Chapter 83

[The following chapter contains strong language. Reader caution is advised.]

​

Monday 3rd July 2000

 

 

Four days. Four days of what I was absolutely certain was my new normal.

 

It was hardly skulking around as an off-white monster, acting as back-up to Nightmare as they terrorised bad people. That was at least something as remarkable as the life I’d left behind.

 

This was more like if none of it had ever happened. As if I’d woken up, realised the whole thing was a dream, and now felt miserable that it wasn’t real and life was so much worse.

 

Nobody came to visit. Lucy insisted they missed me but it’s not like they came and told me. Then again, it’s not like I wanted to see any of them. Not with this much guilt and shame weighing me down. Dakota needed to get over me and find somebody better. And he could be a new friend for the others. It’s not like they even needed me for Painter stuff: six of them, including Lucy, that was plenty now. It used to be just five of us. My absence made no difference.

 

I hadn’t accomplished much of anything over the course of four days. Save for using the bathroom, eating meals (when I couldn’t take them upstairs) and watching telly once or twice, I’d spent the entire time either in my room, or playing piano. And Mum and Dad got a little annoyed with the sad music I kept playing, so even that had pretty much stopped save for the times I was home alone.

 

And so, on Monday afternoon, I was lying on my bed and listening to Radiohead – yeah, I know, the most stereotypical thing for a depressed guy to play, but I like the band anyway – trying not to think too hard about how uninteresting and unfulfilling the rest of my life was doubtlessly going to be. My mobile rang, buzzing on my bedside cabinet: taken aback, I reached across to check who it was, already nervous over the prospect of it being one of my friends. And… it was, just not one I was expecting.

 

I paused the CD, and answered.

“Hey Callum…”

Wouldn’t have guessed it would be him calling…

 

“Heeey! How’re you?” he all but beamed down the phone at me.

 

… I could hardly say “I’m miserable”. Time to act like everything was fine.

“I’m alright thanks, you?”

 

“I’m pretty good, thanks! Soooo glad exams are over… I thought I was gonna have a breakdown or something, I swear…”

 

“Yeah, it was rough…” I nodded (even though he couldn’t see it). “Are you going to uni or anything?”

 

“Not yet,” he began. “I’m taking a gap year, but I’m not 100% sure if I wanna go to uni at all… haven’t really figured out what I want to do yet.”

 

“I get you, same here…”

I rubbed the space between my eyebrows in frustration.

 

“We’ll figure it out! I’m sure you’ll be the next Elton John or something in no time!” my childhood friend assured me.

 

“I’ll take that as a compliment…” I remarked gently. Elton John wasn’t exactly the style I was going for…

 

“Are you still with your girlfriend?”

… of course he’d ask that question…

 

“Yeah…” I bluffed to save face, and because it was easier than telling the truth and hearing sympathies, and because I wished it was still the case.

 

“That’s great! You two seem so good together!” he claimed obliviously. Seriously, what did he know? He saw us for all of two minutes last year…

 

I mean… we got on well. We enjoy each other’s interests, too… and love spending time with each other… we’re really compatible in a lot of ways. So he was right to some extent. Still…

 

Still…

 

“Thanks, man…”

 

“I was thinking we should try and hang out some time,” Callum went on. “Whenever you’re free! We haven’t caught up in aaaages.”

 

And he was probably better off for not having me in his life much in the past several years… unaware of what I’m really like. Still mistakenly caring.

“Sounds good… I’m supposed to be going to America with my friends but I’ll keep you posted…”

Why the hell did I say that? What was I going to tell him in a few weeks when I’m free as a bird and in the UK? That the trip got cancelled?

 

“Oh wow! I’m jealous, that’s amazing!”

 

“Yeah, it’s something…” I replied while lightly knocking a knuckle against my forehead.

 

Out of nowhere, Lucy’s Lokon daggers landed down beside me, settling on the bed innocently.

 

“Well, just don’t forget to find time to hang out with your old pal here,” Callum chuckled at me.

 

“Definitely… hey, uhm, sorry, something’s come up, I kinda have to-”

 

“No worries! I’ll leave you to it!”

Damn happy Callum…

“Speak soon! Bye!”

 

“Bye,” I echoed back at him, and as he was the one to hang up, I put the mobile straight back down on the cabinet.

 

The daggers. It was shortly after 3pm, so Lucy should’ve still been on the way home from school. There was no obvious reason for her to teleport them into my room… it was hardly a funny prank. Either this was a ploy to get me to see the others again, or it was a call for help.

 

Like… “I’m in a bad situation, all I can do is send you the weapons to give you the hint”. I had suggested it before, that time she met up with Dirk…

 

And honestly? If she did need my help, I couldn’t wait around… if it was just an attempt to reunite me with the others, then I could bear having to briefly meet with them (before teleporting away, naturally) when I’d leapt into it under the pretence of saving my sister.

 

I scooped up my Lokon sword from its new home beneath my bed, blasted on my Painter gear, and promptly realised I should probably let Mum know that I was going out. I headed out of my room, down the stairs, and into the living room, where Mum was hoovering. When she noticed me in full regalia, she gave me a frown, before turning the vacuum cleaner off.

 

“Be safe…” she advised me.

 

“Of course,” I replied, and then pictured the street opposite school and teleported myself there. As you’d expect, there was still a fair bustle outside the school grounds; it was a testament to Harmony’s constant assistance that nobody noticed me arriving in what would usually be a very conspicuous manner. The sight of it all briefly made me pine for school days… well, maybe not that: rather, it made me recognise just how weird it felt to no longer be in school. So much of the furniture of my life was now gone with nothing to replace it…

 

No immediate sign of Lucy, but that was to be expected. I started jogging down what I believed to be her usual path to school, hoping all the while that Kendal had already picked Kitty up and I wasn’t about to get spotted…

 

I spent a few minutes heading most of the way back home, and there was no sign of my sister or of anything that would suggest what situation she might be in.

 

For a moment, I thought that, perhaps, I should have tried phoning her… she would have had her mobile with her… but then it dawned on me that it would most likely have proved fruitless anyway. If she really was in trouble, she wouldn’t be able to answer…

 

Already out of reasonable options, I simply began teleporting all around. The playground, the park, Adam’s place… still no leads or any hint of her. What was I supposed to do? If she didn’t have her weapons on her, I had no hope of trying to trace her with my sword.

 

I tried the back garden, just to be certain, but no Lucy there either…

 

Back to my room, to make sure she hadn’t summoned the daggers. They hadn’t moved from my bed.

 

I was running out of options… in the first place, I was assuming that she would be somewhere familiar, but she could’ve been literally anywhere on the planet if Lokonessence (or its shadow) was involved.

 

Dakota’s place came to mind again. What if something was happening there? We’d faced plenty of monsters together there… maybe they were in some kind of dire situation? Maybe Lucy felt she was the only one who could request my assistance right now? But then why only send her weapons, rather than coming here herself…?

 

Town centre. That was a place I hadn’t searched yet. Though it’d be like looking for a needle in a haystack…

 

I teleported to the high-street, and turned first to Woolworths. Clothes and pick’n’mix: it was probably Lucy’s favourite shop.

 

… honestly, what the hell was I even hoping to find at this point? The whole thing was really frustrating me, and I was beginning to believe it really was nothing but a ploy to coax me into visiting Dakota’s…

 

And here I was, wandering around Woolworths like I was searching for something with no idea where it was, and people were definitely noticing me, pointing at me. I’m surprised I wasn’t asked for an autograph… or told that weapons weren’t allowed in the store…

 

I walked out a couple of minutes later with – would you believe it – no indication of Lucy having been there. Trying to keep my temper from flaring, I looked around the high-street, hoping to think of where else Lucy may have been… and I saw her.

 

Alongside… Harmony? Wearing Melody’s clothing, wielding her scythe… but she had long hair, unlike Melody… and it was colourful, like she’d dyed every strand a different colour…

 

“Hey there, Alex!” she waved at me; Lucy only noticed me right after that, and sprinted the handful of metres between us and grabbed me into a hug.

 

“Harmony fused with her!” she bleated immediately.

 

“What…?” I asked, because that didn’t really explain much… unless “her” meant Melody…

 

“Exactly!” the fusion confirmed before I even voiced anything. “Two Hill sisters for the price of one! She let her- I let her in…”

She smiled blissfully.

“United.”

 

“You okay?” I asked my sister, and she nodded vigorously.

 

“Numb bum, a bit spooked, but she didn’t pistol-whip me so I’m fine.”

 

“Pistol-whip you…?” I repeated, and when I looked up at Harmelody again, she was already holding a handgun in her free hand.

 

“It feels so good to see inside your head, Alex,” she cooed. “She wishes she could’ve done this all along.”

 

“Struggling to keep who’s who in check, huh?” I stated the obvious while Lucy disengaged from me.

 

“The union is taking a little time to settle in place… but it won’t be long…”

She stashed the gun, then raised the scythe above her head.

“This offensive thing isn’t helping.”

 

Without missing a beat, the blade of the weapon started to glow, and then so did the rest of it, that familiar white light rapidly overwhelming the scythe.

 

“I made it with the best of intentions… but it doesn’t hold a candle to the real me…” she boasted as the weapon steadily dissolved away from the intense shine of shadow-white within. It only took about five seconds for the whole thing to disappear, both form and power. Melody’s faux-Painter gear fizzled away too, unveiling her (Melody’s) own clothing, only the fusion seamlessly generated a brand-new outfit right after. Predominantly black, naturally, though it seemed to have an iridescent sheen to it, and portions and strips that were glowing rainbow colours. That, alongside the colourful hair and the eery glow from beneath her skin, really made her look like a living rainbow.

 

“Shame you didn’t do that earlier…” I grumbled at her; she chuckled, and advanced a little. Through her own power, nobody was perceiving us.

 

“Would’ve been difficult with her preventing her- me from getting the chance,” she pointed out. “But enough about that. It’s history. And we need to talk about the future.”

 

“She was gonna take you to Hawaii and sleep with you,” Lucy half-whispered to me, “but we talked her out of it.”

 

… I think you can understand why I was completely taken aback by that.

 

“She’s exaggerating,” Harmelody assured me, coming to a stop maybe five feet away now. “Though… I’ve definitely thought about it. Oh, the thoughts she’s finding in my head. Naughty girl.”

Her shoulders fidgeted with a restrained titter. If I understood that correctly… Melody had had sexual thoughts about me…?

“But that doesn’t matter right now. She can see inside your head, and my god, Alex… I’ve never felt like this before…”

 

“Meaning…?” I asked, gripping my sword more tightly.

 

“I can’t connect with other people, emotionally, the way most do. She’s lived her entire life in isolation, save for me, and now I’m granting her the ability to see inside your head… for the first time, I’m feeling it,” she purred while I just about managed to follow her shifting pronouns. “Somebody’s else’s emotions… and yours in particular, burning like the sun… it’s one thing to know about it, but to feel it like this…”

 

I said nothing, because I couldn’t think of anything worth saying. It was hardly a compliment, and the most I could do in that moment was pity Melody for having to live a life without empathy.

 

“It’s beautiful. Beautiful destruction. It’s like a supervolcano. But we can do better than that, can’t we, Alex?”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I didn’t want to ask – it could only be bad – but I couldn’t keep glaring at her.

 

“I – both sides of me – want to have some fun. And it doesn’t matter how much your in-grown talons drive you away from the others… you’re still my Painter. So, let’s paint the world with your madness. Let’s unleash the dragon.”

 

She drew her gun out at lightning-speed, and with preternatural precision, fired straight at me.

 

At my head.

 

So ridiculously fast – almost instantaneously – that I didn’t have a chance in hell of blocking it.

 

I felt the bullet break through my skull and pierce my brain, for just the briefest of moments, barely registering it.

 

The next thing I knew, I drew in an almighty breath, eyes bursting open to look up at the bright blue sky.

 

I was lying down.

 

She’d shot me.

 

I’d died.

 

I touched my forehead, and found evaporating blue Lokonessence beneath my fringe like blood.

 

People were screaming all around. Panic surrounded me.

 

“Alex! Thank fuck!” Lucy wailed out, before crouching beside me. She was in her Painter clothes now. “Get up!”

 

Still trying to catch up with my already-active senses, I did as I was told and heaved myself upright.

 

Up ahead loomed a gigantic black-and-blue dragon, its body almost as wide as the high-street in which it stood, so tall that its wings fanned out above the buildings either side of it. It was surveying its surroundings, puffing smoke from its nostrils, snorting and snarling as everybody rightfully fled from it.

 

In front of it, Harmelody pirouetted in glee.

 

“Come on!” Lucy urged me, hoisting me to my feet with her daggers uncomfortably close.

 

“Welcome back, Alex!” Harmelody cheered, and flashed a smile that was somewhere between Harmony’s giddy grin and Melody’s smug smirk. “Meet yourself!”

 

The dragon looked my way, and roared out at the sight of me, at decibels I don’t believe my ears had ever had to suffer before.

 

“He hates you, but you already know that,” the fusion clarified for me, a twinkle in her eye.

 

“Don’t hurt anybody,” I warned her sharply. “Not one person.”

 

“That’s really not in my hands,” she shrugged. “I don’t have any control over this one. It’s all your subconscious mind. I just gave it form.”

 

And all the while, the huge monster was leering closer, not taking a step but moving its head down, down, towards Lucy and me. The heat from its nostrils was already embracing us from several feet away.

 

“Alex, did I ever tell you your breath is really hot and smells like brimstone…?” Lucy quipped, braced for combat.

 

“By the way…”

Harmelody strode towards the two of us, a barely-contained ball of excitement.

“You’re currently fully mortal. No more do-overs. Consider this our final glorious do-or-die bout. You vs. the dragon primed to destroy the world! The most fun any of us will ever have!”

 

“Shut up!” I found myself suddenly snarling at her. “I don’t find any of this fun! I don’t find putting one life on the line fun, never mind the whole world!”

 

“Then fight! Stop yourself!”

 

“This isn’t me! YOU created that thing!”

 

“You created it,” she corrected me. “This is what all of your pain and misery looks like. This is what your self-loathing and self-abuse looks like.”

 

“I’ll go and get the others,” Lucy told me tensely.

 

“No,” I snapped back straight away, and the dragon roared out right after. “This is my monster. I’ll fight it myself.”

 

“Are you kidding me?! It’ll kill you!”

 

“If the others are here, it’ll kill them too.”

 

“The more people are fighting it, the less likely it is any of us will die!” she asserted, glaring at me defiantly.

 

“Not worth the risk,” I countered. “It doesn’t matter if I die.”

 

“Oh my god!”

She rounded on me now, actually furious.

“Stop hating on yourself for five minutes and realise that people care about you! It matters if you die! I don’t want you to die! Dakota and the others don’t want you to die!”

 

My nostrils flared like the dragon’s.

“They’ve already stopped caring, none of them have tried to reach out to me-”

 

“Because they’re waiting for you to come to your senses and go back to them!” my sister yelled at me. “People care about you! Stop thinking that they shouldn’t and accept it!”

 

… I wasn’t 100% certain that she was right, but it did sound like how the others would wind up treating me. Giving me space, with confidence that I’d come back. I’m not sure what that says of their view of me… that my insistence on leaving them would crumble in a matter of days…

 

All the same, it didn’t feel right to have them be here with me. If they were leaving me to get over myself, then they could leave me to fight my inner dragon.

 

“Go,” I instructed her. “If I can’t defeat this, come back with the others. But please, trust me.”

 

“I really hate you sometimes…” she pouted, relenting more easily than I would’ve expected, hugging me.

 

“Love you too…” I replied, holding her for a moment until she teleported herself away. Now, it was just the dragon, the fusion, and me.

 

I raised my sword. The dragon lifted a hand and smashed through the top of a building, swatting debris towards me. Already alarmed, I managed to teleport up to a nearby rooftop, and began charging the blade of my sword with blue while the huge reptile looked straight towards my new location. I slashed towards it right as it belched out its first plume of flames at me: I zipped across to a roof on the other side of the high-street, and witnessed the beast shaking its head and snarling in pain from the blow I’d manage to deal it.

 

“This is going to take a while,” Harmelody spoke, nearby, apparently having made her way up just as directly as I had. I didn’t look her way, too focused on the dragon, but her tone of voice sounded ripe with anticipation.

 

“Of course you’re enjoying it,” I grunted, while the dragon rose up on its back legs. I relocated further down the street, and watched it smash straight through the place Harmelody and I had been standing a second before.

 

“She and I came together on a mutual desire to see how far you can be pushed,” the fused sisters mentioned behind me. “Can you blame me?”

 

“Thinking about it… is this what happened with Nick, too?” I asked. I knew the strange glow from beneath her skin was familiar, and it had finally struck me. I charged my sword again, letting a larger version of the blade encompass the physical one.

 

“Sort of. The fusion with him was on-the-fly. But my Harmony identity was drawn from her mind. We’re compatible. This fusion is pristine,” she concluded brightly.

 

The dragon smashed through the buildings it had damaged, in an apparent fit of rage, giving me the chance to pump as much as possible into my impending strike. Once it finally looked to me, it roared out, spits of flame escaping its throat as it did. I swung towards it, unleashing every bit of power I’d built up, sending a crest of blue flying forward: when it struck its target, it did little more than force the beast back a couple of steps.

 

“You’ve got to do better than that!” Harmelody sang.

 

With incredible strokes of its wings, my monster lifted itself up into the air, its legs still dangling between the damaged buildings, its eyes locked on me. It drew its head back, then threw it forward, unleashing a torrent of flame that flooded the street. I barely teleported out in time, sending myself to the next street along, hoping to grant myself a little longer to figure out a better plan of action.

 

“Except I’m not sure if you can…”

The fusion whispered tauntingly beside me.

 

I tried to block her out. What could I do? Would physically striking it work better? How could I get close enough?

 

“Because I know you, Alex. You can’t beat this. You can’t overcome your issues. Monsters can’t change what they are.”

 

“… I know…”

 

The sound of those massive wings beating.

 

“You may have been selected by a force of creation, but all you’re capable of is destroying… everything you care about.”

 

“I know.”

 

The dragon flew over the buildings, hovering above us, casting its shadow upon us.

 

“You can make new friends, find a new lover, but it’ll always end the same way…”

 

“I know.”

 

It landed down ahead of us, looming, huffing smoke.

 

“It doesn’t matter how many people you meet. It doesn’t matter how far you travel. You’ll never be able to change.”

 

Suddenly… with those words… an image came to my mind.

 

Dakota, standing in the doorway of her house in Dundalk, and the look on her face as I told her that I love her.

 

I’d travelled miles, and spent every step certain that I wouldn’t say it, that it would be wrong to say it, that she could never really feel the same way.

 

And I…

 

I overcame it.

 

With three words, with Dakota’s beautiful face, heart, soul in front of me, in one moment, I overcame all the doubt and fear and self-loathing. I achieved a victory over myself and it was the brightest moment of my life.

 

“No.”

I said it.

 

And the dragon halted.

 

“You’re wrong.”

I turned to Harmelody.

“You think ‘monsters’ are so different, but we aren’t. Maybe we’re not quite like normal people… but we can change. I can change.”

From nowhere, a feeling of relief – no, elation – was coursing through every inch of my body.

“I can fight this. I can be better than this. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.”

And I smiled.

“I’m not a monster, or a dragon. I can be, but I refuse to let myself be that.”

 

The expression on Harmelody’s face… she was awed. She’d felt my misery and now she could feel my exhilaration.

 

I faced the dragon once again. Its eyes showed unease. It knew, as well as I did, that I was prepared to triumph over it.

 

“I’m gonna slay my dragon,” I declared.

 

It reared up again, roaring out, belligerent.

 

Driven forward by my epiphany, I charged for the beast, letting my sword swell and pulse with blue: it blasted more fire my way, but I sliced through it effortlessly, parting it and running onwards through the opening. Once I was close enough – once it had ceased spewing forth flame – I used Lokonessence to leap up, towards the dragon’s head, and I slashed at it, finally managing to cut through its scales and break the flesh.

 

It reeled back and cried out in pain, while I teleported back down to where I’d been standing. I didn’t give it the chance to recover, rushing towards it again with the intention of slicing its belly, except it lifted itself back into the air with its wings. I skidded to a halt instead, having to recalculate. My window of opportunity was lost: the dragon let out another immense roar, ready to attack again.

 

I braced myself, ready for anything.

 

An immense pink arrow soared overhead, striking the monster square in the chest and knocking it back in the air.

 

“Alex!” I heard Dakota’s voice calling from behind me.

 

When I turned, she, Bao, Zahid, Kitty and Lucy were all rushing over; Kendal teleported in behind them a moment later, from whatever vantage point she’d fired her arrow from.

 

I didn’t know what to say. Between the situation we were in and my newfound resolution, I couldn’t think where to begin.

 

“Like I wasn’t gonna get the cavalry,” Lucy smirked at me. Of course… she’d conceded way too easily.

 

“And you’re not hogging the dragon fight!” Bao added. “Also you look really happy, what’s up?”

 

Ah. Wait.

“That thing’s the physical manifestation of all my pain and self-loathing,” I informed the others. “Wanna help me beat the shit out of it?”

Two birds with one stone.

 

“You just made my year,” Zahid grinned, looking past me, at the dragon. I glanced back to see it on the ground again, a little worse for wear, but approaching steadily.

 

“Let’s go! Operation: Stop the Alex-Dragon!” Kendal bellowed.

 

“I should warn you…” Harmelody spoke up, drawing everybody’s attention. “This time, if you die, there’s no coming back.”

 

“Nobody’s dying today,” Dakota scowled at her. Lucy must have explained Melody and Harmony’s fusion, as nobody seemed too surprised by her. “Let’s go.”

 

Everybody, except for Dakota and me, headed off to face the dragon. Harmelody teleported away, leaving the two of us together.

 

“Alex…”

 

“I’m sorry,” I told her earnestly. I could feel my brow crumpling in resurgent shame again, because as much as I was revelling in my epiphany, it made me recognise just how stupid I’d been and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed in myself.

 

“I’m sorry too…” was what she came back with.

 

“You didn’t do anything…” I reminded her, thrown.

 

“Exactly. You were hurting and I shouldn’t have gotten so worked up… I should’ve helped you…”

And she was looking guilty…

 

“No, listen… I’m the one at fault here… but I mean…”

 

All the same… if it made her feel better…

 

“I forgive-” we both started, then laughed at how in-sync we were.

 

“Let’s go save you,” she smiled sweetly at me, that guilty look dissipating.

 

We turned together, facing the dragon as it dealt with five opponents. Kendal was firing entire clusters of arrows at its chest, Bao and Kitty were dashing uneasily upon its back and dealing out blows, and Zahid and Lucy were attempting to cut into its stomach. Naturally, the monster wasn’t making it easy for them, thrashing and writhing and letting out more jets of flame.

 

I teleported up onto its back, oriented myself so I was facing its scaly neck, and attempted to hack at it with strike after strike from my sword.

 

“I’m glad you’re feeling better, Alex!” Kitty told me as she passed close to me.

 

“Thanks!” I replied, right before the dragon lifted up into the air, rearing back as it did. The three of us struggled to stay aboard, digging our weapons in as best as we could in an effort to give ourselves some grip.

 

“Oh man what the hell?!” Bao yelped out; I glanced down (yes, not back, but down) to see him holding on for dear life, his Lokon blades stabbed into the dragon’s hide at angles to keep himself in place.

 

“It’s flying!” Kitty called out.

 

“I figured that much!” he wailed back at her.

 

Within moments, the dragon adjusted itself, returning to a horizontal plane as it began soaring over town centre, off in some particular direction.

 

“Craaap…!” I shouted, fighting against wind-resistance now instead of gravity. I was fortunate to be at the base of its neck: behind me, Bao and Kitty were battling not only that but the shifting musculature caused by each wing-beat.

 

It would’ve been nice to have at least ridden the dragon’s back to whatever its destination was, but, to no surprise, it proceeded to barrel-roll in the air. And our weapons, stabbed in barely an inch or two, were no match for all of the forces thrust upon us.

 

We fell. Bao, Kitty and I, falling from way up in the sky, down towards the ground at speed. Teleporting was a no-go, with our momentum, and even if I could start flying somehow, like last year, would Bao and Kitty be able to do the same in time?

 

A wide sheet of pink caught me mid-fall – the same seemed to happen with my friends – and then we found ourselves in hot pursuit of the dragon on what I could only call Lokon-generated magic carpets.

 

Bolts of green shot up from far below, piercing the dragon’s wings, forcing it into descent. I could just about make out where we were, now, even with my iffy sense of geography…

 

“It’s heading for Dakota’s!”

Bao and Kitty definitely heard that, and they vanished from their rides. I followed their lead, and teleported myself to the road outside of Dakota’s: my intuition (or reasonable guess) was right, as the two of them were already there.

 

The dragon was a few streets away as it lowered down like an aeroplane coming in to land. It clipped the roofs of houses, scattering bricks and tiles while painfully reaching the ground… at the end of the road.

 

“It’s coming for the house, isn’t it…?” Kitty asked us.

 

“If I had to guess…” I responded. Harmelody teleported in, sat on the curb, watching on eagerly.

 

The others must have figured out the dragon’s destination too, as they joined us seconds later.

 

“Why won’t this thing die?!” Lucy groaned.

 

“We don’t let it reach this spot,” Dakota spoke, as it started prowling down the road.

 

Kendal stepped forward, and released a barrage of arrows towards the monster, with the rest of us springing into action after them. The dragon couldn’t avoid the projectiles, which managed to stab into it like acupuncture needles; then it took another green lance through its shoulder, which spurred forth a blast of flame from the beast’s mouth that heightened from orange to blue, enveloping the entire street. The seven of us had to stop in our tracks to protect ourselves from the fire, and the dragon moved before we did as soon as it ceased.

 

“Kitty, mirror me!” Bao commanded, sprinting up one side of the road; Kitty matched him on the other side.

“Somebody give us some steps!”

 

“On it!” Kendal replied, firing another wave of arrows which unfurled into a series of winding steps hanging in the air. While Bao and Kitty dashed up them, Zahid stormed forwards, swinging out a serrated arc of red which took chunks out of the dragon’s neck. It could barely react before Bao and Kitty lunged at it from opposing sides, enlarging the edges of their weapons and dealing it more deep cuts. Bonds of yellow and purple emerged, wrapping around the beast.

 

And all the while, I was drawing together as much power in the blade of my sword as possible, preparing to deal the final blow as something in my gut told me it was something only I could do.

 

Propelling himself forward with Lokonessence, Zahid sprung onto the dragon’s back, and slammed his axe deep between its wings, toppling it to the ground all of one house away from Dakota’s as it cried out in pain.

 

Dakota shot a beam of green through the dragon: I looked back to see her face grim, like she was treating the monster like the source of all of her woes… which, I suppose, it really was.

 

Exhausted, battered, the dragon collapsed completely, its head crashing into the road, and still it was edging closer to Dakota’s.

 

I strode over, my blade glowing more furiously than it ever had. I knew this was symbolic more than anything – that doing this wouldn’t destroy all of the dark thoughts inside my head – but that was a battle that I could win, just like this one… with my friends, just like this one.

 

The dragon opened its mouth weakly, fire brewing within the depths of its throat. I raised my sword, and cut its head from its neck: the fire died along with the beast, and steadily, the entire huge body smudged its way out of existence.

 

I dropped my sword, and uneasily sat on the floor, relieved beyond words.

 

And I laughed.

 

I laughed and laughed despite myself, and first Dakota, then the others, joined me. I don’t know quite what it was, but we laughed together.

 

“Incredible…”

Harmelody was standing, now, face alight. She applauded, sincerely. I feel that came more from Harmony than Melody.

“You’re the best… the absolute best… she really- I really do love you all…”

 

“Yeah, yeah, we’re hot stuff,” Lucy spoke mock-bashfully.

 

“That feeling…”

She looked to me.

“That was greater than all of the pain and misery.”

 

“Good,” I smiled lightly. “So how about, instead of painting the world with madness, you try painting it with hope?”

 

She smiled back at me.

“Perhaps… I think it’s time our games ended.”

She addressed all seven of us now.

“You’ve all done more than I ever anticipated, and even though I have a billion more ideas, she’s going- I’m going to let you be now. You win, forevermore.”

 

“Huh?” Kendal questioned. “That’s it? Just… like that? Really?”

 

“Fuck off…” Zahid sighed at the fusion, somewhere between amusement and disbelief.

 

“I’m not leaving your heads,” she elaborated with a wink, “that bond can’t be undone now… and you have full permission to use me and the weapons whenever you need. But it’s about time our games ended. I’m so proud of all of you…”

And suddenly, her face switched to fear.

“No… wait… you can’t…”

 

She clutched her head, teeth gritted, grunting in pain.

 

“What’s happening…?” Bao asked nobody in particular.

 

“I’m- she’s… leaving me…” the fusion… or more specifically, Melody… hissed. “She’s tearing herself out of her- out of my head-!”

Falling to her knees, her grunts turned to wails.

“You can’t do this! You can’t leave me without her!”

 

None of us knew quite what to do.

 

“Keep back…” Dakota cautioned us, and we all stepped away while rainbow light consumed our nemesis’ transformed body.

 

“Stop it! There has to be- There isn’t another way, sister… No! Don’t take her from me! Please! NO!”

An explosion of rainbow light burst from Melody’s body as she screamed out, and the ensuing shockwave pulsed through us and our surroundings. It lasted for several seconds, until the light finally vanished.

 

Melody – back in her own clothes without a trace of Harmony – had her head reeled back, sat back on her heels, body no longer tense. Steadily, she brought her head forward, still-long (though not multi-coloured now) hair falling over her shoulders, and her confused eyes looked amongst us.

“Wh…”

Her brow furrowed ever-so-slightly.

“Who am I…?”

 

The full extent of Harmony’s final action became deadly clear. The fusion between the twins was so deep that Harmony had torn out Melody’s memories when she pulled herself back out.

 

Dakota went to tend to her, but I put my hand on her shoulder and stepped up instead. Walking over, I crouched down to her.

“You’re Melody Hill,” I told her. “And I’m Alex Matthews.”

 

She mouthed “Melody”, as though testing it, to see how right it felt.

 

I smiled at her, and, tentatively, she smiled back.

 

…

 

“How do I know I can trust you?”

 

It was late in the evening when Dakota asked me that. We were lying on the sofa together, worn out from the events of the day…

 

The seven of us had reasoned that it wouldn’t be right to take Melody to the police like this, and getting her to a hospital wouldn’t be of any use. With the assistance of the phone book and some educated guesswork, we managed to find the Hill residence and return her home. It was an uneasy feeling, presenting to a man and woman their absent criminal daughter with total amnesia… I feel like it’s our responsibility to check in on them and support them. As much as Melody tormented us and caused chaos… well, that version of her was gone.

 

Oh, and all of the damage dealt by the dragon was undone, seemingly by the shockwave that Harmony had unleashed. Not unsurprising, and extremely convenient.

 

With all that seen to, we’d hung out together for the next few hours and everything already felt normal again… like the past few days hadn’t happened. Now Kitty was in her room and the others had gone home, and Dakota had asked me that question out of the blue.

 

“What d’you mean…?” I replied.

 

“I know you’ve had this big realisation and you’re going to try and change, but how do I know you won’t ever… say or do anything that hurts me?”

She was looking at me with sad, thoughtful eyes, and guilt diluted my good mood.

 

“Honestly…? I don’t know,” I told her. “I can’t say I won’t slip up. And it’s not like I suddenly think the world of myself. It’s not going to be easy. But…”

 

She raised an eyebrow.

 

“I love you, so much. And I know you love me too. Everything I feel about you, you feel about me. And as long as I remember that… I think we’ll be okay.”

 

With an impressed giggle, she kissed me.

 

“I’ll make sure to remind you now and then,” she purred, before rising up from the sofa and offering me her hand. “Speaking of… come with me.”

 

I wiggled my eyebrows at her, and took her hand, letting her lead me out of the room, upstairs…

 

… across the landing…?

 

“Wait…” I muttered in confusion, and she laughed, so beautifully.

 

“I knew you thought I was taking you to bed!”

Instead, she brought me up to the loft, over to the CD player, where two chairs awaited us. Sat in front of the player was a case… with The Corrs on it. Breathless, their brand-new single. Released today. Still wrapped.

 

“You haven’t listened to it yet…?” I asked as we settled into the chairs.

 

“I was waiting for you,” she spoke lovingly, while opening up the case and retrieving the disc.

 

I almost asked why, but then… I realised.

 

She pressed play, and she and I began listening to the song for the first time, together.

 

Because that’s what she wanted: to share this experience with me. Maybe it seems silly, just a song… but it meant a lot to her, and she wanted me to share it.

 

That’s what love is. That’s what friendship is. That’s what all of this has been about… The moments we’ve lived together, the things we’ve shared. I’d been so stupid, thinking I didn’t matter to them, or that Dakota could move on from me so easily. The bonds we’d made in these past two years, the time spent together… that meant more than words could ever describe. And it was worth everything.

​

​