Work Text:
Genny stormed into the throne room once again, kicking the massive doors open and strutting directly towards the Shadow Queen.
“Oh, you’re back so soon? Truly I expected you to take at least a little longer to return, I haven’t even had time to clean your footprint off the door since the last time.”
“Save it Shadow Queen, I’m not interested in your useless chatter.”
Charlie looked up at the Lunar Knight from the throne where she was sitting, and laughed in the same pompous-yet-monstrous way she always did.
“Oh don’t be so aggressive, I’m sure we can have a little conversation before you try and fail to slay me. In fact, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, I think you’ll find it quite interesting.”
“You got something to say? Go ahead, make my job easy for me.”
Without any hesitation, Genny approaches The Queen, her lunar blade at the ready to deal the first strike.
“I’ve finally figured out why you hate me.”
Genny pauses. She was expecting a taunt, or some purple prose about how powerful the shadows are, or a factual statement. What she wasn’t expecting was an assertion as baffling as the one she had just heard.
“What do you mean you figured it out? Is it not so completely obvious why I hate you?”
“No, it is not. At least not to someone who doesn’t already possess a vast amount of knowledge about you and the circumstances which lead you here. Why do you think you hate me?”
The Knight was getting irritated now, moreso than before.
“What kind of question is that!? I have so many reasons to hate you! You’re trying to bring back a god that doomed an entire civilization after they abandoned their true god, you’re hurting everything native to The Constant, you’re keeping innocent people, some of whom are children, trapped in here to use as pawns,and you kidnapped Winona making me think she was dead for years on end! I don’t need a reason to hate you! You’re a monster!”
The Monarch looked at her, eyes full of pity. She stood from her throne, shadows dripping from her fingertips. As she approached Genny, her own shadow hid in fear as the Queen towered above her
“Yes, yes. I know you think all of that but it isn’t true. The truth is that the reason you hate me is much simpler, and all those things you just said are simply excuses covering it.”
Genny took a defensive stance, cautiously listening to the queen but still ready to deflect any incoming attack.
“Some of the things you said aren’t even true! Putting aside what you said about godly matters you clearly know nothing about, I would hardly call what I did to my beloved sister a kidnapping.”
“Then what would you call it huh? You took her in here against her will, taking her when she was trying to help someone, kept her here! What else could it possibly be?”
“Oh, must you be so dramatic? Sure I might have been a bit aggressive in taking her, but she was actively looking for me. I was simply accelerating the process of finding me. Ask yourself, had she instead been offered a way into the constant, with no option of leaving, do you think she would’ve taken it and left earth just to find me?”
Genny stood silently. She wanted to answer, to say that Winona would not have willingly jumped head first into danger in a futile attempt to save her sister. But Genny knew her well enough to know that wasn’t the truth.
“And there we have the true reason you hate me.” Charlie continues, with the same air of confidence and grace she always has, chipping away at Genny’s resolve. “Because that means she would leave everything behind for me. And everything also includes you.”
“No. You don’t know anything about-”
“Of course, the two of you had fun…” Charlie interrupted her, ignoring her words entirely. “And I’m not denying that she had and still does have feelings for you. It’s just that those feelings ,like most other things in her life, came second to the one goal she spent years desperately chasing: Finding me.”
At this point Genny had lowered her sword, no longer wanting to fight the shadow queen, just desperately trying to dispute what she was saying, hoping her words could still save her.
“And I have every right to hate you for it.” Genny looks up to meet Charlie’s unflinching gaze, masking her fear with the boldness of her words. “You’ve been a terrible sister to her. She goes through hell for you and how do you repay her? By just using her as another pawn.”
“You’re still trying to blame this on me?” She covers her mouth and proudly giggles. “Be honest with yourself. You hated me before you even knew what had become of me, back when you had no reason to think I was anything but the defenseless young woman I had left as. The only reason you’re still claiming otherwise is because even you know how pathetic the alternative is. You claim to hate the ‘Evil Shadow Queen’, putting on this facade of some knight in shining armor, but look at yourself. Coming all this way to fight me, getting farther and farther from the person you claim to care about. You hate her missing sister more than you actually love Winona. That does not sound very noble at all, does it?”
Genny didn’t respond. She wanted to, but she found herself unable to speak. As much as she hated to think it, Charlie was right. As the thought began to brew in her mind, her sword fell out of her hand and hit the floor. Within moments, Charlie readied her claws and striked. When she opened her eyes Genny found herself standing infront of a white sheet draped over the wall of a decrepit house, with a projector slowly whirring to a stop behind her. By the time the noise finally stopped, her tears had started to fall.