Entropy
Rio’s eyes widened when she came home to find Agatha on the ground, her nails digging into her arms, but her eyes… they were fully black, the iris indistinguishable from the sclera.
“Agatha!”
She tried to pull her arms away, but to no use. She stroked her face before vanishing to the void she used to call home. Eternity and Entropy were there as always, sitting in their rocking chairs.
“Death.” Entropy scoffed. “Fancy seeing—“
Rio pulled out her dagger, lunging at him and forcing him to Earth. She knocked him to the ground, pressing her dagger against his throat.
“Death, put that thing away!”
“Let her go!” Rio snarled.
Entropy shrugged. “This is what you get for the lantern—“
Rio dug her dagger into his throat as Eternity and Infinity caught up to them. A drop of blood trickled from his neck.
“Death!”
“Rio!”
“LET HER GO!”
Entropy pushed her off. Eternity ran to join his brother, but Entropy stopped him. “Don’t. I’ll teach Death this lesson. It’s about time someone did.”
Before Infinity could reach Rio, she lunged back onto Entropy, revealing her true form and pressing her dagger through Entropy’s neck, pinning him against the wall.
“I swear to the Divine Mother, I will destroy your form right here if you don’t free her.”
Entropy scoffed. “I’d like to see you try. You can’t kill me, Death.”
“Maybe not.”
Rio abandoned her skeletal form, adopting her truest form instead. Her crown formed on her head. She spread her dark wings wide, using them to corner Entropy.
“But I can dismember this form. You will be in pain and come back powerless after millennia of trying to be reborn, and the Divine Mother will have replaced you by then.”
She moved her dagger down to where mortals had hearts.
“End this.”
She dug her dagger into Entropy’s chest.
“Or I will.”
Entropy cowered at her true form, knowing he couldn’t talk his way out of it. He flicked his hand, and Agatha’s eyes reassumed their original blue. She gasped for air. Rio dropped her dagger and ran to her, dropping to her knees just in time to stop her head from hitting the ground as she fainted. Her eyes slowly opened, taking in Rio’s form.
“Wow.” Agatha barely managed. “This is new.”
“Are you okay?” Her voice softened immediately.
“I’m fine. I just—“
Her words got cut by Entropy’s screams of pain after trying to get Rio’s dagger only to burn his hand.
“It’s mine, Entropy.” The softness in her tone disappeared as fast as it appeared. “We don’t take things that belong to someone else.” She turned, meeting his eyes. “I’ll be more than happy to use it on you if you ever even think of laying a finger on her again. I suggest you go home before I change my mind.”
Entropy huffed, preparing to say something, but Infinity pulled both him and Eternity back. She looked straight into their eyes, somehow convincing them to leave. Infinity turned to Agatha and Rio.
“Call if you need me. Take care.”
Rio gave her a reassuring smile and mouthed ‘Thank you’ as she vanished.
She turned back to Agatha, cradling her head. “What did he do?” The sternness remained in her tone.
Agatha tensed, looking away. “Is it— Can we go to bed?”
Rio exhaled, her voice once again soft. “Of course. It’s been a long day.”
Rio picked her up and reassumed her humanoid form, wincing as her wings got restricted again, but Agatha put her hand on her arm.
“Keep it.” Agatha smiled. “Suits you.”
“You don’t… hate it?”
“You’re perfect.”
Rio couldn’t help but smile as she turned back. Agatha nuzzled into her, and Rio carried her up. She gently placed her on the bed before lying down next to her.
“Is it painful?”
“What?”
“Keeping your human form.”
Rio paused. “Not really. Sometimes, sure, but it makes me feel… like me. It’s the one I had when I met you.”
Agatha stroked her face. “I just don’t want you to suffer for me.”
“I’m not.” Rio interlaced her fingers with the ones on her face. “I promise. Are you okay?”
Agatha sighed. “Ask again tomorrow.”
“Do you want to talk—“
“No. Uh, do you— were those your siblings?”
Rio nodded slowly. “Eternity and Entropy. Entropy, uh… We had a disagreement. I’m sorry.”
Agatha furrowed her brows. “Why are you sorry?”
“He was— he was punishing you because he was mad at me and—“
“Babe, calm down.” She put her hand on Rio’s arm. “You didn’t do anything. It’s okay.”
Rio moved a stray strand out of Agatha’s face to reveal her eyes reddened with tears. “No, it isn’t. Are you sure you don’t want to talk—“
“No. But, uh, can you— can you stay with me?”
Rio gave her a reassuring smile. “Of course, my love.”
Agatha fought her eyelids, but they had already been out for a while before Entropy had intervened. Plus, with the things she had been seeing, she hadn’t slept well the previous nights either. Rio held her the whole night, wrapping her wings around her. She wasn’t surprised when Agatha woke up screaming. She just held her until she drifted back to sleep, just as she had done so many times before. She refused to fall asleep; she wouldn’t let Agatha wake up alone. She greeted her with a smile when she woke up, having reassumed her humanoid form.
“Aw, where did your wings go?”
Rio giggled. “It’s kind of awkward to lie in bed with wings, you know.”
Agatha pouted. “I liked them.”
“I’m saving it for a…” Rio smirked, twirling a strand of Agatha’s hair. “…special occasion.”
Agatha smiled. “Ooh, I like the sound of that.”
Rio’s smile turned into a bitter one. “Do you want to talk about yesterday?”
Agatha tensed, then shifted. “I— there’s not much to say. I’d— I’d been seeing my mother in reflections since my birthday. Yesterday was just… on another level.”
Rio waited silently for Agatha to gather her thoughts.
“I… I was back there. My trial, I mean. Then I was in— in the basement. I ran.” Agatha folded in on herself. “I just ran. Then I started reliving everything. All of it. It— it felt like she was hurting me again, and—“
Rio pulled her in as a few tears managed to make their way down Agatha’s face despite her best efforts to stop them.
“Don’t hold it, my love.”
Agatha sobbed quietly as Rio stroked her hair.
“I hate reliving it.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
Other than Agatha’s sobs, it was silent for a moment.
“I love you.”
A smile crept onto Rio’s face. “I love you, too.”