Farah cried out as she was kicked back, and her breath hitched as Alissa's foot pinned her to the ground. The taunt caused Farah's eyes to narrow. "No," she snapped back, using her magic to shove the villain off balance. Once that was accomplished, she rolled to the side and pushed herself back up. Her muscles were taunt with fatigue and her mind was weary from exhaustion, but she pushed through.
Alissa laughs wildly as she's pushed off, flipping in midairand landing lightly on her feet.
"Such a shame. I'd hate to ruin you more, but I suppose I'll have to." she says brightly. All the blood and bone from the surrounding area starts bubbling, then gets drawn to a single point, where it forms a wicked looking scythe once more - but the blade was longer, and made of bone, and the handle was longer than Alissa was tall.
Still, she weilded it with practiced ease.
"Why don't you come here, this time?" she teases.
Farah winced immediately when she was on her feet again. She'd already forgotten about the new wound on her leg, and it flared with pain when she put too much weight on the injured leg. Great.
She panted for breath, clutching her stomach and praying for some kind of miracle. Fighting the slave had made her exhausted beyond belief, but now Alissa was expecting her to fight like she hadn't just used all of her energy. But that was probably her plan anyway, Farah assumed.
The sight of the new scythe made Farah's gut wrench. She narrowed her eyes at the villain's tease, but she didn't move. She wasn't that stupid.
Alissa rolls her eyes. "You're no fun."
In a blur of motion, the scythe turns into a whip with cruel bone barbs along it and lashes out at Farah.
Farah's eyes widened, and she moved out of the way to dodge it. However, she was slowed by her fatigue and wound, so instead of fluidly dodging the weapon, Farah merely toppled to the ground. She closed her eyes and winced as she tried to push herself up, but she was too weak. All she managed to do was make a fool of herself as she tried to get up and fight Alissa.
Alissa casually sashays towards Farah and laughs with delight at the effort it was taking the hero to stand, let alone fight back or even dodge a simple attack. She kicks the hero onto her back and smirks down at her, digging a heel into her chest once more.
"A shame. I thought you were supposed to be strong, but all I'm seeing is a weak, stupid, stubborn little girl." she drawls, her eyes gloating as they locked onto Farah's. "Maybe you should come back later, sweetheart. I'd love to see you slowly be eaten away by my existance, and the thought that as you're healing and recuperating, I'm out here killing innocents and destroying people's minds."
She digs her foot down more, feeling a couple bones crunch, and she shivers as the sound hits her ears. Not a shiver of disgust, more of pleasure. Her whip turns back to a longsword and she stabs it down, piercing Farah's right shoulder. "But first, to leave you with a few more reminders of your incapability."
Alissa licks her lips and then twists her sword harshly before pulling it back out of the woman on the ground. She steps away now with one last dig into Farah's chest.
Farah gritted her teeth to keep in a pained yell as Alissa kicked her back down. Her head whipped back, and for a moment, the hero saw stars. But the heel pressing dangerously deep against her chest brought her back.
A flare of panic rose up in Farah at Alissa’s words. She immediately began to try and think of ways to heal faster or spare innocent lives. But all her thoughts were silenced as Alissa’s foot crushed her ribs. Farah couldn’t help the cry of agony that burst from her lips. Then a searing pain filled her mind as her right shoulder became subject to Alissa’s torture.
Farah shrieked as Alissa twisted the sword, but she did nothing more than lay still in defeat as Alissa began to walk away. But Farah still had one last plea to make.
“Wait,” she rasped, a hiss of pain immediately following her words. “Take me… instead… spare… the people… do as you… please… with me…” It was an offer she prayed Alissa couldn’t refuse. It was all Farah had left to give. Her whole self.
Alissa turns and smirks.
"And why should I spare them when I can kill them and do as I please with you anyways?" she asks simply.
She steps back towards Farah and laughs.
"You're in no place to bargain, Miss Hero. You've been completely at my mercy this entire time. So I'll let you go and heal up in your pretty little house, surrounded by your pretty little neighbors, in the pretty little city that I'll force you to watch burn at the end of everything," she coos condescendingly.
Farah’s expression contorted with pain and desperation. She needed to convince Alissa that she was worth the price of the innocents who lived in the city. If she didn’t… Farah didn’t even want to think about the tragedy that would befall the world if Alissa had her way with things.
“Please,” Farah begged. “Take me… spare them… I’ll do…” She bit her tongue to keep from saying it, but the words spilled from her treacherous lips anyway. “I’ll do anything for you.” Her misery was visible in her eyes, but she needed to do something. Better one life suffer rather than thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. “Please,” she groaned again.
(Sorry for intruding, but I love how these two interact. It definitely feels like the classic "villain tears the hero apart and rebuilds them" trope.)
(Thank you! :))
(Thanks kid! Now scram lol. [Said with genuine affection and love of course <3])
Alissa laughs delightedly.
"Fine, I'll spare them. But you better listen to everything I tell you to do, no matter what it is. No matter what time of day, no matter how far in the future people look. . ." she trills, leaning down to look deeply into Farah's eyes, a cruel look in her own.
". . . you are mine. You will do anything for me? Then. . . kill them all."
The sadistic gleam in Alissa's eyes was unmistakable. Farah had truly done both the right and wrong thing. Because while Alissa herself may spare them, she never said that she'd spare her subordinates the cruelty of killing everyone.
Relief sparked deep in Farah's mind. The words… they were too good to be true. But immediately all of her hope vanished as Alissa looked deep into Farah's eyes. Red and brown eyes clashed as Farah met the gaze and didn't look away. She couldn't show any more weakness to Alissa despite already being wounded to the point of being unable to stand on her own.
Farah's expression flooded with horror at Alissa's command. "No," she rasped. It was meant to come out stronger, but only a whisper of disbelief made it past her lips. She'd done the only thing she could think of to spare innocent lives. But now… now she didn't know what to do. "Anything but that," she pleaded.
Alissa's face twists in a way rarely seen by anyone who was alive.
"You said 'anything.' I could drag everyone out here and take them apart in front of you. Would you like that? You would, wouldn't you? Because if you didn't, you'd be doing it yourself. Do everyone a favor and get it done," she says. And in some fucked up, twisted way, what she was saying would make some twisted amount of sense, even to the ones who'd be getting slaughtered.
(Beep boop bop, let this not flop /j)
Farah trembled at the villain’s words. She’d been outmatched and outsmarted. Soon, the entire city would suffer for it.
There was one problem with Alissa’s wicked scheme. The hero was wounded fatally, and she herself would die soon if not given proper care. Even as Farah tried to take a deep breath, she hissed in pain. She had several broken bones in her chest, not to mention the open wounds from Alissa’s sword and scythe.
“I can’t,” Farah groaned. She literally, physically couldn’t. Her recovery would need someone caring for her daily, if not hourly. She was incredibly hurt. “I can’t even stand.”
Alissa tilts her head and then smiles.
"I forgot. You did take quite the beating, didn't you my dear?" she asks, though it was clearly not genuine nor was it particularly kind.
The wounds start to patch themselves up, quickly, as Alissa forces farah's body into overdrive.
"See? Good as new," she smirks.
Farah mustered up a glare at the villainess’s comments. If she had the capacity, she would have launched herself at Alissa. But all she could do for the time being was lay still and hope the pain went away soon.
The words Alissa spoke were beginning to sound warbled in Farah’s ears. She probably had a concussion by now. No, she definitely did.
Then, suddenly, she was being taken care of. But not in a gentle way. Bones snapped back into place, wounds sealed up, and her right mind came rushing back to her. The hero screamed in pain and tensed her body as she was forced into healing herself.
When it was done, she narrowed her eyes at Alissa. “Are you quite done?” she snapped. Her powers pooled at her fingertips, protecting her mind and waiting to be unleashed telekinetically.
Alissa smirks.
"Sure. Now, remember your words, dear," she smirks. She gestures at the city.
"One life at a time, or all at once. . . Fast, slow, anything in between. Just make sure they suffer a little, 'kay?" she laughs.
"Or. . ." she pauses.
There was a new, darker gleam in her eyes.
"Keep their trust. Keep them alive for a while. . . then, when it matters most, abandon them. Let them hate you, scream your name as a curse. Either way, I couldn't care any less. . . their suffering will be delicious either way."
Farah winced and sat upright. Her entire body was sore and tender from the beating and revival it had just endured.
But the words of the villainess in front of her were enough to bring her back into herself quickly. Farah glared in response to the smirk, but the more Alissa spoke, the more the hero worried. She had made the deal… she had to accept it. But that couldn't be her only option!
"Please," she begged, fighting the survival instinct in her body to not run away from the new dark gleam in Alissa's already dark red eyes. "There must be another way. Something else I can do. Anything. Not this. Let the people live! I beg of you… spare them."