A/N: God, it's been 4 months since you've heard from me in this hood! So first off, hello, nice to see y'all again. Second, this story, much like The Dream Dance, is rated T for suggestive content, swearing, dark themes, and a whole lotta other stuff that you could figure out on your own. Actually, now that I think about it, this one's a bit harsher on the mind than The Dream Dance. All the more reason to give you warning! Now that I have raised the red flag, turned on the sirens, and all that shit, do not, and I repeat, DO NOT go around trying to blame me for any trauma and/or triggers that may have resulted from this story, because honestly, I'ma just sit back, laugh, and say "Well, you didn't give a flying crap about what I said, so it's your loss, kid." Third, Alduin belongs to Wolfgang, not to me, so please give him credit for it. And yes, he gave me permission, thanks for opening your mouth to protest.

Welp, that being said, read on, folks!

Fear.
You know it. I know it. We've all felt it. It's that one feeling that might as well be ranked as the worst of them all. It makes you flee when you should fight. It traps you in its cruel, crippling walls. Walls that you can't see.
And it sometimes even CONTROLS you.
You strike fear into others, when you yourself are a victim of fear itself.
You allow it to confine you within its invisible, unrelenting prison.
You do things you never knew you'd even dream of doing.
It's a knife that cuts the deepest gashes into your soul.
And there's no healing them.
It's an enemy that you try so hard to fight.
And you realize that you can't see it.
And yet, you feel its cold fingers snaking around your neck in you darkest of times.
It's like a puppeteer.
And you're the puppet.

A boom resonated throughout the ancient stone building, followed by the sound of something breaking. The firmament beneath shook and trembled, as if it, too, could become a victim of fear. Asavenia bolted into an upright position as soon as yet another boom sent shockwaves pulsing through her veins, into her heart, and up her stem. She jumped to her roots, flew down the stairs, and nearly fell as a loud shattering noise blossomed through the ancient Roman Catholic church. She gasped as she saw that the stained glass windows depicting the stations of the cross had been reduced to nothing but colourful shards. One would never know that they had once been telling the story about what Christ endured before he sacrificed himself. Yells and derogatory words leaped along with the flames of countless torches in the night outside. Asavenia could barely hear what they were saying — it was like she was hearing their words underwater in another language. But she knew one thing: whoever those voices belonged to was not happy. The Peashooter was shaken out of her thoughts by a flaming block of wood hurtling through another window and setting the entire west side of the church aflame.
"Who dares to desecrate the house of God?" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
"The prophetess is in there!" a voice replied.
"Looks like we picked the right time."
The last time a congregation met at St. Pius, it wasn't to listen to Asavenia's preaching the word of the Lord. They had only come to insult her and her teachings.
Remembering that one wrong step could tip the balance between life and death for her, Asavenia ran into the back room, where the holy books were held. She remembered that there was a door somewhere here. A door that was locked tight. And the key was somewhere in one of these books. Another thunderous crashing scared her into indiscriminately knocking books, scrolls and other holy items off their shelves. Now normally, she'd chide herself for being so goddamn careless, but right here, right now, lecturing herself was an indulgence that she could only pay for with her life. As she glanced over her shoulder, she could see that the front doors of the church had almost surrendered to the angry mob of pagans.
She recalled that she had the key in her Holy Bible, and she always kept it in between the same two pages. Now if only she could recall which pages those were . . .
The yells were louder now. Clearer. She slammed the door to the back room shut tightly, hoping they wouldn't find her.
Find . . .
Seek and ye shall find . . .
"Matthew, chapter seven, verse seven!" she hollered, realizing a second too late that she had given herself away.
"She's in the back room!" a member of the mob shrieked from the other side of the door.
Cursing under her breath, she flipped haphazardly through the New Testament until she found the page she was looking for, which contained the key to opening that double damned locked door, and ultimately, the key to salvation. Fumbling the key clumsily in her pods, she jostled the key into the lock, only to be met with failure. A million beads of sweat and tears of pure fear cascaded down her head and down her stem, making her feel like she was being choked. By a murderer she couldn't see or hear.
The front doors, meanwhile, had splintered open, causing the Peashooter to drop the key into the inescapable sea of paper, spilled oils and incense out of pure shock. She dropped to her knees and sifted through the seemingly insurmountable mess on the floor. She emerged triumphant, but she was a second too late. The pagan mob, with their battering ram of what seemed to be made out of pure steel, were already working hard at destroying the door that separated her from life and death. Trembling as if she was suffering from a seizure, she shoved the key into the lock and heard a relieving click as she pushed the doors open and fled into what laid within.
Behind those doors was a room that was devoid of anything but a secret passageway. She ran to one of the walls, and using her fear as her strength, she yanked the door open. Jumping through, and remembering to close the door behind her, she ran down the mossy stairs, doing her best not to take notice of the footfalls behind her, which seemed to be getting closer and closer with each second. Come on . . . the cave starts somewhere over here . . . she thought as she ran as fast as her two roots could take her. Asavenia was in a tunnel now, and the end didn't seem to be getting any closer. One minute passed.
Then two minutes.
Four.
Five.
Ten.
That was when the pleas to rest began to ring out from her body. She kept on going. Lungs that were burning before felt as if the flames of hell were consuming them bit by bit. If her heart was beating loud and fast enough to echo through the dark tunnel in the past moments, you could bet all the money in your bank that it sounded like someone mercilessly whamming out 16th notes on a snare drum.
But she kept on going.
And at last, just when she felt as if her roots were going to give out, the end was right in front of the sweating, played out Snow Pea. But unfortunately, with this great triumph came a great misfortune. The sacrilegious mob was now visible, and though they were far away, there was no doubt that they'd be on Asavenia's heels within seconds, if not one or two minutes. Taking a deep breath, she bolted out of the tunnel, through a trapdoor covered by a rock, and into a dimly lit cavern with a soft thud. She stacked whatever she could find beneath the trapdoor with the hopes of stymieing the mob. After taking a few well-deserved deep breaths, she sat in front of the pool of holy water beside a lone candle. She looked around at the crystals and luminescent stones that lined and dotted the ceiling and the walls of the holy sanctuary. Glowstones, her mother called them. When mother and daughter would journey into the cavern to read the bible, pray, and meditate on God's Word, Asavenia would put a pod on one of the stones, close her eyes, and listen carefully to her surroundings. The water softly trickling into the pool. The sounds that required your entire self just to hear their whispers. Asavenia splashed the cool, holy water in which she was baptized in onto her sweltering body.
But suddenly, she was hearing more than just the natural sounds of the cavern. She was hearing loud, periodic clumping. And it was right above the trapdoor. Doing the sign of the cross, she began to pray – something that she did not have the chance to do ever since this ordeal began.
"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy -"
She didn't get a chance to even finish the first line of her prayer, for the mob had set fire to the trapdoor, engulfing all that stood beneath it in flames. Letting out a shocked cry, she practically tripped over her own two roots in her rush to get to a crevasse that would lead to salvation. Just as she was beginning to wedge herself through, she heard a cracking noise. Resisting the urge to look in the direction of the noise and get herself way more worked up than she already was, she put each and every ounce of her energy – or rather, whatever remained of it – into getting the hell out of that cave.
"Hail Satan! Hail Satan!"
"Holy shit . . . what the hell did I do to deserve this shit?" she grumbled as the mob began to drop one by one through the trapdoor, yelling "Hail Satan!" all the way. As soon as they were all through, the massive group began to advance slowly to Asavenia, led by a bald male human wielding a torch.
"So . . . this . . . this is God's house, eh?" he snorted.
"Well, he must have a lot of houses, considering that there are over a million in the world. Oh well, we sure as hell destroyed this one, but hey – it ain't no biggie, y'know? He has a whole whack of other houses he can flee to!"
"And quite frankly, so do I."
And with those words, Asavenia managed to worm her way out of the damned cavern and out into the open night air. The fresh, cool air giving her renewed vigour, she sprinted up a hill and towards the nearby forest without even giving two craps about the mob behind her.
But soon enough, her laid-back mindset was blown out of her head when the first arrow whistled by her. And sooner or later, it was followed by another arrow. And another. And another. Until it felt as if she was running away from a swarm of arrows that she could barely dodge. Then, an arrow found home in her root. Shaking the pain off, she charged on, even as yet another arrow grazed her pod. It was then that she realized that she wouldn't keep getting this lucky forever. Regardless, she let the determination and the adrenaline flood her veins. Closer and closer she came to her goal, until she was just about to hit the edge of the forest . . .
And then an arrow finally found home in her chest.
The pain was overwhelming. Excruciating. Blinding, almost. No words could describe the pain that this Snow Pea was in as the mob surrounded her, forming a circle of sorts, their mocking, laughing faces merging together into a blur of agony.
"Why . . . why . . ." Asavenia tried to speak.
"Kyrie . . . Eilison . . . Kyrie . . . Kyrie . . ." she chanted slowly.
"What's that gonna achieve?" the mob leader snorted.
"You . . . you'll see . . ." she replied creakily. They all waited for the prophetess' saviour.
But nobody came.
Sooner or later, she began to slowly slip away into a mysterious dark void. The further in she was pulled, the more the pain was numbed. Soon, she felt nothing. She heard nothing. She thought nothing. For how long she was in this limbo, nobody could say.
But one thing was for sure. Wherever she woke up, it was not in the middle of those pagans.

Asavenia opened her eyes in what seemed like a blank, misty space. She looked around, and realized that she was in no pain. She saw no wounds from the arrows that pierced her skin. Soon, though, a figure began to materialize out of the fog. Clearer and clearer it became . . . until it had taken the form of a dark Peashooter. His entire body looked as if he was bathed in black, ashy soot. His eyes were red like dark rubies, and he carried a scythe that seemed to possess an almost evil, sinister glint.
"Asavenia." it spoke out.
"Wh . . . who are you?" the Snow Pea squeaked.
"My name is Alduin. I am the god of death." the figure replied.
"H . . . how'd you know my name?"
"I've been watching you for a very long time." Alduin answered.
"I know why you are here. You are here because of those pagans. But have you ever considered why they attack you?"
Asavenia shook her head and dared to look into his eyes.
"They don't believe in God. But that's because there is no God!" he roared, causing Asavenia to recoil in shock. Realizing what he did, the dark Peashooter inched closer to her, before kneeling down to whisper into her ear.
"Think about how much of your life you dedicated to someone who doesn't even exist, Asavenia. Think about all that you've done . . . when you could have lived a life with no limitations. No worries. No commandments." She closed her eyes and tried to think.
"Think about it."

I've done everything.
I've abstained from mirrors.
Abstained from sex.
Abstained from indulging myself with such worthless pleasures.
I walked on burning coals.
I drank the blood and I drank the wine.
I bathed in bleach.
I fasted for sixty days.
I slept on a mattress on the floor.
I read the Bible front to back, back to front.
I felt that if I didn't do these things, I'd become one of Satan's pawns.

"You see? All for nothing. Nothing, I tell you." Alduin muttered.
"Y . . . you're right." Asavenia finally managed to choke out.

Doors lead to trapdoors.
Trapdoors lead to traps.
I thought I could make a home outta you, Lord.
But I guess I was wrong.
What a motherfucking curse.

"Now . . . I'm going to give you the chance to go back on everything you've worked up to." the Dark Peashooter sighed as he laid a corruption-blackened pod on Asavenia, who was trembling and shaking.
"Are you gonna take it or leave it?"
Asavenia thought back to everything she had done. The promises she made. The things she had done. The words she had spoken. The things that she had read and learned. Her mother.
But her mother was dead now. The past was in the past. She lived in the now, didn't she?
Taking a deep breath, she nodded her head.
"I . . . accept your offer."
"Thank you. It's the least I can do for someone who doesn't deserve all this pain." he whispered, before leaning in to kiss her. He wrapped her in an embrace that, though suffocating, carried a strange warmth.
"Close your eyes. I'll do everything else."

I've broken my promises.
I've destroyed my life.
But that was then.
Now . . . now, I have something new.
Something amazing.
Something, though wrong, pleasing.
Come to think of it, the fact that it's wrong actually makes me want it even more.
It makes it even more delightful that way.
Right now, I really don' care about what's gonna happen afterwards.
I just want to feel.
Feel each and every thing there is to feel about this new, amazing thing I've been introduced to.

"Alduin . . . what . . . how . . . why . . . ?" Asavenia tried to ask her questions, but they tripped over each other like passengers on a train at a popular station.
"Did you . . . like it?" Alduin asked.
"Believe me, I loved it." she answered with a smile.
"But in doing this . . . I've made you one of my kind now. Dark. Corrupted." Alduin said as he laid a pod on her head.
"Oh well. Not such a terrible price to pay for such an amazing thing, is it?"
"They say that pain and pleasure go hand in hand." Asavenia replied as she stood up and faced him.
"Happy with your transformation?" he asked as he led her over to a pool of water, with which to check her reflection.
She assessed her makeover and let out a gasp. Parts of her that should be a bright blue were a dark shade of blue. Her stem, pods and roots were the colour of lampblack, and her eyes had transformed into red little beads. Her robes had transformed into sleazy attire.
"You . . . you can change the colour of your eyes too, you know. You also have the ability to conjure shadows to help you. Long story short . . . I've managed to give you a lot, if not all of my powers." he whispered.
"Oh . . . thank you. Thank you so much." Asavenia murmured as she hugged him tightly.
"Now go and make this right. Not a second has passed in your world." Alduin said as he returned the embrace.
They eventually broke apart, and in doing so, Asavenia found herself lying exactly where she was before she met Alduin.
"How the hell did you . . ." The bald man leading the mob nearly dropped his torch when he saw what Asavenia had become.
"Surprise, motherfucker. Surprise." she cackled as she drew a knife from her pocket and stabbed him with it. He crumpled to the ground, seizing erratically and coughing up blood. Instead of words coming from his mouth, it was burbles and strangled cries of pain intermingled with the copious amount of blood that was coming out of his mouth and the now-visible puncture wound in his chest. The crowd backed away as she took the bloody knife out of his chest and held it up to the night sky.
"Who's next?"
Without waiting for an answer, she conjured a serpent shaped shadow, twisting it and untwisting it around her body.
"Hmm . . . let's see . . . who's next in line?" she cooed in a sugarcoated tone of voice. Some members of the crowd tried to run away, but Asavenia conjured more shadows and confined them to her ring of death.
"Oh . . . so hard to decide . . ." she mock-sighed, putting a pod on her forehead and batting her eyelashes.
"Should it be you – She turned one of her shadows into a whip and struck a trembling, elderly human.
"Or you!?" She whipped herself around very suddenly, before using yet another one of her shadows as a noose for another human.
"Oh, well. Let's do things the old fashioned way. Eenie meanie minie moe, why don't you die in a hole? Your corpse could feed the hungry crows . . ."
"Out of this mortal world you go!" Having said that, she launched the first shadow she conjured at a fearful Flaming Pea. The more he struggled, the tighter the grip on his stem became. Pulling him in the way a fisherman reeled in his catch, she sank her teeth into his throat and ripped it out, getting drenched in his blood in the process. She was soon on a murderous rampage, killing everything and anything in her way, whether it was a plant or a human. Using her new-found powers as her weapons, she continued in only one direction: forwards.
But soon enough, she hit a brick wall.
"Look what we have here . . . tsk, tsk." a somewhat familiar voice crooned. Asavenia looked up and gasped as Alduin sat on top of his brick wall, casting devious glances in her direction every so often.
"What are you doing in my way?!" the young, corrupted plant screeched as she tried to kick the wall down.
"In your way of what?" Alduin asked.
"REVENGE!" Asavenia screamed, stomping her root as if she were a two year old throwing a tantrum.
"Calm down!" he barked, using a shadow to yank her up to where he was sitting.
"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, giving him the deadliest stare she could.
"Can't you see?" he chuckled as adjusted his hood.
"You're tied to me now. You see . . . in letting go of your belief in this "God", you've fully tied yourself to me. You've become my slave. And there is nothing to be done about it."
Asavenia looked away and sighed. Was he really the type of plant she wanted to be doomed to spend the rest of her days with?
"Okay, listen. It's not all that bad, is it? You like doing this now, don't you? Going against every single law and code written down in that good-for-nothing Bible? It's easier, isn't it?" he whispered, as if he could read her mind.
"Y-yeah . . ." she mumbled, a grin seeping onto her face.
"Now come on. We must keep going, mustn't we?" Alduin prodded her gently, making her shiver in her torn robes.
"Where?" Asavenia asked. He simply let out a throaty cackle as he held on tight to her, showing no signs of letting go anytime soon.
"Down, of course."

A/N: Before you try to find any more reasons to yell at me, I'm just gonna justify a couple of things. I'm Catholic, and in ABSOLUTELY NO WAY do I support breaking the 10 Commandments, destruction of purity, or straying from God. THIS IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE A MERE WORK OF FICTION!

Anywho, thanks for reading, and please review! Until next time (hopefully soon), GamerGirl is OUTTA HERE! ;)

~Peace!