourself with me, you'd think you would have learned to do something as simple as tie a knot." Lisa said as she cleaned the last of her fingernails. She cut herself a little and some blood trickled from underneath the nail but she seemed not to mind. In fact, she chuckled darkly and held her hands up as if she were shrugging. "But hey, I guess we all make mistakes sometimes."

"Let me go!" Isaac demanded. "Let me go right now or I'll-

"You'll what!?" Lisa suddenly snapped, shutting Isaac up at once as his trembling increased. He hit his head against the trunk of the tree as he jumped within his binds and whimpered from both fear and pain. "Erase my existence!? Banish me to some sort of Hell of your own making?" Lisa stomped toward him and got right in his face. "Do it then!"

"W-Wha-

"If you're God, then prove it!" Lisa screamed in his face. "Right here and now! Call upon your all-so mighty power and save yourself! Do it! Do it right now!"

Fighting against his fear by focusing on how she dared to humiliate him, Issac concentrated on Lisa, willing her to turn to stone. He wanted her to still be conscious as well, just to really punish her. It should have been easy right? After all, she was just a figment of his imagination like everyone and everything else. He could do whatever he wanted to her. He closed his eyes and even smiled a little as he realized that this could be the final test, the final barrier between him and complete control of the Universe. He focused and focused and focused...

...and when he opened his eyes, Lisa was still glaring at him, fully human and fully capable of movement and his hopes sank.

"What's wrong?" Lisa tilted her head. "Can't erase me, can't you?" Lisa remained silent for a moment as she waited for Isaac to answer. Instead, he simply turned away on last petty act of defiance which prompted Lisa to slap him across the face while screaming. "Can't you!?"

"No!" Isaac cried out in a defeated and frustrated voice.

"No you can't!" Lisa reaffirmed aggressively as she pointed the switchblade at the tip of Isaac's broken nose. "And do you know why? It's because you're not the center of everything! This isn't all in your mind! You're not God! You're just a pathetic delusional loser who torments innocent animals to make himself feel powerful!"

"S-Shut up!"

"You're so paltry!" Lisa shouted as she slapped him again. "You think you're some sort of secret badass for doing this? Some sort of ticking time bomb that's gonna show the world why they shouldn't mess with him one day! Wake up!" She pressed her face near his ear, practically headbutting again. "You're nothing but garbage. Worthless, dangerous garbage!"

"Y-You can't talk to me that way," Isaac whispered back. "I'm the G-God of the w-world."

"Get over yourself." Lisa hit him upside the head and walked away, once again messing with the switchblade. "I loved you, you know." She said. "I thought you were the one. That you were my soulmate. You...You lifted me up from a bad place in my head. I thought you had saved me." Her rage boiled and she cut under her fingernails again. She really needed to stop doing that. "And how do you repay my love?" She turned around. "You kill my cat and tie me to a fucking tree!"

Isaac was taken aback. Lisa had never uttered the F-word before. Just as he had destroyed her image of him, his own image of her was fading, revealing an even uglier, more horrifying monster than him. One that didn't want to be awakened. "L-Lisa, w-what are you going to do?"

Lisa tilted her head again. "That should be obvious." She raised the switchblade. "I'm going to kill you."

At that moment, Isaac's bladder emptied and he blushed as he felt the unwelcome warmth run down his legs. He shook his head and convinced himself it was just the rain producing that wet feeling.

Yep. Blame it on the rain.

"W-Wait, hold on!" Isaac whimpered as Lisa grew closer. "Y-You can't do that! I'm the only reason you exist!" His eyes sparkled with tears as his lips began to tremble, a trail of bloodied snot running down from his nostril. "Lisa, I mean it! I can't die! If I do, everything will cease to be! Lisa! Please!"

"If that's the case, then that means you get the last laugh, doesn't it?" Lisa said calmly as she stopped in front of him and bent down. Isaac's eyes widened in fear as he saw her pick up a giant, thick stick off the ground. Even though it was wet, it was still hard enough to do some serious damage. Isaac could attest to that, he had used it himself many times. "So there's nothing to worry about."

"B-But Lisa!" Isaac blubbered. "Think about it! Y-You want to go to collage, right? If you do this, you'll be in serious trouble! You'll be lucky to go to community collage! Your life will be over!"

Lisa snickered. "Ah? Now you're saying I'll be in trouble? But I thought you said that everything would stop existing if I killed you." She sighed playfully. "You boys are so wishy-washy!"

Isaac started to cry as he realized there was no talking Lisa out of this. He, the sole reason for the existence of everything, was about to be killed by some random thought like a filthy, disobedient dog. He started whispering "It's just a dream. It's just a dream." Over and over again.

"Besides, I could never be able to enjoy collage knowing someone...no...something like you is still alive." Lisa said as she stopped in front of him, taking a few moments to caress the stick. "You and Vinny. There's...There's just no reason people like you should be here. You only take, never give." She turned to him with a humorless smirk on her face. "Like a virus really."

"It's only a dream." Isaac kept repeating. "Only a dream. Only a-

Lisa whacked him across the face with the stick. Two teeth, one baby and one adult, flew out of his mouth. He uttered a cry and spluttered as his mouth filled with blood.

"L..Lisa,

Another whack, from the other direction this time, a jagged piece of the wood left a bloody scrape on Isaac's cheek. Within his mouth, another tooth came loose but was still attached to his gums by a thin piece of flesh. Lisa gave Isaac a few seconds to spit out some of the excess blood in his mouth before going in for another whack. Then another. And then another. Over and over, Lisa beat the boy with the stick with enough force to cause damage to both. Small pieces of wood and spots of blood landed on her face but didn't bother her much, mostly thanks to the rain washing it off almost as soon as it landed.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Lisa thought as she continued to beat Isaac. "I'm Lisa Simpson, Straight-A student and friend to all of living things and here I am beating another kid to death!" This thought caused a bit of slight hesitation and Lisa stopped swinging the stick for a moment. But almost as soon as she stopped, she remembered just what Isaac had done to provoke this reaction in her. She looked back to her deceased cat, twisted and hollowed like some roadside carrion. Her rage intensified beyond any capacity it had before and, tightening her grip on the stick, Lisa let out a furious howl as she resumed beating on Isaac. "No! I'm not beating another kid to death!" She mentally told herself. "I'm killing a fucking monster! That's what he is! That's what Vinny was! Not people! Monsters! Monsters! Monsters!"

Lisa only stopped because the stick shattered from the force she had been hitting Isaac. One half remained in her hands and the other half flew off into the woods, landing with hardly a thud in the wet soil. The rain, which had been slowly increasing as Lisa continued her beat down, had spread the blood from Isaac's body across the space underneath the tree, its copper stench overpowering the smell of decay from the trees. Lisa stood there on the bloody ground, panting heavily as she dropped the other half of the stick. She had to fight to reclaim her breath as the overpowering rain made her feel as if she was drowning. As she slowly won the fight, she heard a small whine and looked up toward Isaac. His face was bruised and scratched beyond recognition and his hair and clothes reddened far too much blood to be easily erased by the rain. And yet, his chest continued to heave up and down.

He was still alive.

"W...Why...Lisa...Why?" He wheezed.

Lisa didn't answer him. She didn't even think she could if she wanted to. There was nothing she could think to say at this moment. The cold rain continued to fall on her exposed shoulders and arms but with was nothing compared to the coldness she felt inside. Even the rage that had possessed her like a demon was starting to ebb away, leaving only this coldness. This emptiness.

"You're not human." Lisa thought. "You're a monster just like Vinny. Monsters like you, who would kill innocent animals like this, you don't deserve to call yourselves human. Which means," Lisa looked down at the switchblade still in her hand. "I'm not doing anything wrong by killing you. I'm just ridding the world of a virus it doesn't need." Lisa calmly approached Isaac and raised the blade up.

Isaac, whose right eye wasn't overcome by swollen muscle, quivered in fear as Lisa approached him. Not only because she had the switchblade pointed directly at his throat but because of her face. It wasn't angry. It wasn't saddened. It was just...empty. It was as if she had reached some sort of bastardization of Zen. It was uncanny and it was the last thing Isaac was going to see of this world.

"No!" Isaac thought as Lisa slowly slid the blade into his neck. "Please!" Isaac began to trash about with what little of his strength remained as Lisa carefully slid the blade to the left and then to the right of his throat, creating a brand new mouth for him. One that only spoke in flowing blood and garbled attempts at speaking as she removed the blade and stepped back. Isaac panicked as he realized this was all the cutting Lisa intended to do, she was going to watch him bleed out from his slit throat. He tried to cry out but only coughed out more blood, leaving only his racing mind to speak. "No! No! No! No! This isn't how it's supposed to go! This isn't supposed to happen! I don't wanna go! I need to live! Don't you understand! Only I exist! Only I exist! If...I...die...If...I..."

And then the Springfield Elementary student known as Isaac Corman ceased to be. And around his corpse, the rest of the world continued forward.

As if waiting for Isaac to finally expire, the rain increased for the final time, becoming an outright downpour. A flash of lighting appeared a few miles from the oak tree, followed by a loud wave of thunder. Lisa didn't react to either. She hardly even shivered as she rain soaked through her clothes and hair, washing the last remnants of Isaac's blood from her. Even with Isaac dead, the ice within her body dominated, no longer just a block but a entire glacier. Slowly, Lisa held up the switchblade and watched with morbid curiosity as the rain cleansed it of blood as well. Once it was fully clean, she closed the blade and walked away from the tree. She stopped only to pick up Snowball II's body and as she cradled the dead cat in her arms, an emotion finally thawed out from the glacier.

Grief.

"Oh girl! I'm so sorry!" Lisa whimpered as she nuzzled her beloved pet. "If only I had seen it sooner." Slowly, she turned back to the tree, watching as Isaac's lifeless corpse continued to bleed out. Even through the leaves, the rain made its way to his body, taking the blood with it down into the soil below. Lisa mused that by the time anyone realized Isaac was missing, the rain would have cleared away any and all traces of her being here. They would find Isaac and his victims and they would assume some sicko did this to them both. They would never know the truth but that was just alright with Lisa because she knew it. She knew she made him pay and this time, she knew they would never link her to the truth, all because of the rain.

Yep, blame it on the rain.

"Come on, girl." Lisa whispered. "Let's go home." And thus, Lisa began her long and heavy march back home. Her mother would find her near Moe's on her way to pick up her father and by then, Lisa would have completely regained her emotions just in time for her parents to comfort her. No one questioned Lisa when she said Snowball had been run over. It was a common fate for any cat on the street and as far as the rest of the family was concerned, being hollowed out by a car's tire was a completely normal part of that horrible experience. Lisa was doted on for a while after that, especially when it became clear that Issac was missing and eventually, the day came when Marge brought a new kitten from the shelter as a surprise for Lisa. Am orange tabby she named Aristotle.

As for Lisa herself, something awakened that day. It had been there since the day she had killed Vinny but only after killing Isaac was she able to fully understand it and accept it. On that day, Lisa learned to dehumanize people who abused animals and before her 10th birthday would come to pass, she was already actively hunting out more...

---

"Vinny Wormwringer might have been my first victim, but it all really began with Isaac." Lisa thought as her mind slowly transplanted herself back to the present, back to her dancing with Clementine underneath a street light in Springfield Park. "That was the day I learned to dehumanize animal abusers, to seem them as nothing more than monsters to be slayed, viruses to be cured," She felt Clementine's head press against her body yet again. "Parasites to be removed." She placed her head gently onto Clementine's. "By that logic, it should be easy to kill Clementine right? I mean, she killed her guinea pig to feed some fucked up curiosity! I know it's not completely her fault but she's an animal abuser just the same. She deserves to die just like the others and she even agrees with that." Lisa raised her dagger as she held Clementine closer, intending to ram it right into her back, summoning all of her inner rage against animal abusers to do so. Clementine felt Lisa's arm move for the position but did nothing to shield herself, instead she cuddled closer to Lisa, wanting to take in every last bit of warmth she could from the girl she loved before dying. Lisa held the dagger inches away from Clementine's back with only her shaking arm keeping the point from breaking skin.

"So why...why am I having such a hard time doing it?" Lisa thought miserably. "Why can't I just stab her and be done with it!" Lisa summoned her willpower again and dug the very tip of the blade into Clementine's back, making her shiver in agony. A small trickle of blood leaked from the wound. Lisa could smell it. "Come on," Lisa mentally told herself as she felt herself hesitating again. "Kill her! Make her pay for her crimes! She's just another worthless animal abuser! She's just like-

Clementine looked up to Lisa at that moment, her eyes sparkling with gratitude for what Lisa had done and was about to do. There was no trace of the rage or insanity that had been there before. Just quiet love.

Lisa quivered as she looked into these eyes, tearing up as well. "No." She thought as she lowered her arm back to her side and continued dancing with Clementine. "Clementine's not like Isaac. She's not like him at all. He was a monster who used his sickness as an excuse to hurt whoever he wanted, let it go to his head and make him think he was God. But Clementine suffered from her sickness. She never asked for it and it drove her to do things she regrets." The block of ice within Lisa started to melt again as it all came together for her. "She doesn't want to be like this, she'd rather have someone else kill her than continue to live like this. She's an animal abuser but she's not like Isaac or Vinny, she's

human

Lisa quietly gasped as she twirled Clementine one more time. The tears trapped in her eyes flowed down her cheeks. "I...Is this what you've been trying to tell me all along?" She asked The Beast. "That I couldn't just dehumanize whoever I wanted to suit my purposes." The wind started to pick up. "In the wild, a predator makes no preferences about the prey it kills to feed itself. It doesn't matter if its target is just a baby, an elder who can't fight back or even a sick animal that's already knocking on death's door. The predator makes no distinction and only understands the need to feed itself. All are equal when its on the hunt." Lisa faced Clementine and stopped the dance, tugging at her partner's arm to indicate that she wanted to be twirled this time. Clementine got confused then somewhat excited.

"I get it now. I was a fool to think I could just absolve my sins by dehumanizing my victims. How many serial killers in history assured themselves they were doing the right thing by killing people they didn't feel belonged? How many tyrants? But they weren't right. They were no different than Isaac! They were monsters!" Lisa felt her heart along with the truth of it all. "Which means, I'm a monster too." Clementine twirled Lisa underneath her arm a few times, the winds once again blowing against their dresses and freezing the sweat beneath their skin. Clementine was caught in a state of ecstasy while Lisa remained trapped in her mind. "There's no denying it anymore. I am a monster, just like Isaac which leaves Clementine the only one here with a right to still call herself human. Someone who would rather destroy themselves than risk taking another life. I can't think of a better representation of the word Humanity. That's why..."

As Clementine finished her final twirl with Lisa, the Animal Avenger plunged the blade into her partner's stomach.

"...I should kill her as a true friend."

Clementine groaned in surprise, having lost herself in her ecstasy and thus had forgotten that Lisa still had the dagger. Blood spread all around from where Lisa had stabbed Clementine, spreading and dyeing the white satin redder and redder by the second. A second trickle of blood flowed from Clementine's mouth as she turned to Lisa, her expression changing from shocked and hurt to pleased and grateful. "L-Lisa..."

Suddenly, Lisa grabbed the back of Clementine's head and pulled her close, wrapping her mouth around hers. Clementine froze up at the sudden kiss but this lasted for but a second. Then she sank into the kiss, opening her mouth so that their tongues could meet. Both girls began to cry as they kissed. For Clementine, these were tears of joy, knowing that at the very least, she was slain by the person she loved most in the world. For Lisa, they were bitter tears of regret. Regret for having lied to herself for so long and for being forced to kill the one person who could truly understand her to protect her dark secret. She closed her eyes to keep the tears from flowing but they simply slid past her eyelids. As they kissed, Lisa realized she could taste the blood in Clementine's mouth and to her horror, it excited her.

"This is what I've let myself become," Lisa thought as the tingle of excitement faded. "I spent so long convinced that it didn't matter if they were animal abusers. But now I have to face the facts. That little girl I was so long ago is gone. She's been gone since the day I killed Isaac and all I've been doing is hanging on to the memory. But I can't do it anymore." She thought back to the faces of all her victims over the years, from Isaac all the way the the girl in front of her tonight. "They were all human. Every single one of them. Horrible, terrible humans but humans all the same. Just like Clementine. Just like me."

The kiss was broken as Clementine began to sink, her hands still rubbing Lisa's arms as she fell to her knees. With what remained of her strength, she suddenly hugged Lisa's torso, getting a lot of her blood on her beloved's red dress. "Thank you, Lisa. Thank you!" She rasped.

Lisa gently got down on one knee, grabbed Clementine by the back of the head and laid her down on the sidewalk. "I don't want you to suffer," She whispered. "But I don't want to mess up your body anymore than I have to, so I'll make it quick." Lisa kissed Clementine's forehead, hardly wincing at how cold it already was and stood back up. Carefully, she raised her right foot over Clementine's throat and slammed her heel into it, puncturing it

Clementine gasped, one final blush creeping on her face with what blood remained in her body. No longer able to speak, she smiled and mouthed. "I love you." as she gentled grabbed Lisa's ankle.

By now, Lisa couldn't hold it anymore and uttered a sob as she watched the light leaving Clementine's eyes. She waited until Clementine let go of her ankle and removed her heel, causing plenty of blood to spray out. Clementine didn't seem to mind the pain much, she still wore that soft smile even as her eyes were closing. Lisa wiped her tears and picked Clementine off the ground. She started to pull Clementine toward a nearby tree to her left, ignoring the blood from both of her wounds spilling onto her dress. Once they had reached the tree, Lisa gently sat Clementine down and propped her against the tree. By now, her body was mostly cold and her breathing slow. Death wouldn't be far behind and Lisa found herself thinking back to the day they first met. Her happy, cheery face as she introduced herself to the class. She remembered the silly conversations they shared with Allison, the awkward conversation concerning the Animal Avenger and of course, the kiss they shared at this park. Lisa openly wept as the memories flooded her mind. For just the briefest moment, all thought of being the Animal Avenger were miles away and she really just was a normal teenage girl mourning someone who meant more to her than anyone she'd only known for that timeframe had any right to.

Suddenly, Lisa felt a hand gently caress her cheek, causing her to cease her crying. She looked up and through her tears, she could she Clementine's face, still smiling at her. "Clementine?" Lisa grabbed the dying girl's hand with both of hers and held it close. She struggled to take in the last bit of warmth it possessed. Clementine continued to try and comfort Lisa, gently rubbing the tips of her fingers against her cheek. Then it stopped and Lisa shuddered as she felt the arm go limp.

Clementine Foster had passed away, a gentle smile still on her face.

"Clementine?" Lisa whispered as she let go of the arm, letting it fall to the side. "Oh God! Clementine!" Lisa reached out for her, thought back to how many fingerprints she had already left behind through their dancing and buried her face in her hands as she cried. "Clementine!" She sobbed. She remained crying next to Clementine's body for several minutes. She tried to force her sobbing to be quieter in order to not attract any unwanted attention but it was a battle she would lose over and over again. Finally, about an hour from when she had entered the park, she finally felt her tears drying up is only because it was getting to exhausting to cry. It was then and only then that The Beast spoke.

"I don't mean to be a insensitive bitch, but there's still work to do."

"I know," Lisa sighed as she wiped the last of her tears away. "I know." She reached for Clementine's other hand and grabbed her phone. It didn't take her long to find the video of her leading the snakes into the forest and delete it. After mulling it over for a moment, Lisa decided to keep Clementine's phone. She sat there, pondering what to do about the fingerprints she left on Clementine's body. That was when she heard thunder over in the the distance and looked ahead to see a thundercloud approaching the park.

"How convenient." The Beast mused. "A nice cleansing rain is just what we need to wash all the evidence away. Someone up there likes you, Lis."

"No," Lisa whispered. "Believe me, if there's anyone up there, they must hate my guts. And you know what, I think the feeling's mutual." Lisa made her way to the pond and washed the blood off her skin and face. That unpleasant memory that reared its ugly head last time showed up and this time she let it play through. There was no sense in denying her misdeeds anymore. Once she was finished, she walked toward the park exit.

"What are you going to do about the dagger?" The Beast asked.

"I'll hide it somewhere and come back for it. I could always use more weapons."

"And your dress?"

"I can't exactly return to the prom with wet clothes." Lisa explained. "Besides, it's red. It'll be fine."

"I see," The Beast said. "So you're still going to prom?"

"...You were right, ok?" Lisa confessed. "You told me that I had already condemned myself to being a monster and you were right. And I'm prepared to affix my life to that fact. But I made a promise to someone before I left, back when I thought I was still just a normal girl and I...I want to keep it. I want to perform that last good deed as a human being, alright?"

The Beast didn't respond.

"Just this once," Lisa said as she left the park. "Let me keep this promise and then, The Animal Avenger really will be all I am."

---

It was quiet in the Simpson's household. Far too quiet. The TV had been off for a couple of hours, far longer than it had been off in years. Both Homer and Marge were sitting in the kitchen, silently drinking tea and eating a package of cookies from Homer's stash. The couple shared no words. They didn't even share glances. They simply sat in silence, breaking it only to eat and drink. This had been going on for the past few hours and the tea had gone cold and the cookies were almost gone. Normally, Homer would have made it a point to go back to his stash for more snack long before this happened but tonight, he simply continued to eat. He wasn't even eating like he normally did. There wasn't any enthusiasm chomping or drooling or smacking. Just a tired crunch and gulp.

Both of them had the same thing on their minds and both knew they would have to speak before either of them left the table. Of course, both were reluctant to actually break the silence as they desperately didn't want to engage in another fight, not with their youngest asleep upstairs. Marge slurped up the last bit of tea in her cup while Homer devoured the last cookie. No more refreshments. No more excuses. It was time and considering that she was the one always burdened with the less fun aspects of marriage and parenthood, Marge decided she would pull the pin. And thus, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Marge, I have to talk to you," Homer said. "It's really important."

Marge kept her mouth open for a few moments before slowly closing it. "Yes, Homer?"

"Marge, honey?" Homer began as he finally met her gaze. "How long have we been married?"

"So long," Marge said. "It's been so long I can hardly remember. I think it's been 18 to 20 years give or take. But it's been long."

"Right," Homer agreed. "Long and interesting. We sure had some great times huh?"

Marge smiled slightly. "Yeah, I remember when we went on that camping trip and you got lost and mistaken for Bigfoot." She couldn't help but chuckled slightly at that memory.

Homer chuckled as well. "Yeah. Hey, you remember when we had sex at the golf course and ended up streaking across town?"

"Oh don't remind me!" Marge covered her face in shame. "Sometimes I still see that picture they took of us online. How embarrassing!"

"Or uh...how about the time you helped me stop that crazy monorail?"

"I remember when you saved Springfield from the government dome," Marge said softly. "I can still feel the wind on my face as you took me for a ride on that motorcycle."

"Oh yeah," Homer chuckled at that memory too. "Heh heh. Stupid government guy and his stupid dome!"

For the first time that night, both husband and wife shared a hearty laugh. It wasn't loud enough to wake Maggie but it was enough to lighten the mood if only for a little bit. The laughter stopped with a sigh and with their smiles fading slightly. For a brief moment, silence once again reigned supreme in the Simpson's household and once again, it was Homer who broke its reign.

"What happened to us, Marge?" Homer asked. "How come when don't have moments like that anymore?"

Marge sighed. "I don't know. I guess at some point, the adventures and shenanigans just sort of...stopped. Maggie learned to walk, Bart and Lisa hit puberty and we...well look at us."

Homer grabbed his cup, still halfway full of tea, and stared at his reflection. "Dear God, I look like a shaven gorilla." He muttered.

Maybe that's just what happens when you get older," Marge continued. "You just keep getting bitter and bitter about the changes in your life and you just keep fighting and fighting..

"...fighting and fighting..." Homer repeated as he finished the tea in his cup. It was cold and he could taste the leaf bits at the bottom but it beat staring at his defeated reflection. Once he was finished, he set the cup down with a sigh and silence once again reigned. This time, however, both Homer and Marge knew what was coming next. They both realized they were thinking the same thing as they spoke and this time, Marge really would have to bite the bullet.

"Homer, why did you bring this up?" She asked. "Really?"

Homer met her gaze once more. "Marge, sweetie. I love you and I always will but this...this isn't working anymore."

"What isn't working anymore?"

"This whole marriage deal!" Homer stated. "I mean we've had a good run, a hell of a good run but lately all we ever see to do is fight! Hell, even before Maggie learned to walk, it seemed like we had something to argue about every freaking week!"

"Well maybe we wouldn't have fought so much if you didn't do everything so impulsively!" Marge argued defensibly.

"Impulsive?" Homer got up from the chair and pointed at Marge. "You're the one who's impulsive! Always jumping to conclusions before hearing my side of the story!"

"Well if you actually talked to me every once and a while, I'd be able to hear your side of the story!"

"Well how am I supposed to steer the conversation that way if all you want to talk about is, chores, church and the kids!" Homer shouted. The couple glared at each for a few seconds, their minds racing with their next retort. However, it was also in that moment that both realized just what they were doing and their faces turned from angry to shocked and worried. "Dear God..." Marge sank back into her seat. "It's happening again."

"It always happens," Homer said. "No matter what we're talking about, it always seems to go back to more yelling, more fighting." Homer sat back in his seat. "Now Bart's practically an adult and Lisa will be too before we know it but Maggie, she needs some stability in her life." Homer sniffled. "Mom and Dad screwed me up by fighting all the time but I can't let the same happen to Maggie. We need to nip this in the bud before it gets worse."

"Homer," Marge asked. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying it's over," Homer responded without a moment's hesitation. "We can't keep pretending the magic's there when it isn't. We're only hurting ourselves and the kids by doing that." Marge opened her mouth to argue but Homer interrupted her. "Don't bothering arguing, Marge. I know you were thinking the exact same thing. You know I'm right, don't you?"

Marge opened her mouth again but couldn't think of a thing to say. Homer, the same Homer who couldn't understand that Le Grille meant the grill or that he couldn't by small 80s horror monsters at the pet shop, had read her mind like a book through the few clues she had given in her speech and had brought this conversation to its fated conclusion. She couldn't help but shed a tear. These few moments of clarity were part of the reason she loved Homer in the first place. If only he had shown more of them in the past. "I...I do, Homer."

Homer nodded. "Now I'm going to stay until Bart graduates. After that, I'll leave to house to you."

Marge gasped. "Homie! A-Are you sure?"

Homer nodded. "You and the kids need it more than me. Besides, it's not like I'll be leaving Springfield or anything. I'll find a place here, a cool bachelor pad somewhere and the kids can come visit whenever they want," Homer suddenly frowned. "That is, if you'll let them see me."

"Oh Homie," Marge said as she touched his fingers. "Of course!" She sniffled. "B-But when are we supposed to tell the kids?"

"Sometime this week," Homer said. "Maybe the day after tomorrow. Jus so that they'll be enough time to recover before Bart's graduation." Homer shook his head. "I've already screwed up so much in their lives. I want this to be the last time."

"Homie," Marge whispered with both hands now cradling Homer's fingers. The couple remained sitting at that table for another house before retiring to bed. It would only be Marge, however, that would actually return to her bed room. Homer would crash on the couch, a conscious decision on his part to prepare for the coming future. He briefly considered turning the TV on but decided against it. He was tired and wanted to sleep. He didn't even bother grabbing one more late night snack before falling asleep.

Above him, little Maggie slept soundly in her bead, cuddling her new toy with a smile on her face, completely unaware of the changes waiting for her when she awoke from her pleasant dreams.

---

Nelson had lost track of just how long he had been leaning against that damned wall. Part of him was convinced that if he tore himself from it now, there's be a grove left behind like when someone fat sat on a bar stool. Of course, that would be impossible, given that it was still prom night but that hardly mattered to the football captain. All he could think about was when Lisa would return.

A few girls had come up to him and offered to dance but he turned them down. He didn't want Lisa to get the wrong idea once she got back. But every time he rejected another invitation to the dance floor, he mentally kicked himself as he watched the other teens dance. "What's wrong with you, ya idiot!?" He thought to himself. "Can't you see you're wasting your youth waiting on a chick who clearly ditched you?" Nelson shook his head. "No way, Lisa wouldn't do something like that. Even if she didn't want to go to prom, she would have just said no instead of leading me on like this." Nelson rubbed his forehead. "You dumbass! Don't you know how fickle women can be about these kinds of things? She clearly changed her mind and didn't know how else to butt out of it! She's not coming back!" Nelson growled and turned toward the wall, slamming his forehead against it. "Enough!" He growled to himself. "Enough!" He panted for a few moments and then turned to face the crowd. He felt a stinging sensation on his brow and wiped it. He examined his fingers and saw blood on the tips. "Fan-fucking-tastic!" He said to himself.

No one else seemed to notice Nelson's tantrum as they were all too busy with their dance partners. Milhouse and Janey had done a bit of role-reversal with the latter twirling the former around, not that he seemed to mind. Lewis and Richard had somehow convinced the goth twins to engage in a ridiculous dancing pose with them. It had been a while since such wide smiles had been on either girl's face and to be honest, it was a little unsettling. More scanning of the crowd revealed that Uter's woes of solitude had been cured by none other than Marsha Prince who had pulled him to the dance floor. Amongst all the faces in the crowd, however, it was seeing Bart and Jessica that really tugged at Nelson's nerves. He wanted to be angry with them but he was smart enough to know it was nothing other than blind jealousy and with another sigh, he turned toward the door.

"Forget this," He said. "If I have to watch people be happier and more successful than me, I'd rather do it by watching TV. I'm gone!" Nelson was just about to step toward the front door when it opened from the other side.

Lisa entered the building, a empty, somber look on her face. She took a second to survey the gymnasium before making her way to Nelson. The Captain of the Springfield Pumas felt drawn in by her eyes as she came closer. The gentle warmth that was there when she left was gone. Instead, there was something cold, calculating about her gaze and yet, hauntingly beautiful. Nelson felt attracted to it and apprehensive about it in equal measure. He was so mesmerized that he jumped a little upon realizing Lisa was right in front of him.

"Nelson," Lisa said quietly. "I'm sorry it took so long."

"T-That's...fine. I guess," Nelson replied. "Hey, are you...ok or something? You look-

Nelson suddenly winced as Lisa placed her thumb on his forehead. "Oh Nelson," She whispered. "How'd you managed to hurt yourself while I was gone?"

"Umm...I-I slipped." Nelson lied, mentally praying that Lisa wouldn't notice the small indent on the wall behind him.

Lisa chuckled quietly as she wiped the blood from his brow. "Silly boy," Lisa proceeded to suck the blood off her thumb the way one would suck the blood from a wound on their hand. The action caught Nelson off-guard.

"L-Lisa?" He asked, all too aware he was blushing. "Are you sure your okay? What happened back the-

"Shhhh!" Lisa whispered as she placed a finger over Nelson's mouth. "I don't want to think about that now. I'd rather just dance with you, ok?"

"O-Ok?" Nelson felt Lisa's fingers slip into his palm and, knowing what this entailed, started walking to the dance floor with her in tow. She followed him closely, their footsteps in total sync with each other As they walked, Nelson couldn't help but notice the scent of blood was still in the air despite Lisa having wiped it off, he shrugged it off, figuring it was just the memory of the scent. Neither he nor Lisa noticed the droplets of blood dripping from the latter's dress and leaving a trail.

The two inserted themselves directly into the fray of dancing teenagers. The only ones who seemed to take notice of their presence was Bart and Jessica who were dancing right next to them. "Yo Lisa!," Bart shouted gleefully. "You finally made it!"

Lisa responded only by turning to her brother and offering a curt nod, her empty gaze tearing into both Bart and his date. Bart slowed down a bit but Jessica froze entirely, the memory of that day in the bathroom chilling her to the core.

"Geez, what's her problem?" Bart said as Lisa turned back to Nelson. "She looks like she just lectured a ghost to death of something."

"F-Forget it!" Jessica stammered, her heart pounding in her chest. "Let's just keep dancing!"

"Jessica, are you alr-

Jessica suddenly kissed Bart on the lips and pulled back. "I'm fine! Totally fine! Let's just keep dancing away from your sister!"

"Ok?" Bart relented with a confused tone as he started to inch Jessica away from his sister. As they moved, the song playing over the speakers hit a swell and Nelson used this as an opportunity to twirl Lisa. As Lisa spun her body around Nelson's arm, more blood flew from her dress and splattered against several of the dancers surrounding her, including Jessica as her back was to them. Of course, everyone was far too engrossed in their dancing to take notice, the wet sensation being confused for sweat and the scent of the various perfumes and colognes the teens wore masking the copper scent. Lisa didn't notice either as she fixed herself back into place and she and Nelson moved further into the crowd, the blood trailing after her going unnoticed as well.

As the song continued and the two danced, Nelson couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Lisa wasn't exactly unfriendly or anything but something about her seemed...distant. As if she had lost a part of herself wherever she had gone. Nelson was caught between wanting to respect her privacy and wanting to somehow get her to open up to him. All these conflicting thought processes stopped as Lisa looked up to him, that same haunting stare spellbinding him with both charm and fear. "Is something wrong Nelson?"

"N-No! It's just, are you sure your okay?" He asked. "Like really?"

Lisa stared at him in silence for a moment before answering. "I'm fine. I just have a lot of personal stuff on my mind. Girl drama. You understand."

"I-I guess." Nelson relented. "I just never took you for the kind of girl to have...well...girl drama."

Lisa shrugged her shoulders. "I am a girl after all."

Nelson murmured. "Well listen, I'm no good that this talky-feely crap but if you need to talk, about anything, I'll listen."

"Thanks Nelson. That's real sweet."

"No, I really mean it! I won't just pretend to listen. I'll listen! Ok?"

"Ok, Nelson." Lisa chuckled. "But there's nothing to worry about! I'm completely- *Gasp!*

Lisa had only shifted her glance from Nelson's face for a moment, a single second. And in that second, within the crowd, she thought she saw the decaying head of Tobias, half his head caved in. No one else in the crowd seemed to notice him, not even the girl he was dancing with. Lisa shuddered and Nelson clasped his hand over her cheek and pulled her back toward his gaze. "H-Hey! Are you okay? What happened?"

"N-Nothing!" Lisa answered quickly as she pulled away from Nelson's grasp and looked over his shoulder again. No Tobias. Just a random dorky boy and his settling date. Nelson turned his head to see what was going on and only grew more confused when he saw nothing out of the ordinary. "Lisa," He said as he turned to her. "What's going on?"

"N-Nothing." Lisa answered as she looked down. "I-I thought I just saw...a celebrity."

"What celebrity?" Nelson asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uhhh...Booberella?" Lisa said.

"Booberella!?" Nelson looked around frantically. "Where?"

Lisa went from nervous and annoyed and cleared her throat with a loud "Ahem!" sound to reign Nelson back. He realized what Lisa was trying to do and smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "S-Sorry." He said.

"Look, let's just forget about this and dance, alright?" Lisa moved closer to Nelson. "I'll let you twirl me again."

Nelson grew excited. "Sure!" Nelson lifted his arm and Lisa spun around, once again painting the dresses and suits of the nearby teens in splotches of red which like before, went completely unnoticed. After the twirl, Lisa and Nelson continued to dancing closely, moving through the crowd like dragonflies across a pond albeit at a far slower pace. Every so often, Nelson would twirl Lisa and more blood would unknowingly spray on him and the teens around him, all while a trail of it followed his dance partner. Neither of them seemed to notice the blood and for the briefest of moments, Lisa thought she could finally enjoy a moment of being a normal teenage girl.

She could only be so lucky.

As Nelson twirled her around a fifth time, Lisa noticed another rotting corpse among the crowd, this one belonging to Miguel Rodriguez. Once again, no one seemed to notice his presence but Lisa who was chilled to the core at the sight of his bludgeoned face. The fact that he was still smiling his stupid, faux-friendly smile did nothing to help those matters. She shook her head and turned away, prompting Nelson to follow her lead and thus have her face the opposite end of the crowd. It was there, however, that she spotted the equally bludgeoned face of Jeremy White. The eye he still kept in his socket seemed to notice Lisa and he attempted to wink, his other eye hanging down below his twisted nose. His nearly-toothless mouth grinned at Lisa and his bloody tongue wiped itself across his bottom lip.

"No," Lisa whispered as she tightened her grip on Nelson. "No!."

"Lisa?" Nelson asked. "What's wrong now?"

"N-Nothing,"

"No, something's going on here and the fact that you won't tell me is really starting to bug me!"

"It's nothing," Lisa said. "Really."

Nelson pulled Lisa toward him and once again moved her face towards his. "Lisa, I can't help you unless you-

Lisa suddenly pressed her lips against Nelson's mouth. He froze in surprise, wanting to sink into the kiss but refusing to fall for the bait as he knew Lisa was only doing this to shut him up. Despite this, he did not push her away either and Lisa broke the kiss before pressing her head against Nelson's chest. "Please. Don't ask any more questions." She asked softly. "Just hold me."

"Lisa," Nelson did as Lisa asked and held her close as they danced although he was far from letting it go. Something was wrong here. He could tell that much. Just what had she been doing before she returned?

As Nelson and Lisa danced, Bart and Jessica wound up a few feet next to them. The daughter of Reverend Lovejoy seemed to shiver as she came close to Lisa, something that didn't go unnoticed by her date. "Hey, you alright?" He asked.

"I-I'm fine!" Jessica defended. "I-I'm just a little cold is all."

"Do you want to stop for a bit?"

"After this song."

"Are you sur-

"Yes!" Jessica snapped. Her face softened at once and she spoke her next words to Bart in an almost apologetic tone. "I-I mean yes. Let's just keep dancing."

"If you say so," Bart raised his arm for another twirl. As Jessica fixed herself in place and he placed his hand back on her back, he felt a warm liquid splash against his palm. "Yuck!" He shouted as he pulled his hand back. "How can you be cold, your dress is soaked with sweat!"

"Fuck you!" Jessica shoved Bart playfully. "I'm not sweaty!"

"Yeah you are!" Bart retorted as he raised his hand to show her. "See..." Bart trailed off as he and Jessica both got a good look at the crimson liquid dripping from his hand.

Around this same time, Lisa was fighting to keep her mind focused on the boy leading her along the dance floor. She constantly redirected her gaze toward his face for it was the only thing in the gymnasium that didn't seem to possess the ability to turn into a horrid remainder of her past. Every time her gaze shifted toward the other teens in the crowd, she was haunted by visions of her former victims dancing among the living. She knew they were just figments of her imagination, just by-products of her guilt but that realization seemed to have zero impact in their appearance here. All the while, Nelson continued to look at Lisa with justifiable confusion. She was certain she could see a hint of judgement in those dark pupils of his which only served to increase her guilt. In a desperate attempt to quell the vision, she motioned for Nelson to twirl her and as she settled back into place, she thrust her entire body into his, her head alongside his as if she was wrapping in a giant hug before he went off to war. "It's not real!" She mentally told herself. "It's not real! It's not real! It's not-

Then she opened her eyes and saw the reflections of the dancing teens in the mirror. Only, it wasn't their reflections swaying on the dance floor but corpses. Many of them were far too decayed to recognize but those that she could she recalled as her recent victims. Raul. Miguel. Jeremy. Mr. Wolfe and Mr. Gato as well as their men. Tobias. Even Richard Texan. They were all there. Rotten. Bloodied. Reeking of carnage and decay yet moving around as if they were still alive, twirling the more ancient corpses along with them. And the center of it all, in the place where Lisa should have seen her and Nelson's reflections, stood the worst vision of all.

In Nelson's place was Clementine, still bleeding from the wounds in her neck and stomach, her lifeless head lolling backward toward Lisa with that same gentle smile she wore at the park. And in Lisa's place, clad in the same blood-red dress as she cradled Clementine's corpse, almost glaring at her other half with the black, empty holes that comprised her eyes was the Beast, her inhuman jaw sneering with bloodied drool.

It was around in this exact moment that Jessica Lovejoy wiped the back of her dress and saw more of the blood on her hand. In that exact moment, both she and Lisa unleashed blood-curdling screams.

"Blood!" Jessica cried. "There's blood on my dress! There's blood on my dress!"

Just her screams were enough to stop the dancing youths in their tracks which in turn gave them an opportunity to discover the blood on their own clothes, which in turn lead to widespread panic. The song playing in the speakers, already on its way to fading out, was overpowered by the screams and cries of the teens as they scrambled away from the dance floor in all directions, causing quite a few collisions and broken noses. Not helping matters was the trail of blood Lisa had left behind, still wet enough to cause students to slip and fall onto the hard gymnasium floor. Marsha Prince was one such unfortunate soul, hitting the floor hard enough to crack her hip. It was only thanks to Uter pulling her back to the sidelines that she was able to escape being trampled in the chaos.

As the panic spread, Nelson held on tightly to Lisa who, after screaming her own lungs out, had gone limp in his arms. He tried to shake her awake to no avail and once it became clear she wouldn't be regaining consciousness anytime soon, he held her to his chest and made his way back to the sidelines, putting his honed skills as a quarterback to good use in shoving the other teens out of the way. "Move it! I said get lost!" He shouted as he parted the panicking youths in front of him. Once he had brought Lisa out of harm's way, with only a single shoe lost in the fray, Nelson laid her against the mirror, removed his suit jacket, and rested her head above it. "Dammit Lisa! Please be ok!" He begged.

The next song ceased before it could reach its first refrain, the strobes lights shut off and the main lights replaced them and just like that, The Springfield High School Prom had reached an unexpected and disturbing end.

---

Martha Foster had always done her best to be a good mother. And at the different points of her daughter's life, that meant doing or not doing different things. When Clementine was a baby, it meant changing her diapers and teaching her to walk and talk. When she was a toddler, it meant giving her enough motherly comfort to last the entire day at kindergarten and having to explain that her Grandpappy had gone to Heaven and wouldn't be back anymore. When she got older, there was the rather unique and unsettling challenge of comforting her daughter after she had crushed her pet guinea pig for no apparent reason and spending practically a fortune of professional help. Help that sometimes she wondered even worked at all. When Clementine had entered her teen years, this of course brought with it a whole new set of challenges, having to teach her about periods, learning and accepting the fact that she was gay and discussing a potential path in collage being among the most daunting.

But as of tonight, Martha Foster found that her biggest challenge to good motherhood was figuring out what she was to say to her daughter who, after being rejected by the girl she had asked out, had locked herself in her room. There were hardly any tears. Clementine simply wasn't much of a crier but it was clear as day that she was upset and the fact that she would have rather sat out the whole thing then find someone else worried Martha.

She sat at the kitchen table, a plate of plain sugar cookies besides her and waited. She wanted nothing more than to just get up and bring the cookies to her distraught daughter but her mind raced with a million reasons not too. What is Clementine's outgrown her love of these cookies? What if she's asleep? What if she really is crying and doesn't want anyone else to see? Martha rubbed her temples, these tiresome thoughts exhausting her to no end. Finally, she helped herself to a cookie for a little boost and got up from the table with the plate in her hands. She made her way toward her daughter's room and held her closed hand to the door, hesitating for a moment before knocking. "Clementine? You still up, baby?"

There was no answer.

"Clementine?" Martha asked a little louder on the assumption that her daughter was asleep, only to mentally kick herself for possibly waking her up. In the back of her mind, however, a secret alarm was going off, one only known to mothers. A primal instinct that told Martha that something was terribly, terribly wrong. She tried to ignore it as the implications scared her but this only prompted it to grow stronger still. "Clementine, honey? Can you open the door?"

Still no answer.

Martha gulped. "Clementine?" Slowly, she placed a hand on the doorknob and turned it. She was surprised to find it unlocked which only served to increase the intensity of the alarm. Carefully, she poked her head in. "Clementine?"

Clementine wasn't there. The bed was fixed. The closet was open and the dress Martha had once bought her daughter for a wedding was missing. Most worrisome of all, however, was the open window next to the bed.

"Oh God! Clementine!" Martha dropped the plate of cookies and rushed to the window, calling out her daughter's name into the night sky. "Clementine! Clementine!" She stopped for a moment and pulled her head in as she realized what a racket she must have been creating for her neighbors. She gripped her hair tightly as again, her mind raced with a million thoughts, this time of all the horrible things her daughter could be going through or putting herself through. Maybe she ran away? Maybe she was kidnapped by someone she rejected? Maybe she snuck off to pull some nasty prank in revenge? Martha pulled at her hair, feeling herself being torn apart by these thoughts. That's when she spotted something next to the window on her daughter's nightstand, something that silenced the turmoil in her head.

A single letter sighed For Mama.

---

Lisa wasn't sure when she started walking or how she found herself in this place. Right away, she could tell she was somewhere in her head as she had the same feeling of quiet lucidity she had in the Slaughterhouse. But this place was far different. For one thing, while the Slaughterhouse was closed off from virtually natural light, she was on the outside, a forest of dead trees over headed by a cloud-obscured Sun. Just enough light shone through the thick clouds to tell Lisa that it was either evening or morning but daytime all the same. A endless, cloudy day. Instead of the smell of blood and steel, Lisa's nose was assaulted by the smell of wet, rotting wood as if it had just rained, even though she could feel no moisture on the tree trunks or on the ground. Even without the Beast's constant insults and violent wishes, the Slaughterhouse would usually have at least one chain swinging to and fro, creating an awful creaking noise. But here? Dead silence. No birds sang. No insects called. There was no sign of life anywhere.

"Hello?" Lisa called out as she wondered this forest of death. "Anyone here?" She grew more and more nervous as her calls were met with more and more silence. She almost craved the Beast's snarling voice and so felt some relief even as she jumped when said voice finally called to her.

"Over here!"

Lisa took a few breaths and made her way toward the direction of the voice. This led her off of the beaten path and through more dead and rotting trees until at last, she came to a all-too familiar clearing. Or at least, it would have been a clearing if not for the giant oak tree in the middle of the area. It, like all the other trees in this forest, was dead, its branches naked and gnarled. There were no animals tied within its branches nor ropes hanging from the stems. It was all barren. As Lisa crept closer and her gaze fell downward, however, she noticed two bodies laying on either side of the great trunk. The one to her right was Isaac, just as broken and beaten as he was the last time she had seen him, trails of dried tears falling from his eye sockets. He was still tied to the tree where he had strung up so many animals before, a pathetic corpse a universe's cry away from the God he thought he was. Resting on the other side of the tree, however, looking peaceful despite the ghastly wounds on her stomach and neck, was Clementine, still wearing that same gentle smile that haunted Lisa to her core. Standing before Clementine's body was The Beast, her "face" much more calmer than before.

Lisa neared the the two of them, hardly able to take her eyes off of Clementine. "She...She looks so...peaceful."

"Almost like Ophelia in the pond, right?" The Beast responded. "Regardless of how it happened, I knew she'd end up here."

"W-Where is here?" Lisa asked. "Aren't we still in the Slaughterhouse?"

The Beast shook her head. "This place is like the Slaughterhouse in that it's in your mind but they're not the same. The Slaughterhouse is a place born from your inner rage as I was but this place," The Beast gestured as if she was a tour guide. "This is a place born out of your sadness and regrets. Every broken dream. Every moment of loss. Every little rainy day in your heart get immortalized here." she chuckled darkly. "Kinda emo if you ask me."

"Whatever," Lisa responded as she surveyed this place. "So, does it have a name?"

"I never gave it one." The Beast said. "You can call it whatever you want." she turned back to Clementine. "I'm only here because I had to place her here."

"Really," Lisa asked as she stood besides the Beast and stared at Clementine. "But why? And for that matter, Why's Isaac here too?"

"I just explained it didn't I?" the Beast said. "This is a place born from your sadness, your regrets. Most of the others you've killed were nobodies to you, just monsters to be carved up and forgotten, that's why they end up in the Slaughterhouse." The Beast paused for a moment, just looking at Clementine's corpse along with Lisa. "But sometimes, you come across someone who actually meant something to you while they were alive, too important to just be skinned and strung up and those people end up here."

Lisa gasped quietly and after a few moments, walked around the tree until she could see both Isaac and Clementine. The Beast followed her and stood close enough to whisper her words.

"So...So...it's just these two?" Lisa asked.

"So far, yes," The Beast answered as it gestured as she pointed toward Isaac's corpse. "The boy who started your killing spree. Your first intentional victim." The Beast then pointed toward Clementine's body. "And the girl who was killed by your love. The victim that made you realize what you are." The Beast let her arms fall to her side and turned to Lisa. "You do realize what you are now, right?"

Lisa nodded. "You were right. I am a killer. A predator of man. Part of me still couldn't accept that. A part of me still wanted to believe there was a way to go back someday. To return to the girl I was before that day in the van." Lisa sighed heavily as she stared at the dead tree before her. "But now I see that was just a dream of denial. I am a killer, a killer of other human beings and that's all I can ever truly be."

"Congrats on the epiphany," The Beast snickered. "So what will you do now?"

"Don't get too excited," Lisa turned sharply to the Beast as she said this. "I'm still the Animal Avenger and I will still only go after animal abusers. Only from now on," Lisa turned toward Clementine, teary up as she looked upon her peaceful face. "I won't delude myself into thinking what I'm killing isn't my own species."

"They say Man is the most dangerous animal of all," The Beast said. "Well, besides mosquitos. Little buzzing bastards."

Lisa and The Beast stood before the tree for what seemed like hours to the former. Eventually, she would approach Clementine's corpse one last time and get down on one knee. She couldn't get over how...happy Clementine looked to be here in this desolate forest, forever a part of the girl she loved. Lisa pressed her lips against Clementine's cold lips, a single tear trickling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Clementine..."

And then Lisa was awake.

She blinked a few times, as if to assure herself that she was really awake and slowly picked her head up from her pillow. It didn't take long for her to realize she was in the nurse's office, resting on a cot. Even more surprising, however, was that Nelson Muntz was sitting on a chair at the foot of her bed, staring in awe of her. "L-Lisa?"

"Nelson?" Lisa wiped both her eyes with a small groan and looked around. "What happened? How'd I end up here?"

"You mean you don't remember?" Nelson asked.

Lisa rubbed her head. "I remember dancing with you and then there was screaming..." Lisa groaned louder as she finally recalled the hallucinations and the panic that followed. "I'm so screwed." She thought. "How the hell am I supposed to explain this to Nelson, let alone anyone else?"

To Lisa's surprise, however, Nelson's face reddened a bit as he rubbed the back of his head. "Look, don't get embarrassed or anything but...you...kinda had your period at the prom."

"I what!?" Lisa's jaw dropped.

"Yeah, well it must have happened while we were dancing." Nelson said. "Somehow, it got on some other people and on the floor and then you screamed out of nowhere and everyone lost their shit and...yeah." Nelson awkwardly looked at Lisa. "T-That's what the everyone's saying anyway."

"Oh my God," Lisa whispered to herself as her gaze fell to her covers.

"H-Hey! It's alright!" Nelson waved his hands frantically. "I-It's nothing to be ashamed of, really! I mean, one time one of the guys on the team had to go really bad before a game and pissed himself when he got tackled. It was actually pretty funny..." Not even a second later, Nelson hit himself in the face. "Dammit! That wasn't right! I-I'm sorry! I just...Fuck! Why am I bad at this!?"

As Nelson continued to berate himself for his inability to comfort Lisa, she was still musing over what she had just heard, albeit, not in the way he had thought. "Oh my God...is everyone in this school a fucking moron? I spray blood everywhere and they think its my period? Are you kidding me?"

"Suddenly a wet dress doesn't seem so hard to explain, does it?"

"Shut it."

"Hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. You've used this town's stupidity to your advantage before? How's this time any different?"

Lisa thought over it a little more and realized that once again, as much as she didn't want to admit it, her darker half was right. This was the best thing that could happen and she needed to play into it, even if it meant being Little Miss Carrie White for what remained of the school year. "Say Nelson," She asked. "Did they at least, you know, Clean up all the blood yet?"

"Huh?" Nelson pulled himself from his own self-deprecating. "Oh uh Yeah! Hallsweeper Millie already cleaned up the whole thing." He twiddled his thumbs. "I-I don't know how we can fix the, you know, gossip though."

Lisa giggled. "We have less then three weeks of school left. I think I can handle it." She sighed. "I'm sorry I ruined our dance though."

"H-Hey! It's fine!" Nelson assured her. "I just wish you would have told me you were...will...you know...I would have ran to the store and gotten you a pad or something."

Lisa giggled again. "Thanks Nelson. That's...That's really sweet."

A curtain of quiet, peaceful silence fell over the room as the two teens gazed into each other's eyes. It was a warm moment and Lisa wished it could have lasted far longer than a minute. But alas, Nelson gasped with realization and got up from his chair.

"Oh shit! That's right!" He shouted. "Bart wanted me to get him as soon as you woke up!"

"Bart?" Lisa asked. "He's still here too?"

"Yeah," Nelson said. "A lot of students are here actually, waiting for their parents to pick them up." Nelson replied. "In fact, I think Bart said something about calling your folks when I saw him out in the hall." Nelson snapped his fingers. "I bet they're here right now!" He walked up to Lisa's bedside. and held her hand. "I'll go get them for ya."

"Oh Nelson, you don't have to do that." Lisa said.

"I insist," Nelson said as he planted a kiss on Lisa's cheek. "I'll be right back." And with that, Nelson left Lisa alone in the room.

"Nelson," Lisa whispered sadly as she remembered her epiphany and knew that, as much as she liked Nelson, she wouldn't be able to stay with him. Not with what she was. She could already imagine the fear and hate she would see in his eyes if he were ever to discover the truth. Not just him but her friends, her family, everyone she knew. The thought shook her to the core and she uttered a silent prayer of thanks that her town really was full of morons.

It was then that she felt a small beam of light touch her cheek. She turned and looked out the window to her right. It was morning, the Sun barely peaking out through the rain clouds that had taken over last night's sky, washing away all evidence of Lisa's crime aside from the body, a body they were sure to find today.

"Think they'll link your absence from the prom with that?" The Beast asked.

"Oh please," Lisa whispered. "This is Springfield we're talking about. It'll never even occur to them."

With a sigh of acceptance to her bloody existence and whatever fate it would bring in the end, the girl simply known as the Animal Avenger continued to stare out the window.

(Phew...finished at last.

Okay so first of all, I want to make it clear that the whole twist with Clementine and Isaac was one I was planning from the very beginning. Even before I came up with the character's names and faces, I had these ideas. I just hope I wrote them out alright. Suffice it to say, you really, really shouldn't quote me on anything in this story regarding actual mental illness. I'm a writer, not a psychologist.

And on that note, please do not take Clementine's story as me romanticizing suicide. If you feel like you're at the edge, there are hotlines online that could help. Remember, you have people that love you, even if it doesn't always feel like that. Take it from someone who's been on that route before. It does get better.

I'll be taking quite a break from this story, both to plan out the next season and to fix some grammar errors on what I've written so far. (Seriously, no one told me about Isaac!) Can't say when the story will be back on but I'll be sure to give you a head's up.

One more thing, the repost in my other account (AO3) will have a nice little extra feature so please check that out when you can.

Until next time, I'm BloodySimpsonChibi and be good people!)