tenshou toushenshou

It looked like static was dripping from Jill's eyes, her tears condensing into big, misshapen puddles at her feet. Dorothy inhaled sharply, having never seen this before. Jill was completely unresponsive, her breathing shallow as she leaned against the wall, her mind seemingly a thousand miles away. Dorothy knew that Jill would sometimes completely disappear for hours or days at a time, but she had never imagined what exactly it was she was doing. And the answer was, at least on the outside, nothing at all.

"Jill?" She asked cautiously, quietly, steadily stepping towards her friend. Jill didn't respond. "Jill, come on, I know you're in there, you have to tell me what's up with all this... Scary ghost girl stuff..."

Dorothy's fist curled up reflexively as she heard the crackling splash of Jill's erratic tears hit the floor. Taking a deep breath to push her fear out of her mind, she grabbed Jill's shoulder, trying to nudge her friend back into the living world. Jill moved almost instinctively, flinching out of her grasp, the tears coming out faster as a loud whimper escaped her throat.

"Jill!?" Dorothy cried, not even hesitating as she reached another hand around to face Jill at herself. "It's me, Dorothy! You know I'd never hurt you, please... If you can manage it, tell me something, anything..."

Jill's blank eyes stared through Dorothy, and her head bobbed down to the side, static tears splashing from her face directly onto Dorothy's hand. It tingled, like her arm was falling asleep, and Dorothy fell, losing all control of her body.

"Don't..."

Dorothy was sure she heard Jill mumble something, but then everything went black.

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She was running. She was running along a riverbank, eyes concentrated on the woman ahead of her, and not on the shouts of the men behind her. She passed what she was carrying to the other woman, who fled into the woods. She hardly had the chance to breathe, her first real breath of relief since escaping her imprisonment, when an arrow sunk into her back, her human blood soaking the silty soil and mingling with the current before her.

Only her body had died. In a blink, she opened her eyes and stared out from the cave, now inhabiting the body of her familiar. Her twins may grow up believing their mother died this day, but she would live on long enough to nurse them, to give them the last of her strength in this other body. Her strength would live on through them; and their father's too. Her wisdom would give them the strength to build the greatest city of their time; but their father's blood would make them kill one another to own it.

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Dorothy could feel the arrow hitting her- But that wasn't her. That was a different time, a different place. But she had felt those actions and could feel those same thoughts running through her head. And yet.

And yet. She was only a passenger to that life. A momentary witness.

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The cold wind cut into her face, howling among the trees of the forest, trees that seemed to rise higher than the trails of smoke back in her home. Parts of her wanted to turn back, to where it was safe. But she trudged on, her footsteps barely making a sound on the snow surrounding her. She had made a promise, and she would make good on it. Ahead of her, she could already make out the forms of the outsiders, even if she couldn't truly see them. She could feel them. This was a strange ability that she had always silently possessed, but she counted it as a blessing from the gods.

Maybe too, it was a gift from the gods that the intruders now found themselves paralyzed with fear, giving her plenty of time to steady her bow, take aim, and fire.

Somewhere beyond her, wolves howled. The wind howled.

Deep within her being, she howled back.

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A sickly iron stench hung from every wall in the castle, but she paid it no mind. In fact, she warmly embraced it, a dark smile on her face as she rose from her seat to see the newest group of young maidens chosen from the peasantry.  Each of them gazed at her, trembling with fear; as they all knew by now what their fate would be, punishment for being pretty and young. All they could do was cower and hope they wouldn't be first; failing that, that their end would be swift.

Save for one.

She paused, looking at one that stood out to no one else but her. A skinny and poor wisp, just like the others. But something about those dark eyes, that seemed far older than they should be.  She reached out a hand, and held the girl by her chin, looking deep into her eyes.

"Wolf..." The girl growled, and she stiffened. Who the hell did this peasant think she was?

Before she could even think, she reacted as the girl lunged at her, brandishing the sharpened piece of stone she had hid in her clothes somehow. Instinctively, she grabbed the girl's wrist, twisting it so harshly she heard her wrist snap, grabbing the would-be weapon from her, driving the crude instrument into the girl's chest. She couldn't help herself; killing was a thrill, and for someone to be so foolish as to try and dethrone her in violence was an opportunity she couldn't refuse. She wouldn't be stopped; her servants turned their heads, waiting for it to be over so they could do their grisly work on the corpse.

"Haah... Haah..." She breathed, her hair coming loose from it's jeweled braiding and blood soaking her impeccably white sleeves as she stabbed the girl, her eyes mad with power. She kissed the girl as she choked on her own vital fluids, drinking from her like she was merely another goblet at her table.

She stood there for a moment longer, the room silent save for the roar of torches and her own ecstatic panting. The moment passed, and she stood straight and tall like the noblewoman she was, dropping the girl's body with about as much care as she would have for a broken teacup.

"Drain her," She commanded. "I will soak in what's left later this evening. As for the rest," She turned on her heel, pausing a moment to lick the red off her fingers. "Take them down to the dungeons. Best to save them for tomorrow."

Outside in the forest, dogs no doubt snarled at snapped at each other for whatever small scrap they could catch. She, however, was a bitch on top of the world, with status, power, and the secret to eternal youth...

What more could a woman want?

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The stench of blood was still fresh in Dorothy's mind as she woke up with a start, her fingers clutching the covers of her bed.

Wait.

"What the..." Dorothy said hoarsely, looking around her room. Her door opened, and Dorothy saw a pair of dark eyes peek sadly into the room.

Eyes that seemed too old for a girl so young.

"Jill? Did I... Did I pass out when your eyes were doing some really weird stuff?" Dorothy asked, not sure how to phrase 'I just had three murder dreams WHAT THE FUCK'on an empty stomach.

"Yes, you were asleep..." Jill answered, opening the door and entering. She kept her distance, as if she was somehow responsible for what happened.

"Ugh, how long? I feel terrible," Dorothy said. Jill began to say something, but then looked out the window, pointedly not meeting Dorothy's eyes. However, she did hold up three fingers.

"Three? Three hours?"

"Three days," Jill responded, hanging her head low.

"... Fuck. No wonder you go incognito," Dorothy tried to laugh but the images of what she saw herself doing- Well, they weren't her, were they? - At any rate, it wasn't something she would be able to shake easily. "Does that always happen?"

"No, I've always been able to lock myself away before HECATE-" Jill turned to Dorothy, her lip quivering. "Dorothy, I'm so sorry, please understand, when she argues with me, it's like my body is pushed to it's limits and-"

"So it was HECATE? She would send me those weird dreams..." Dorothy scowled. "Trying to scare me off, making me think I'd ever really hurt anyone, tsk~"

She was trying to lift Jill's feelings, but Dorothy could tell that every word she said only made things worse.

"So... That's what you saw," Jill said, sitting on the foot of the bed. "Then they weren't dreams."

"What do you mean?"

"Flashbacks. Incredibly vivid ones, no doubt. Of past witches- Past lives, I suppose."

"So I really used to be-"

"They weren't you. Not completely. I think. You're all different, that I can distinctly remember. You're shaped by your culture, more deeply than you can understand. Oh, Dorothy, please don't think-"

"Jill." Dorothy leaned over and put a hand on Jill's shoulder, smiling. "You know I never do. You're the brains of this operation, ain't ya?"

"Ah... I... Guess so," Jill said, glancing away and smiling very subtly in return. "You must be hungry. I'm not very good at cooking, but... I think you have some ground beef in your refrigerator."

".... Nah, I'm not gonna have meat for a couple of days." Dorothy stated. "Maybe a salad? Anything that doesn't bleed. I think I've seen enough meat for a couple of days."