Terrifying.

 

That was a word Rose never thought could describe Emma, to her or to any other reasonable person for that matter. Emma, the kind soul who took her in, the adorable kitten she fell in love with all over again every time she heard her voice, felt her touch, or even just thought about her from afar. Emma, the only person in the world who could consistently bring a smile to her face, who listened and understood her struggles and trauma without turning them into daggers, the love of her life, and in that moment her worst fear. 

 

In that moment, just behind her eyes, only one thought emerged, echoing against the walls of her skull, an atomic bomb getting more and more powerful with every bounce.

 

 

 

And to think she had been so excited to see her mere moments before…

 

It had started from almost the moment Emma opened the door to her humble apartment. 

 

The two had been absent from each other's lives for an agonizing two and a half days at this point, and Rose for one was still recovering from her rendezvous with the insipid monotony of public transit, so it's fair to say neither were really in a good place. Of course, none of their struggles could prevent either woman from lighting up like a Christmas tree when they were finally reunited. 

 

Emma immediately went in for a tight hug, and while Rose happily complied at first she was soon forced to step back from the pressure of diamonds and gold against her breasts. Rose was confounded, she hadn’t even noticed the necklace at first as she had been too enraptured by the moment, but that sense of confusion would only grow after she asked where she had gotten it and Emma responded simply:

 

Emma: "Clementine gave it to me!"

 

Rose tilted her head slightly.

 

Rose: "Clementine? As in…?"

 

Emma: "Yes, your mom Clementine!"

 

Suddenly Emma’s facial expression turned, like a vacationer who steps onto their plane and immediately realizes they left the sink on. After a moment, her face contorts again to a look of resignation, before finally returning to the boundless joy it had started with.

 

Emma: "Fuck! Well, this was not how I wanted to share the surprise but I suppose the cat’s out of the bag. Your mom likes me now, she gave me this necklace and a car and implied she’s rooting for us to get married! Our life together can be so much simpler now, no more Juliet and Juliet drama."

 

Under normal circumstances, filled with normal people, the revelation that your parents had gotten over hating your soulmate would be the most joyous of news.  The problem was, Rose knew her mother far too well. Still, she put on a brave face for Emma, and framed her probing for information as mere idle chatter.

 

Rose: "That’s wonderful! What did she say?"

 

Emma: "She said she wanted to offer us a peace offering, that she was done pushing us both away, and even said that she saw herself in me! Our problems with your folks are well and truly over."

 

Rose continued to force a smile.

 

Rose: "That’s wonderful!"

 

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As the night wore on, Rose only got more and more nervous with Emma’s slow, coy efforts to roll back everything she had previously said about the Vaeni family, its fortune, and Rose needing to change her ways. 

 

It started with the cottage, the young couple’s dream home on the edge of town. Tucked away in the forest mountains, the cottage was perfect because it was secluded enough that no-one could bother them, but at the same time was close enough to a local trail to allow easy access to the prosperous little village at the mountains base. It was ideal wine country, a must particularly for Rose, and the farmers market with all its fresh fruits and friendly neighbors would only ever be a short nature walk away. In short it was divine. Though the pair could have bought it and 1000 other sweet hidden gems with the money between the Vaeni’s couch cushions, Emma had insisted earlier that they only take enough money from the pot to fulfill a downpayment, so they could save as much of the 100s of billions as possible for saving the world. Now, as Emma began to nibble on the gourmet sushi she bought with her new $1000 a day allowance Rose was only just hearing about, she started to change her tune.

 

Emma: “I just think we deserve a little more than a plan which makes us wage slaves, that's all! I want us to be able to just stay at home and cuddle whenever we want without having to worry about a pink slip, after all how can we be useless lesbians together if we pile on outside responsibilities?”

 

Rose knew Emma wouldn’t stop there, but still she meekly acquiesced and waited for Emma to build up the confidence to say what she really meant.  

 

Emma: “Also while we’re on the topic of reevaluating things, I just wanted to apologize for being a judgey McJudgeface when you first told me about your true story. Morality is so arbitrary and I had no right to say your family traditions weren’t valid."

 

Rose: "Sweet potato, self-aware, needlessly cruel and sadistic malevolence isn’t moral by definition, you're not the one who has anything to apologize for."

 

Emma: "Sure I just, you know, I don’t want you to feel like you have to change for me…. If anything, I have a lot to learn from how you handle things and-"

 

Emma: “No, fuck, I can’t, we both know what I’m really saying, but the more I beat around the bush the more I feel like I’m lying to you. I don’t wanna lie to you. I want to share the deepest parts of my soul with you, and right now I don’t know what’s happening to me but I do know how I feel. Every second I find myself more and more drawn to the kind of evil you described and somehow I just don't care about the world anymore. Perhaps I was always a narcissist, or perhaps this is just what love is; I don’t know, but what I do know is that I don’t want to share you with the world. I don’t want either of us to need a 9-5 to eat, I don’t want to feel even a modicum of empathy for randos on the street which I could have given to you instead, and I don’t want to save anyone from anything. I don’t want you to stop being a Vaeni, because I think deep down I might be one too.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Emma, seeing Rose’s distress, reached out her hand to hold Rose’s own. As they locked eyes, Rose lost herself in Emma’s toxic brew of love, compassion, narcissism and malice. 

 

The spell would only be broken ever so slightly when Emma’s nerves finally got to her.

 

Emma: “I’m so sorry sweet, I don’t know if I’m handling this conversation the right way, there isn’t exactly a guidebook on how to tell your girlfriend you think you might be evil and I know the back and forth can’t be fun for you but just know that I love you so fucking much and I wouldn’t be telling you all this if I didn’t think that we could get through it together because I love you more then I can put into words and I just want-”

The bomb went off.

 

Unable to contain the high-velocity shame ripping up the tendrils of her mind, Rose grasped for the only way out she could think of.

 

Without ever consciously deciding to, she tackled Emma onto the plush beanbag chair adorning her living room, collapsing the both of them into its soft grip. Once they had both fallen, she paused for just a moment and nodded to ask Emma if she wanted to make love. Emma responded with a deep kiss… and by rolling on top of her. Rose only got a moment of reprieve before the sweet poison of Emma’s therapeutic indoctrination filled her ears. Emma slid her left hand up Rose’s thigh to just outside the opening of her clit, and asked for permission to snuff out the last of her honor, a request which was met only by desperation and need. Emma wouldn’t waste another second. 

 

Rose’s moans were nearly as loud as they were incomprehensible.

 

Emma: "Yes darling, that’s it, surrender to my dexterity, surrender to my voice."

 

Emma: "We were born to rule, born to conquer. There is no need for guilt, not for our kind."

 

Emma: "The world is our oyster, our canvas, our toy chest, our wonderful plaything to squeeze like a lemon and pass like a ball."

 

Emma: "The darkness took us in, cared for us, molded us until we were ready to pull the very strings of destiny. You saved me, guided me, showed me the wonderful world I could only see after you turned off the lights."

 

Emma: "So people won’t understand, when have they ever? Doubtless that many will denounce us, ridicule us, do anything to compensate for the fact that we own them, but they don’t matter. Only we matter, the two of us, our love, our beauty, and our power."

 

Emma: "You saved me from the life of a prole, the drudgery, the debasement, the futile staring up into the sky and wondering when it will be my turn. Well, now it's our turn, now and forever. You saved me by turning off the lights, so just relax into the pleasure and let me return the favor."

 

Emma: "Let me wipe away your humanity, and make you a god."