The Lineage Ch. 09

"STOP!"

"...AND YOU HATE ME TOO!" the elf shrieked and shoved the guardswoman backwards. Alexis stumbled back until she fell over and was lying on the floor while the elf continued screaming.

"YOU! YOU HATE ME!" she howled as it dug its fingers into her brain and marionetted her. "YOU JUST WANT TO USE ME AND TRICK ME JUST LIKE THEY DID! JUST LIKE HE DID! YOU'RE GOING TO CALL ME BEAUTIFUL THEN KICK ME DOWN AND ABUSE ME AND THROW ME ASIDE JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE EVER HAS!" her voice deepened as the walls around them shook violently. Alexis was beyond terrified as the elf's eyes glowed so bright they blinded her.

"I'M NOTHING MORE TO YOU THAN YOUR NEXT CONQUEST! YOUR PLAYTHING! YOUR DOLL TO USE AND DISCARD! YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT HOW I LOOK BECAUSE YOU WANT ME TO FUCK YOU SO GOOD YOU CAN NEVER LIVE WITHOUT ME! YOU DON'T GIVE A SINGLE FUCK ABOUT ME! YOU'RE JUST LIKE THEM! YOU'RE JUST LIKE THEM! YOU'RE JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE! STOP ACTING LIKE YOU LOVE THIS MONSTER!"

"Zenny, you're not a..."

"I AM A MONSTER!"

The world around Alexis Sylvaini collapsed. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She was more helpless than anyone in the world as those magma-hot eyes of the elf nearly burned her to ash. Enough sweat was pouring off the both of them to form a sizzling lake. The heart in her chest had either exploded or simply stopped. There were enough tears falling down her face to drown her.

Yet all of this paled in comparison to how tightly her fist was wound down at her side. That strength in her clenched hand raced across her like an infection until her whole body was jumping with the anticipation of the greatest war she would ever wage. In the unfathomable heat of Zenna's eyes - she could see her own staring back at her.

Cold.

Soulless.

Unforgettable.

Finally, she gathered up enough courage to say with the weight of the world behind it,

"You know, Zenny, if you weren't so goddamn gorgeous, I'd smack the shit out of you myself."

The elf froze over completely. She stopped screaming. She stopped shaking. Those eyes which, only a moment ago had been burning powerfully enough to stop Alexis in her tracks, glassed over. The sweat and tears pouring down her face became icicles which pierced the wooden floor beneath her as they fell. That chilling sensation spread out from her heart until all her blood had stopped. The guardswoman could nearly see her short, ragged breath leaving her mouth now. Yet, above all, the most terrified aspect of Zenna was it, who stood mouth agape in disbelief about how very, very correct it had been.

"Alexis... wha...?"

"STOP IT ALREADY!" she shrieked and leapt up to her feet. "You big fucking liar! Are you shitting me here!?" she stomped over to the elf with enough force to knock paintings off her walls. Alexis took the little woman's head in her hands and pressed down as if crushing an egg. Zenna could see there was zero inhibition left in the guard, given how her eyes were encircled by giant tendrils of veiny frustration. There was enough force in her clenched jaw to crush the world.

"What the fuck are you trying to tell me!? All this time... all this goddamn time you've been afraid of opening up to people because of what those fuckers treated you like!? You've based your entire personality... your entire goddamn existence upon the words of a group of people who don't even exist anymore!? That you're nothing more than the product of their heckling!?"

"I... I don't..."

"HOW DO YOU NOT FUCKING GET IT!?" the beast that had replaced Sylvaini shouted, "how do you not understand that you DO NOT have to suffer because of their choices!? Because of what THEY chose to label you as!? Who the fuck gives THEM the right to say what you are!? WHO you are!? That is YOUR choice to make, you goddamn idiot! Get it through that thick skull of yours that those people are your enemies, NOT the people who control you!"

"Wha... what...?"

"They were all convinced that you were their collective enemy... and you allowed them to do it! You sat there and just absorbed all their hatred until it became your own! You allowed them to hate something they didn't understand! And then they repeated this over and over until you joined them! Don't you see what they did to you, girlie!?"

No, no, no, no! it began shouting panickily, stop listening to her! We have to get out of here! it began to try and yank the elf out of Alexis' clutches with little success.

"Those goddamn bastards kept feeding you that same lie over and over until they didn't have to do it anymore... because you started doing it to yourself! YOU! YOU kept the cycle going long after they were out of your life! This cycle of perpetual torment... the only one keeping it going is YOU, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" the guard's hands shook with enough force she lost control of the elf's head. Seeing the chance, it yanked Zenna away and she began sprinting towards the stairs.

"GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!" Alexis shouted and dove after the little woman, wrapping her hands around the elf's body as she screamed loudly. The two of them fell to the floor with an immense crash. Not to be deterred, Zenna began kicking wildly at the guard's body as Alexis, driven by her primal instinct to win, dragged herself up to the elf's face. "STOP FOOLING YOURSELF THAT THEY WERE RIGHT! THEY WERE WRONG! ALL OF THEM LIED TO YOU BECAUSE THEY WERE AFRAID YOU'D SEE THE TRUTH! ABOUT HOW HIGH ABOVE THEM YOU ARE! THEY COULDN'T BEAR TO SEE YOU ON SUCH A HIGH PEDESTAL, SO THEY MINED IT OUT FROM UNDER YOU!" she howled right into the elf's face, which was only screaming incoherently back at her while desperately trying to claw her way out of the guard's grasp.

"But where are they now, girlie!? Tell me where those bastards are who hurt you so much! Are they here in this city!? In this house!? In this room!? Tell me!" the guardswoman yelled down one of the elf's pointy ears, while it continued to fill the other. You need to get the hell out of here now, stupid elf! I told you what would happen! You need to get away from this whore immediately before it's too late! Get the hell up! The two of them fighting over control of the little elf was too much to bare, and she simply ramped up her screaming fit until people for blocks around began to turn their heads towards the animalistic noise. All the while, Zenna was frantically still trying to fight her way out from underneath the stronger woman.

The loud slamming of flesh and bone upon the wood made their skeletons ache and their ears slam shut from the whirlwind of motion capturing them. Alexis could barely see the elf any longer as her blue strands buried the guard's face while the two continued to wrestle control over the other. The sensory overload of essentially fighting a bucking bull caused Alexis to slowly lose her grip on the young woman as she dragged herself towards the stairs. They beckoned the woman closer and closer to salvation. Whether she was able to run down them, crawl down, or simply let gravity throw her down - the elf cared little if it meant just another moment of freedom.

Alexis gripped tighter into wherever her hands could hold the elf, regardless of how painful it was for either woman. "Stop fighting me already! You know I'm right and the only person fooling you is YOU! There is an entire world of people out there who would love you to death - for real - and I mean that from the bottom of my heart! Stop trying to hide behind that wall you've put up, girlie! We can take it down together!"

"Alexis, please help me!" the elf distraughtly shouted, yet it kicked her face down. It was hyperventilating to the point the black world around it swayed heavily - but the one thing it saw clearly was how fragile those monstrous walls were. Any moment now the guard would slam through them - or the elf herself would bring them tumbling across the endless expanse.

SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! it shouted even as the guard could not hear it, elf! Get the fuck up now and get the hell out of here! We're running out of time! it dug its fingers back into her brain and forced her to move.

It knew it could never escape the guardswoman in a battle of sheer strength. The elf was far too weak to defeat anything in such a way. However, while Alexis may have her beat in strength - the elf more than makes up for it in sheer mass.

Without hesitation, it forced Zenna to violently roll to one side, pinning Alexis underneath. Already seeing the elf's move, Sylvaini used her own strength to roll them back over. As the power struggle continued and they began fighting with increased tension, it ended with a barrel roll that took both women across the harsh wooden floor, their sweat-slicken bodies crashing painfully into each other as they continued screaming louder and louder until their ears rang. The endless piles that Zenna had only just cleaned were now being strewn across the floor again as the pair left a path of destruction in their wake. All the while, Alexis was nearing socking the elf with her voice while the little woman was borderline insane with how her mind spun.

"ZENNA! FOR THE LOVE OF GODS, FUCKING STOP AND LISTEN TO ME!"

"NO!"

"WHY THE HELL NOT!? WHY CAN'T YOU FACE THE TRUTH ALREADY!?"

"I AM! I AM FACING IT! YOU'RE JUST A LIAR LIKE THE REST OF THEM!"

"YOU'RE THE LIAR, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" the guardswoman shot her legs out to stop the endless barrel roll as she landed on top of Zenna. What little sanity the elf had left caused her to lash out wherever she could, trying to either shove or beat Alexis off her, whatever it took. Sylvaini grabbed both of her hands as they flailed around and pinned them down so the elf couldn't move any longer. Her skull rattled, raising her rage higher and higher as Zenna's voice continued being abused.

"Stop trying to convince yourself you're the enemy here! You're not the enemy to anyone!"

"I AM!"

"LIAR!" Sylvaini slammed her down again as both Zenna and it fought back with all they could.

"Who told you that you're the enemy!? That you're something to be hated!? Something that doesn't deserve love!? That you're something that is nothing more than a disgusting monster!?"

"ME!"

"LIAR!!" Alexis screamed again, nearly using her words as blows to beat the elf back into her senses. The guardswoman, despite years of her brawls and battles against insurmountable odds, was on the bleeding edge of her strength as the elf was slowly working her way back out from under her.

"Tell me who your real enemy is! Is it those who hurt you!?"

"NO!"

"No!? Not them!? Who is it then! Tell me!"

"IT'S...!" she tried to get out, but it was simply beating her with enough force that she ached all over.

Shut up! Stop listening to her! it would scream, kicking her or dragging her chains with enough force to choke her. It knew it had to keep her head down and her spirit broken - else she would see how very, very close she was to bringing those walls down around her. With each passing moment increasingly-large chunks were falling down and shattering with enough noise that its voice was slowly being hidden away. As that voice in her head faded, the real voice filling her ears only grew stronger.

"Zenny! Zenny... Zen...ny..." the guardswoman rasped out, her reserves empty. Alexis' muscles ached and begged for oxygen. In her frustration, she had forgotten to breathe up until this point and was struggling to force air back down her throat. She was barely holding onto the elf, who, although she was also losing strength, was still trying to crawl out from under her. Defeated, Sylvaini simply dropped her weight down until her face was buried in the elf's bosom. She had sweat clear through her thin clothes and was essentially bathing in her own salty mess.

The elf, although trying to kick her way out from under the guard, was rapidly losing steam. Even with it encouraging her along, her body had simply run out of strength. Alexis still held tightly into her arms as the two women heaved into each other, their spirits never fading, but the battle clearly over. Zenna stared down through her nose at the guardswoman, nearly fainting from exhaustion as she was buried amongst her prodigious chest.

"Zenny... please... just listen to me. I know you can hear me... no matter where you are in there... I know you can hear me," Alexis sobbed out, her voice weak and wet. Her own throat sore from the shouting match, Zenna said nothing besides rasping out breaths.

"Please stop this nonsense... I can't take it anymore... I know that sounds selfish after all you've been through, but..." she slowly pulled her face up using her hands, still grappled into the elf's arms. The guard, who Zenna once thought was likely the strongest person in the world, someone she could only pray to ever have an inkling of her strength rub off on her, was now openly sobbing down her own face and onto her own pale façade. "... I can't take it anymore. I don't want to be without you any longer. Please stop trying to hide away. Please stop being someone else. Please just be you," she released the elf's hands and moved her own paws under the girl, hugging her close. Zenna's eyes went wide and expansively empty, her jaw stammering.

"Please stop thinking you have to be someone else because they hated you. That's not their choice, and it's not something that's ever going to happen. You can only be you. Just you. Not this person you think is some monster. Just... you. Because... even if you can't ever change how you see yourself... you'll never be a monster to me... no matter how hard you try. And you know why?"

"No..." the elf breathed.

Alexis' face collapsed in on itself, "because you're the most beautiful person I've ever met. I can't live without you. And I know you came into my life thinking you needed me, but... the truth is, Zenny... I... need you... more than you could ever possibly need me."

Whether it was Alexis' tears falling across her face or Zenna's own, she didn't know anymore. As she stared into the guard's eyes, one innocent and the other scarred - she knew it in her heart that both spoke the truth. She didn't resist the tiniest bit as Alexis leaned in and stole a heavy, lasting kiss before staring into her fiery pupils once more.

"...and before I can have you in my life, I need you to know who your enemy is, so we can take them out of both our lives. Tell me, elfy, who the hell it is, already."

Zenna gulped as if swallowing an apple whole, "it's... my enemy is..." she tried to reason out an answer, yet she drew a blank. Who was her enemy, really? What it this guard pinning her down? She couldn't find a reason to think so. Those people in her village who tormented her? How? Where were they? Either scattered to the far corners of the world or nothing but bones left in the woods. How could they hurt her from such a distance, she figured. Something seemed to click deep inside her, like a piece that had been pushed out of place finding its slot again. Yet, something even deeper inside her began welling up, like a furnace after being stoked.

"If it makes it easier, do you want to say it with me?" Alexis pined, her voice coming clear through the holes in the walls around the elf's heart.

Hey! What are you doing!? You're not actually listening to this filth, are you!? it shouted and yanked on the elf's chains - but, for once, it could not get the girl to move. It yanked again, but Zenna stayed firmly on the blackened ground upon which it kicked her. Hey! H-hey! its voice cracked some, panic sneaking its way into its tone. You can still hear me, right, you stupid elf? Can't you just... it was cut off as the elf whispered something under her breath. Huh? What?

"My... my enemy... my enemy is..." she tried whispering out again, both inside and out. As its voice continued fading away into obscurity, she found one voice ringing out louder and louder. Above its threats. Above the slamming of the chains as it continued to fruitlessly yank on her. And especially above the crashing walls around the pair. With each passing moment, it sensed something was horribly wrong. Its voice was becoming quieter, as if it were shrinking. Even those chains it had pulled for so many years seemed to be oh-so-fragile. And, all the while, her voice became louder and louder.

Gradually, the elf slowly turned from how she laid upon the ground and turned towards it, the flame in her eye burning like a gateway to hell. In fear, it shook harshly and dropped the chains it held. Zenna turned around more until both of her blazing eyes stood out strong from underneath her hair. In terror, it dropped from its feet and onto the ground as Zenna stood. It jumped back up and backed away rapidly from her, yet somehow, the elf was gaining ground. It continued backwards endlessly until it tripped over a fallen piece of that wall. There was not a moment it could take its eyes off Zenna, who now took up its whole world. The chains which once bound her were now falling off, one by one until none of them remained except a sad little pile at her feet. With this whole scene before it, it could do nothing but fidget violently on the ground.

And finally, in nightmarish fright, it could only tremble as Zenna loomed over her, as giant as the world itself.

"My... enemy..." she started out.

H... hey... elf... wait... please... it spoke meekly.

"My... enemy... is..." she stated with more force to both Alexis and it.

Stop... s-stop it... stop listening to her... she's lying to you again. What the hell is wrong with you? Why won't you listen to me anymore?

"My..." the elf said once more before the guardswoman joined in.

Please...

"...enemy..."

Please stop...

"...does..."

No... no, no, no, please... it begged with a sob.

"...not..."

I only wanted what was best for you... please... I'm so sorry...

"...exist."

And with that, its world ended completely. What was left of those impossibly large walls surrounding the two of them shattered immediately, its pieces crashing down with enough force to break the black abyss they stood atop of. While it lied there on the ground, holding its head between its hands, Zenna stood tall, undaunted by the catastrophic calamity around them. As the walls fell, a blinding light flooded through as if water, once held back by the walls, surrounded the two, engulfing them completely until they went blind.

...

Years passed before the light settled and Zenna could see again. She found herself still trapped underneath Alexis, her brown eyes streaming with such force they almost put out the twin flames in the elf's eyes. Both women were now so immensely quiet that the world around them also held its breath in anticipation. Alexis loosened her grip on the girl and leaned back, yet the guard smiled wide enough to encapsulate Zenna's entire world.

Sylvaini took out a finger and pointed straight into the elf's heart, "Zenny... do you see it now? Do you see why you weren't able to love someone? Why it scared you so much?" she paused, and although the girl did not speak, her answer was translated straight into Alexis' soul. "You already know, don't you? The reason why your heart is so empty... why you thought you needed love inside it... it wasn't because you needed someone else to love you..."