Let It Slip

Part XI

Despite every inch of her body protesting against any movement she had, Zelda had enough of being looked at as weak and frail; she met Baron Samedi's intensity with her own, stepping between the gede loa and her sister; "Let them go. Give me a few moments with my sister and take the rest of them back home. Then I will go freely with you."

Hilda reached out and grabbed Zelda's wrist, spinning her around violently, "What do you mean you'll go with him? Go WHERE? Any answer other than 'home' is unacceptable sister."

Zelda smiled tenderly at Hilda's newfound confidence, taking both of her sister's hands in hers, listening as the Baron did as she asked and took every one of the Group of Fifty back up to Earth-side, leaving demon Dr. Cee to wait for Hilda as the souls of Hell faded back into their cells. Squeezing her sister's hands, she took a deep breath and began to explain, "My darling sister. I must apologize from the depths of my heart as I've been dead for a long time, even though my heart still beat and my mind still ran, I was nothing but a living corpse. My guilt over what happened to Sabrina spilled over into my actions - I was so unnecessarily cruel to you. I regret how poorly I've treated you over the last century and I hope, though don't expect, that you can forgive me."

Hilda felt tears welling in her eyes as this soliloquy began to feel like a forever goodbye, "Zelds...I..."

Zelda leaned forward and kissed her sister's cheek, murmuring in her ear, "Hush now sister, let me finish. I need you to understand...." Hilda nodded and felt her bottom lip wobbling with emotion.

"In my infinite selfishness, I agreed to the MemoryTech implant, knowing that it wouldn't bring Sabrina back but hoping against all hope that it would ease the pain. On some levels it did, like any addiction does, but it came at a great physical cost. The implant has been poisoning me slowly over the last few decades and I was wallowing too deeply in my own misery to do anything about it." Zelda reached up and gently smeared Hilda's tears across her cheek, "The night you went to The Archives, I gave into my anger and I made a mess in my room. Immediately ashamed afterwards, I wanted to clean it before you came home and stupidly, in my haste, I slipped and fell down the stairs."

Hilda was shaking as she listened to Zelda explain the events of the last few days and how they had become a culmination of the last century of her life; "I broke my back, Hildy. Between that and the poison already flowing through my veins and organs, I was as good as dead."

Zelda took a shaky breath, struggling to watch Hilda as she processed all of this information; "I called Baron Samedi because, before he left, he had promised me a boon. I was hoping he would be able to bring Sabrina back so that, even though you wouldn't have me, at least you would have our darling girl back. He answered my call but tells me that Sabrina is in some in between world - not alive but not actually dead - and because of that, he can't reach her. Instead, he offered to take away my pain and to ensure you would never have to watch me suffer."

Hilda's face was scrunched and twisted into an ugly version of itself as she wept openly, "But Zelds....what if we had more time? What if I took a break from The Archives and we spent the rest of the time we have together? Yes....you have been cruel and miserable but I also took for granted that you would always be there, grumbling on the front porch!" Hilda fell into the space between them, wrapping her arms around her sister's waist and clinging as she sobbed; "I'm not ready for the absence of you!"

Zelda's face fell, her tears dampening Hilda's golden halo as she hugged her sister tight and whispered, choking on her words, "I'm so sorry but I'm already gone, Hildy."

Hilda gripped her sister harder, shaking from her silent sobs; unwilling to believe this was the end, she sniffed and straightened to look at her sister, "I can throw you in the Caine pit...or find a herbal remedy....an ancient ritual....this doesn't have to be the end sister!"