Go ahead and laugh even if it hurts

Go ahead and pull the pin

What if we could risk everything we have

And let the our walls cave in

41 - Command

In one blink, my injuries began to heal at a rapid rate I hadn't seen before even in my better days. Euphoria washed over me, drowning the worst nine minutes of my life.

Which was the last nine minutes that had just passed.

My whole body thrummed with energy. It was so overwhelming that at first, I was hesitant to move. I was scared I would accidentally shoot lasers from my fingers.

For the first time in a long time, I felt like there was nothing I couldn't do. Like no one could hurt me. Like I could conquer the world. If I really wanted to.

So this was how it felt to be the Scarlet Woman.

The power itself was alive, not quite evil, but capricious. And I was only beginning to understand the way it works. It wasn't my ally. I was just its temporary host. For the weak of mind and heart, there was no controlling the power. The power controls you.

But I was not alone. Not anymore.

Adrianna and I were together on this.

It wasn't easy to tune out the millions of voices in my head, but Adrianna's voice drowned all of them as she continuously hummed the ancient lullabye our mother used to sing to us. I couldn't directly talk to her, but I could sense her presence, her protection.

As the light from the soul reaping slowly died, I carefully stood up. Blinking away the wooziness, I flexed my hands. My limbs felt numb and swollen even as they looked perfectly normal to me. Maybe, it was too much energy.

In contrary to what Alex theorized, I think souls don't shatter. For me, it felt like my soul was a big balloon filled with water. It would adjust and stretch to accommodate excess life force, or energy for this matter. It would do so until it has reached its limit, during such time it would burst. And mine was just a hair's breadth shy of doing that.

I quickened my steps as I took in my surroundings.

The Beast made this confused whining sound, its eyes on me. It was waiting. Unsure of what to do next.

Bodies lay scattered all over the yard. To my eyes, to Legion's eyes, their faces were blank, unfamiliar. It was hard to put names to faces as if they didn't matter, as if no one else mattered but me. And it was so wrong it felt good.

No, Aramis, I castigated myself. Focus!

With every second that ticked, this power that was supposed to make me stronger eventually felt like a noose around my neck. The more I tried to fight it, the more the noose got tighter.

Blinking rapidly, I gave my unconscious friends a second look.

The first face I recognized was Vladimir's.

He pushed himself off the dirt and struggled to get up, only to fall again. His Nysmic suit was now in tatters. The side of his head looked like it had been bashed in.

"V-vlad!"

I slid to his side, without a clue on what to do.

The moment I held his hand, though, I felt some of my energy leave my body and transfer to him without me even knowing how I did it. In awe, I watched his injuries heal at an alarmingly fast rate. Which would explain why he had been screaming his head off for the last fifteen seconds. I couldn't even begin to imagine how painful it would be to have my skull heal from a fracture in so little time.

Once he had calmed down, I took my hands off him.

In no time, he sat up staring at his hands; they were glowing green like it usually does whenever he's healing someone.

When I tried to speak, it was a struggle even just to open my mouth. This power was slowly owning my body. I didn't know how long I could stay in control so I had to get to work fast.

"H-heal the others. Get Belial," was all I could say before I stood up and headed to the Beast.

While I was walking towards the Beast, it lowered its head, a low rumble brewing in its throat. There was distrust in its crimson eyes as I took one step after the other, closing the gap between us. It knew I wasn't its original Scarlet Woman.

With not a morsel of fear, I reached for the Beast's face.

It gave me a furious growl, smoke sputtering out of its flared nostrils and from in between its bared fangs. It clawed on the ground then raised its massive head as though to make itself all the more huge and intimidating.

Now, here's the problem.

I may have become the Scarlet Woman, but that wouldn't automatically mean that the Beast would acknowledge me as its master.

I did not think this through.

Even so, I cautiously placed my hand over one of its massive claws. The next moment, I was flying backwards before hitting the ground rolling.

Blood drenched the left side of my Nysmic dress. My left arm was dangling beside me as I got up. Funny, though. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. In fact, it didn't hurt at all. I couldn't feel anything. Not surprised, or fearful or angry. Just... injured.

Blankly, I watched my broken arm mend and realign on its own, feeling hollow. Feeling like an empty shell of the person I used to be.

"You will acknowledge me, Beast," I said through my teeth. "And I will make you bring me back my Vincent even if it's the last thing I do!"

Without a second thought, I charged.

Before I could get close to it, the Beast inhaled sharply and opened its mouth wide. The pitch black hole that was its gullet glowed blue to white to yellow and--

WHOOOM!!!

Fire shot from its mouth in spirals.

I was barely able to sidestep as it hit my direction. The skirt of my dress caught on fire. When I tried to extinguish it, it burned my hand. It took me two seconds to realize it wasn't healing. And I thought, Elemental fire.

The Beast sucked in another deep breath, puffed its chest and spit another horizontal column of fire at me. This time, I was careful and managed to get away. As I ran towards it, skirting its lashing tail, its claws and its flames, I ripped the burning parts of my skirt and threw the burning fabric at its face.

Momentarily, it cringed.

Seizing the opportunity, I tensed and lunged at it. For a split second there, at the very little time I was suspended in midair, our eyes finally locked at each other.

"Vincent!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Quickly, I vaulted over its head. I twisted to grab onto the spikes that surrounded the top of its head before it began to buck in an attempt to break loose of my hold on him. Violently, it flailed me back and forth, my head hitting one of its spikes as it did.

Blood blurred my sight as I held on for dear life.

"Listen to me, you idiot! I know you can hear me!" I shouted again. "If you don't come back and take me to that damned vacation you were raving about, you're dead! Dead, I tell you!"

Either I got through to it or it got tired of banging its head for the last two minutes, because it stopped for a brief moment.

I let myself slide down the side of its head, still holding onto the spikes as I did. Groaning with exertion, I pulled its head down until its cheek hit the ground. Thrown off balance, the rest of its body fell sideways.

Smoke wafted out of its mouth as it tried to catch its breath. This time, it didn't make any attempt to stand back up.

Then, one hand resting on my hip and the other putting pressure on the wound on my forehead, I stood right in front of its face.

"See?" I panted. "This is what happens when you don't listen to me, Vincent."

It let out a sound between a whine and a snort. And looking at me with those big red eyes, I felt instant remorse.

Even in his monster form, Vincent always gets his way.

"Okay, sorry." Sniffing, I raised both my hands up. When blood kept gushing from the wound on my forehead, I clasped both my hands over it. It was weird how it hadn't healed yet, but it wasn't of utmost importance at the moment. "But you kind of almost killed everybody. You best behave and think about what you've done."

Again, that whine.

Fighting off the dizziness the loss of blood had probably brought about, I wiped my face clean.

"Get up," I encouraged him. "Come on. I'm not mad."

Groaning, the Beast did as told. And as it did, I had to plant my feet firmly on the ground to keep from staggering. I opened my arms to it, plastering a smile on my face.

"It's okay, Vincent. You don't have to do this anymore."

The Beast nudged my bleeding forehead with its snout, a high-pitched whine escaping its mouth as it did. I ran my hand over its scaly cheek. Gently, it rested its chin on my shoulder.

"You can come back now," I murmured, my breath getting stuck in my throat. "I know you're tired. We're both tired..."

With each passing moment, the world grew hazy. Abruptly, my body started to betray me. I couldn't seem to keep my eyes open. My head felt light. My knees folded from under me. But before I could fall, I felt a pair of hands slide around my waist and pull me to my feet.

Despite my head lolling backwards out of my control, I forced my eyes open. And when I did, I saw the palest pair of metallic gray eyes staring right back at me.

That was when I felt the tears running down my face again and this time, I didn't care.

"V-vincent," I sobbed, burying my face onto his chest. "You're Vincent again..."

His eyebrows knitted. "Yeah, I don't remember changing my name."

Running one hand over his hair, he looked around, eyes narrowing when he saw Vladimir and Amyr dragging the unconscious to a small space they had cleared on what used to be the mansion's porch.

"What the hell happened here?" he asked. "And more importantly, where's my friggin' shirt?"

A weak laugh came out of me. "It's fine... J-just... don't do it... again."

My hand moved on its own to pat him on the head.