A Display of Power

The next day at school was not a great day.

All of the injustices being done to your mother would have been enough to put you into a severe funk, but the matter has you so preoccupied that you're making dumb mistakes and compounding the issue. You forgot your folders at home, along with multiple currently-due assignments. You straightened up directly into the open locker above you, leaving a stinging bump on the back of your head. More than once someone said 'Bye' and you responded with 'You, too', which is basically the worst thing ever. And through it all, your phone buzzed on and on to merrily let you know that Beatrix has posted more and more of her baseless slander. The final bell couldn't have rung fast enough. Because you know one thing for sure: if you don't get Beatrix in your sights soon, all of this rage is going to explode onto the first person with the misfortune to look at you cross-eyed.

Almost as if to test that theory, or perhaps to finally prove the existence of Actual Satan, who do you nearly run head-long into upon stomping through the school's field exit? Why your old pal Maximilian Butler, exactly the ray of sunshine to chase away all of your dreary rain clouds. He's clearly been waiting for you, despite the big display of surprise he makes upon seeing you. Fake surprise immediately shifts into fake regret as Max sets about playing for the cheap seats. "Ash! Oh, Ash...really, you can't keep doing this! It's not fair to me, and it's not fair to you either!"

Most of the nearby students going about their business ignore Max's mummery, but a few have begun to glance in your direction. So just punching him square in the throat is probably off the table. "The fuck are you talking about. Get out of my way."

You move to literally sidestep the whole situation, but to your supreme annoyance Max slinks into your path and raises his voice even louder. "I'm sorry Ash, I forgive you but I won't take you back! I know that hurts to hear, but you need to hear it. I know I probably can't get through to you, but you should stop chasing after me and figure out how you're going to apologize to Isabelle instead!"

Oh this motherfucker. You glance towards the small but growing crowd of students who've stuck around to spectate, increasingly furious as they begin to whisper amongst themselves. Are they seriously buying this nonsense? Do they seriously not know what a goddamn snake Max is? Do they--

"Give that shit a rest, Max; you're such a fucking liar and everyone knows it."

That prompts a new frenzy of whispers from the crowd and a cold scowl from Max, the boy staring hard at the ground rather than immediately meeting Quinn's deeply unamused eyes. Eventually, he decides how he wants to play it. "Getting the football team to bully me isn't going to--"

"Enough, Max! It's just, just stop already!"

Max physically balks at that, clearly not expecting to see Colin step out from behind Quinn with a look of anger on his usually smiling face. "Colin? Why are you with him?"

"Why wouldn't I be? Do you mean because of all that awful stuff you texted Quinn pretending to be me?" Colin actually reaches out and jabs a finger into the shoulder of the significantly-taller Max, a gesture that seems to surprise both boys equally. "You pretended to be me to trick Ash, too! That's f-fucking harassment, Max!"

"No, Colin; that's not true!" Max seems to be flailing for a line to cling to, eyes flaring as he seemingly finds one. "Quinn! Ash and Quinn! You know how she gets with jocks; it was them--"

"We're not friends anymore." Colin sticks out his hand, his normally friendly voice flat as he thumps his fingers into Max's chest. "Give me my phone back."

Max stares at Colin in disbelief for a long moment, the look of sweaty desperation on his face fading away to dark resentment. His voice is cold and scornful when he finally responds. "I don't have your fucking phone. Quinn and Ashley are lying to you, you moron. And probably screwing behind your back. You'd better have a damn good apology ready for me when you realize--"

You snap open your phone. "Call Colin."

"Calling Colin"

Everyone goes silent at that, Max still frozen in his stance of moral outrage as his bag begins ringing. It goes on and on, a bead of sweat running down the side of Max's face as you, Quinn, Colin, and the entire crowd stare at him. Eventually, it's more than he can bear. "Um, I can expl-"

Quinn doesn't give him the chance, reaching out to snag Max's bag. He begins to upend it, a mask of pure panic flashing across Max's face as the bag's contents spill to the grass. Down fall several books, Colin's still-ringing phone, and to the shocked delight of the crowd a big honking bra that tumbles out to drape majestically across the pile. Wait, that's your goddamn bra, the bra he stole from your house years ago! He's been carrying it around with him?!

Whatever disgusting answers there might be to the revolting questions you have, you'll have to wait to hear them. Because Max has already bolted away, abandoning both his bag and illicitly obtained goods in a mad dash towards the parking lot. Colin grabs his phone as the crowd begins to disperse, brow knitted as he considers the ill-gotten bra. "Um...why?"

"It's mine. Don't ask. It's definitely gross."

"Oh geez. Do you...?"

"What? Oh God no; who knows what that poor thing has been through. Let's dump it in the trash."

Colin nods in agreement, gingerly trapping the abused undergarment between two of Max's textbooks and carrying it off towards the nearest trashcan. You spare a glance towards Quinn, the quarterback watching Max disappear towards his car with clear regret that he can't chase him down. "Hey. You really came through for me. I really appreciate it, Quinn." The boy gives you a grin at that, sheepishly running a hand through his thick blonde hair. Which makes you notice something. "No nail polish?"

Quinn glances at his hand, then shrugs. "Oh. No, I guess I didn't feel like it today."

Huh. Well even still, he certainly looks confident! You'd go so far as to say manly, which isn't usually among the top adjectives you'd use to describe Quinn. It looks like the rune you marked him with might be doing him some good! Before you can further delve into your friend's newly self-assured state of mind, Colin returns. Looks like he opted to just dump Max's books in the trash, too. Probably the right call.

Now that the adrenaline rush of his confrontation with Max has begun to wear down, though, you don't miss the way that Colin's mouth has begun to quaver. "Ash, I'm so sorry." Aw, Colin. "I should have supported you the first time you cut off Max, instead of waiting until he dragged me into it. I'm terrible."

"Colin, you aren't terrible. Honestly, I think maybe I'm the one who's been sort of terrible." Colin starts to protest, but you wave him down. "We were close way before Max showed up, but the last couple years...I think maybe I've taken our friendship for granted. I wish I'd brought you along with me, instead of leaving you behind to deal with Max by yourself."

Colin sniffs at that, though he's clearly not going to let the matter rest. "If you're terrible, I get to be terrible, too. It's only fair."

You can't help laughing. "Okay, deal. We were both terrible. Let's stop that shit, okay?"

"Okay!"

Against all the odds, what started as a Max Butler Ambush has resulted in your spirits starting to lift. Your mood has improved to the point that you can't resist an opportunity to do a bit of match making. "Hey, you know what non-terrible friends do? Hang out! Are you guys up to anything tonight? You should come over to my place for a movie!"

There's zero doubt that, a few days ago, Quinn would have responded to your attempts at getting him closer to Colin with a show of bashful embarrassment. The newly confident Quinn, however, simply raises his eyebrows towards your long-time friend with a hum of interest. "That would be fun. What do you say, Colin?"

"Yeah, that sounds great!"

"Why don't we grab something to eat when practice lets out, then I can drive us over?" He glances your way as you do your best to stifle a giddy little dance. "So like eight?"

You've gotta get your sweet boys out of here now so that they'll be that much closer to what you've officially decided to classify as their first date. "Perfect. See you then!"

As the two boys happily make their way down towards the field, you allow yourself to let out a groan of relief. Woof. This seemed like it was going to go so poorly, and instead it feels like a significant weight has been lifted. All the things that had been bothering you are still there, make no mistake about it. But this moment of uplift might have been enough to keep your stress under control.

In fact, you know exactly what you need to give yourself that final nudge over the finish line.

Without a moment's further delay, you reach into your bag and reverently pull out your thermos, basking in its splendor. A full bottle of Buzz, all for you. You carefully twist off the cap, indulging in the delicate floral scent that wafts upwards to caress your senses. You are going to go sit under a tree, slowly drink this entire thermos, and by the time you're finished you'll feel so--

You blink, hearing your thermos clatter to the ground even before you feel the sharp smack that knocked it out of your hand. For a long moment, all you can do is stare in blank disbelief at your woefully empty hands, unable to even look at the rainbow-tinged alabaster that's bleeding out into the grass. Every bit of outrage that had begun to slip away from you rushes back in a hurry as you **** your arms down to your sides, wrenching your head around to lock your red-hot gaze onto your gloating assailant. "Gal."

The feral witch chortles at your rage as she attempts to corral a bra around her heavy breasts, the only stitch of clothing she's got on. Point of fact, it's not 'a' bra, it's 'your' bra, which she clearly retrieved out of the trash. She grunts in annoyance as she's unable to fasten the garment around her plushness, eventually deciding to just crumple it up into her face and take a long sniff. "Mmmmmm. This smells all jizzy."

You take a single step towards Gal and she immediately laughs again, her eyes mocking. "Oh noooo, look at how scary Ashley is. Fuck yourself, bitch; Jenny's not around and I'm not scared of you." She carelessly shoves her way around a passing group, the students completely unaware of both her nudity and her presence as she sneers at you. "You're usually much more careful about having some of the others around, but not right now. You're all alone. Biggest mistake of your life. Think it's going to fuck up all these people to watch you get murdered by a ghost?"

As Gal continues to gloat, you lift your hand above your head. You extend your index and middle fingers, then deliberately drag them through the air to leave behind a line of thrumming multicolored power. You complete the rune with a flourish of your wrist and it releases a deep tone, not unlike the tolling of a massive bell, and every person within eyesight besides you and Gal immediately turns on their heels and casually walks away.

Gal blinks, then begins to reconsider things. "...well if there's not gonna be an audience I'm not interested anymore."

"Don't move."

Gal immediately flips you off and poofs into a bat, attempting to dart away. She doesn't get far. Her wings are flapping furiously but she can't seem to go anywhere, her tiny bat body flailing in increasing desperation as she finds herself dragged inexorably to the ground by the weight of your power. By the time you stroll over, she's been left struggling face first in the dirt, wings sprawled out to either side as her entire body trembles. You stare coldly down at her little writhing form for a long moment, then snap your fingers. Immediately, Gal is flipped around, now pinned on her back as she gasps in the biggest lungfuls of air she can manage.

When you crouch down, your stony face looming directly above her, she chokes back her panting and goes very still. "You seem to somehow think that I am weak. That is a mistake." The bat-witch seizes up as you reach out and firmly push a finger to her chest, her beady little eyes pleading. Then she gasps as she finds herself reverted to her human body, only to go still again when she realizes your hand is now carefully pressed against her neck. "Let me be frank. Of all my troubles, you were and are the least. Beatrix keeps me up at night. Aisha is all the way into my head. Max has a bigger impact on my life than you, and his only magic is being the worst. But you? You're only scary from outside of arms' reach."

"Ashley, I--"

"Shut up." She shuts up, so you continue on. 'If you were smart, you'd have stayed out of sight. But no. You had to try and make a run at someone, and like the fucking scavenger that you are went straight for whoever you imagined was the easy prey. I'm sure you've realized now exactly how wrong of a choice I was."

She attempts to squirm away from your freezing grey eyes, whimpering when she realizes that your power won't allow her to look away. When it becomes clear you're waiting for her response, she squeaks one out. "...yes."

"So. What to do with you now."

"...are you gonna k-kill me?"

You let Gal stew in that for a very tense moment, then give the smallest shake of your head. "No. I don't do that." You don't miss the wild tinge that flashes across Gal's eyes at your words, the beginnings of a grin playing at her plump lips upon realizing you intend to be merciful. Time to crush those hopes. "But if you think you're just walking away from this, you really have misjudged me. You're out of this war, as of right now."

The smile rushes back to Gal's face as she jumps to a conclusion about your meaning. "Of course! Yeah totally, I promise that--"

"No."

Gal blinks, her smile fading. "...No?"

"No. Not like that. Like this."

Gal swallows back a scream as the hand around her neck flares with prismatic energy, the grass around her head surging wildly in growth from the residual energy of your spell. She struggles in vain against the power that still pins her to the ground even as you pump wave after wave of pure magic directly into her. By the time you've finished she's still conscious, but only barely, her limbs limp and a faint rainbow-tinted imprint of your hand still stained across her throat. She groans in exhaustion as you quietly move to retrieve your thermos, gradually wobbling up to her feet when she realizes she's no longer restrained. The feral witch, shakily raises her hands before herself, eyes drinking in every part of herself as she attempts to glean what you've done. At length, she makes her conclusion. "....you fucking fraud. You didn't do anything!"

You shrug in a complete lack of concern, tucking your thermos back into your bag. "Okay."

"I knew it!" She releases a noise that has more in common with a hyena's cackle than a human laugh. "I was right; you're all show! Oh, get ready, because I'm gonna-"

"Is she naked?"

Gal freezes as she realizes that the students, no longer shepherded away by your power, have begun to return. And that they are whispering about her. The witch takes a big step to the right, unable to hold back a gasp as a dozen eyes unmistakably follow. "I...they can see me? But how, they...no, they, they can't! You can't! Ashley!"

You cock an eyebrow at her. "You should go get some clothes. Feel free to start with that jizzy bra."

With that, you sling your bag over your shoulder and turn your back on the despairing Gal to stroll away, utterly ignoring her increasingly hysterical wails as they fade into the distance. "Ashley, no, come back! Please, y-you have to turn it off! Ashley they can see me, I don't--ASHLEY WAIT, I DON'T WANT THEM TO SEEEE~"

Turns out you really did just need to vent onto something. Thanks for the assist, Gal.