/ BLEEDING EGO: THE COMPLETE CHRONICLE / The Lovers and the Chariot

The Lovers and the Chariot

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Gabrielle prepares her strings and proceeds to reel down a device down the ventilation shaft, each inch allowing it to explode after as she flicks its trigger.

Gabrielle turn herself into a literal army of tubes and wires that slides down into the throat of the ventilation shaft, each moment she fell the entrance went tighter until she finds herself lost in a maze. She uses her sense of reality to tell where she would need to go next, finally meeting the next area and finding a prisoner she is required to assassinate.

Gabrielle turns her hand into a blade.

"You've come here for vengeance?" asked the woman.

"No," said Gabrielle. "I'm here for a job. To kill you."

The woman smiles. "I am the Lover Major Arcana Prowl. What do you seek from me?"

"Your life."

"Very well."

"You won't fight back?"

"I'm a terrible woman. I kill people... Killed... people... I was supposedly an ordinary woman. What a lie that was. I have a special power. If I love someone, romantically, at least, they die. There was a man... A man I once loved so dearly... He was kind, loving, handsome... I fell for him, and the next day, he was shot twice in the back by debris from a bomb several hundred kilometers away. Another? A plane's door fell on top of his head. And another? He was strangled to death by a loose cable."

"You're not a Prime follower. That means I must detain you instead."

"No. Kill me."

"Why?"

"As long as I live, I yearn. As I yearn, I will love. And those who I love... perish. I must die."

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"No."

"Why not?"

"You seem like a nice lady..."

"If I love everyone in the world... What do you think will happen?"

"That isn't possible."

"Humanity is a beautiful thing, honestly... It may not be romantic, but loving humanity as a thing is quite romantic in a way... What if I decide to treat Humanity with kindness?"

"Don't make me do this... I read your file... I know what you can do. You don't need to make me-..."

"Three words, Gabrielle Azral... Three words..."

"Stop it."

"Do you have any idea what it feels like to kill someone you love?"

She remained silent.

"I love... Every-..."

Gabrielle stabs her in the heart.

The woman smiles, tearily. "Thank you." She dies in Gabrielle's arms.

Gabrielle sighs, cleaning the blood off her hands only for yet another speeding entity to appear.

Gabrielle facepalms, only to face a deadly creature that speeds around. "You her lover?" she asked.

No response.

"Yo. Talk or I make you talk."

Again. No response.

"You're her protector aren't you? Her Chariot. What are you? Her unrequited lover? Her stalker? TALK, DAMN IT!!!"

The creature speeds around and manages to claw her.

She investigates the claw marks before she regenerates. They didn't feel like... scratches of any Halimaw she knew about. No... This is something else.

She was scratched again.

It was a deeper cut. She could hear a low rumbling vibration akin to a horrific panther roar.

It scratched her once more.

She screamed and fell to her knees.

"Hey... Hey..." she said, tired. "You're hurting, aren't you?"

Her entire arm is bitten off and she puts it back on her stub.

"Please... Calm down and... LISTEN!!!"

She gets stabbed,

"I get it... Y'knopw, when I was younger, I liked a boy... A boy who was quite handsome... To prove my loyalty to Prime, I had to dispatch of him... In reality... it broke my heart... I wanted to kill her for it..."

She was scratched again and gets cut in her jugular vein.

"His name was Nathan..." she sobbed.

The creature stops, hearing her whimpers.

"Please..." she sobbed.

The creature stops. It's a Miguel variant, yes, but in reality, it was just a kitten.

Gabrielle sighs, picking her up and cuddling with her. "I won't hurt you... I promise... You're an animal alter... You don't need to die for us..." She shushed the creature, and hugged the creature dearly. The creature was the Chariot card, and was understandably afraid since Gabrielle killed her master. The creature whimpered in fear. "You're going to be okay..." Gabrielle sighed. "You must be the new Chariot member... At least... her lover's replacement... I'll take good care of you... I promise..."