//------------------------------// // Sympathy From The Devil (Part 3) // Story: Living On An Emu Farm Just Outside Of Town // by Peni Parker //------------------------------// “All right, Lucrezia. You win,” Aria reluctantly conceded. “What?!” Justice vociferated. “Smart choice,” Lucrezia commended the Dazzling as she removed her thumb from directly over the button in her hand and extended her other hand out to the girl. “Now hand over the cross.” With a heavy heart, Aria reached for the string keeping Rasputin’s cross around her neck. As she took the long piece of fiber in her hands and started to lift the crucifix up over her head, she experienced what could only be described as a highlight reel of her life flash before her eyes. All of the most powerfully emotional moments that had occurred throughout her life rapidly came flooding back to the forefront of her mind in a veritable cascade of anamnesis, a good number of them being times when she’d been either extremely angry, like when she’d believed her sisters had let Glen die, or extremely sad, like when she’d realized she was never going to see her father again. But much to the Dazzling surprise, there was no small number of happier moments that she recalled as well, like when she and Trixie had put on a magic show together or when she’d met her younger sister for the first time. All-in-all, Aria felt that she’d had a pretty decent life, one free of any major regrets save for one; she wished it hadn’t taken her and her sisters so long to realize that their lust for power was meaningless. But in any case, if this truly was the end of the road for her then she believed wholeheartedly that she could say she’d had a good run. Feeling that she was just about done removing the cross from her person, the Dazzling hastily steeled herself for whatever pain she was about to suffer through. She’d never been subjected to a neurotoxin before so she didn’t know for sure just what the effects of it would be, but she was all but certain that a great deal of agony would soon be upon her. However, just before she got the string up over her head she felt a hand grab ahold of her arm and force it, along with the crucifix, back down. “I’m not gonna let you do this, Aria,” Justice sternly told the pig-tailed girl as she continued to hold her arm down. Aria found herself unable to reply to Justice for a few seconds on account of how taken aback she was by the demon girl’s actions. The Dazzling had understood quite clearly from Justice’s repeated implorations that the demon girl didn’t want her to hand Rasputin’s cross back over to Lucrezia, but she hadn’t expected her to try and physically stop her from doing so. At first, Aria felt touched by her companion’s concern for her well-being. It was rare for her to be shown such worry from someone other than her sisters, so for her to be shown some by a girl she’d only met earlier that day was nothing short of heartwarming for her. Though unfortunately, this warm and fuzzy feeling she had was short-lived as the realization that Justice’s concern was, in all likelihood, not for her but rather for making sure that Rasputin’s cross ultimately ended up in Lucy’s hands. “Face it, Justice, it’s over,” She crisply told the demon girl as she removed her hand from her arm. “You said it yourself, Lucrezia’s thought of everything. She’s getting this back one way or another, so I might as well hand it over and make sure at least one of us gets out of this alive.” “Don’t be dense,” Justice sharply replied, eliciting a scowl from the Dazzling. “You really think Lucrezia’s going to let me go if you hand over the crucifix? She’s just playing on your sympathy to get you to give up the cross willingly.” “Playing on my sympathy?” Aria replied confusedly. “What are you talking about?” “Oh bravo, Justice ~! Well done ~!” Lucrezia applauded the demon girl sarcastically. “I’m so happy you get to die with the satisfaction of knowing that you figured it all out.” “Figured what out?” The Dazzling then inquired. “It wasn’t like it was hard to figure out,” Justice told Lucrezia. “Your endgame was more predictable than a Nicholas Spark’s novel.” “Ooh, good comeback,” Lucrezia replied, still sounding sarcastic. “How long did it take you to come up with that one?” “I’m guessing about as long as it took you to come up with this obtusely simplistic plan of yours,” Justice fired back. “What plan?! What endgame?!” Aria heatedly inquired, feeling as frustrated at her own obliviousness as she was by the fact that she was being ignored. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on here?!” “Oh, for crying out loud,” Lucrezia said as she rolled her eyes derisively. “I’m going to kill Justice no matter what you do, Aria. Honestly, get with the program already.” Normally being spoken to in such a condescending manner would’ve caused Aria to shoot the offender the evil eye, but when the Dazzling heard Lucrezia say that she was going to kill Justice regardless of what she did she instead dawned a look of consternation. “Hey, don’t talk down to her like that!” Justice told Lucrezia. “Oh, that’s rich coming from the girl who just called her dense,” Lucrezia replied. “I didn’t call her dense, I told her not to be dense,” Justice clarified. “There’s a difference.” “Pfft, please. There’s about as much of a difference between those as there is between Margot Robbie and Samara Weaving,” Lucrezia retorted. “Oh, that’s it!” Justice said as she advanced on Lucrezia, forcing the woman to once more place her thumb directly over the button in her hand. “Now you’ve crossed the li -” “Will you two shut up already?!” Aria shouted as she placed herself between the two bickering women, much to the incredulity of both of them. Silence fell over the room for a few seconds - save for the sound of Aria lightly panting. During this time, both Justice and Lucrezia simply looked at the other two women in the room with great intent, as if trying to ascertain what either of them was going to do next. Aria, on the other hand, had her sights fully focused inward as she desperately tried to determine what her next move was. The Dazzling had rushed headlong into Justice and Lucrezia’s argument to stop their bickering but had done so without completely thinking things through, and as a result she now felt as though she’d just placed herself between a rock and a hard place with no means of escape. In truth, Aria wasn’t even sure why it was she’d intervened in Justice and Lucrezia’s quarreling. She had little to no love for either of them, so wouldn’t it have been better to simply let them go at it and possibly quash each other? The mental image she created within her mind of such an outcome was certainly appealing, but deep down she knew that the chances of that outcome actually happening were highly unlikely. Odds were that Justice wouldn’t be able to so much as lay a finger on Lucrezia before the woman activated the fire sprinklers and dowsed her with holy water, and that was something the Dazzling simply couldn’t allow to happen if she wanted to have any hope of surviving the night. Countless ideas popped into Aria’s head as she desperately contemplated her next move, everything from pleading for peace to ordering the two bickering parties to go stand in separate corners so they could cool off, but unfortunately not a single one of them felt like they would be a good idea to try. She eventually concluded that any direct attempt to end Justice and Lucrezia’s fighting would be futile, so as quickly as her brain could she began to think of some indirect ways to quell their aggression. Many new ideas soon flooded her mind, though sadly the majority of them still didn’t seem very promising. However, there was one idea that crossed Aria’s mind that she believed would, at the very least, give her some more time to come up with a better plan. One idea that, with a bit of luck, would not only keep Justice and Lucrezia from going at each other’s throats again but could also potentially get Lucrezia to put down the fire sprinkler button. “N-Now then,” She said as she caught her breath, trying her best to sound as composed and imperturbable as possible. “It’s obvious that there’s a lot of hostility in the room right now, and if there’s anything I’ve learned from the Rainbooms since meeting them it’s that the best way to deal with so much bad blood is to address it in a calm and respectful manner. So why don’t we all just take a couple of deep breaths and have ourselves a little chat?” “…Huh?” Lucrezia uttered, sounding completely and utterly addled. “The Rainbooms?” Justice chimed in. “They one of those new-age, feel-good bohemian groups or something?” “Yeah, something like that,” Aria answered the demon girl before turning her attention over to Lucrezia. “Let’s start with what triggered all of this, Lucrezia. Why it is that you’re double-crossing us? Is it because you’re trying to prove your worth to someone? Like maybe your brothers?” The befuddled look on Lucrezia’s face only grew more and more intense with each question the Dazzling asked her. Eventually a mild but noticeable twitch came over the woman’s left eye for a few seconds, and as it did Lucrezia plopped herself back into her chair and looked over at Justice. “Is she for real?” She asked the demon girl rhetorically before returning her attention to Aria. “Are you seriously trying to play psychologist with me right now?” “Hey, I’m just trying to find a solution to this whole thing where no one has to die,” Aria clarified as she too retook her seat, followed promptly by Justice taking a new seat directly next to her. “Ha!” Lucrezia retorted vivaciously. “You mean you’re trying to find a solution where you two don’t have to die, because from where I’m sitting there’s no possible way this can end with me dying.” “Hate to admit it, but from where I’m sitting she’s right about that,” Justice whispered to Aria, causing the Dazzling to discreetly kick her leg ever-so-slightly beneath the table. “So why is it you want to kill us exactly?” The Dazzling then inquired. “Why not just wait a half-hour, get the crucifix back from me willingly, and then let us leave?” “Now you’re just insulting my intelligence,” Lucrezia replied, sounding somewhat offended. “If I let you walk out of here alive you’ll just call Lucy the instant you’re out of my sight and she’ll come after me like a bat out of Hell before I have a chance to get out of Canterlot. But if I kill you, she won’t know that I’ve double-crossed her until after I’m long gone from this sad little city.” A spark within Aria’s mind immediately ignited when she heard Lucrezia bring up Lucy. The Dazzling couldn’t believe that she forgotten that the woman who’d sent her and Justice on this pick-up was just as involved in all of this as they were. Perhaps not as directly involved as them, but still involved nonetheless. “And you think Lucy wouldn’t come after you even if you got out of Canterlot?” She asked. “What, is she under some sort of curse where she can’t leave Canterlot, or have someone else leave it in her stead?” “Knowing Lucy, I wouldn’t be surprised if she were,” Lucrezia said in mild amusement. “But regardless, I doubt she’d put in much of an effort to come after me for Rasputin’s cross. It may be a powerful protective item, but it’s not like there aren’t similar items around that she could acquire without going through the hassle of trying to find me.” “Ha!” Aria abruptly uttered in a very loud and derisive manner. “I say something funny?” Lucrezia asked the Dazzling, now sounding acutely offended. “I think I missed the joke too,” Justice then whispered to Aria, causing her to once again discreetly kick the demon girl’s leg beneath the table. “Oh, you definitely said something funny,” The pig-tailed girl told Lucrezia. “You said you think Lucy won’t come after you because she could just get another protective item without resorting to finding you.” “And what’s so funny about that?” Lucrezia inquired. “What’s funny about it is that you seem to think Lucy won’t come after you simply for double-crossing her,” Aria answered. Almost as soon as Aria said this, Lucrezia’s right hand began to lightly shake. The woman quickly removed her hand from atop the table and placed it upon her lap, out of sight from either the Dazzling or Justice. However, this act of concealment came too little too late. The mild trembling in Lucrezia’s hand had caught Aria’s attention the instant it’d begun, and when the Dazzling saw this sign of uneasiness coming from her adversary she knew that her words had had their desired effect. “Frankly, I’m kinda surprised you hadn’t thought of that,” Aria continued. “I’d just assumed that you knew Lucy well enough to know that she’d never risk any damage to her reputation by letting someone get away with double-crossing her, but I guess I was wrong in that assumption.” The more Aria spoke, the more Lucrezia’s shuddering became obvious. In almost no time at all the woman’s entire right arm was trembling and her left leg was acting more restless than a feline on catnip, bringing a sense of triumph to the Dazzling that she desperately wanted to flaunt but knew she couldn’t. At least not yet. “Frankly, I don’t even want to think about the kind of person Lucy would send to take care of someone who betrayed her,” She added, right before turning to face Justice. “What do you think, Justice? You think Lucy would send someone worse than the two of us to deal with a back-stabbing double-crosser?” “Oh, um, yeah, probably,” Justice concurred. “If I had to guess, I’d say Lucy would send Judgement to go after such a person. Judgement loves a good hunt, almost as much as she loves dishing out arduous punishments.” By this point, Lucrezia was practically nothing but a bundle of nerves wearing a pantsuit. Both of her arms were now shaking, her left leg was vibrating at nearly superhuman speed, and her forehead was slowly becoming covered in a cold sweat. It was a sight of such strong distress that, for most, would elicit feelings of discomfort, but for Aria all it did was elicit a cavalier smile. The Dazzling was now convinced that she, along with Justice, had successfully aroused enough fear within Lucrezia for them to win their little standoff with her. With so much dread currently flooding the woman’s mind she knew that Lucrezia could be easily convinced that letting them leave unharmed was not only sensible but also in her own best interest, though the fact that Lucrezia hadn’t yet admitted as such indicated that she still needed to give the woman one more little push to get her to that locus. “So what’s it gonna be, Lucrezia?” She asked haughtily. “You gonna let us go and put an end to all this, or you gonna kill us and spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder in fear of Lucy?” An eerie silence fell over the room as Aria and Justice awaited Lucrezia’s response, one that the Dazzling couldn’t help but relish as she watched the woman wordlessly fret. Despite having renounced her wicked ways after the Battle of the Bands, Aria gained a great deal of satisfaction from watching Lucrezia sweat - eventually to the point where Lucrezia needed to wipe some of it from her brow. If there was but one thing in this or any other world that she loved with guilty pleasure, it was successfully turning the tables on someone whom she felt had wronged her. And given how Lucrezia had so blatantly wronged her she practically felt as though she were on cloud nine right now. “I-If I let you go, h-how do I know you won’t tell Lucy that I tried to d-double-cross her?” Lucrezia eventually spoke up. “You don’t,” Aria admitted. “But for what it’s worth, we promise we won’t say anything about this to Lucy.” “We won’t?” Justice chimed in, earning her a third discreet kick from Aria. “We won’t,” The Dazzling replied sternly, simultaneously admonishing Justice and reassuring Lucrezia. A small smile could be seen growing on Lucrezia’s face after Aria uttered her reassurance, as well as a teardrop or two forming in the corners of the woman’s eyes. It was a sight that the Dazzling found to be both amusing and pitiable, but mostly amusing. “T-Thank you. Thank you so much,” Lucrezia garbled as she turned her head away from the Dazzling and Justice, presumably out of embarrassment. “I…I’m so sorry. I..I..” As Lucrezia struggled to finish her thought, Aria expected to hear subtle sounds of sniffling and sniveling begin to emanate from the woman at any moment. Given how Lucrezia had looked before turning her head away it seemed only logical to the Dazzling that she would start to make such blubbering noises. Though ultimately, she never heard those blubbering noises. However, she did eventually hear Lucrezia begin to utter some form of noise, but it wasn’t what one would consider sniffling or sniveling. It was more along the lines of sneering and snickering. “I can’t…I can’t keep this up anymore! Ahahahaha!” Lucrezia then hollered as she abruptly burst out into laughter. “Uh, did I miss another joke?” Justice asked Aria as Lucrezia continued to laugh hysterically. The Dazzling didn’t reply, mostly due to the fact that she wasn’t sure if they actually had missed a joke. Lucrezia’s sudden change in temperament greatly confused Aria. One moment the woman appeared as though she were close to having a complete mental breakdown and the next she was laughing like it was Friday night at The Paramount Theater, it made no sense to her. Then again, perhaps Lucrezia had had a complete mental breakdown and this hysterical laughter was simply the result of that. It was certainly tempting to believe this to be the case, but the manner in which Lucrezia was laughing suggested otherwise to the Dazzling. Despite it being hysterical, the woman’s guffawing didn’t seem raving or delirious. Rather, it seemed more feted and almost maniacal, much to Aria’s chagrin. “Oh…oh my,” Lucrezia said as she laughter started to die down a bit. “That was…that was truly pitiable, Aria. Just downright sad and plaintive. But it was good for a laugh and I needed one today, so thank you for that.” “W-What are you talking about?” Aria inquired tepidly. “That whole routine you just went through of course,” Lucrezia answered. “Playing psychologist, saying all those things to try and convince me I was making a mistake by double-crossing Lucy; an admittedly admirable attempt to save yourselves given your grave situation, but ultimately just…sad.” The Dazzling desperately wanted to say something to counter Lucrezia’s claim, something to once more get the woman to sweat and second-guess herself, but she couldn’t think of anything. Her scheme had been unraveled, and deep down she knew that there was nothing she could say to fetter it back together. “You know, at first I thought about calling bullshit on your little ploy right from the start,” Lucrezia continued, now sounding just as pompous as when all of this had begun. “But then I thought to myself, ‘No, see how long you can string this nitwit along until she realizes she’s just embarrassing herself.’ And I don’t know if it’s because I’m such a talented actress or you really are dense, Aria, but it took much longer for our two-woman one-act to come to an end than I’d expected.” Aria couldn’t tell if Lucrezia was being so overly insulting to try and get a rise out of her or she was simply just a super obnoxious person in general, but either way the Dazzling could feel the fires of enmity begin to burn ever hotter within her with each word the woman spoke. “I’ve been playing this Game of Thrones stuff for a long time, dating back to when the game actually was played over thrones,” Lucrezia then said as she got up from her seat and walked over to the glass wall on the other side of the room. “And do you how it is I’ve managed to stay at it for so long? By being smarter than everyone else, by thinking of every little detail in my plans and devising contingencies for every eventuality. Did you really think I hadn’t expected -” As Lucrezia rambled on boastfully whilst looking out the window, Aria couldn’t help but give a small, dejected sigh and sink a bit into her seat. The Dazzling had never cared for this kind of boastful monologuing, not even back when she and her sisters had been so power-hungry - and not just because Adagio had never let her do any of it. To her, monologuing was nothing more than an exercise in egotistical idiocy, given how often it led to their downfall because it provided the person or persons being monologued to a chance to come up with a plan to stop them. For a brief moment, Aria contemplated trying to come up with a plan to stop Lucrezia while the woman harangued but quickly decided doing so would just be futile. Playing psychologist had been the only card in her deck of trickery that’d stood any chance of succeeding, and since it had failed miserably she once again felt forced to resign herself to her virulent fate. “I’ve always had a unique talent for seeing things that others miss, not that my father ever saw that mind you,” Lucrezia continued to babble. “All that bastard ever saw in me was a pretty face and nothing more. Any plans I ever came up with to keep our family alive he always dismissed in front of me but then passed along to my brothers as if they were his ideas. My brothers would implement ‘his’ plans and everyone would get credit for them except the one person who deserved it most; me!” Another reason Aria hated monologuing so much was because eventually it always got insanely personal, and now that Lucrezia had reached that point in her rambling the Dazzling found herself sinking even deeper into her seat – though admittedly she found it somewhat amusing that she’d apparently been correct earlier about the woman doing all of this to prove herself to someone. With each circuitous word that spewed from Lucrezia’s mouth Aria wished more and more that this whole excruciating experience would end already. The pig-tailed girl didn’t know for certain what awaited her in death, but she had to figure whatever it was it couldn’t possibly be any worse than continuing to listen to Lucrezia talk aimlessly and endlessly. Part of her thought it would be prudent to just remove Rasputin’s cross from around her neck to spare herself any further verbal torture, but she knew that if she tried to do that Justice would, in all likelihood, simply prevent her from doing so again. Suddenly feeling curious about how Justice was reacting to Lucrezia’s prattling, Aria turned her head to see if her companion was feeling just as annoyed as she was right now. Though much to the Dazzling’s surprise, the demon girl didn’t look annoyed in the least. Rather, she looked quite pleased as she quietly got up from her seat and slowly but steadily started to walk around the table, much to Aria’s befuddlement and concern. The pig-tailed girl hastily sat more upright in her chair as she watched with worrisome eyes whilst Justice ambled around the end of the table and started to make a beeline straight for Lucrezia, causing her bafflement and alarm to compound immensely. What the heck was Justice thinking? The instant Lucrezia noticed her coming towards her she’d push the button in her hand and make it rain holy water, so why in the world would she even consider approaching her? Feeling worried that Lucrezia might have already spotted her companion, Aria promptly turned her attention back to the woman, only to find her still looking out the window as she spoke. “Well now it’s my turn to call the shots! It’s my time to lead the House of Burdz!” Lucrezia declared, completely oblivious to Justice’s ever-growing advancement towards her. “And no one - not my brothers, not Lucy, and certainly not you two - is going to get in the way of my -” Lucrezia abruptly cut herself off when she felt a hand swiftly and firmly take ahold of hers. “Gotcha,” Justice blithely told the woman right before spinning her around about ninety degrees and using her free hand to deliver a heavy blow right to her solar plexus. “Ohhhh,” Lucrezia managed to softly utter as the wind was knocked out of her and she fell to her knees. “I’ll just take this,” Justice then said as she took the button from the now marred Lucrezia. Aria couldn’t believe what it was she’d just witnessed. So many things about this endeavor she’d embarked on for Lucy had been outlandish and incogitable, but the scene that had just unfolded before her was a whole new level of capriciousness. The way Lucrezia had started monologuing to the point of becoming inattentive to everything else in the room, Justice managing to take her by surprise and incapacitate her with a single strike; it all felt to her like something a hackneyed Saturday morning cartoon writer would churn out. However, the Dazzling felt she couldn’t complain too much about everything that’d just happened since it all had led to a desirable outcome. “Here, Aria. Hold onto this for me, will ya?” Justice then said as she closed the cover on the button and tossed it to the pig-tailed girl. “And good job getting Lucrezia to start monologuing by the way.” Caught completely off-guard by Justice tossing the climacteric button to her, Aria quickly scrambled to her feet to try and catch the now airborne device. Thankfully, the demon girl’s throw was fairly on-point and the Dazzling had little trouble clasping it safely within her hands, but the fact that there was even a chance of the button hitting the table or ground and accidently getting pressed was enough to make her heart skip a beat or two. “Are you crazy?!” She hotly asked her companion, wondering why she’d take such an incredibly unnecessary risk by throwing the button. “What?” Justice nonchalantly replied as she hoisted Lucrezia up by the collar of her suit. “I need both hands free to teach this double-crossing bitch a lesson.” Lucrezia gave no verbal or physical response to this, presumptively due to her still being disoriented by Justice’s punch. As much as Aria would have liked to see Lucrezia get what was coming to her, she strongly felt that it was in both hers and Justice’s best interest if they just left right this second. So much craziness had already gone down since they’d walked into this office and there was no guarantee that more wasn’t awaiting them if they stuck around, so it only seemed sensible to walk away now before any further absurdities presented themselves. “Forget her, let’s get out of here,” The Dazzling told the demon girl as she headed for the door. “Aww come on, Aria,” Justice moaned. “I rarely get to punish people anymore, and I really want to punish Lucrezia.” “You can punish her by making sure she never gets a good night’s sleep ever again,” Aria countered. “When we get back to Chaus we’ll tell Lucy that Lucrezia tried to double-cross her and then the bitch can spend the rest of her life living in fear.” “Awww, not psychological punishment,” The demon girl then whined. “That’s not nearly as fun as corporal punishment.” “Too bad!” The Dazzling snapped as she reached the door. “Now get the passkey to this door off of Lucrezia and let’s go already!” “Buzzkill,” Justice muttered under her breath as she did as instructed and withdrew the key from one of Lucrezia’s pockets. Upon obtaining the small, plastic passkey, Justice let go of Lucrezia, who once again fell to her knees but was at least with it enough now to brace herself from collapsing completely. “Fuck…you,” The woman softly told the demon girl from down on all fours as her breath slowly started to return to her. “You should be so lucky,” Justice replied facetiously before turning around and making her way over to Aria. As Justice approached her Aria reached out her hand to get the passkey from demon girl. Despite being blind, Justice somehow sensed what the Dazzling was doing and held the key out in front of her for her companion to take, but just as she did so she felt a sudden sharp and burning sensation come over part of her arm. “Ah!” The demon girl winced as she naturally jerked her arm closer to her person in response to the unexpected pain. “Justice?” Aria said concernedly as she made her way over to the girl. Within a matter of seconds Aria reached her companion and promptly took a look at the girl’s arm to see if she could see anything wrong with it. Almost instantly, the Dazzling noticed a small burn mark on Justice’s forearm that she was fairly certain hadn’t been there earlier. “What the heck?” She uttered in bewilderment, wondering how it was the mark had suddenly appeared there. “Damn. I haven’t felt something like that since I accidentally walked past that wave pool during a mass baptism in China a few years back,” Justice declared as she rubbed the mark with her opposite hand to try and soothe it. As if the word ‘baptism’ were some sort of trigger, Aria swiftly craned her neck upwards to look at the sprinkler system sprawling across the ceiling. When she did, she noticed that a few of the sprinkler heads spread throughout were starting to drip with water. “Oh no,” She uttered. “Hehehe,” Lucrezia very softly but very wickedly uttered as she steadily got back onto her feet. “What did you do?!” The Dazzling shouted at the woman. “What did you do?!” “Exactly what I said earlier: I thought of everything,” Lucrezia answered once she was fully upright once more, though barely. “Which means that I put a timer on the sprinklers just in case I lost the activation button. And from the looks of it, I’d say time’s up.” A look of sheer dread crossed Aria’s face when she heard Lucrezia’s explanation, and without even realizing it she went into fight-or-flight mode and hastily grabbed the passkey from Justice, took the demon girl’s hand in her free one, and ran for the door as fast as she could. However, the two girls didn’t get more than three steps closer to the exit before every single sprinkler head in the room opened up and started to rain copious amounts of liquid death from above. “AAAHHH!” Justice cried out in excruciating pain as every inch of her exposed flesh became bombarded with the acid-like substance, causing her to fall to the floor and writhe about in pain. “Justice!” Aria said as she instinctively jumped into action and attempted to use her body to shield Justice from the holy water, though to little success. “AAAHHH! AAAHHH!” Justice continued to cry out as much of her body remained exposed to the deadly deluge. Despite her best efforts to protect her companion, Aria found herself unable to completely shield Justice. The demon girl’s flailing alone was making it impossible to fully cover her body, though even without the flailing the Dazzling wasn’t sure she would’ve been able to fully cover her. With each passing second that Justice let out her screams of agony Aria feared more and more for what was going to happen to her if the demon girl died. But more than that, with each scream the Dazzling could feel her heart be pierced with a thousand acicular blades. Justice’s cries of pain were so excruciating, so primal that they reached all the way to Aria’s core. They were the kind of sounds that one couldn’t even begin to fathom were possible for someone to even make, and in that moment she hoped within the back of her mind that she would never hear this sort of anguished shrieking come from her sisters or housemates. With all of her heart she wished that she could do something to help the demon girl and end her suffering, but sadly there wasn’t anything that she could think of to do so. With all of Justice’s uncontrollable flailing it would be impossible to get her out of the room and the only thing within the room that could help her was Rasputin’s cross, which she needed to continue wielding to keep herself alive. “Wait a second,” The Dazzling uttered to herself as she suddenly realized something Justice had said earlier regarding the cross around her neck. Within the blink of an eye, Aria took hold of Rasputin’s cross with one hand and Justice’s hand with the other, making sure that the crucifix remained around her neck as she did so. “Here!” She told Justice as she placed the cross within her companion’s hand and closed said hand around it, hoping with all her might that the girl could hear her over all the screaming. “Hold onto this! Just hold onto it!” It was difficult for Aria to tell if Justice had heard her or not, but given that the demon girl appeared to be trying to grasp the cross as best she could it seemed that one way or another she got the message. The Dazzling attempted to help her companion by clasping both of her hands around hers, but just as the girl’s flailing had made it difficult to shield her so too did it make this difficult. Though thankfully, this time she managed to find the strength needed to properly compensate for Justice’s threshing. “Come on, come on,” Aria muttered to no one in particular as she watched to see if anything about Justice started to change. Sure enough, after a few seconds of Justice holding onto Rasputin’s cross some things did begin to change, the first among them being that the demon girl’s screams became quieter and less agonizing. Eventually her screaming stopped entirely, and when it did Aria initially feared that perhaps her companion had died. However, when the Dazzling saw that the numerous burn marks along Justice’s body were starting to heal at incredible speed she knew that this wasn’t the case, and that the theory her mind had formulated regarding the cross was true. “W-What’s happening?” Lucrezia inquired apprehensively as she too noticed that Justice was starting to heal. “Yeah, what’s…happening?” Justice weakly ingeminated as she tried to get back up on her feet. “Easy. Don’t let go of the cross,” Aria told the demon girl as she helped her up. “T-This doesn’t make any sense,” Lucrezia said as she backed away slightly from the two girls. “H-How come the holy water isn’t burning Justice anymore? And how come her injuries have healed.” “It’s Rasputin’s cross, duh,” Aria explained once she and the demon girl were fully upright, trying to imitate Lucrezia’s pompousness as best she could. “You said it yourself, Lucrezia: it’s an incredibly powerful protective item.” “I…I don’t understand,” Lucrezia confessed. “Justice isn’t wearing the cross, how is it protecting her?” “Oh, for crying out loud,” Aria answered. “Justice said that Lucy told her the cross makes whoever wields it virtually immortal. So as long as it’s around my neck and in Justice’s hand, we’re both wielding it.” The Dazzling then dawned an arrogant smile. “Honestly, Lucrezia, get with the program already,” She insolently told the woman. “Ah, I see what you did there,” Justice said impertinently as she gave her companion a light tap with her elbow. “Nice one, Aria.” Lucrezia opened her mouth to speak but said nothing, much to Aria’s amusement. The Dazzling wasn’t sure if the woman’s newfound speechlessness was due to her inability to come up with an adequate rebuttal or if she was too filled with fear to utter her counterstatement, but either way she was simply glad to see Lucrezia so genuinely flustered. A few seconds of silence passed, during which time the sprinklers finally ceased showering the room in holy water. “W-Well then,” Lucrezia eventually spoke up. “What say you keep the crucifix and I give you the payment for it back so we can all just forget about this whole, um…unfortunate incident, hmm?” The woman swiftly grabbed the case that Justice had slid over to her earlier and held it out in front of her while simultaneously cracking a very forced and very awkward-looking smile. “F-Friends?” She then said timorously. As if reading one another’s minds, Aria and Justice shared a quick and silent look before concurrently nodding in agreement. “Nah,” Both girls told Lucrezia in unison. The Dazzling and demon girl proceeded to advance on Lucrezia with the clear intent of causing their would-be garroter malice, prompting the woman to drop the case and back away hastily. Lucrezia didn’t get very far though, as after only a few steps she hit a chair and went tumbling to the ground. By the time she managed to get herself recomposed, Aria and Justice were practically right on top of her. “Wait, wait, wait!” Lucrezia pleaded. “This…this whole thing wasn’t my idea! It was…it was Gio’s! Yeah, he forced me to do all of this, I swear!” “Now you’re just insulting my intelligence,” Justice told Lucrezia, now trying her hand at imitating the woman. “I know Gio isn’t smart enough to come up with a plan this meticulous, and even if he was you pretty much admitted earlier that you were the one behind this double-cross, Lucrezia.” Without warning, Justice reached down with her free hand and grabbed Lucrezia by her shirt collar, much to Aria’s agitation as the gesture caused the cross around her neck to suddenly jerk her head downward. “Careful, will ya?” The Dazzling flippantly asked her companion. Justice didn’t say anything in response. All the demon girl did was proceed to hoist Lucrezia up off the ground and bring her within a couple inches of her face. “Justice? Justice, p-please, we can talk about this,” The woman said fearfully as she stared at her own reflection within the demon girl’s sunglasses. “I’ve got a question for ya, Lucrezia,” Justice sternly said. “You answer it truthfully and I’ll let you go, understand?” “Yes, yes, I understand,” Lucrezia immediately replied. “The spell you put on the door so that I couldn’t break it, did you cast it all along this room?” The demon girl asked. “I-I’m not the one who cast the spell. It was Gio, honest,” Lucrezia answered, sounding sincere enough. “I don’t know if he cast it along the whole room or not.” Just then, a wicked smile crossed Justice face, one that caused a pit to form in Aria’s stomach when she saw it. “Well, why don’t we find out if he did?” The demon girl asked. Within what felt like only nanoseconds to Aria, Justice hoisted Lucrezia up even more and flung her to the side as though she were no heavier than a soft-shell jacket. The woman sailed through the air for only a fraction of a second – not even long enough for her to utter a single scream - before making contact with the nearby glass window with a resounding thud. “Sweet Celestia!” She shouted as Lucrezia bounced off the window and hit the floor. “Ah nuts,” Justice remarked as she walked over to where Lucrezia had hit the window - dragging Aria along with her - and tapped the glass a few times to check its structural integrity. “Looks like Gio did cast the spell around the whole room.” With where Justice had dragged her to, Aria now found herself standing almost directly over a now lifeless-looking Lucrezia. Fearful that she might have just become an accomplice to a first-degree felony, the Dazzling gently gave the woman a few light kicks to see if her sudden collision with the window and floor had been fatal. “Ugh,” A benumbed and barely audible moan escaped from Lucrezia’s mouth, much to Aria’s relief. “What the actual hell, Justice?!” The Dazzling hollered at her companion. “I thought we were just going to rough her up a bit, not try and murder her!” “I wasn’t trying to murder her,” Justice replied innocently. “You tried to throw her out of a seventeen-story window, that’s trying to murder her!” Aria explained. “Oh, she wouldn’t have died if she’d gone through the glass,” The demon girl said as she too gave the woman a few kicks. “Trust me, this one’s tougher than she looks. She may be pompous, conniving, and a coward, but she’s tough.” Aria had a difficult time believing Justice’s claim that Lucrezia would’ve survived a fall from seventeen-stories above ground level, but she really didn’t feel like she had the mental energy to argue with the girl about that right now. Right now all she felt she had the energy for was getting in the car and heading back to Chaus. “Let’s just go already,” She said as she took ahold of Justice’s arm and started walking towards the door. “Okie dokie,” Justice simply replied. Before Aria pulled her too far away, Justice used her free hand to grab the case containing Lucrezia’s payment from off the floor. Within a matter of moments, Aria was able to successfully use Lucrezia’s passkey to open the door and get herself and Justice back to the elevator. Once inside the lift they wasted no time in getting it moving back down to the ground floor, though like before when they’d used it to go up they now found themselves with a few moments of slightly uncomfortable idleness. “You think Gio will still be in the lobby when we get down there?” Aria asked her companion, both out of concern for the man being a problem and out of a desire to break the silence. “Probably. Though I doubt he’ll try anything funny,” Justice answered. “And even if he does, don’t worry about it. I can handle him.” The Dazzling had no doubt that Justice could take on the nightwatchman with ease, even with one of her hands full carrying the case with Lucrezia’s payment and the other holding onto Rasputin’s cross. “You know, you can probably let go of the cross now,” She said as she began to wonder why the demon girl was still holding onto it even though the rain of holy water had ended. “Yeeeah, I’d rather not,” Justice replied. “My clothes are still pretty soaked with holy water, so I’m afraid that if I let go of this thing I’m gonna get burned again.” The fact that Justice’s clothes were still saturated with holy water was something that Aria hadn’t considered. In fact, up until just now she hadn’t really considered that her own clothes were similarly drenched. In all the panic and chaos that’d erupted after Lucrezia had activated the sprinklers it was simply something that she hadn’t taken much note of. “We can stop somewhere on the way back to Chaus and get some dry clothes if you want,” She told her companion, wanting just as much as her to shed her sodden attire. “For real?” Justice rhetorically asked, sounding genuinely touched by the Dazzling’s offer. “Thanks.” “No problem,” Aria replied just as they reached the ground floor. Sure enough, as the two girls got off the elevator and walked around the corner into the lobby Gio was still seated in the same spot he’d been in earlier. “Took you long enough, sis,” The man said as he turned to face them. “You need any help with the cle -” Gio cut himself off when he saw that it was Aria and Justice who’d come off the elevator and not his sister as he’d assumed. “Surprise,” The Dazzling vapidly said as she and Justice walked past him. Justice said nothing to Gio but did shoot him the best finger-gun she could muster with the hand she was using to carry the case. Just as Justice had predicted, the young nightwatchman didn’t try anything funny. All he did was get up hastily from his seat once the Dazzling and demon girl walked past him and make his way over towards the elevator, presumably to go up and check on Lucrezia. “Hey, I gotta ask you something, Justice,” Aria said as she and her companion exited the building. “Okay. Shoot,” The demon girl replied. “How come you were so insistent on me not taking this cross off back there?” The Dazzling inquired. “Oh, well that’s easy; it’s because I like you,” Justice replied, much to Aria’s surprise. “You…l-like me?” She asked apprehensively, unsure of which exact form of ‘like’ the demon girl was using. “Well, yeah, of course I do,” Justice confirmed as they reached the car. “Not sure if you know this, Aria, but you’re a pretty awesome person. You’re strong-willed, cunning, and a good listener. Seriously, I don’t know many people who would’ve managed to survive an encounter with Lucrezia like that, or who would’ve let me talk so much about the 1976 Fillydelphia hockey team. If I didn’t have my hands full right now I’d be tempted to give you the biggest side hug of your life, buddy.” Aria didn’t say so aloud, but internally she was glad that Justice was unable to hug her. Though she did appreciate the sentiment behind the girl’s desire to do so, and the sentiment behind her referring to her as her buddy. “Don’t go getting soft on me, Miss-Former-High-Prosecutor-of-Hell,” The Dazzling said as she gave Justice a light tap on the arm, eliciting a small smile from the demon girl. “Now come on, let’s get out of here and -” Aria abruptly stopped talking right as she and Justice reached the car and came to an uneasy realization. “Uh, how are we both going to get into the car without ever removing the cross from our person?” She inquired. “Oh, we’ll just, um…” Justice started to answer. “You can get in and then I’ll – wait, that won’t work…we can both climb in through the – no, that won’t work either…okay, I have no idea.” “Terrific,” The Dazzling uttered as she facepalmed. “So you’ve pulled that talky-feely stuff on people before?” Justice inquired as she and Aria walked through the antechamber leading to Lucy’s office. “Oh, yeah, tons of times,” The Dazzling answered. “I learned a long time ago that if you ever want to confuse someone to the point of stupefying them you just need to start talking about feelings and mushy stuff like that.” “Huh. I’ll have to remember that,” The demon girl replied as they exited the narrow foyer. By some miracle, Aria and Justice had managed to find a way to get into the car with relative ease whilst both of them continued to hold onto Rasputin’s cross. And by some even bigger miracle, they’d managed to find a way to get out of their holy water-soaked clothes and into some dry ones they picked up at a store on the way back to Chaus with just as much relative ease. Then again, after what they’d gone through with Lucrezia just about anything would’ve been relatively easy by comparison. Regardless though, both girls were simply glad to finally be done with their job and back at Chaus; Aria a bit more so than Justice. “Aria, Justice, welcome back,” Lucy greeted them as they approached her desk. “My, my, don’t you two look…different.” “Yeah, no shit,” Aria replied as she quickly scanned the room. “Where’s Kiwi?” “She’s downstairs having a few drinks on the house,” Lucy answered. Aria wasn’t sure how she felt about this. On the one hand, she was glad that her housemate hadn’t been alone with Lucy the whole time she’d been gone, but on the other she was worried that the reason for this was because Lucy had used her silver tongue to talk the PostCrush girl into signing something she shouldn’t have. “I see by the cross around your neck, Aria, that your pick-up was successful,” The club owner then said. “Really? That’s what tells you our pick-up was successful?” The Dazzling rhetorically asked, right before reaching Lucy’s desk and slamming her palms down on top of it. “The fact that I’m still alive didn’t tell you that?!” “Well, sounds like Justice remembered to have you verify the item then,” Lucy replied, seemingly unfazed by Aria’s intimidating gesticulation. Lucy’s apparent indifference to her being acutely upset only made Aria even more agitated. She was by no means surprised by the woman’s callousness, especially now that she knew her to be the Devil herself, but the day’s events had weighed heavy on her ability to deal with unpleasant people and situations. Right now, even the smallest amount of distastefulness was enough to make her blood begin to boil. However, she made every effort to not let these feelings get the better of her. “Was that whole verification-thing really necessary, Lucy?” Justice chimed in. “I mean, did you seriously think Lucrezia was going to try and give us a fake item?” Lucy didn’t reply to Justice’s inquiry right away. She did, however, raise a single brow at the demon girl in what could only be described as a look of puzzlement. “Yes, Justice, I did think there was a possibility she’d do that,” She eventually answered. “Or at the very least something like it.” “Weeell, she did try to double-cross us by killing me with holy water and letting the black mamba venom kill Aria,” Justice reluctantly admitted. “My point exactly,” Lucy sharply told the demon girl before shifting her attention back to Aria. “Now if you don’t mind, I’ll take my cross.” The Dazzling grabbed the rope around her neck with great alacrity, wanting nothing more in that moment than to give it to Lucy and be done with the cursed thing once and for all. However, as she lifted it over her head she stopped about midway through when she realized that it might still not be safe for her to take it off. A quick recall of everything that had happened since Justice had injected her with the venom told her that more than a half-hour should’ve passed by now, but she wasn’t entirely certain. Regardless though, she decided to finish removing the cross from her person out of a strong belief that it was safe for her to do so, and a strong sense of faith within Justice that if she was wrong her new buddy would help her. “Here,” She said sourly as she threw the crucifix down onto the desk. In the seconds that immediately followed the removal of Rasputin’s cross from her person, Aria felt no differently than she had when she’d been wearing the crucifix. “And consider this my last pick-up for you, Lucy,” The Dazzling added after she was sure she was fine. “I quit. Find yourself another ‘courier’.” “Oh, well that’s disappointing to hear,” Lucy said in a surprisingly placid manner. “But if that’s how you feel I suppose that’s that.” Aria watched in mild bewilderment as Lucy picked up the cross and placed it inside one of her desk drawers, wondering why it was the woman seemed so accepting of her resignation. She wasn’t sure what kind of reaction she’d been expecting from the club owner when she told her that she was quitting, but she knew she hadn’t been expecting one so mild and amenable. “Here’s the rest of the amount we agreed upon for this job, as well as a little extra,” Lucy then said as she pulled some cash out of her desk. “Think of it as a…performance bonus.” Aria took the money from Lucy and quickly looked through it to see if there really was more than what she and Lucy had agreed to, and much to her pleasant surprise the woman actually had given her extra. Of course, she made sure not to express this pleasantness right in front of Lucy. Playing things as impassively as possible around the club owner was always a strategy that she and her sisters had felt to be wise, but now that she knew she was the Devil she felt that this strategy was practically sage. “Thanks,” She plainly said as she put the money in her pocket and turned around to leave. “Later, Aria,” Justice bid the Dazzling goodbye. “Later, Justice,” Aria simply said back. In truth, the Dazzling wanted to say more to Justice. She wanted to tell her that, despite a few rocky moments during their time working together, she was glad that they’d gone on the pick-up together and was grateful for the concern she’d shown her. But just as she didn’t want to show her amiability regarding her ‘performance bonus’, so too did she not want to show her newfound fondness for the demon girl in front of Lucy either. With the business between herself and Lucy concluded, Aria began to make her way towards the elevator. As she walked through the large, ornate room she hoped that she’d never have to set foot within it again for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that she found the place a little too ostentatious for her liking. “Good luck with your upcoming meeting with Banyan Capital, Aria!” Lucy called out to her just as she got about halfway to the antechamber. The instant the Dazzling heard the words ‘Banyan Capital’ she stopped dead in her tracks. Banyan Capital was the name of the venture capital firm that Sugarcoats mom had helped them get in contact with, and for Lucy to know that they were coming to her farm filled her with no shortage of strong, negative emotions. “How the hell do you know about that?” She asked the woman indignantly as she turned back around. “The owner of Banyan told me,” Lucy explained. “As prominent business owners within the Canterlot community we talk to each other often, and when she told me the other day that she was going to be sending one of her associates out to an emu farm I figured she just had to be talking about your place.” The fact that Lucy personally knew the owner of the venture capital firm she and her sisters were to meet with didn’t sit well with Aria. The Dazzling couldn’t help but get the distinct impression that the reason the club owner was sharing this information with her was to vex her, to make her feel that she had some form of control over whether or not Banyan would choose to do business with her and her sisters – which for all she knew might very well be the case. “Bit of friendly advice for you,” Lucy then added. “When you meet with the Banyan associate, focus more on your initial high-level spend and pecuniary resources rather than revenue growth. Banyan people tend to care more about making sure that the businesses they take on will have a healthy cash-flow rather than how much money they could potentially make right off the bat.” Despite Lucy speaking in her usual tongue-and-cheek manner, Aria believed the woman’s suggestion to be a sincere one. “Thanks for the advice,” The Dazzling replied dispassionately as she turned around and started to walk away once more. As Aria headed back down to the club to rendezvous with Kiwi, she found herself fixated on Lucy’s connection to Banyan Capital and whether not the club owner could – or would – do anything to derail her meeting with the firm. She just couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that the whole reason the woman had made mention of her knowledge of the meeting was to indirectly tell her not to get her hopes up that it would go well. Then again, Lucy had just offered her a genuinely sound piece of advice about how to make a good impression on the Banyan associate, so maybe providing her with that was all she’d wanted to do. The more Aria thought about the whole thing the more she could feel a migraine start to come over her, so rather than allow that headache to overtake her she decided to forget about the subject and simply believe that things would work out well in the end, regardless of any possible intervention by Lucy. By the time the Dazzling reached the main floor of Chaus the club was mostly empty, so she had no trouble locating Kiwi seated over at the bar. She quickly made her way over to her, though not too quickly as she needed a little bit of time to figure out how she was going to explain certain things about her pick-up to the PostCrush girl. She already knew that she wasn’t going to tell her about Justice being a bona fide demon and Lucy being the Devil for fear of being thought of as nuts, but there were still a number of other things she wasn’t sure she wanted her friend to know about. “Hey, Kiwi,” She greeted the girl once she reached the bar. “Hey, Ari – oh my gosh!” The PostCrush girl replied as she turned around and saw the Dazzling’s unusual attire. “Why are you wearing those clothes? Are you okay? What happened on your pick-up?” “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you on the way home,” Aria said as she signaled for the PostCrush girl to follow her. “Oh, o-okay,” Kiwi said as she got up from her seat and followed Aria out to the car. Once the two girls were on the road back home Aria told her housemate her tale of retrieval and betrayal. The Dazzling tried to give as few details as possible, but near-constant questions from Kiwi forced her to be more specific than she would’ve liked. In the end, her story basically went something like this: Justice poisoned her on Lucy’s orders to verify the legitimacy of Rasputin’s cross, and soon after Lucrezia demanded the cross back and tried to double-cross them. She and Justice managed to fight back against Lucrezia and get away without harm, but not without accidently activating the sprinkler system and getting soaked in the process. Despite some of the more interesting parts of Aria’s story being left out, like Justice trying to throw Lucrezia out a seventeen-story window, Kiwi still found herself in shock and awe of everything that had befallen the Dazzling while she was out on her pick-up. “Wow. Just…I don’t even know what to say to all of that,” The PostCrush girl said. “I can’t believe Lucy told Justice to poison you, or that Justice actually did that. She seemed so nice.” “Eh, she’s not so bad,” Aria replied. “Yeah, she poisoned me, but when Lucrezia tried to take Rasputin’s cross back she did everything she could to protect me. Way I see it those two things kinda balance each other out.” “I suppose so,” Kiwi conceded. “But what really surprises me is that Lucy told her to poison you. I just don’t understand how she could ask someone to poison someone else.” “Yeah, me either,” Aria lied. “Well one thing’s for sure,” Kiwi said with conviction. “I am not taking her up on her offer for me to perform at Chaus.” “That what she wanted to talk to you about?” The Dazzling inquired. “Uh-huh,” The PostCrush girl answered. “She said that she’d be all right with just me performing there if Su-Z didn’t want to, and without a contract. But after what you just told me I’m never even going to step foot inside Chaus again, let alone perform there.” Unbeknownst to Kiwi, Aria cracked a small smile upon hearing her say that she wanted to never step foot inside Chaus again. The Dazzling felt touched by how upset her friend felt at the fact that Lucy had indirectly poisoned her, but unfortunately the feeling didn’t last long as soon an unfortunate realization came to her. “Aw dang it,” She said aloud. “Adagio’s probably gonna be pissed that I found a job and quit it in the same day.” “Probably,” Kiwi said. “But given how much money you made today I’m guessing she won’t be too upset.” “Here’s hoping,” The Dazzling replied. “And you know, we can always go out again and find you another job,” The PostCrush girl continued. “I mean, yeah, the chances of us finding you something that pays as well as that courier job are pretty low, but after today I think what’s most important is that you get a job that’s safe and -” Without realizing it, Aria inadvertently tuned out her housemate as her mind began to contemplate if she’d truly made the right choice by resigning as Lucy’s courier. Not from the standpoint of Lucy possibly sabotaging her meeting with Banyan Capital as a result of doing so, but from the standpoint of it having been a really good paying job. Kiwi was certainly right about the odds of her finding a similarly high-paying job being low, and if things didn’t turn out well with Banyan Capital – for whatever reason – then she and her sisters would most likely find themselves in financial trouble so dire they’d lose their farm. The more the Dazzling thought on all of this the more she started to feel that letting such a lucrative job go was a foolish decision, regardless of how dangerous it might be, and that for the sake of her sisters, housemates, and emus it might be best if she went back to Lucy the next morning and told her she’d continue to serve as her courier.