Chapter 27: Chapter 27

The next morning, Clare and her fellow magical girls arrived at the cathedral. They found it mostly empty, save for scattered worshipers and the bishop engaged in conversation with a young woman near the altar.

She was dressed in an old-fashioned nun’s habit. By her nameplate, she was a longtime inmate and held the title of Mother Superior. When she saw the three adventurers approach, she gave a sour look and quietly excused herself before they arrived. Clare had once heard Pari say that she did not approve of the mage’s adventuring. No doubt she held the rest of the party responsible for it.

“Welcome,” Bell said after the women joined him. “I’m pleased to see that you’ve resolved your recent separation.”

“Thank you,” Sara replied. “We were wondering if Pari is willing to see us today?”

“Yes. She’s with her parents in the western visitor’s center, room three.” He paused uncomfortably. “However, she made it clear to me that she doesn’t wish to talk to anyone about Cassandra’s visit, or her decision to stop adventuring.”

“We understand.”

“Have a good day.”

The three women acknowledged this, and then left the cathedral through a side exit. They proceeded toward the western gate. “We’re not really gonna keep quiet on why we’re here?’ May asked Sara.

“I think we should respect Pari’s wishes...but if we can subtly prompt her to bring up the subject, that would be for the best. Even if we can’t change her mind, I’m sure it would help her to talk about what’s happened.”

“You’re the only person I know who’s devious about being nice,” May joked. Sara gave a rueful smile in response. Clare at least did not see this quality as a negative—in hindsight, both Sara’s kindness and her choice to withhold her political views had made Clare’s epiphany possible.

The group eventually arrived at their destination. Sara knocked on the door, and Pari soon opened it and greeted them. “Hi! I’m so glad to see you.” To Clare’s initial surprise, the goblin player seemed genuinely relieved by their visit. But then she recalled that Pari had characterized her parents as overbearing—that was something she could relate to.

After Sara and May returned the greeting and Clare nodded, they all received permission through the HUD to enter and proceeded inside. Pari made introductions all around between her parents and the magical girls. Pari’s parents were using hunter accounts at zero XP—presumably, they had had an escort to make the journey to Felorius in a safe and timely manner. They were a handsome middle-aged couple dressed in fine, modern clothing.

Pari had purchased some tea and cake, which was laid out on a table surrounded by comfortable chairs. Everyone settled in, and small talk focused on events in the real world ensued. Clare was bored by all of it, especially the vagaries of the presidential primaries—none of the candidates who had a realistic chance of being nominated were against Fantasy Justice. That was the only issue that mattered to her anymore.

As an anarchist, Sara was probably also disinterested in the topic, but she showed no sign of it. She was perfectly charming and politically inoffensive, despite Pari’s parents remaining cold to her. May chimed in with a comment now and again, but Clare remained silent unless addressed—she did not want to screw this up somehow. The only relevant information Clare gleaned was that Pari’s father was an executive at Superior Medical Solutions.

After a time, Pari’s father finally gave voice to the tension in the room. “This has been interesting I’m sure, but my wife and I would prefer that our limited time with our daughter not to be spent with outsiders.” May looked frustrated, but held her tongue.

“Dad!” Pari cried in embarrassment. “You promised to be polite.”

“I’ve been polite, and patient—to a greater extent than three inmates who put my daughter’s life in danger deserve.”

“I’m sorry,” Sara replied, starting to rise. “If we’re really upsetting you—”

“Sara, please don’t,” Pari interrupted. “You shouldn’t have to leave like this.” Sara was seated once more.

“Honestly, Pari, why are you being so difficult?” her mother said. “You don’t have anything in common with these people.”

“Of course I do!”

“That’s it!” the executive cried angrily. “I absolutely forbid you from contact with any inmates outside the Church. I’ve read up on all three of these criminals. They’re all clearly guilty. And from families of no account.”

“Five years ago you worked at a supermarket,” Pari pointed out in frustration.

“I was assistant store manager,” he said defensively. “But I’m not anymore. I’m in a position of importance and wealth—I could make life difficult for the families of those who’ve influenced my daughter to be so reckless.”

Clare scoffed. “Don’t do me any favors.”

“Me either,” May said with a sour expression. Clare had already suspected that the demon player had no one supportive on the outside—she would have said something by now.

Sara however looked genuinely shaken by the threat. Seeing anyone upset her that much infuriated Clare.

But it was the party’s former mage who stood and unleashed her emotions on her parents. “Don’t even think of harassing Sara’s family, or you’re both dead to me!” she shouted. The healer looked to her gratefully. Pari then focused on her father. “I’ll speak to whomever I want. You have some nerve, making self-important threats. You’d still be ‘no account’ yourself if you hadn’t gotten a job from the woman who framed me!”

“Pari, don’t say that!” her mother said nervously.

“It’s ludicrous,” her father agreed.

“Mr. Tehrani, who do you believe killed your relative then?” Sara asked.

“Obviously it was some third party who framed my daughter. Maybe anarchists,” he said pointedly. Clare was again incensed at the insult toward Sara. With a significant glance from May, she calmed herself—it seemed they were both content to let the healer handle the conversation for now.

“Dad, that’s enough!” Pari shouted tearfully. “These are my friends.”

“What happened to the good girl who listened to my advice about what company to keep?” Pari’s father asked. Clare had limited experience with competent parenting—but even she recognized this as a poor thing to say to a teenage daughter.

“She took a death sentence to escape her abuser—WHO HER PARENTS SIDED WITH!” Pari screamed accusingly.

Her parents were cowed into silence. May rose to stand beside the mage and placed a comforting hand on her arm. “It’s okay,” she said soothingly.

Sobbing, Pari turned and buried her face on May’s shoulder. “No one believes me,” she whispered.

“I believe you.”

Pari looked up at her in surprise. “But you don’t even know what happened.”

“I don’t need to,” May said confidently. “I know you.”

The mage could not speak, but nodded gratefully. Sara stood. “I’m certain you’d never accuse anyone of a crime unless you had a good reason.”

Since it seemed she ought to, Clare also stood. “Your father has an obvious conflict of interest—who wouldn’t be reluctant to accuse their employer of murder?” The tank briefly glanced in Sara’s direction, and was relieved to see a look of approval.

“Thanks,” Pari said softly to them. She turned to her parents. “I hate to say it, but I can’t take this any more. You’ve never respected me. When I started dating Sandra, you didn’t approve. And when you changed your mind about her, it wasn’t because of anything I said—it was only her gifts and superficial charm.

“When I broke up with her, you didn’t believe me about all her emotional abuse. When I told you I wanted to be a nun, you said it was just me giving up on life!”

“But we support you becoming a nun now,” Pari’s mother said hesitantly.

“Only because you think it’s the best I can do in here—it’s what will embarrass you the least.” At least her mother had the decency to look ashamed at the accusation. “And when I told you Sandra framed me you both dismissed it out of hand—she’s literally the only person on the planet with both motive and opportunity, and you can’t see past your bank account.

“I’ve never stood up for myself, but I’m finally going to now. If you want to be part of my life any longer, you’ll stop endlessly second-guessing my every choice. And you’ll never mention any opinions about Sandra’s supposed innocence again!”

Clare once more found herself relating to Pari—though for her part, she had turned rebellious against her adoptive parents almost immediately. And it was helpful to have Sara’s theory supported. Though the romance angle was a surprise.

Pari’s father was a long time in answering. “It seems we don’t have any choice but to do as you say. Does this mean you’ve decided to ‘adventure’ again?”

“No,” Pari said despondently. “I can’t...”

“It’s that you can’t—not that you don’t want to?” May asked softly.

“You don’t have to talk about it,” Sara added. “But we’re here for you.”

“I shouldn’t...” At expectant looks from Sara and May, Pari became uncomfortable. “I’d be putting you all in danger—please just leave it,” she whispered.

“So it wasn’t you Sandra threatened,” May realized. “It was us.”

Pari sighed. “I guess I’m lousy at keeping secrets. You basically know everything else anyway.

“Sandra’s put out a ten billion gold reward to anyone who captures me and brings me to her castle. Whoever stands in the way of what she wants is going to die, I just know it. So it’s impossible for me to stay in the party—I’d be putting all of you in danger.

“I thought it would be safer if I just said I wanted to focus on my vows. Because if you knew the truth, you’d probably try to change my mind. I guess that was a stupid plan.”

“It’s completely understandable,” Sara said. “But I’m afraid it wouldn’t have worked regardless—John would have found out about the bounty and told us sooner or later.”

“I didn’t even think of that,” Pari said in embarrassment. She finally sat down once more, and the rest of the woman did the same. “I caused everyone to worry for nothing.”

“I did the same a couple days ago,” May joked, drawing a slight smile from the mage.

“Neither of your missteps hold a candle to mine,” Clare admitted, ashamed.

“God, you just gotta one-up me at everything, don’t you?” May asked her. This drew a laugh from the party and dissolved a lot of the tension. Pari’s parents remained quiet—perhaps they had grasped that she would not want them to interrupt.

“So, what do we do now?” Pari asked, looking to Sara.

“It’s still your choice whether or not to withdraw from the party. But if you’d consider our opinions first, we’d appreciate it.”

“I’m afraid I know how this will go,” Pari said reluctantly. “But okay.”

“Obviously, things have gotten a lot more dangerous,” May said. “I completely understand if you want out—but I’d still be sorry to see you go. And I think it would hurt you, knowing Cassandra was influencing how you live your life.”

Sara looked to Clare, so she decided to offer her view. “We need two damage to safely run dungeons. Having you in the party may lead to difficulties—but if we had to settle for someone who was mediocre at PvP to replace you, that would be far more dangerous.” Clare paused uncomfortably. It was challenging to address the emotions behind her logic. “And after all we’ve been through together, I would regret not being able to adventure with all three of you.”

Everyone in the party was surprised by her admission—Clare was a little surprised herself. Sara finally spoke. “I agree completely. But I also want to add that there is a way to mitigate the danger—we could go back to purely PvP training. At least until we’re reasonably sure that we’re ready to face all the hunters who may come after us due to the bounty.”

“Won’t that reduce our likelihood of being ready for Invasion Day?” Clare asked. “And possibly ruin the momentum of our show?”

“Yes,” Sara admitted. “Up until now, our focus has been on being ready for Invasion Day. But I think that with this additional danger, we need to change our philosophy. The odds are very low that the battle will be decided by the presence or absence of the Magical Girls. And we’d have plenty of opportunity to fight in subsequent years—assuming we survive that long.”

“Do we get a say?” Pari’s father asked hesitantly.

“You’ve already made your opinion on adventuring clear,” the mage told him.

“Yes, but...”

“It’s fine, Dad,” she said with an exhausted sigh.

“Maybe we haven’t been perfect parents. But you’re our little girl, and we don’t want to see you in danger.” He looked to Sara. “Can you guarantee her safety?”

“Absolutely not. All four of us could end up dead the very next time we step outside the safe zone. That’s been true of this from the beginning.” She looked to Pari. “I know you already made this decision once before—but our situation has gotten worse. It’s worth reconsidering carefully. And please, don’t let your frustration over the argument with your parents cloud your judgment.”

Pari gave a sad laugh. “This is why I was afraid to tell all of you about what happened—I just knew you’d wear me down until I was ready to put you into danger. I don’t know if I’ll be able to forgive myself, if anything happened to you guys because of this. But I still want to do all I can to help the Church and the other inmates. I’m back in.”

May suddenly shifted out of her seat and onto the edge of Pari’s to give her a fierce hug. “Welcome back!”

Pari blushed at the attention, while Sara looked thrilled at the hug. Clare realized that the Magical Girls’ fans were not the only ones shipping “Pabel.” Truth be told, the tank also found them a cute couple. But she disliked the idea of Sara being alone.

May belatedly noticed both Pari’s blushing and her parents’ withering stares. “I might have gotten over-enthusiastic for a second there,” she admitted before returning to her own seat.

There was a brief pause, at the end of which Pari was added to the party once more. “I’m so glad we’re all together again,” Sara said. “Hopefully, the rest of our troubles will only stem from the whole ‘death game’ issue.” The party was used to gallows humor by this point and responded positively, but once more Pari’s parents were upset. “Sorry—it’s just that if I took the situation seriously all the time, I don’t think I could cope.”

Pari rose. “I think we should get going. We can buy our rare speed gems with our quest gold, and then get some practice in.” After the rest of the party responded in the affirmative, she looked to her parents. “I’ll come back tonight, if you want to stay. I know today’s been the worst strain on our family since I was arrested, but maybe things will be better between us from now on.”

The pair nodded miserably. They were obviously displeased by the shift in the balance of power, but they seemed resigned to it.

“Take care,” Pari said to them.

“Nice meeting you,” May added, not quite keeping the sarcasm out of her voice.

“I’m sorry we’ve caused you so much worry,” Sara added, though she was sincere.

The party left the building and started back toward the city. “You were amazing in there,” May told Pari.

“I didn’t know I had it in me,” she admitted. “...I was thinking, you guys ought to know the rest about Sandra.”

“If you’re sure that you’re comfortable,” Sara said.

“Actually, it’s going to be difficult. But I don’t think I realized until today how desperate I was to talk about her with someone supportive.

“Basically, we met when I was fourteen at an extended family reunion. She’s my second cousin, which I know sounds a little weird with her eventually becoming my girlfriend.”

“It’s not as if you grew up together,” Clare pointed out.

Pari nodded. “At first we were just close friends. Though looking back, I think she was always grooming me for a relationship.”

“That’s creepy,” May noted.

“I realize that now. ...Back then I was pretty lonely—it was always tough for me, being comfortable with people. But Sandra had this charisma that put me at ease. If you don’t know about who she really is, she can make you like her just like that.

“The thing about her is, she’s obsessive in pursuing whatever gives her pleasure. And she took a special interest in me, because I was so passive and malleable. Control is what she likes best.

“After I knew her a couple years, she revealed her romantic interest and we started dating. Neither of our parents approved, but that just made it more exciting. Everything was wonderful at first—she was attentive and sweet. Every luxury I wanted was mine.

“There were warning signs I didn’t pay attention to in hindsight. She began coaching me on how to act, and choosing what I should wear. She decided where I should go to college, and that I should work for her. And besides all that, God help any servant or waiter who made a mistake around her.

“I blissfully ignored all this,” Pari said bitterly. “The truth is, I was afraid to make my own decisions. I actually welcomed a relationship where I was completely subordinate. But after we got engaged...she got more and more impatient with me not living up to her exacting desires. She was never physically abusive, except for grabbing me a little too tightly if she was angry. But emotionally... She knew just how to cut me down, and have me begging for her forgiveness afterward. And the pressure for sex got uncomfortable. I started to feel afraid of her all the time.

“When I finally learned of her history with Fantasy Justice, that was the beginning of the end. Sandra tried to justify killing inmates, and her failure to tell me about her past. She blamed my ignorance for causing the problem, and told me she’d assumed that I’d already known about her activities in the game. I’ll admit that I should have—she’s well known as a hunter, but I’d consciously avoided learning much about Fantasy because it made me so uncomfortable.

“I started praying on the situation, and when I felt the calling of the Holy Spirit it was such a relief. It wasn’t just about getting away from Sandra—I’d finally found my own passion and direction in life.

“There was some resistance, but Sandra appeared to take the break-up surprisingly well. In hindsight, she finally understood that she’d pushed me too far. She went into damage control mode to win her favorite toy back.

“When that didn’t work, she turned to more drastic measures... She murdered her own father, and framed me perfectly for it. I had potential motive—it appeared from the outside that his resistance to the engagement had helped end it. The forensics tied me to the scene and the murder weapon.

“Superior Medical Solutions administered my hospital, and Sandra had free access to my home because my parents were still on good terms with her. That could have gotten her access to the materials she would have needed for the plan. And the murder happened while my parents were traveling, ensuring that I wouldn’t have an alibi. There was also the security system that mysteriously failed at the time of the crime.”

“It all makes sense to me,” May said.

“I’m sorry you were put through such a nightmare,” Sara added.

“I believe you as well,” Clare stated. “And I’m not just saying that because I owe you for trusting me.”

Pari looked to the rest of the group in relief. “But that’s not all of it. She didn’t frame me out of revenge for breaking up with her. Within two days of my arrest, she showed up with the best team of lawyers money has ever bought. She promised to get me into the best mental hospital in the state—one her company also ran. The perfect place to reprogram me to her specifications.

“But I couldn’t take it. I’d rather die than be under her control again. ...I’d be tempted to let someone else die to avoid it.”

“I know I can’t truly understand what you’ve gone through,” Sara said. “But there’s no shame in feeling that way. That hospital really could have been a fate worse than death for you.”

“So you can see why I took the plea instead.” Pari laughed bitterly. “I’ll bet it never even occurred to her that I might do that. Even if it cost my freedom, I get some small satisfaction out of knowing I ruined her plan.”

“It’s horrible that happened to you,” May said, frustrated. “I only wish there was some way we could get that bitch some payback from in here.”

Pari came to a halt, suddenly fearful. Everyone stopped to look to her. “Please, it’s too dangerous to talk about her like that. If it ends up on our show and she sees it... There’s a difference, between being an obstacle in her way and actually drawing her wrath. You never want the latter.

“May, I know you’d normally never be afraid of anyone. But she’s the Dread Queen, and you’re just an adventurer. And in the real world, she’s one of the richest people on the planet...and you’re a defenseless brain sitting in a jar.

“Be afraid of her.” Pari said this was a finality that even brought Clare a chill.

“I can’t argue with that,” May said reluctantly. “I don’t have to insult her to fight against her.”

“It’s for the best,” Pari assured her.

They walked in silence for a time before Sara spoke. “Thank you for trusting all of us enough to share that.”

“I guess I had to get sentenced to prison to finally make some real friends,” Pari said lightly. “Oh, I forgot to mention—I liked your idea of going back to PvP training.”

“I agree,” Clare stated.

“It’s gonna be tedious as fuck,” May said. “But we’re not ready to fight the best hunters in the game yet.”

Sara nodded. “After the last few days, I’ll almost welcome the boredom.” She looked up slightly. “If any of our fans see this—I’m afraid you’ll have get your entertainment somewhere else for a while.”

“Maybe they could just change the name of our show to ‘Lesbians Riding Trolleys,’” May teased. Even Clare had to laugh at that.