She is My Scar
Rio didn’t know how it happened, well she did… It was simple: the fact that neither of them could stay away from one another for long enough. The game was back in play, but this time, like the date, it was different…it left Rio breathless, her mind swirling unable to process everything she felt. She didn’t hate what was happening, but she hated what would come after. They would go back to hating the other, fighting the other, but Rio couldn’t stop herself, no matter how hard she wanted to. Everything inside Rio, the cosmic entity herself, wanted Agatha Harkness. She didn’t know whether it truly was their soul tie or the fact they were just simply made for each other.
She had a plan, one that didn’t involve indulging whatever Agatha’s game was. She enjoyed the date, hell she would kill for this every night, basking in the strong arms of her wife. Rio had gotten up the moment the last note resounded from the band, knowing both her and her wife would make an escape before Lorna came on. She turned back down to her wife, kissing her smooth cheek, a little longer than she should have before pulling her dagger out, ready to go back home. Before her arm could even raise to cut the veil, a familiar hand was placed on her shoulder. Rio fought, she really did. She wouldn’t do it.
She swallowed hard, not ready to face her, “I had a wonderful time, Agatha. Thank you.”
“Rio,” came the siren’s voice. “Look at me.”
If she did, it would all be over, she knew and yet her body turned to look at her wife, meeting her favorite shade of blue in all the cosmos. The eyes were warm, tender, dare she admit loving? She didn’t fully meet her gaze, her head bowing, avoiding the trap her wife would lead her into, but Agatha closed the distance between them. A finger slowly lifted her chin up to meet those jewels and Rio felt the tears ready to slip again, but Agatha only fully closed the distance. Their lips touched, softly at first…just a feather of touch, a snowflake melting upon the skin. Their foreheads rested against each other in a familiar comfort. Rio felt her walls come crumbling down, something bulldozing a path straight to her heart for Agatha. Then, lips were on hers. She wasn’t sure who moved, but that was how she ended up in this position…
no seriously…
Everything was a blur. Somehow Rio had cut the veil, both of them stepping through straight into her bedchambers before clothes were thrown somewhere. The bed was under Rio, a warm plush body pushing her into the furs, but this fight wasn’t charged with hate as before. Agatha was gentle, her teeth not as sharp and the way she placed kisses on Rio’s body not only sent thrills through Death, but gave her hope. They moved with each other, with years of practice. Sparks crackled around them in the chambers as it filled with breathless moans and loud screams of pleasure. Death was all over Agatha. Her mouth and tongue finding every little weakness on her wife’s skin. Lips pressed to her neck, sucking lightly and drawing out a sound that made her feral. Her fingers danced around her body, having memorized every curve, every dip, and every scar. She only looked because she wanted to. There were only two things different. One: Agatha tasted full of power, Death’s second favorite taste. She always loved shoving her tongue down her wife’s throat for that taste but her favorite was when her head was being crushed between two thighs. The second: They weren’t fucking out of hate for each other. No, Rio recognized this as the dance they had done during their marriage.
Fucking came in many forms between them. The first time, there was something different, a feeling of nerves and excitement all balled up into one as they explored. The rest were the same, the constant anxiety of doing something wrong, checking on each other and the pleasure that came from when the other would reach her peak. When they were married, it all changed. Death didn’t hold back and neither did her wife. They made love to each other without hesitance, without nerves…it only changed when it was requested. For the past few centuries, fucking became another mindset. Both of them slipped out of their bodies for a moment, a new persona coming into them as it was mean, harsh…cruel even, but this…Rio felt like it was the love they would make if they were still together, but something was different. Agatha radiated with sorrow, grief, and heartbreak.
So…
ending up in this position…
was a little funny to Death when the emotions were so high.
She supposed there was more emotion in it than she cared to admit. One that she still had yet to wrap around the humanness of it all, and yet here she was: in her chambers, on her bed, and on her knees. Not even in the way she had been before for her love…no this was different, even with the hate fucking.
Arms held her up, one around her stomach pressing her closer to the body behind her, and guiding her in a perfect deep rhythm. The other rested against her chest, a hand on her bare throat. Her head was tilted back, resting on the front of Agatha’s shoulder as her wife thrusted into her. Rio was gasping, her eyes closed as the strap she had conjured on Agatha hit everything inside her a little too perfectly. She didn’t know how her wife was holding her up like this, but she was. The grip around her waist was possessive and the one on her throat just as much, but there was tenderness there too. She reached down, her hand on her wife’s thigh for some semblance of support as her body moved with her. She was gasping, her moans loud as her eyes remained closed.
“Fuck, fuck,” she whimpered.
The bed was shaking with them, the back board hitting the stone wall, but it was all but heard in their ears. Rio focused on the sounds coming from their bodies, a rough, wet clapping sound echoing over the room. Agatha kissed along her jaw as her thrusts never wavered, but Rio was a struggling mess in her arms, squirming and moaning loudly. She pressed an opened mouth kiss onto Rio’s awaiting lips, swallowing her moans. She loved how flexible Death was and how much Death wanted her, more than either of them could hate each other. Agatha had to shake that from her head, focusing herself on Rio’s pleasure.
The pressure was building up in Rio’s stomach, pulling taut as she struggled to direct it. Lightning was hitting her, striking her repeatedly with each thrust. The curve of the dildo was doing wonders, hitting the soft spot inside and what turned Rio on further was knowing Agatha could feel it. Agatha was inside her, feeling how she squeezed around her and how much she was dripping with need.
“Fuck–harder, please!” the words left her lips faster than she could stop them.
Her wife didn’t disappoint, the grip tightening around her throat as her thrusts became short and frantic, “You better come with me, my love.”
Rio nodded her head, unable to say more as everything became too perfect. The pleasure was building up the pressure, ready to explode, and give it all to Agatha, but with the little restraint she had left, she held off. With some unknown strength, Rio opened her eyes and they were welcomed by bright blues. Agatha’s pupils were dilated, but even the black couldn’t swallow the blue completely. Her eyes were soft, filled with desire yes, but soft, a tender gaze Agatha had only reserved for Rio before everything happened. Rio returned the gaze, her head sinking further into her wife’s shoulder. That gaze, the way Agatha was holding her up, and the perfect in-synch thrusting of their hips, Rio no longer could stop herself. She came with a scream, one barely muffled by Agatha’s lips as she continued thrusting. Everything became white for Rio, her body slacking completely, catching Agatha by surprise who now fully had to hold up the entity even through the shaking of her own orgasm touring through her. Rio’s name joined in with her own into the chamber’s. Yet Rio grew light, her human form gone and replaced by the bones of Lady Death.
Everything was blurry for Lady Death, her body felt like weight as the orgasm lasted, Agatha slowing her thrusts to a stop before magicking the strap away. She held Lady Death, watching the black heart beat frantically through the cage. Rio didn’t seem to notice what form she was in. This fuck was different than all the ones before, one that made her barley even think as bliss consumed her body and if she were human, she would be positive she would have passed out by now. She felt herself quiver in her wife’s arms but they held her nonetheless. Then, a feather light kiss was placed to her cheek, in the most specific place Agatha would kiss her when she was Death. Rio blinked, acknowledging she was fully skeleton. They had fucked for centuries, tiring each other out– yes tiring Death out, but never to point where Rio had gone fully skeleton on her. Her form would flicker, most of the time her ribs and face losing the strength to keep the human form, but her whole body? Never.
Rio was back to the first form: nervous and anxious. Agatha was only here for a nice night, not to hold the skeletal form of Death. Rio was a reminder of everything they had lost, a walking personification of what destroyed them. And here she was, in that form, recovering from an orgasm in Agatha’s arms. Another kiss to her teeth froze her thoughts. She never understood how Agatha could stand it, the uncomfortable bones and truth before her eyes even when they were married. But now, she couldn’t even begin to think how Agatha was doing this. She expected Agatha to hate her true form even more, but with every kiss placed against her bony form, the thought wilted and died.
With tenderness that Rio would originally possess for her wife post-orgasm, Agatha guided their bodies down into the furs. Rio grimaced, her femurs meeting a puddle of what was the aftermath of what Agatha had done to her. Agatha’s chuckle tickled where her ear would be, costing over her jaw bone as magic cleaned the bed of their sweat and come. Lips were back on her jaw as arms pulled the skeletal creature into the human body.
“Are you alright, my darling death?” Agatha hummed into the back of her neck now.
Rio allowed her heart to match Agatha’s pace, a bony hand stretched back behind her to run through thick locks, “Agatha, what are we doing?”
She felt the anger rise within the human quickly, but Rio moved her hand to her cheek, knowing the defense and venom about to spout on her. It froze as a phalanx caressed the top of her cheekbone.
“Agatha, you know I am still learning human emotions,” she said calmly, keeping the soft flex of her digits.
Her wife breathed deeply, “What do you feel, my love?”
“With you or me?” Rio asked in turn, falling into the old habit with ease.
They haven’t done this in centuries, Agatha asking what she felt between them and helping her understand the humanness she felt inside her. It had confused Rio greatly in the beginning. She thought something was wrong with her powers until Agatha had pulled her close and told her it was something called anxiety. Rio hated it, the annoying pest that made her feel so small, like she was mortal…but in Agatha’s arms it would all fade away. Rio also learned what possessiveness and jealousy was from her. The first time a witch hit on her wife was when they were still exploring being a couple. They were in a tavern on the edge of Salem, celebrating after Agatha had just wiped out an entire coven. It was a great feat, one that she and Agatha planned for weeks before they launched their attack.
The tavern was rowdy and crowded, humans infested the place, a few witches and warlocks here and there, but they barely acknowledged their presence. It was the perfect place for Lady Death and Agatha Harkness, notorious serial witch killer to wine down for the night. Rio had gone to get more drinks when something made her turn. Her heart quickened, her breathing stopped. A witch was in her seat, her hand over Agatha’s, tracing her thumb in lazy circles as she made Agatha laugh– Rio’s favorite sound in the whole universe.
Her magic was surging in her chest, a strange feeling surfaced as she had tried to keep her cool. But there was a burning ache inside her, and watching the witch gradually lean closer and closer into Agatha’s space was a line Rio didn’t know she could ignore. She made her way across the bar, feeling the shadows and darkness move with her and grow the moment she reached them. She set their drinks on the table, sliding Agatha’s past the stranger. Blues immediately darted to her, but Rio wasn’t looking at her purple witch, she was focused on the woman who was too focused on getting Agatha’s attention than to notice her presence.
“Excuse me,” Rio’s voice came out low, her tone sharp and dripping with malice, but the witch didn’t flinch, let alone hear her.
She couldn’t stop the way her magic continued to seep out, crackling above them like a storm over the sea, waiting for the first monstrous wave to join in with the symphony. She cleared her throat, louder this time, forcing the witch to look up. She met her eye with a coy smile, but it faltered the moment their eyes met. Her fingers curled nervously as the energy in the room shifted to something colder, something darker…something ancient and the smell that came with it had everyone pausing in their drinking.
Agatha finally caught on, her head snapping in attention but the realization was too late. Rio was gone, lost in the swirl of this confusing need. Her eyes were glowing, the shadows wrapping around her as Lady Death came out to play. Well not fully, it was only her jaw, mouth, chest, eyes, arms, and hands…it was enough. The tension was radiating in beats from her, going into her hands and darkening her gaze further– it all exploded in a flash.
Rio raised her hand before Agatha could blink, sending a pulse of magic, but it wasn’t Green. No, it was Black and full of mighty shadows. Everything seemed to tremble as the witch was thrown against the wall. Screams were immediate but no one could move. The air was too thick as tables and chairs collided, the floorboards cracking, and walls and beams splintered, sending the patrons in all directions.
“ Get away from her, ” Rio’s voice was a growl, but it was also Lady Death.
She sent the closest patrons to their knees, her voice too much for mere mortals to handle. The magic in the room was chaos, controlled, but devastating. Rio couldn’t kill. Her and Agatha both knew this, but that didn’t stop the blood that was being shed, almost as if Rio had found a loophole within her own balance. Agatha had stood, used to her love’s voice, but the tavern itself could not hold the power. She watched the large cracks make their way up to the ceiling like snakes, racing to break the stability of the establishment.
“Rio!” her love called, but it landed on deaf ears.
It wasn’t Rio who stood in the tavern with them, it was Lady Death– and the tavern was now a battlefield for her to reap the bodies from. Agatha was racing towards her, feeling the pressure of magic of her love’s unchecked fury. The witch was unconscious against the wall as other’s made it to the door. Before the purple witch could come closer, a pulse of magic destroyed everything nonliving. The wood of the tavern splintered into billions of pieces, lunging out away from them as the glass swirled, cutting the remaining patrons, all of them but Agatha. Agatha had finally made it in front of Rio, meeting only black dead eyes until a light flickered with recognition.
Rio breathed, Death creeping her way back in as her eyes never left Agatha. Her body was trembling from the display, her fingers flexing as Agatha stared at with shock, “Rio, what the hell was that?”
She opened her mouth to explain, but nothing came. She went over the emotions Agatha taught her. She wasn’t angry, no. That wasn’t it, but she felt something about the situation. It wasn’t sadness or anxiety, but she just had to protect her Agatha. Rio shook the remnant of her magic from her hands as she shrugged her shoulders. Rio opened her mouth again, but once more could not place the foreign emotion. This was one Agatha hadn’t taught her about. She looked around, now seeing they stood under the night sky as screams echoed around them. She grabbed Agatha, taking them through the veil and back home, but Agatha took her hands, freezing them just before their door.
“My love, please talk to me,” she said softly. “What was that back there?”
Once more Rio shook her shoulders, “I don’t know. I wasn’t going to let anyone touch you. You’re mine.”
Agatha hummed a soft laugh, “So jealousy was it then?”
Rio raised an eyebrow, testing out the word, “Jea-lou-sy? What does it mean? It’s a new emotion, yes?”
Her purple witch nodded, “It’s not a good feeling, my love–”
“I was protecting you, sweetheart. Considered the job effectively well-done. I even spilled blood without killing,” Rio smirked at her, snapping her teeth lightly.
Agatha laughed softly, shaking her head, “Rio, that wasn’t protecting me. That was something else–”
“No–”
“Darling–”
“Sweetheart–”
Agatha gave her a stern look, “You were jealous. You saw another woman touching me, and you felt threatened. You were protecting me out of jealousy and it’s fine, kinda hot actually, but you can’t just explode a building every time that happens.”
Rio smirked though, “But you just said it was hot.”
Her witch rolled her eyes, “Yes, but Rio, the whole Lady Death was a bit much. Next time let me handle it and we will talk about it.”
She held her tongue for a moment before giving into those eyes, “Fine, but I don’t like it.”
Agatha only offered a soft smile, “I know, my love.”
“And I’m not good with these” she almost forgot the word “feelings.”
Velvet lips graced against her cheek, “I know, my love I’m right here though, and I won’t leave you.”
Rio turned to face her wife now, staring into her eyes as Agatha spoke softly, “Both. What is confusing you? Is it our tether or another emotion you need to learn like jealousy?”
She snapped her teeth at that, the memory must have dawned on her too as Rio collected her strength to let her human form come forward, “I wasn’t jealous the first time, nor the last time, and I wasn’t jealous at any time in between.”
Agatha chuckled, softly caressing Rio’s cheek, “Whatever you say, my darling Death.”
Rio rolled her eyes, before turning back to their tether, “Agatha, what is going on with your emotions? You feel sad and guilty, but the desire and want of me is what I don’t understand. You have made it clear our little rendez-vous was to settle the tether between us, but this Agatha, it’s different. I have a strong sense inside me, one that makes me want to reach for you even more than I already do, and I almost have hope you would accept me…forgive me…”
Rio was okay with the silence that followed. Agatha had closed her eyes now, turning on her back. This dance was not known either. As much as Agatha has helped Rio with her emotions, her own were a different story. Agatha’s walls were high as hell, and that made any emotion she didn’t want to face be laced with fury and venom. There were rare moments that Rio could get through to her, but once more, it had been centuries and before their son. She gave up on pushing her, kidding herself and hating herself for thinking she could go any further with Agatha Harkness. She was nothing but a shell of the woman she once was, and Rio had created that.
“Between us, I just need you to feel that is what is there, Rio. The feelings, I am not ready to talk about, but you can hold on to that hope–”
Rio darkened at that ready to get out of the bed and leave her in her realm to rot, but Agatha silenced her with a look.
“You can hold on to hope because…” Agatha trailed off, looking into the distance. Then her voice became quieter than whispers. “Because I can’t do this without you, my love. I am trying to understand, but I also need you. I can’t stop loving you no matter how much I hate you.”
Rio didn’t need to be told twice. Her heart leapt and she could cry again. A weight fell from her shoulders as she reached forward, pulling her wife into her arms, their lips meeting in a new fever. Their bodies pressed closer until Agatha was pinned, Rio on top of her. She poured every bit of her love and longing into the kiss, receiving the same amount in return from her witch. Hands travelled her body again, like thousands of times before, but this was different. It was charged with a new found sense. Rio didn’t bother to ponder too long on the strange emotion. She would ask Agatha later.
She allowed her hand to glide down the middle of her love’s body, her hand moving over a smooth stomach and over a patch of hair. She almost moaned herself, feeling how wet her wife was. She moved her two fingers around wet folds, teasing them before flicking the small bundle of nerves that made her hips lurch forward after the touch. She smiled into her mouth, her two middle fingers pushing inside the wet heat. Agatha gasped into her mouth, a hand pushing on Rio’s shoulder to let her breathe. Rio moved, meeting a soft, wanton gaze. Agatha pulled her closer and the message was simple. She spread her legs, straddling her thigh. Their lips met again, moving together in sync. Her wife squeezed around her fingers, a filthy wet sound welcoming them as she swallowed them. They moaned into each other’s mouths, Agatha’s thigh meeting each of Rio’s thrust. She added a third finger, her thumb finding the nerves again that had her wife staggering to meet her pace. Agatha pulled away from her lips, their eyes meeting. Rio never left the gaze, her heart filling as everything gradually became too much. Her eyes were bright, full of intensity and love as the knot in Rio’s lower stomach grew tighter, unable to send it shoots of pleasure evenly. She fought through it, needing her wife to meet her.
“Rio,” Agatha gasped. “I’m gonna-gonna- fuck!” Agatha held on until a delicious smirk painted Death’s features.
Her wife’s eyes closed, but Rio wouldn’t have that. She took her free hand, lifting the witch’s chin as their movements never ceased, “Look at me.”
Azures met hers.
“ Good girl,” she purred, knowing how much Agatha hated it and loved it. Black covered the blue as her mouth opened, “Come for me, my love.”
She came with her, soaking her hand as Rio moaned her name, soaking her thigh in return. Agatha collapsed back in the bed Rio’s fingers slowed, not quite stopping until her high was down. Rio sat up over her wife, blues staring up at her through hooded eyes. She smirked, bringing her hand to her mouth and licking straight up her wrist to her fingers. Agatha rolled eyes, closing them as tiredness washed over her. Rio was sure they had fucked for hours, but as usual, time wasn’t her best suit. She moved off of her thigh, staring at the gleam of her own come there and licking that clean too.
Agatha hummed, “Stop that. In the morning, love, we can continue. Just give me a moment.”
She chuckled lowly, her magic wrapping around them to clean the bed of their activities and placing them under the furs. Agatha reached out, bringing Rio into a tight embrace. She rested her head against Agatha’s chest this time, listening to the steady thrum of her heartbeat. Agatha held her close, kissing her head sweetly before easily drifting out. Rio didn’t mind, her fingertips tracing just above her wife’s heart. She closed her eyes, wondering if it were possible to sleep. She hadn’t tried in eons, but just this once, she wanted to match the bliss her wife was in. She allowed the heart to become her lullaby, drooling off into a simple daze, not asleep, but her mind was at peace. The tender ache that had latched onto her and infested her for centuries gone, replaced something dull but warm.
***
Rio sat up the moment the presence became clear. In her chambers appeared a light and a power that almost matched her own. She pulled her dagger out, staying near her sleeping wife as the entity stepped forward with a smirk on her face.
“Lady Death with a human warming her bed?” Infinity laughed. “I never thought I would see the day.”
Death growled, her eyes glowing as her magic washed over Agatha, making sure she would stay asleep and only rouse when she commanded it.
“Oh? Lady Death, is this your estranged wife? Has she finally forgiven you after you took away the child that shouldn’t have breathed in the first place? After you broke every law in the universe for her? It’s pathetic, really, still wrapped around an ungrateful, selfish, mortal’s finger.”
“Enough!” Lady Death boomed, but froze when her wife twitched, instinctually reaching for her. She took her hand, coaxing her back to a deeper slumber. “What do you want?”
Infinity’s eyes never left the sleeping figure of her wife, making Death bristle, but it was’t jealousy, she was never jealous. No, this was protective. Her sister was capable of anything, and she would be damned if she ever allowed another cosmic being to touch her love.
“The One Above All has summoned us. I am guessing you were too enamored with her to acknowledge their call.”
Lady Death allowed the bones to come forward, a cloak wrapping around her as she raised an invisible eyebrow for her sister to look away. With an eye roll, she did allow Death a moment to place a simple kiss on her wife’s cheek and grow a Rio Dipladenia into her hair. She laid a rose next to her, leaving a note to let her know the cosmics had called to her and that she would be back later.
“Te veo, mi corazón.”
What Rio didn’t realize was when Agatha awoke, she heard whispers around her. She sat up slowly, her body sore in all the best ways possible as she felt something tucked behind her ear. She wasn’t surprised to find the cold body gone, having woken up to nothing for centuries, but she knew this was different as she held the purple flower close to her heart, a small smile painting her features. She turned to the rose and note, her heart fluttering as she sat back in Rio’s bed, and for once she felt like she belonged. Agatha, even in all her anger, understood it finally. Rio had broken all the laws for her, and still continued to do so as much as she was allowed. Rio’s love was for eternity and Agatha was tired of denying it and taking it for granted. The words ‘sorry’ never existed in her vocabulary, but in the tender moments of their previous night, Agatha knew that Rio knew she was apologizing in her own way.
Sometimes, boys die, she heard the small voice in the back of her mind.
She pushed the thought away, standing up and taking Rio’s robe to cover herself, knowing her dress was ripped to pieces. Just as she was about to pick up the scattered lace, a low hum caught her attention. She had been in this room before, always acknowledging there was a deeper power, but Rio was always there distracting her from it. She stood up straight, her eyes narrowing to the wall.
Agatha Harkness-Vidal
She let out a laugh, unable to process the absurdness of it all. Vidal, the name she gave the love of her life. She was her wife in every way, truly in every way. Agatha always acknowledged she could love no other and that she belonged to no other. She didn’t mind the whole growling state she would take as she called her “ Mine.” Even when Agatha was fighting her, she knew deep down, she would always be Rio’s…soul tie or not. But hearing it for the first time, whispered from somewhere made everything in her leap. She would make things different, make it up to her wife in every way she could.
Ag-a-tha, the voice drawled calling her closer to the wall. Agatha Harkness-Vidal
Something was dragging her feet to it. She barely even processed having pressed her hand against the wall, triggering a different kind of magic. Agatha froze as her blood seeped out of her hand, going straight into the wall. This was blood magic, more specifically a blood lock. Whatever Rio had in here, she used her blood to seal it away, only allowing immediate family to collect whatever it was. Her stomach dropped, everything in her screaming to turn away, but she could not as the lock accepted her blood and the wall opened. Inside sat a rusted book, the leather…no it was something made of charcoal and brimstone as it called further.
I can give you power, Agatha Harkness-Vidal. I can give you the power to stop the rise of the Scarlet Witch.”
Agatha froze. It was the Darkhold. Rio had explained countless times over how the power of it was not to be messed with. It corrupted the user by showing their greatest fear and the only way to surpass it is with the Darkhold, but Agatha didn’t care about her greatest fear. This was the Book of the Damned, an abridged version of a possible necronomicon. Agatha didn’t have to think, there was no thought, only Nicholas. She would get their son back, and in doing so, she would get her family back…her wife and son, everything she had ever dreamed of.
Rio was on a different plane, collecting the bodies after the meeting when she felt it. It was sudden, forcing her to the ground beside Infinity. Something had torn her black heart out, and yet it still thrummed, beating painfully as something snapped back inside Rio. She groaned, tears down her boney cheeks as her body shook. She couldn’t move as her mind raced, frantically searching for it. It was gone, the tether was snapped leaving Rio disorientated and breathless.
The ground beneath Rio buckled, shattering like glass as her wails tore through the plane. She was on her knees, her Green witch part of her wilting the earth around her. Her nails dug into the dirt, some part of her wanting to claw for it, to dig her way out of this, but she could not. The tether wasn’t just frayed, but utterly severed…cut in two like it was nothing. A part of Death’s soul was ripped away with no warning and without mercy.
“NO NO NO!” she screamed.
The sound was raw, guttural, wrenching from the depths of Lady Death’s body. It echoed over the plane a war cry and banshee’s song all at once as the souls joined her. They mirrored her until it grew worse, twisting and flaying on the ground. Then they started to fraction, the souls splitting into pieces as Death couldn’t stop the scream. Infinity froze beside her, her own golden gaze locked on her most composed sibling. She had never seen Death like this. Death was emotionless, distant, and untouchable, and yet here she was, on the floor of the plane, crumbling under the weight of something Infinity could not see.
She swallowed hard, her voice low and hesitant, “Lady Death.”
The entity didn’t hear her, her face into the earth as her sobs shook the plane.
It felt wrong, almost impossible to see her like this. Death would never in all of their millennia break in front of her. She took a step closer, her hand reaching for her shoulder and testing the name, “Rio–”
“DON’T!” Rio’s voice cracked like thunder and the souls recoiled, screaming louder as the pain continued to hit Rio in waves.
She doubled over again, her forehead back into the dirt as her sobs now cracked the plane. She didn’t care as the souls withered, their forms splintering until they were nothing. She didn’t care that this very world was becoming undone around her. It wasn’t their earth, so it didn’t matter. In her grief, the storm surged, lashing out across this world and shattering the souls, wiping the balance off completely. Infinity was on her, clawing at her to stop it, but she could not.
The memories were hitting her right and left–her scent, her voice, the simplicity of her touch on Rio’s skin. She could still feel the imprint of Agatha’s hand on her cheek, the way she’d brush the hair away from her eyes before thumbs caressed her jaw, and whispering promises at first Rio hadn’t understood until now. But it was all broken. Agatha had torn her soul to pieces.
Her screams grew louder, the sound finally cracking the plane into the endless void that usually laid beyond as the remaining souls fell into a tormented hell Rio created, and it was only then, when Rio broke every law against the sacred balance did she sit up to face her sibling, but she wasn’t looking at her.
“You said you wouldn’t use it,” the tears were raging against her dark rotted bones. “You promised me, Agatha!”
“Rio, stop– the plane. You destroyed it–”
Rio snapped, “I don’t care! Let it all fucking burn. What does it matter if she snapped it? What does it fucking matter if she’s gone? SHE WAS MINE!”
Black hair clung to her tear-streaked face as she screamed out again, “I did everything for her, and she left me!”
Infinity froze as she felt the air around them. Rio had destroyed the balance here, and in doing so, she could feel the weight of that choice tilting the scales of existence itself. Infinity gathered Death, moving them to Death’s realm. She had to get her away from the mortals as the screams and cries lasted, shaking the very foundation of even Death’s realm. She didn’t know what to do as Rio smashed her throne.
“And Nicky– this is about him…NO NO” the screams started up again. “She can’t, Infinity, she can’t. I made sure he crossed the veil. I made sure he would have a peaceful rest. She’s gonna try to rip my baby from that. She’s going to take my baby from that! She can’t– no no no!”
Infinity did the last thing she thought she would do for Death. She reached out, collecting her in her arms, holding the powerful entity who looked human in her arms as she sobbed, crying out for the wife that betrayed her and the son that would never return.
***
On the Road of Purgatory
Rio was lying on the ground, staring up into the orange fog as Billy sat on the log now, staring down at her, his eyes wide. She wiped most of the parts with the last of her strength, feeling the rot seep deeper inside her. She was close, she was so close to the sweet relief, but she did not mean to relive the moment Agatha had sent her spiraling.
“That wasn’t happy Rio,” Billy tried to give her a bit of humor, but it didn’t work. “You destroyed a world for her.”
It was a statement, one that struck her hard. She tried not thinking about it and the punishment from the One Above All was cruel. It was to let her sit in her grief, going mad with finding Agatha. But something gnawed at Death. Something she never considered before. The Darkhold was locked away in her realm, and unfortunately in her chambers, but Rio had never left Agatha in her chambers alone before due to that reason. If it wasn’t for Infinity calling her away–
Rio sat up, a growl in her throat as she grabbed a stick, carving the runes and symbols for her demented sister.
“Rio, what are you doing?”
She couldn’t answer him even if she wanted to. Instead, she let her Green Magic hum, calling to the entity that destroyed Death.
Infinity appeared in a flash of light, and Rio was ready for her taunting, for her laughter at Death’s appearance, instead; she was only met with sadness and a different form of grief and guilt combined. She didn’t care, lunging herself at the being, knowing her strength was nothing now compared to her sibling.
How fucking dare you! You knew dragging me off to that meeting while leaving her alone down there would lead her to the Darkhold! You destroyed everything! AND FOR WHAT? Rio screamed in her mind, knowing her sibling could hear her.
Infinity held her arms back like she was nothing, forcing Rio to sit on the hard earth as she cried, You ripped a soul away from me, you took her, and now she’s gone for good this time. Why? Why, Infinity? When I have led your own soul to the veil with your lovers’ so many times over and over again. Why couldn’t you let me have mine?!
“I didn’t think it would break you like this! You really are a corpse. Where are your powers?”
Rio clacked her teeth, mocking a form of laughter, Of course, you didn’t fucking think. You never fucking do! I love her, Infinity. How could you not see that after I broke the very law I am met to uphold repeatedly for her? I killed a whole fucking world for her and you never cared how much that destroyed me as well! I was getting her back! I know it, that night with her was us trying to apologize, I just know it. AND YOU RIPPED THAT AWAY FROM ME! I lost my wife the day I lost my son, but then just as she was back, you ripped her away and now she really is gone!
“Death, please, I just thought you were stronger. You were always the strongest of us. You are the original, and I couldn’t stand the thought of losing the original of us, the one that keeps in line!”
Rio tried throwing a punch at her, Well, congratulations! You are fully losing me because I am done with this fucking plane! There isn’t a point anymore. Not without her. Not without my wife and my son.
“You’re killing yourself,” she gasped. “That’s why you have this boy with you.”
Death nodded, laying back on the earth as she closed her eyes. I hate you, Infinity, and I hope my second form hates you just as much.
“Death, she’s a human–”
Rio didn’t bother to yell, but stated slowly, She is more than that. She was everything. She gave me life, a heart, a son…she is my scar.
“A scar that is killing you.”