Persona BLEACHED 2: Part 32

Chapter 32: The Tale of the Serpent and Lioness
2023
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" 
Seoul, South Korea. An ornate house with a set of stone steps leading up to it. It's a cloudy day. The mood inside the house, even cloudier.
"You want me to give you a list? You might be here a while." Lin joked.
"Could you drop the silver tongue for two seconds? This isn't funny." Wei asserted.
"It's bad enough that you have a rap sheet already, now you're dragging your sister into this garbage!" Joon yelled.
"So and me are just having quality bonding time. Not my fault if I see something shiny." Lin replied.
"She's nine years old, Lin! Haven't you ever heard of self-control?!"
"Sure I have, Ma. I controlled myself putting that nice watch into my pocket."
"I don't know how you ended up this way. We have enough money to where you'd never be wanting. Why can't you keep your hands to yourself?" Wei asked.
"Cuz it's fun. Simple. Easy."
"It might be fun for you, but not for your father and I. 'My daughter, the pickpocket.' Do you know how embarrassing that is?" Joon griped.
"Really, Ma? Pops walks around like he's still a 20-year old dreamboat and I'm the embarrassment?"
In the next room, Kitty sat on her bed, game system in hand. The argument could be heard through the walls, but Kitty, headphones on, heard none of it.
"Where do you think you're going? Lin! Don't walk pretend you don't hear--"
Lin walked into Kitty's room, shut the door behind her and locked it. "Whaaaaatever."
Kitty took off her headphones. "Are they mad?"
"At you? Nah. At me for dragging you along? Yep. I walked off when Ma started reaching for a sandal."
The door knob started rattling. "Lin! Open up! Wei, go grab the key! Lin you'd better not--"
Lin snickered. "Rich. So rich!" Lin made for the window.
"I wanna come with!" Kitty said.
One foot out the window, Lin stopped. "Sorry, kitten, not this time. Ma and Pops already want my head. Taking you along now? Might as well start digging my grave."
"They're just being mean! You're so cool, Lin. Rules are stupid, anyway. I wanna be like you!"
Lin patted Kitty on the head. "No you don't, kitten. You really don't. You want Ma and Pops to yell at you every other day?"
"But you do things all the time. Why can't I go with you?"
"Cuz it's the only thing I'm good at. You, though? You've got a spark. You can actually be something. Don't waste that spark chasing me around."
"But Lin..."
The doorknob unlocked. "That's my cue. See ya when I see ya." Lin hopped out the window.
The door opened. "Dammit! She's gone." Wei griped.
"So-yin, she didn't hurt you, did she?" Joon asked.
"Lin wouldn't hurt me, Mama. We were just having fun."
"Listen, So-yin. Your sister's idea of fun isn't really fun. It's criminal. Please don't listen when she wants you to do these things."
"But she's my big sis."
"Exactly why she should know better. Just stay here and play your games. Don't think about Lin. Wei?"
"I'll go find her..."
...
"I wanted to be like Lin. I didn't care what my parents said. Even what Lin told me fell on deaf ears. My sister was cool. If I could be like her, I could be cool too. So I trained my body. Learned how to pick locks. Picked up the 'IDGAF' attitude. And when someone said something about Lin? I gave them a pasting."
"I lost a lot of friends that way. Got myself into trouble more than once. Gave my parents a ton of headaches."
"I thought being like her would make me cool. But it didn't. It just brought more trouble. If my parents weren't there, I'd be completely alone. Once I came to Tokyo, Lin's words finally sank in. I could be myself. I found people that liked being around me, even if I got mad. A little girl looked up at me and said she wanted to be like me. That was me. Not Lin 2.0. Me."
"I saw that I was screwing up. I came to my senses. Now there's only three things left to do. Three things, and I can finally free myself of everything Lin did."
"Save Prof's crew. Stop the hand freaks. And drag Lin home."
---
April 4, 2029
The portal opened. The nine students, garbed in their ashen hoods, stepped out. Above them, a star-filled sky. Before them, the lunar cityscape.
Kitty took a breath. "Welp. We're not popsicles. That's one scare out of the way."
"Old Buzz and Neil never mentioned this..." Barbara uttered. 
"An entire city, hidden within the mind. Is this really where Death's Hand comes from?" Kibō pondered.
"Well I think our lives have peaked. How exactly do you surpass 'going to the moon at 16'?" Sahir asked.
"Some of us here are still 15, but the point stands, I suppose." Kenji replied.
Natalia shuddered. "What's the matter, Hoods? Look like you've seen a ghost." Max asked.
"This place is so...creepy. All these buildings, and rocks, but no signs of life anywhere. Even the air feels dead--if you can call it air." Natalia replied.
"She isn't wrong." Kenji walked over to a building. "These structures...they appear to be ancient, and yet...far more advanced than anything you would find on Earth. The technology present, completely married to the local rocks. I could spend an eternity analyzing these structures..."
"Focus, Choi Mong-lyong. We've got a job to do. You can have fun with the moon rocks later." Kitty asserted.
The city itself was in ruins. "Curious." Carrie wondered. "The buildings are put together in a way where many of them are still completely intact after what I assume is many years. Yet even more of them are in pieces. Why is that?"
"Perhaps...it was not age that caused them to fall." Sakuya began.
"Yeah...these holes don't say to me that the rocks just fell out. They look more like something blasted them off." Sahir added.
"So the city wasn't abandoned...it was destroyed." Barbara surmised. "But by what? Even with everything we don't know about them, would Death's Hand really destroy their own city?"
"Let's just hurry up and find Teach. If something tore this place apart, I don't want to be around to find out what..."
The students continued to walk. Atop a nearby building, a green-robed figure observed. "I've caught sight of our guests, Haimon. They're headed towards the city center. Give me the word, and I'll engage..." Creon communicated.
The group arrived in an open location. "The layout of this place...a park?" Kibō questioned.
"Any vegetation would've died out long ago. But if this was a park, then this wasn't simply a secluded, organizational hideout. This was a functioning city." Sakuya surmised.
"And the remnants of whoever lived here...it's easy to deduce that they would go on to form Death's Hand. I wonder, then...why recruit and empower humans like you?" Kenji questioned.
"All the Master ever told me was that he needed more strength. Strength enough to overpower the 'deceiver goddess'."
"Not a fan of elaboration, this Master is, huh?" Kitty questioned.
"Hey, over here!" Natalia called out.
In the middle of the park was a pedestal, atop which was the bottom half of a statue. On the ground next to the pedestal was the top half, the head separated from the torso.
"'Miyatsuko, the Inquisitive'." Kibō read the inscription. "That's a Japanese name..."
Barbara looked at the statue's head. "Nat. That face looks familiar, doesn't it?"
"It...does. Even though it really, really shouldn't." Natalia replied.
"Do you guys remember when we went to the museum in Karakura Town? We talked with this guy...said he was a professor. Told us all about this myth, and then left to go meet up with his daughter. And the myth he told us was about..."
Natalia's eyes widened. "Tsukiyomi, the God of the...of the moon."
Silence. "...what the hell have we walked into?" Max uttered.
The air that had been so still before, suddenly chilled. "Brr! I know I said I was getting chills, but this is a little extreme..." Sahir uttered.
"This sudden chill..." Sakuya muttered. "Oh, no!"
An object came flying towards them at high speed. Sakuya caught sight of it, and instinctively called forth Hua Mulan, and cut the object in two. The two halves of the object crashed next to the group, freezing the ground on impact.
"What was that?!" Kitty questioned.
"Impressive. Not many people can defend against one of my sliders. But then, you aren't 'many people', are you, Tiresias?"
Creon stepped out of the shadows, tossing a ball of ice in his hand, his sword in a sheath on his back.
"Who's this joker?" Max asked.
"Creon. So the Master isn't pulling his punches, I see." Sakuya said.
"Creon? So this guy's the leader of the Elites?" Barbara asked.
"Correct. I'm glad to finally meet you, disciples of the deceiver goddess. The Master wanted you to receive a proper welcome to the Lunar Capital. I'm here to oblige."
"Let's dispense with the idle chatter, Ryōma. What have you done with the Professor? What's this plan I devoted my existence to?" Sakuya demanded.
"'Ryōma'?" Carrie asked.
"A name from another life. And you lost any insight into the plan the moment you turned your back on us. As for that woman, we've yet to locate her. But rest assured..." 
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed out. Appearing behind the students were a pair of rusted, mechanical units, bearing arm and shoulder cannons and standing twice as tall as the students.
"Neither will you." Creon turned away. "If you can survive the city's defense systems, make your way to the tallest standing tower in the capital. All who you seek will be there, waiting." He peered over at Kitty. "All." He vanished.
"Shows up just to taunt us and run. How typical." Barbara griped.
"No use complaining. Let's put these things in the scrap heap." Kitty replied.
"Ahehehehehe..."
"Huh?" Kitty looked around for the source of the giggling. At that moment, the others were completely frozen in place. So were the attacking machines. "Uh...did that weirdo do this? We really going into Dio territory now..."
The giggling echoed once more. "Over heeeeere!" Kitty could see a small figure waving in the distance. Hesitantly, she headed towards it.
Once she had departed, time resumed. "Okay, let's take care of--huh? Hey, where'd Kitty--" Kibō uttered, before being forced to defend a swinging blow from one of the machines.
Kitty had followed the figure into an alleyway. "I'm so not in the mood for mind games." she groaned. 
"Wowee, you heard my voice! I didn't even have to yell super loud!" The voice was like Kitty's, but distorted. She looked down the alley and saw the figure that had been waving. It was a younger version of herself with glowing yellow eyes.
"What the...what are you supposed to be?"
"That's kinda dumb to ask. I'm you--the you that you hide under all that jokyness. I got tired of waiting for you to notice me, so I pulled you away so we could chit chat!"
"Haven't we been over this already, though? I already did the awakening thing. You're Arianrhod, right?"
"Nope nope nope NOPE. That name's a phony, that one. I wanna tell you my real name, but I gotta hear it from you."
"Hear...what?"
"That you're really okay with fighting big sis."
"That I'm okay with--I've said it a million times that I'm okay with it!"
"And a million times, you lied. You're really a big scaredy cat."
"That's BS."
"Is it, though? See if this sounds familiar." The Shadow's vocal distortion disappeared. "'Linny is my only friend. She's so cool, and funny and pretty. She sticks with me even when everyone else leaves. Mama and Pops are wrong about her, everyone is wrong about her! Linny's the only one who cares!'"
"....."
The Shadow walked up to Kitty--and embraced her. "'Nobody wants to be friends with Kitty. They all say mean things about Linny. But Linny is the only one that comes back. I'm so lonely without her around.'"
"'I'm so...so lonely. Nobody wants to play with Kitty. Everyone stopped watching Kitty play games. And when friends finally came to help Kitty, she yelled at them and punched one. The boy Kitty thought she loved didn't really feel the same way. And when Linny came to visit, Kitty told on her and made her mad. Kitty just hurts everyone. Kitty can't be loved...'"
Kitty said nothing. She just looked down at her duplicate.
"Why did you tell on big sis? She's the only one that ever really loved us when no one else did. You don't want to fight her. You say you do, but you don't. You say a lot of things you don't mean. Like with Sparky. Why say those things? Why attack big sis? Why make us lonely again?"
Kitty, moving slowly, placed her hand on her Shadow's head. "I just...wanted to hear someone say they liked me. I wanted someone that doesn't steal things and lie to people to tell me they like me. I don't want to rely on a thief to make me feel like I matter. I've got the others now. I don't want to feel lonely anymore. That's why I have to go against Lin. The Kitty that relies on other people to validate her has to die. And the only way to do that is to bring the one I've worshipped down a peg. I can be somebody to someone and to myself, without her."
Behind Kitty, at the entrance to the alleyway, an armed machine had appeared. She quickly took notice. "I won't be able to go forward if I don't take her on. This ain't my place to die. I need you to help me out. The kitten has to become a big cat sometime. So please...give me the power."
The Shadow warmly agreed, and disappeared. Kitty's eyes and body began crackling with pink electricity. She turned to the machine. "Sorry, rustbucket. Heroes don't die against underleveled grunts. Especially ones with such crappy paint jobs."
Behind her, a cloaked woman in tattered pink-and-black robes appeared, headphones draped around her neck. "Give 'em the old special, Myeongwol." 
The spirit shaped its hand into the form of a gun, and fired a line of energy straight through the machine that passed through it in a split second, destroying it. The remains of it collapsed to the ground. Kitty walked past it into the open. "Not even worth the XP." she joked.
"There she is!" The rest of the group ran over to her. "Where the devil did you go?" Kenji asked.
"Sorry, had to take a leak." Kitty replied.
"Jokes? Really?" Sakuya sighed.
"Y'all know you wouldn't have me any different. Nah, but for real, I had to figure some things out on my own. Erase any doubt about what we're doing here. Had to get my mind ready for..."
Kitty sensed a presence. "Hm. Grabbed your attention, did I, Serpent Queen?"
"Goes without saying. You certainly made enough noise." Viper stepped out of the shadows.
"So the sibling of the year finally makes her presence known. Finally fed up with trying to find babies to steal candy from?" Barbara asked.
"Clearly you haven't hung around this one long enough, kitten. The bimbo's pre-battle quips could use some work."
"Excuse me?!" Barbara griped, but was stopped from further action by Kitty.
"Take that hood off, Lin." she demanded.
"Why? Missed my stunning complexion that much?"
"I need to know for sure whose face I'm about to cave in."
"Testy, testy. Fine." Lin removed her hood, the shadow beneath it giving way and revealing her face.
"Everyone. Go on ahead. I can handle this." Kitty ordered.
"Kitty, we can't just leave you alone..." Kibō retorted.
"The more time you're wasting here, the more time the Hand Club has to find Prof and Doc. Plus it wouldn't make sense for anyone else to get the last lick on this one, would it?"
"I'm staying here with you." Sakuya insisted.
"Oh, hey there, Tirey. Thought that's where you'd run off to. Club jacket was too tempting, huh?" Lin quipped.
"Maggie, I appreciate the thought, but I can handle her on my own. The more you guys have, the better." Kitty insisted.
"I've considered your arguments and reject all of them. If you expend all of your energy fighting, how will you make it to our location on your own? I won't hear another objection." Sakuya argued.
"Feh. Well what am I gonna do with that? Have it your way."
The others made their exit. Kibō paused. "I hope you're able to find your peace, Kitty. Good luck." He left.
Lin twirled a dagger around in her hand. "This is fine by me. The less of the litter I have to deal with, the better."
"Tell me now, Lin. Why did you join up with these people? Actually, scratch that. I already know. They promised you a power upgrade and a hoard of cash in exchange for servitude. Is that right?" Kitty asked.
"Heh."
"Knew it. You're as predictable as the sunrise. None of what these freaks are doing actually matters to you. I'll bet that if they were planning on blowing up the whole planet, you'd bolt as soon as you got your payment. Maybe find a nice crater to fill up with gold coins."
"You really do think the worst of me, kitten. But you're not wrong. Guy comes around promising power and untold riches so long as you help him with some errands? I'd have to be brain dead to say no to that. If the old coot would just hand me the keys to the vaults, I'd be halfway home by now. I'm debating whether I should just grab a couple moon rocks, cut my losses and disappear. For all I know the old moon vault could be filled with space dust."
"I don't understand you one bit. Selling your soul for the sake of a payday? When you already live a privileged lifestyle? How could you be so greedy?" Sakuya questioned.
"Tough talk when those same hands payed for all those conversion treatments, eh, Tirey? You don't have any room to tell me off when you got a hell of a lot more out of selling your soul than me." Lin retorted.
"Grrr..."
"It's like I told So-yin. Thieving's all I'm good at. I don't got the smarts or talent to get into a fancy academy like you, kitten. The thrill and the danger that comes with heists is the ultimate high. Spitting in a guy's face and telling them that their rules don't mean jack to you is even better."
"You won't get anywhere with her, Maggie. There's no childhood trauma or deeper meaning behind it. She was just born bad. It's past the time for talking." Kitty said.
"Is that what you're calling this, baby sis? Talking?"
"Like I said, Lin." Energy crackled around Kitty once more. "Past time."
Lin took a step back. "H-hey, now, what's with the look? Are you being serious?"
"I think the time for joking has passed, Snake-san. Surely you wouldn't appear before us if you didn't believe you could win, did you?" Sakuya questioned.
"Y'know, now that I think about it..." Kitty began. "Your Persona isn't very good one-on-one, is it?"
"That's right...last time I saw it, all it was good for was making a quick escape. I took her out in barely a minute, and that was right after getting the power-up. Still, there's no way that was all there was to it. And she wouldn't spend all this time without testing it out. Not even Lin's that lazy." she thought.
"So what's it gonna be, Lin? You actually gonna put up a fight, or do what you always do and head for the hills?"
"Heh. Really grew a mouth, didn't ya? 'Course I'm gonna bolt if it ain't worth my time. I just came to see if you'd gotten sick of being a goody two-shoes and wanted a cut of my haul. I'm telling ya, kitten, you turn in a couple moon rocks and you'll never have to work a day in your life." Lin said.
"Something tells me you have a great deal of experience with that concept." Sakuya commented.
"Jeez. I can't win with you two. Ah, well." Lin suddenly vanished, leaving behind a snakeskin copy that fell to the ground. Lin reappeared hanging from an open window on a nearby building. "Later, skaters!" She leapt inside the window.
"Son of a--" Kitty griped. She looked up at the window. "Maggie, gimme a boost!"
"I'm sorry? That's three floors up!"
"Easy pickings."
Shortly after, Sakuya bent over. "Are you sure about this?"
"Sure I'm sure. Just hold still for a sec, you get to play Goomba!"
"What's a Goomba--"
Kitty made a running start and leapt onto Sakuya's back, before immediately leaping off and grabbing hold of the window. She climbed onto it.
"Next time, would you mind not wearing combat boots?" Sakuya griped.
"Just for you I'll try it next time in heels."
"Now how am I supposed to follow you?"
"I dunno. Take the stairs or something. I gotta jet." Kitty ran.
"Hm. Take the stairs, she says. Suppose I should--"
Something touched her leg. She looked down to find the snakeskin clone grabbing her. Reacting quickly, she summoned Hua Mulan and cut it in two, destroying it.
"Those clones aren't just decoys...I have to warn Kitty-san."
Kitty flew up the stairs. Once she reached the second-to-last floor, she was confronted with several snakeskin clones. "Ugh, these uglies actually move? Wonderful."
Two of the clones wrapped themselves around her arms, holding her in place. Others began swarming around her.
"I know what you're doing, Lin. Just biding time to make your escape. You really don't want to fight me, do you? Bit late for that. I'm gonna say my piece, and no sentient boot material is gonna keep me from doing it."
Myeongwol manifested behind Kitty, charging a pink ball of energy in its hands. It clapped down on the ball, creating a shockwave that eradicated the clones. Energy still crackling around her eyes, Kitty made her way up the last flight of steps.
On the roof of the building, Lin peered over the ledge. "Okay, not the worst jump in the world...or solar system or whatever."
"You're not taking a jump anywhere, Lin." Kitty proclaimed.
"Sheesh, that was quick. Guess those clones weren't any trouble for ya, huh? It's one ripoff after another..."
"Why won't you just stand still and fight? It's easy peasy with a controller in your hand, but now that it's for real you're quaking in your boots? Were you always this much of a chicken and I was just blind to it?"
"'Blind to it' about sums up your view of me, little sis. I told ya to be as far from me as possible, but you always clung to my leg like a baby panda. Even now your pals are running off to fight the old geezer, and what are you doing? Playing tag with big sis. Like it or not, you can never let me go. It's been that way since the day you were born and it's never changing."
"What do you think I'm doing here, Lin? You think I'm gonna get on my knees and beg you to come home?" Kitty began. "No. I've moved past that point. Y'know, a while back I had a chat with Mama about you. Her and Pops have known for a while that you're a lost cause. You're a grown adult, and as tough a pill as it is to swallow, they've accepted that nothing they can do will change who you are. It's taken me a while to understand how they could think that, but I finally get it."
"Get what, So? What the hell did you chase me for?"
"I chased you down so I could tell you to your face that I'm done living in your shadow. I used to think that you were the coolest person on Earth. That everyone else was wrong about you. I've lost so many friends trying to defend you. And for what? Someone destined to spend their days in a dirty cell? No. No more, Lin. I'm finally following your advice. I was so afraid of being alone. I thought you were the only person capable of making me feel loved. But I was dead wrong. I still have Mama and Pops. And you know who else I have?"
Kitty began holding up her fingers. "I've got Keebie. I've got Barbie. I've got Kenny, and Sparky, and Care Bear, and Hoodsie and Kicks and Maggie. I don't need your approval anymore. I'm done trying to live up to the family embarrassment. I'm not gonna lose any more sleep over you. So you can take all of your moon rocks, and your empty promises, and do whatever you want. You're not my problem anymore. This isn't an appeasement, Lin-mae. This isn't an intervention. This isn't a final showdown."
Kitty turned around and began walking away. "This is goodbye."
Lin was speechless.
Sakuya arrived, panting. "I'm never chastising Kenji-san for his hatred of stairs ever again..." She looked up. "Kitty-san?"
"Let's go, Maggie."
Sakuya saw Lin standing near the edge of the roof. "But what about her?"
"Not my problem."
Lin stewed for a moment. She gritted her teeth.
Finally, she exploded.
"Hey! HEY! Where the fuck do you think you're going?! You're done with me?! You're nothing without me! Who taught you everything you know?! Who was there for you when no one else gave a damn?! ME, THAT'S WHO!"
"Kitty-san..." Sakuya muttered.
Kitty said nothing. She clenched her fist.
"You get the hell over here right now, So! Those pals of yours'll get fed up with you eventually! And you'll come crawling back to me like always! There's no changing the blood in our veins! You and me are--"
The ranting suddenly stopped.
Out of seemingly nowhere, a long chain flew past Sakuya and Kitty's heads.
Its sharp end hit Lin square in the chest.
Kitty turned to see the end result. Lin fell to her knees. "LIN!" Kitty screamed.
"This chain...where did it...?" Sakuya pondered. She looked to see where it had come from.
The source slowly faded into view, the chain emerging from beneath the sleeve of a black-and-blue hooded jacket.
"Your angel of death awaits." Jin said coldly.
"NO!" Kitty shrieked. Jin withdrew his chain. Lin clutched her wound and collapsed. Kitty ran to her.
"I've been waiting for this moment." Jin slowly approached Lin, chain armed in the shape of a blade.
"Hunh...hey, Chuckles...fancy meeting you here...don't suppose you have any more old Nintendo systems lying around..." Lin weakly responded.
"Sharp tongue for a dead woman. Now how about we remove that diseased head from the rest of you?"
"Mirai-san, stop it!" Sakuya got between them.
"You. Move it."
"Absolutely not! You've already critically wounded her! Mutilating her any further would be barbaric!"
"A fitting enough punishment for her ilk."
"Asshole! All she did was take a box full of wires! That's no reason to kill anyone!" Kitty yelled.
"She spat in my face. Took something I treasured and gleefully laughed about it. Animals like her deserve no mercy. All my life I've tried living up to my father's code of honor, and all I've gotten in return is mutilation, torment and affronts to my very existence. I'm done being the world's punching bag. Now get out of my way." Jin asserted.
"Think about what you're doing! What would your wife think if she saw you like this? What would your child think if she knew you cut down someone in cold blood?" Sakuya protested.
"Don't use my family against me. The world would be better off if I finished her off."
"Kill them!"
Jin clutched his head. A buzzing sensation filled his brain.
"Kill them! They're in the way of your payback! Do it! Kill them!"
Jin's gaze fixated on the girls. "That's right...you were just like her. And you..." He stared daggers at Sakuya. "You're one of them. You haven't payed for your demons."
"Wrong. I've made peace with mine. It's you that's enslaved by them. Or am I to believe that the once-jovial Jinichi Mirai is planning to massacre two teenagers of his own volition?" Sakuya retorted.
"You...Hoodsie still sleeps with that plushie you gave her. Prof tells us about what a good guy you are. Would you really kill us for some half-baked sense of revenge?" Kitty added.
"I...urgh!" Jin grabbed his head again. The buzzing grew worse. "My head...ever since I got here...the pounding...grrr!"
"What are you waiting for?! Kill them!"
"I...I have to get out of here. More will die unless I...GRRRRR!" Jin vanished into smoke.
"He's gone..." Sakuya uttered.
"Lin! LIN!" Kitty clutched her sister.
Lin opened her eyes. She smirked. "Ha...to think...two minutes ago, you were ready to walk off forever...now you're tearing up at the sight of me dying..."
"No...no...Lin, I'm..."
"Don't you dare...*cough*...dare apologize. Not after that perfect 10 teardown you just...gave me..."
Kitty shook her head as the tears streamed down her face. "I didn't want this...I don't want you to die...all I wanted was for you to get your shit together!"
"Kitty-san..." Sakuya muttered.
Lin kept up the smirk. "Kitten...you think I'm gonna just roll over and die like this...today ain't the day for that. My date with the devil's gonna have to wait..." 
"What are you saying...?" Kitty asked.
"Did you forget...? I'm the Snake Queen of South Korea, kiddo...I'm not going out like this...sit back and watch..."
Lin rolled over and let out a strained sound. Blood leaked out of her wound as her breathing intensified. Green energy began emanating from her.
"Lin...?"
After a minute of this, the bleeding stopped. Lin was panting. "Call it Naga's secret power...molting, regeneration, whatever...it can bring me from the brink of death...there's just one catch..."
Lin got to her feet. She turned around. Kitty and Sakuya were shocked by what they saw.
Lin's irises were now yellow, her pupils stretched upwards into an oval shape.
"Your eyes...they look like..." Sakuya said.
"Not just the eyes." Lin put her index fingers into her mouth and stretched them open to reveal her canines. They were now sharpened, like fangs. "Wanna take bets if I can pump venom?"
"Lin...what's happening to you?" Kitty questioned.
"Exactly what it looks like, So. First time I used that power, I got a few scales on my backside. Probably got a few more of 'em now. 'Viper' ain't just a codename anymore. Every time I regenerate, I get a bit more snake-like. Dunno how many more times I can bail myself out before I turn completely, but I'd wager not a lot."
"I'm so--"
Lin put a finger over Kitty's mouth. "I told you. There's nothing to be sorry about. This is karma finally kicking in for a lifetime of shitty choices. This is my fault, not yours, or anyone else. Really, you should be thrilled. Maybe I'll find myself a nice cobra, settle down in a cave somewhere and lay a few eggs."
"Joking? Really?" Sakuya shook her head.
"You should know by now, Maggie. Girls in our family don't take anything seriously." Kitty said through a few remaining tears.
"Did you tell her the wedding story?" Lin asked.
"Oh, did I ever. Mama'll be ripping into Pops til the end of time." The sisters giggled.
"Unbelievable..." Sakuya griped.
"Well, kitten...no. So-yin. I know nothing can make up for all the hurt I've caused. I'll follow what you want. I'll steer as clear of you as possible. But if you're gonna take the geezer down a peg..." Lin presented her dagger. "Take this with you. I don't need it anymore."
"Wow. A gift from the master of taking over giving. Someone mark the date." Kitty joked.
"Stupid. Just try not to break it."
"Well if it's yours, you probably bought it from some back alley hobo. Can't make any promises." 
Lin shook her head. "I really can't win with you." 
As she turned to leave, she paused. "If we never see each other again after this..."
"I love you, Lin. That'll never change."
Lin wiped her eyes. "Yeah. Same." She vanished.
"Are you alright?" Sakuya asked.
"I am now. I said what I had to. Hopefully it sticks for her."
"Quite. Let's hurry on, then. The others must be near the tower by now. Though I worry that we may have bigger problems than just the Master. You saw the madness in Mirai-san's eyes."
"Yeah. Hopefully we catch them before he does. I didn't like what I saw..."
The girls headed for the stairs. Kitty stopped, and gazed at the dagger. "Next time I see you, Lin...hopefully it's with a way to fix everything."