Chapter 9 #

Nineteen minutes earlier.

Her eyes were clenched tightly shut waiting for those terrifying claws to come down on her neck, they never came.

She slowly opened her eyes and what she saw confused her. The arm which had been broken only moments ago held the combat knife which was now dug into the Witch's neck right into her brain stem. It was then the now dead witch dicided to slump down to the side and off her.

Her grip on the knife slipped and it clattered to the floor, this went unnoticed by her as she just stared at the arm moving and twisting around realised that it was completely healed. She ten realised something else.... she had just moved the arm....

Red promptly screamed at to top of Maria's lungs.

*Red clam down* the voice of Maira told her. She continued screaming still staring wide eyed at Maria's arm *Damit Red your going to attract every Infected around* still screaming *Ok that's it!*

The mental slap shocked her enough to make her stop screaming *Good... now just, stay calm*

"I'm In control of your body!" Red exclaimed.

*That is true*

"Why am I in control!?"

*No idea*

"Why don't you sound concerned about this?"

*Because 1, we've got more important things to worry about right now* Maria noted *And 2 I trust you*

Red was shaking now "B-b-but what if I lose control?" She asked "What if I hurt someone?" Red asked "I don't want to force you through that aga-"

*Red! stop it. I know your scared but your not that monster anymore so stop thinking like that* "Bu-" *But nothing! I trust you and this is your body too, I forgave you a while ago and you've more then proven that your not a monster. Now get up. Because we've got company*

Red glanced up to see three infected shambling down the tunnel growling and gurgling.

"Did you mean it when you said? About forgiving me?"

*Yes, it took me a while but I released that your nothing like the thing that kept me trapped all that time* Maria admitted *Now go and do what you do best-*

Red scoped up the knife again and dropped into a combat stance *Get close and personnel* with that Red bared her teeth and taunted the lead infected who roared and charged head first at her intending to finish her off quickly.

Red punished it's foolishness by twirling around it and digging her knife into the base of it's skull severing the brain stem, it fell without a sound as Red wrenched the knife out and waited for the other two react. They were more cautious after their predecessor had been taken out so easily so one charged her aiming for her legs while the other aimed for her chest. Red rolled off the back of the first and spun around the second, grabbing it's head and slicing it's neck. She cut so deep that the infected's head came straight off and as the first turned to attack again she threw the head so hard at it that it was forced backwards onto its back.

Red stood above it and placed a boot on it's chest and slammed her other boot into it's head cracking it to the side killing it.

*1 Minutes 35 seconds* Maria noted *let get a move on, if these infected are here then the others could be in trouble*

Red turned to leave but caught her reflection in a pressure gauge. Her hair had changed from Red with a grey streak to White with a Red streak "Looks better then grey" she muttered before stalking down the tunnel * aren't you going to take the flare?*

Red responded by closing her eyes again and then flaring them open kicking her night vision on making the dark tunnel as bright as day *Oh... yea. Foegot about that....* Red rolled her eyes.

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22 Minutes and many Infected later

"I will handle this. Find a way out of here" Red Dashed at the Tank sliding under one of its clumsy strikes and grabbed hold of it's arm and swan up onto it's shoulder.

*THIS! Is was horrible plan!* Maria shouted in Red's head.

Red ignored her and dug her knife into the Tank's flesh and dug out a big chunk of flesh making the Tank try to shake her off making Red dig deeper, once she was satisfied with the hole she had made she pulled the pin out of a grenade she had liberated earlier and jammed it into the new wound before jumping off and landing a few meters away with a role and a slide.

*"Three... Two... One..."*

BOOOM!

Bits of Tank flew everywhere and the Infected behind it being blown back by the explosion.

*That was.... Satisfying* Maria said slowly.

"Shit! Did she just take on a Tank with a Knife and grenade and WIN!?!"

*Simmons? That you?*

The man looked around him to find where the voice "Maria? Why are you talking in my head?!"

*I'll explain later* Maria promised *But right now me and Red have got some Infected to deal with*

The said infected were getting back up and ready to fight and Red tensed herself up ready for a fight. But the infected just suddenly just stopped, not stop as in not attacking but just frozen, the a sickening laugh echoed from behind them.

"Ha Ha Ha Haaaa You've amused me Witch 9945, but now I will handle this personally"

The Infected Hord parted ways Making way for something that Red could only describe as a monster. It was as Large a the Tank and alot more ugly too, it's arms had morphed into two hulking blades of some sort of metal and bone, it's black skin was rough and litterd with protrusions and spikes, it's head resembled a spider's with two large mandibles and six glowing red eyes. It moved on six legs that ended on bladed tips and it smelt like hell itself.

One name came from both Maria and Red as a Growl *" Hellspider"*

The Hellspider moved with confidence into the ruined cafeteria and stopped right in-front of Red "Bow before your Master Witch 9945"

"My name is Red" she spat " And I will never bow before something as repulsive and sickening as you race Hellspawn" the last word she put extra effort into.

The Hellspider lifted it's head back and bellowed with laughter "You think that because you act different and have a different name that YOU aren't a Witch, one of our most loyal servants" it let that sink in "Deep down you will always be a Witch and therefor our servant, but if you want to be free so bad then alow me to grant you that wish!"

With speed that nobody though something that size could move at the Hellspider knocked Red aside with such force that when she hit the far wall behind Celestia and everyone else she was knocked unconscious.

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Maria opened her eyes and sprang up.

The last thing she remembered was Red being knocked into the wall the next... nothing.

"I really am spending too muck time unconscious"

She looked around, she was in the same place that she had fought Witch before she had been cured. She was in her mind again, the only difference from last time was a large creaky house.

"RED!" she called hopeing that the other woman was here too "RRREEEDDD! ARE YOU HERE!" No answer. With a sigh she decided to check the house, mabe she could find a clue on how to get out and in control of her body before the Hellspider could kill her, Simmons, Celestia and everyone else.

Maria pushed the door open surprised that it wasn't locked and paired inside. The house seemed eerily familiar but she couldn't figure out why, the house was definitely a farm house and that hadn't been used in a while judging from the outside, but inside was in better condition giving it a more lived in feeling.

Closing the door behind her she walked past the stairs and walked though the hallway, making her way to a table stand with a photo frame siting neatly on top.

Picking it up Maria nearly Dropped it as she started shaking. It was a picture of herself aged 16 with her mother and father, but it wasn't that which was making Maria Shake.

In the picture she had an arm around another girl. the girl couldn't have been younger then 10 or eleven, she bore a striking resembulance to young Maria with freckles, her most defining features jet black hair, gold eyes and sharp K-9s giving her a wolfish appearance. What shocked Maria most was that the girl had a black wolf tail and ears.

Four names were engraved along the frame of the picture. Dominic Santiago, Rachel Santiago, Maria Santiago and one name that broke Maria's heart... Lucy Santiago, her deceased little sister.

Maria felt a tear go down her face. Lucy had died at birth not even getting a chance at life. It had struck her hard as she had only been seven at the time, Lucy had, had gold eyes like this girl and the doctors had said that she may have grown up to have black hair.

Drying her eyes she placed the picture down, she was eager to find herself some answers about why a picture of what a picture showing what her dead sister would have looked like was doing here. Before she could move however she heard crying coming from upstairs, not the crying of a Witch but the crying of a young girl, interested she quietly made her way to the stairs.

Once up the stairs (stepping on every creaky step along the way) Maria figured out that it the crying was coming from the door on the far end, slowly walking holding her breath as if she was expecting some horrid monster to jump out of one of the other rooms. Released the breath once she arrived at the door, steadying her self Maria took hold of of the door nob and opened the door.

Beyond the door was her childhood room paintings and other artistic objects littered the shelves and a Red sheeted bed sat in the corner. Everything was as she had left it, except that on the other side of the room was another bed The shelves were crammed full of books of all sizes, the sheets of the other bed were black and the curled up shape of someone clearly visible under them.

"H-hello?" Maria reached out to remove the covers only for them to be thrown asied and a young crying girl to dive into her and hug her, tears streaming down her freckled face "Sis!"

Maria stood there shocked as an eleven year old Lucy Santiago Bawled into her chest.

It took a few minutes for Maria to calm down the young girl enough for her to understand what she was saying. Instead of demanding what was going on Maria decided to go along with... whatever this was.

Sitting Lucy down Maria was able to get a good look at her, she had a nasty looking cut just above her eye and looked like she had just been on the losing side of a fight, Maria asked what was wrong "Everyone thinks I'm a freak 'SNIFF' they keep calling me names like Freak, Monster, Big bad wolf" when Maria asked why the Wolfgirl shook her head "Because of the way I look, a few of the kids at school beat me up and told me that I was ugly and I should just go away"

Maria didn't know why but she suddenly found her self trying to comfort the Wolfgirl "These kids sound like they don't know what their talking about, your not a freak"

Lucy wiped her nose with her sleeve and sniffed "r-really?"

Maria found herself really putting her heart into it "Just because your different then them doesn't mean your a freak. It just means your special and if anyone can't see that then their not worth you time... that and-" she pointed at Lucy's ears which were flat against her white hair " your ears and tail are kinda cute"

Lucy perked up at this, her ears returning to normal and her tail waging slightly "you really think so?" Maria nodded and Lucy embraced her, this time Maria returned the embrace. Maria was a mother so comforting her supposed younger sister was not a problem.

A bright light filled the bedroom window and was followed by a large explosion out side that shook the buidling foundations making Lucy scream and hold Maria tightly.

Maria got up with her sister holding her arm tightly and walked over to the window and pulled back the curtain to reveal a large field that had a large Vorsoth ship hovering above it. Maria turned to a now scared Lucy "We've got to get out of here, stay close to me ok?" Lucy nodded as Maria lead her out the door keeping near the walls just in case.

They managed to reach the front door when the next blast hit, strike directly in front of them with enough to send Maria who took the brunt of the shock wave flaying back into the hallway.

The last thing she saw as her vision went black was Lucy crawling to her and shaking her trying to keep her awake.

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If your wondering whether you can get knocked out while your your own head the answer is yes.

Maria forced her eyes open to a dark grey ceiling , she was on her back laying on a cell bed. Who the cell belonged to she didnt need much of a clue.
As she began to lean up she saw Lucy sat on the other bed in the cell, her head in her hands and her ears flat.

"Lucy? Are you alright?" The wolfgirl looked up and Maria saw her eyes were red from crying "sis! Your awake!" Another thing to note is that you can apparently feel pain in a dream as Maria found out as Lucy hugged her tightly making her wince "Not for long if you keep this up"

The Wolfgirl blushed with embarrassment and let her go as Maria slid her legs off the bunk "what happened?"

"When you got hit some monsters came and grabbed us and took us here" The Wolfgirl at Maria " what are they going to do to us?"

"I don't know..." Maria had never heard of the Vosoth talking prisoners before. They were definitely on a Bio ship in some sort of lab, Vorsoth Necromancers scurried around doing one task or another.

Then everything just... stopped, all the Necromancers just froze, then SHE stepped into view "Hello Maria" Witch greeted with a evil grin "Whats the matter, nothing to say to your old friend?"

"I have NOTHING to say to you Witch"Maria growled "What have you done with Red?"

Witch snorted in disgust "I've done nothing to that ungrateful bitch. She wanted to be free of our master and she has gotten her wish" she began grinning again "as for were she is. She has been with you this whole time cowering behind you this whole time"

Maria looked at Lucy who was looked at Witch terrified, there was no way that this little girl could be Red. The Red Maria knew was strong, fearless in the face of an enemy. There was just no way.

"Still not convinced?" Witch asked "Then perhaps this will convince you" she waved her clawed hand and the Necromancers started moving again with more effort as the wall opened up with a quelch. Two hellspawn dragged a struggling figure towards a large glass tub connected to a large semi-organic machine. They stuffed the figure inside the tube and closed the lid.

As they moved out of the way Maria's eyes widened and Lucy held onto her tighter. inside the tube was another Lucy who was slamming on the glass trying to get out.

"Witch what what the hell are you playing at?" Maria asked angrily.

"Shhhhh! Just watch the show" Witch said patronizingly and she leaned against ths bone like bars of the cage.

The Necromancers where powering up the machine and a low buzz filled the room, the Necromancer seemed obliveous to their presence and and were monitoring their consoles as they began whatever sickening procedure they were doing to the other Lucy.

One of the Necromancers brought in a see through canister filled with green gas. Witch smiled "there I am" she said "You still watching dear?"

By this point Maria had figured out that this wasn't some sick fantasy that Witch had created, but a memory, and she had a feeling who's it was. The Necromancer carrying the gas form of Witch inserted the canister into the machine which began to pump it into the tube, as this happened the memory Lucy started to smash her fists against the glass more desperately as the green gas filled the tube and obscured her from view.

After a few minutes the banging stopped and nothing happened, then the green gas began to dissipate and standing inside the tube was not Lucy, but the fully grown form of Witch. The Necromancers opened the tube and let her climb out, memory Witch walked over to the side and keeled before something that she couldn't see.

"Witch 9945 are you ready?" The unseen monstrosity asked.

"Yes lord... the host has been subdued and I am ready for implantation in the Target"

With that the memory froze and Witch turned to Maria "have you figured it out yet?"

"The Vorsoth conquers another universe... one where Lucy didn't die and instead was captured and used to allow you to control someone in my universe" Maria said "Me in this case"

Witch clapped sarcastically "Well done! Your not as stupid as you think" she said with an amused smirk.

"You were never red, when the princesses used the cure it partially cured me and freed Lucy from your control... but because of that procedure Lucy though she was you!" She clenched her fists "She spend so long trying to earn forgiveness for something she had no choice in. YOU BITCH!"

"You got it in one,but my Masters is calling and now I must control you dear little sister once again" Witch raised her hand and Maria felt herself being forced up into the air and pushed into the wall. Chains sprouted from the wall and held her in place.

"Maria!"

Witch started to walk slowly towards them as Lucy tried to pry off the chains, the bars of the cell melted away as Witch passed "Come now little Lucy. No point in struggling" she mocked "Just come to me and give up and I will make this painless"

Lucy looked at Witch fearful as she approached her, she was paralyzed with fear "Ghha! Don't listen to her Lucy" Maria said as she tried to free herself, she had lost Lucy once before she had a chance to get to know her and she was going to be dammed before she lost her again "You can fight her"

"What?! A weak freak of a girl?" Witch snorted "don't make me laugh"

Ignoring the Witch Maria continued "She's just a parasite, your stronger then her"

"You won't be picked on ever again!" Witch promised as she stepper back abit slightly worried.

"You don't need to become a monster to do that" Maria insisted "Lucy... remember what they did to you..."

The young girl was silent for the longest time her eyes hidden by her hair... not moving, then she finally spoke "The Vorsoth killed everyone...."

The shadows around Lucy began the quiver and move as her fists clenched into fists and began to shake "my parents..."

The shadows began to take shapes of dark tendrils and Witch, truly afraid now began to back away "My Sister..."

Lucy's head looked straight at Witch, golden eyes burning with rightmost fury "GO BACK TO WHATEVER HELLHOLE YOU CAME FROM!" She screamed as she sent the dark tendril at the witch who was now trying to desperately escape but was blocked by a wall of shadow. With her way blocked the witch had nowhere to go as the tendrils sharpened into spikes and impaled her and as she died finally her body melted away into green gas which also dissipated into nothing.

Then the room, cell and chains melted away into the white expanse it had come from leave Maria and her sister alon together.

They both were silent as they enjoyed the felling of being free of Witch, it was like a great weight had been lifted off thier chests and they breathed a sight of relief.

It was Lucy who broke the silence "Thank you Maria..."

"Thank you for what?"

Lucy still no looking at Maria let her fists un clench "Thank you for freeing me... for being there while I was Red... just for everything"

Maria's eyes widened again "you mean you-"

"Yes I remember everything, I know I died in this universe and I haven't really got the right to ask this"

Lucy sniffed before bursting into tears and wrapping her arms around Maria "'Sniff!' Big sister!"

Maria returned the embrace "Its alright... Just let it out"

A few minutes later after both Lucy and Maria dried their tears they began talking about how they were going to handle the Hellspider. "How are we going to deal with It when we wake up, our ALG was destroyed with the P90?"

Lucy grinned confidently "let me handle it"she said with a sly grin " I've got a trick up my sleeve"

"Well then-" Maria reached a hand out "shall we?"

Lucy took her big sisters hand and nodded "lets do this"