A WRINKLE IN TIME

vii.

Bonnie had remained on her mountain for a long time until finally she decided to return to civilization.

Of course, the day she would return...she would die.

In her thousands of years of existence Bonnie had only died several times. After finding herself at the end of the dinosaurs she had only died several times, the years remaining for those she killed were added to her lifeline so when she would die she would always come back. Sometimes it took seconds, sometimes minutes, hours, sometimes days and sometimes it would even take years for her to come back...but she always would.

-- -- -- -- --

Her day had begun as it normally did, the witch going for a walk around the base of her mountain, when she returned...she found her home and mountain ablaze.

It was a place it was a thing...but it had been her home for thousands of years and losing it...hurt.

"No..." A whisper fell past her lips as her home went up in flames.

"You heard me," An accusatory voice snarled.

Bonnie turned and was faced with Arcadius.

"I don't know who you are," He confessed a quiver in his voice, "But when I was burning and I let forth a blast that created my own personal aspect of the Fields of Punishment...I saw you."

"What do you want?" Bonnie asked softly, hands behind her back, eyes growing cold, "You have come to my home and razed it to the ground to anyone else this would be a declaration of war."

"You heard me," He said, "You heard my screams of agony, my begging to be saved...why didn't you come?"

"Because I didn't care," Bonnie confessed, tone cold and befitting the goddess she once was.

"You...didn't care?" He repeated.

"I have lived a long time, boy," Bonnie looked on with narrowed eyes, "If I answered every prayer sent to me I would never have time to water my fields which," She looked out across the vast rows of flame, "You've taken from me. This does free up time for me but it doesn't make me wish to help you or anyone else that whines at me."

"Before I was burned at the stake I used my power to help the people around me," Arcadius snarled, "You, who are overflowing with power, have no idea what it is to be selfless and to be betrayed."

"I have no idea what it is to be selfless?" Bonnie's voice rose, "At the beginning of my life I lived entirely for those around me. I sacrificed and I fought for them and I died for them!" Her lips pulled back in a snarl, "I have known, better than anyone!" She shouted, "The agony! The festering darkness and rage that comes from being selfless," She inhaled deeply forcing herself to calm, her next words coming out barely above a whisper, "And from being betrayed."

"...Why didn't you come to me?" Arcadius whispered, eyes shining with sorrow.

"Because there was nothing I could have done," Bonnie lied.

"..." Arcadius remained silent, looking on at the destruction he had caused sadly.

"Go," Bonnie requested, "Go away now...leave me with the silence of my burning home."

"...I'm sorry," Arcadius's whisper floated through the air to the semi-immortal as he returned to the fields of punishment.

-- -- -- -- --

And so...Bonnie left her mountain and visited the Library of Alexandria in Egypt as she often used to before she lost Thetis, Achilles and Patroclus.

That's where Bonnie found herself now, roaming the seemingly infinite number of rows of knowledge.

"Praise Ra," Egyptian scholars would greet her with the nod of their head.

"Hail Athena," Greek scholars would shake her hand.

"Glory to Minerva," Roman scholars would kiss her knuckles.

Bonnie spent hours reading the new information that resided in the library, she was so enraptured in her reading that she didn't notice the smoke filling the building and flames consuming the rows of scrolls and books.

When Bonnie did notice the flames she found she didn't care to stop it, opting instead to finish the last page of the last book she was reading.

And so...Bonnie died surrounded by knowledge, screams echoing in the air around her, flames consuming her.

When Bonnie would return...she would become a Viking.