《The Dark Star Emperors》Chapter 114: Art of Minds
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While Jack faced her inner demon, Tasha and Tendra were at a stand-still.
"What has she done to you?" Tasha asked, but the only thing that Tendra could do was shriek in response and flail her tentacles.
The two battled it out with no winner. When Tendra looked at the girl, it began to recall it's own life. But the needles were causing it pain and meddled with it's mind. But the more it looked at her, the more it wanted to be free.
The giant creature grabbed onto the needles and chains that held it down. It tried to yank them out, but couldn't. Tasha could feel the creature's pain. She felt a connection towards Tendra.
She shot out giant arms from within the puddles and grabbed onto the needles. As both of them pulled, the needles began to swerve and lose it's place. It was stuck deep, but the two of them were able to pull it out as black ooze spewed out of the holes before being patched up with lines of metal.
Meanwhile, as this fight happened, Annie sat in her room. She stared at Tendra, Tasha, and Jack stuck together in tendrils.
When Jack first entered the room, Tendra immediately attached it's tentacles to Jack. Luckily for her, Tasha was there. She was able to attach her tendrils to both Jack and Tendra. Tasha had similar powers to Tendra, however she didn't know the reason why.
Annie had ordered Tendra to take Jack, but wasn't expecting another Night Demon to interfere. Whenever she would go near the three, Tasha would whip at her with her tendrils. It was still able to see in the real world.
Annie thought about shooting a beam at Tasha, but the creature hid behind Jack and Tendra. So, all that Annie could do was wait. She was hoping to take Jack's mind using Tendra, but now it was all up to chance. She sat on her work table and just waited patiently.
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While inside their minds, Tendra shrunk down in size. It spoke, "Why are you in that form?"
"It's the only form I know," Tasha replied.
It shrieked and transformed into the same girl, but with bullet holes inside of her. Her eyes were sewn shut, but she forcefully yanked them out revealing bright blue eyes.
"You don't deserve to wear that skin. You deserve to be in hell," Tendra said.
Then, Tasha knew who that was. She remembered her life as a soldier, but couldn't remember her own self. Whether she was a female or male didn't matter to her. All that she focused on was her adopted daughter. But now she faced her. The real and original girl.
"You're... Tasha," Tasha said.
"No. Not anymore. Not since you took that away. Not since you put a bullet in me. I am not Tasha. I am Tendra," she cried.
"I'm sorry. I really am," Tasha said.
"Don't you dare!" Tendra shouted, "I don't care if you are sorry. I just want you to suffer. Even while that crazy artist girl had her needles in me, I could still remember what you did. It may have been a long time ago, but not to me. To me it was yesterday!"
Tasha felt the same. She also felt like that day was yesterday as well. The girl in front of her was the executed. And she, herself, was the executioner.
"We don't need to fight. I've already showed Jack a way out," Tasha said.
"Jack. I hate that name. Annie is obsessed with her. If I didn't have those needles in my head, then I would have strangled her a long time ago. As long as we're connected, I won't let go."
There was silence as the moons began to drip black water from it's surface. They stood silently in front of each other. Both knew that fighting the other was futile. They could go at it forever, but neither side would win or lose.
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Tendra hated that she used her form, but didn't want to give her the satisfaction of showing her how she originally looked like.
As for Tasha, she was upset that her adopted daughter turned into a Night Demon. She knew what it was like to be constantly hunted and to hunt on both sides. And as a Night Demon, that feeling didn't change.
They stood silently during all of this time. But they didn't need to speak. They were connected mind in mind. They looked into each others' minds and saw what each had done.
As a Night Demon, Tendra had no control of her actions, but felt no remorse for doing any of the things. She was created after she was shot down by her supposed guardian.
She killed and tortured soldiers mentally giving them hallucinations and nightmares. She made their PTSD even worse to the point where they would shoot themselves. She had been doing this for as long as she could remember. She even managed to kill Light Guardians when they arose. But then Annie came. She defeated the monster, but instead of killing it, decided to make the creature it's slave. And Tendra knew that Annie felt pleasure from torturing it. Tendra was her first, but not her last. And she helped her with others. All while not being under control. Yet, if she did have control, she felt like it wouldn't have mattered. She wouldn't have done anything different.
Meanwhile, while Tendra looked at Tasha's memories, all it could see was that it was in complete control of it's actions. It captured people and made them live lives, but there were no memories of her killing anybody. Even before the three night guardians, Tasha was an anomaly.
When they broke their connection to each others' minds, they understood one another.
"I won't judge you, Tasha," Tasha said.
"I said to call me Tendra," she replied, "I've seen what you were. You may not have harmed people as a Night Demon, but I know what you did as a human. I won't forgive you."
"I know," Tasha replied, "I blame myself for what's happened to you.
"Shut up," Tendra said not caring about blame or forgiveness. All she wanted was to live a life, and it was taken from her.
Then, when Jack left the world, Tendra and Tasha also decided to leave. The world around began to shatter. Everything turning inside of itself until nothing.
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