SLY SAMANTHA
The towering Queen raised her hand to smash Fred's head, her solid left arm pinning him to the ground, and her face, for the very first time, carried fear. Fred looked small beneath her due to her immense size. The surroundings lay in sheer ruins, and the inhabitants seemed to wander far away from the brutal battle between the entities.
"I will kill you!" Dùdù's voice trembled.
"Do it, Queen Dùdù. I—"
"You faker!" Dùdù finally broke into tears. Her tears were like liquid silver. Her huge eyes bled with the regrets of being despised.
Fred couldn't believe his eyes—the stoic Queen who never yielded to pain, who was totally indifferent to emotions, was crying. She seemed too sophisticated to be in this state. He hadn't known Queen Dùdù could be so humble, and somehow, he began to feel guilty.
"You chose Àsà instead of me. Why have you come to me in the first place!?" Dùdù cried, tears streaming down her smooth cheeks.
Fred's voice trembled. "You said... you can't embrace good - "
"And you believe that? I was ready to bow!" she interrupted him as she made a cut on her dark skin.
Instead of black blood oozing out, Dùdù's injury bled whitish gore. Fred was stunned. Dùdù had changed, and killing her was no longer the solution to ending the chaos.
Fred was wrong... about Samantha, about Queen Dùdù, and about Àsà.
"You have the blade to make my existence void. Go ahead, Fred. It always feels right for one evil thing to be eradicated from the world." Dùdù remained on her knees.
Fred rose with the last strength in him, walked up to her, and lifted her face in his hand. Dùdù's expression said it all... she may be a wrathful and powerful evil coil, but her vulnerability was goodness, love, and peace. Tears still fell from her eyes.
Samantha stood a few feet away, equally exhausted but surprised at what Fred was doing.
"You may go to bow somewhere, Dùdù, but I'm not letting you go," Fred declared, and stabbed himself with the prophecy blade.
"Fred!"