A Single [ACT] of Mercy

from /sus/ Thread #820: Goth Gals Edition
https://desuarchive.org/trash/thread/54136757/#54136768
-------------
A Single [ACT] of Mercy
__

The shining eyes of dead gods stared down at the turmoil below them as lightning danced between the clouds of ash that covered their countenance, uncovering their unknowable visage. Rivers of red fire poured out from the dying mountains from which the titans had been birthed, choking and coughing out gouts of newborn earth and ash in their death throes. Below the great and dead ones, a sore and terrible battle had been raging. Swords were clashing amidst screams and cries of countless souls fighting for their lives and the lives of everyone they knew. The souls below looked up at the majestic terror standing inert and towering into the furthest reaches of the sky, and knew that if they failed, the last thing they would see would be those dead eyes waking up, ready to devour every world between light and dark.

On and on the battle raged.

Yet it was already over.

The forces of the enemy were waning. It would only be so long until they had seen their leader subdued, and their ranks would dissolve completely.

All that remained to do was to dispose of her, and she knew it. There was no bargaining. Nowhere left to go. A sword, an axe, and magic that healed the wounds of those who elided them loomed over her, ready to finish this fight once and for all.

The Vessel looked down in horror at her own broken sword. A sad question floated in her thoughts; what would be more pathetic? Going down without a fight? Or trying to put up a feeble resistance with that broken weapon? There was no answer. It didn’t matter. It was over any way she looked at it. She looked all around her to see her plans all falling apart into magnificent shambles. The titans would never awaken again. Their deadened faces only glowing with a waning residual power that she had failed to reignite. Her forces were vanishing as darkners from every other world descended with righteous fury on hers, rending their lifeless, shaded forms into mist and nothingness.
-
But perhaps the most devastating thing to see was what was right in front of her.

Kris, Susie, and Ralsei stood before her, unquestionably victorious.

And behind them stood the only two who she thought she could call friends. Deetee and Crusher stood quietly behind her foes, refusing to vanquish them, but rather standing behind them.

As she saw her former friends staring her down alongside her enemies, something inside her utterly broke.

Her hands went to her scalp, gripped it until she felt it would tear, lurched her head back, and screamed.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

She screamed with all the soul-crushing hopelessness and anger that her powerless impotence bred in her. Everything she had wanted, everything she had hoped to reclaim, her inborn right to be the hero, to write the story, to be the center of the prophecy, had slipped irretrievably out of her fingers.

Over and over she pushed the air out of her lungs with all the violence and anger of bitter defeat. She screamed at her enemies, throwing her final condemnation upon them.

“YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!! YOU TOOK MY HOME! YOU TOOK MY DESTINY! MY SOUL!! YOU EVEN-!” She looked up at crusher’s big red eye looking down at her with what must have bene condescension, and a dam inside her broke. She picked up the broken hilt of her sword and threw it at him with all her remaining strength. “-YOU EVEN TOOK AWAY MY FRIENDS!!”

It wasn’t condescension that filled the massive automaton’s eye. It was pity. He simply had no words to express it properly.

Deetee however, did. “Vess… Vess come on just…. just stop fighting. I’ve been trying to tell you that-“

She didn’t get to finish before the broken Vessel threw her only remaining weapon in the form of her broken sword blade. It clattered at the darkner girl’s feet as she flinched away from it. “SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY ANYMORE!!”

“Vess!”
-
“YOU’RE A TRAITOR!” Veth cried, the sorrow in her voice beginning to overtake her anger as tears began to flow openly on her cheeks. “Y-YOU LEFT ME FOR THEM! YOU AND DREEMCRUSHER! YOU! You…!”

“Vess please!”

“You left me all alone….”

Susie felt no pity for the crying grey heap before her. Her knuckles went white over the hilt of her ax. “For damn good reason, I’d say… Kris, it’s your call.”

With a scowl hidden by flowing bangs, the boy gripped his sword and took a step towards the foe. Deetee saw the way he clutched his hilt and her heart dropped.

“Kris, y-you don’t have to-!”

“Yes, he does.” A dreadfully cold reply came her the darkner in front of her. Ralsei’s compassion was all but spent. “If he doesn’t this is just going to happen again, and there’s no telling if we’ll win next time.”

“But Ralsei-!”

“No buts.” Said the dark prince, wagging his head in disgust. “She almost destroyed everything, Deetee. Everything. I remember learning a while back just how dangerous it is to give second chances to someone who doesn’t deserve it. That lesson nearly cost me my life and the lives of Kris and Susie. I don’t need to re-learn it.”

“No, please! I-I can talk to her! Just let me- AAH!!”

Her leg froze just as she stepped forward, encased in shimmering ice. She looked behind to see two sisters, the youngest with a hand outstretched, the eldest shaking her head.

“No, Deets.” Dess’ voice was colder than her sister’s magic. “This isn’t something you can fix.”

“But I-!”

Noelle shook her head. “You shouldn’t pay for her mistakes anymore. None of us should. She’s brought this on herself.”

The Vessel had nothing to add. Deep down, she knew they were right.

The human continued to approach her, sword in hand.
-
Yet while his arm wielded fury, his face bore none. Not anymore. Deep down, despite everything she had done, despite all the hate she had spewed toward him and his friends, despite all the counsel he had received advising him to hold no quarter, he felt compassion welling somewhere deep from within him. The Vessel wasn’t screaming anymore. Her quiet, defeated sobs elicited something more than simple pity. He just wasn’t sure why. By all rights, she did not deserve it.

Still, he couldn’t bring himself to raise his sword over her head.

“Wha-what are you waiting for?” She whimpered. “J-just, just do it already…”

Her head was bowed, as if inviting his blade to put an end to her misery.

But he refused.

Instead he knelt down in front of her, his red eyes bereft of the determined rage and righteous indignation that had burned in them so hotly only minutes before. She could scarcely stand to look at them. She had no idea what to say in return. She just stared back up, meekly, resigned to her fate, yet confused and terrified of the fact that it hadn’t yet befallen her.

Kris knew only one thing. He wanted to spare her. He just didn’t know how.

But someone else did.

*Take me to her

‘What?!’ Kris thought in response to the one who shared his soul.

*You heard me. Take me to her.

His silence would have irritated her on any other day, but right now, it terrified her. All she knew was that her life was forfeit, yet Kris still didn’t move.

‘I can’t just give you to her! Not after everything she’s done!’

*You’re not giving me to her

‘Then what am I doing?’

*You want to save her, right?
-
He looked upon her afresh and saw the terror and pain in her eyes. They were rife with the fear of death and the utter bitterness of defeat and crushed hopes. He had known both. For years, at least one of them had burdened his every waking moment, and even as he glanced back to see Dess alive and well behind him, he still remembered what it was like losing her. What it was like to feel his life falling to pieces as all the love he knew died to estrangement and divorce and loneliness.

‘I do…’

*Then let me take care of it.

‘How?’

*I’ve got an idea. I don’t guarantee it’ll work, but we’ve got to try.

Kris set a hand on the girl's shoulder. Her eyes widened. She dared not move.

“K-Kris?”

There was a second or two of silence before both the boy and the power within him moved in agreement with one another, and Kris’ arms came around the defeated girl in a gentle embrace. Her world stopped. Her shuddering and shaking slowed and came to a halt. Her mind froze in its entirety, completely unable to understand what had just happened, what was still happening. Perhaps on any other day, she would have rebuffed him, perhaps even violently. Yet, the first thought she could form wasn’t that of irritation or anger. It wasn’t suspicion of perfidy like it had been every time he had thus far offered her an olive branch. It was a realization that his kindness was genuine. It always had been up until this point. Even after she had opened this horrible world, even after she had threatened to awaken the titans, after the sore battle and bringing for the denizens of every dark world to bear against her, Kris had always wanted to show her kindness.

She felt a warmth deep within her that seared the shadows away for the first time in her life. She had no idea what it was. Perhaps it was one of the many little emotions her maker had tried putting into that soul he had tried to implant within her, only now, she felt it in its entire reality.
-
For the very first time, she had recognized and felt the kindness of another.

She didn’t see it at first, but Kris’ soul was glowing, and its light was spreading beyond itself. Something else was glowing right next to it, and as its light intensified, she soon realized what it was when a red silhouette began to form over the wiring and the broken blackness in her heart.

Her own soul was forming.

And as it formed, the nascent feelings she had only ever dreamed of tasting in full began to germinate within her all at once. All the anger and fear began to drown under a growing torrent of catharsis. She had felt only a tinge of these new feelings before, like the one time she felt that low, sinking feeling when she had insulted Rudy’s memory to Dess and Noelle’s face, but couldn’t quite make out what it was. Now she felt it a thousand-fold, tearing at her conscience and bringing new tears to her face. Only minutes ago, she could hardly conceive feeling this way over someone being at the receiving end of her vitriol, yet now she felt as if it would crush her under a leaden weight of shame and guilt. Everything she had done had finally come to haunt her in full. All her threats, all her venom, all her hate, all the hurt she dished out, every wrong she had inflicted on someone just to have her glory and the prophecy she thought was hers now stung her like hot irons. Her whimpered, shuddering apologies struggled to get past her quivering jaw.

Yet another new feeling, one of gladness and relief, balanced out the great rue that had fallen upon her. This one was completely foreign, and it overwhelmed her as she began to sob and shake openly, returning Kris’ hug and burying her face into his shoulder. Unlike shame, she had never even gotten a taste of this: feeling gladness for someone’s kindness. She had known a tinge of gratitude towards her “father” and the things he did to try and make her happy, but only now could she appreciate his care for her in full.
-
The longer Kris hugged her, the harder she cried, almost to the point of hysterics as her newborn soul experienced all of its growing pains at once. Kris felt her arms wrapping tighter around him and the dampness in his shoulder as she continued to weep. It only made his own eyes wet in return. He couldn’t put his thoughts to words. His hand stroked up and down the girl’s back, letting her know he wanted nothing more than her comfort.

At long last, they began to separate, and the glow of their souls burned all the brighter to the astonishment of everyone in the courtyard. Everyone at once knew what had just happened. They didn’t understand how; not even Ralsei knew. Yet all the same, none of them needed an explanation. Not at the moment. They were just simply dumbstruck that it could have ever ended like this, and none of them could bring themselves to say a word.

Kris spoke up first. “Ralsei… get everyone out of here, okay?”

The Prince answered silently with a bow before heading off to gather the inhabitants of the dark. Susie, Noelle, Dess, Deetee and Crusher stayed.

The shapeshifting princess still couldn’t believe her eyes. She had come here prepared to see her first friend, too far gone to repent, pay for nearly ending the world, and as much as that thought tormented her inside, she knew it would have bene necessary. Now she saw her weeping in her former enemy’s arms, having what she had always wanted; just not in a way that either of them had ever expected.

“V-Vess… you’re!”

“H-hey Deetee…” She answered meekly,

“Kris… how?”

“I don’t know… he answered. The power within him didn’t answer either. “But let’s just say I didn’t want it to end the way we all thought it would,”
-
Susie breathed out a sigh of relief. As much of a firebrand as she was, something had always troubled her about the idea of seeing her friend taking a life, even if it were for the good of the world. She still bore no good feelings for their latest enemy, but seeing her like this opened some space in her heart where maybe, just maybe, she could cultivate some in the future. Dess and Noelle walked up next to the dragoness, looking on in sheer disbelief as the most unrepentant person they had ever met asking for and receiving a forgiveness neither of them were sure she deserved. Why would Kris bother to save her? How much worse off would everyone be if she had paid for what she had said and done? The sisters exchanged a look, but when they saw the mutual anger in each other’s eyes they saw where they had been wrong to be so vindictive, and the realization humbled them. Not enough to let everything go, perhaps, but enough that they couldn’t bring themselves against Kris’ decision any further.

With nothing else there to interrupt, Kris lifted Veth’ chin and locked eyes with her before looking up together at the fountain behind them.

“You know what you have to do.” He whispered.

It was so surreal, seeing her old dreams in shambles and being asked to put them to rest forever, but as she saw the care in his eyes and felt the need to atone for at least one thing she had done, she nodded her head and stood up together with him, approaching the fountain with new purpose.

The light began to envelop her, and her soul began to glow.

And then the world all around her dissolved in a flash of light.

Her eyes opened, and she was surrounded with stained glass and pews once more. Crushy and Deetee lay at her feet, and she scrambled to pick them up and pocket them to keep them safe for later. She nearly dropped Crushy as her hand fumbled as his base, only for Kris to catch him and hand his plastic frame back over to her.
-
“*Snf* Thanks…” she sniffled.

Kris put a hand on her shoulder again. “No problem.”

She looked behind her to see all the others with wide eyes and empty brows that up until this point, had only ever folded around her. Now without that anger, she didn’t know what to make of them, and it frightened her a little. She retreated towards Kris, grabbing the sleeve of his sweater and backing away behind him.

Her fear wasn’t lost on him, and he signaled them. “Hey guys?”

“Yeah?” Susie answered.

“Think you can give us just a minute?”

The dragoness nodded her head. “Yeah… Guys?”

“We can all head to our place.” Dess answered, corralling her juniors towards the church doors. “We’ll see you there, Kris.”

"You got it."

“See you in a couple minutes, Kris-Kross.”

Susie was the last one out, and she exchanged a smile with Kris as the door shut behind her. It took a few seconds of silence for Veth to gather her thoughts sufficient to put them into words, but when she did, Kris was waiting for her with an understanding smile.

“Thank you-”

“You don’t have to thank me for anyth-“

“No, Kris!” She insisted, taking him by the sweater sleeves. “Please, just… just let me say this!”

“… Okay.”

Those silver eyes looked deep into his, and he felt the urgency of her words.

“Kris, you didn’t owe me anything. There wasn’t any reason for you to spare me.”

“Yes, there was-!”

“No! Please, just listen I-!” She struggled to maintain her composure. What she was hoping to say came with feelings that still tore her apart inside, no matter how much Kris intended to forgive her.
-
“I was so horrible to you… I was horrible to all of you. The things I said to Susie, trying to get her to doubt herself, digging all that awful stuff back up that she used to say and do, all that was bad enough. Then the Holidays… the things I said about their father right to their faces… Kris, even before this I felt low doing that. And you? Kris, I’ve blamed so much on you. I put so much hate on you, b-blamed you for everything wrong that had happened to me! I tried to hurt you I-I tried to kill you! And then I *snf* And then I tried to-!”

He could hear her pitch raising as she tried to surmount the incoming tears and knew what was coming, so he braced her for it, taking her up in another gentle hug as she let the floodgates open. She didn’t need to finish. Kris had heard enough. He knew what to say.

“Shh, it’s okay…”

Once more, her head was buried in his shoulder. The old her would have bene utterly loathe to find herself in this position, but now it was all she wanted. “K-Kris!”

“You made me think about why I first went with Susie into that closet that day. I just… I just wanted everything to be better after it had gotten so much worse after so long.”

Thoughts of losing and finding Dess played in his mind as he gathered himself and braced against his own emotions. “I had felt so alone and so miserable for so long…”

Veth continued to listen. Her wet eyelids opened along with her understanding.

“… And at some point, when I saw that same pain in you, all I wanted was to make it better.”

Hearing that declaration of compassion broke any remnants of the dam left inside her, and she hugged her former enemy with all her might. No amount of ‘thank you’ could have ever articulated her gratitude and relief. Nothing she could say could do her feelings justice, but they didn’t need to. Kris understood well enough without her saying a single word, and he let his tears flow again alongside hers.
-
“W-what do I say to the others?” She whimpered. “Th-they’ll all still hate me!”

“They’ll learn to forgive you in time. If I can forgive you, they can.”

“What if they don’t?”

It was a weighty question, but Kris had a determined answer. “Well then, that’s their problem.”

His answer did a lot to soothe her pained heart. Her sobbing wound down, yet her arms didn’t let go. There was a warmth emanating from Kris. A feeling of safety that she hadn’t felt so deeply and so certainly ever before. For the first time, she truly felt like things were going to get better, and that there was someone who would be there for her. She never would have expected it to be the same person she once blamed for all her misery. She didn’t know what to do or where to go next, but she felt an assurance that Kris would be there to help her every step of the way. The sweet, caring look in his apple eyes said it all.

But even then, Kris felt the need to say it anyway. “And hey, if things get rough, or if you ever feel like you need some help, don’t hesitate to call me, okay?”

She nestled her head in his shoulder again, finally letting herself smile. “Thankth, Krith.”

The boy stifled a chuckle. His smile went from small and gentle to a mile-wide grin.

“There it is...” he said, biting his lip. “it’s back.”

She heard his snort leak out of his sealed lips. “What wath that, Krith?”

“Nothing, nothing….”

She felt enough trust in him to know whatever he was smirking about wasn’t something to put her down with. It felt refreshing feel that kind of trust, to know someone was only joking and not actively trying to hurt or demean. Still, she could sus out his particular brand of mischief.

“No, it’th not nothing, Krith. I know you. What’th tho funny?”

“Hey Veth?”

There was that name again, only now she wasn’t especially mad to hear it; she was just leery of it.

“Yyyyeah?” She said with a raised brow.

“Say ‘suffering succotash.’”
-
“Thuffing thucco….Th-thuffing schuthta… ugh, thuffering thuccota-!”

Kris cheeks puffed as he struggled to contain his laughter. A pout fought with an embarrassed smile for control of Veth’s face, and she punched Kris lightly on the arm. It was funny. When they first met and he teased her about this, he probably meant it just as nicely as he meant it now. The difference was the intent behind her punch. Now she meant it like Susie would mean it, only she lacked the power that Susie had, so Kris was left rubbing his shoulder and laughing instead of keeling over and croaking.

“Krith, you jerk!” she giggled.

“Ahahaha!” He continued to laugh as her little grey fist landed over and over on his arm. “Ah sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

“Of courth you couldn’t Dreemurr…”

“But honestly, I don’t mind the way you talk.”

“Yeah, that’th why you make fun of it, huh?”

“No really!”

“Har har.”

“I mean, hey, I can still call you ‘Veth,’ right? Or is that off the table?”

She could sense he was being more than just a jokester with that question. After a few seconds of mulling it over, she had her answer. “Jutht you.”

“Fine by me.”

She shook her head, unable to lose her smile. “Hey Krith?”

“Yeah?”

“They’re probably exthpecting you at the Holiday’th houthe, but… I don’t know if I’m ready to talk to everyone elthe jutht yet.”

“It’s okay. I know.” Kris shook himself of levity to ensure her comfort. “We’ll all go at our own pace. I won’t force you into anything.”

“Okay… but before you go, could you … could you walk me home?”

Kris felt a warmth in his cheeks when he heard the way she asked that. There was a sweet, timid, newborn trust in her voice that he wouldn’t have imagined hearing from her up until now, but in any case, it made him smile all the more as he took her hand.

“I’d be glad to.”
-
Her apartment wasn’t far. It wasn’t the longest walk – only about five minutes or so, but feeling his hand in hers made it pass by even quicker. When they reached her apartment door, she hesitated, not knowing exactly what to say, but Kris was patient. He could tell she was summoning the gumption for something, so he waited with her on the stoop until she was ready.

But when she was, she had little to say. Just one more sweet, warm hug.

That and two words.

“Thank you…”

Kris returned her embrace without hesitation. “Tell me if you ever need anything, okay?”

“Okay.”

She opened the door and stepped inside but didn’t shut it until she got one more good look at her newfound friend.

“Goodbye Krith.”

“Bye, Veth.”

The door shut behind her.

While she usually loathed to come home alone to that small apartment, it had bene a long enough day for her little bed to be a welcoming sight. That night, it felt warmer than ever, and the comfort carried her deep into sweet, peaceful sleep. The doctor came in to see her, as he usually would, and when he saw his daughter’s face smiling sweetly as she dreamt, he breathed a sigh of relief.

She was finally going to be okay.

He shut the door behind him, leaving her peacefully with her new, beautiful dreams.

[THE END]