The fabulous Killjoys: After SING

“Envy,” Pandora said, her eyes slightly twinkling in joy, as well as sadness. Envy knew that he was in the warrior realm, but he was too focused on Pandora to care that he was back in the world of white.
“Pandora?” Envy asked, his emotions going nuts in his head as he looked at the green-eyed girl. His body, not in control of the brain at the moment, walked straight up to her, taking her in his arms. “I’m sorry, I tried to stop them, but-”
“It’s alright,” Pandora said, understanding in her voice, as well as her eyes, “I know what you did, and it more than makes up for what happened in the past.”
“You do?”
“Yes, if I focus while I’m in here, I can see what’s going on in a certain area, and if I focused even harder, I could send thoughts to someone.”
“So you saw what happened in the shooting range?” Pandora nodded her head, her eyes starting to shine over from tears.
“I did. You followed your heart, instead of listening to the hate that was growing in your head, and seeing that couldn’t had made me happier.”
“It was true, all of it.”
“I know,” Pandora said, wrapping her arms around Envy’s torso, holding on to him as if he would disappear at any moment. He savored the moment, wishing it would last forever.
“Why,” Envy said, breaking the silence that had grew around them, “Why couldn’t things had been different?” Pandora smiled for a moment before she spoke.
“Why don’t we sit down, and I’ll tell you a story that my nanny told Deryn and me when we were young. It just might answer your question.” Envy agreed, and soon enough the two were sitting so they were facing each other, while Pandora started to tell the story.
“There was once a fisherman and his wife, who lived in a small town by the ocean. Every day the fisherman would go out to sea on his boat, and his wife would stay behind and care for the house. Their life was simple, but happy. They loved each other very much.
“The wife had only one complaint about her husband-he only ate fish. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he would only eat what he caught. It didn’t matter what she cooked or baked: bread or pastries, rice or potatoes-he wouldn’t eat any of it. Fish was his food, he said, and that was the way it had to be. From an early age he had been this way, he had taken a vow that his wife couldn’t understand.
“One day the wife had finally gotten fed up with his limited diet. She decided to trick him, to mix a piece of cooked lamb in with his fish. She did this cleverly, so that from the outside the fish looked as if it had come straight from the sea. But hidden beneath the scales of the fish was the red meat. When he returned home that evening and sat down at the table, the fish was waiting for him.
“At first he ate his meal with great relish, noticing nothing amiss. His wife sat beside him, eating the same food. But when he was halfway through, he began to cough and choke. He couldn’t catch his breath. Only then he smelled something odd on his plate. He turned to his wife, eyes blazing with anger.
“‘What have you done?’ he demanded. ‘What is this fish?’
“The wife sat back, scared. ‘Only a little lamb. I thought you might enjoy the change.’
“At these words the fisherman wiped his plate from the table and onto the floor. His anger knew no bounds. Still, he could not catch his breath. It was as if the lamb had caught in his windpipe and refused to shake loose.
“‘You’ve poisoned me!’ he cried. ‘My own wife has poisoned me!’
“‘No! I only wanted to feed you something different.’ She stood and slapped him on the back, but it did not help. ‘Why are you choking like this?’
“Wait, why didn’t she just do CPR?” Envy asked, confused as to how a simple slap on the back would save someone from choking.
“This was supposedly way before CPR,” Pandora explained, “Either that or the lady was scared shitless and forgot to do it.”
“Alright, sorry for interrupting.” Pandora gave a smile that seemed to say It’s alright before she continued.
“The fisherman fell onto the floor, turning blue. ‘Don’t you know?’ he gasped. ‘Don’t you know who I am?’
“‘You are my husband,’ the wife cried, kneeling beside him.
“‘I am…’ the fisherman whispered. ‘I am what I am.’
“Those were his last words…”
“Hold on, he died from an allergy attack?”
“Envy, may I please finish, so that you understand?” Envy simply nodded his head, and Pandora continued on with the tale.
“Anyways, those were his last words. The fisherman died, and as he died, his body changed. His legs had turned into a large flipper. His skin became covered with silver scales. His face bulged out and his eyes became blank and cold. Because, you see, he wasn’t a person. He was a fish, which is what he had been all along. As a big fish, he could only eat smaller fish. Everything else was like poison to him.” Pandora paused. “Now do you understand, Envy?”
“I get the story, but how does that help with my question?”
“Because, he was what he was meant to be, and when something tried to change him, he died. The way everyone’s life is like is how it’s supposed to be. If anyone tried to change their life in a way that changes them, then their entire future would be different, as well as the past and present. Everything that they used to know would die away, replaced with memories that were made by others changing it.”
“So in short, our life is meant to be the way it is?”
“Yes, didn’t I just say that?” Pandora asked, slightly confused.
“Yeah, just double-checkin’,” Envy said, still trying to filter the story itself, “How did you remember that story?”
“I just did, I guess. Something in it probably hit a cord and ended up having me remember it,” Pandora answered, stretching her arms over her head before getting up onto her feet, offering a hand to help Envy up once she was standing. “Well, it’s time to go back.”
“For both of us?” Envy asked, hopeful.
“Not quite yet, there’s still some of the venom left in the body’s system, but it’s almost gone. Though you need to get ready for the fight that’s coming our way. I’ll meet up with you soon after you wake up, but get a couple of goons for me while I’m gone, ‘kay?”
“Wake up…” Envy said, realizing that he was asleep before he arrived here, “Wait, is this real, or is this just in my head?”
“Envy, let me teach you one more quick thing before you go,” Pandora said, placing a hand on his cheek, “Just because something’s in your head, it doesn’t automatically mean that it’s not real.”
Then the warrior realm and Pandora were nothing more than darkness.