The Truth

"Okay folks, welcome back." Skylar is radiant in her gothic lolita dress. "For those of you who're just catching up, we've had a week of betrayal and revelations as our girls came to terms with their demonic natures. But we're putting all of that on the back burner, because Lucifer just confessed his love to Elizabeth Bathory!"

The camera cuts to Lucifer, pans in on him, and lingers on his face for a long time before he gets the clue that he's supposed to say something. "It really seemed like I was expressing my hatred of her, if you play back the tape."

"Oh no.” Skylar waggled her finger. "We all heard what you said about Daytime Elizabeth, oh I just know she'd be blushing if she were here to hear it!"

"I feel like she'd want to know what's going on with the vampire first."

"Yes!" Helen threw her hands up. "Can we please talk about the vampire?"

Skylar was practically ripping her hair out. "For the love of God, am I the only romantic here?"

Helen could only scoff at that. "This game abhors romance, Skylar."

"Not me." The host insisted, she then snapped her fingers, and suddenly there were two Elizabeth's sitting on Ferenc's lap.

"Ah!" cried out the newly appeared Elizabeth, she jumped off the lap, and looked at the pair. "Y-you're me? And Ferenc? W-what's happening?" Daytime Elizabeth.

"I'm only doing this for the drama." Skylar promised the camera, they'll go back in a jiff once we're done with them."

"Ah, little sister." Night time Elizabeth husked, and traced her finger along the pale skin of her lover. "I'm winning us the game, so you can have your heart's desire granted. No need to thank me, it's why I'm here."

The chubby day walker cringed. "Ferenc, what did she do to you?"

"UGGGGH!" Skylar screeched. "Who caaaares, okay Elizabeth, you weren't here, but while you were out, Lucifer confessed his love to you, what do you have to say about that?"

The vampire sighed, he could not meet the gaze of his wife... the good one. This is getting confusing. "You came to me centuries ago my love, and... you turned me. You made me into a monstrosity of the night, then had me locked away in the damndable coffin... I only woke up today... it's been ages trapped in that little box."

"Noooo no no no!" Elizabeth wept and stumbled away from his words. She fell into Lucifer and clutched him for support. "No! No! It can't be, you were lost in the forest..."

"No." Fernec made his voice clear. "You trapped me!"

"I could never." Elizabeth suddenly wheeled back around. "You did this!" She pointed a finger at herself. "You took him from me! You cursed him, denied him God's grace!"

"Yes." Elizabeth smiled at herself, enjoying the pain she caused even herself. "I did, all to protect you."

"Protect me?" Elizabeth growled. "With him gone, the nobles made up all those lies about me, saying I drank the blood of children, and hurt people. They called me a vampire and burried me alive in a wall!"

"Mortal pains." Elizabeth conceded. "Now the throne of hell is within your grasp, and all their wretched souls are for you to ****."

"No! No! No!" Elizabeth fell to her knees and pounded the ground.

"My love!" Ferenc ran to her and wrapped her arms around him. "You mustn't blame yourself!"

"Get off of me!" She wretched herself away, and fell to the ground, her face was red hot. "I don't,I blame her!" She began to pound her own head. "This ghost as haunted me my whole life, and now it's taken you from me too!"

"That's not true." Ferenc inisted. "I'm still here, I still love you."

"You're ruined!" Elizabeth spat. "You attacked innocent people."

"So have you!" Ferenc shot back, a bit unkindly, but you must remember he'd been stuck in a coffin for ages, and had only just awoken. He was not in a safe state of mind, and besides that he hungered and salivated for the beauty he saw within his wife. Both of them.

"I haven't!" Elizabeth hit the snowy ground again. "It's HER!" She cried out. "It's her! It's her! All I've ever tried to do is live a good life, but she's ruined my life, my love, my reputation! She's nothing more than the lies of greedy women-hating nobles! I never hurt anyone! Anyone! But all the world knows me as a monster! I was a good person!"

There was silence after that, shame filled the circle. A rare thing in this show, but this time it wasn't releated to the natural debasements of the show. They all considered her legend, and the things they'd said and thought about her. How cruel history can be, it's not written by the victors, it's written by the vengeful.

"La Dee Da." Night Time Elizabeth eventually sighed. "Who cares if it was all real, do you know how many nobles from hungary the world knows? Precisely one, and it's you. We won. They've all been erased, and the only thing left is their fear. It lives on in you, in your legend. These men got your land, but you? For all eternity until your name passes on the last pair of lips, will know they were scared of you, terrified, they thought you were a monster."

"But it wasn't true." Elizabeth said quietly.

"There is no truth." This time it was Lucifer who spoke up.

"That's true." Skylar smiled. "Human's like to call things true, or false, but it's meaningless. At least from the perspective of someone like me."

"There is such a thing as truth." Olympias spoke up. "Mortals exist in the physical realm, we live in the imperfect and impermanent, the the gods exist in the realm of forms, these are where the truths lay. Beauty, justice, perfection. We can not know them, we can not see them, but they are there."

"If you can't know or see something what does it matter if it's there or not?" Lucifer continued on. "Humans can only see three colors, red, blue yellow, but a mantis shrimp can see sixteen. Would you argue that a mantis shrimp is more enlightened than you, simply because it sees more colors?"

Helen smirked behind her paper bag. "Certainly when it comes to matters of composition."

Elizabeth sniffled, and looked up at Lucifer. "What are you trying to say?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "I... I don't really know. I was just..."

"He was trying to make you feel better." Skylar grinned.

"THANK YOU!" Lucifer shouted, without really meaning it. "All I'm saying is that humans are so wrapped up in what's true or what's not. They're beings of feeling and imagination, and they developed these routines to systematically destroy all the wonder in their lives..." He crossed his legs, and then his arms. "None of you were really like this in real life... but we say you're Cleopatra, and Olympias, and we all tell a story together, why?"

"Horniness." Skylar smiled.

Olympias and Helen looked at eachother, Helen did the coocoo motion around her ear. "It's because Skylar was awed by the accomplishments of History's great women, and she wanted to tell a story with them. And it doesn't matter if it's true, or if it's just a story, because the feeling is real, the feeling." He was biting his lip now. "I'm here telling this story with all of you... because I love you!"

He was suddenly up on his feet.

"We know that!" Skylar rolled her eyes, I've been saying..."

"Shut up!" All the girls yelled.

"I don't believe in truth." Lucifer held his hand to his heart. "So, I don't have to believe in the absoluteness of my own hatred." He looked out to his harem. "I think you're all beautiful! And hideous!" He held hand out to Elizabeth. "You weren't a monster, it just isn't true, and you know that. And if that's not good enough for you, all those men who hurt you are burning in hell, that’s the truth. And being my queen, probably won't help your reputation out much either if that's what you're worried about..."

"You love me." Elizabeth said, smiling up at him. He'd already said it, and that was nice enough for Skylar, vacuous televeision host that she was, but Elizabeth saw deeper than that. In her moment of suffering, he reached out to comfort her, and changed.

He smiled, and shrugged once more, sheepish as a lamb. "Yeah, that's what I've been saying."

Elizabeth Bathory 71vp (+20)

When He’ll Freezes Over +10VP

First! +10VP