It wasn’t long after leaving the tavern that I realized my mistake. It was only a minor oversight, really, and yet at the same time it could very well prove the death of me, for you see…

I had no idea where I was going. Both in terms of where in the world I was supposed to be running off to, and where I even needed to go to get someone with a carriage to take me there. Not to mention where I actually was - I was pretty sure I’d seen that latrine before… though that made no sense, I’d made at least three right turns since the last time I’d seen it….

“I’m getting nowhere,” I grumbled, glaring at the offending restroom that apparently had legs or something considering it kept managing to stumble into my path. “I need to find a guide…”

I scanned the dark streets, looking for any signs of other human company, but there was nothing. Just shuttered windows and closed doors in all directions. 

“I suppose it’s too much to hope someone would walk by at just the right time, huh?” I sighed, shaking my head and walking down the street. If I kept wandering long enough I’d eventually find someone who could give me directions, right?

At least that was the plan, until I felt something clamp around my ankle. I squeaked, pulling back as best I could, only to stumble when the thing that had grabbed me refused to give way. Falling on my ass, I had barely a moment to appreciate the extra cushioning Amelia’s body provided me before the wretched thing that had grabbed me started tugging at me - or rather, using my body to tug itself towards me.

As for the creature itself, I could hardly make out what it was - not that I was focusing on it all that hard in my attempt to escape. All I could see was raggedy locks of hair and tattered cloth and a thin, almost skeletal hand that was reaching towards me, as if to pull the very life from my being. I was about to scream, when-

“Please…”

The girl - because that’s what she was, I suddenly realized, a girl dressed in nothing but rags and covered in what looked to be bits of mud and ash, her body so thin it seemed as if a light breeze might snap her in two… and yet that girl was holding onto my ankle with all the strength she could muster, squeezing out the word ‘please’ again even as she dragged herself forward.

“Please… my big sis…”

“Alright, alright,” I hurried to reassure her. “Just let go of me and sit yourself down, alright? You’re going to hurt yourself dragging yourself against the ground like that.”

“It’s… It’s…” the girl whispered. “I’m… I’m not… but my sister… Please… My big sister…”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic,” I muttered, reaching into my purse. The bag held more than its seemingly small size would theoretically allow, and while I wasn’t actually entirely sure what Amelia was in the habit of carrying around in her purse, I did know that there was one emergency measure she was never without. A vial of red liquid, held within its own little cloth bag.

“Open your mouth.”

“Wha-” the girl began, but I didn’t let her finish, pulling out the cork and practically forcing the bottle’s opening down her throat. I could hear her choking, gagging, some of the red liquid running down her chin before she managed to choke the rest of the bottle’s contents downs.

“Wha… what was that for!?” she demanded, springing to her feet. “I coulda died from that!”

“Much like you could have died from your wounds,” I remarked, eyeing her. I hadn’t exactly gotten a good look at what was wrong with the girl to begin with, but she seemed fine enough now. Strong enough to stand, and gape at me in wonder, anyway. “What? Is there something on my face?”

“You… was that a healing potion!?” the girl demanded. “Like… like in the stories?”

“Potions are hardly a matter of stories,” I scoffed. “Anyone can craft them with the right materials and knowledge.” Not that I had either. Just a potion I happened to know how to use. “Now, why don’t we start from the beginning. You were telling me about your big sister?”

“R-right!” the girl said. “My da! He… he died, in a hunting accident, and some men came, and they said… they said he owed money, so… so they took Big Sis! They took her!”

“Took her?” I asked, furrowing my brow. “As in… as a slave?”

The girl nodded, biting her lip. “I… I can’t save her… but… But surely someone like you must be able to, right? You’re a noble, aren’t you? I heard you’re all capable of powerful magic!”

“Magic I can manage,” I lied, surprised by how smoothly the words came to me. But then, speaking as Amelia had become almost too easy. Even my thought patterns seemed to have shifted a little, my inner and outer dialogue both matching her method of speech seamlessly.

I wondered what that meant - was the original Amelia still, perhaps, inside me? Was her will guiding me? Or was it just the body itself that was having an effect upon me? Or maybe it was neither - maybe I was just slipping into the role required of me, and that’s all there was to it…

I didn’t know. It didn’t matter. Right now, I was more concerned about the little girl in front of me. As… upsetting as her entrance into my life had been, it was clear to me that the girl was in some real trouble. As was her big sister.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem like anything I couldn’t handle.

“Do you know where they took her?” I asked. “Can you show me the way?”

The girl nodded.

“Good. Then lead the way. We’ll consider it a test of your abilities as a guide.”

“...Huh?” the girl asked, tilting her head to the side.

“What? Did you expect me to help you for free?” I demanded. “If I’m going to be saving your sister, then I think the least you can do to repay me would be acting as a guide… assuming you prove up to the task?”

“Of course I’m up to the task!” the little brat declared, pumping a hand on her chest. “Don’t you worry about me! Little Bean is on the case!”

“...Little Bean?” I asked, trying not to laugh. “Is that what they call you?”

“Yeah! So what?” the girl asked. “I’m little, and my name’s Bean. What’s it to you?”

“Nothing,” I remarked, shrugging my shoulders. Honestly, I was just glad the girl seemed calm enough to joke around rather than sobbing uncontrollably about her sister. Now that would have been an uncomfortable disaster… “Which way is it?”

“Down that corner, and through the alley,” the girl told me, grabbing my hand and tugging me forward. “Come on, we’re almost there.”

“Convenient,” I remarked. There wasn’t much time to think on it, though, as the girl was now rushing forward, dragging me along  - past the corner, into the alley, and…

She stopped, so suddenly I almost tumbled into her. I wanted to tell her to watch where she was going, but it was rather hard to scold her when I could see the reason for the sudden cessation of her movements, clear as day.

Namely, the big lug standing at the end of the alleyway, with his arms crossed over his chest and a big smirk on his lips.

“Big boss Tinny…” the girl whispered.

“Big boss?” I asked, discarding the frankly ridiculous sounding name to focus on the more important factor. “Does that mean he’s the one who took your sister?”

“And what if I am?” Tinny asked, in a voice that was… surprisingly high pitched. Honestly, the disconnect between his hulking look and that voice was almost enough to make me laugh - would have been, perhaps, if Amelia’s body wasn’t well conditioned to hide emotion. 

“Well, if you are the one who took her sister, then you’re also the one I have business with, aren’t you?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “How much?”

“…How much for what?” Tinny asked, frowning.

“For her freedom. To remand her to my custody. How much? I’m sure you’ll find that I have plenty.”

The man stared at me for a moment, before letting out a small laugh. “Heh… you hear that, boys? She wants to make a deal with us…”

“We heard her, boss!” called a voice from behind me, causing my head to snap around. A tall, lanky man and a short looking dude with a nose that almost looked like a pig’s snout were standing behind us, knives bared and smirks upon their lips. It was the tall one speaking. “She thinks she’s got… uh… what do you call it…”

“Leverage,” grunted the smaller man beside him.

“Yeah, that’s it! Like we weren’t just going to take everything you had on you, anyway… Bet those clothes of yours will be worth a pretty penny once we strip them off your corpse.”

“Please try not to struggle,” the shorter man added. “You might damage some of the merchandise.”

“You… Do you know who I am?” I asked, as imperiously as I could manage. My heart was beating a mile a minute, but I still stood strong. “I am Lady Amelia Tearbolt, daughter of Duke Tearbolt, and you-”

“Are a bunch of petty insects unworthy of his lordship’s gaze,” the big man said from the front, reminding me of his presence. “Which is exactly why he’ll never find hide nor hair of us when he comes looking for what happened to you. Not that he’ll even be sure of your fate, seeing as how your body will be fed to the pigs. You’ll just be another noble girl who ran away and got lost who knows where, so far as anyone around here’s concerned.”

“That’s…” I turned back towards the man, only to pause a moment later when I felt something sharp press against my neck. 

“Forget it, little princess. Don’t even try to reach for your magic, because I’ll cut you down before you can muster more than a spark.”

“I don’t do sparks,” I growled back. I didn’t resist, though. I wasn’t even sure how to. I didn’t even know how to use Amelia’s magic. “...At least let go of the girl’s sister, won’t you?”

“Her sister?” He smirked. “Sorry, but that was just a lie the girl came up with to lead you here for us. Her sister’s nice and safe - or at least as safe as any of the girls in the local brothel can be.”

“That’s…” No. Bean hadn’t lied. She couldn’t have. Otherwise, Amelia’s powers would have activated. “You’re forcing her to do this, aren’t you?” I demanded. “You threatened her sister so that she’d do what you wanted her to.”

“Believe what you wanna believe in your last few minutes, girl,” the man said, shrugging.

I wanted to say something back. I don’t know what - something witty, I suppose… whatever that might be. 

I didn’t get the chance, though. Not with an inch of steel through my neck. It was all I could do just to stand there, blood dripping from my lips and pouring down my throat, slipping down my cleavage. 

It was only then that I realized it - this whole time… this whole time I’d been in this world of mine, I’d been treating it like… like it was all some big joke. A game.

Oh, I’d taken it seriously enough on the surface, running from my fate… but I’d never put any thought into the actions I’d taken. I didn’t think further than running out the door. I didn’t think of where I was going, or what to do… Somewhere, deep inside me, I’d just sort of figured those things would work out. 

I mean, I was literally the creator of this place, wasn’t I? It’s god… I’d written Bridgette, and Pauline the Heroine, and Jethroo the prince, and even Amelia herself… all had come from me… at least in theory.

I’d never written about the lug in front of me, though. Never wrote a single word about him. And yet that hadn’t stopped him from sliding a steel knife into my throat. It didn’t stop him from looking down at me, as if I was some disgusting bit of scum off the bottom of his shoe…

It hit me, then - really hit me - that I was going to die.

I was going to die.

I was… I was…. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to rage. To reach out and drag everyone into the darkness with me. I could feel something, something near my heart - a warmth, burning, raging to escape. All it needed was for me to take it. Shape it. Give birth to it…

But already the darkness was closing in around me. Already I was starting to fade…

“Well, that’s no fun, is it?” whispered a voice, even as I felt the darkness take me. “You’re not supposed to die. Not yet, anyway… I still haven’t technically fulfilled the entirety of my contract…”

There was a hand on my mouth. A hand, and something in it - something being jammed inside. It was wet, and it was warm, and it made me sputter, but in the end it went down my throat, and I… I…

I could breathe. “I’m… alive?”

“For the moment,” the androgynous figure in front of me declared. “Though I doubt it’ll hold long…”

“What…” I looked around me. Everyone - from the lug who’d stabbed me to the little girl who’d betrayed me - were frozen in place. And I don’t mean from fear - they were literally frozen. And not just them. Everything around us had gone silent. As if the entire world had frozen, except for us.

“What I poured down your throat was a simple stop-measure. It’ll keep your heart beating, keep your body moving, but it won’t repair the damage that’s been done. For that, you’ll need a proper healer.”

“...You can’t mean…”

“The heroine of your little tale?” the demon asked me, smirking. “Yes, I imagine she would be able to heal you… if she had any reason to.”

“Then… then who?” I asked.

The demon shrugged. “That’s for you to figure out, now isn’t it? I’m just here to give you a chance.”

A lie. “No. You said something about a contract. You… you need me alive for some reason, don’t you? Or at least you need this body alive.”

“...Perhaps,” the demon confessed, shrugging nonchalantly. “The fact remains that I don’t have it in me to heal you right now, though. You’ll have to figure it out for yourself.”

Not a lie. I growled. “Then at least take the rest of these assholes down for me!”

“Now what fun would that be?” the man asked, shaking his head. “I could teach you a spell to take care of them yourself, though… For a price.”

“As if I’m dumb enough to willingly enter a trade with you.” Taking advantage of a deal that already existed was one thing, but I wasn’t going to sell my soul to some random devil!

“A shame… Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to think of a way out of this in any case…” The demon shrugged, turning as if to disappear, before pausing. “By the way, that potion’s effect will last an hour. During it, you won’t die even if someone kills you… but once it wears off, you’ll be faced with all that damage at once. I’m afraid if you can’t find a healer… it really will be bye bye.”

“Fuck off,” I growled, spitting blood at the demon. Or at least I tried - the damn globule splattered against some sort of invisible wall before it could even get close.

The demon laughed, and disappeared.

Time resumed.