ONCE MORE, BUT EVEN BLOODIER

The second night after her return, Selene was asleep in her bed when she felt a breeze across her face.

She opened her eyes to see Elliot's face. He looked a bit worse for wear, and looked as if he'd gotten skinnier. Must be the effect of being a fugitive.

"Miss?" He asked, his voice cracking as if in disbelief.

Selene sat up and gazed at him. "Who else would it be?"

"But... your sister, she..."

"She did what she needed to do."

Elliot opened his mouth, eyes watering, clearly about to cry, when Selene leapt out of bed and pressed him up against the wall roughly. She took his sword from its scabbard, but didn't hold it against him. Instead, she bent her arm and pressed it against his throat, choking him slightly.

"M-Miss..."

Selene smiled at him. "I appreciate the loyalty, Elliot, despite the fact that it was unnecessary. But..."

"... But?"

"You hurt Sophia, and for that, you're going to have to pay a price."

Selene could feel Elliot's Adam's apple bob up and down, his eyes widening in fear.

"I'll make this easy for you, though, don't worry. It'll be simple. I'll take something from you, like you took something from Sophia, and then I'll do you a favour. I'll alter your appearance, so you can return to town, find a new job, maybe even settle down with someone eventually."

"B-but... Miss..."

"Listen, Elliot. I like you, and I know for some reason you're stupidly loyal and probably want to work with me again, but I could never put Sophia through that. Sophia's tough, but I know when she's acting it up, and the truth is that she'll never forget what you did to her, and she'll never forget the way it felt. I'd never force her to be in the same room as someone who hurt her like that, so you'll have to go, Elliot. If you refuse, I'll kill you, don't doubt that, so don't be an idiot and take this chance to start over. Don't get yourself involved with people like us anymore, okay?"

Elliot, the sentimental fool, was crying, as if Selene hadn't just threatened him.

Selene smiled sadly. Really, she couldn't have asked for a better minion.

In the end Elliot nodded, sobbing silently as he did so. Selene gripped his sword and swung it fast, severing his right foot from his leg. It was the price he had to pay for taking Sophia's hand from her.

Elliot was still crying, though now it was because of the physical pain.

Selene used her sorcery to alter his appearance, changing some of his more noticeable features as well as changing his hair and eye colour. He looked unrecognisable as Elliot, she'd bet that even his family would have trouble recognising him at this rate.

"I-I'm sorry." He mumbled.

She patted his head gently. "You don't owe me any apologies. Now go."

She didn't say goodbye, and he didn't either, as he slowly hobbled his way out of her bedroom window and out into the distance.

Selene cleaned up the blood with a quick wave of her hand, and then fell back asleep immediately.

When morning came, she told Sophia only that she had 'taken care' of Elliot. Sophia pretended to be indifferent to the news, but Selene could see that she had relaxed her shoulders just a touch. It was clear she'd been worrying about his presence just a little.

"So, what's the plan now?"

Sophia looked out the window, a distant expression on her face. "Honestly? I don't know. I thought I knew what I wanted, but then you left, and all I had was my anger and my need to burn everything down around me. Now that you're back... things feel a lot less clear."

"I guess we could always just take it day by day and try to live a simple life?"

They shared a glance before bursting out into laughter simultaneously. A simple life? For them? It would be impossible.

Selene would always be getting herself into fights, chasing strength and sowing chaos wherever she could. Sophia meanwhile, would get bored if her life was not filled with challenges and mysteries. A simple life just wouldn't be enough for them.

"You should be king like we originally planned." Selene suggested.

Sophia supposed it was still quite an attractive option. "And you're still going to be my army general?"

"Obviously. You promised me a war, remember?"

Sophia laughed.

With that, their goal was set once again.

While Sophia wasn't quite so angry anymore, she would never forget that this world had tried to take Selene from her, and when she promised revenge, when she promised to burn this world to the ground for even trying, she meant it.

Selene was just on board for the destruction, always following the path of bloodshed and violence.

Either way, whatever they did, they would be doing it together.