"DAMNIT!" Ivy screamed skywards as a building crumbled beside her. Everything she worked for was gone. Reduced to ash and dust by the woman floating before her. "Fuck! Off!" the supervillain yelled, reversing the causality of the crumbled building with a wave of her hand. Ignatia had hit the building, therefore, the building was destroyed. That's how cause and effect work. But now, the building is destroyed, therefore, the building must hit Ignatia. Inversed causality.
"You've lost," Ignatia stated coldly, without a hint of cheer. The jagged, heavy debris bounced harmlessly off her skin. "You failed. Cities destroyed, millions slaughtered in your mad quest for power. Was it worth it?"
Ivy chuckled bitterly. "I would have succeeded if you'd joined me," Ivy said. "We could have ruled the world together!"
Ignatia frowned. "I'd never join you," she stated. "You're a monster. You care for nothing but yourself."
Ivy chuckled again. "Ah, yes. You're damn morality. You could never be on my side. You care too much for the rabble and not enough for yourself." Suddenly, Ivy broke out into mad giggling. "Oh, I'm such a genius! I should have thought of that before! Hahahahaha!" Ignatia's frown deepened. "Causality! Such a fickle thing. Something impossible made so easy with a simple inversion!"
"Whatever mad scheme you concocted, it doesn't matter anymore," the superhero said, voice colder than ice. She had spent years studying how to counter her enemy's power. The "Inversion of Causality", the ability to reverse the fundamental states of being. She knew exactly what it could do, and didn't need another session of narcissistic boasting. "This ends here."
A massive surge of energy erupted from her hands, forming a javelin. Normally, Ignatia wouldn't fire such a powerful blast in a populated area. She could never bear to hurt innocents, even if it meant letting her enemies flee to fight another day. But today was different. Today, the streets were empty. Everyone within a hundred miles was already dead. "Any last words?"
Ivy giggled again, prepared to make two final inversions. The villain's powers coiled around her, enveloping her mind in its metaphysical embrace. "Alea iacta est."
The bolt struck true. For a second, everything was silent. Then, light engulfed all, wiping away all traces of the woman who nearly conquered the world.
***
The making of memories is rarely considered. They form as a response to experience. Effect follows cause, as naturally as light follows the sunrise. But for her, whose very essence defied natural law, the inverse was just as simple.
To remember before she lived. To begin with the knowledge of all she would ever know, and lose it piece by piece as her story unfolded. A life unspooling backward, fated to end in ignorance. Such was the inversion of causality.
But to die in ignorance was a small price to pay for another chance. And if she did this right, now was the only time she'll ever need to forget.
This time was unwinnable. This opponent, immutable. Beyond her power. Yet, the unbeatable is also useful by virtue of its invincible nature. She'll do things differently this time. She became a monster, once, for her ambitions. She could be a hero for them too. She's forgotten that now. But as time unraveled and cause and effect reversed, some-when else, she remembered.
***
"Well, that was a rush," Ivy said, exhaling dramatically. "You okay over there?" she asked, glancing at the brunette she saved from death via defenestration.
"How… what…?" The woman swayed on her feet, disoriented and confused. What had just happened had made no sense. She had been falling from a tall building after being blasted out a window by a bitter ex-boyfriend turned supervillain, when all of a sudden she was on a stretch of farmland, safe and sound. Not that she would have been hurt by the fall or anything; she, Kassandra King, was secretly Ignatia the superhero. Her body was time-locked to invulnerability. But surviving that fall could have exposed her secret identity.
"You're on fire," Ivy pointed out, not really able to do much about that problem. The woman dazedly patted the flame on her chest out, not bothered by her own element. "Though you seem unfazed."
"I didn't need you to save me." The woman pouted at Ivy, identifying the young woman as the cause of her dizziness.
"Maybe not your life, but certainly your secret identity, Ignatia, superhero extraordinaire," Ivy smirked smugly at the heroine.
The woman froze momentarily. She was pretty new to this game. "How… um, I mean, I'm not-"
"Don't bother denying it," Ivy said, still smug as can be. Mostly because her harebrained scheme worked. "I know who you are. And your reaction would have given you away even if I didn't."
The woman tried to glare, but the curiosity on her face made it seem more like a confused stare. "How do you know any of this? In fact, how did you even save me?"
"Oh, Kassandra King, do I have a story for you."
***
A spiny monster fell to the ground, dead, as a blast of plasma burned the creature from inside out. "Why didn't you think of shoving your blasts down its throat earlier?" Ivy whined as she apprehended the monster's controller, who had been using the distraction to rob a bank.
Ignatia crossed her arms and pouted. "How was I supposed to know that would work?" The superhero grumbled, kicking the carcass petulantly. "It's not like there was a boss guide on how to defeat this thing."
Ivy shook her head despairingly. Five months of working with the superhero, and it still baffled her how weak, how different, Kassandra had started out.
"Hey, don't look at me like I'm a hopeless case!" Kassandra exclaimed indignantly, looking at her teammate with big puppy eyes.
Ivy sighed. "Come on. Let's go get some donuts. God knows I need it to put up with your bubbliness for the rest of the day."
Kassandra cheered, a bright smile wiping the indignity off her face. "Yay! Let's go!" Ivy yelped as the superhero lifted her up into the sky, flying towards the nearest donut shop. As they flew, Ivy sank into her own thoughts. It's almost too easy. The people love Kassandra, and soon, they'll love me too. A nudge here, a suggestion there, and soon enough, she'll be leading them right where I want them. The world is practically gift-wrapped for us.
Ivy was knocked out of her musing as Kassandra plopped down on a chair, placing a massive box of donuts between them. "Man, these are heavenly!" Kassandra moaned in delight as she dug in with reckless abandon, the donuts disappearing like they were being vacuumed up, her cheeks building like a little chipmunk. Ivy's lips quirked up at the adorable scene, and somehow, this smile felt a bit less forced than the ones she's shown over the past few months.
***
"Stay down," Ivy said sternly, pushing Kassandra back onto the bed. "You're injured. I'm not letting you go fight Mephisto while you're like this. You're going to stay on this bed until you're recovered." Ivy crossed her arms firmly.
"Aw, you care~" Kassandra grinned teasingly at Ivy, poking her on the cheek. Ivy blushed, stuttering out a denial, snatching Kassandra's hand out of the air and shoving it back under the sheets.
"Shut up. Idiot!" Ivy looked away, embarrassed. She never thought she'd grow to care for this heroic, impulsive, reckless woman who foiled her so many times before. And yet, beneath the sheets, their hands remained connected.
***
"You're my Hearth, Ivy. You keep me warm and safe on the loneliest nights. You keep me grounded. You hold me in, keeping me from burning everything to ash," Kassandra said, grinning up at Ivy with a goofy yet dashing grin.
"You come up with that yourself, you sap?" Ivy teased, heart fluttering at Kassandra's stupid smile. She couldn't help but smile back, and this time, she didn't need to force it at all. Over the last 3 years, the two had grown closer and closer, fighting crime and kicking ass. Always together.
"We've been partners all these years, in almost every way." Kassandra held Ivy's hand with both of hers. "Will you give me the honor of being your partner in every way?"
"I care for you, more than I ever thought I would." Happy tears rolled down Ivy's cheeks. "More than anything else. So, yes. We're partners."
***
"What the hell is this?" Ignatia's voice was deathly calm. But anyone who knew the girl could hear the undercurrent of pure wrath behind her voice.
"A memory crystal." The man said. "On my planet, they were a way of preserving memories. When she was captured by Grigori, they wanted to see how her powers worked from her perspective, but the crystal downloaded more than that."
"And you're sure, absolutely sure, it's real?" Ignatia pressed.
The man nodded solemnly. "There's no way to inject artificial memories into the crystal. Not even dreams can be inputted. The chronology might not make sense, but given her abilities… while hard to wrap one's head around, it is, theoretically, possible."
Silence took over the room. No one commented on the cracks on the near indestructible memory crystal, nor the crackling embers that were once a dining table.
***
"Give me a reason why I shouldn't burn you alive. Hydrogen burns clear, you know. It would look like you spontaneously combusted," Kassandra growled, skin shimmering with power. The smirk Ivy shot her didn't help matters.
"Because, my dear Kassandra, once you calm down from this bout of, admittedly justified, anger, you'd regret it for the rest of your life." Once, Kassandra fell in love with that smug little smirk that Ivy seemed to always wear. It fit her, like lightning in a storm. But now, all it invoked was rage.
"No. No, I don't think I will." Kassandra was full-on glowing now, the grip on Ivy's throat painfully tight. "Any last words?"
Ivy groaned in discomfort at the familiar words and sighed. "I know you're hurting, Kass. You think I betrayed you. But look me in the eyes, and tell me I'm not the woman you fell in love with. Tell me that you can't see how much I care for you,." Ivy pleaded. Her eyes glistened in the ethereal light that Kassandra emitted.
"Not just me,." Kassandra hissed. "You betrayed everything we stood for! All these years, you've told me nothing but lies! You were nothing but lies!"
Ivy grimaced at the accusations. "At first, yes. I cared for nothing but myself. I attached myself to you purely to accomplish my goals. I thought, by your side, the world could be ours. I was foolish." Ivy smirked again. Kassandra wanted to be angry. But this time, it wasn't the smug, infuriating smirk of a master manipulator. This was a smirk filled with pain, sorrow, joy, and love, in equal measures.
"Get to the point," Kassandra whispered. "Must you go on long-winded speeches even now?"
Ivy chuckled at her impatience. It was endearing, even though that puppy-like excitement had been warped by rage. "You are a ray of sunshine in my darkness, Kass. Fighting by your side to protect people, it was unlike anything I ever imagined. I didn't care about the people beneath us… and I still don't. But seeing the way they look up to you, the way you smile when you know that you kept them safe… there's nothing in the world, nothing that I ever had, or ever will have, that could compare." Ivy raised a hand, gently stroking Kassandra's cheek. Their eyes never left each other's, each laying their souls bare in this crescendo of hearts. Kassandra's glow dimmed slightly.
"I told you this two years ago, and I'll tell you again. I am deeply and hopelessly in love with you, Kassandra King. Your companionship makes me burst with joy far more than the conquest of a thousand worlds. Your smile makes my heart race more than a million defeated foes. And your love is worth more to me than any ambition ever could. I didn't realize it when you first met me. But I've known it for the last 3 years. And I wouldn't trade it for world domination. Not even universal domination,." Ivy said, smirking mischievously.
Kassandra's lips trembled slightly, before Ivy suddenly found herself engulfed in an uncomfortably tight embrace. "You are an amoral, hedonistic, selfish bitch," Kassandra muttered into the shorter girl's hair. "You've murdered millions. You've tried to take over the world. You joined my team for the sole purpose of manipulating me to benefit yourself."
"All true," Ivy whispered, face buried in the crook of Kassandra's neck. "But not in this time. Any crimes I've committed never happened. As for the other thing… not anymore. Not since the Chimaera incident. I do love you, Kassandra, more than anything. Everything we've gone through in the last 6 years, that's been the real me. I'm still Ivy; I always have been. I'm still your Hearth."
Kassandra sniffled. "I know. Deep down… I've always known. Sappy as this might be… I knew our love was real." Kassandra breathed out heavily, before her voice recovered some of its bubbly playfulness. "But I'll be keeping an eye on you from now on, little schemer." Kassandra's hug tightened even more, but Ivy didn't complain. It was reassuring, to know that she wasn't letting her go. "You're going to be under house arrest, with me. You're not allowed to leave my side. I need to see it. To see that it's really you."
Ivy nodded in understanding and acceptance. "Okay. Whatever you need. I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you." Kassandra let out a watery laugh at her girlfriend's easy acquiescence. Normally, the playful little imp would make things hard for her.
"Any other world-shattering revelations you want to share?" Kassandra asked jokingly. Ivy shook her head.
"No," Ivy said quietly. "And I promise, none of my past crimes will ever happen again. I'm going to be the best person I can be. I'm going to prove myself worthy of your love, Kassandra."
Kassandra's face broke into a smile, even as she tried to stay serious. "Oh, you little dummy. You don't have to change who you are for me. Like you said, you've been acting as the real you for the last 6 years. That's the Ivy Harkness I fell in love with. The girl I'm in love with."
Ivy's eyes, which had, since their confrontation, held a backdrop of sadness, regained a bit of their light. "Thank you… for believing me, Kass." She sniffled slightly. Kassandra laughed, petting her lightly on the hair.
"Of course, sweetie,." sShe said gently, before taking on a more joking tone. "But if you ever lie to me again, I'm going to burn you to a pile of ash. Clear?" That got a laugh out of Ivy.
"Hydrogen."