//------------------------------// // The Daughter // Story: The Moon in the Dark // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Muffet stared down at the Sage that rose to confront her and the purple soul. She knew just how much was riding on this. Not just the spiders, but all of Monsterdom was counting on her now...and she wasn't about to let them all down. She squared her shoulders as she wrapped her six arms around herself, ready to battle. Before her eyes, a few defining features appeared on the sage. A black cloak surrounded it, and a heavy scythe was gripped in its hands, a figure Muffet recognized. While the names and faces of the seven Sages that sealed the Underground had been lost to time, certain figures from the war were remembered, and Muffet of all Monsters knew this one instantly. The spiders had good reason to remember The Reaper, the right hand to the humans' king. As she started to step back worriedly, the purple soul floated closer to her, supporting her. "You're right, deary," she murmured softly. "I can't run away now..." She lifted her upper two hands into the air over her head, extending the lower two down to her waist. The last two she cupped over her chest, shaping a heart between her fingers. "I'm ready..." With that, the purple soul dove between her hands, and her body arched back as the power flooded into her. She felt her body growing as her somewhat childish physique expanded with all the magic building inside her. Her hair burst free of its ties, flowing freely down along the curve of her back in a sparkling waterfall. Her clothing fitted snugly to her new frame, reshaping into a very low cut leotard in very dark purple that greatly emphasized her enhanced curves. Spider patterned stockings crawled up her legs from shapely heels to meet the bottom of the leotard. With a throaty moan, she bent forward as gossamer wings spread from her back and to either side of her head. As the transformation finished, she ran her six hands over her new form, staring down at the crimson dyed nails that tipped her slender, delicate digits. As the Sage seemed to shake at the very sight of her, she smirked widely, her five crimson eyes glowing as she smiled, slight fangs poking out over her lower lip. She lifted a wine glass in her upper right hand, filled with thick red liquid, and sipped from it as she fanned herself with a small fan in her upper left hand, bringing it up to playfully hide her face below her eyes. Mistress Muffet Dominates She took a step along the void-like battleground, and a web spread out from her toe to cover the ground. Each step spread her fibers wider as she waved her hands seductively. She could see her tactics were making the Sage uncomfortable, and every advantage she could achieve was viable in this scenario. She wasn't a combatant, after all. As she got close, the Sage swung its scythe at her waist...and she burst apart into spiders, crawling all across the web before reforming behind the Sage. "Ufufufu...no need to be hasty, deary...we don't have to fight." The Sage spun to face her, and she caught the scythe's hilt in one hand. "Is this really all you are? Just a warden on an eternal prison?" The Sage started to shift, only to find itself bound in glowing purple webbing, preventing it from moving readily. "Surely there was more to you than that once..." Muffet purred gently as she sidled up close, sauntering around it with a playful sway of her hips. "You were human, and humans aren't evil incarnate. But...what are you now?" Coming around behind the sage, she leaned in close, pressing against it. "You've lost yourself, haven't you? You gave your soul readily to the spell to keep us contained...but over the eons, you've lost most of your identity, haven't you? Your desires, your imagination, your interests, your name...it's all faded away from you, leaving only the Fear that drove humanity to this point...the Fear that made you willing to give up your soul to craft an inescapable prison..." The Sage listened to her words, its scythe slowly lowering. Muffet chuckled as she saw her words reaching her target. "But it doesn't have to be that way..." She wrapped her middle two arms around the sage from behind, slipping under its cloaked arms to stroke its chest, her upper hands rubbing its shoulders even as her lower hands suggestively stroking the scythe's shaft. "We don't have to leap directly into battle. I'm a lover, not a fighter. Why don't you let me show you a little LOVE, hmm?" She leaned in close, her hot breath tickling the edge of the Sage's hood. "We can get to the fighting after...after I've helped you remember who and what you are...what do you say? Just lower your hood for me..." Leaning in close, she mimed a kiss. Shivering, the Sage slowly lowered its hood. "Yes...just like that..." Muffet purred as she leaned in close. "Now...let me help you remember..." Her lips paused millimeters from the Sage's neck, and her eyes flashed with hate. "...Ariadne." Her mouth opened wide and her fangs sank into the Sage's neck, draining it of its magical energy as she started sucking it dry. The Sage struggled, but it was trapped, her middle hands having dug her nails into its torso as her lower hands ripped the scythe free of its grip. It tried to beat her away, but its magic slowly drained until it couldn't fight. Muffet pulled back, holding the Sage at arms length as something crawled up the webbing towards them. "She was our Matriarch..." Muffet hissed. "My ancestor. She held our kind together, united us...and her death at your hands scattered our people. Some trapped aboveground, to die to humans endlessly over the eons, some to the Ruins, some to Hotland...and so many trapped in the snows where they died, unable to care for themselves. You did that, Reaper. Right hand of the King...you have been the sworn enemy of my kind for eons...and all that's left of you is that which we hate...the one who sought our destruction and imprisonment. Now...die!" A roar echoed as a massive spider - one that appeared to be half muffin - rose up over the pair. "My pet's been with us since the days of Ariadne..." Muffet hissed. "He remembers the scent of the one who slew his first Mistress...I throw you on his Mercy." Pulling back, she hurled the Sage away from her...and watched as the soul was shattered as her pet bit down on the weakened projection. The dispersed magic settled into her glass, filling it up to the top with red liquid again, letting her take another sip. "Afufu...so much for you. ...rest in peace, Ariadne, mother, father...vengeance is complete." She closed her eyes, letting herself slip back into the connection that brought her there, letting more of that magic be dedicated to helping others fight.