Rainclouds sparsely covered the starless sky that night, the city strangely devoid of all nightlife. Amy wandered aimlessly through the empty streets, passing in and out of the scarce pools of light illuminated by the roadside gas lamps. She had been searching the area she prowled a few weeks ago, when she was almost mugged. It had been a fruitless couple of hours, but now that it was dark out, she had a bit more hope for the result she desired. Even resorting to chance, Amy had used a Coin Flip as well, fortunately getting a good result. With that tiny bit of luck, she hoped that her search wouldn't be for nothing, and that she wouldn't have to wait for more nights for what she was looking for.

So, when she heard a familiar voice strolling the area around her old inn, she couldn't help but smile.

"You alright lady?"

Turning around, wearing a Monstrous Visage, Amy walked up threateningly to the familiar mugger and Commanded him, "Listen well, and stay; I know what you are and who you work with."

The man, still as gaunt and scruffy as before, locked up immediately, his limbs straining to keep himself still. All the while, his eyes widened in uncontrollable fright, only left being able to hear the Witch's wishes.

"There was recently a mix-up in your 'gang', no?" Amy asked, something on her face sending shivers down the man's spine. "A change of leadership perhaps? Either way, you will serve me well today. Lead me to the man called Tod. He is your leader, is he not?"

"I- Ugh-" The man struggled to speak, the dissipating Command still strict enough to hinder him.

"Speak," Amy Commanded for the third time, only possible due to her practice and expanded mana pool.

"I will!" He squealed, still frozen still in his spot.

"Good," She grinned. "If you're at all concerned about the safety of your benefactor, then do not worry. I mean him no harm. And, if by any chance you find a way to tip someone off about me on your way to meet him, you'll find me entirely less agreeable than I am now. Understood?"

"Yes," He gulped, finally allowed to step back away from the Witch's face, the previous Command fully dispelled.

"Lead on, then."

* * *

"You can't be serious," Tod spat, glaring at who was sat across from him.

"I am," Harris smiled slightly. "This is what you wanted, was it not?"

"No!" He yelled, rising from his seat. "This is not what I wanted. What I wanted was a bigger stake in the gang, not... whatever this is!"

"But you like it no?" He said, pouring himself another drink, taking from Beatrice's old whiskey supply. They were sitting in her old apartment, lavish and way beyond their station. And the man had the gall to steal from her.

"No, I don't. I was happy with the old arrangement-"

"Were you? You were the one who approached me first, complaining how Mina and Brook always pushed you about."

"That's not what I was talking about! I was fine with Mina and Brook and Beatrice and everyone else! I just... I just wanted a bigger part in it all, not... not the only part," He trailed off as he muttered, a grimace on his face.

"I don't remember you saying that," He mocked, taking a sip from his glass. "In fact, I remember all the times you begged for them to be kicked out, and for you to take over from them."

"I didn't actually mean that!" Tod shouted, "You know I didn't."

"You should have mentioned that earlier," Harris chuckled. "It's far too late now."

"You may have achieved everything you wanted from this, but I certainly haven't! How am I going to manage all parts of the gang on my own?"

"Oh, please, I imagine you'll find a way eventually," Harris shook his head.

"Harris, maybe you aren't getting this through your thick skull, but it's impossible to manage the gang like this. Impossible!"

"Beatrice managed."

"And I'm not Beatrice! And who decided you'd lead it all anyway? Who put you in the same place as her?"

"Myself, of course," He frowned, taking another drink. "I'm the only reason we're even sitting in this room today."

"Are you? Do you know what I hear when you say that?" Tod asked through narrowed eyes. "Beatrice and Brook are gone, Harris. Gone. They've been arrested by fucking Mages; they're never getting out of whatever hole they put them in. Mina has been missing ever since she found out, and, all too conveniently, you are the only one who's calm in this, picking up all the pieces!"

"Are you really suspecting me? Me?" Harris said bewilderedly.

"Yes I am, Harris, and I'm sick of pretending that you aren't suspicious in all of this."

"If you really think that, then I think you should leave, Tod."

"Beatrice would've never asked that of us."

"Because she was weak!" Harris exploded, leaping up from Beatrice's cushioned chair. "She's the entire reason why this has all gone to shit! You might think it's me who's not understanding, but it's you, Tod! You've never understood anything at all! You're the thickest person I've ever met, Tod, and we've both met some bottom of the barrel people. You just can't get it through your head that maybe she is at fault. You always criticise her, berate her, but you were probably the one who most adored her! You cared so much for her that you could never imagine her making an actual, serious mistake like this. Even when she brought on that damned Mage, you didn't actually think for a second that she was wrong, no, you thought that Witch was doing something to her!"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Tod kept silent during all of Harris' insults, yet it was the last part that made his face grow stormy.

"Oh, and suddenly I'm the bad guy for suggesting that Beatrice went wrong somewhere. You were the biggest detractor in her plan in the first place! Deep down, somewhere in that hole you call a brain, you knew that she was making a mistake. You just didn't want to admit it because you're too in love with her to see her flaws! She was like any of us, Tod, just a kid from the streets scrounging together what she could. It was only because she took the initiative that she led us all, not that she was smarter or better or stronger than any of us. And now she's finally paid the price of her incompetence and gotten herself killed."

"...You don't really think that," Tod growled.

"Hah!" Harris laughed, his mouth wide open in shock. "I was just saying things, but you actually did love her, didn't you? Why else would you be this up in arms about this all? You envied all she had, all she worked for, and you can still claim to love her? Ridiculous."

"You..." Tod murmured, scowling as a thought trailed its way through his head. "You did it, didn't you?"

"What?"

"I wondered how she got caught," Tod started, reaching for something behind his back. "That Witch of hers was good, and Beatrice knew enough Mages to know who was talking out their ass and who had the skills to back it all up. She assured me that there was little chance of being caught. And if there's anything I can trust her on, it's that."

"Now you can't be-"

"Someone sold her out, Harris. Someone knew she was at Janice's that day, and only one of us would've known. I wasn't sure before this, but now? With how you've been acting, with what you just said..."

"Tod-"

"You betrayed her, you bastard!" Tod screamed, pulling out his knife.

"Don't be hasty Tod!" Harris tried to calm him down, but Tod easily spotted him reaching for a weapon of his own.

"I'm not being 'hasty' at all, I'm calmer than I've been all day!" He grinned, the look on his face just a bit deranged.

"We both know how these sorts of things end," Harris pleaded, pulling out a knife of his own. "In something like this, it's more likely we both come out of this dead."

"Really? I didn't know!"

"Tod, I swear to god-"

"Quiet, both you," The Witch spoke words of power, appearing out of thin air to stand between the two. And as according to her demands, the pair fell eerily silent. When Harris began to brandish his weapon in her direction, she spoke again, "And drop those damned things, won't you?"

Immediately, Harris' knife cluttered onto the ground, but Tod, oddly enough, resisted for a couple of seconds, his face crunched up in concentration. All the same, his too fell to the ground, but it did cause the Witch to turn her terrifying attention over to him.

"Interesting," She muttered, her eyes glowing purple, strange things wriggling beneath the surface of her skin. "You resisted that. Aspiration perhaps? Well, something to ponder later.

"Now, I imagine you two have a lot to say to me, and each other, but I'm not exactly her for chitchat," She said ominously, her head turning to face Harris, the man already a shivering mess. "Rather, I'm here for you."

"M-M-Me?"

"Yes, you. The one who sold Beatrice out," The Witch confirmed in perverse glee.

"Harris-!" Tod began to shout, taking a step forward.

"Now, now, don't start acting up," The Witch waggled her finger at him, her dead eyes looking straight through him, as if peering into his soul. "I still have some things to find out."

"W-What?" Harris trembled.

"There is no doubt that you told the Mage association about Beatrice's activities and even led them to some of her hideouts," The Witch said, as if every word wasn't horror to Harris' ears, and more fuel to the fire of Tod's rage. "What I'm not entirely sure about is your motive, but I imagine it very greed-oriented if you're already partying in Beatrice's old abode. There is also your relation to the man who headed it all, that Archmage."

"How- How do you know about that? How did you get in!"

"Oh it was quite simple. You should really get better subordinates Tod, they led me to you surprisingly easily. And sneaking past the people on watch was a piece of cake too," The Witch took a step towards Harris, the man almost falling onto his chair in surprise. "I believe I already have his description from Beatrice, but what I'm not sure of is his name."

"Beatrice is alive?" Tod asked before he knew what he was doing, shrinking under the Witch's sudden gaze.

"Yes. I imagine she is well on her way to somewhere safe after I helped her escape. Where... Well, I shouldn't say."

"Thank god," Tod breathed a sigh of relief, deflating slightly.

"I- I'll tell you whatever you want, just- just let me-"

"Oh, yes, you'll speak for me," The Witch said, gliding towards him, her long abyssal cloak trailing along the ground. "Tell me, what was that Archmage's name?"

"Harrison! Harrison Clarke!"

"Oh, like your name, but longer!" The Witch commented, putting a slender finger to the edge of her lips. "Wouldn't that get confusing?"

"I- I don't-"

"No matter. Where did you find him?"

"I- I went through some of the Mage contacts Beatrice had," Harris confessed shamefully. "I found someone in... the association to speak with. They were looking for information about the recent heist and I... they promised that in the ashes-"

"I understand," She smiled meaningfully, placing a pale hand on his shoulder, leading him backwards. "To think that you actually went out of the way, of your own accord, to tell on her and coincidentally found someone searching for what you had; a lead. How sad. And for what? Leadership of the ruins of the gang that was left after their crusade? You fool. You have no idea how those people govern do you? They only gave you that small position of power because they knew it'd be gone before long. And you claim to be the smart one, when you seem just as stupid as anyone else."

"...What?"

"Arrogance, envy, greed," The Witch announced, pushing him more and more towards the edge of the room, near the windowsill. At the corner, standing straight up, lined with silver, was a mirror. "These are the sins for which you committed that crime. For it was a crime, not of any mortal law that the Empire so declares. It was a crime of the self, of your own soul, violating what you found so sacred; your own trust. You have no one to blame your condemnation for but yourself, Harris. So say sweet Harris, speak that which stays heavy on your soul, so that you discover the absolution you desperately seek."

"I- I-" Harris stammered, uncomprehending of the Witch's solemn demands.

"Speak Harris, or may your soul seek forgiveness for all eternity and never receive it."

"I- I don't know what you're talking about! I've never done anything you're saying I did-" He shouted at her, trying to back even further away but finding himself against the glass of the mirror. Shadows seemed to gather around the room, the candles illuminating it seeming to dim. Dark invaded the room like it had always belonged and its harbinger stood amongst it a bright beacon of murk that heralded its arrival. Strange cracks seemed to appear at the edges of Tod's vision as he looked frantically around, fractures that vanished as soon as he turned towards them. On and on Harris babbled, ignorant to all that transpired around him. "-even if I did I'm sorry, okay? I don't know- I- why are you doing this? I don't-"

"May you find peace, Harris, for I won't give it to you so easily."

With that, the Witch pushed and Harris... disappeared. He had sunk into that mirror so easily that Tod didn't believe his eyes at first. But no. That which bashed against the glass of the mirror from inside so desperately was unmistakably Harris. He was trapped. Forever.

"Do not worry," The Witch assured, somehow sneaking up on him and standing right up next to his face. "You do not face such a fate."

"What- What will happen to him?"

"Oh, well..." She trailed off, cocking her head back as if in thought. Then, straightening it, she whispered, "The spell will run out in a few hours, but we'll be long gone by then. For now, he'll remain locked in that mirror."

"...Huh?"

"It's okay to not understand," The Witch touched his cheek, slapping it a few times carefully, as if he was a child. "It's time for you to serve my purpose anyway."

"What- what purpose?" Tod barely managed to ask, his eyes darting to where the knife was on the ground, seeing if he had enough time to grab it if she attacked.

"Well, I imagine you want revenge on the Archmage who orchestrated it all? Or was what I overheard mere posturing from you? About what you thought of Beatrice? How you cared for her?"

"No, no- I do."

"Then you will lead me to these 'Mage contacts' that Harris spoke of. And I will find a way to make them tell me where that damned Archmage is."

Gulping heavily, suppressing his shakes, Tod met the Witch's eyes and said what she wanted to hear, and what he secretly did too. "Y-Yes... I will."

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