V.I.R.A.L

A lone girl sat curled up under a tree, coughing. She was weakly unable to move or feel much of anything. Staring out into the distance, her head hung low with a miserable look as a figure approached her. Kneeling down, the girl didn't have the energy to look as the figure spoke. "What's your name?"

"J… Jehovah." She meekly spoke, coughing on the last breath shivering.

"Jehovah." The figure smiled, kneeling down slowly lifting her head making eye contact. "My name is Stella. Where are your parents?"

Jehovah's hand slowly rose, shaking pointing to the blazing village. Stella turned, confirming her suspicions. "Bad men attacked. They took my mum…. Papa didn't come back."

"That's how it is. You poor child denied of everything you had. Denied of a future, one you rightfully deserved." Stella muttered, turning away. "You can rest easy little Jehovah. The bad men are gone. I took care of them."

"Oh…. Those poor things." She whispered, throwing off Stella. "How sad."

"Excuse me? They killed your family. Burned down your village. Why are you feeling sorry for them?"

"They were like us. Struggling for food. If they were a bit luckier, they might have gotten by. If they had food more than enough, they wouldn't have to attack our village. None of them had to die. That's so sad."

"Yes. I suppose that's one way of looking at it. Tell me, how did you manage to get here with your, well condition? That must have been a tough dilemma."

"Papa told me he would come to find me at this tree. I had to get here no matter what. After all, Papa might not find me if I'm anywhere else."

Stella noticed the broken wheelchair down the hill lodged into the river. She gets staring, holding her hand out as a tiny purple bud emerged. "You poor thing so caught up in your denial you cannot see the truth. That doesn't matter anymore though, I can deny the life your about to lose. You will live out your life just as planned Jehovah, as my Denial."

Jehovah took the bud, staring at it with a healthy smile. "So pretty."

The bud ignited into a flurry of lights blinding the area as Stella watched with conflicted scorn. "Is this the right thing to do? Dooming this girl to the life ahead…. Or should I have left her to die? None of that matters anymore, I suppose. Welcome to the family Denial. Come on, let's go home."

A dark cloak appeared around Jehovah, covering her body as she floated into the air, stunned. Looking down, she gave a troubled look wiping her eyes. "Yes, big sis Stella." Taken by the hand, Jehovah was lead away from the destruction as she looked back, whispering. "Just wait a little longer Papa, I'll be back soon."

****

"What are we going to do about Henry? Surely you don't trust him to play nice and let us simply take the Stage of Grief." Riley whispered to the others as Henry stood idly by, not bothered by the ordeal.

"He said he had no interest in the Stages of Grief. We all agreed Emil would be the one to harness the power." Zinnia replied, not seeing the issue.

"You're so naïve, girl," Jinx grumbled. "This is Eyes Over Reality we're talking about; this isn't exactly something out of his pay grade to try and pull."

"Then do we have some kind of plan to prevent this? We can't fight Denial while also worried what shit Henry is going to pull out of a virtual hat." Emil grumbled, keeping an eye on Henry.

Florence looking just as worried, nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him. I help anyway in a fight like this, but I know Henry. If he tries to pull any illusion on us, I'll sense it. I'll do my best to make sure he doesn't try any funny business."

"You're best…. Great." Riley sighed. "I feel so much better."

"We can't get distracted by such trivial matters." Zinnia ordered. "If it comes down to it, any of us can take the Stage. It doesn't matter who. Once we take it from her, we can decide who keeps it after. Once we take her down, we'll make sure Henry has no chance of tricking us. Riley, you'll take him down once the victory is in the bag."

"Gladly."

"Good. Now we all know the plan. First, we take down Denial, then we push the invaders back and find the others. We can do this."

****

"This is no fair! You aren't playing fair! Whatever, bring it. I'll pluck the heroic nature from your eyes as I deny your right to live!"

Wasting no time, Zinnia and Emil rushed in, running around Denial catching her attention. Thrusting her arms out, shadowy hands ripped from her cloak, striking the two heroes before they could attack, only for that to be another set of fake copies. Before her eyes, a dozen more Zinnia and Emil appeared, leaving Denial out of options and not enough time to figure out who the real one was. Striking as many as possible, she was out of luck with each vanishing before her; the real Zinnia jolted past Denial with volts of electricity shocking her. Turning to attack, Zinnia Emil blasted past, throwing two origamis made up of small explosives. Crawling into her blanket, she could withstand the explosions but not before Riley brought Denial down to the ground crushing her under the sheer force. Crunching her fists, she threw Denial across the street, crashing into a set of buildings.

While this was happening, Florence kept a close eye on her brother; the two had sat away from the fight a portion out, so Denial couldn't find them. He stared at the floor, twirling his finger around, keeping total concentration on the battle ahead. "Dear sister, did I ever tell you what mother's last words were to me when she died that evening?" Florence kept her cool, not replying, just staring at Henry with a stern look. "Well, did I?"

"No. You left not long after."

"Oh, that's good. I suppose there's never been a better time to say this than now. After I set the house on fire and locked her into the bathroom with no escape, I spoke to her. Through my illusion, of course. Do you know what she did? She apologised." Henry snorted, holding back his laughs but failing all the same. "She apologised for being a bad mother. Isn't that shit hilarious?!"

"You bastard!" Florence screamed, lunging at Henry only to pass right through him, falling to the floor. Staring at the ground, her eyes widened in fear. "That's impossible. There's no way you cast an illusion. I would have felt it by then!"

"Oh, but you see, Florence, I was already well aware you could sense my illusions. It's how you were able to survive the fire all those years ago. So I made a few precautions before then. You were never talking to the real Henry. Not once, you never even bothered to check. You haven't changed one bit, you weak, useless girl. And now they will suffer because of it."

"I have to tell the others!" Florence screamed, running out of the building. The moment she did, a blunt object lobbed her in the back of her head, knocking her to the floor.

Henry appeared behind, throwing a metal baseball bat away. "Yes, you should probably do that. Hello Florence, it's been a while."

"Henry…. Don't do this." She whimpered before blacking out.

Kneeling down, Henry kicked Florence once more to make sure the deed was done. Dragging her by her hood, Henry began walking to the battlefield with a smug look. "Come now, dear sister, I wouldn't want you to miss the main act. You've got front row seats; trust me, it's to die for."

****

Denial was launched back, panting, unable to keep up. Struggling up, she began floating low, whispering. "What is this…. How can they keep up with me? This isn't fair…." Denial gagged, feeling a sense of dread as she collapsed to the ground, unable to stand. "No. Papa, please. Help me."

"She doubts her own power! Now's the chance. Do it, Emil!" Zinnia yelled.

Emil raced forward, sliding against the floor, rushing Denial holding her down. Falling into her blanket, Emil lifted her up, finding Denial gone with only the blanket remaining. "What the hell?!"

"Oh, Emil, what's wrong. Don't tell me you weren't paying attention. Typical, you Montagues are all the same."

"There's no way…."

The illusion began to fade. Denial had vanished from Emil's line of sight, leaving everyone in shock. Riley's eyes widened as Henry stood on top of a set of rubble, holding Denial by her face clenching it tightly. Denial began to squirm, trying to escape horrified. Zinnia stepped up, whispering. "Henry…. Henry, what the hell are you doing?!"

"Where's Florence?!" Emil yelled, turning to find her on the floor out cold, bleeding from the head. "No way…."

"Always so fixated on the goal you never saw what was right in front of you. That's exactly what Monty was like too."

"Stop this! We trusted you." Zinnia barked, trembling.

Henry laughed at this, squeezing Denial tighter. "You should have seen this coming, Zinnia. That was your mistake. Constantly denied my goals, looked down on by streamers and heroes like you who were born better than me. Power doesn't care for how much effort you put in. How many people you beat? Those are born with power, and some are not. That's about to change; I've been given an opportunity. I cannot let it slip through my fingers. I deny your futures, all of you, as I claim this power for my own!"

Denial screamed as a bright purple light poured out from her as her stage, a tiny purple flower, was ripped from her chest. The cloak began to fall apart into nothing as Denial's true form was shown. A little girl with no legs and her body malnourished. Her hair was torn and stringy, not looked after matching her whole appearance. Thrown to the side, she fell on her back, slowly crawling back, looking terrified. "No, no…. You can't. I need that. Papa…. Papa, please, where are you?!"

"Someone stop him!" Jinx screeched out of ammo.

Emil began running at Henry as he consumed the flower, stopping for a short moment feeling nothing until his body reacted. Snapping back, he screamed out with a maniac laugh as the energy burst out everywhere. Opening his eyes, they slowly were corrupted into a bright yellow. All around him began to glitch as reality around him was ripping apart. Everyone was blasted back by the sheer force as Henry started to floating holding his face in awe. "This power, it's unlike anything I've ever seen! I feel everything! Reality bends to my will. I'm more powerful than Alton, Vanguard, all of them! I am absolute power; I am Eyes over Your Reality, and your time has come."