& VIINDICTIVE

“I’m trying not to be, that’s why I’m here.” Annie shook her head before sighing and realizing just how impatient she sounded. “I don’t remember most of that time and honestly I don’t want to.” She looked down. “I’m just glad that it wasn’t really me…” The way Arabella spoke about that time made it seem like she had a hand in tampering with her mind, but she didn’t feel like asking or hearing an answer from the deity. The last thing she wanted was for Arabella to leave her with a feeling worse than the ones she already had. 

“I’m not going to cry. I’m already passed that stage… I guess that’s lucky for your get up.” She placed her hands on her lap and started to focus on them. Annie wasn’t worried about the blood on them. She was more concerned with the fact that Aurelia didn’t want to speak to her anymore. “What’s the price? I just need to get better before i can help the people I care about.” She would do anything for Aurelia, but she couldn’t do it until she fixed what was wrong with her first. “

“Well, the Compliance Department really knew how to work you. Usually, I’d tell people to fight their own battles and figure this shit out on their own, but I understand what you’re up against.” Majority of the time, Maria chose not to empathize, but Apollyon and their resources were of high caliber that even she found worrisome. “You’re weak if you thought that was your true self. Not knowing who you truly are to begin with will fuck you up in the long run.” 

The world wasn’t very familiar anymore, not with the knowledge of what existed in the darkness. Annie had trouble seeing what was normal and she was exhausted from trying to keep herself alert. Something had to be wrong somewhere and she didn’t want to be on the receiving end of any of it. “I’m sorry…” She kept her voice low. “It’s just been a while.” She tried to play off how out of place she felt as light social anxiety. It was awkward, but at least she looked lost for the normal reasons. She let Arabella say her piece and allowed herself to be ushered to the back quickly. 

“From what I remember, I’m not too surprised.” The deity had a lot to say, but at the very least, she was communicating. Antoinette took a seat at the spot indicated so she wouldn’t be rude. “Because I’m remembering more of what I couldn’t and you were in some of the files I worked with.”  She swallowed the lump in her throat and took a long pause before continuing. “It’s like I can still feel him and I don’t want to. I’m scared because he knew how to deal with me better than I can deal with myself… Listen, I just…” She knew that Arabella already knew about how desperate she was. 

“Whatever, just...Stop being weird.” While Maria may have appreciated the respectful gesture, it was all about timing and because she had an image to uphold, the unconventional greeting was truly unnecessary. “Ah right, Apollyon fucked with your mind.” Perhaps she should cut Antoinette some slack, but then again this was Arabella. She made things difficult on purpose. “I was associated with you during your time in HQ, but I was not fond of you. You were a robot, it was boring despite the shit you pulled.” 

She read this woman’s name in a file somewhere. It must have happened whilst she was at Apollyon because she couldn’t put a name to the place in her memory, but she knew who to find. Annie remembered meeting her once by chance and now she was in a line of fans waiting to have their moment with Arabella. A few months ago she would have been excited about this moment, but at the moment, all she could feel was anxiety. She wasn’t sure if Arabella would or could help her. If the file was correct, then maybe she’d had a chance to fix the scars that Xavier left on her mind. When it was her turn, she stepped up and let out a sigh. “I don’t know if you heard how much I’ve been practicing for this encounter.” She bowed her head, respectfully. “I can’t go back to Apollyon for this and I don’t know how to fix it.” 

@arabcllax

Arabella’s been laying low. Reason being is that she wanted to see what the other divine beings had to offer. Patient as she is, the diwata was...bored. She’d been quiet and also doing her best to evade Amara’s wrath. She wasn’t in the mood for a full out brawl with an Original Hybrid. Therefore to ease it all out, she immersed herself in her work which wasn’t an issue at all. Doing a signing at Ceres’ Sephora, Arabella was promoting a new makeup line with a prestige brand and conducting her usual meet and greet. When a familiar, yet unusual face came up to the table, Arabella narrowed her gaze and blinked slowly as if what Antoinette did was socially unacceptable. “Hi.” she greeted at first. She then took her highlighter palette and signed it, before leaning in for her to hear and sliding the object over towards the other. “You’re in public, act normal. The head bow was so fucking unnecessary.” Faking a smile, she then got up from her seat as she faked the act of meeting an old friend. “Ah! I remember you now! Ugh, it’s soooo great seeing you, we have to catch up!” A fake hug here, before turning towards the crowd. “Alright beautiful people! I’m afraid it all ends here. I want to thank everyone for coming! I’ve signed the palettes, so please help yourself and I hope you love them!” 

“I hate to admit it, but I was an idiot before… then Greed came along and I guess injected some of this knowledge that she collected over the years. I think the Sin that killed my brother and took his face was embarrassed of me.” She shrugged. It was just a theory. Christine  would never know about the secrets of her family. Most of them were gone because of Jackson Knight.  She crossed her arms and sighed. “I don’t know about that. I don’t know a thing about business.”

The car ride wasn’t too long and she got down pretty easily. “You know…  your team is pretty mean looking. I’ve never seen a model with this kind of heat prevention.”  Christine looked around at the model’s guards and then walked to the door. “I have a strong feeling that Greed likes to play in the back. They bet more than just money there. Maybe on lives. I’ve never been.”

“Well no one’s perfect babe.” Except maybe for herself, but why state the obvious? Hearing about Pride and Jackson Knight made Arabella chuckle softly as she shook her head. “So? Look how they turned out—it was their loss babe. Now look at you, the youngest Knight and Greed coming out on top.” She then wholly gestured her hand at Christine and added, “All this, is a blessing in disguise. It’s never too late to know the ropes of such affairs, the way I see it, make do with what you have and make it your own. Hell, you don’t have to follow the norm. There’s other ways of earning your riches.”

“I used to be okay with people only seeing me as a fighter, but now things are complicated.”

That’s because I gave you knowledge, meat sack. You should feel blessed and overjoyed. 

Christine noticed the other woman’s smile. She knew that there was more to Arabella than she let on, but she didn’t think that the Sin would know the other woman as anything more than an acquaintance. “I can never be too careful. I’ve been in a lot of tough stuff since Knight name got dragged through the mud.” She chuckled. “I haven’t even started on the company that I can’t seem to get rid of.”

Be glad that I like our tongue. 

“I have no idea. People with money seem to do whatever they want.” She followed after Arabella. “Greed’s always hungry. It’s sort of in her name… We can. I’ve never really gambled before but I’m not against it.”

I’m good at gambling. Allow me control and I’ll make it worth it for both of you. 

“Complicated? Do tell.” Arabella wanted to delve into the mind of Greed’s vessel. The fact that she had a lot of free will in comparison to other Sins made her wonder what was so appealing of the youngest Knight. “Oh that’s understandable.” She had bigger shoes to fill in, not to mention a lot of cleaning up to do. “You’re a fighter though, which means you ain’t a quitter sis! I’m sure you’ll be able to get your empire together.” 

Angeline got out of her seat  and immediately ran to the doorway leading into the other room. She knew that her children would come over to see what was happening. Aubrey and Nathaniel loved their aunt. She spread her arms out, trying to shield them from what was at the window. “It’s nap time, you two, please go to your room. Mommy will tuck you in.” Her nanny was already compromised, so she doubted that the other woman would be of any help. The little ones clung onto her legs, clearly fearful. “Maria… You know that I don’t like to make any threats in front of my children, but you need to leave and if you don’t, I will destroy this world to make sure that you die with it.” She reached down to cover their eyes. For a moment, she felt her mind stretch out trying to grasp of slivers of psionic energy, but with how much Ava had absorbed, she couldn’t hold on to anything. She tried again before feeling her son squeeze her hand.

"Mood kill.” declared Arabella in a sing-song tone as she watched Angeline block the view of the deceased from her children. “Do what your mother tells you children. Auntie Bella will come back on a good day with an even better gift.” Eyeing her son, the diwata bent down and smiled. Maria saw potential in this one and said, “We’ll meet again, I promise.” Getting back up, Aurelia’s body immediately dropped onto the ground as Arabella made her leave. “Well, she’s all yours. Trust me Angie, you’ll thank me later.” 

And with that, the diwata waved goodbye and left the Vale household.

“Yeah, you’re not wrong.” Christine shook her head gently and sighed. Whenever people asked if she was nervous about her next fight, she always told them no because the opposition wasn’t frightening. The only enemy that she ever had to really fight against was herself. “That’s the best thing to hear and to feel. Whenever I get out of a fight with a win, I feel like I’m on top of a mountain.” She wanted to get back to official fights. “I try not to cause any trouble with the pap’s. I can hit harder than they can take and I don’t want any charges against me.” Her brother had enough criminal charges against him to cover the whole family. She was trying to stick to the good parts of the Knights, which was difficult when Greed was sharing her body.

Tell her that I also like to fight, flesh puppet. She can hear me, but my voice sounds prettier when it’s out of our mouth. 

“Greed likes to fight illegally. The spoils are better for it… I don’t like getting my head bashed in by a superhuman though.” Christine lifted a brow at Arabella. “I’m almost down for anything, but I’m keeping to things my PR team will approve of. The Knight name is in shambles”

“Rarely am I ever.” There was heavy meaning to her words, but the diwata had the tendency to tell it like it is. “Exactly, you get me. It’s truly a wonderful feeling.” Laughing at her precaution, Arabella nodded in understanding, “They probably want you to take a swing at them in the first place cause it’s the ‘fighter’ in you.” She airquoted when she said fighter and sighed, people just loved to push others to their limits. 

Christine couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to Arabella’s pretty face. This wasn’t the type of thing she expected to hear from someone like her. “I just think that people buy things without reason. If I could get away with fighting with brandless gear then I would, but just so happens that they have the technology to make it all work.” The world wasn’t balanced. “So is it still fun for you?” Fighting started as a hobby for her and then it turned into something more. She was still having fun but Greed like to sprinkle in some of her opinions into it. The Sin was a heavy thing to share her body with. “He owns a training gym. Pretty high class if you ask me… I’m thinking of moving to his gym for my official one.” She nodded at Arabella’s questions. “Same here… It might because of Greed though. She didn’t take much interest before.” Her PR team wouldn’t like her honesty. “Yeah, definitely. I’m in.”

Arabella’s directive echoed in his mind, and when he awoke, he found himself laying on the boulder Arabella had placed his body after he had passed out. He heard quiet whispers around him; plants had been shushing each other while they watched over his body, but now they realized he was awake again. Nova’s eyes welled with joyful tears, realizing he could distinctly hear each of the plants’ sigh of relief and the occasional scolding — it all sounded like pleasant music to his ears. Propping himself up, he finally noticed Arabella next to him and didn’t hesitate to give her a hug. “I’ll never forget the kindness you’ve shown to me, Arabella. Thank you.” Nova didn’t mind that he was being ‘used,’ as long as he was useful and had his magic back.

It was a while before he let her go, but when he did, he slid off the rock and placed his hand to the ground. For his first sign of fealty to her and a display of his newly returned magic, his coaxed an almond tree to grow and it sprung from the ground in full blossom. It seemed fitting for the occasion as almonds represented not only resurrection, but divine favour. “I swear on this tree, with Nature as my witness, I will recover Aurelia Vale’s body upon your behalf.” He then stood up and seemed to be looking in the distance. Nature was already telling him the way.

Arabella was getting nauseous, aside from all the pollution in the air, Nova’s emotions and appreciation was making her sick. “Uhh oh! Oh yeah! For sure...Mhm...Oh we’re hugging now? Alright, yup...Mhm...” With a sigh of defeat, she accepted the embrace and smiled, “Well whatever. Nature appreciates you and so I doubt I’m wasting my blessings on a useless being. Just...Don’t fuck it up.” Maybe being blunt and precise would make things work in her favour. 

Once Nova swore on the tree and Nature that he’d follow through with her request, Arabella gave a nod of approval and began to take her leave. “Perfect, well...I’ll leave you to it. Time is money and I have to go. Enjoy yourself dear! Buh-bye now.” With a wave, she walked off and dialed her assistant’s phone number. She needed a bottle of merlot asap since this sucked the life out of her. 

Maria spoke in threats and Ava felt like the other woman didn’t like it when someone younger and arguably more beautiful than her came in to stir the pot. “That’s why I’m all about living life to the fullest, even if it means that I have to break a few good eggs.” Ava didn’t believe that Maria had planned for everything to happen as it did. Gods and Goddesses were notorious for saying that they knew that things would turn out as they planned it, but the truth was everyone else was just too stupid to call them out on their bullshit. “Sweet of you, but honey, I don’t owe you anything.” She didn’t know what Maria’s game was, but they were on two different sides of the playing field with their own brands of chaos. 

Ava tilted her head. “I’m not planning to get away.” She grinned. “And good. We’re going to need this place nice and dark if we’re headed toward the end.” All they needed was a little more tragedy and Famine would be able to tip the scale just enough. If she could get the Antichrist out of Balance then things would be all set. Grace, at age, wouldn’t like what she had in store that family. “We’re gods, darling. It doesn’t matter if they’re unhappy. The Fates will get them where they need to be.”

Arabella simply smiled. At this point she could tell that both goddesses were going back and forth with each other. Words are just words and it was evident that they needed to be proactive, hence the aftermath of each of their actions. “Alright then.” It was as if the diwata was going to leave it at that, but instead she reached out to pat Ava’s face gently while her eyes glowed bright. “And your Fate will come to you as it should.” Ominous, vague, Maria’s words could mean anything as she retracted her hand and began walking away from Famine. “I’ve got a flight to catch, but you have fun in whatever destructive fantasy you live in.” And with that, Arabella turned around and ushered a wave. “See you around babe.” The diwata’s curses were notorious and she may have slipped some of her juju onto Ava, but in due time she expects it to carry through. She’d seen the rise and fall of divine beings like her and the outcomes were always the same. 

“I don’t really like to model much to be honest.” She left it at that, not wanting to insult a world renown model. Christine thought the industry had hardships that she didn’t understand and she hated how disingenuous that it could me. Also, of the models she dated in the past, she hated each and every one of those relationships. “I like Nike. I used to run around wanting to start up my own line like my fave ball players, but I’m not too big on business. I stay clear of it Well, except for my man’s place…” Her voice trailed off. She usually preferred to play a simpler role, not minding being labeled as the stupid sibling. That was probably the most damning thing about her now though. Of the siblings who amounted to anything, she was one of the last ones. So her PR team was trying to paint her as this warm, relatable person. “Yeah, I am. I didn’t choose a hard job… I just have to keep training and wait for someone to accept my challenges.”

“Did you just come here to mock me? What do you really want?” Angeline couldn’t imagine that Arabella was here just to check up on her and insult her. They were once connected when she had her abilities, so she knew that there had to be another reason, one more important to the deity. “You’re saying all of this, but you’re in my home, taking time out of your day to insert yourself back into my life. Logically speaking, I’m no one of importance to you. If you wanted someone with the abilities I have, you can go talk to the person who took them.” Ava had to be somewhere around and it wasn’t that hard to summon her, as far as rituals went. Maybe she was a special case, but all she had to do was think about her a lot and insult her a bit Ava was always ready to be a nuisance.

Angeline couldn’t remember much of the fight because she had subconsciously blocked most of it. For the most part, she was functioning without the worries of freezing up in the middle of her days and becoming a wreck, but certain words strung together painfully pried open the gates to her memories of that time. She felt her chest tighten, at the mention of how her sister died, and then she shut her eyes so she could better focus on her breathing. “Mine. I wasn’t strong enough, my fear ruined me. I should have been able to block it out, but I couldn’t…” She looked over at Arabella and thought, I shouldn’t have put my faith in you. 

Christine hated these shoots. All the posing and the fake action shots sucked. She didn’t like doing them because they didn’t display much other than the fact that she looked great in these shorts and the sports bra. If they really wanted to sell their gear, they’d help her get back in the ring and get shots from there with her wearing their merchandise, but these days, she had to play their game. Her PR team was determined to rebuild her image and have her reclaim the Knight name. “Christine is fine. I’m not a fancy person, I just like to work out a lot.”  She shrugged, but didn’t push back against the compliment. “Only when my brother would make me, but he isn’t here anymore.”

Her son may have only been a three year old, but the first thing she taught him was how to make strong enough barriers to give him and sister enough time to protect themselves, so when the kids left, she relaxed a little. Angeline didn’t bat an eye when the nanny walked after them. She preferred it when the kids weren’t stressed about her more unsavoury associates. “She’s more empty than she is hungry.” She commented. “I’m doing fine. The silence is comforting…” The last time her mind was this calm and truly hers was before she ended her mother’s life. Even though her mother was simple and too kind of this world, her abilities did well in easing Angeline’s thoughts. “She wasn’t supposed to die.”

"Good...Steady...Perfect...You’re all naturals!”

Huffing a breath, Arabella finished her workout shots and walked over to her assistant to fetch her water bottle. Nike brought out a few notable women for an advertisement as they were currently shooting in Ceres’ summer heat. Luckily, the diwata’s shoot was underwraps and was relieved to know that she could leave. She wasn’t the type to mingle with the other models or celebrities, but she stopped herself and decided to take a different approach as she noticed a familiar face. "Great job today Miss Knight. For someone who kicks ass on the daily, you certainly know how to slay a photoshoot. Do you do this often?”