//------------------------------// // Chapter 7. Doublethink // Story: From Ashes, Acid, and Absinthe // by Hope //------------------------------// Starlight was pacing back and forth in front of the church, as the last of the shingles were being nailed into place. The rest of her little cult, minus two (and one dog) who she’d released and allowed to return to their families, were hard at work. But the nervous atmosphere she was radiating was nearly overwhelming, her hands behind her back and eyes fixed on the ground in front of her while she paced. Sunset was standing behind her, firmly massaging her neck and shoulders. “Relax! We’ve still got at least an hour. He’s not even trying to hide himself—that’s how over-confident he is.” She looked over to confirm that Mary Jo and Ellen were inside the church, and therefore out of earshot. “He has reason to be. He knows me inside and out, and has been yanking me around for so long I’m having trouble being certain which parts of my little group were even my idea,” she groaned. “I’ve got a spellcraft network-blood-bonded to me, and now, for the last week, I care about them more deeply than I care about myself. Do you know how easy it would be to twist me right now if he could tell I… I… have empathy?” she finally found the words, whimpering. Sunset paused briefly. “That all sounds pretty bad. Makes for good surface thoughts, as I’m pretty sure he does know all of that thanks to his involuntary pair of spies. You just have to disassociate. Now, I’ve read your psychologists saying how that’s a bad thing. But you’re just so good at it! I mean, 1984 alone...no, stop Sunset, you’re gushing again. Focus.” “Yes, but it is kinda cute when you gush,” Starlight said with a faint smile. “Imagining you gesturing with your hooves…” Sunset knocked gently on the side of Starlight’s head with her knuckles. “There, free preview. Now focus. Or rather, split your focus: completely useless on the outside, resolute on the inside. Hold on to what I showed you. And hold on to this thought: These people are your herd. You exist to protect them from danger. And I will do everything in my power to help you. Because you are my friend.” Starlight paused, and her smile grew. “I have an idea for a diversionary thought,” she declared mischievously. Sunset rolled her eyes. “It involves kissing, doesn’t it?” “Hey now!” Starlight objected, cheeks red. “He has no way of knowing that we aren’t interested in each other! So it’d be a great diversion! Disguise friendship with classical infatuation.” “Not to mention that he’d probably either be squicked out by it, or turned on. At least, that seems to be men’s reaction every other time I kissed a female.” “I’d never kissed anyone before you, so I’ll take your lead,” Starlight admitted casually. A moment later, Starlight processed what Sunset had said, and frowned a little. “So… you kiss lots of females, not just those that inundate themselves with dangerous magic?” she asked with a slight pout. “Kisses are multi-purpose,” Sunset said with a smirk. “For example, they are fantastic at shutting someone up.” Starlight fell silent as she clearly struggled with whether that was an invitation or a threat, before she cleared her throat and nodded. “That… Well… Street smarts,” she finally concluded. Sunset chose not to reply to that, resulting in an awkward silence. A silence broken by… “Sun...set?” Claire asked. “That’s what you choose to question, out of this entire conversation?” Sunset asked incredulously. Claire shrugged. “Being privy to Starlight’s thoughts involves a lot of just trusting there’s a reason for things. But I’ve been calling you Alice!” “I’m touched!” Sunset exclaimed, as she patted Starlight on one shoulder. “All this time, and you haven’t once told them my ‘nickname’, not even by accident! Also, thank you for proving to me that you are human, and therefore an expert at disassociation.” She looked over Starlight’s shoulder and Claire’s questioning face. “I’ve had to go by a lot of names, Claire, in order to stay ahead of the more corrupt forms of law enforcement. Alice is one of my names. Sunset’s another. ‘Sunset’ sounds kinda silly out of context, so I went with Alice this time around.” “I think it sounds very cool though, very… gone with the wind,” Claire said with a wistful sigh. Sunset looked away, very intent in thought. “Billy Ortega told me that Gone With the Wind was extremely sappy. I hate sappy!” “Okay, but it’s also very romantic and wistful,” Claire said with a huff. “It’s a complex and thoughtful movie and it’s themes go far beyond the surface viewing!” “Claire is very invested in her childhood media,” Starlight said by way of explanation. “It’s also the most popular film of all time,” Claire retorted. “That has to count for something.” “Actually, it was beat by The Sound of Music a couple of years ago,” Benjamin remarked from the top of the church, in between hammering in shingles. “Isn’t that one sappy too?” Sunset asked. “I’ve cultivated a diverse group,” Starlight said flatly. “Modern pop culture, older pop culture, anti pop culture, truly an organization to revolutionize the world.” “Your favorite movie is Bedknobs and Broomsticks, from 1969, I happen to know, so you don’t have any room to talk,” Claire said with a grin as Starlight crossed her arms. “Any movie where a witch marches on a Nazi regimen with animated plate armor deserves to be commended,” Starlight retorted. “I need to see that one,” Sunset declared. “Purely for research purposes, of course.” “There’s an 8 mm reel in my bag,” Starlight muttered to her. “We can watch it tonight if we have time. You’ll absolutely love the way their magic works.” “What are you doing with a film less than a year old?” Sunset asked. “I stole it,” Starlight said, as though it was obvious. “It’s my favorite film Sun— Alice.” The smile suddenly left Sunset’s face. “Alright, fun’s over.” She stepped up to be beside Starlight, and took her hand in her own. “We know you’re here, Marcus! Show yourself!” A voice came from behind a particularly large tree. “You seem to have me somewhat at an advantage, Miss Shiner. There are ever so many of you, while I only have a single guest to bring to this particular party.” Starlight looked at Sunset in confusion, mouthing the words “a guest”. “And who might that be?” she asked. “You’ll see. Although I doubt you’ll figure out his purpose. You see, it’s a bit of a surprise. You’ll find I’ve brought plenty of surprises with me tonight.” “Marcus,” Sunset said in frustration, “are we going to be spending the entire evening conversing on the other side of a tree?” Marcus laughed heartily. “And who says I’m behind a tree?” Sunset’s eyes went wide, casting her eyes around her. “He can displace his aura?” She turned to Starlight. “Why didn’t you tell me he can displace his aura? He could be…” She turned slowly to face the church, from whose windows a light had been steadily growing. “Oh no…” “Damn it,” Starlight swore, as she let go of Sunset’s hand and ran towards the church, her “herd” of cult members missing, nowhere to be seen. Just before she reached it, something burst through the doors, knocking it over. She was horrified to discover that it was the corpse of a man, dressed in rags. “Ah, Miss Starlight, I see you have met Howard. A very interesting individual. I wish you could have met, before he stopped being useful to me.” Starlight was screaming, trying to push the body off her as Sunset caught up to her, the dirty body pinning Starlight to the dirt. But she had to look up to confirm the insanity communicated to her by the corner of her eye: Marcus was floating, and slowly levitating towards her. “Sunset,” he said in a strangely echoing voice. “There is something I need from you…” Sunset shook her head. “What?” Marcus shook his head. “Hm...I was sure I’d be able to get you with your true name. If you had any intelligence, like you keep telling yourself, you should have tried to fake submitting to me, for a chance to use that little dagger that Starlight entrusted you with.” “Leave her alone!” Starlight shouted. “I’m the one you want, I’m your channeler!” “Correction, Starlight. You were my channeler. But now, you are unemployed.” He held aloft an empty blood vial. “I got this little gift from the Santa Anna blood bank. It was eight years old, but age really doesn’t matter under the present circumstances.” He gestured behind him, where the flock was standing still, their eyes glazed over. “And like poor Howard, I no longer have need for your services. In other words: you’re fired!” And with that, streams of fire shot out of Marcus’ hands, only to be blocked by an invisible shield summoned up by Sunset. “Run!” she said, looking back at Starlight. “I’ll hold him off!” Starlight could easily see that Sunset was not going to last long. With a roar of anger, Starlight shoved the body off her, and stood up next to Sunset. She reached into Sunset’s pocket and pulled out All My Hate, opening it so the blade shone bright purple against the fire blasting towards them. “I… I love Sunset! I care so deeply for your poor daughters! And no one, no one on this planet or any other, will take my Herd from me!” Starlight screamed, before she took the blade in one hand, the handle in the other, and snapped All My Hate in half, exploding with power which she then lashed out with. Black and purple magic flowed from Starlight with force, around Sunset’s shield and then slamming into Marcus. “I deny you, Marcus! I deny you my heart, my soul, and my flock. Now kindly FUCK OFF!” Starlight roared. Marcus pulled up a shield of his own. Unlike Sunset, he did this with absolutely no effort. “I see,” he said coldly. With a gesture of his hands, he wrapped the shield around Sunset, Starlight and the body, trapping them in place. Sunset tried in vain to blast through the shield with her magic. This effort caused her to drop to her knees, and very nearly drop unconscious. “If it will not be death, then I have a more fitting punishment for my wandering associate. Starlight, you will have the great privilege of seeing my plan come to its fullest fruition. Perhaps then you will beg me for death.” He turned and walked back into the church, the doors slamming shut behind him. “I don’t...I don’t like that guy,” Sunset tried to joke. She then looked down at the body, and tried taking his pulse. “This guy’s alive, by the way. Just barely.” The doors re-opened. “That reminds me,” Marcus remarked. “I need to fulfil my part of the bargain.” He raised his hands and shot a beam of fiery energy through the shield and into the body, which then disintegrated. Marcus then returned to the church. Starlight screamed. Sunset reached up to grab her hand. “Relax,” she assured her. “He was just teleported. And no, I have as little idea as you do what this ‘bargain’ might have been.” “I want to kill him,” Starlight said, wide eyed and frantic. “More than ever in my life, I want to kill Marcus. I want to choke him to death myself. My herd, my flock, what is he doing to them in there?!” A glow came once again through the windows of the desecrated church. The pair heard the screams of the people within, and then those screams changed. The doors sprang open, and Starlight’s former followers ran out, passing on either side of the force bubble containing Sunset and Starlight, and fanning out into the woods. Starlight saw that they were hunched over as they ran, and the look of ferocity that Claire gave her as she passed burned itself into her mind. “Be free! Be free!” Marcus called out in triumph. He then sat down on the steps of the church. “Why?” Starlight asked softly, looking at him in horror. “Why would you rip their minds from them?” Marcus shook his head in disappointment. “I gave them what they wanted. What they all wanted you to do with them. Every last one of them had their lives ruined by thought, by dwelling on the past and the future, instead of living in the present. After all, every last one of them gave their free will to you. I just brought the process to its logical conclusion. And my gift will be passed on to every human they meet.” “They wanted guidance,” Starlight said as she fell to her knees. “They wanted… less agency and more stability, I… They couldn’t have wanted this,” she insisted. Marcus walked over and gently patted the force field, looking down upon Starlight like he would a wayward child. “And I will give them these things. Once mankind has been reduced to a race of animals, all of the human sins will be erased. And as their kindly zookeeper, I will ensure that their happiness will not be blocked by their animal nature. The world will be at peace, for the first time in ten million years.” Starlight’s hands clenched into fists. “While taking a few of your favorites as pets, right?” she whispered. “Always, my little dove,” Marcus replied, smiling cruelly. “Now don’t think that I am a cruel opponent. This field will dissipate in a couple of days, before you have time to die of dehydration. In the meantime, I have much to do, so much to do! Come girls!” Another force bubble floated out of the church, containing the unconscious forms of Mary Jo and Ellen. They floated up with him into the sky, flying slowly out of sight. Starlight looked down to see that Sunset had finally lost consciousness. She cradled her form lovingly. Her mind was empty, as there was nothing she could think of to do. Before her sat the empty form of the church, the Light of the Stars’ Compassion, lit by a single candle sitting forlorn in the center of the floor.