Chapter 3: Inner Demons

Part 2 of 2: The Angel Who Sought Love

Haddonfield Senior High rested atop a large, green hill, which had become the town's only true notable geographical feature. From the grassy field, the entire town became visible, and one could easily see the passing of many people as they continued on with their busy lives. When the sun was out, the town glimmered in the light, casting a pleasing image those atop the hill, which many, in their spare time, came to see. But now, with the dark grey skies and sounds of distant thunder, as the sun began to set behind the clouds, the hill was practically abandoned. When the day was still young, animals roamed about the fields, and birds flew to and from their nests, looking for food. But now, with the storm, most animals had abandoned the open fields in search for cover from the rain. No one would dare come up to the hill during a dark time of the day like this.

And that was why it was perfect for him.

The man, who had been called a monster so many times in his life that he believed nothing else, was sitting on the hill, peacefully watching the dark clouds float over the city, as the sky continued to fade to black. He occupied his time by picking blades of grass off of the ground, and letting them be picked up by the wind and carried off. Sometimes, he would pick up his sword and sheath, which rested besides him on the grass, and he rubbed the blade between his fingers. It was times like these that he truly enjoyed, when he didn't have any worries, when he could just forget about his fate and live life how he truly wanted. But he knew that these times wouldn't last, and soon, nightfall would come, and the hunt would start again. He heard a bird caw over his head, and looked up to the sky to find a raven circling him. The raven, without any hesitation, swooped down and landed next to the man. He smiled at the bird.

"Well, hello there, my friend," he spoke to the bird. "How are you this fine evening?" The bird responded by twisting its head back and forth, looking at the man from different angles. The man nodded in understanding. "Ah, I see. You're lost. Looking for something that you just can't seem to find."

He reached out and stroked the raven's feathers, and the raven happily moved around in his hands.

"That's alright. I'm looking for something too. We all are, I suppose," he continued to talk to the raven as if it were his lifelong friend, and the bird continued to stand next to him, listening to the words as if he could understand them. "Isn't it beautiful?" said the man, looking out upon Haddonfield. "It's such a beautiful place. Filled with completely innocent people, who have done no wrong in their lives. It's a shame that I have to come here to a place like this, and bring upon it such misery."

He sighed heavily.

"But despite all of the innocent souls, he could be out there. Right here, in this very town. And so, I can't leave, not yet. For ten years, I have suffered through this madness. For ten years, I have endlessly searched for him. But he might be here. And so I have to continue on, and take everyone down who will get in my way."

He smiled, and looked back at the raven, which was still listening intently.

"But something tells me that soon, I will find what I am looking for. And so will you, my little friend. And then, all will be right with the world once again."

The bird cawed at him, and then took off towards the town. He smiled as he watched it fade away into the storm clouds, before disappearing completely. He sighed and stood up, slinging his sword and sheath over his shoulder. His rest was over for the night, and there was much work to be done. In a puff of black smoke, he was gone, as he once again continued his hunt.

__________

Tara could honestly say that she had not seen this coming.

In fact, it quite dumbfounded her how she could be so wrong about everything that she had thought before. She was so certain, so confident in her abilities, that she could bet her life on how simplistic it was to figure everything out. She didn't know what had happened, where she had gone wrong. It was a simple process, but she thought she was very intuitive, figuring out Fiona's life problems with a simple glance. In fact, she was not only certain of her problems, but she had even believed to have solved a great trouble of Fiona's conscience, not to mention discover the identity of someone close to the girl's heart. But as the facts before her showed, she was quite wrong about her theory, as she now found herself lip locked with one of her best friends.

Who was a girl.

She was kissing another girl.

As this reality set in with her, a wave of emotions crashed through her. She realized a great many things wrong with this, and her range of emotions changed rapidly in the next few moments.

First of all, she realized with great despair, was that this was her first kiss. Of course, in junior high, she had always dreamed of a romantic first kiss with a true gentleman, which may have seemed silly to the others, but it was perfect for her content, little fantasy. Given her peers at high school, however, she realized in her freshman year that her dreams would never come true, and she would have to hold out to wait for her true prince. But now, her fantasy was permanently shattered in a horrible motel in the middle of West Virginia. And this realization brought to Tara sorrow and emptiness, as she would now forever remember this dignifying moment for as long as she lived.

Disgust was another prominent feeling that was flowing through her. Never had she once found girls sexually attractive, and now, from a more personal point of view, she fully understood why. While at first she felt numb, everything was coming back to her. As her sense kicked back into function, she felt everything. She felt Fiona's soft lips pressing against hers, she felt Fiona's light breathing against her skin, and she felt Fiona's hands press into her soldiers, as they held the two bodies together. And Tara was repulsed by every aspect of it. She could not give a specific reason why, but she absolutely hated the current sensation. Her friend's hands made her skin crawl, and her breath stung harshly against her skin, every breath feeling like the life was being sucked out of her. In fact, Tara felt as if she were going to throw up. Every small thing screamed out to her brain in the worst possible ways, sending horrible sensations running through her body. Fiona's taste seemed to remind her of methane, despite it obviously being more that of strawberry, and the texture felt like someone was rubbing her face with spoiled food, despite the innate softness. And while a more rational part of her brain suggested that she was overreacting, the rest of her mind and body silenced that part of her thought rather quickly.

And yet, despite these overwhelming feelings of disgust and sorrow, something rose above it all, pushing it all aside in room for something else. And while Tara strongly agreed with the two emotions, every part of her natural instinct pointed at something much more acceptable.

Hate. Anger. Rage. All feelings of dread and discontent coursing through her veins, faster than her blood could carry it. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, and above all else, she felt like she wanted to hit something. Hard. Very hard. In fact, she even felt like she wanted to kill something. The rage taking slowly taking control of her system, sending very harsh thoughts chaotically running through her skull, as the adrenaline started to pump through her. She thought of violent deaths and horrible beatings, something she didn't even know she was capable of thinking of. But the rational part of her brain was still fighting, still trying to reason with her system to calm down. But she couldn't focus on that part of her brain right now, because the thought of punching Fiona in the face seemed so appealing.

Fiona.

It was all her fault. She had lied to Tara, betrayed her trust and had gotten close to her, with sick, perverted thoughts running through her psychologically messed up brain. Of course, her brain was damaged. That's the only reason why Fiona would do something so dirty, so messed up as kissing one of her only friends, one of her other female friends. And for whatever reason, Tara hated the idea of having Fiona as a friend. She couldn't stand the thought of someone who did something so unnatural ever being around her.

And suddenly, she found herself presented with two new options, those of which were on quite the different subject than her thoughts mere minutes ago.

The first option was to continue to kiss her once-closest friend, and possibly video tape the entire aftermath, before posting it on the internet, successfully fulfilling the dreams of many hormonally challenged teenage boys around the globe. And while she was at it, she might as well join a secret samurai order, get a tattoo of a butterfly on her buttocks, and travel the entire globe with an albino elephant and a magical unicorn.

Or she could pick option two, which entailed getting Fiona to stop sucking her face, and then getting the psychotic girl away from her and never speaking to her again, but not after some form of physical or verbal punishment. And in her raged, uncontrollable state, the physical punishment seemed more and more like a very good idea.

And so, after what seemed like hours of kissing the pink-haired girl (which in reality lasted a total of two and one-half of a second), Tara made her easiest decision of the entire week. She grabbed on to Fiona's shoulders roughly, and forcefully shoved the girl as far away from her as possible. Fiona flew back onto the bed in a daze, as Tara backed away from the mattress and let her thoughts flow freely from her now-stained lips.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Tara shouted in disbelief. Although she would never try to use harsh language, especially with someone as sensitive as Fiona, the hateful emotions coursing through her made it impossible to think clearly. As soon as Fiona realized what Tara had said, she instantly recognized what a massive mistake she had made.

"Oh my God, Tara, I…I'm so sorry," Fiona tried to apologize, but Tara wasn't listening. She was too busy listening to the blood rushing to her ears to care about Fiona's apology.

"How the fuck could you do that?!" Tara continued to shout.

"Tara, I…I…" Fiona struggled to come up with an explanation for her actions. She certainly had not wanted this to happen, and now, she was stuck in the chaos of Tara's fury that, the day prior, neither girl knew existed.

"How? How could you not tell me about this?!" Tara said, harshly. Fiona was feeling her heart slowly break apart after each syllable; its pieces crashing through her body as she witnessed Tara lose self-control.

"I…" Fiona said, as she started to feel her eyes water. It didn't help that she nearly burst into tears at the sight of a wounded animal, but now her best friend, one of the only people she could trust, was cursing her out. "…I'm so sorry. I… didn't know, I just-"

"JUST WHAT?!" Tara spat back at her. "Just clung on to me like a leach, sucking whatever you could off of me to satisfy whatever fucked-up urges you got over the years. Tell me, how much of our friendship was a lie? Did you really even like me, or were you just using me…" Tara shuddered hard. "…for my body? For my looks and my innocence." Tara didn't want to think about it. She couldn't bear the thought of Fiona's crazed sexual fantasies of her, all of the dirty thoughts that Fiona must have thought about over the course of their friendship. It just made Tara sick. Fiona shook her head furiously.

"No, Tara, it was never like that…" Fiona desperately tried to explain through the lump in her throat, as she realized that her friendship was crumbling right before her eyes with the only person that she could really trust. She struggled to take a deep breath through her tears.

"I mean, yes, I…I'm gay, alright?" Fiona said slowly, trying not to let herself completely crumble down. "And you were one of the most beautiful people I ever met. But, I didn't like you because of that. You were one of the only people who was ever really nice to me. You tried to help me out when no one else did. I…I don't know… I just assumed…"

"Assumed what?!" Tara said with venom in her voice. She didn't believe in Fiona's words for one second. And even if she did, it wouldn't matter to her anyway. The damage was already done, and Fiona couldn't change anything about it. "That I was a fag like you?! That I would suddenly fall into your arms and fucking accept everything?! That I would sin away into some twisted, goddamn fantasy of yours? You're fucking delusional, Fiona, and I hope that when you get sent to Hell, you get what you fucking deserve."

Fiona was sobbing hard now, unable to handle all of the terrible words being thrown at her. Everything around her was falling apart, and each word stung her deeply, as she felt like once again, she was unable to escape the nightmare that was her pitiful existence.

"You (sob)… you don't really mean that," Fiona managed to say through her tears. Tara couldn't even stand to look at her former friend.

"No, I do," Tara said sternly, with no hint of forgiveness in voice. "Now, get out."

"Please Tara, let's (sob) talk about this," Fiona sorrowfully said. She tried to approach the angered girl, but Tara shoved her away, towards the door. If it weren't for the fact that Tara felt so disgusted by the physical contact, she would have punched Fiona in the face. But she didn't, instead finishing her off with more hate-filled words.

"I said, GET OUT! It's already too late. The damage is done," Tara spoke with such punctuality, that Fiona felt the words were designed to be as hurtful as possible. For all she knew, they were. Slowly, with her pride hurt and her life in shambles, Fiona placed her hand on the door knob. But before she left, she sighed heavily, not even bothering to face Tara, as she knew she would receive no kindness from her vengeful girl.

"I didn't ask to be like this, you know?"

With that, Fiona exited the motel room, and made her way to the empty street outside. Once Fiona left, Tara lied down on the bed, and took a deep breath, as she stared hard at the ceiling. She thought over everything she had spoken to Fiona, and of course, she found some regret in her choice of words. As she calmed down, her rational side started to take over again, and she knew that she easily could have handled the situation better. It helped her realize not to let her emotions take control of her again, and never to ignore her rational thought again. It also showed her how mean she was able to be, but she did not see this as a necessary negative thing. In fact, she knew that it helped to have a darker side to herself, to help with what challenges the team might face. After all, she said what she needed to say to Fiona. She showed no rules, no restrictions, and no remorse. And most importantly, everything she said was honest and straight from the heart. Or at least, some of it was, but it didn't matter now. She could not change what had been said, and now, she would have to consider the consequences for her actions, and what this would do to the operation, as well as her team.

Meanwhile, Fiona was currently sitting on the sidewalk, wrapped tightly in a ball as she cried into her knees. She felt horrible, like every one of her worst fears had crawled inside her and taken a permanent residence. She couldn't think clearly about her friends, and she couldn't think clearly about what this would do to her future. She didn't want to know all of the misery her life would continue to be from that point onwards, and she didn't know how she could possibly recover from the pain as she had done before. The only thing that she knew was that for the second time in her life, Fiona Samswell wanted to die.

__________

It was two hours later when Dash heard a knock on her door. She was very glad for it, as it interrupted one of Pinky's incredibly inaccurate stories, this one including the time she befriended a large cougar named "Willis". Dash happily rushed to the door, and opened it to see Tara standing before her, her sword slung over her shoulder in its sheath, and having the biggest look of determination on her face that Dash had ever seen from the girl.

"Come on," Tara said. "We're going to look for the killer."

"Why?" Dash questioned. "It's fucking late out. We can wait until morning."

"The longer we wait, the more people die," Tara said sternly. Pinky happily chimed in.

"Yeah, but Dash and I were having the greatest conversation. See, this one time-" Pinky started to say, but Dash had already thrown on her jacket, and ran to AJ's room to alert the other girls. Now, she thought, it might actually do her some good to investigate the killings late at night.

However, Dash was starting to regret her decision by this point. It had been one hour since the girls had left for the night, and nothing had been found. Dash was left to wander aimlessly around the streets, looking for any signs of suspicious activity, (which she had no idea what suspicious activity would even look like, which in itself was a massive problem). She should have known something was wrong with this idea from the moment Tara suggested it. Of course, at the time, Dash had known quite well that something was wrong, but she would never have the indecency to admit to herself that she had made a bad decision and went along with a horrible plan. But now thinking about it, she should have protested more.

First of all, there was the small issue that Fiona wasn't joining them. When AJ inquired about this, Tara simply responded with a groan and said that Fiona had "something she had to be dealing with". Obviously, Dash didn't know what could be more important than a homicidal maniac roaming the streets. In fact, Dash was sure Tara seemed very upset and angry with Fiona when AJ brought the topic up. But she had simply put it off as Tara being on her period, or having some sort of issue with someone going against the great plan that Tara had surely thought of, as Dash was quite sure that Tara immediately despised all who opposed her "brilliance". But, another problem was simply the method they were handling their search. Tara had told the girls to split up individually, and search around town by themselves, walking alone through the streets of Haddonfield, which none of them really knew how to navigate. Dash could not fathom why Tara would think of a suicidal plan like this. Perhaps there was something that Dash didn't understand, some master stoke that would solve all of their problems. Of course, the true purpose behind this course of action (which Tara would guarantee that none of the girls would ever learn about) was that Tara felt like she needed to take a long walk to sort out the thoughts in her head. It wasn't by any means a safe plan, but Tara was still in such a state of shock from the evening's events that she didn't really care. However, Tara at least attempted to make sure the girls didn't feel entirely alone. They all had their cell phones locked in a conference call, so they could easily communicate with each other. And each of the girls had been given a gun for protection, which Dash snugly kept in her back pocket.

But all in all, walking around the streets at night with a murderer on the loose didn't justify the ridiculous course of action. No one had seen anything, though, which gave an uneasy stillness to the air. So Dash just quietly walked around the streets of Haddonfield, secretly hoping that she was at talented as she thought she was, and she wouldn't become the next victim of a homicidal rampage.

"Nothing by me…again," Dash reported back to her friends. She heard sighing from one of the other callers.

"Man, I thought at we'd certainly find something by now," groaned Pinky.

"I guess finding nothing is better than getting our heads chopped off," said AJ, trying somewhat to lighten up the mood.

"True, I'd much rather not die tonight," said Rachel snidely.

"Yeah, you got to be extra careful," joked Dash. "After all, we don't have free health care in this country."

"Ha ha, very funny," Rachel replied sarcastically. "You should really get that fixed, by the way."

"Yeah, whatever," Dash responded. She was walking by the high school, noticing the lack of people walking around the street. It appeared that the fear had spread around the town, and people were deathly afraid. But just when she thought that the entirety of the town was deserted, as luck would have it, she spotted a man walking towards her, looking around for people just as she was. She walked pass him, and he nodded to her.

"Evening, ma'am," he said politely to her. She simply scoffed, and continued to walk. It was quite strange to see anyone walking at this hour, given the circumstances. In fact, the man was dressed rather odd. His dark clothing gave the impression that he didn't want to be seen. And was she mistaken, or did that man have a sword strapped to his back? She took a look behind her, and saw that she was not mistaken at all. The man was in fact carrying a weapon, and Dash slowly realized who had passed her.

"Um, guys?" she quietly said to her phone. "You might want to get over here. Fast."

"Why?" responded Rachel from over the phone.

"Just get over by the high school," Dash said quickly. Unfortunately, her response was louder than she anticipated, and her conversation was overheard. The man stopped in his tracks, and listened closely. He thought something odd of Dash's behavior, and an idea crossed his mind that he might be being followed. So, he redirected his course, now starting to walk towards the Senior High entrance. Dash took notice of this, and started to trail the man towards the building. "And hurry the fuck up. I think I'm hunting down the most dangerous man in the fucking town."

It took around twenty minutes for the rest of the team to show up at the Senior High. By this time, the man had promptly entered the building, (which puzzled Dash, because she assumed that the school would be locked at this time.) Dash was met with some relief that the other girls had showed up, and now, they had the opportunity to take down the criminal who had been haunting the town of Haddonfield.

"Alright, we need to take this with caution," Tara said. Dash rolled her eyes.

"If you were careful, you wouldn't have let us walk around the town all by our-fucking-selves,' Dash said.

"Dash, now is not the time," Tara said sternly. "I wasn't thinking perfectly clear then, but it turned out fine. So, let's not focus on that right now."

"Fine, Spark," Dash moaned. "Not my fault if you can't take the fucking criticism. What's the plan?"

"Simple," Tara said. "We break into the school, find this guy and kill him. We stick together; we are much less of a target that way." The girls were a little surprised by the strict maner of Tara's orders, and it became quite clear that something was troubling the girl. Tara ignored the stares she was receiving, and started to get moving towards the school. But she was stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and AJ walked up to her, concerned.

"Tara, ya feelin' alright?" AJ asked her friend. "Ya don't seem to be acting like yourself." Tara shrugged AJ's hand away, and AJ was slightly hurt by the act. Tara knew she shouldn't have done it, but she still felt bitter about another female touching her.

"I'm fine, AJ," Tara said. "Let's just get this over with." She continued to march up the hill, and soon reached a door to the building. She grabbed onto the handle cautiously, and attempted to tug it open. But much to her surprise, the door would not budge. She tried pulling on the large set of doors harder, but still, they refused to move. They would not push inwards, either, and Tara soon found herself unable to enter the building. She turned to Dash, concerned.

"Are you sure this was where the guy went?" Tara asked.

"Pretty fucking sure," said Dash.

"Hold on, I got this," AJ said, taking out her gun. She took aim towards the handle, and ordered the girls to back away from the door.

BANG

The bullet broke through the door, breaking the lock mechanism, allowing the girls to enter the building. The inside of the school was very dark, and Tara had to let her eyes adjust to the light. As the room slowly grew brighter, the girls took out their weapons, understanding that they were in a severe tactical disadvantage.

"Okay, stick together. We move as a unit," Tara said, slowly advancing deeper into the building. They passed by a receptionist desk, and took a turn down one of the many hallways. They passed by several classrooms, each of them decorated with multiple posters. Happy animals and drawings smiled at them, with phrases and puns praising math and literature. They passed along many lockers, some left open and unlocked overnight, and they came to another turn, keeping their eyes out for any signs of the man. They passed by a large cafeteria, with a high ceiling and twenty long rectangular tables, which in the day, were used to seat the loud, talkative students as they ate away at cheaply made, processed food. Beautiful art decorated the walls, and under different circumstances, Tara might have found herself enjoying the student-made drawings, and all of the struggles that they represented, the dreams that they encouraged. But now was not the time, so she pressed on, navigating the halls only by the light of the moon, which had now graced the girls with its presence, shining through the windows in the open rooms. They made a left, followed by a long corridor with more classrooms, and then another left turn. Soon, they found themselves face to face with a large set of red double doors. Tara cautiously opened the door, which thankfully was not locked, and stepped into the complete darkness of the next room. As the other girls entered behind her and closed the door, the slamming of the door sent echoes vibrating throughout the room, giving Tara a scope of the size of the room. She felt a large emptiness around her, and she could smell the faint musk of sweat around her. Then suddenly, a deep voice echoed around them.

"I did not expect to see this tonight."

The lights suddenly flicked on, causing the girls to flinch and cover their eyes. As their vision adjusted, they noticed that they were in a large gymnasium. Lines ran about the floor, and many basketball hoops were suspended in the air, waiting to be dunked upon. Doors leading to changing rooms were located on either side of the gym, and more doors on the opposite side led to the teacher's office. In the center of the room lay a large design of a wolf, surrounded by letters in a semi-cricle, spelling out, "Haddonfield Timberwolves." Laid lengthwise across the side of the court were long stands, meant to hold the parents as they happily cheered on the children in their favorite sports. But now, it was empty, save for one man sitting far in the right corner, running a long blade between his fingers. His orange eyes never left his weapon as he continued talking.

"Usually, the people I kill are fighters, warriors, people who seem like they have spat death in the face. So, imagine my surprise when I hear that a teenage girl seems to be stalking me. And it looks like she has friends with her. And they all have weapons with them. Tell me, who are you girls?"

"Better question," Tara said with a sneer. "Who are you?"

The man smiled at the girls.

"I have many names," the man said simply. "My true name is long forgotten, but the titles my enemies have given me have lasted throughout time. When I fought in Spain, they called me Hoja Demoniaca. During my time killing hit men in Germany, I was known as Hollisch Krieger. But, over the past few years, a new name has managed to stick on to my reputation. So, I suppose," he said, standing up from his seat on the bleachers. "You can call me…" He bowed.

"The Beast."

He began to casually walk down the steps of the bleachers, clanging his sword against the stairs as he walked. He acted very maturely for a psychopath, Tara noticed, and she became more curious about the killer now that she met him in person. He didn't even resemble the image in her head of what she thought he would look like. He dressed very neatly in his dark clothing, and he kept his hair combed, his back straight, and head held high. He didn't look like someone who had killed over thirty cops in a single week.

"But see," spoke The Beast as he made his way down the bleachers. "I'm much more interested in you. A group of teenage girls, strutting about Haddonfield, while searching for a mass murderer. If I didn't know any better, I'd reason that you were the crazy ones, running around and slaughtering people. You even have someone with a sword, which I can find somewhat honorable. So tell me, ladies, what brings such a… fascinating group of women to this school tonight?"

"We're here to kill you," Tara said forcefully. The words came out quite harsh, and Tara was intent on delivering on her statement. But The Beast simply chuckled, as he reached the gymnasium floor.

"No. No you're not," he simply stated, as if it were the most basic thing in the world. He elaborated. "You see, I'm not sure how well you are at reading people's emotions, but I am quite good at it. And from what I can see, you all look terrified. I can see the slight shaking in your legs; I can hear the stitching in your breath. I see your eyes quickly darting to the exit as you plan for the worst to come. Based on what you said, you know what I have done, and so clearly, you are wondering if I will do the same to you. You may hide under your false sense of security, pointing your useless guns at me, but it won't do you any good, and deep down your rational side is screaming at you to run, but you will ignore it, because you continue to hold on to some false belief that you can actually win. But you can't. None of you have any idea of what you're up against, and I can see it in your eyes. At least the cowgirl seems to have some basic idea of what she is doing, but it still won't do any good. It'll only add seconds to the amount of time it takes for me to kill you."

He sighed.

"None of you are who I am looking for. So, I am going to give you this one opportunity. None of you have tried to kill me yet, so I can't consider you targets. Technically. If you leave now, you will remain unharmed. But if you remain intent on trying to kill me, then I will break each and every one of you."

"You're a monster," Tara spoke sternly. It didn't matter what he had said. She knew what she had to do, even if what this man said was partially true. She felt the unease flowing among the girls, as even though they all had combat training and outnumbered him five-to-one, he showed no signs of worry. "You slaughter innocent people aimlessly, and you expect us to let you continue doing it? Get this straight. I don't know who you're looking for, but your search ends here. We are going to tear you down and make you pay for all of the horrible deeds that you've done. So help me God."

"Fuck yeah," Dash said enthusiastically to Tara's speech. But The Beast simply smiled and shook his head, clearly disappointed.

"If you truly wish to die then," he said. He looked up at the girls, his orange eyes glowing at them. "But trust me, not even God can help you now."

And with that, he vanished in a puff of black smoke. The girls were bewildered, wondering what had happened to the man. Suddenly, Tara felt something shift in the air above her. As if something was falling down upon her. Her instincts taking control, she rolled out of the way, as the others jumped back. From above, The Beast slammed down to the ground, his sword pointed downwards, puncturing the floor right where Tara had been standing a moment ago. Realizing his target had moved, he vanished again. Tara barely had time to get to her feet before The Beast appeared right in front of her, and took a high swipe with his blade. Tara managed to block the sword, but the impact knocked her down to the ground.

"Ha! Told you he could teleport!" Pinky enthusiastically shouted from the other end of the room. Tara growled.

"Not the time, Pinky!" Tara yelled back as she sprung to her feet. She took a lunge towards The Beast, but he swiftly dodged. She took several more swipes at him, but none of them connected, as The Beast easily moved away from Tara's sword. She took a vertical strike, but he sidestepped, and readied his blade for a counter-blow. But he quickly disappeared again, as gunfire whizzed by where he once stood. Pinky had fired these shots, and now she spun around, expecting the man to appear behind her. But he was not there. As she turned to face Tara, she found The Beast to be standing right there, and quickly raised her gun to try and shoot him again. But he grabbed onto her pistol, yanked it out of hands, and swatted her in the face with the end of the gun. The blow knocked her down, and AJ immediately ran over to the aid of her friend.

The Beast heard her footsteps approaching, and turned around while swinging his sword, attempting to catch her off guard. But she anticipated his move, ducking under his sword and throwing out her right fist. He managed to step back to avoid her attack, but now found himself on the defensive, trying to dodge AJ's flurry of punches. Each of her punches were tactically placed, so that he wouldn't be able to attack with his weapon. She was staying at too close of a range for him to get her with his sword, so The Beast switched to another tactic. He teleported away, and AJ took a roll to her left, anticipating another attack for above. But as she came to a stop, a boot swiftly connected with her jaw. She collapsed to the ground, clutching her wounded face, as The Beast started to chuckle.

"Come on, now, is that the best you can do?" he chastised.

CRACK

Suddenly, he felt something very hard collide with his side very fast. He doubled over, clutching his ribs, as Dash stood smugly over him with a baseball bat in her hands.

"Yeah that's right," Dash taunted. "Not so bad anymore once you take one of these babies to the ribs. Can you believe they just leave their supplies closet unlocked in this place?"

The Beast growled. "You smug little-"

He attempted to rise off of the ground and lunge at Dash, but Rachel had taken the opportunity to stop cowering in fear, and tackle The Beast to the ground. She started unleashing her own barrage of short punches, which The Beast mostly blocked by covering his face with his arms. As Rachel pounded away, he rolled around beneath her, trying to gain some leverage. Eventually, he was able to throw her off of him, and he quickly rolled to the side to avoid being struck in the face with Dash's baseball bat. By this time, Tara had run over, and The Beast now found himself stuck in the corner, surrounded by the three girls. But he did not panic; instead, he actually started to put some real effort into his combat. He was limited by the searing pain in his ribs, but he managed to make do.

Tara lunged at him with the sword while Dash took a swing with her bat. He teleported behind Rachel to counter this, and tried to slice her at the waist. She managed to, in an impressive display of athleticism, bend her way out of danger, as Tara recovered and took another swing at The Beast. He blocked her attack, and then parried, which Tara jumped out of the way from. Dash took a running start before taking a powerful strike with her bat, but The Beast teleported, and as a result, Dash crashed into Rachel, knocking her off balance. She managed to recover, but she immediately yelled at Dash for her unsuccessful tactic.

"Watch where you're going! You nearly broke my skull with that thing," Rachel shouted at Dash, who sneered in response.

"Don't chastise me, bitch!" Dash shouted back. "Our lives are in fucking danger here! Now's no-"

Dash was cut off as The Beast appeared next to her, and delivered a swift kick to the side of her head, knocking her unconscious. Rachel was briefly stunned, and in this moment, The Beast took the handle of his sword and brought it hard to Rachel's nose, sending her flying back. Tara started the attack again, now noticing that she was the only one of her friends left standing. Her attacks became more desperate, as she struggled to land a hit on the nearly untouched monster of a man. But after a few swings, The Beast decided to end the fight.

Instead of dodging, The Beast locked swords with Tara, and moved his body closer to hers as their swords were pressing against each other.

"You choose to fight with a sword," he said, looking her square in the eye. His voice showed no fear, and no hint of mercy. "I admire that. Most people use a gun for protection, a coward's way of fighting. But want honor in your kills. That makes you special. But you don't know how to use your weapon. Your stance is unbalanced, and your posture is poor. You are denying your sword its true purpose. And for that, I guess you're not special enough."

With one swift movement, he knocked Tara's sword away sending it flying towards the wall. Then, he forcefully grabbed onto Tara's upper arm, and wrapped it around her back, as he changed his position so that he was pressed against her spine. He grabbed onto her other shoulder, and forced the girl to her knees, while carefully placing his knee against her back. The, Tara screamed in agony as with one quick snap, The Beast pulled back on her arms, and dislocated both of her shoulders.

__________

Fiona walked past the school, still feeling the same horrible feeling that been consuming her for the past two hours. She wasn't crying any more, but her eyes were still red and her expression wasn't any brighter. She kept thinking of the terrible mistake she made earlier, which now seemed to cost her everything. She didn't really know why she had decided to do something so crazy, but she thought that just maybe, everything would turn out alright in the end. How idiotic she had to be to make that decision. Now, she was walking the streets of her old hometown by herself, with no one to turn to and no one to call. She didn't even think about the serial killer that had been stalking the town. In fact, she probably wouldn't mind if she got attacked tonight. She felt as if she really didn't have much to live for anyway. She had nothing left; everything was over. Her friendship with Tara was finished, her life with her new friends was done, and her role in P.O.N.Y. had been diminished. She wished that she could call Jacob and talk to him, but she knew that he probably wouldn't understand anything. Besides, Tara was the one who had his number, so that idea was out of the question. She sighed, and leaned against the chain-link fence of the high school. She had never gotten to see the inside of Haddonfield Senior High, but she heard that it was rather nice inside. She wished that she could have been able to see it, to continue her future with her old friends. But like the rest of her life, nothing ever turned out to be simple.

Suddenly, she heard a scream. A very scared, painful, feminine scream coming from the school building. She thought it was very strange that somebody would be in the school this late at night. If she recalled correctly, she always thought that the schools remained closed overnight. So she didn't know why somebody would be in the school, let alone screaming in it. And then, she remembered that there was a serial killer on the loose. She froze in panic, slowly figuring out what this meant.

She realized that someone was stuck inside the high school, and whoever it was, they sounded like they were in grave danger. She thought of what she could do. She thought about calling the girls, and letting them know what was happening. But she realized that it might not be such a good idea, seeing as how it would raise too many questions, and how Tara probably already turned the others against her. Besides, they wouldn't make it in time anyway. In fact, no one was close enough to the school to save the woman trapped in the building. Fiona realized what her only option was, and putting aside all of her own personal worries, ran up the hill as fast as she could. She knew she probably had no chance of truly saving the woman inside, but she had to try.

She was the only one who could help.

__________

Tara was brutally thrown against the wall, landing right next to her sword. She let out a pained groan, as The Beast slowly walked over to her body. She was merely a foot from her blade, but she couldn't get it. Every time she tried to move her arms, intense pain would rush throughout her body, rendering her unable to reach her weapon. She looked at The Beast, who was smirking as he came ever closer to reaching her and ending her life.

"Why?" Tara managed to choke out through the pain. "Why are you doing this? Who are looking for that you need to cause all of this misery." He chuckled at her.

"I have no idea who I am looking for," The Beast said honestly. Tara was surprised by his response. She was incredibly confused.

"But… but then why?" She asked. "Why do this?" The Beast simply continued to chuckle at Tara's ignorance towards the truth, and her desperate search for the truth.

"Normally, I wouldn't tell you. By this point, the people are usually so desperately begging for their lives that I wouldn't bother telling them. But," The Beast considered. "You are not like the others. You at least attempt to fight honorably, even if it is rather poor. So perhaps, you deserve to know why you are about to die." He slung is sword over his shoulder as he recalled the past years leading up to his current life.

"About ten years ago, the United States of America was at war in Iraq. I lived in one of the surrounding regions of a soon-to-be war zone. At the time, I lived the life of a hermit, wandering around the world trying to live in the best ways possible. But, I had recently found myself staying in an area of Iraq, which I soon found to call my home. Unfortunately, it soon became the target of a soon to be war zone, as US soldiers were going to march through my town. I wished to avoid the conflict, but the other people in my region had other plans. They called a rise to action, a plan to kill the soldiers as they marched through the streets. I was torn apart. Was I to stay out of the conflict, or support the people who had become almost family to me? I needed my destiny to be shown to me. So, I traveled to one of my new colleagues, an African witch doctor who lived in a small hut about ten miles from where I was. I consulted her, and she made my fate clear to me. She told me I was to defend my home at all costs, and so, my mind was made up."

"Around two nights later, the Americans marched through the streets of my home, terrifying us all with their large tanks and heavy guns. That was when we launched the trap set for them. Fifty men jumped out and opened fire on the soldiers. It wasn't much of a fight for them. The superior weaponry made the Americans the easy victor. However, I wasn't so easy to kill. They could never strike me down, no matter how much they tried. And after an hour of fighting, I managed to slaughter every soldier single-handedly. I felt great pride in my victory. My home would be safe, at last, I thought. Yet when I got home, I found nothing but corpses, and, an Iraqi rebel force walking through the town. They were an insane group of bandits that were called in for support against the Americans, who butchered the women and children to guarantee that extra food and supplies were given to them as reward. I realized then, that I had killed the wrong people. So, I rectified it. I killed them without mercy, breaking their bones, shattering their skulls, tearing out their hearts. By the time the sun had risen, what once was my home had become nothing but a sea of blood and bodies, and I was the only remaining soul left."

"In defeat, I made my way back to the witch doctor. I had failed to save my home, and I had committed so many sins against humanity that I didn't consider myself a human being. She had managed to avoid the chaos, and she happily took me in. I told her that I wanted to die, that I wanted my sins to be washed away. But when she read me my fate, it wasn't what I had expected. She had told me off all of the atrocities that I had done, and that I must be punished for them. She told me that I had become cursed, forced to walk the earth for an endless number of days while spending each passing seconds suffering of my sins. There would be no respite for me. Unless, I could do one thing. In order to end my suffering, I would have to be killed by a true warrior, one with the purest heart and most honorable intentions, to counter my hideous deeds. Only then, will I finally be rid of my sins. It is my fate."

Tara took everything in.

"You…you mean that's the reason?" She asked in disbelief. Her body was still screaming at her. "You mean that you've been butchering all of these innocent people because you want to die?"

"No," said The Beast simply. "Because I need to die. I didn't kill innocent people. I attacked soldiers, fighters, policemen; honorable men who had the chance of killing me. I've been wandering this earth for ten years searching for the person who will end my life. If they tried to fight, then they were considered a possible warrior, and I had to test their capabilities. But it always ended in failure." He stood right next to Tara, and slowly pressed his blade up against her chin. Tara flinched when she felt the metal touching her, and she was surprised by how hot the blade actually was.

"The woman told me that I would know who the warrior was when I saw them. And when I saw you, I thought I might have found the person who would finally end me. Hell, you even fought with a sword. But you're nothing more than just another pointless soul who doesn't deserve to fight me. I guess we all can't be special sometimes."

"Leave her alone!"

The Beast was about to slice open Tara's neck, when he heard the call coming from of the doorway to the gym. He and Tara looked over, and saw Fiona standing in the doorway, staring at the scene before her. Tara had never expected Fiona to show up, and in some ways, she never wanted her to. The Beast looked puzzled at Fiona's appearance. But soon, he was laughing to himself about the bizarreness of the situation.

"You've got to be kidding," he spoke. "There are more of you. Well," he said, examining Fiona, studying the way she shuffled around in place. "I can't say I'm threatened. I've already taken out your friends, miss. And judging by the way you're standing, I can already see that you're not the person I'm looking for. So run along, and just leave me to my work."

Fiona was somewhat surprised by his behavior. He clearly wasn't scared by her, and looking around, she saw why. He had managed to dispose of the other girls, who were lying on the floor in pain. Even AJ, who was vastly more experienced than the rest of them, couldn't stand up to this man. She looked back at Tara, who had a terrified look in her eyes. She was afraid for many reasons, most predominately being that a sword was being held to her throat, and it was quite clear that The Beast had every intention of killing her. But there was another reason why Tara was scared, and Fiona understood why.

Tara was looking at Fiona fearfully, and at the same time motioned towards the door with a slight tilt of her head. Fiona knew that Tara wanted her to leave. Not because she didn't want to help, or she didn't want to see her. Tara was afraid that Fiona was going to die. She was telling her friend, who before had repulsed her, to leave her behind, escape and live to fight another day. And in all honesty, Fiona was considering it. She knew that if she fought this man, she wouldn't survive. She knew that The Beast saw her fear. Her legs were shaking, and she was nervously twitching around in place, unsure of what to do. She was going to die unless she left immediately. It wasn't hard at all. Fiona closed her eyes and imagined it. She imagined running away from the school, leaving Tara behind to die, following the last wishes of the girl who hated her. She imagined escaping Haddonfield, and starting a new life, a better life, beyond the hate and discrimination that she had experienced.

And then she thought of reading a paper about a small town massacre. She imagined a list of pictures that showed the faces of the victims. And she imagined Tara's face on that list, and knowing that when it truly mattered in her life, Fiona Samswell was a failure.

Fiona opened her eyes, and with an intense drive, spoke something louder and more forcefully than she had ever spoken anything in her entire life.

"I said, LEAVE HER ALONE!" Fiona shouted as she took a fighting stance. The fear was gone, replaced by a burning sensation in her chest, fueling her to fight. There was no more hesitation, just confidence, as Tara witnessed her friend become almost an entirely different person. The Beast sighed, removing his sword from Tara's chin, now pointing it at Fiona.

"Fine," he said as he took a stance. "If you really want to die that badly, I guess I can accommodate you." And with that, he lunged at her, expecting his blade to push through her chest and kill her.

Except Fiona had managed to roll out of the way, and was now running to the other side of the gym. She completely ignored him, instead moving as fast as she could away from him. But in a puff of smoke he appeared in front of her, and prepared to strike. She was started by his sudden appearance, but managed to dodge the incoming blade again, and now took off in the opposite direction. Her plan was simple: bide as much time as possible, get as far away from him as she could, until she figured out a way to take The Beast down. It seemed clear to her that a head-on approach would be suicide, so she played it safe. Soon, The Beast appeared near her again, and attempted to sweep her leg. But, she jumped over, and gained some distance on him. He recovered much quicker than she anticipated however, and soon, he began attacking her with a series of quick slashes that she was finding it difficult to evade.

Soon, she began to notice things about The Beast. Like how before he slashed, he twisted his elbow slightly to the left, and his right heel moved ever so slightly. Now, he lunged, which Fiona managed to dodge, and she switched up her strategy. She threw a punch towards his head, knowing full well that he would dodge it. Instead of watching her hand, she looked at his body, noticing how he moved when he was evading. Quickly, she threw more punches, and finally got a sense of how The Beast moved. Suddenly, she stopped her attack, and let The Beast take a swing at her. He smirked, realizing that she was practically giving him a free shot. He took a high swipe at her, which she ducked. Then, she tried to connect a right hook to the side of his head. He laughed as he dodged, noticing Fiona's decreasing performance.

"What's wrong," he stated as he evaded. "Are you getting ti-"

WHACK

Before The Beast knew it, her left foot smacked him hard in the face, causing him to stumble backwards. He felt his nose, noticing the blood running from it in a light stream. He grimaced and growled, before charging at Fiona. He began swinging more wildly at her, trying to kill her with a vengeance. But in his anger, he became sloppy, and Fiona started landing more crucial punches on him. She kicked him in the knees, battered his ribs, struck his face, and hit him with every chance she got.

And it was then that Fiona noticed that she might actually win the fight. That she might be able to defeat The Beast and save her friends.

But in this brief glorious thought, Fiona lost herself, and The Beast had disappeared from her sight. He himself had developed a new tactic, and he was now constantly teleporting around Fiona, encompassing her in a circle of black smoke. She lost track of him, and was completely caught off guard when a powerful fist hit her square in the jaw. She was sent flying backwards, and she struggled to get to her feet. The hit had made her disoriented, and everything around her seemed to blur. She saw shapes moving rapidly towards her, and her instincts told her to move. She barely managed to roll out of the way of The Beast's sword, before she slowly got to her feet. Already, she was forced to quickly dodge a ferocious series of slashes and strokes that was being thrown at her. The world was clearing up around her, but she wouldn't regain her composure until it was too late. She needed more time, and did the only thing she could think of.

She quickly took off her sweatshirt, revealing the plain green T-shirt underneath, and threw it at The Beast. It landed on his head, but it barely slowed him down. He threw it away, and then managed to kick Fiona hard in the stomach. She was knocked down, and was now lying on the ground next to Tara, who was trying to tell her friend to get up. Fiona felt something approaching her, and she reached around her, trying to find anything to use for support. A shadow fell over her, and she grabbed the first thing she could find, lifting it over her head for protection as a blade fell down upon her.

She heard the sound of metal clashing against metal, and Fiona realized what she had managed to find: Tara's sword. Quickly thinking, she kicked The Beast in the shin, and rose up to face him. The sword felt bizarre in her hands, as she had never held a weapon, but she had to quickly adjust to it. Her world had cleared up around her as the effects of the hit had worn off, and now, she was ready to fight.

The Beast and Fiona now started to trade blows with swords, blocking one another's attacks and taking quick strokes with their blades. Fiona was clearly on the defensive. She couldn't find any openings to attack, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out against The Beast's onslaught. She parried The Beast's low swipe, and followed it up with a shoulder block. The Beast stumbled backwards, and suddenly, Fiona realized that she had a chance. It was a very brief opportunity, and it was possibly suicidal, but she felt like she couldn't hold out anymore, and she was getting desperate.

So, with all of her remaining strength, Fiona threw her sword at The Beast. He recovered, deflecting the incoming blade away with his own sword. Suddenly, Fiona charged into him, taking The Beast by surprise. She grabbed onto his right arm, which was holding his blade, and brought a knee up into his elbow, splintering the bone and dislodging the blade from his hand. She grabbed onto his sword, and pushed herself away from the man. And while he gasped in pain at his wound, Fiona lunged and thrust The Beast's own sword through his right shoulder and out of his back.

He screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground as Fiona fell to her knees. She breathed heavily, unable to believe that she was actually able to overcome her foe. She rose to her feet, and then picked up Tara's sword from the ground. While The Beast found himself in an unfavorable position, he wasn't panicking, at least not entirely. He had been caught in similar situations before, and he would be able to escape again. It was all a routine matter to him.

He silently readied a small knife that he stored in the sleeve of his coat.

"What are you waiting for?" The Beast taunted Fiona. "Do it. Finish me. End this curse of a life."

Fiona looked at the sword she was holding in her hand. It would be a simple matter to kill him. All it would take would be for Fiona to walk up to him, and impale him through the chest. She heard Tara calling from behind her, telling her to finish the job. And really, there was no reason why he shouldn't die. It would be cruel not to do it, seeing as how his intention was his own demise. Fiona took a deep breath.

The Beast readied his knife, preparing for a fatal blow. Then, Fiona slowly lowered her blade.

"No," she stated simply. "I…I won't do it."

The Beast was stunned. This had never happened before. In all of the years of fighting, everyone had always been trying to end his life. And this girl should have been begging to do it. He attacked her friends and nearly killed her, but she refused to do it. She was even in an advantageous position, still she refused.

"What… what do you mean?" he asked her.

"I can't kill you. That's all," Fiona said again. Tara was fairly certain that Fiona had lost her mind, giving in to her moral code like this. Didn't she have any idea who she was talking to?

"Why? Why not?" The Beast demanded to know. Fiona shook her head, and dropped her sword to the ground, the blade clanging against the gym floor.

"I know that you've done a lot of bad things in the past," Fiona admitted. "And I know that if I let you live, you'll probably do them again. But I won't kill you. I will never take a human life, no matter who they are."

"You're crazy," The Beast scolded. "You're willing to risk the lives of so many people, just because you don't want any blood on your hands."

"It's not that," Fiona said, showing confidence. "If I let you live, you might harm people. But…I know there's also a chance that you can redeem yourself. That you can become a better person, contribute to the world. You don't have to harm people. And… maybe, in the end, you could find a happy life. I don't really know, I guess. All I know is that I can't kill anyone knowing that they still have a chance to do good. After all," she smiled at The Beast. It wasn't a cocky or smug smile, but rather a soft, generous one, that seemed to have a deeper meaning behind it. "Everyone deserves to be shown a little kindness now and then."

The Beast took in her words in, letting them settle in his mind. This girl was crazy. She had the intention of letting him, a mass murderer, live just on the slight chance that he could reform his ways. She had beaten him down, impaled him with his own blade, yet still, she refused to bring an end to his life. It was bizarre behavior, and even stranger considering who it was coming from. He took the whole situation in.

He was nearly killed by an eighteen year-old girl, but in the end, she simply wanted to have a better life than he already had. The Beast thought hard about it. Then, he started to laugh. It was an incredibly happy feeling that was rushing through him. He felt a strange sense of relief and longing. He smiled at Fiona.

"In all of the most unlikely of places," he said to himself. Then he looked Fiona straight in the eye. "What is your name?" Fiona was taken aback by the question.

"Uh…Fiona. Fiona Samswell," she said softly. The Beast smiled at her.

"Well then, Fiona, let me tell you something. You are insane. Letting me live is one of the most idiotic ideas I have ever seen. It showed a great deal of compassion on your part. But you don't have to worry about more victims. I have no one left to find. The search is over."

"What are you talking about?" Fiona said, puzzled. He simply chuckled in amusement.

"Look Fiona, it doesn't matter if you want to kill me or not. I may not be in a position to fight now, and you may not want to kill me. But it simply doesn't matter. You will kill me, Fiona. It may not be for generations, but you will bring about my glorious demise. It's already been decided."

He laughed to himself once more in sheer joy, before struggling his way to his feet. Despite the intense pain he was feeling, he still managed to smile.

"The fight is over for now. But we will meet again, Miss Samswell. And when we do, our fates will finally be decided."

And with that, he vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Fiona standing alone in the middle of the gymnasium floor, as her friends finally started to stir.

__________

Tara was lying on her bed in the motel. After AJ jammed her shoulders back into place, the girls thought that they should celebrate their victory with a large party. As far as Tara knew, the other girls were right where she left them, in Rachel's room, sitting together, and praising Fiona for her amazingly talented work. Tara didn't really feel like celebrating though, and so she took leave for her room, where had been deep in thought for the past few hours. And despite the fact that it was one o'clock in the morning, she didn't feel tired at all.

That was when she heard a soft knock at the door.

"Um, Tara," said a small voice. "It's, uh, me. Can we, uh, you know, talk for a bit?"

Tara considered keeping Fiona locked outside, but she knew it would be a very cruel thing to do. And given Fiona's work in saving her life, the least she could do was speak to her. Slowly, Tara walked to the door, and opened it up to see Fiona nervously shuffling in place. Tara welcomed her inside, and then both girls took a seat on the bed, laying their backs against the frame. Tara felt very awkward sitting here, as she painfully recalled what happened the last time she and Fiona were at this proximity to each other. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Fiona finally sighed and started to speak.

"Look, Tara," Fiona said somberly. "I…I'm really sorry for what happened earlier. I…I didn't know what came over me, and I know I made a massive, stupid mistake. I should have been honest with you a long time ago. And…I know that I badly hurt you, and I broke your trust in ways that I never should have. I feel awful about it; just terrible. So, I understand if you still really don't want to talk to me, or even see me for a while. I guess I pretty much deserve that."

Tara took a deep breath.

"Fiona, you don't have to say anything," Tara said, kindly. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. I majorly overreacted to everything, and I said some really hurtful and ignorant shit to you; things that should never be said to everyone. I… I guess that was more of my parents saying that than I was. I don't even know why I thought that stuff, in the first place. They were… not the most pleasant thought. I've kept from my childhood. I've been feeling horrible about it for hours now. But there really isn't any excuse I can make that will fully make things up to you."

Tara took sighed before finishing. "Fiona, you're one of my best friends, and I've treated you like crap today. I hope that we can move past this, and just, you know, continue onwards."

"So, we can still be friends?" Fiona asked hopefully. Tara smiled.

"Yeah, I think that would be for the best," she admitted. Fiona took a sigh of relief, and relaxed on the bed. Everything was wrapping up rather nicely on this day. She had saved her friends, stopped a mass murderer, and came out of the closet to her best friend. All in all, this day wasn't terrible.

But Tara was still thinking of one particular thought that was stuck on her mind. And she knew that Fiona would be the only person who could answer it.

"Hey Fiona, what happened to you in this town, anyway?" Tara harmlessly asked. Fiona's mood immediately dampened, and she turned away from her friend.

"I… I just don't want to talk about it right now…" Fiona said, disappointed. She knew it was ridiculous. She could stand up to a serial killer, yet she couldn't talk about a simple matter to her best friend. But Tara understood Fiona's concern was great, and decided that, perhaps, it was best to give her friend some space.

"Alright, Fiona," Tara said sweetly. "I'm sure you'll tell me when you're ready to."

After one minute of some comfortable silence, Fiona took a long sigh.

"I was just twelve years old."

Tara was surprised that Fiona had started speaking, but she didn't waste any time. She scooted over closer to Fiona, as the girl continued to tell her story.

"I was just starting the seventh grade, and my life was pretty good. My home life was decent. My mom was a very sweet woman, and she always made sure that I was raised properly. My father was also nice, most of the time. Sometimes, he would get drunk and I was pretty sure that he may have beaten my mom, but I was never really sure. But other than that, he was very loving and supportive. At my school, I wasn't really alone. I had plenty of friends, Jacob included. I was still mostly shy, but when I was with my friends, I felt great. I felt like I could talk to people and the world wouldn't end. And, thinking about it, it was all pretty fine."

"But my family wasn't exactly made up of… tolerant people. I always recalled my parents complaining about gays, for everything that they did. My father believed that the Westborough Baptist Church was made up of some of the best people in the world, and in all honesty, I think he wanted to join them. He always said, 'We have to butcher those fags at the source, otherwise they'll destroy all that is sacred about our country'. And I guess, being around that for so long, some of it rubbed off on me. I went to join my father at protests, angry marches, and rallies. I didn't see anything wrong with it at the time. I honestly didn't know what the problem was. I even taunted one of the kids at our school, who was openly gay. I said some very cruel and unkind things to that kid. I'm pretty sure the other kids and I may have painfully scarred him. But I kept on a smile. I didn't know the consequences of my actions."

"Then, I entered the seventh grade, and I started to notice different things about my friends. I noticed how pretty they were, what they smelled like, little things like that. I didn't really make anything of it at the time. I just assumed it was a puberty thing. Then, it got worse. I suddenly got these weird urges to spend more time closer with my friends, to hug the girls more, to do anything to get close to them. I was starting to get worried. These urges were distracting me so much, that I couldn't think properly. I had to take swimming in gym, and I couldn't wait to see all of the girls in their swimsuits. It was starting to scare me. I just told myself that everyone went through this, and that in a week or two, it would all go away. But it was relentless, never leaving me alone. It just kept probing at my mind, twisting around my thoughts and everything I knew."

"And then, one night, I realized what was going on. I was trying to get to sleep, but I couldn't get the girls out of my head. And then I just put it all together, I guess. And I started crying. I really did. I had to lock myself in my room so that my mother wouldn't see how upset I was. I didn't understand what was happening, or why it had to happen to me. I always thought I was going to live a happy life, get married, and maybe have kids. But that night, I felt my dreams dying. I thought that God had abandoned me, or worse, that he hated me. That maybe I had done something horribly wrong, and this was His way of punishing me. Do you have any idea what it feels like to think that God wants you to suffer? That the almighty being of love and compassion thinks you are a monster? It's beyond horrible. I refused to go to school the next day, because I didn't want to face my friends, and have them find out what I was."

"But I knew that I would have to let it out eventually. I couldn't keep this trapped inside for long, it was driving me crazy. I thought that my friends wouldn't nearly be as angry as I was, and that if I told them, maybe, just maybe, they could accept me. So one day, after school, I asked my friend Stephanie to walk with me, and then I came out to her by the buses. I didn't really know what to expect from her. I thought maybe some kind of shock, or hopefully, some acceptance. Instead, she slapped me in the face and walked off. By the next day at school, the news had spread all around the school that I was a lesbian. The taunting was relentless. I couldn't take three steps without someone insulting me, or shoving me, or taunting me with endless slurs. I had to start skipping classes just to escape the torment. I lost all of my friends; the only time they bothered speaking to me was to tell me that I was going to burn in Hell for an eternity for what a disgusting creature I was. My mom wouldn't let me stay home from school, so I was forced to keep returning to the endless torture of my peers. Even Jacob showed no mercy. One day, he and some of his friends cornered me outside the school. They beat on me, as each of them took turns calling me a disgusting faggot. I'm sure he doesn't even remember it now. I could never explain to my parents what had happened because I didn't want them to know what a putrid being I actually was."

"So, that's why you hate this place so much," Tara said. It was terrible what these children had done to her, even at such a young age. But Fiona shook her head. It was getting harder for her to speak, as water was now in her eyes, and a knot was starting to from in her throat.

"No," Fiona stated. "That's not it." She took a deep breath to calm down, and then continued on.

"I was feeling very alone at the time. Everywhere I went I was mercilessly insulted and taunted. I had nowhere to turn. Even at home, the cyberbullying was relentless. All of the people who used to talk to me were gone, and people who remained constantly told me to kill myself because I was a constant disappointment. I needed somewhere, anywhere to turn to. And I realized that the only people I had left were my parents. The people who raised me to hate the very thing I've become. I never should have thought that they could've understood. But I was so desperate, and I thought that maybe, they would understand, because I was their daughter, and they loved me. So that very night, over a chicken dinner, I told them what I was. I told them everything, from the bullying to the sexual thoughts, to my self-disgust. And you would never believe the look of disappointment on their faces. After I came out, my father stood up, and left the house. My mom didn't speak to me at all; she just sat there, staring at her dinner plate. I never saw her look so utterly repulsed in her life. And I felt more alone than I ever had before. I understood that even my own parents couldn't stand to love me anymore, just because of what I was. It was about two hours later, and I was still sobbing in my bedroom, wishing I was dead."

Fiona found it incredibly challenging to speak now, as she was constantly getting choked up on her sobs. Tears were now flowing down her face, as her memories came back to haunt her in full.

"Then my father returned," she said, reliving the absolute fear of that night. "I don't know how many drinks he had that night, but he was hammered. It was brutal. He marched around the house, screaming about how his legacy was ruined, and how I had cost him everything by being a 'stupid little fag'. He demanded that I come down to him and face the consequences for my 'inhuman behavior'. When I refused, he came up to my room, and kicked the door in. He slapped me in the face, and then pushed me onto my bed. He yelled relentlessly, calling me every horrible name in the book. I felt each and every one of them pierce through me like a knife. He hit me again, calling me the 'biggest disappointment in his entire life', and how he was so ashamed about his 'faggoty daughter'. My mother locked herself in her room. She never even tried to help me." Fiona was now finding it incredibly hard to speak even the most basic words, but she tried the best she could to continue on.

"He (sob) … he t-told me that he would h-have to punish me. (sob) Make me p-pray that I was d-dead. He hit me m-more, (sob) relentlessly b-beating me down further and further. He said, 'I'll h-have to cure you' and 'I can make you u-u-u-understand the (sob) error of your ways'."

"Then, h-he ordered me to (sob) take my c-clothes off."

Oh God, no, Tara thought, hoping that what she was thinking wasn't actually about to happen. Fiona could barely keep herself together, her intense sobbing now shaking the bed as tears streamed down her face.

"I r-refused, and he h-hit me again. (sob) I asked him w-what h-he was g-going to d-do to (sob) me. I've never s-s-seen him l-look so angry, so f-f-full of hate. H-he looked at m-me with d-disgust and said," Fiona struggled to get the words out, every painful memory rushing through her, making her relive all of the pain, fear and humiliation of that night.

"H-he said, 'I'm going to fix you'. And then… h-he… he…"

Fiona couldn't speak anymore. Everything was simply too intense for her to bear. She was reliving each moment, each painful, dreadful, pulsing moment that had caused her so much trouble throughout her life. Suddenly, Tara reached over and pulled Fiona into a tight hug. She couldn't bear to hear any more of the story, knowing full well what was about to be said. She believed that if she never heard it spoken, then it couldn't be true. It had to be untrue; it simply had to be. Fiona was currently reliving hell, and Tara needed to do whatever she could to guide her friend through it.

Fiona felt like she needed to say more. She could have said how every second felt like someone burning her flesh away from her. She could have said how her mother let it go on for an hour before she finally called the police. She could have said how despite moving in with a foster family, she still couldn't escape her past. She could have said how it took months of therapy for her to stop considering suicide. She could have said how she was still alone at her new school, and how she was still taunted all throughout the rest of her life. She could have said that every time she looks at herself in the mirror, she still sees nothing but a monster. She could have said that every night this time of year, she relives every moment of her past in her nightmares, and starts to wish that she would die again. She even could have said that no matter what happens in the future, she'll always be haunted by a tragic incident in her past that was caused by nothing other than absolute hate. She could have said that, but she didn't. Everything hurt so much, that she felt like she didn't have the strength to say anything anymore. All she managed to choke out through her sobs was,

"How could anyone hate someone so much, just because of who they are?"

It was a question that Tara greatly considered throughout the night, as she never left Fiona's sobbing form for many hours, even until the sun came up.

__________

Celestia and Wilson had no proper explanation for The Beast. While he explained his motives, Tara had never found out why he had such unnatural talents. Wilson simply said that he would look into the matter, clearly not as interested as the girls were. But it was still nice to be back at Camelot, and the girls took no time getting to their beds for a nice long sleep. Even as they crawled into bed, Fiona and Tara were still talking to each other. They were placed across from each other, and kept their conversation going from the long car ride back.

And honestly, Dash was sick of it. Throughout the seven hour car ride, those two girls never seemed to stop their conversation, and if Dash didn't know any better, she'd say that the two had never seen each other in years with the amount of things they talked about. In truth, Tara and Fiona were already great friends, but now their bond appeared to be strengthened to such a degree that it was starting to become a hindrance to Dash's mental health. She was pretty sure that even Pinky did not speak this much. It was late in the night, and Tara and Fiona were still quietly talking to each other, right above Dash's head. It had gotten to the point where she couldn't fall asleep, and she was getting very annoyed with their behavior. Finally, she called out.

"Will you to dykes stop making out up there?! I'm trying to get some fucking sleep," she called out above. While Fiona didn't really know how Tara would respond, Tara took the comment in quite the joking manner.

"Calm down, Dash," Tara teased. "We're just having a conversation." Dash rolled her eyes.

"Just shut up, will ya?" Dash said, closing her eyes. "And if I here you two having sex above me, I will freak the fuck out. Fair warning." With that, the girls decided that it would be best to stop their conversation for the night, and perhaps get some sleep of their own. Tara sighed.

"Well, good night, Fiona," Tara said while rolling over to get some sleep. Fiona smiled at the comment.

"Good night to you to, Tara," Fiona spoke. She was very glad that Tara seemed to fully accept their friendship. And while Fiona did doubt that she would get what she truly wanted, for now, she was content with just having a friend again.

Fiona closed her eyes, and for the first time that week, she had a nice, long, relaxing dream.

End of Chapter 3