Chapter Text
What.
“What.”
“A Deal. Make one with me.”
Before Mary could really wrap her mind around that. Around the fact that she had just laid out how terrible a deal was for the one’s making it, that it was worse for a mortal to make a deal with a god, that she was currently in a terrible position and that there was nothing that this god could even offer her that would make her want to endanger herself more that she already was-
The masked bug jumped in before Mary found the breath to scream.
“My King! My King, please-, please-! You do not have to do this! Your plan, your Pure Vessel, it will work- it- “
“It might not.”
It was almost as if he had shot a gun, the way that his words shut up the masked bug.
The Pale King turned from Mary, his cloak still in the puddle of her blood, his attention stopping Lurien in his tracks.
“It might not work. Just like how me making a Deal might not work. But the plan can continue with or without me, and if I can do anything else to stack the odds in our favor, then I will.”
The god’s attention returned to Mary, and she began to huff with suppressed laughter, trying her best to not hurt her ribs more.
“Are you- You cannot be serious?”
The Pale King said nothing, only looking down at her from his knees.
“I- why would you think I would make a deal with you? Look at me! Do I look like I can afford a deal!? That I would ever even- What. What could you even offer me!?”
Mary didn’t give him a moment to answer, shaking the Knight’s foot off her back as she forced her body up and struggled to sit on her ass, legs bent awkwardly.
Mary ignored the pain of her bones grinding in ways that they shouldn’t in order to get on more even footing with the Pale King.
To look this god in the eyes, even if it was only because he had lowered himself before her.
“What. Could you possibly offer me? Riches? Power? A Blessing!?!? I want nothing but my own release from the first f*cking deal I made. The moment that I have the Radiance break the deal, I am going to die! I should have died ages ago, and the moment that the deal breaks, I am going to die and I will be taking her soul with me!”
The Pale King kept up his intense eye contact.
“And how do you plan on forcing her hand?”
Mary froze.
“What is it that you can do? How can you threaten her, hurt her, force her to break your deal? What can you do to her that would make her release the most useful worshiper that she has had since her death?”
Mary grit her teeth, feeling some of them wiggle ominously.
What could she do?
The Radiance was in a dream realm. She had no real physical body, only a spiritual one. She could probably still be hurt but . . .
Mary was human.
She had no wings to chase the Radiance, no ability to- to jump to her or to drag her down.
She couldn’t even reach the god.
All she could do would be yell and scream.
Maybe she could destroy more shrines? Turn bugs against the Radiance?
But f*ck, even saying her name gave her more power, and . . .
The Radiance might be able to argue, that Mary was not fulfilling her side of the deal.
What could happen if Mary stopped spreading the Radiance’s name? Would her soul be forfeit by default?
f*ck.
f*ck. f*ck. f*ck!
“What- what do you even want a deal for? What could I ever offer you!?”
The Pale King stared her down before his hands suddenly glowed and there was a bright shining sword there, floating gently over his palm.
It glittered in the light, orange from Mary and white from the king.
Orange would momentarily pulse over it, the pattern matching Mary’s heartbeat, before the Pale King’s constant low glow would push it back.
It looked like a swirling orange cream-sickle ice-cream bar.
“I want access to your dreams. To the realm that the Radiance hides in. She has closed it to me, because she fears me. If you allow me into your dreams, then I can reach the Radiance. I overpowered her once, I can do so again, even in the seat of her power.”
The Pale King closed his hand and the sword burst into glittering light, falling around them and disappearing.
“I will not be able to kill her, not there. But as you are quite familiar with, there are things worse than death.”
Mary’s hands clenched.
Oh, this god, he knew just how to bait the trap didn’t he?
“As you will be my entrance, she will not be able to remove me from the realm unless she removes you as well.”
Mary could feel her eyes light up, possibly literally as what the Pale King was after became clear to her.
“And I can just keep coming back, and bringing you with me. You’re offering to be my leverage.”
Mary frowned.
This was too good to be true, there had to be a drawback somewhere.
“Couldn’t she just bar me from the realm?”
The Pale King shook his great crowned head.
“No. The realm is the source of her power, to cut you off would be to cut you off from her power, which would- “
Mary snarled, her glee not detracting from the threat of her teeth.
“Which would break the deal.”
yes, yes yes! Freedom was so close.
But-
No.
No rushing.
Rushing was what got her into this mess.
Mary clamped down on her excitement as the Pale King began speaking again.
“You must decide on my price.”
“Your . . . price?”
The Pale King seemed to grow grimmer. “Yes, I am the one coming to you for a deal. If I can rid you of the Radiance, then I will be saving my kingdom. And the price must be equal.”
What? What bullsh*t-
Wait.
Waiiit.
f*ck, she had said that didn’t she?
She had come to the conclusion that she was turned into this because resurrecting a god was worth more than a single human life.
So, he was assuming that he had to pay a price equal to a kingdom.
But . . . did it go both ways?
He was going to be the ‘victim’ in this deal, right? That was what he was implying?
Did he have to pay the same price when he was the victim? Wasn’t that more of an equalizer for her side of the deal?
Like, it’s the victim who gets scammed, and the deal maker who has to equal it.
But she just wants to die, she doesn’t need him to pay for doing her a favor.
. . . but if he’s offering . . .
Mary.
Vicious, damaged, spiteful, Mary . . .
Knew exactly what price a god should pay for a kingdom.
“I want your godhood.”
The Pure Vessel was-
The Pure Vessel-
felt far far away.
The Pure Vessel stood above the infected. Stood above the Pale King who had lowered himself to speak.
The Pure Vessel stood above the meeting of these two beings.
The Pure Vessel stood above a God and a Monster.
The Monster had shaken off the Pure Vessel’s foot, despite the order to keep her pinned not having been lifted. The Pure Vessel’s head was tilted downward, watching the interaction between God and Monster as they discussed making a deal.
The Pure Vessel was- was-
No. No! Not father, not-
The words from the Monster below the Pure Vessel had flowed through it. The meaning to her words had settled in the void, had been placed beside all of the other words that the Pure Vessel had ever heard.
All of the words that were not orders, all of the other words it had not been told to pay attention to. All of the other words that were spoken around the Pure Vessel as if it had no ability to hear.
His soul, his soul, why is he putting his soul at stake!
It had listened to the monster speak of her own deal. Of the price that she now paid.
It listened to the Pale King request a price for himself.
No nonono. it, was supposed to be sacrificed for the kingdom, not him!
It watched, it listened, it did not move as the Monster looked at the Pale King and said.
“I want your godhood.”
no.
The Pure Vessel-
The Pure Vessel-
- no longer felt far away.
It was aware, it was present, it was watching and listening and paralyzed as the Pale King jerked his head back and stared at the Monster below it.
No. No. how could it stop this? How could it STOP THIS?!
“That is your demand? My godhood? You wish to become a god? Take my place in the pantheon of Hallownest?”
The Monster shifted below it, making an odd noise.
“No. f*ck that. As I said, I will be dying after this. I will be taking the Radiance’s soul, and your godhood with me.”
The Pale King’s eyes squinted, “If you will not be- be using it. Then why-?”
The Monster lurches forward, and it is only the Pure Vessel’s own paralyzing- paralyzing panic that keeps it from stomping her to the floor, from keeping her away from the Pale King.
The Monster was only a few inches from the Pale King’s face, her teeth bared and snarling.
“Because I hate gods. I won’t be using it, I just don’t want you to have it.”
The Monster pushed herself even closer and the Pure Vessel felt it’s hand twitch, the ghost of her teeth closing around it’s missing finger as it watched those teeth approach the Pale King’s face.
“Become a mortal, become like all of your citizens. It’s a fair price isn’t it? Your entire kingdom and all the people who live in it, traded for your godhood. You’ll become their equal, live and die with them. Struggle with them.”
The Monster tilted her head, more blood dripping from her mouth as she sneered at the Pale King. So close that some of the orange that dripped from her face landed on the Pale King’s robes, adding more stains to the god on his knees.
“After all, you won’t be much of a god if they’re all dead and infected, right? What’s a god without believers?”
No.
The Pale King’s eyes flicked to the side, looking at Lurien who was close enough to grab him, the closest that he had been to the Monster on the floor, and then up at the Pure Vessel.
The Pale King stared up at it, stared into the black void of its eyes for a moment.
Another.
And then he dropped his eyes to the Monster who had sunk back to lounge below the Pure Vessel, to wallow in her infected blood, smug in the knowledge that her deal was going to be taken, reveling in the victory that she knew was coming.
The Pure Vessel hated her.
The Pure Vessel watched as the Pale King’s wing’s shuddered before clenching tight to his back.
No.
“I accept your terms Deal Maker.”
NO.
The Monster- the Monster laughed! Threw her head back let her cruel mirth echo once more.
Her infected light brightened, casting a sickening glow around her, reflecting off of the blood that surrounded her until it was consumed by the Pure Vessel’s void dark body.
No.
Nononono.
This was- this was not allowed.
The Pure Vessel was created, was conditioned and trained to contain the infection. There was no reason for father to make this- this- deal. There was no reason to waste his godhood, his power, not when the Pure Vessel was here to be- be used.
To be a tool.
A cage.
A sacrifice.
No. no. NO.
The Monster stopped laughing, her body swaying as she placed all of her weight on one hand and raised the other. She thrust the bloody hand toward the Pale King.
“In exchange for me allowing you into my dreams, you will relinquish your godhood to me and become mortal. Take my hand and we’ll seal the deal.”
The Pale King’s legs shuddered once, but then he began reaching toward the tainted, blood soaked, infected hand of the Monster.
The Pure Vessel was-
The Pure Vessel was-
The Pure-!
NO.
Many things happened all at once, the Pure Vessel broke.
It spoke in the way of the void, the single word reaching the minds of all of the bugs in the area, whether walls were in the way or not.
The Pale King froze, his face acquiring a pattern of splattered orange, his eyes staring in horror up at his Pure Vessel that had- that had cried suffering.
Lurien had flinched backwards as the Void word had forced its way into his head, hitting him like a physical blow, making him fall to the floor.
And the Monster screamed, a shattering noise of pain and shock, because the Pure Vessel had used its training to analyze the situation.
It could not kill the monster. It could not harm the Pale King.
But it could stop the deal from being made.
So, it had summoned it’s sword and cut off the Monster’s hand, a gush of blood hitting the Pale King across his face.
The strange multi-fingered appendage fell to the floor with a splat before being swallowed up by the Pure Vessel’s void, stealing away the hand.
The Pale King was frozen on his knee’s staring up at the Pure Vessel, and the Monster was clutching what was left of her arm to her chest.
The Pure Vessel stared down at the both of them, feeling panic rise inside of it.
It had acted without order.
It had spoken.
It- it- had a mind.
It was a FAILURE!
It couldn’t be the cage, it couldn’t contain the infection!
It was a failure, failure, failure!
It couldn’t be the Pure Vessel!
Everything was ruined, it had doomed them all!
It-
“-f*cking bastard c*nt f*cking! You cut my motherf*cking hand off! You damned bastard ass Knight! I’m gonna cut your f*cking dick off after I peel it you- “
It had a mind.
It could still be sacrificed for the good of the kingdom, it could still save the Pale King.
It could make a deal.
Mary had fallen backwards, clutching her new stump to her chest. Trying to protect it while also not touching the new open wound that had replaced her hand.
It hurt, it hurt, but more than that it was- it was shock.
It hurt in such a way that she couldn’t wrap her head around, it was like heat, like ice, a million sensations all at once that all just condensed into a sensation that just informed her that getting your hand chopped off was very very unpleasant.
Mary stared down at her nub, at the f*cking molten orange that gushed from it.
It helped a little that it didn’t look like a regular chopped off limb, not that she had experience with such things, but instead of red, there was orange.
Bright, blinding orange.
It looked like super-heated metal, like molten slag from a forge.
She couldn’t even see the bone with how blinding the hot fresh blood was, the white of bone getting lost in the searing light that now burst from her wrist.
She knew that she was speaking, but it was like she was deaf, nothing but a dull buzz in her ears as her lips moved and she stared in horror at what the Knight had done to her.
Mutilated her.
Crippled her.
The damn Knight had been beating her up since the moment they had seen her, but this was something more than bruises or broken bones.
This couldn’t be fixed.
She was going to die, it didn’t matter what happened to her body as long as she was freed from the deal.
But the Knight had cut off her hand while she was still alive!
Mary grit her teeth so hard she thought one of them might have cracked in half.
She would make the Knight pay for this.
But Mary didn’t get a chance.
There was movement, and suddenly Mary was dragged back, her legs twisting below her as her hair was used as a handle once again.
She was dragged back, back, back, far away from the Pale King, and toward the center of the room.
She was thrown to the ground, her head bouncing on the floor as she landed, and then smashing to the ground with a long-fingered hand around her neck and coving half of her chest.
She was out of breath and half blind from the shock and pain. She moved instinctively, tried to clutch at what kept her pinned, but while her left hand gripped the steel hard but thin wrist of the Knight, her right hand- her right nub- just smacked into it, adding another flare of pain to everything.
Mary was hissing in pain, trying to find the braincells left over from all of her blood loss and brain damage to start cursing when it happened again.
That- yelling.
The ‘voice’ that had proceeded the chopping of her hand by a heart-beat. The voice that sounded like thunder, something overwhelming and dark. The voice that reverberated in her bones and tingled in her nerves.
MAKE. DEAL.
Her eyes finally managed to see, and there, above her was the face of the Knight. The white, nearly featureless face. It was tinted orange by the glow of her blood, with a still wet splatter on their face, and a crack between the horns.
There was no mouth, but the Knight was still screaming down at her.
Mary was pinned by a merciless Knight who was making demands of her, who had proven over and over again to be willing to hurt her, who could apparently not even be controlled by the god that they worshipped.
Who had beat and mutilated her.
Mary spit in their face.
“Go f*ck YOURSELF.”
Mary was raised up and slammed down again, the bones in her ribcage surely shattered by this point, but all of the pain was nothing but white noise anymore, her nerves pushed to and past their limits.
MAKE. DEAL.
There was yelling from the side, the Knight’s head jerking up and away from Mary for a moment. A bright white glow pushing out the orange on their face for a moment as the Pale King did- something.
But then, it was like the Knight melted. The body above her dissolving its form, but not losing any of its strength.
It looked like their entire lower body turned to tentacles and goop, making the Knight drop closer to the ground. The Knight was forced to drop their sword that was still dripping blood from her mutilation. They used their now free hand to prop themselves up over her.
But the rest of the Knight’s body turned into a briar patch of tentacles, rising from the ground and waving wildly in order to become a wall between them and the rest of the room. Black and orange mixing like a slurry on the floor, the bright glow of the infection swirling with the dense lightless black of the void. Mixing but not diluting, like oil and water vigorously shaken.
And with the defenses raised, the Knight turned back to Mary, who had been trying to drag her way out from under the hand, to kick at the Knight with her feet, and once more demanded.
MAKE. DEAL.
Mary’s remaining fingers clawed at the hand that wrapped around her throat and pinned her to the ground. She struggled, her back arching and legs kicking, futility trying to force the Knight off of her, to make them release her from their grip.
Mary barred her teeth at the creature above her, spitting out a rebuttal even as she nearly wrenched her shoulder out of its socket in an attempt to force the hand off of her. “I DIDN’T OFFER IT TO YOU!”
The fingers around her throat tightened, her skin bruising and her bones creaking as the Knight above her firmed its grip.
MAKE. DEAL.
The thick darkness was closing in around the two of them. More and more waving tendrils sprouting from the remains of the Knight’s shadow, growing thicker and thicker until the constant orange glow that had plagued Mary was nearly swallowed up by the choking black.
Soon all that Mary could see was the white face of the Knight, the only thing that was still reflecting the putrid orange of Mary’s blood.
Darkness was dripping from the eyes of the Knight, the ice-cold liquid dropping onto Mary’s face.
The cold burned.
“Tears?! TEARS!? Are you crying! Why are you crying?! I’m the one who should be crying you f*cking bastard-urp!”
The hand around her throat clenched for a moment, cutting off her words and reminding her of the situation that she was in.
At the mercy of a monster.
MAKE. DEAL.
“WHY! Why do you want a deal!? What good would a deal with me do?! I hate you! Any deal you make with me will only spell your death! The only thing you would be able to do for me is suffer! Just let your god make the deal! He wants too! Just let everything be over!”
Mary was dragged across the floor again, dragged farther underneath the Knight, more pressure put on her chest, more cold liquid dribbled over her body, burning her with the cold.
MAKE. DEAL.
“Or what? What can you even do to me!? How much more damage can you do to me! You can’t kill me, you can’t force me! What do you even think you have to offer! You have nothing! You are nothing! You have nothing to offer me!”
Mary snapped her teeth at the Knight above her, hoping that her words had hurt.
She just needed this damn monster to let go of her so she could grab the Pale King’s hand and make a deal that will finally give her a chance at release.
The Knight just lowered their head until the white of their face nearly brushed Mary’s nose.
MAKE. DEAL.
MAKE. DEAL.
The Pale King had ordered the room emptied, but none of the bugs who had been watching had gone far. They had all been loitering outside the door, occasionally catching some of the words that were said loud enough from inside the room.
But when they had ‘heard’ those two words, none of them had been able to contain themselves, and the great doors were pushed open my dozens of hands.
The crowd had watched in horrified awe as they saw that the Pale King had summoned spears as if to attack, but stopped before he could even finish the motion to send them toward the center of the room.
To the pool of blood where the Pure Vessel was pinning the infected creature to the ground.
They watched as the Pure Vessel lost its form, as it grew vines from its body like the White Lady.
The thick black tentacles whipped the air, keeping the Pale King away and shielding the view of the Pure Vessel and the creature from all eyes.
They thrashed in the air, beating the ground with rage, tearing up the tiles of the Pale King’s hall.
The servants, the Knights, the Pale King himself all flinched back from the void that whipped the air and shattered the stone around them.
No one could see beyond the thrashing barrier, but no one could shield themselves from the- the demands of the Void.
MAKE. DEAL.
The air was not thickened with power, not in the ways that these bugs had come to know, not like how the air was charged when the Pale King’s grip on his temper was strained, not choking like suffocation like when the White Lady was driven to thorns.
No, the air was- was missing.
It felt like the Pure Vessel was stealing their breath from them. That with the black rage of the Void, the warmth was being stolen from the room, the light was dying.
The Void was consuming everything that these bugs needed to survive, stealing it away as a punishment for inciting it’s anger.
MAKE. DEAL.
It was like the world was graying out with every snarling twist of the tentacles, until the only colors left were of the orange that still coated the floor, and of the White glow from the Pale King himself.
But from within the tendrils, there was an occasional glimpse of bright light.
The infected creature whose voice had nearly shook the halls before, was now reduced to nothing but a murmur, the sound snared and consumed by the Void that surrounded it, but the light, the light that still radiated from her skin would cut through the twisting mass as they withered in rage.
MAKE. DEAL.
No, they could not hear the infected creature anymore, but all in the hall had an idea of what she said, had an idea at what had driven the Pure Vessel, the Void, to rage.
The creature who had insulted the king in one breath, only to insult her own god with the other.
The creature who had snarled and sneered and hissed at the pure vessel until it had snapped, it’s purpose being abandoned, it’s shape having shattered.
The pure vessel was unrecognizable, it’s body, once still and sleek, a perfect weapon and flawless cage, now roiled and sputtered with emotion and rage.
This Pure Vessel was no longer empty, and while no one could know what exactly the creature had said or done to the Pure Vessel . . .
No one could deny the truth in front of them
That whatever that creature was, that whatever it could do, what power it had.
It was vulgar and vicious enough to antagonize the embodiment of the Void itself into rage.
MAKE. DEAL.
Mary snarled up at the Knight’s face.
Black fluid dripped out of their empty soulless eyes and splattered on her face, but it wasn’t like she was anything but a mess, sure why not add f*cking eye scum to the crusty mess she was.
Mary was pinned, she was stuck under this damned- this damned idiot!
This f*cking fool who thought that their devotion to god would mean something in the long run.
This idiot that was going to doom itself trying to keep the Pale King a god, throw itself on the Radiance’s infected blade.
The Knight was something more than a mortal, what they had turned into just proving that they were something a bit closer to gods than to the common rabble.
But Mary doubted that this power, that they exhibited here in the mortal realm, could do anything in the realm of dreams.
Obviously, someone so devoted to their god would have already done everything in their power to stop the infection, and already failed.
The Knight swiping the deal out from underneath the god would do nothing but . . .
But . . .
But give her power over them.
Finally give her power over this strong, cruel Knight that had been using her like a stress ball since she had gotten her cloak ripped off in that crowd.
Give her a chance to pay them back some of what they had done to her.
Let her get revenge.
“F—Fine! Fine. If you want a deal with me, then I’ll give you one.” Mary felt more of its black tears fall into her mouth, the texture disgusting and the fluid making her tongue go numb with cold. She scrunched her nose and turned her head to spit it out of her mouth.
It splatted into the orange underneath of her, the black and orange swirling like a whirlpool, almost seeming alive.
And fighting.
She wiped her mouth with her hand with a grimace. She was surely just smearing the orange and black around her face.
The Knight didn’t take their hand from her neck, but there was a lightening of pressure. It was no longer pinned her to the ground, but the huge hand stayed around her neck like a cumbersome collar.
Fingers pressing to the nobs of her probably fractured spine, fitting underneath her jaw where the flesh gave way, the thumb hovering over her pulse, where whatever blood that remained inside of her veins kept on pumping to the beat of her heart.
Mary, no longer choking, but far from free, just let her hand fall to the blood beside her head. Let her arm that ended at her wrist fall across her stomach, so she wouldn’t have to compare the two limbs.
“What deal do you want?”
Mary’s voice was in a feeble croak now that she was no longer screaming, but the Knight heard her, and tilted their head.
Same. Deal.
Mary flashed her teeth once more, but before she could snark at the Knight, they continued.
No. More. Deals. After.
Mary’s mouth snapped shut.
Mary stared hard into the Knight’s eyes, “I’ll give you access to my dreams, but I refuse to- “
The hand around her neck flexed, cutting off her words for a moment.
No.
Tighter.
More.
Tighter.
Deals.
Tight!
After.
The hand released its tension, going back to just barely sitting on her skin, letting her lungs inflate once again.
But the Knight didn’t remove it entirely.
Mary coughed, the hand around her throat moving with her as her throat tried to clear itself. As she gasped and choked on her own breath and blood as her throat did it’s best to clear.
f*cking bastard.
The choking barely even phased her anymore. They had cut off her hand. What was a little choking after that?
“Fi-cough- fine. I will give you access to my dreams and won’t make a deal with anyone else as long as you’re alive. That good enough for you!?”
She had been planning to let the Knight throw themselves at the radiance, and then just make a deal with the king after they failed.
Because they were going to fail.
They were going to die.
And once they did, she could just move along with the original plan.
“But you’ll have to pay for that.”
Mary felt herself grin again, grin up at her own personal torturer.
At the bastard that was forcing their way into her hands, putting their head on the chopping block after sharpening the knife of her regard themselves.
And she was going to make the Knight pay for what they had done to her and what they were demanding from her now.
“The Pale King was trading his kingdom for his godhood.”
Mary felt her lips stretch even more.
“Now what do you have to trade for not only your god, but for me not making any more deals?”
The Knight didn’t say anything, didn’t make any movements seeming to just have returned to their former coolness.
But their silence spoke for them.
They wouldn’t be making any offers, giving her any ideas for their payment.
Mary would have to figure out their price.
What did she even want from it?
What could this thing do? What did it have to offer?
What would be worth a kingdom? Be worth stopping her form making a deal for as long as it lived?
The Knight was powerful, was strong and impressive, but they were physically intimidating where she needed a f*cking god. She needed something that could kill a god, she needed the Pale King, not the damned Knight!
This deal was going to be a wash anyway, nothing more than letting s speed bump on her way to freedom. If this Knight wanted to die so badly, who was she to stop them from trying.
But she needed to follow her own rules, and needed to make the Knight pay for the privilege of dying at the hands of the Radiance. Needed to make the price hurt.
Mary’s eyes cut to where the Pale King had been, though she couldn’t see him through the f*cking wall of tentacles.
Mary’s eyes widened, her grin blooming once more.
Well, what’s worse for a believer, than losing their faith?
“I want- want your belief. Your worship.”
The face of the Knight didn’t change, didn’t move, but the wall of thorns around them stalled out. The stilling of such a chaotic thing was more than a good sign that Mary was on the right track for making this deal hurt.
You’ll never worship a god ever again, never give tribute or pray to a higher being. You will not give a god your faith, your worship. If you want to keep the Pale King a god, then you will forsake him and all others.”
Mary felt the drama control her, lifting her last remaining hand to cup what would have been the Knight’s cheek on a human. She practically crooned at the Knight like a lover as she made her demand.
“You think that’s equal, don’t you? To save a god, you must become godless?”
Mary left her hand on the Knight’s face, blood smearing and leaving an orange handprint behind.
The Knight was still and silent for a moment, nothing moving and faint sounds making their way through the barrier of thorns.
But then they ‘spoke’ again.
Yes.
Mary patted the side of their face condescendingly, her grin sharp and mean.
“Well, since that’s taken care of, then there is the matter of paying for me not making another deal with anyone else for as long as you live.”
Okay, this was something that didn’t need a big symbolic price. This was just them making a deal with Mary because they were an asshole, not them making a deal in place of a god.
Which meant she could ask for . . .
“You hurt me, you know? You beat me, broke me, mutilated me, all because your god ordered it so, because you wanted to hurt me.”
Mary scraped her nails across the Knight’s mask, not doing anything but leaving a few trails of orange.
“So, my demand is this, in return for no more deals, you feel what I feel. Share my pain, suffer my suffering. Feel the bones you broke, the bruises you’ve made in my skin. The damage in my throat, the loss of my arm, pay for what you have done to me! Feel what I feel till the moment you die.”
Mary hissed that last word through her teeth, trying to arch upward, to get that much closer to her torturer, to let the Knight know that this was a promise and a threat in one.
That they would soon be in her world of pain.
The Knight leaned back from her, getting away from her snarling. There was less of a pause this time, no deep thinking before the Knight responded.
Yes.
Mary relaxed her back, letting her hand drop and laughing gently at the way that the Knight just so easily agreed, at the way they cast themselves to her mercy.
To her mercy when she had none for them.
Mary held out her free hand, the last she had to the melty creature.
There was humor in there somewhere, the fact that it was her non-dominate hand, the hand that she hadn’t offered to the Pale King, the hand that the Radiance hadn’t taken.
No. That had was gone, chopped off and probably drowning in all of this blood somewhere.
She thrust it at their face, orange blood nearly coating it even as the black ooze flecked it like a spotted patter, the specks gained from its short time on the floor.
“Deal~? Entrance to my dreams for as long as the Radiance’s deal remains unbroken for your never worshiping or praying to a god ever again, you feeling everything I feel in return for me never making a deal for as long as you live.”
Mary knew that she was wearing her spite plainly on her face. She must look the very image of a conniving devil, that despite how own position, despite how she was pinned beneath this vicious monster . . .
She was the one with the power, and anyone could tell that it would be foolish to take her hand.
But despite all of that, her hand was engulfed by a long-fingered hand. Mary had a moment, nothing more than a passing realization to notice-
Were they missing a finger?
Before her hand was squeezed once and a single word resonated throughout her very being.
“DEAL”
And then a feeling like a prison door slamming shut, lock clicking into place, shook through her.
And Mary passed out instantly.
