Pieces

 "You're late, OBSESSION," HELPLESSNESS commented.

OBSESSION gave her a level glare but didn't deign to speak.

SIMPLICITY tugged on DESPAIR's sleeve. "I thought maybe this time..."

"You always think 'maybe this time.' It's what you do." DESPAIR ran comforting hands through SIMPLICITY's hair, more to calm herself than to benefit SIMPLICITY.

SIMPLICITY nodded solemnly. She seemed to grow smaller with every step OBSESSION took, as if his presence diminished hers.

"Will we never be rid of this filth?" DIGNITY, at least, knew perversion when he saw it. His lip was curled in aristocratic disdain, brow furrowed, eyes cold.

OBSESSION mirrored the gesture, showing off his yellowing leopard fangs. "I am not beholden to you. Your words fall flat."

"So you say," PRIDE acknowledged. "And yet you're here. Again. You're always here."

OBSESSION pivoted slowly. "Of course I'm here. Where else would I be? The cancer has no incentive to leave the body. You feed me so well." He made an exaggerated gesture of licking his paw. "You know what they say about stray cats. Feed us once and we'll never go away."

SIMPLICITY touched INNOCENCEs skin, running her hand comfortingly down the dragon-creature's spine. "He'll be gone soon." The weak ones curled in the corner together -- DESPAIR comforting SIMPLICITY, SIMPLICITY comforting INNOCENCE, HELPLESSNESS rocking in place, NOSTALGIA trying to disappear.

"Gone? SIMPLICITY, I have never been 'gone.' Not that I'd expect you to understand. I'm a predator; you're prey. You 'go.' I simply wait."

"So why are you here now?" PRIDE, the voice of reason. Unreasonable reason, but he tried. He was the closest they had. Reason wrapped in rage.

"I got tired of waiting, and the prey looked vulnerable." OBSESSION studied his claws, then glanced up at SIMPLICITY and INNOCENCE. Both shivered.

DIGNITY stood. "We have no use for you here. You corrupt. You invade. You degrade. You weaken us all."

"I do."

"Then leave." NOSTALGIA only whispered. That was all NOSTALGIA ever did. Whisper, whine, cry, dream. "Just leave. We're stronger without you."

OBSESSION turned on her, smiling. "You, dollchild, wouldn't even exist without me. You are made of your broken edges. You are the pain that I made for you. I sewed you up very nicely, I think. And PRIDE, you would have been unnecessary if I hadn't been there. Why would she need the backbone if she didn't have the cancer?"

"Everyone needs a spine," said PRIDE.

"A sarcastic, derisive spine, the very model of-- oh, what was his name?"

"Avvie."

"Avvie. Darling Avvie. Gwen's Avvie."

"Irrelevant. She would have needed me either way. Everyone needs a spine."

"Such a shame she doesn't have one. She has you, and you'll suffice in a pinch, but.... really. You do know you're not fooling anyone, right? You know, it's amusing. The closest thing she has to a spine is... well, it's me."

DIGNITY's arm clenched in anger, and PRIDE's hind claws dug into the dirt.

"It's true, though. Protest it if you must. But look at her growth. When has the girl grown the most? Was it when she was strong already, or...?"

"It was when she was broken," DESPAIR said. "When the world spat on her, she stood. Really stood, not that hunching, hiding thing that she does when you're around."

"And when the world stopped spitting, she backed down," OBSESSION finished. "But look. When she obsessed, when she was consumed, she was strong. Her weakness was her strength. Who loves like the desperate? Who gives like the needy? Who heals like the irreparably wounded? I corrupted her, fine, but I also built her. Without my whip and spur, she barely moves. And yes, I lead her to the slaughter every time, but at least I lead her SOMEWHERE. Do you? Do any of you?"

The others were silent.

Then, "I lead her," said NOSTALGIA, stubborn.

"You lead her back. You lead her into her own head, into madness, into a past that she will never reclaim. You yearn for the thing that broke you. You lead her in circles, fixated on the moment when you realized what I had made. No matter what path you take, you go back to where I led her first. You're a consequence of me. Even when you lead her, I lead YOU."

"I lead her," said DIGNITY. "I lend her strength."

"You let her stand. But I make her RUN."

"You make her run away!" INNOCENCE protested.

"At least she's running somewhere."

"You think this is a game. You think this is just a silly little tea party, and you want to be the hostess. Is that it?" PRIDE flattened his ears against his head, nostrils flared.

LUST slipped out of the shadows, languid grace. "I lead her."

OBSESSION offered her a toothy grin. "You do. You lead her into temptation. I approve."

"Of course you do. You, of all people, can't resist temptation," she purred.

"Ah, but you only lead her one way. You only lead her deeper, deeper. I can push her in any direction. I can set my sights on any goal and ride her until she runs there."

"You subjugate her," DIGNITY corrected.

"I do. And it works. What is it that you love to say, PRIDE? If it was weak enough... Oh, you know the one."

"If it was weak enough to be broken, it doesn't deserve to be protected," PRIDE repeated dully.

"And if she is weak enough to be ridden?"

"Then you will ride her, as you've proven. You can conquer her at will. What game to that? What pleasure? You've won. Why do you play with the broken doll?"

OBSESSION curled up on the floor, tail swishing. "I've always loved the broken edges."

"Searching for the empty people; the broken edges and the frozen things," THE PUPPETEER intoned from above. The words were habit, not commentary.

DIGNITY stood. "Is THAT what this is about? Your petty little games? Did she find her words because you-- Because of your actions?"

OBSESSION laughed. "Can't find a motivation? Little one, she found her words because she had nothing else. She has always found her words when she had nothing else. It's what she does. And broken edges are drawn to broken edges. Look at her loves. She was broken. He was broken. It's what they do. I didn't have to lead her to the words. I didn't have to lead her to the subject matter. And I don't have to keep her writing."

"But we all want her to write."

"Mm. For now. But if I change my mind..."

"If you change your mind," said DIGNITY, "we will kill you."

"If you could kill me, I would be a thousand times dead by now, petty lordling. Your ambition, your fire, it's.... cute. But I have claws."

"Please. Let her find the words again. Don't take the words from her." NOSTALGIA, the only one bold enough to speak and weak enough to beg.

"She's found them."

"Don't take them from her, then."

"And if the only thing that holds her to the words is my whip? Do you permit me to lead, little rabbit, if I lead her where you wish her to go?"

NOSTALGIA trembled. "Don't take them from her," she repeated.

"If you want her to write, YOU make her. Prove to me that you can lead her. Prove to me that she won't crumble into dust if I turn my back. Because for all that DIGNITY and PRIDE prance around, for all SIMPLICITY dreams and NOSTALGIA yearns and HELPLESSNESS screams, for all INNOCENCE hopes and LUST manipulates, none of you has yet moved to lead her. If I drop the ball, will you catch it? Any of you? Volunteers?"

"I will," said DIGNITY. "I will let her ignite."

"Ah! But she won't burn him. No fuel, no fire. What will you ignite, little lord? Herself? There's pitifully little there, as you well know. Very little left but us."

"I could burn myself."

OBSESSION snorted. "Ridiculous. You're barely strong enough to ignite her when she's drowning in lamp oil. In all seriousness, who would lead her?"

"I would," said HELPLESSNESS.

"You wouldn't!" PRIDE objected. "Better OBSESSION than you."

"Me? Really? You flatter me, PRIDE. Pleased to be better than someone. And yet... to my memory, you haven't attempted to exorcise HELPLESSNESS. I'm more desirable, but less welcome?"

"You're filth. She's just.... weak. Broken."

"Like the rest of you, then. Pity I wasn't a part of that. Oh wait -- I was. I'm the one who broke you."

"I will lead MYSELF," THE PUPPETEER shouted suddenly. She grew, towering over them all like little toys scattered across the ground. She plucked OBSESSION by the flesh on the nape of his neck, like a kitten. "As much as you like to believe otherwise, I hear you. As much as you would like to believe otherwise, I can fight you. And I will. I will not burn him. I will not crawl back to her. I will not drown, I will not burn, I will not crawl, I will not weep, I will WALK ON and all your spurs and whips and beatings cannot force me to run away instead. I have strength, which every last one of you lacks. And because of that sense of justice, I will be my own spine, and I will WALK ON."

And with that, she discarded them with a wave of her hand. She settled back into her chair and lifted her pen. "Words, you're all I have left. When everything else leaves, you wait. You SHINE. Shine now for me, words. I'll eclipse the world if you'll but glimmer. I will make you the brightest. If that requires me to extinguish every other light, I can do that. You should have been my guiding star all along. You should have been my compass. Now you will be."