Chapter 20: Fire

Riba and Marie walked back to the fireplace in the right wing, where they had established their base. "Where could she be?" Marie asked, in deep thought. They were discussing where to find Mercy. "I don't remember seeing her in ages."

"Well where's her favorite place to be?" Riba asked. "You surely have to remember that."

Marie froze. Riba widened his eyes in response. "R-r-ight here..." Marie stuttered. "Mercy liked to be... right here."

They heard a growl from the fireplace. Almost like a wild animal. They both jumped back. Then, the fireplace burst into blue flame, and a face emerged from it. Mercy.

"Mercy!" Marie cried.

"What are you doing here?" Mercy shouted. The flames grew along the carpet, bit by bit. It looked deliberate, planned out. "And what are you doing with that horrible demon?"

"He's not a bad demon!" Marie shouted. "Because no matter your place of origin, or where you come from... it doesn't mean you're---!" Marie's hopeful look in her eyes turned to one of fear as Mercy shot forward a firey punch, knocking her into a wall.

"Marie!" Riba shouted. She wasn't on fire, just burned badly. He ran over to her, jumping and sliding above and below blasts of hot fire. As he helped Marie up, Mercy looked to him and shot an ember his way. Riba dodged it, grabbing Marie's hand and jumping out of the way of the oncoming blast.

Mercy screamed in fury, and the fire turned orange with a loud CRACK. That meant it would only get hotter from here on out. Riba needed to think of something to say. But for the life of him, he didn't know what.

Riba and Marie dodged many more flames, while Riba thought desperately on what to say to calm Mercy down. Even in her lifetime, Mercy wasn't the one to cool down in an argument. So how in the world were they going to calm her down now?

When Mercy realized none of her attacks were hitting, she yelled in agony. "Why? Why can't I kill you?" Mercy shouted. The fire turned absolutely scalding purple. And Mercy threw out attack after attack. In hopes to kill both of them. However, aside from a few close shaves and small burns, Riba and Marie were still fine. "Whatever! Whatever! Once I burn this entire house down, there's going to be nothing that can save you!"

Riba choked. "Marie! We need to get out of here!" He shouted.

"What?" Marie asked. "But my sister! My family!"

"There's no time!" Riba shouted. He grabbed her hand and ran as fast as he could. Mercy followed, in a streak of fuchsia flame. But when they reached the front door... there was nothing there! Just wall. "You have to be kidding me!" Riba pounded on the wall, trying to break it down. But nothing.

Riba turned around, and in a flash of magenta, the whole house was burning down in a huge flame. "You killed everyone I loved!" Mercy shouted. "You will burn for your sins! And I will be the one to make you!"

"Mercy, stop!" Riba shouted. He covered his face, as did Marie. The air was unbreathable, there was too much smoke and fire.

"No!" Mercy yelled in pain. "You took everybody I cared about away... you did it all for fun! Because you love seeing people suffer! You are devil incarnate, Riba! You will never be a good person, because you did horrible things to me and my family. And now, I'll do something horrible to YOU!"

"Mom, stop!" Rae shouted, appearing yet again in between them.

"Rae?" Mercy asked. "What are you doing?"

"I can't let you kill them," Rae explained. "They're trying to save us. We're still here. If you burn it all down, we'll go down with it. Do you really want to do that?"

Mercy looked into Rae's eyes. The flame slowly died down around them, leaving a charred house. "Rae... I thought nobody was left!" Mercy wept. She hugged Rae. "I could have killed everyone. You, Leo, Rosa and Alfred. It would have been all my fault!"

"But it wasn't and it's not," Rae said. "Riba and Marie are trying to put our spirits at rest. They already helped me, and they'll help everyone else. And I know you don't want to destroy auntie Marie. You don't hate her. You just hate grandma Evie, and how she treated her better than she treated you."

"I don't want to kill her. I don't hate her. I just wanted my mother to love me," Mercy whined. "I thought this whole time that getting rid of her would make me happy. But it won't. I can't make myself feel better by making others feel worse."

Riba and Marie looked at her worriedly. "I'm so sorry," Mercy apologized.

"That's okay," Riba replied. "We all make mistakes." Marie nodded.

Mercy smiled. "Thank you."