An Aria of Hope

I finished reading Hard Candy a while ago, and I was immensely disappointed. At first it was really good. Then suddenly Marcie turned into a sociopath outta nowhere and the author tried to push a "redemption" arc for Gina without addressing any of the things she did and started doing these character assassinations of various characters. The whole story just fell off a cliff and the characters were nowhere near as nuanced as the author thought they were. I kept pushing through in the hopes that it would go back to the quality from the beginning but the whole thing was just a real crappy way to continue a saga. I wrote an alternate ending for Path to Justice just so David could live, so I have figured I could write my own route for Hard Candy. With blackjack and hookers! In fact, forget the blackjack! This seemed like a good starting point for me to put my own spin, as Marcie's characterisation hadn't taken a nosedive yet, and hopefully do it with the same creative storytelling spirit that Hard Candy started out with.

As we walked back to the cafe, I noticed everything was getting monochrome.

Susan suddenly stopped and began weeping. "Why would you betray me?"

"Betray you?" I asked confused.

Susan turned. Tears rolled down her face. The colour was gone from her and her clothes. "I didn't deserve what you did to me?" Her body turned into dust.

I ran to her. "Susan!!" I burst out crying myself. Then I remember Cutie and Gina in the cafe. I rushed instead to see if they were okay.

Cutie and Gina were still in their seats but they were as monochrome. Cutie had this lifeless look in his eyes. "I hate you." He turned to dust in front of my eyes.

I looked at Gina's face that carried the same lifelessness. "Do you love me?"

"Huh?" I didn't understand where that came from and was still trying to process everything that was happening. I think I said something to her but I don't remember what it was.

Gina sobbed. "I don't believe you." She turned to dust.

Why was this happening to me? I ran all the way to the school. I was **** to find someone. Anyone. But everyone I touched turned into dust. And then the whole school turned into dust around me. Then everything turned to dust. I was alone. I turned round and saw...

Myself.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You. But more complex."

"Complex?"

"Yes, I am the Ultimate Marcie Storm. The universe doesn't need trash like you or your stupid friends." she sneered.

I turned into dust, scattered in the wind.

"Sometimes we need to destroy what we hate to protect what we love."

I awoke in the cafe. Susan was next to me. In front of me were Cutie and Gina.

"Are you okay?" Susan asked with concern.

This can't have been from watching Infinity War. I've had some weird dreams but they were things like Susan being a magical girl who rescues me from monsters or Cutie awakening to his Persona, Ares. Not to mention all those dreams about the Olympian Crisis, the Time Master Crisis and Norse Crisis. And what did that voice mean by "destroy what we hate to protect what we love." Was that some take that to Last Jedi in my dream?

"Are you crying?" Cutie asks.

I wipe my tears. "Everything is fine. I just had a bad dream where everything turned into dust. I have a feeling it was my fault."

"Don't worry, Marcie," Cutie said. "I know you would not allow something like that to happen."

"It's true," Susan added. "You've done whatever you wanted with me, but you chose to be my friend. I will follow you to the end." Susan raised a glass. "To an Aria of Hope."

I assume it was meant to be a toast but her not mentioning just made the situation awkward.

Still, she means well. She's cute. I think I might be in love with Susan Underwood. It would explain all those magical girl dreams.

"An Aria of Hope? How pretentious," Gina scoffed.

I had to agree with Gina. My eyes came back to Susan. "Susan..." Should I pop the question? Is Susan even into girls? "It's nothing."

Susan raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"

"It is getting pretty late," Cutie said. "I think we should get going."

I continued staring at Susan.

"Are you okay?" she asked me.

"Is Marcie a creeper?" Gina asked.

"I'm sorry," I said, checking my watch. "Cutie has a point. It is late."

With that, we got going. I had a good feeling about tomorrow, though I was still unnerved about my dust dream.