This is my favorite part.

The first thing her father told her to do, that part was easy. With an electric crackle and a few flashes of light between her hands and the soul, she began to feel it. Occasional crackling arcs traveled up her arms, to her chest, then radiated up to her head and down to her toes. The arcs interfered with the cloaking spell a little as they traveled. Occasionally her head would seem malformed, or her legs misshapen, or her skin paler than it was a moment ago - but the spell never broke enough to reveal anything about Chloe's identity.

When it was over, she let out a long, satisfied sigh. Feeding off the energy of a soul was extremely pleasurable - it felt so good, in fact, that it let her forget about the ethical black hole she was falling into by being complicit in this. Strings was probably a terrible person anyway, right? So they probably deserved it... right?

She almost didn't care. Damn it felt good hold a soul in her hands, to consume it, to feel it sink into her body and make her feel indestructible.

Now for that second thing her father wanted her to do. Concentrate on the soul's destination and send it to hell.

Just sort of... send it there.

He hadn't given her any further instruction beforehand on how to handle souls, on how to channel their energies through her will into her home realm. He made it sound so straightforward, though, so it was probably really easy. Right?

She held the soul in her hands and scrunched her eyes shut, furrowing her eyebrows, focusing on hell really hard. After she felt like she had done enough focusing, she pushed it away from herself like a basketball pass. Instead of going to hell, it quickly slowed to a stop and hovered at knee height above the ground.


She opened her eyes. "I don't think I did that part right."

The sight of the dagger aimed at her general direction shouldn't be terrifying for her. She'd had times guns had been aimed at her and actually shot but she had never been harmed. But the one holding this weapon wasn't just anyone.

It was almost exactly the same thing that happened in the dream she had. She raised her hands to her face, basking in the feeling of getting to feel her own skin. She could finally distinguish sensations brought from simply being able to feel the air around her, feeling the gravity of the earth pulling her down. She cold hear her heart beat; she could even hear herself breathe.

For a split second, she thought it was right. But there was something missing. Something big. She felt like she was finally stable, and yet she felt hollow. Her hands dropped to her side.

"This isn't right," she whispered, mostly to herself while the devil's attention was on the other girl. She could feel rage bubble up from inside her. After she'd said those words, Mikhainon turned to her. Seeing his smile only infuriated her further.

"This isn't what I asked for." Strings tried to maintain her calm. For a moment she attempted to manipulate the shadows around them to stir them up only to realize, she couldn't. The shadow remained static around them, unresponsive to her command.

"What did you do!?"

He took her soul; and he took her abilities, and he didn't even give her back what she wanted. She was still the same. He cheated her.

Her eyes fell on the orb that the girl dropped and she knew immediately what she should do. Without second thought, Strings made a jump for it. She deserved to have it back. After all, he didn't fulfill his end of the deal--at least that was how she saw it.

Chloe's legs were shaking a little as she walked away.

It was a bit of everything, really. Strings' harassment pre-wish, witnessing a soul being ripped out of somebody else, handling the soul herself, being terrified for a moment that she had lost that soul and failed her father - it was an exciting evening.

And also Basil was there. That couldn't have been helping the way Chloe felt right now. Even with his field dampened as it was, she felt a little gross inside, walking away from the scene.

"I almost feel sorry for her," Chloe said. Then, remembering who she was talking to, she wrapped up that thought with a dismissive "Sucks to suck" and a shrug.

Basil found himself once again disappointed, this time at being released, humming and just slightly reaching out for the tendrils as they left. Aw. Goodbye friends. But the deal still had to go on, couldn't stroll through the meadows of terror and tentacles forever (wow, depressing!). Chloe hadn't been having much fun, either, and that was never really a tolerable thing, so.

Things really did get serious.

Gabriel was pretty much the coolest ever. Basil just barely contained his squealing, quietly clapping his hands together and then pressing them to his own cheeks instead, ever so starry eyed.

What a wonderful trainwreck.

The reality warping was great, Basil definitely wasn't keeping his sounds to himself this time, whoops. How intently he watched and felt at the atmosphere, the actions taken, they weren't only for fanboy purposes. He was here to learn, just as Chloe was, and he drank in all he received, planning not to let a single thing go to waste.

Jesus fucking christ, that power was like a goddamn drug. Basil might very well drool.

Ah. This could get… addicting, couldn't it? Hm.

Gods were so cute.

The monster, the girl, realized everything was wrong, and there was a quick attempt to just snatch her soul back up. Oh dear, was that funny, or sad? Both? Both.

And so it was finally done, a heavy experience and yet so very short in the bigger scheme of things. He felt satiated in one area, but a new hunger in another.

Basil grinned, and followed after his demons.

[[ NINE MONTHS LATER, I FINALLY GIVE YOU CLOSURE
END ME THIS]]



Strings almost had it.

Strings felt the warmth that emanated from the glowing orb — her soul. It was just for a moment, just mere seconds and she thought she could take it all back. Gabriel lied about restoring her true self back, he had no right to keep it. She was dimly aware of the feeling of her mouth tugging into a smile as she held the orb. But just as she had it in her hands, it slipped through her grasp. Her smile fell and she was met with rough gravel.

"I gave you what you wished for," he told her.

He didn't! He lied! He cheated! A voice in her head screamed, muddled out by the sensations she felt at that moment. What was that bubbling inside her? It was an unfamiliar burning feeling in her chest, constricting and uncomfortable, like something wanted to crawl out through her throat. There was a prickling sensation in her eyes, blurring her vision just a little. Her skin stung. She could feel the sensation from her arms, and her jaw when she'd hit the ground. She wanted to claw out the uncomfortable feeling — and she did, but all that did was worsen the stinging. She didn't even notice how she'd only made it worse.

The devil's laughter was merely drowned out by the overwhelming scream Strings heard in her own mind. Or was that her own? Her throat burned but it didn't ebb away the one that was deep in her chest that she still tried to claw out. She didn't like this feeling. Not one bit.

By the time Gabriel spoke again, she was lucid enough to hear him. To understand how much he knew exactly what she wanted, and he had used her own desperation to get to her. He allowed her to think she could use him as an easy way out in spite of her own doubts. He made her think she was ahead of him — and she allowed him to do that.

"You tricked me." Her voice was barely a whisper.

Strings looked at him with eyes wide, searching him for that confirmation. Gabriel didn't even spare her a glance as their surroundings returned to normal. The glowing orb had vanished. Suddenly, everything about of the forest flooded Strings in full force, its sounds, and scent no longer muddled by the veil that kept her in the void. Gabriel turned his back on her. He didn't need to speak anymore; Strings got her answer.

Come back here, fiend! she screamed in her mind almost forgetting she could no longer speak through the darkness. Strings pushed herself off the ground to chase after them but her legs gave out under her, letting her fall into the ground. Her knees and palms fell into rough patches of soil making small pebbles dig into her skin. The burning sensation from the scrapes on her skin came back with fury. She kept clawing at her arms and at her chest, begging for the pain to stop but it was no use.

Strings couldn't chase after the three, but the sound of her desperate screams followed them as it echoed through the forest .