Amy walked, swift and silent, to her house, and closed the door behind her before she let light out.
"I make myself beautiful, and they say it makes me ugly."
A kick sent to an urn shattered it.
"I give them what they want, what they need, and they shun me!"
The door to her bedroom knocked open.
"I hardly see the need to throw a tantrum," said a calm voice, ice cold.
"I know, Payne, but I can't help it."
"Like you can't help feeling deprived?"
"Oh, go easy on her, Payne. It's hard to do anything with that priest there. He looks ridiculous, true, but he's imposing, and has power over the crowd no one else seems to have."
"CeCe, can I have a hug?" said Amy, addressing the blonde bombshell, who sat on top of the wardrobe.
"Sure, love. Is there something that happened?" she questioned, as she jumped down and gave Amy a hug.
"He hit me, in front of everyone."
"How dare he," said Payne, riled up. "All that time spent purifying our body, and he touches us. With force."
Amy nodded, and CeCe withdrew from the hug, with a stern glance over, not that it mattered.
"You'll be fine." CeCe said.
"Did you get the flower?"
Amy nodded. "He forgot to take it from me, before he stormed off."
"Excellent." A smile asserted itself on Payne's face.
"C'mon, Amy, be happy. We're here for you. Always and forever." said CeCe, as she sat on the cushiony bed.
"Always and forever?" asked Amy, meek.
CeCe patted the spot beside her. "Always and forever. I promise."
"Thank you, CeCe." Amy laid down on the bed. "And you, Payne."
Payne nodded, while CeCe tickled her in response. "Goodnight, darling."
Amy fell asleep soon, to the tune of CeCe's song inside her head.
As soon as Amy fell asleep, Payne and CeCe disappeared.

In three days time, Brynnah and Amy appeared again before the shaman, flowers in hand.
Amy strutted with confidence, a trait now absent from Brynnah's hesitant walk.
"Present your flowers, to become the Blossom."
Brynnah halted, and looked guilty as she pulled out a wilted flower.
The shaman halted, and shook his head. "Our chances have been annihilated. The flower has wilted, despite the best efforts."
The crowd emitted a wail.
Amy stood inside the circle, and held out her flower.
"My flower yet lives."
The priest spun around, and nearly tackled Amy to the ground for the flower.
Amy escaped his grasp, and remained in her circle.
"I am the Bloom that which has been sought for a thousand years."
She raised the flower above her head, in a dramatic gesture that quieted the crowd.
"Your Bloom has arrived! You will suffer no more!"
Shouts, screams, cries, and yells were heard from all over, ranging on every scale of the emotional spectrum.
Amy's face gave a flash, and it was almost a different person.

Several townspeople had taken the privilege of escorting the newly-appointed Bloom to her new quarters, the priest's old ones.
Once inside, Amy poked around and discovered that the priest's tastes were far from refined.
"Hmm, tacky, tacky, stupid, perverted, ugly, tacky, and stupid. Tear it down."
The escort grumbled a bit before following her instructions.
Midway through the process of taking down the curtains, drapes, and everything not good according to Amy, she screamed at them to leave.
"I need to be alone. Please leave, now."
The men looked at each other, and hesitated.
"NOW!"
They scuttled out the door.
As soon as the door closed, signalling that all of them were gone, Payne and CeCe appeared.
"Well, I certainly thought that the priest had better taste." said CeCe.
"Everyone did, Cicerina, not just us." said Payne, her nose wrinkling in distaste.
"We'll have to purify everything worth keeping, though. How's the treasury look?" asked CeCe.
"Okay, I think. We're certainly taxed enough for it to be."
Amy sighed. "Now it won't be any fun to be Blossom."
"Of course it will be, honey, just give it- what was that?"
A jostling of components had interrupted CeCe, shushing all three of them.
Instantly, CeCe was upon the noise, and pulled out one of the laborers who had escorted Amy into her new housing.
"What did you hear, worm?" growled CeCe, utterly terrifying the man.
"N-n-nothing, m-mistress! N-nothing at all!"
Payne's eyes narrowed, and in a blink of an eye she had already killed the man.
Blood spattered everywhere, and slowly Amy sashayed over, appraising the situation.
Dipping two fingers in some blood pooled at her feet, she let it stain her feet and hands, before re-wetting her fingers and drawing a star inside a circle on the wall, then the floor.
Payne and CeCe held her arms as she climbed into the pentagram, and glanced at each other.
"Are you sure? There's no way out of it now." asked CeCe.
"We could look into other options," added Payne.
Amy shook her head. "No, this is the only way. I have to do this. We have to."
The pair still standing waited, flanking her shoulders on either side.
An unspoken agreement passed between all three, and the next second, Amy spoke four words and opened her eyes.
The room was filled with color, and the trio barely dared to draw breath.
A shadowy figure stood before the other pentagram.
"What is your wish?"

A few days later, Amy found herself in the treasury, and being cooed over by a seamstress.
"I was thinking maybe some green, some blue, maybe a splash of red here and there. Really, the possibilities are endless." she trotted back and forth between the racks of clothing and golden accessories to Amy, scrutinizing her dimensions.
"We'll have to hide those hideous scars, of course, if they heal, then we'll see. Now, I'll have to take your measurements."
Amy bristled. "It is not proper for a person who has not been purified to touch me."
The seamstress continued forward. "I need to take your measurements, and I don't see anyone else here trained to do it. You're being measured, so you can't possibly do it."
A slammed door interrupted anything she had to say after that. In walked a man in a crisp suit, black as night, with glasses and a calm expression on his face.
"Excuse my tardiness, mistress. A farmhand was entirely too close to the complex. Now we can take care of the matter at hand. Who is this?"
"This is a seamstress sent up from the village. I had no say in it."
"This will not do. Has she been purified?"
Amy shook her head, tired of talking in the presence of another.
"Ah. Miss, please exit the premises. You have no business touching the Bloom and soiling the sacred part of her."
The seamstress paused, shocked at his proposition. "I was the brain behind the high priest's gowns!"
He scoffed. "That explains the colors here. Are you trying to kill our eyes?"
"This isn't proper! This isn't protocol!"
"I'm going to have to ask you to remove yourself from this residence."
"And if I don't?"
He straightened his gloves. "I will be forced to remove you, on order of the purity of the Bloom."
"I have worked under the high priest for fifteen years! Do not tell me my station!"
"Now this is just ridiculous. I wish for you to go, now. If you don't, then you clearly do not care for your life."
The two previously locked in wordplay combat turned to look at Amy.
Instead of waiting around doing nothing, she had fashioned a gown of blue and black fabric, simplicity in itself. The one-strap gown wrapped itself almost possessively around her, and Amy stood with hands on hips. Gold jewellery glinted around her wrists and head.
"Now, Ms. Sakil, please remove yourself from my sight. Permanently."
Sakil kowtowed before the image of Amy. "I apologize profusely, oh great and powerful Bloom."
A smirk lighted Amy's face. "Not good enough. Claude,"
A pause made the tension in the air that much heavier.
"Kill her."
The screams of the seamstress painted the entire afternoon's delight.

"And we have a meeting with the other potential candidate scheduled
for today."
"What is her name? Names have power."
"I believe it is Oriellia, from Gajunko."
(Gah-june-koh)
"Alright, when is it?"
"In promptly one hour."
"Excellent. We have time to pick something to wear, unconventional."
"How so?"
"I'm not sure yet, perhaps the red and black."
He smiled. "Of course, Mistress."

"Oriellia, I presume. Come, have a seat."
The newcomer walked in, only a slight shaking of her shoulders betrayed any anxiousness.
"Amy, I presume."
Amy rolled her eyes. "Don't parrot, it's rude. So, the reason that you are here today is because you believe that you have a chance at being the Blossom."
Oriellia smiled. "I do; I have a very good chance."
"Hmm. Well, have some food, I'm sure you're exhausted from your journey. Now now? I won't poison you. See?" Amy tasted some of the food to demonstrate. "My cook is amazing, I think you'll be sad if you do not taste some of it."
Oriellia smiled. "I'm certain."

After some pleasant chatter, Amy excused herself. "I find that most people seem intimidated by me; it's refreshing to see someone else unlike that."
"Claude will keep you company until I return. Toodle-oo!"
Amy giggled, and scampered off, while Claude walked calmly into the room.
"Is there anything I can get you, Blossom?"
Oriellia turned at the sound of his voice, and her gasp resounded across the rooms.
"It is my duty to serve the Blossom."
Oriellia glanced at the door through which Amy had just departed.
"There is... One thing you could help me with."

Two minutes later, Amy returned, to catch the two in a most compromising position.
"What do we have here? A Blossom that is no longer pure. How unfortunate. You will have to be punished for your crime. Claude, please kill her."
Oriellia screamed. "You can't kill me! Claude and I have something special! Right, Claude?"
"Unfortunately for you, I do not care if you live or die. Mostly because you would even allow yourself to be touched. Fortunately for me, your death means I will eat tonight."
Her eyes widened. "You're a cannibal!"
Claude chuckled. "No. I am a demon."
Oriellia's screams reverberated through the halls.

Amy skipped out of her bedchamber, humming. Her hair was fastened into two long pigtails on the top of her head.
"Good morning, Claude. How are you today?"
"Well, Mistress, thank you. You seem unusually chipper this morning."
"I do? Huh."
Claude was almost visibly puzzled. "Anyway, Mistress, you have another fitting at three, and two meetings with town officials."
Amy halted and frowned. "That's not going to be very fun, is it? No, I think not."
"What is the matter with you today, Amy?"
"I'm not Amy, I'm CeCe! Silly Claude."
"Of course, Mistress, I don't know how I confused you."
"Well, inform the seamstress that my tastes have changed a tidbit; we'll have to remove a few walls and fabrics, but we'll get it eventually."
"A few walls, Mistress?"
Claude's question was met with an eye roll.
"Obviously I need my own closet."

"I love this teal... I hate this blue... Oh, that red is so tacky, I can't believe Amy picked that out for me! Oh, don't tell her, she's such a sweet little darlin'. Honestly, it was very sweet, but for me, it's ridiculous."
"Mistress, you hated those colors a minute ago, and loved these. Why don't you have a nice hot bath while I pick out some fabrics you might like?"
Amy, or whomever she was, paused. She appeared to consider it.
"Okay," she agreed, flinging fabric into the air.
"Toodle-oo, Claude. Those fabrics don't sort themselves!"
A mad giggling later, and Claude's yellow eyes gleamed in the dark.

"That was very relaxing, Claude, and I loved the array of perfumes you laid out."
"Which one did you select, Mistress?"
"Oh, just call me CeCe. You get to call Amy that. I couldn't decide, so I made my own. I call it the blood of my maid."
"That seems a tad unnecessary, Mis- CeCe."
"It seemed so to Amy too, but she's sleeping. Shhh!" said CeCe, holding a finger to her lips.
"Let's go look at some fabrics! Exciting!"

"Well, I suppose this will do. I love the cut."
"Yes, CeCe. This will be the last piece of clothing that we look at tonight, I'm afraid,"
"Don't be, Claude, I'm here! Anyway, I was getting bored."
CeCe slipped out of Claude's arms, which were still holding the measuring tape.
Claude sighed. "My Mistress had better be back tomorrow."

Amy woke up the next morning, rejuvenated and revived. Or so it seemed.
"Hello, Amy," said a familiar voice from the shadows.
Payne stepped into the moonlight.
"CeCe has taken your place today. She wanted you to take a break."

Amy woke up the next morning, herself again. Claude knocked on the door, allowing himself in.
"Mistress, are you awake?"
"Yes, yes," Amy's eyes fluttered, fighting sleep.
"What -exactly- happened yesterday?" Amy asked.
"You were, I believe in a rather comatose state, and your 'Blood Sister' CeCe took your place."
"When did you notice?"
"Immediately. You two are very different, but similar."
"Yes, CeCe is the happy me. Usually she's just random, but it still has it's challenges."

"In the long run, this has to work out perfectly. You'll get all the souls you want, and I get my peace."
Claude's eyes narrowed. "That was not the bargain we made."
Amy's sigh reverberated. "Well, I'm not sure what else you want."
"You. Your soul is, delectable. I can almost taste it. Having three should only enhance the flavor."
"Then we have a deal?"
"No, milady. We have a contract."

"Will the contenders for the Blossom's Glory present themselves?" announced a voice, which sent Amy scurrying up the steps in regal finery.
None walked beside her.
The priest glanced at Amy, then around her for companions in the contest of a lifetime.
He paused, then resumed his duties. "What is your name?"
"Blossom," said Amy.
"What is your purpose?"
"To provide and protect the people,"
"How will you accomplish this monumental task?"
"Through the will of the Gods,"
A roar transcended from the crowd.
The priest shifted, looking uncertain. Amy merely held her gaze coolly to his eyes, waiting for him to break eye contact.
He cleared his throat, then proceeded with the ceremony. "Then I hereby grant you the name, title, and position of Blossom. There is none above you, and all below you. May you wear the crown of Blossoms well."
Amy bowed her head before the priest, who placed the crown of Blossoms on her head.
She turned around, facing the crowd, and immediately the crown burst into bloom, sending rays of waves of color away from her figure.
A moment after the blossoming of the crown, with the oohs of the crowd still echoing, her outfit burst into flames, as did the crown, changing shape into a demonic version.
A laugh, cold, high, and sharp, resounded throughout the crowd.
"There is no escape; there is no hope; there is nothing here but fear!"
Standing up properly and facing the crowd once more, Amy's face contorted into something harshly beautiful.
A cascade of embers drifted silently across her form, landing on bare skin and burning, creating a sizzling sound.
The audience, remaining standing, watched in awe as their previously crowned Blossom turned evil.
"I am your mistress now; none shall hear my name and not tremble in fear. You, my subjects, are the product of induced fear and trepidation. But, finally, as Erica intended herself, a new Blossom has returned to rule you in her place. This tyrannical hierarchy of this republic will fall, and your Blossom will take her rightful place
as Queen."
The crowd stood silent, and slowly trickled out as Amy made shooing motions with her hands.
Finally they were gone, worry slating their morrows gray.
"Grim, grisly, and full of good terror. I liked it!" squealed CeCe, sitting on the edge of the balcony, one knee pulled up with her hands resting on it while the other foot dangled over the side. Her tall black boots shined dimly in the light.
The priest was hogtied by Payne, lying on his stomach and making sounds through the gag. Payne stood, dusting off her hands six times.
"Thank you, CeCe. I thought that perhaps I had gone a bit too far."
CeCe giggled, tossing back her head. "Nothing's too far with these people here!" she giggled, throwing out her arms and tilting farther back than was wise.
She recovered quickly and hopped down, dancing over to Payne, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "How's she doing?"
Payne nodded toward a dark shadow, appearing only then. "She's out. Not quite like a light, but close enough."
CeCe nodded. "Good enough. The world knows she needs to rest. A lot's been going on in this place that she doesn't need to know about."
Payne nodded. "We'll have to fill her in eventually, though."
CeCe grinned even more, stretching her smile wider. "Or do we? She might ask questions, of course, she's inquisitive enough, but really, what she doesn't know," CeCe paused, her grin threatening to break her stitches. "won't hurt her."
Payne paused, considering her request. "But that would be lying,"
CeCe shushed her with a finger to the lips. "It's not lying if we don't say anything about it, Payne. It's not like we're conspiring against her, now, is it?"
CeCe had hooked her arms around Payne's neck, and was hanging off her dark frame.
Payne glanced at Amy's sleeping form, swallowing. "I suppose,"
"Yay!" squealed CeCe, releasing Payne and throwing herself around the room in triumph.
She stopped suddenly, turning to Payne. "We can't breath a word of this to anyone, though. Otherwise it'll collapse like a dying star inwards."
Payne sighed, walking over to a desk the priest had only just recently been the owner of. "I know, CeCe, I know. We have work to do. Get to it, little rascal."
CeCe giggled again, and skipped off to her task.
"How she gets around without tripping, I'll never know." Payne mumbled, perching reading glasses on her nose and pulling out papers.
One more glance to Amy's sleeping frame, and Payne got to work.

Amy felt warm breath tickling her neck.
"Hello, my lovely!" squealed CeCe. She never said anything. It was either an exclamation or a squeal, it seemed.
"Hi, CeCe. What's up?" said Amy, sitting up, stretching and yawning simultaneously.
CeCe sat behind Amy, tugging her back down so she'd be lying in her lap. "Nothing, really. We're outside, on a boat in a river! It's magical."
Amy, drowsy from just waking up, nodded slightly. "Mmm, sounds magical, CeCe."
CeCe laughed, high and long. "It is, Amy, it is."
"Where are we going, CeCe?"
Payne's voice cracked through the haze. "We're traveling to the Forgotten Land, led by Claude."
Amy nodded again, not willing or able to get up. "It sounds lovely. What'll happen then?"
Claude spoke, finally. "We'll fulfill your destiny and the contract."
"Okay. Are those people dead who wished us harm?"
Claude nodded, and continued. "Yes, Mistress. All of them are floating around us as we speak."
Amy sat up, wide awake. She peered over board, confirming Claude's statement. CeCe looked annoyed, throwing up her arms after Amy had exited them so quickly. "I think I pulled a stitch," she muttered.
Payne rolled her eyes, and leaned back against the high railing at the back of the boat, where Claude steered the boat.
"This has at least been a very strange journey. It's a shame it must end here." stated Claude.
Payne turned her head to him. "I was wondering if you would consider a proposition."
Amy whipped her head around to look at the pair, but CeCe caught her.
"It's okay, dearest, it's okay. Let's sleep for a little more, okay?"
CeCe's soothing words calmed Amy, and her eyelids began to droop.
"Sing me a song, CeCe."
While CeCe crooned a song about a beggar's wife who slept with a king, and the king, not the wife, died for it, Payne whispered their plan to Claude.
He considered it. "I can give you no definite answer yet. Perhaps."
Payne solemnly nodded, and slunk over to the pair on the floor, surrounded by pillows.
"... And in the dark times, when the famine made scarce, the children were butchered and hung by their hair! The adults, they cried out, and were then displaced, for no one, no, no one, questions thy place."
Amy was asleep thanks to her Blood Sister's singing, albeit strange and bound to give nightmares.
Payne slid down on her knees, folding her legs under her. "Well?"
CeCe smiled up at her. "We are good to go!"
Payne simply nodded, and shifted her position to take Amy's head into her lap. She placed her hands on her head, facing forward and repeating a phrase over and over under her breath.
Claude stopped steering, taking his hands off. "What are you doing?"
"She's imprinting a memory upon her. It'll make her remember everything about this." CeCe turned to face him, smiling her smile. "She'll even be able to summon you! Won't that be great?"
Claude's face clouded. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying, we'll get her there. Or something like that... What was I saying? That's the real question, I suppose."
Claude's aura filled the boat, dark and crackling with energy. "You dare trap a demon?"
CeCe laughed. "Of course not. That's ridiculous. I'm not stupid, you know, it's just a perception that people place on me, because I act a little crazy. Well, it's only natural, considering I'm actually insane."
Claude glared at her. "Like I hadn't guessed already."
CeCe laughed, high and sharp and cold.
"What do you plan to do?"
CeCe turned to face him again. "Why, stall you of course!"
"For what?" it came out as a growl, almost.
"Me," said Payne, wearing armor and wielding two rapiers. "Let's do this."
CeCe giggled, scampering off to Amy's sleeping form.
Claude looked at Payne. "Do you plan to fight me?"
Payne's only response was to narrow her eyes before charging him, landing a blow.
"You really believe that you, a human, can defeat a demon?" he asked.
"That's your mistake, right there, Claudey boy."
He turned to CeCe, who had said that.
"What mistake?" he questioned.
A swipe sent him tumbling forward.
He blocked the next, breaking the blade in half, rendering it useless.
"Well, Claudey boy," another swipe, hitting him in the leg this time, "we, Payne and I," once again, another connecting blow with his body, hitting his torso, drawing blood, "are not really here."
Claude stopped in his tracks, not moving an inch more, looking at CeCe. "What?"
Payne tookthis opportunity to plunge the broken sword into him, followed by the normal one, both going into his chest.
Claude gasped, looking down, and knocked Payne away, towards the front of the boat. The longer sword had been buried hilt-deep and gone through him, leading to much more internal damage than ever before.
When he looked back at Payne's body, it wasn't there at all.
He looked at CeCe, smiling and leaning against the mast. "Bye-bye, Claudey boy." she waved, then disappeared.
"No!" he shouted, lunging towards where she had been. A giggle could be heard floating away, like a phantom noise.
He looked for Amy's body, to find it disappear right in front of him.
With no human souls in it, the Palace of Souls began to collapse, tearing Claude out and breaking up in transit.

Amy woke up from her slumber, sending her Sisters into a frenzy. "It's alright, Amy, it's alright," whispered Payne.
"You're alright, it's okay, you're back." said CeCe.
With the pair assuring her of her return, Amy sat up and prepared for the day.

All through the day, Payne and CeCe stood at her side, watching, listening, and taking over when necessary. And Amy let them.

Amy finally had her dream. Now, all she had to do was take it.