Disintegrated

“Honor, who’s the blonde?” Annie chuckled. She saw the girl leave Honor’s apartment and if she was being honest, she never expected the younger woman to have it in her. For as careful and as critical as the inhuman was, she expected her to keep mostly to herself. “So... did you have some fun?”

“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.” 

Of course, she didn’t fully pay attention to Annie’s reasoning. Another sob story is what it is. “Alright, that’s enough…Don’t you dare cry.” She was wearing a custom made Chanel pantsuit for fuck sakes. Sighing in defeat, her expression turned serious as she gave Annie the rundown. “I bring fortune and also misfortune. It depends on the being.” Pointing at her, she continued on, “I can bless you with a clear mind and ensure no darkness consumes you. However, it comes with a price.” Actually it didn’t, she could have just helped her out, but Annie could be of use to her in the future—so why the hell not? 

“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. 

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!” 

Arabella kept the pace quick as she hooked her arm with Antoinette and took her to the back room. “To be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing Amara eat you alive for the thousandth time.” A figure of speech, take it for what it is. Taking a seat on a couch, she pats the vacant space next to her and smiled. “I would say ‘Took you long enough’, but now I’m curious. Why me? And why now? You had all the fucking time in the world and suddenly you decided the need for help to control…The dark urges in you. I feel like the fucking loser who gets picked last in a line up at school.” 

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. 

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.” 

“I’m not naive.” retorted Aurelia with an unamused look. She knew about loss and she knew about change. They were all spitting images of that. Walking away from the scene as if nothing happened, Aurelia shook her head in disbelief. “I haven’t done enough.” she replied with a scoff. It wasn’t until Antoinette elaborated on her family that caused not only an ache in her heart, but a switch to go off as her anger began to rise. “Fuck you Warren.” she hissed. “Fuck you!” She clenched her fists and before she knew it, she landed a punch on Annie’s face. “So just like that!? You’ll give up on me? On our family?” She began to pace back and forth as she ran a hand through her hair and began doing some breathing exercise to calm down. “I know Xavier fucked you up to the max. I know my children caused you to go down to the Underworld. I know this isn’t something you signed up for. But after EVERYTHING we’ve been through?! You choose to keep your distance NOW!? When I need you the most!? Who the fuck do you think you are?!”

Observing Antoinette’s movements caused Aurelia to remain silent. She had gotten better with time, but she didn’t expect her best friend to go down this path. “You’re not the same.” Her tone was helpless as she didn’t know how else to explain it. “A vigilante? You still hide who you are.” She then looked her straight in the eye and added, “And I know deep down, this isn’t the end all be all. From someone who wears a mask overtime, I see that you do too Annie.” The earth shook violently as more of her family’s circle ran towards their way. “I’m burning this place to the ground, let’s go.” As the ground kept shaking, many of them fell and stayed down in hopes of trying to regain their balance, but Aurelia refused to make it stop. With one swift hand motion, she sparked the area with a couple of flames and let nature do its course as she gestured for Annie to follow her. “What’s done is done. If this is the path you want to lead yourself on so be it.” She then turned to face her and declare, “I’m back now and I don’t plan on leaving any time soon. Take it for what it is, but don’t expect me to take your shit easily.” 

The sound of death just wasn’t something that Honor ever enjoyed, but she was glad that it wasn’t her at the receiving end. She sat up and kept herself rested on the stairs. “A come back, maybe. They’re a criminal syndicate, and you told me that their bosses are gone. Those two facts together usually mean that someone worse will try to rise up to fill in the spot.” She frowned and then took the mask off of her head. Honor placed it down and sighed. “Before we torch this place, let me take some of the weapons. A little reverse engineering will do both of us some good.” 

“I was thinking of trying to get back onto active duty. I really hate wearing this mask when I fight. The Inner Sanctum isn’t a secret anymore, so I can show my face. Maybe then I can knock some sense into my sister.” Honor inspected the edge of her swords. “Was it hard to get out of Apollyon control?” Part of the reason of why she even approached Annie was because she had gotten away from the organization. 

“Do you think we should tell people about all this stuff? With all this equipment, they could start a war in the streets. You worked with the Inner Sanctum right?” She only knew about them because Hunter had a few run ins with them and she had a few fights with their agents. Annie didn’t have the bruises any more, but she could remember the feeling. “Go ahead, I don’t have any use for them. The only things that manage to hold their shape around my powers are the things that you’ve made for me.”

Something snapped in Aurelia. Maybe it was the fact that she no longer had patience or maybe it was because she was still getting used to being alive, but she didn’t appreciate Antoinette’s response. "Fuck you.” she deadpanned. “I’m not wasting this second chance on you pinning this on me.” She crossed her arms and shook her head, “I think you’re doing this to ease out the guilt. Let alone find purpose.” When it came to their relationship, they weren’t going to hide anything between them. “You’re being fucking careless. This isn’t the early fucking 2000s Annie. You have a family, you have…” A life ahead of you. Back then, things were different when their parents took control of their lives. “You know what I meant.” she hissed. “And do you accept that whole heartedly or are you just using that as an excuse for your actions?” 

“I don’t know.” Aurelia clenched her fists tightly as she tried not to let her anger and frustrations get the best of her. This would influence the atmosphere around them and the last thing she wanted to do was bring attention to them. “You’re a fucking shitty liar Annie.” she stated in a matter of fact tone as she began to walk away from the scene. First, they needed to get away from here, just in case things were to get worse. “And an idiot too.” She did her best to keep her anger at bay as she stopped and turned to face her best friend. “That promise didn’t include you to be a fucking martyr for me. I don’t fucking want this! You’re leading a path to self-destruction.” 

Aurelia cursed out loud as she shook her head. “You actually left me for another round of eternity limbo, not to mention being both Lucifer and Hades’ bitch…So yeah, I’d rather be fucking alive right now than down there.” Brown hues widened the moment the Immortal realized what had happened. “Damn it.” she hissed out as she looked at her best friend with a worrisome look. Pulling away, she shook her head and said, “That wasn’t me.” Before rubbing her face tirelessly and finding words to explain what happened. “I go in and out of consciousness, my other ego kicks in and decides to take over as she please. It’s me…But a more, darker me per se.” She didn’t budge as she stared at Annie with a frown, “What happened to you? Why are you doing this?” 

“My children learn from the best.” Rev!Aura mused with a wide smile. “You don’t look too glad to see me Annie, I’m actually hurt.” Although her expression showed otherwise as she laughed in response to what she said. “Sure you didn’t…You’re too easy Annie-kins.” The Immortal arched a brow and gave her a look, “Did I fucking stutter?” She may not have been an ideal leader, but her best friend would be perfect in starting something chaotic such as that. “A week. You don’t seem to miss me that much…Should I die again?” At the forehead flick, the brunette froze in her spot as her eyes went wide. Aurelia stood there in shock and confusion at the sight of her best friend. 

“Annie?…How long have you’ve been standing there? And why the fuck are you looking at me like that?” 

Honor watched as Annie proceeded to do exactly the thing that neither of them wanted. “She says that she doesn’t want myself so we don’t destroy this place and then she proceeds to do exactly that.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “At the very least, erase everything, we don’t even want them to see the dust you left.” She snorted and then headed down the hidden entrance. 

When she got to the bottom of the steps, her eyes widened in shock. Before was a collection of Atlantean weaponry modified with Apollyon technology. “Wraith.” She called for Annie and started to take a few steps back up the stairs. From the corner of her eyes she saw a laser blast headed her way. It hit her square in the chest and the impact sent her back into the stairs behind her. “Wraith! Come down here!” She yelled and quickly scanned the room to spot another laser blast. She turned quickly and avoided it. 

“You’re right... I should clean up after myself.” Annie watched Honor disappear down the stairs whilst she stayed behind to disintegrate the rest of the bookshelf. She also took her time to extend her aura to the guard they had dropped earlier. “You know, I thought these things would get a lot cleaner, but I guess we’re not professionals at this yet.” She said, unsure if Honor could hear her or not, but she continued to speak anyways. “If it gets easy then that means that something is wrong.”

Rev!Aura dusted herself off as she went towards Annie and chuckled lowly. “And the fact that you allowed them to do that to you is astounding.” Pressing her lips together, the Immortal shook her head and smiled, “Your niece and nephew brought me back.” It came out as a correction as she lowered the vines and freed her friend. “Not crazier, just truer and better. It’s still me, but with more Freudian slips.” She then eyed Annie from head to toe and shook her head some more, the disappointment was too real. “It’s not about what it’s about, it’s more so you on the whole. You went backwards on what I initially advised. Technically it looks like you still gave in to my father’s wishes.” Knocking Annie’s head, she pursed her lips together and squinted at the brunette slightly, “Maybe that asshole is still in there. Ugh, you might as well run a Vale ring of your own. With Warren gone and well me being more lenient, I’m sure you can go down that path with ease.” 

“Everything that you’ve just said can be summed up as one word… Reckless, and for this comment I will gladly take the moniker of Critical.” Moments like this reminded Honor of how glad she was to have met Antoinette. They bonded over their losses and found a worthwhile hobby to partake in. Luckily, Wraith and Critical worked well together. Honor summoned a pair of butterfly swords after taking note of how small the halls were. Even though Annie could overpower her easily, she didn’t want to stay out of the fight. 

Of course, however, the other woman decided to start first. She watched the theatrics and sighed while her her abilities activated. Her mind played through several possibilities and she counted the number of bullets. She saw a few of her options ending poorly, but as she moved toward the guard, she was cutting through the scenarios filled with failure. She twirled and spun, cutting with precision, speed, and accuracy. Honor used her momentum to push him off of her blades and she ducked to allow Annie the chance to charge her aura at the men in the room. 

The younger woman had to be one of the biggest smart asses that she knew, next to Hunter and Aurelia. Without Aurelia, Honor had taken the number two spot. Annie chuckled and anxiously tapped her index finger against the hilt of her blade before she waved her arm to send her abilities forth into the room. As her aura left disintegrated marks on the walls and in the people, she got up from the floor and entered the room.