Scarlet (An SGE Fanfic)

What's in a Name?

"Good never wants to hurt, Agatha. But sometimes love means punishing villains that stand in our way."

Howls echoed from above. "Supper's over," Anadil gasped.

Hester tore her eyes from the Beast-- "Now Ani! Free them now!"

Panicked, Anadil thrust a glowing finger to blast open the cell door.

"I have to warn him," Agatha sputtered...Hester pushed Agatha into spewing slime. Dragged toward Evil, she gurgled and spat, tried in vain to open her stinging eyes. But just as the moat grabbed her in its rip current, she lunged her hand out blindly, found cold skin--and pulled Sophie in."

-The School for Good and Evil, page 399

***

Anadil and I stared after Agatha and Sophie as they were pulled away by the current. The wolves howled once again, warning the students to return to their rooms at once.

"We'd better go," Anadil warned. I didn't answer, focused on the Beast's corpse, the body of a creature once so evil, so powerful, but taken down by a blond ninny over something as trivial as her hair. Clearly, Sophie was much more powerful than she seemed. As I had learned this year, Evil could come in many forms.

"Did you hear me?" Anadil snapped, grabbing my wrist and dragging me in the direction of the dormitories. I jerked my arm away, startled. Anadil lowered her hand, glancing in the direction of the moat.

"Who cares about them? You don't want to fail, do you?"

"I don't care what happens to them," I growled. "Honestly, good riddance.

We were careful to be silent as we crept back to our dormitory, only letting out a breath when the door was closed. I found myself glancing at Dot's bed. I felt a stab of...guilt? I shook my head, clearing it away. Dot was too soft for villainy and quite useless at times. Although she was obnoxious and prince-obsessed, Sophie was a more effective villain, and therefore a better member to complete the coven. At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

"What was that about?" Anadil asked suddenly. I glanced in the direction of my roommate, who reached out to pet her rat, then, realizing that her rats were still locked in the Doom Room, snatched her hand back.

"What?" I questioned, sure she was being intentionally vague.

"The...nickname." Anadil looked up at me expectantly. I looked away.

"Now, Ani," I had said. "Free them now!"

"It--slipped," I muttered, feeling a strange heat creeping up her neck. And this time, it wasn't my demon.

As a general rule, I tried to say other people's names as little as possible, especially when speaking to them. If I was completely honest with myself, it was because it made me feel vulnerable. A name was a personal, intimate thing, and using one when talking to another person implied that the two were on the same level. Yet here I was, using not just a name, but a nickname when speaking to my henchman. A nickname that, admittedly, I had used in my head several times before. I brought my hands to my head. Hanging around those Readers was making me go soft.

"I don't mind it." I was suddenly aware that Anadil was still looking in my direction.

"You—what?"

"I don't mind the nickname," Anadil repeated, her face conveying no emotion. "As long as you're the only one who uses it. If anyone else tries, I'll slit their throat."

"Erm, okay?" I was fully aware I was crossing a line by treating Anadil as a friend rather than a henchman. Nevers shouldn't form attachments. 

Then why did I feel this strange, unidentifiable emotion running through me, an emotion that felt vaguely familiar? I growled, finding my bearings, finally able to push the uncomfortable feeling deep, deep down. Damn those Readers.

Author's Note: This chapter was actually written as a oneshot before I started Scarlet, and was a large part of its inspiration. To this day it is still one of my favorite chapters! I believe it is still posted elsewhere in a oneshot collection from about a year ago.