Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Wu Bai Hee stared out past her balcony window, watching the people scurrying around like rats in a sewer. It was already evening, and yet the streets were lined with lit fires, illuminating the shadows. It gave her the perfect lighting to watch the people trying to get home before curfew.

More than a few people looked up to the darkness of her balcony. She knew that she was practically invisible, blending in with the night. However, that didn't stop them from bowing in her direction, grateful for her very existence.

It amazed her just how easy it was to manipulate people as a whole, even without her powers. 

Each and every one of those… people… wanted only one thing. They wanted someone to come along and tell them that they had the answer to all of their problems, that if they just did as they were told, all of their hardships would go away, and life would be happy and easy.

In short, people needed to be ruled, and she was the perfect one to do it.

"You are thinking so hard that I could hear you from my place," smirked Demeter, appearing behind Wu Bai He. 

"Hardly. What do I have to think about?" replied Wu Bai Hee, unconsciously rubbing her belly. She hadn't popped yet, but she couldn't seem to help herself. 

"World domination perhaps?" joked the Goddess, looking down on the mere mortals. They had no idea that there was a goddess amongst them. She wondered what their reaction would be if they realized that all of their myths and legends were true.

"I am supposed to be the kind and gentle female main character that everyone either wants or wants to be. How could I possibly think about world domination?" asked Wu Bai Hee, an innocent look on her face. 

Demeter let out a bark of laughter as she looked at the woman she had chosen. "Do you know the difference between being the heroine or the villain?"

"The villain is hated by all?"

"No," smirked Demeter with a shake of her head. A crisp breeze gently kissed her skin, welcoming her. This was her season, spring. When everything was given a second chance at life to make of it what they could before they died away in the harshness of winter. "Perspective," she continued, letting out a gentle breath and watching as buds on a nearby plant started to grow.

"I don't understand," said Wu Bai Hee, turning to look at the woman beside her in confusion.

"A heroine is loved by all because everyone wants to love her. Even when she fucks up, people will always be quick to offer her an excuse. 'She's stressed, under pressure, that is why she yelled at us like she did. We should be more considerate and help take some of that stress from her.' Sound familiar?" laughed Demeter as she turned her attention back to the people huddled around a dying fire, trying to get every last bit of warmth from it.

"In contrast, a villain is a villain because people hate her. No matter what she does, she will always be hated for her actions or her lack of them. She could be the nicest person in the world, and people will still treat her like a villain just because they just don't like her. Think about it. How many times has a sweet, gentle heroine come and steal a man away from another woman? And in each case, she is in the right, and the one that lost everything is the villain because she objected."

"Why are you telling me this?" demanded Wu Bai Hee as she felt a headache start behind her temple. She hated everything about this place. The smell, the food, the people, everything. She had assumed that because she was in City A, the best city in the whole country, that the apocalypse would be different.

But it wasn't. It was just… polished.

Instead of dark, dirty streets, they were cleaned. But there were still people dying on them. She watched an older man lying helpless in front of a doorway. Even from her height, she could see his trembling as he fought to take one breath after another. He pulled his threadbare blanket up over his thin shoulder, trying to keep out the cold breeze.

"If he looks familiar, he should," said Demeter, following Wu Bai Hee's line of sight. She chose not to answer the other woman's question. She would understand fast enough if she kept along this path.

The mortal raised her brow, not recognizing the man at all. 

"He is your 'father'. The one that brought you here and kept you alive on your journey," continued Demeter, not at all upset with the fact that she was watching someone die. It was the circle of life, and everyone and everything went through it. "Do you want to know what he is thinking?"

"Something tells me that even if I didn't, you would be telling it to me anyways," tisked Wu Bai Hee, turning her gaze away from the man and continuing to look around. 

"You know me so well," smirked the Goddess. "He is happy that you are doing so well here. He doesn't even care that he is dying and you are nowhere to be found. In fact, that is what is making him the happiest. That you are so well off that you don't need him to protect you anymore."

Wu Bai Hee let out a bark of laughter and turned her attention back to the old man. "He served his purpose. There is no point in extending his pathetic existence."

"And that, my dear, is perspective," said Demeter as she disappeared just as suddenly as she appeared, leaving the other woman alone on the balcony as the man breathed his last breath.

"Well, fuck. Now I am going to have to pretend to be sad," grumbled Wu Bai Hee, spinning around on her heels and going back into her condo. Faking tears always left her with a headache, and she was not in the mood to deal with that right now.

-------

Wang Tian Mu fought back the scream as she was pulled out of her cage by her hair. She knew it was pointless to fight back or try to get them to let go of her; experience taught her to just let her body go relax so that it wouldn't hurt as much.

"Heal him," growled the Reaver who was pulling her. He flung her toward a being that lay unconscious in the middle of the pit. The darkness prevented her from knowing who it was that she was supposed to heal, but that didn't matter to her. Everyone deserved to be healed, or at the very least, not in pain.

After all these months, she was well aware that not all wounds could be healed. Sometimes, it was all she could do to take away the pain and hold them in her arms so they would know that they weren't alone when they took their last breath. 

She heard the Reaver walk away, but he was not the one she was focused on. "Oh, Rip," she gasped softly as she ran her hands all over the giant's body. She could feel the wetness on her fingers, the sticky consistency of blood. Sharp bones protruded from his arm, leg, and chest from where they were snapped in two. 

"Don't," Rip gasped, trying to move to prevent her from healing him. "You'll hurt."

"You don't think I am not hurting seeing you like this?" she demanded, a harsh bark of laughter squeezed out of her. 

"You need your strength for yourself. I will heal on my own in a few hours," argued Rip as he finally succeeded in rolling over onto his back. "Come cuddle," he continued, holding out his unbroken arm so that she could lay down beside him.

She wormed her way over until she was pressed up against his side, her hand over his heart, reassuring herself that it still beat. After her fiancé died, she thought she could never love again, but then she met Rip. He was the reason why she woke up every day, the light in her very dark world.

She felt his body moving under her as it started to put itself back together, his bones snapping back into place.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" she asked, resting her head against his chest as she pushed a bit of healing energy into his heart.

"Same old, same old," said Rip, looking up into the night sky. He bit his tongue, refusing to admit to the fact that he thought that this was going to be the end. His last thought before he lost consciousness was what was she going to do if he didn't wake up.

Luckily for him, the scientists managed to keep what worked in him, and his ability to regenerate was as good as any zombie's. It just took longer.

"Rip," warned Wang Tian Mu, gently slapping his chest. 

"It was a ten-on-one fight," he answered her. He would always give her everything that he could, even if he didn't like it. "And unfortunately for me, the odds were not in my favor."