ALL BringMastertheRose Corporation information, stories, and blog posts- pages… anything at all is copyright (©) which means we can sue you if you copy any of this.
I apologize for the spelling mistakes in the Pillaging- I’m writing and editing the pages as I go, so most of the spelling mistakes have been fixed, just not put on the website, yet. Sorry.
Here’s the last one for a while- I have more but… whatever… 
Personally I think the quality really sucks.
Keep ‘em coming .
I’ve been drawing him alot lately, so I thought I’d share him with you guys. BT 
I headed out to the edge of the water and slipped off my shoes and socks, and put my feet in the bloody water of the Spirit World’s one and only Ruby Sea.
“Why is it red?” I asked, glancing over at Pierce, Death and Ethan. Ethan joined me by the water, tossed off his sandals and stuck his feet in the water, too, knees raised.
“The red water isn’t anything to worry about. It’s fresh water, it’s not, like, blood or anything.” Ethan smiled warmly and scooped up the water and splashed his face. How… special. “In fact, it’s supposed to have healing properties, but no one knows how to use it except for higher forces like the Divinities and the Angels. It’s irreversible, so incredibly strong demons wouldn’t have any use for it, it may even burn them. That’d be nice.”
“Yeah, but,” I leaned on Ethan’s shoulder. “Why is it stuck here instead of Elysium Fields?”
“Because… it had to do with the convenience of the creatures that used to live here.” Ethan wiped his face with the sleeve of his robe.
“Like dinosaurs,” I chuckled, Ethan grinned.
“Look, we’re not going to wait forever.” Death called. I looked over my shoulder, but Ethan didn’t budge, just sighed.
“What?” I asked, looking back over at Ethan.
“I wish that I had powers, and I wish I wasn’t so weak. If I could just show those…” he sighed again and stood up, then helped me to my feet.
“Finally, I thought you guys were never going to make it.” Death observed, as we finally reached Pierce’s and Death’s range.
“Yeah, well we did.” I sighed. “Did you get a table?”
“No, we were waiting.” Pierce commented, smiling.
“Now that you’re here we’ll get one.” Death mimicked Pierce’s tone.
“Wow, thanks.” I shot him a taunting smile.
“God save the queen,” Death threw his hands in the air and turned to the café, stepped in and rung the bell at the front desk about eighty thousand times before a waitress took the bell away. Death didn’t look surprised. He turned around, leaning against the counter, his face lit up as he gazed at the lady.
“What do you want, Death?” the waitress sneered, finally, eyes full of rage, setting the bell down on another counter.
“Oh! Hey Kali!” Death grinned. “What are you-”
“I work here, and for your information, my name is Kalista.” The waitress hissed, fluffing her long, black ponytail. She was a pretty one; I’ll give you that. I was jealous. What was her story? Why does she hate Death- or act like it for that matter? She turned to us, staring at Pierce, and then glancing at Ethan. “Hey Grim.” She wiped her hands on her apron.
Ethan gave her a weak, two-finger salute, looking down. “Hey Kali.”
“Who are the stiff and the weird Emo girl? Or is that a guy?” she glanced at me. “No offense on the gender stuff.” She smiled sarcastically. I snorted, rolling my eyes and sticking out my tongue.
“The stiff if Pierce, that girl is Sarai, she’s my date.” Death winked at me. “I’m doing a favor before she has to go back to Ma- I mean, her home town and face the idiots who live there. I’m making her time here more enjoyable.”
“Regards to you Pierce… Well, Death… You’re already dating again? It’s only been a week since we broke up. You looked pretty hurt.” She scowled.
“Actually, I thought that was a pretty sad act. I could have done better. It worked though. I’ve already dated, like thirteen really hot women.” He licked his lips. “Yeah, but they all dumped me after our first date. They thought I was a posing as Silver.”
“Well you were.” Kalista growled. “That’s why I dated you. Silver at least cares about his wife.”
“You two were married!” That took me back.
“This is Death and my conversation, kid.” Kalista sneered. “But no, I dated him whenever he wasn’t locked up in the darkest corner of that handsome dream king’s mind.” Her eyes drifted off towards the window. I noticed one eye was shocking green, and the other was bright blue.
“I haven’t been locked up, lately, Silver finds me of no use. So do you want to get back together?” Death asked, smiling hopefully.
“No way.” She slapped him with a rag that I hadn’t noticed before. “Go get a table, I’ll get someone to take your order for you. Can I talk to you, Reaper?”
Ethan sighed and stepped forward, regretfully.
“What the hel-” I was interrupted by Pierce.
“Don’t say that. It’s not good. It’s a real place, and it’s just not good to say it, especially in times like these.” Pierce noted.
“Then explain why is everyone so calm.” I muttered.
“They’re pretty sure they’ll make it out okay.” Death sighed, mind almost completely absent as he shoved through the crowds of people to the outside, and to a table on the far right. “I’m pretty sure they won’t.”
“What’s Kalista’s problem?” I asked, sitting down along with Death and Pierce.
“She’s a spaz.” Death rolled his eyes.
“What’s she telling Ethan?” I looked through the stained glass, old English window.
“She needs money for her mortgage. Ethan says he’ll try and get the money, but maybe Kali could try talking to Seth- he’s basically the vice president of the Darkness Temple- and get him to extend the payment a bit more so Ethan can get the money. Kalista doubts that, and says Seth has extended the payment as much as it can go, because her tenement in the,” Pierce gave us a told-you-so look. “Darkness Temple is limited, and very nice, and plus, Silver has a grudge against her, because supposedly, when he first came to the Spirit World, before he was born, she tried to kiss him. Ethan says that wasn’t possible unless she was cursed. She says that was sent to Earth as a human to keep records of deaths, but died at an early age because of supposed witchcraft in the ninth century. Burned at the stake, I think. Ethan remembers this, and by his thoughts, it seems he was put in charge of her until she was thirteen, then she went back to working at the Darkness Temple.”
“That’s quite a story. I didn’t think she knew Ethan like that.” Death spotted a waiter coming through the door. “Waiter! Over here!”
The waiter sighed, like it was ‘another one of those days’.
“So Ethan’s basically Kali’s father.”
“No, he was more of a roommate. She could fend for herself, just defined by law, she needed someone to live with until she turned thirteen.” Pierce’s eyes became alive again and he looked over at the waiter, who was waiting impatiently for him to order. “Oh, a cup of hot chocolate and ten chocolate chip cookies.”
“Cookie monster,” I heard the waiter grumble, before looking over at me.
“Same as him, only two cookies though.” I smiled to improve the waiter’s mood. The waiter only frowned deeper.
“And for the lovely Mr. Doomsday…?” The waiter groaned unenthusiastically.
“Well,” Death made a point to strain to see the waiter’s dark green nametag. “Monsieur Schiavo. What a pleasant name.”
The waiter rolled his squinted eyes, which were almost completely shielded from our view by his thick, light brown hair. “That’s my birth name. I recently changed it to Scott, so you have nothing to hold against me.” He glared at us all, eyes tired. “Now, give me your order before I have to kick you out.”
“I was about to give it to you but you interrupted me. Write this down- I want you largest bagel, a huge mug of coffee with tons of whip cream, twenty sugar cookies and… well… I guess just bring me a thing of chocolate syrup and a pitcher of milk. Oh and you might want to put some ice on the side, I don’t think Sarai can take the intense heat of the chocolate.” But by the time he had finished, the waiter had left.
“Nice going, jar-head. They better get us our orders.” I hissed.
“Chill, think- Ethan can get Kali to get us the stuff.” Death muttered, offensively.
“Aw… Ethan. We didn’t get anything for him!” I slapped my forehead as Ethan innocently finished his conversation with Kali and trudged outside.
“Which is another reason I got twenty sugar cookies.” Death raised his hands.
Ethan pulled up a chair and sat between Death and I. “Hi.” He smiled kindly. He was so sweet- and so cute- I wanted to give him another hug. “That was an interesting conversation.”
“We listened in.” Death tossed out.
“Idiot!” I balled up a fist and slammed it on Death’s left hand.
“Ow! That’s the hand I write with!” Death attempted to nurse his hand.
“I’m glad,” I glared at the man as he pouted and put up a human act of rubbing his hands. “You don’t need to act.”
“Trust me, it’s much better if I act in situations like this.” Death said, flatly, glancing up at me.
“So, you guys eavesdropped?” Ethan asked, still sounding innocent. “Sarai, I swear, Kali doesn’t like me, and I don’t like her either, she’s just my former roommate.”
“Ah-ha!” Pierce pointed at me, smirking.
“We know, it’s fine. It’s not like I really care though.” I smiled. Ethan obviously thought I liked him. Well I did, but not like I liked Aaron. Crap! I’m doing it again! “I do care- but I’d be happy if you were dating, I’m not jealous- well I sort of am, but you know…”
Ethan smiled. “We can be a family, kind of. Sarai and I are the twins who act precious and everyone is jealous of, Pierce is the loving father, and Death is that disgruntled, younger brother of the father who can never seem to settle down with a nice young lady. And Kali’s like that cousin that makes favorites and nobody seems to like her, secretly of course.”
“Who’s the mother?” Pierce asked, lowly.
“René- always nagging about a curfew for lunch and always wanting you to come have dinner at the table.” I smirked, chuckling.
Pierce and Ethan joined in on my laughter, but Death was yet again absent, watching Kali dash over to us and set down Pierce’s and my orders.
“Where’s mine?” Death asked, looking up with big eyes. “Does you not like me enough?”
“I’ve never liked you.” Kali sneered, then smiled at Ethan before turning away, probably to ‘accidentally’ grab Death’s order. Ethan groaned, rolling his eyes.
“She’s misunderstanding my help to her. It’s an act of kindness, plus I had to raise her for five years… so yeah…” Ethan sighed. “Hey, did you guys order for me?”
“Death scared off the waiter.” I lied… sort of. It was a half lie. Half right, is exactly what I would classify it as- or anyone of my mind-state would.
“Death…?” Ethan turned to Death, although he didn’t look all that surprised.
“Well, I ordered a very large bagel, a very large cup of coffee, and twenty cookies, I think you will be pleased.” Death defended.
“Wait- who’s going to pay?” I asked, suddenly frightened by the idea of washing dishes until René came searching for me with an army of morons.
“We steal of course.” Death said, calmly. “If you and Ethan want to pay, be my guest, but I’m not paying.”
“I think I’ll just go back into the Medallion. It’s not like anyone will notice I’m gone.” Pierce shrugged.
“I’ll pay for you, Sarai.” Ethan smiled, reassuringly.
“No, I’ve got a credit card… which doesn’t work probably…” I looked over at Ethan. “Yeah, so your offer works the best, thanks.”
“No problem, I’m totally in on making this a carefree time.” Ethan’s smile widened.
I munched on a cookie, and Pierce sipped his hot chocolate, handing Ethan and Death each one of his cookies. “You owe me two cookies, Death.”
“Pshaw… I don’t eat; you can have it all. You of all people, Pierce, should know that none of the Forsaken Divinities need to do any mortal and lower forces needs or wants…” Death threw the cookie over his shoulder with a twist of his wrist. He slouched over in his seat.
“Then why are you ringing up the bill?” I hissed.
“To annoy the waiter, ‘duh. Plus, I’m going to leave without paying, you know, that’s pretty easy on all of us. It’s not like they can track DEATH. Even if they try, they’d probably end up with hands full of Silver.” Death snickered. “Now, Pierce, why are you eating? Technically you are nearly as strong as me… so you don’t feel the need to eat and drink, do you?”
“Of course I do, I’m a human right now.” Pierce said, treating Death as if he were a child. “Yeah and speaking of that- I’ve got to go somewhere. Sarai?”
My stomach grumbled. I was full- I had been for a while. “Yeah…”
* * * * * * * *
When we came back, Death had something to say as usual.
“It’s hard to see how Silver humors Claire. Silver doesn’t need to eat or drink or sleep. He could stay awake for a million years without feeling the need, unless he has been through a lot.” Death sneered. “He could at least make Claire a half vampire.”
“Now that’d be weird.” I chuckled. “I don’t think Silver would bite Claire.”
“It’d be weird if he didn’t every Friday night. Yuck.” Death made a face, Pierce spit out his hot chocolate, I coughed up my cookie, and Ethan pocketed his cookie, losing his appetite, turning pale.
“Do you watch it? Pervert!” I slew my hot chocolate at Death, disgusted, knowing he probably wouldn’t react, only turn red or yell.
“Hey, watch it!” He shouted, then collected himself again as he saw Kalista staring out the window. “I don’t watch them, of course, that IS disgusting. Life and I usually stay at the nightclub they go to every Friday night. I hook up with a foolish girl, and Life spends most of his time barfing in the bathroom. He can only have half of a glass of wine before going crazy. So much for ‘Life’.”
“What time is it?” I asked, looking around for a clock. Ethan stood up and walked inside the café.
“… It’s been forty minutes since you came to my house.” Ethan said, coming back to his seat.
“Maybe we should go.” I advised, finishing my second cookie.
Ethan left a tip and about fifty Latin dollar coins on the table. The coins were in mint condition, not like those you see that are bent and rusted, sometimes blue-silver colored. The coins were tempting, even more so because they were a shiny gold color.
“Okay, let’s.” Pierce stood up, stretching. Death was off in his fantasyland again, making a point to watch Kali’s actions.
I pulled him to his feet and he snapped out of his daze, yawning. “Do you want anyone to come with you?” he asked.
“I’ll be okay, it’d be best if no one came with me, except Pierce.” I muttered. Pierce nodded in agreement. “See you guys later.”
Ethan waved, and Death disappeared without a goodbye.
“Bye, Sarai, see you soon, I hope.” Ethan smiled his weak, friendly smile, before turning and heading in the direction of the forest.
“Well, let’s go.” Pierce motioned for us to follow Ethan; of course Ethan didn’t know, though.
* * * * * * * *
“Glad you could make it back,” Infectus greeted me. Pierce had gone back into the Medallion before I even thought about setting foot on Masques grounds.
“Me too.” I lied, as Infectus opened the large steel doors.
“It took you a while,” Infectus observed, as I stepped into the ballroom. “You made it right on time.”
“My point exactly.” I strode into the dining room, just as René was walking out of one of the hallways that Ike had marked forbidden.
“Ah, hello.” René smiled, lightly, sauntering over to me, his lips grazing my cheek that I turned to him.
“You didn’t spy on me, did you?” I asked, lowly.
“Not a chance- here,” René pulled up a chair for me. He sat down beside me, at the head seat, and sighed, dreamily, then smiling over at me. “We’ve got a big night tonight, I’ve been planning all hour.”
“What do you propose to do?” I asked, mind truant, but I chose to keep his interest and stare him deep in the eyes, testing shadow theories. His eyes were ineffective to me, and he slightly smiled wider when he noticed that.
Wow, his eyes are ineffective to you. To most mortals and souls, it’s very effective, and he can possess them at a glance, sometimes accidentally kill them. Like me, except I’ve never been lucky and only possessed them.
Cool, I think I’m flipping the tables on the Masques pretty well.
Yeah, you really are.
“I was thinking,” René leaned towards me, suddenly becoming very serious. “You could come.”
Perfect, this is the best chance I can get to help Silver.
I’ll try and help; we’ll go see if Infectus has an extra mask after lunch.
“Okay,” I answered, trying to sound calm, but I still sounded excited.
“Okay,” René nodded, smiling again. “This is a dance, so everyone needs a date. You will be mine.”
I, although, was hoping Aaron would be my date, though. At least I have gotten over my intolerance for him. René… ugh!
“Chuch will take Kathleen, because if she decides to try and kill someone, he can keep her under control. Plus, he looks the most like me, maybe that will help.” I didn’t think so, but I didn’t say anything. René continued, “Now, that leaves Ike, Aaron, and Ote. We don’t have any other female souls or humans to accompany them. Any ideas? Have you got any friends that could accompany them?”
“What about Myst and Infectus?” I asked, remembering how Myst had been captured.
“Infectus is keeping guard of the hide-out. We can’t risk Myst. She may meet up with her father or mother. Maybe she’d kill someone on the way to the Land of the Shadows. Chuch already would have his hands full with Kathleen, and Aaron still has a long way to go before becoming more powerful.” René explained, pursing his lips.
“A little birdie told me that Ote was experienced at Shadow Magic, can’t he hold Myst?” I argued. I had friends who could accompany Ike and Ote- not Aaron, I didn’t want him to get distracted by another woman- and plus, I didn’t want them to get captured. Jeanne and Kayla are potentially stronger than me, even though I do have Pierce.
“No, Myst can’t come for other reasons. Besides, Ote isn’t all that experienced, he has raw power, and may hurt Myst, we can’t let that happen.” René sighed. “Please, do you know anyone? If you don’t the mission won’t work out.”
Defeated, I offered, “I do know some people.” I wouldn’t tell him Kayla or Jeanne, though. I had a plan. “Only two though. Ike might like this pretty receptionist at the Darkness Temple, and Ote might like this girl named Kalista from a local café in the Spirit World, near the Ruby Ocean.” I really didn’t like Ike dating someone else, someone I didn’t necessarily know. I was that type of person, once single, who really wanted a new lover. It was so annoying. Ike would be someone I would date, but not love, but I just wanted someone to come to, now.
“Thank you, I’ll get Ike and Ote to look different, and ask out those girls. What about Aaron?” René wondered.
“You’ll have to trade me around.” I sighed, wanting to only have to dance with Aaron.
“You’re an individual, Sarai, I don’t want to have to pass you around.” René whispered, inching his face closer to mine. I drew back.
“I can deal with it.” I sighed. It was hard to tell that he only wanted to get close enough to me to place his hand on my forehead and possess me. Maybe he’d do someone else, but the point is, he wants only to get the Medallion. Why can’t he just take it now?
No, that was rude.
“So, it’s settled. We have the whole sabotage planned otherwise. All you have to do is get out of there and come back to HQ. We’ll post demons- only those that can transform into humans- all around, and they can guard you and fight with us. This is delightful!” René smiled a perfect smile. “And Chuch recovered the Air Gem without any trouble.”
The time scepter was in the making.
“And when we win this sabotage, because we will, we will be able to get Silver’s scepter.” René continued.
Oh, like that is going to happen.
“I’ll send Ike on a mission to get the Lightning Gem tomorrow, Ote to get the Light Gem, and Aaron to get the Earth and Nature gems, I hear they aren’t under tight security, only maybe the Light Gem, but Ote can handle the Light users no problem.” René smirked.
“Speaking of Aaron and missions, how did his mission go?” I asked, as Infectus came in, taking his seat on the far right corner, across from me, nearest to the door.
“It was successful, but barely, he dropped the ring once, lost it, but got out well, and with enough information. The ring is replaceable. I’m going to have to get two more made anyway.” He shrugged. “Aaron is so clumsy sometimes, I hope he doesn’t step on your feet when you two dance.” René smiled slightly. “Infectus, go get the others.”
Infectus clenched his fists, and regretfully got up from his seat, heading towards the exit, slamming the door behind him.
“Such a charmer,” I rolled my eyes. René chuckled. How could I be talking so casually with this man? He was horrid!
Aaron came in quicker than expected and sat across from me, replacing Infectus. His eyes were smiling, although he was frowning, eyebrows narrowed. Both of our hazel eyes locked on each other’s and we sat in silence for a few moments. I thought I heard René order for the chefs to start serving the meals, but it sounded far away. Then Aaron spoke, loud and clear. “Hello, Sarai. I heard you were going to dance with me.”
Our eyes didn’t leave each other. “Half of the time, yes.” My voice came out more cheerful than expected.
Aaron actually smiled, though it was only barely, more of a one-corner smile. “Marvelous. I’ll look forward to it.”
“I will, too.” I mirrored his smiled. He laughed softly, his right, foot, which was fitted in a shiny, black boot, resting gently on my own right foot, which was in a ripped up, dark natured shoe that I loved. For minutes we played with each other’s feet, still staring at each other, probably both wanting each other back.
I knew that I was past the idea of Masques being completely evil, and if René weren’t such a threat, then I’d definitely join just to be with my friends. I was past the idea of Aaron being a traitor; he was just doing his job. He had always been with these guys- ever since he was five. Ten years is a long time.
And I was pretty sure that Aaron still at least liked me.
But Aaron stood up as the rest of the Masques crowded in, nodded at me, frowning, and disappeared within them. He had a habit of doing that. There were only five Masques in the room now, including René, and the chefs were almost finished setting out the meal.
“One course only for lunch, right?” I asked René, as Ike took his place beside Infectus, who was yet again across from me.
“Right. Dinner is the biggest meal with two courses, dinner and dessert. You were significant, so we had to have a bigger dinner. Still, the food is just as good.” René explained, shaken from my encounter with Aaron. I noticed he wasn’t intending to eat.
“Don’t worry, Aaron won’t get the Medallion before you.” I sniffed and sighed, taking a sandwich, watching Ike slowly eat his salad.
I nibbled on the sandwich as Ike began talking to me, telling me things that I had already figured out, so naturally, I wasn’t paying attention, just shrugging and saying ‘uh-huh’ in all the right places. He stopped and asked me a question, which I vaguely remembered as being ‘Can I dance with you some at the Ball?’ and I nodded quickly. He smiled, and continued blabbering on about nonsense that I really didn’t care about. I was thinking about my schedule for after lunch and what might happen, otherwise, my mind was blank. I noticed that my sandwich was finished, so I entwined my hands together and watched Ike longer, barely paying attention to him. If I didn’t pay attention, I would probably miss something, and he would become angry or something, or maybe sad, and I didn’t want that to happen. I recognized stuff he said, like ‘I’m probably not even going to try to dance with that lady René is going to hook me up with’ and sometimes, ‘I really hate committing to any person’ and then ‘I think you’re the only person I’ve really gotten to open up to other than Aaron, but Aaron’s my best friend’. Other than that, it didn’t really matter what he said. He was finished with his salad, and everyone glanced over at René, who was dismissing everyone, after a long argument with Infectus about what I sort of remember as dragons.
I didn’t care if I was kind of speeding through the hallways, everyone else wasn’t surprised, and Ike wasn’t trying to follow me, or René for that matter. I rounded the corner and knocked loudly on the door marked ‘216’. Then a certain form of anxiety hit me.
I don’t think I can do this!
Sarai…
I was already running down the hallway, disappearing behind a corner and was now in my room, which I realized was unlocked after I had opened it. René must trust me, now, because I ‘agreed’ to help him sabotage by just being his date. No one had followed me, which was good. I casually, but still panting involuntarily, took the key from the top of the dresser, and walked outside, into the hallway, and unlocked the door to Myst’s room. Entering room, I noticed how dark it was, and how empty it felt, the same as before. I took a deep breath and flipped on the lights.
“Turn them off!” I heard Myst snap, immediately. “Sarai! TURN THEM OFF!”
I flipped off the lights, shocked. “What’s wrong?”
Everything was quiet again. Someone sighed, heavily.
“Myst are you okay?” I asked, venturing deeper into the room.
“I’m don’t look right… I don’t feel well.” Myst squeaked. “Go away… I don’t want anyone to see me.”
“Is that why everyone is avoiding letting you do anything?” I already knew the answer, but I would ask anyway.
“Probably…” Myst whispered. “Why is this man my grandfather? Why is he doing this to me?”
“Myst… he’s not your grandfather.” I sighed, stopping.
Way to go.
I’m doing her a favor.
“… Am I adopted?” Myst sounded confused, distracted by this thought rather than how horrible she probably felt.
“No,” I chuckled. “Silver isn’t that way… What I’m saying is, René isn’t Silver’s father, he’s only stating he is. How would it logically be possible for Silver to have tons of powers unless he were the relative of an extremely strong person?”
… Person.
You act like one.
Whatever you say.
“Who is my real grandfather?” Myst asked, her voice coming closer.
Don’t you dare tell her, Sarai. It’s not safe…
“He’s-” I began, but I felt an intense feeling in the back of my head.
Don’t tell!
“I can’t tell you…” I sighed.
Myst sighed, too. “At least I know that René isn’t my true grandfather. That’s good news, I suppose.” Her voice was far away again. “You should go.”
“Sorry I bothered you.” I left without another word, locking the door behind me, regretfully.
Pierce that was really childish! You’ve been acting like that for a while now… but… What the heck! It’s not going to do anything if I tell her who in the world is her grandfather. What’s the big deal? What the heck…
Sorry… You can go back in and tell her.
No, I’m already out here.
It’s like you trying to talk to Aaron.
Shut up.
I pocketed the key and started over to Infectus’ workshop, and knocked on the door, wondering if he had already gotten back from lunch. He’s lazy so I wouldn’t be surprised if he was still in the dining room. But he answered the door.
“Hey.” He welcomed. “You can come in if you want.”
“No, it’s okay. I need three cloaks and masks… for the other’s dates.” I ordered, rather softly.
“I don’t think they need cloaks- they won’t be wearing them- plus we’re not going to take them to the hide-out, ‘duh, they’ll fight for the other side. And lose. And the only masks I have are the generic male masks. I’ve only made one mask for a female, because I knew that you were coming. Now, do you want the generic ones?” Infectus asked, withdrawing into the workshop, which was full of bubbling plastic, metal, wax, and some paint- at least I think it was paint. He came back with three masks, which indeed looked identical.
“Yeah, I’ll take them, thanks.” Infectus handed me the masks.
“Anytime.” He waved once and closed the door in my face.
Nice, now put one mask in your room and come to René with the others.
Perfect plan.
I walked down the hallway to my room, put one mask on the top of my dresser, walked back into the hallway and closed the door behind me.
What will you wear, though?
Oooh… speed bump.
I stopped in my tracks and sighed.
Don’t you have anything to wear?
No… can’t you just lie to René about someone spilling something on their tuxedo?
Why would anyone be wearing their tuxedo?!
What about… Chuch?
Ah-ha!
I know I have good plans.
No, it’s a spin off of your plan. Chuch can handle Kathleen, right?
That’s what René said.
Okay, so we go to Kathleen since she is a tailor and…
She makes me a tux! Brilliant.
Yeah, I know I am.
I walked to where I knew Chuch lived and knocked on the door.
I’m like a door-to-door salesman.
Someone shrieked and there was a thud on the ground. “Je suis au milieu d’une exécution! Je dois sembler moyen pour la boule. Allez-vous!!” Chuch screamed from the other side, voice cracking. “Mon dieu… le sang… il est partout…”
I backed up a bit.
Mission failure.
We can still see Kathleen anyway, right?
If you want to be eaten alive, yes.
Why don’t you go in there? She’s crazy- she won’t remember you.
Or maybe she will remember me really well.
Just go in there.
No!
Why not?
It’s not safe.
Nothing’s safe in here.
Well…
Please?
No.
For me?
… No…
Please, Pierce!
Okay, fine! Let me out!
Pierce, come out.
The Medallion lit up and Pierce appeared in front of me, rolling his eyes and sighing loudly.
“If she recognizes me at the ball, you’re gonna be in a lot of trouble.” Pierce sneered.
“Yeah, she’ll recognize how much you roll your eyes.” I snickered, pushing him towards the end of the left side of the hallway. Kathleen’s room was at the end, room number ‘666’. How ironic.
“Yeah, real funny.” Pierce rolled his eyes again. “… I don’t do it THAT much…”
We stopped in front of Kathleen’s room. “Here’s your stop.” I smiled encouragingly at Pierce.
“I’m not afraid.” He walked towards the door. “Besides, if I get hurt- I can always poof back into the Medallion to recharge.”
“I haven’t really needed to recharge any of my human ‘needs’ lately…” I started.
“I am ‘a part of you’… as odd as that sounds… but when I’m in the Medallion, our needs are linked. I can recharge yours easily, except sleep. You need that. And eating and drinking sometimes… otherwise… the need for comfort and warmth and … toiletries… are really unnecessary- I can ‘recharge’ them easily. It’s just a matter of taking away and replacing. Mostly taking away…” Pierce chuckled.
“That explains a lot. Now go on…” I persuaded.
Pierce sighed and walked through the door. His head popped back out. “Do you think it would be best to turn into my true form so she won’t recognize me.”
“Just don’t kill her.”
“Right then.” Pierce’s head disappeared again.
“Wait, Pierce,” I interrupted.
Quickly, “Yes?” Came Pierce’s same, low, clear sonorous voice, except it was more eerie than before, his accent different- out of tune- discord.
“If I can look René in the eyes, can I see your true form?” I wondered, softly, tapping my fingers together.
“My hand is as far as you’ll get.” A gloved hand came through the door. “Happy?”
“It’s a glove,” I muttered, disappointed and blunt.
“Yes, but take off the glove.” Pierce explained, dully, as if I were stupid… and I admit I really am sometimes.
I reached for the glove and ripped it off, revealing a skeletal claw. I gasped. I expected something like this, but it was scarier in person. I don’t know why.
“Don’t be scared.” The hand beckoned me forward again, to put my hand on it again.
I placed my hand on top of his hand and he sighed. “You’re very warm.” He clutched my hand gently, and then released me. “Give me the glove.”
I handed him the glove again, and he withdrew. I didn’t hear any footsteps, but I heard a scream. Had he killed Kathleen already?
I heard another scream, but it was muffled, then Pierce began talking, asking for a tuxedo, politely, his voice coming out far too commanding and annoyed. I heard a sword unsheathing and Pierce groaning, unenthusiastically. The sword clattered to the floor when the Kathleen screamed again. Pierce asked again for the tuxedo, this time more gruff. Kathleen cried hysterically, sobbing yes, and I heard Pierce, a bit amused, and a bit confused, say thank-you. Then Pierce’s hand came through the door again.
“I’m coming back out here, look away now.” Pierce ordered, and I turned away, unwillingly. There were no footsteps, but there was a mini-flash, and then Pierce came into my line of vision. “Hey, she said she’d have it ready as soon as possible, and to look for it in front of her door. I said if she doesn’t have it, she’ll die.”
“I didn’t hear that part.”
“Well you should have,” Pierce shrugged. “I said it rather loudly.”
“Sorry, you’re just boring in that way.” I smirked as we walked down the hallway, heading towards the dining room. “Hey, get back into the Medallion, you know how everyone is here.”
Pierce sighed and disappeared.
I opened the door to the dining room, but René blocked my path. How ironic… and coincidental. “Oh, hi Sarai- are those the masks?”
Hey Master and Rose, this is theme is just here because of the paragraphs being bunched together in the last theme. Yeah, sorry if you don’t like it- Trevor and I personally think it’s very spiffy. Trouble
For anyone- I know that most of the stuff that it supposed to be divided by paragraphs is not spaced- sorry, please ignore it and keep reading- I’ll try and edit it A.S.A.P. BringTrouble
I wasn’t sure how these arms that were around me were warm. No pulse; no heartbeat. Utterly still breathing. I turned over to face whoever was hugging me to them. Pierce was asleep, his head on my shoulder, arms around my waist. I had wanted him to come out, although it was in a rage, and he had come out, even if I didn’t notice.
I remember that I didn’t want to wake up though. My face was still wet with tears, so I must have only been asleep for fifteen minutes or less. The humid air was thick enough to keep the water on my face. I was still tired from complete depression, and I didn’t find that I was drifting off into a dreamless sleep again, my head gently falling to Pierce’s shoulder. He didn’t wake up to talk to me or explain himself, so I easily shut my eyes and surrendered my consciousness, although my head buzzed with questions. Ones like:
· Why are dead people so warm?
· Do they have blood?
· Do they have to sleep?
· Do they need to eat or breathe?
· Do they grow older and taller?
· Do they ever stop growing and at what time?
And those were just enough to keep me awake. I sighed and turned away from Pierce again, and his breathing quietly returned, his chest rising up and down in the motion. He was about to wake up.
Or not.
The breathing halted completely and he sighed, all his breath escaping involuntarily, I suppose.
His average cloak was so comfortable against my skin, it almost made me want to turn around and pull him even closer to me.
His long, thick hair was so soft as it tumbled over my collar, mixing with my own hair making the perfect blend.
Pierce was overwhelmingly attractive, is the shortened version.
But I cannot say I even have the slightest reason to love him in any way other than a friend. The one I loved, incomparably so, is Aaron, no matter how much of a traitor or a jerk or an idiot he is, I do not hate him, even if I want to think that. Love is a blind moron and I am caught in the middle of the insanity.
Pierce caressed my cheek, wiping off the tears from my face with his thumbs. “What are you crying about now?” he brushed my hair out of my eyes. “I’m here for you. I’m your friend.”
“I want to think of you as my father.” I whispered, just so I would see him more as a figure that was disenchanting.
“Okay, whatever you want, Sarai. I’m here for you.” He repeated, sitting up.
“Don’t leave.”
“I won’t if you don’t want me to.” I glanced at him, and as far as I could see, Pierce smiled, his face so gentle it was unfair. I didn’t want to think the way I did. Why was I always dwelling on the simple facts? There are people who have it a lot worse than me. Almost everyone can deal with broken hearts. Million people live in prisons. There are a lot of girls with tons of boys setting them up. There are a lot of people who will never see their friends freely. The point is people can deal with this. I’m not necessarily going to die. If I die… I’d be happy… “Face me, Sarai, I want to see your face.” He gently turned me to face him completely, so I could get a better view of his perfect expression.
It struck me odd to see how imperfect he was, actually. There is no perfection. You can be perfectly good, or perfectly bad, but Pierce was unreal, he didn’t tilt in anyway. This unreality cannot be perfect because it isn’t real. It’s nonexistent.
Which must be where everyone goes after they are completely eliminated from any Dead Worlds after becoming a spirit.
“You’re so quiet and young. This must be hard for you to go through. Is it like a disease? Is it like getting cancer or malaria or something in which you know you’re going to die?” Pierce asked, his voice silky but concerned.
“What are you talking about? How would you know what I’m going through? I hate to brag, but I’m good at keeping my secrets locked away from wandering minds.” I hissed, my voice sharper than intended. I turned away from his unnerving eyes that were so calm.
“… Sarai, please, I’ve known worse.” His voice was so smart. As if he knew more about me than I did.
“As in?”
“Well, there’s a story I want to tell you,” he whispered, watching me get up and pace over to the dresser, where atop was a bowl of food that I identified as a bowl of oatmeal, with chocolate covered strawberries on the side. I searched for the silverware, but my hand strayed too far and hit a crumpled up, torn piece of paper. As I unfolded the paper, Pierce raised his voice to a bold letter and told me, “There was a girl, different from all the others. She lived in a small village in the forest. She had a sister, and her sister was prided over her, although her sister was so inferior to her, so lowly. The father adored the girl who was different from the others. It was decided that she was to become the heir of the throne, and to get the throne, the father must die. The girl was only eight when she found out why the father must die. She wouldn’t let that happen, but it did. The father committed suicide the next morning after she found out about the reason of death. Devastated, the girl was forced to keep the heirloom and kept it because it was the only memory of her father that she remembered completely, that she knew her father prized. But it was so sad to have him gone.”
My father was gone too. So were my mother and my sister. I was alone. I looked down at the note and read it silently.
“The girl soon figured out why the treasure was so important, and used it rightly, became as close to it as she was to her father, her best friend.” He paused and waited for me to understand what he was saying. This girl must be Nadia. I’m not stupid. Pleased with my interpretation, Pierce continued, “They were inseparable other than the obvious reason. They were always seen together, sitting outside of the crowds, laughing, even if no one could see them. But there was a trap.” I turned to see why Pierce’s voice had gone dark and intense. His scowled at the ceiling, face red, eyes glaring, then I turned back to the note, which was so simple, it was hard to understand how anyone knew.
Broken hearts are perfect.
“The trap was impossible to avoid, and you never knew it was coming. One day, a group of traveling nomads came to the small village. They were various species. Shadows, sirens too, elves, and their supposed leader, a shadow who had shredded his chaos cloak, revealing his incredible beauty, the beauty the girl fell in love with. A cunning man, supposedly nameless until someone gave him a name after he returned to the village after destroying it. But that is farther in the story. This cunning man, deep bright saffron eyes, ravens colored hair, and a perfect smile. The girl and he fell in love, but as you were grumbling before, love is a blind moron.” I froze. “But the man turned their love against them, tricked her into following him to a prison he instituted with his minions, the supposed nomads. The man tried to steal the heirloom from the girl, but couldn’t unless he killed her. So he planned a death for the girl. The girl, knowing her faith even before it happened, chose to give or take something so… human, she and her best friend would treasure forever, even though the girl did die, and the best friend drifted off. A child, given complete and utter power from both the parents, destined to become the king of the Spirit World. The cunning man only found out about this child, which the friend of the girl tried to hide so uselessly, after the girl was dying, and had already passed the child on to the father. Without knowing about the first child of the girl, the man tried to get a strong heir to the throne of the Spirit World, too. This child was sickly, without any powers, and the mother was left weakened. The man, actually feeling extremely guilty and overwhelmingly depressed, took them back to the cabin where the mother had lived part of her life, with her friend, and tried to raise the child. But the man knew that the mother was going to die any day then, and set the whole house on fire, leaving both the sickly child, and the dying mother to burn. He would come back to take the treasure when she was dead. But, he before even able to light the match, the mother chose to visit her best friend in the whole world for the final time. The best friend of the mother had kept the child sealed away with him, and the child was glad to see the daylight again. The man found out about this child, and when the mother had gone to rest, he took the child, escaped in an Egyptian king’s body, and summoned troops to assure the death of the lady. He had a perfect act after that, as the friend had figured out. He said he adopted the child, telling the Egyptian king’s wife of course, and chose to raise the child to be his heir. He had two other children with the Egyptian’s wife, both without powers. After that, the friend took the heirloom that had been left in the house, because the body was gone and no one knew where the treasure was- so the man figured he could find it any time because it was in a remote area- moved it to a hidden place that the girl and her best friend had found together, used the last of the treasure’s immediate power to recover the body, buried the body, and locked himself away until he was found again, hoping to forget. His power recovered, but his memories never did. Otherwise, everyone but the girl’s family, her tribe, her friends, and her true love- her best friend- lived happily ever after, including the sickly child, who was raised by Death.” Pierce was finished with his story. That story was so eerie, and so sad, but very informative, actually. Aside from the remorseful memoir, I knew more than ever, and could surely use this information to my advantage. I now knew all about Silver’s ‘family’. René was only a stepfather to Silver, so Silver might find that good and bad, and also, Pierce being his father explains his amazing powers, Pierce being the beast Perpes Nox Noctis. Poor Ethan, he’s son of an evil dictator, even if he is really nice, and he doesn’t have any powers.
Poor Pierce. He had lost all that everyone he ever really knew, and hadn’t been in contact with his son in thousands of years.
But what if he’s lying? He wouldn’t do that, I suppose, though. I set the letter down, turned back to Pierce, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, and brought the tray over to him.
“That’s a sad story.” I whispered, handing him a strawberry. He stared at it, and then swallowed it.
“Eh, I didn’t know I could have kids.” He smirked at me, looking at me from out of the corner of his eyes. I grinned; he was handling the situation well.
Of course he always had.
The intercom blared from overhead, “Ote! Report to my office immediately if you want to keep your job! Ike, go see how Miss Faulk fairs, maybe give her a tour of the grounds. Aaron! Do you know how much time you have before the squadron leaves? You’re going to have to hurry or they’ll be gone and you and I will be very unhappy. I see you, RUN! Infectus, I want you to ready the dragons, Chuch will be choosing one for his mission to the Air Temple to recover the first gem. If it is not there, Chuch, you know where to look- Ravenswood Graveyard.”
“Must be mission day. Masques prides in being able to attack from inside the walls. Being able to become close to their victim and then leading them away.” Pierce muttered, flatly. “I know about Masques just by looking at its members. I will tell you later, the door is being unlocked.” He disappeared in a gust, and I heard a clicking noise, and then the door swung open.
“Hello,” Ike stomped into the room without requesting a welcoming. “How are you; do you want a tour?”
“Yeah, I’ll take a tour.” I muttered, falling back on the bed.
Ike paused before continuing, “How are you?”
“Better than before.” I grunted, glancing at him. He looked away and gestured for me to follow him out the door. I stood up and slowly trudged out the door, too.
“Which way first?” Ike inquired, looking in both directions.
“I know my left better. Let’s go there first.” I waited for Ike to lead the way.
“So you know the dorms better?”
“If you want to call them dorms.”
“And you went to the War Room. That’ll make the tour a lot easier because that marks off one out of three forbidden rooms.” Ike walked across the hallway to the room that was supposed to be Myst’s tenement, unlocked the door, and let me inside.
Myst’s room was dark. The lights were off and there was silence all around. The only light that was shed was from the hallway I just came from.
“Myst?” I called into the void of darkness, looking around to see any sign of movement. “Hello? Myst?”
Ike suddenly grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back into the hallway, silently. “She’s not well.” He said simply, and yanked me through the hallways to the room farther down the hallway, room number ‘216’, and unlocked the door. I assumed every other room was empty.
“Whose room is this?” I looked around the room as Ike switched on the lights. The room was untidy and vintage. The wallpaper was scraped off, the door had a bloody footprint on it, and the mirrors were shattered. There were band posters all over the walls, the bed was not made, and there were pictures on the nightstand, beside the broken lamp. The room was empty, luckily, so I moved over to the pictures and gazed at them, shocked.
That’s you… and Aaron. I remember that! That was in Ethan’s house. Who could have gotten that angle unless…? Aaron first took a picture of you and him, then a picture of Silver.
Oh my…
I moved to look at the others. Still me, but they looked like I wasn’t paying attention, because I was looking away in all of them. All in different areas of the Spirit World. All made when I was with Aaron.
“… Ahem? Sarai?” Ike wondered. I turned back and he raised an eyebrow.
“Why hasn’t he thrown these away? He knows that I broke up with him. He knows that I don’t love him.” I grumbled, sitting on Aaron’s bed.
“He knows you broke up with him.” Ike smiled slyly. “He also knows that you still love him.”
“I do not!”
“Regardless,” Ike interrupted, ignoring me and turning around, looking at the pictures on the dresser that I had missed. “He still loves you.” He turned to me again. “And he always will.”
“I doubt that.” I grunted, laying down, staring at the ceiling. “If we drift so far away, so far away we don’t even know each other, you and I both know that he will not love me.”
“He has a memory like an elephant.” Ike smirked. “Trust me on this. He loves you and he always will, no matter what happens. He’s never loved anyone. He’s never even dated anyone. He’s never been in any type of relationship. He died… right after he was born. A glitch, I suppose, that allowed him to come back to the Spirit World. He has grown up naturally, which is odd, and has blood, which is incredibly rare- especially if he doesn’t have a heartbeat or a pulse. He still has his natural body… sort of. It’s kind of merged with his soul because his memory of the short interval of time that he was in the Spirit World before being dead was so vivid. This is a rare case, usually anyone who dies barely has a memory of their body after they died- unless their death was suicidal- parts of them are altered, like my eye, which was an extreme case.”
“Can I see it? Your eye?” I asked, sitting up again, staring at the man.
“No!” he whined, backing up. “Never! No one has except for me!”
“What can be so bad? It’s your eye.” I groaned, lying back down.
“Just my eye, that’s right, and luckily so. You see, I remembered my eye the way it was when I died. Out of its socket!” he exclaimed, walking over to me and helping me up, then leading me out of the room and into the hallway again.
“Ew! Is it going to fall out if you take the bandage off?” I poked his bandage where it curved over his nose.
“Not exactly.” Ike muttered, forcing a small smile.
“Are you usually this serious? When you’re around the others, you act silly.” I commented, walking with him to the next room, ‘227’, where I got a quick glance inside Chuch’s room, a perfect set for a hospital murder- black blood over tile, surgery items on a table, and a surgical table coated in black blood- then went across the hallway to ‘228’, Ote’s room, which was plushy and kiddy, which wasn’t surprising.
“Well?”
Ike smiled at me. “No, I’m not usually acting this serious at all. This is more like me, even if I never lie.”
“You’re a liar?”
“And I’m quite good at it too. I am a professional pickpocket, and robber. I usually pose as a dashing young man,” he posed oddly, smirking. “With a lot of money and a sense of humor, working as the CEO of the creators of the doors. I have the power of lightning, which comes in handy at times.” He stopped at a door, bit his lip, paced around, and then decided to go on.
“Who lives in there?”
“No one special.” Ike muttered, continuing to pace down the hallway at a moderately slow speed.
“Who is it?” I asked, dashing in front of him, stopping him.
“Kathleen,”
“Is that a forbidden room? Or is she your girlfriend?” I smirked, having figured out something supposedly.
“No, it’s not a forbidden room. No she’s not my girlfriend either.” He hissed. “I hate her.”
“Tell me about her.” I sat down in the middle of the hallway.
“She’s crazy. We let her out to go on murder missions. Once we sent her on a suicide mission, and she ended up using someone else, one of her comrades, to blow up instead.” He frowned. “She’s absolutely loony. She is delusional, and thinks René loves her, and thinks she loves him, and thinks they are married. She was one of the first members of René’s army, never Masques, but she’s a minion indeed. She posed as a nomad elf when she came to René’s late- may she rest in peace- wife’s village. Kathleen was locked up as a prisoner for disobeying René, and was trapped there, along with Infectus much later on, although she was loyal to René at the time, and Infectus was an innocent prisoner, actually of the opposing force. Kathleen went crazy after being locked up and forgotten about for a few thousand years. She went so crazy, she was bloodthirsty and her thirst hasn’t been quenched yet, not at all actually. She recently heard about you and wishes to kill you.” The latter add on frightened me.“… Why can’t we go in there? She’s a minion, she wouldn’t hurt anyone unless on her own. Isn’t she monitored by René?” I wondered, trying to look unaffected.
“Like I said, she wants to kill you. She is monitored. But René is going to kill you anyway, why wait?” he scowled, not necessarily at me in particular, but anyone who would die.
“I don’t want to die.” I pouted, partially jumping up from my seat.
“Actually, almost half of the Masques finds it nearly inappropriate, and it they were given a choice, they’d set you free.” He smiled, hopefully. “I know I would. Aaron too, maybe even Chuch. He thought of you quite friendly, but that doesn’t mean he likes you or anything. Chuch is our most violent member, next to René and Aaron.” Ike explained, walking down the hallway, pointing out his room and Infectus’ workshop/tenement.
“I’ve never seen Aaron hurt anyone.” I paused. “Of course it could have been an act.”
“No, Aaron really didn’t put up much of a personality act, except for acting like he was for your ‘side’.” Ike shrugged. “He’s doesn’t try and hurt anyone, but when he is really angry or ordered to kill or harm, he will do it no question. Actually, at age eight, René said that he killed more people than Chuch on a mission.”
“How long has everyone been part of Masques?” I asked, as we reached the end of the hallway, the actual prison, and Ike unlocked the door to the prison, and pointed out who was in the cells.
“Oh? René of course the longest, the founder. He founded it before he ever had any minions, and used his chaos cloak, before he shredded it, as a mask, then when Infectus joined after the first René vs. Silver war, he made all the masks. Infectus joined after being a captive for hundreds of years, and lost almost all memory. The first to last members are Chuch and Ote, who died in the French Revolution- they are quarrelling brothers who have been quarrelling from birth to death until the end of time, and died quarrelling under the guillotine. They were Siamese Twins, and Chuch got so annoyed of Ote that he cut them in half, then replaced his own sawed-off right arm with wood, keeping the original hand, and has been devoted to self-surgery ever since. He’s addicted. Ote never replaced his arm. They both are practicing Shadow magic, and surprisingly, even though Chuch does the most rituals, Ote has gotten the farthest, and the entire left side of his body is a chaos cloak, and his left eye is a Shadow’s all-seeing eye. He hides his eye because he fears the Shadow magic overpowering his body and making him less functional. He announced that his left arm is becoming a Shadow’s claw just a week ago- then Infectus, I told you about him. I don’t think his name is Infectus, actually, and Aaron seems to know his real name. Then I joined, and I’m not going to tell you my entire story, but I died by lightning, and still has some of the ‘shock’ left in me, my lightning magic. I’m easy to surprise, and when into traumatic shock after death for ten years. I was adopted by a Psychic family, but accidentally killed the youngest daughter. Then Aaron found me and we both went off in search for a home. I found Masques first, and then René invited Aaron in. You’re our newest temporary member.” He shook my hand officially, and we exited the prison, and headed down the hallways to the very end, when we reached the ballroom.
“This is my favorite room.” I smiled, dreamily gazing up at the Roman holy art on the ceiling.
“Mine too.” Ike looked up at the artwork on the ceiling. “Chuch took it from a tomb when he was tracking Silver.”
Everyone is after Silver!
This only happens to the king of the Spirit World.
My son…
Yes.
I snickered involuntarily, and then quickly covered up. “It’s great that they actually worship God.”
“They worship God indeed.” Ike looked down and over at me. “Ote is really the only person who is an Atheist, but he has a reason that I do not know. Everyone else thinks that ‘cleansing’ the Spirit World is rightfully so. I think it’s sacrilegious. Why bring anything religious into the argument? It’s entirely secular.”
“Aren’t you for what you’re doing?” I was confused.
“Not entirely. I think the Spirit World is getting what was coming, but it’s not right.” Ike explained, with a sigh.
“Why don’t you quit, then?” I asked, looking down from ceiling and over at Ike.
“I need a place to stay.” Ike continued, sitting down at one of the sofas that lined the ways to the hallways. “And if I want the money… I get the money. I have it my way most of the time here. And I have some friends. I know everyone here and they’re sort of my family to some extent. It’s hard to leave the place you know and like. Especially because if you leave you’d probably get killed by René, and if not, Silver.”
“Oh…” I sighed, and sat beside him. “So is there a bomb on the ring you used back during the mission? Probably so.”
“Definitely, and René can trigger it whenever he feels like it. One thing wrong, one mission failed, we blow up and are forgotten. That’s what’s good about being a temporary member, you will never die during a mission, unless someone other than René kills you.” Ike tapped the armrest of the sofa with his right hand, as if waiting for something.
“How many members have died in missions due to René?”
“Thousands.” Ike muttered, standing up and waiting for me to follow. “Come on, we shouldn’t be talking about this, we should be continuing the tour.”
I stood up and followed him to the dining room that we had been in last night. He pointed out the orchestra pit, but his mind was absent, probably wandering on to facts about his job, I suppose.
* * * * * * * *
“René,” I said, after Ike had left, and I had chance to put my finger on the intercom button and the office button. “My tour is over, I wish to go see a friend.”
“Very well,” René returned, rather quickly, as if he had been waiting for me to say something like that- or even call him at all, just to say ‘Hi’. “Lunch is in an hour. Be back by then. Don’t even try to sneak away. I trust you enough now to know that you know that if you try to leave without my permission, you’re dead. Come back in an hour. I won’t watch you.”
“Yes sir.” I added the sir in for emphasis.
“Very good.” René chuckled and let me off the line.
This time, Ike opened the door with a raise of an eyebrow and a tight grin. “Where are you going this time, my little friend?” We walked to the ball room.
“A friend’s house.” I smirked back and noticed a French man, only about Chuch’s age, not even wearing a mask and cloak, only wearing casual clothes. He looked like a girl, but he still had some of that boyish charm, even though his hair was long and his eyes were large. Probably Ote, sitting at a sofa in the ballroom, kicking the ground.
“Follow my lead,” Ike whispered, then continued more loudly and in a playful tone, “So we’re buddies?”
“Yep! If you promise to do one thing.” I crossed my arms and stopped in my tracks.
“Huh?” Ike seemed surprised, and I knew he actually was.
“Get Ote to watch René and be sure Ote doesn’t tell René what he is doing.” I nodded once.
“He wouldn’t watch René and see if René is watching you!” Ike said in a fake tone, glancing over at Ote to make sure he was listening. “Not Ote, even if he does have the Seeing Eye.”
“Yes, he would, I bet he would because he’s the nicest member of Masques.” I glanced over at Ote, too, and he was watching, jaw dropped, interested.
“I thought I was,” Ike pouted.
I chuckled and pinched his cheek.
“Well anyway, he wouldn’t do that in a million years.” Ike swatted my hand away and crossed his arms.
Ote jumped up and ran over to us, eagerly. “I would, I would, I promise I would!” His voice was even feminine.
“No, I bet you’d tell on us.” Ike frowned.
“Not a chance!” Ote exclaimed, jumping up and down. “Please! I’m so bored here.”
“See I told you, Ike. Thanks Ote! Well, you better get to it. Sit at that sofa and watch René. I’ll be on my way. Bye boys.” I smiled at both of them. Ote ran over to the couch again, and Ike frowned and headed back to his room, but I caught a grin flashed my way. The large steel doors were unlocked, so I moved right on through. The boulder was already shattered, and when I passed through that line, the boulder didn’t reform. I smiled to myself and strolled through the forests, arms crossed, still smiling. I was free for a short time. I could go anywhere I wanted! But this is for an hour only. It would take a while to get to Silver’s house, so maybe I should go to someplace closer.
Ethan’s house was close enough; I would go there. I had to tell someone. The fields came to an end, as my mind was blank, and I wasn’t really paying any attention until I remembered the barrier.
I was only half surprised. The barrier was already breached for me, and I passed through easily. I cursed the sky above me- it was so bright, not like anything I had seen, and only about an hour before, it was stormy. Then I realized that it could be very easy for any search parties to find me and take me away, and then René would go looking for me and kill all the nice people. I hurried into the dark, humid forest, still wet from the last rain or snow or whatever it was. The snow was still on the ground, so I imagine it was snow.
I spotted Ethan’s cabin. The lights were on, offering a bit of hope, even if the sun was out. I ran over to the house and flung the door open. “Ethan!” I exclaimed, seeing Ethan staring at me. “I’m so glad to see you!”
“Sarai?” He gasped, as if he had just seen a ghost- or something that would be scary. “What are you doing here? I thought you were missing. I thought you were dead!” He ran over to me and embraced me, breathing in my scent.
“I’m not, though.” I smiled and wrapped my arms around him.
“I’ve got to call Silver and the others!” Ethan released me and ran for his phone.
“No, no! Don’t!” I roared, tackling him. “You can’t, I won’t let you.”
“Why not?” He ordered, voice surprised, and shook me off.
“René will kill me if you do.” I whispered, standing up.
“René stole you?” He shot up.
“Yeah,” I scowled. “Stole me away and locked me up. Aaron’s fault.”
“Travis expected this.” Ethan nodded. “Why can’t I tell anyone? This is horrible!” He sat me down at the sofa, and ran into the kitchen.
“Actually, they treat me okay. I’ve even made a few friends.” I muttered. “But the point is, if you tell anyone, we’re all dead. I shouldn’t even be telling you this.”
“Well you did. I’ll keep it a secret, as stupid as that is. Silver could blow up René in a second.” Ethan came in with some cookies and hot chocolate.
“I doubt it.” I smirked at the memories that I had of Silver and René on the train.
“Are you for their side now?” Ethan asked, as innocent as he sounded and intended, I was shocked.
“No!” I exclaimed. “I’m stuck with the two people I hate the most! And they’re going to kill everyone!”
“Are they going to kill you, regardless?” Ethan asked, shaken, handing me a mug of hot chocolate.
“Yes, they’re going to kill me before they kill everyone else.” I sipped the scorching hot liquid, ignoring the pain.
“That’s… indescribable! How dare they!” Ethan clenched his fists, and hit the armrest.
“Maybe they’ll make it painless.” I sighed. “Besides, I’ll be back in the Spirit World.”
“Just in time to get blown up.” Ethan grunted, leaning back. “We’re all going to die…”
“There’s going to be a whole lot of spirits.” I ate a cookie, enjoying the taste. “I’ve only got an hour to stay.”
“That’s not long enough. What do you want to do? When will you come back?” Ethan questioned, quickly, scrunching up beside me.
“I know, it’s not long enough. I don’t know what to do. I’ll be back as soon as possible. What were you doing before I came?” I asked, sipping the hot chocolate and putting my head on Ethan’s shoulder.
“Nothing.” Ethan paused then his face lit up.
“What?” I looked at him oddly.
“Let’s go pay Death a visit, he may have a way to make you immune to becoming a soul or a spirit or anything you don’t want to be.” Ethan exclaimed, excitedly, jumping up.
“I don’t think that René would let that happen.” I muttered, watching Ethan flip through his personal address book, then looking for Death’s phone number.
“Screw René.” Ethan smirked and raised his voice, looking to the sky. “You hear that Divine forces? Screw that son of a-”
“Ethan!” I exclaimed, urgently, making Ethan frown, disappointed, and look down. I continued, softly. “René could be watching.” I didn’t completely trust Ote.
“So what?” Ethan spat. “I don’t care about René. I care about you, Sarai! I care about the Spirit World!”
“If you care about the Spirit World, you’d leave Death out of the matter.” I sighed, and looked away, too ashamed to look at Ethan’s face.
This is so difficult.
You don’t need to be going through this. Sarai let me talk to my stepson.
What can you do?
I glanced over at Ethan, and his eyes were glued on me, panting, thinking of a reply.
Go ahead, I guess.
Thanks, Sarai. You owe me.
You owe me back.
The Medallion lit up familiarly and Pierce appeared by my side, his hand on my head. I heard Ethan gasp. I didn’t want to look. I buried my head in my arms.
“Who are you?” Ethan whimpered. “Leave her alone.”
“I’m not going to hurt either one of you. I’m on your side.” I heard Pierce reply, his voice icy. “Now, help me hold her down while you call Death.”
“WHAT?” I roared, but Pierce already had his arms locked around me, and Ethan had pushed me to the corner of the sofa, already dialing Death’s number. “Please no! We’re all going to die if you do! Please, please let me go!”
“Shh… Sarai, Death can help. Death and Life are more powerful than all of René’s armies, stronger than René any day. The least Death can do for his adopted son is to help his prisoner friend out of a tight spot.” Pierce soothed, running a hand through my hair.
“Then why don’t they just stop the entire war?” I exclaimed, then bit my lip, letting the tears run freely. “Please, I don’t want everyone to die.”
“No one will die, Death won’t let that happen. And they can’t stop the whole war, they can only help select people if given permission by a higher force.” Pierce continued to brush the hair out of my eyes and caress my face. “Don’t cry.” He dabbed my tears.
“Hello, Death?” Ethan interrupted, patting my knee. “Yes, it is Ethan! I’m doing fine, how are you? Aw, that’s too bad. Is this a closed call? It is? Great. Well, I need to ask a favor. I’ve got this girl who’s been captured by René, but is temporarily let free. Is there anything that you can do to-… you can? You are? Ok thanks, I owe you. Nah, I insist. Alright, see you in a few.” Ethan smiled and hung up.
“Well?” Pierce and I said in unison.
“He’ll be here in a few minutes.” Ethan’s smile rung wider.
“Oh my- no!! It was a closed call? René couldn’t be wiretapping us?” I worried.
“No, it was a closed call.” Ethan reassured, patting my knee, and leaning away from me. I straightened up, and Pierce got a seat on my right side.
“Remember, Sarai, René said he wouldn’t be after you. He said he wouldn’t try and track you or anything. You were free for an hour, as long as you came back, he trusted you.” Pierce straightened my hair, with a reminding smile. Now I remembered. There was no need to be frightened. Now I look like an idiot. I had to make something up.
“Yes, he wouldn’t. Ote might.” I sniffed.
“You and Ote had a deal.” Pierce was still patient.
“Maybe he would break the deal.” I crossed my arms.
“Well, he’s part of the Masques.” Ethan offered, for my side.
“How do you know?” I wondered.
“I heard about the first war, too.” Ethan pouted.
“He’s not necessarily that type of person, not the person to tell. Ike maybe.” Pierce muttered.
“Ivan Truman?” Ethan asked.
“I believe so.” Pierce nodded.
“I don’t know! Ike is my friend; I don’t think he’d tell on me. Plus he’s a liar, so René might not believe him.” I explained, trying to sound confident, and failing miserably.
“Don’t even try and be right.” Pierce faked a frown.
“She can act.” Ethan nodded approvingly, winking at me. “So what’s your name?”
“Pierce,” Pierce replied, crossing his arms.
“Where’d you come from?”
“The Medallion.” Pierce motioned towards me with a half-hearted smile.
There was a knock on the door and Ethan and I both shot up. “I’ll get it,” I smiled a fake grin.
“No, I better get it.” Ethan returned the fake grin.
“Who is it?” Pierce stood up, walked into the kitchen, and looked out a window. “Yeah, that’s Death alright.”
I ran over to the window Pierce was looking out of. “Death?” I whispered. That was the same ‘Death’ as the person I saw at the TV studio. “How does everyone know this guy?”
“Haven’t you seen their TV show?” Pierce asked, as Ethan walked outside to greet Death.
“I was in it.” I replied. “Plus, isn’t he Silver’s alter ego?”
“Darkness alter ego.” Pierce answered, turning from the window to me. “I don’t know how Ethan got a hold of him if he was in Silver’s mind at that time, unless it was just a lucky guess that he was at his own house.”
I watched Death and Ethan have a casual conversation like old friends do, and then watched them come inside, in which I naturally turned to watch them enter, but was surprised to see Death not entering, which confused everyone obviously. I looked around and finally spotted Death just randomly appearing anywhere, examining the house. He appeared by side once.
“Hiya, I’m Death, I believe we’ve met.” He nodded my head for me and made a girly voice in which he said, “Perhaps.” Then he shook my hand, but I was shocked by the joy-buzzer that I hadn’t noticed when he shook my head, probably with the other hand, I wasn’t paying attention to that. “You’re emotionless.” He noted, rolling his eyes with a slight smile.
“I like to think of my self as bipolar in that sense.” I crossed my arms and watched him appear by Pierce’s side. Pierce didn’t even care to recognize Death’s presence, and stared straight forward.
“What a lovely pair of stiffs, Ethan.” Death winked at me and grabbed Pierce’s hand and shook it. Pierce didn’t care, because he was physically unfeeling, which he obviously hadn’t told me. “Quite. What’s your name?”
“Pierce,” Ethan and I both said.
“Great harmony in that unison.” Death nodded, smirking in both Ethan and my direction. “Well, Pierce I’d have to say you look a little… just a tad… like Perpes Nox Noctis’s human form.”
That burst Pierce’s cool bubble. “Uh…” Pierce stuttered, his eyes shifting to me.
“I’d also have to say you look a lot like Nadia’s best friend and lover.” Death continued, his grin turning evil, eyes blazing.
I chuckled silently, and I could tell Ethan was shocked as much as Pierce. Death was good at this!
“Right Pierce?” Death’s hand flew to Pierce’s shoulder and I saw that he was only whispering in Pierce’s right ear, “Just a hunch.” He then playfully smirked, patted Pierce’s shoulder and turned away from him, walking towards Ethan. “Nice people, good change to the house, great job, Ethan.”
“I believe that we’ve caught you on a good day, eh Death?” Ethan smiled back. “Double luck.”
“You owe me two bucks,” Pierce muttered, grinning.
“I never made a bet with you!” I punched his arm. “I don’t owe you anything.”
“Believe what you want.” Pierce hid his smirk with a very fake frown.
“So, you’ve got a girl who is being captivated by René, right?” Death turned to me and smiled. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“I wouldn’t use the word captivated- but technically you’re right. He’s going to kill me. Anything you can do to help me not die?” I asked, sitting down at the kitchen table, tapping my fingers on the wood. Ethan sat beside me.
“I guess I could, but what do I get out of it?” Death appeared by my side his lips by my right ear.
“… Not me.” I stammered, shrugging.
Death drew back, straightening himself. “Well, I’d have to say that you wouldn’t be much of an addition to my collection.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, looking over at the man who resembled Silver so greatly.
“The souls,” Ethan began, only to be interrupted by Death.
“More than half of the Spirit World wouldn’t be in any of the Dead Worlds if not for yours truly.” Death grinned, brandishing a jagged collection of fangs. “Now,” he bent down to meet my gaze again. “I can’t do anything LEGALLY to help you.”
“So why’d you come?” Pierce asked, sitting beside Ethan and I, the seating arrangement not allowing Death to sit down also. Death withdrew from my shoulder again.
“Ah, he finally speaks.” Ethan smirked.
Death interrupted again, before Pierce could retaliate, “Well, me being…” he paused, having to look down at us, being a tall man. “… Me. I like to do things… a tad bit different, you see, there are many ways to resurrect people-”
I was the one to interrupt this time, “That’s great, but eh, man, if you couldn’t tell…” I straightened up in the chair. “I’m not dead.”
“Yet,” Death crossed his arms and I shivered “I believe that our good friend René wants to steal the Medallion.”
“That me,” Pierce raised a hand before Death continued.
“Yes… well, once he has the Medallion, you’ll be powerless and… well… dead. Like I was saying, there are a multitude of ways to resurrect people legally, but most of them include too many insane rituals that are nearly impossible to accomplish, wherever you stand in power. The other four percent should be illegal, because it includes creatures much stronger than Pierce’s beast form-”
“Hey you aren’t for sure that I am Perpes Nox Noctis!” Pierce scowled at Death.
“But you and Sarai are sure that you are.” Death smirked. “Sarai’s a mortal, therefore not that hard to read. Open book, actually, to someone of my degree.”
Pierce chuckled, but Death frowned. “I wouldn’t be laughing, you’re pitiful Pierce, for the former guardian of the gates. You got replaced by a moron.” Death scoffed.
“I agree,” Ethan grunted. “The Soul Master. Ugh, he is such an idiot! He doesn’t even use his real name. It’s a stupid nickname. Everyone hates him. Only for that do I feel sorry for him. And guess what, if I’m sick, he gets to take my place for a day! He gives me a bad image.”
“Yes…” Death smiled slightly. “But, Pierce, unless you are trying to be as mortal as possible, you better improve on blocking your mind.”
“Whatever,” Pierce sighed.
“Anyway,” Death said quickly. “The other four percent of resurrection processes should be illegal because it includes beasts much stronger than Pierce.”
“What do they do?” I asked, as Death made a dramatic pause.
“I’m getting to that, a little patience please.” Death sighed, his silence broken. “These creatures are bound and forced to bring back whoever just became a lower- I like to think of it as a higher- level of existence.”
“The levels are odd, it goes from a low to a high to a lower to the lowest or to the highest. Like stars, which is why we include Death’s Abyss and Nova.” Ethan explained to me.
“I don’t like Death’s Abyss.” Death sniffed. “Its nickname is Death’s Hole or sometimes Death’s Crack. And that’s real mature, you know, I mean really, is that appropriate?”
Pierce and I snickered.
“But, back to my explanation, no more interruptions.” Death hissed. “Listen, these creatures, more than half of the time, hurt someone, a deadly blow that will total you- and unless you’re really good and really undeserving of the fate- will make you become non-existent. I’m mean and even I pity these people who suffer that. But it’s legal, only marked use at your own risk. Now, there is a much easier, much more fun experience that you can go through. The catch is that it’s illegal, and Silver would have your head if you tried this stunt unless, you really needed it, and could possibly help the fate of the Spirit World. It involves stealing. Stealing all of the Gems of Time, recovering all the lost ones, and binding it together along with Silver’s staff- which holds a fraction of all his magic, and if he needs magic, he can refuel himself with that- and recreating the Holy Caduceus of Ages. Or what would everyone else, but the real fancy people, would call the Time Scepter. Now, stealing is illegal, and especially the heirloom of all the kings and queens of every temple in the Spirit World. Being in possession of the Time Scepter isn’t illegal, although. It’s called the blah-blah-blah of ages because it is made up of the Gems of Time, and plus, it can make anything happen, anything appear… or really anything at all, as long as it has existed for at least a second in a span of time.” Death finished up with a breath. “Any questions?”
“I think we should steal the Gems and Silver’s staff.” I agreed, keeping straight-faced.
Death smiled, clapping his hands and nodding encouragingly. “Nice!”
“I’d steal all that any day. They should belong to me anyway.” Pierce bragged, raising his head.
“Stealing is not nice, but I guess it’s the best thing to do in this situation, plus it could improve the Spirit World’s situation a tad.” Ethan hesitated. “And save Sarai.”
“Yeah, so we all agree!” Death smirked, bunching us all up in his arms. “Now, if Sarai is going to die…”
“Then you’re going to resurrect me!” I inserted into his speech.
“Yes, well, before you die-” Death tried to continue.
“And get resurrected.” I nodded, reassuring myself.
“YES! I think we should make your time here with us nice.” Death smiled kindly.
“That’s nice, but that’s unnecessary, I will be back, and probably won’t die for a while.” I protested, raising my hands. Death pulled me up by my shoulders and grinned.
“Let’s go to a corner café. I hear there’s a nice one near the Water Temple, just off the coast of the Ruby Sea, barely inside the main city.” Death dragged me out the door, and I heard Pierce and Ethan follow.
“This is really unnecessary, you’re wasting your breath.” I replied, glancing back to make sure that Pierce and Ethan were following.
“No, I insist.” Death disagreed. “Plus, I think that you and Ethan are the only breathers.”
“And I count as at least two people.” Pierce enunciated the word ‘two’, and raised two fingers. “I don’t know how many people he counts as.” He pointed with his thumb in Death’s direction.
“I am a proud individual.” Death nodded once.
“We don’t have to walk all this way.” I whined.
“Well, it’d do you good to walk,” Death mocked, and I turned red. “But, no, we don’t have to.”
“How else, though? It’s not like we can fly. Well I can’t at least.” I contradicted.
“I can.” Death and Pierce both answered.
“I can’t either, Sarai,” Ethan strode to my side. “Ethan means strong, but I’m the exact opposite of that.”
“Sarai means Princess, so I intend to be treated like one, and I usually am.” I patted Ethan’s shoulder. “Maybe Ethan means strong-hearted, because you are that.”
“Thank you,” Ethan gave me an awkward one-armed hug.
“Well, Pierce means to break or stab.” Pierce muttered.
“Well,” Death taunted. “Death means, and I quote, the personification of the power that destroys life, often represented in art and literature as a skeleton or an old man holding a scythe. But I am neither, although I am technically an old man, even though I do not look like one, and I do have a skeleton, but whatever. I think I’m quite handsome.”
“Don’t take this personally, but everyone in relations with Silver are pretty hot.” I crossed my arms. “Not Ethan, he’s cute.”
“Permission to take personally?” Ethan squeaked, blushing wildly.
“Fine.” I grumbled. “So what are we going to do?”
“Well…” Death smirked. “I’ll take Sarai.”
“No way, I want to take her!” Pierce exclaimed. “She’s MY daughter figure!”
“NO! I’M FASTER AND I OFFERED FIRST!” Death roared. “Sarai just wants to get somewhere.”
“But… You’re not nice to Ethan, who’s going to take Ethan?” Pierce yelled, awkwardly.
“No! I offered to carry Sarai, so who is going to take Ethan? Well… that’s a toughie. You!” Death argued.
“Look, guys, uh, I’ll walk.” Ethan muttered, rolling his eyes at Pierce and Death’s immaturity.
“Let’s never talk about this ever again.” I sighed. “You two are so immature.” Ethan nodded agreeing. So Death and Pierce found a loophole and simply attacked each other.
“That took longer than usual.” Ethan commented as I pulled Pierce out of the fight with a huff, Death clawing at his eyes.
“I NEVER want you to EVER talk about this EVER again! You’re not going to carry either one of us!” I screamed, separating them.
“Exactly!” Pierce hissed, kicking Death, knocking the breath out of him, if he even had any breath at first. “Now I never get to…” He looked at me and chose not to continue.
“I hope no one heard this conversation.” I sighed, dropping out of their way. “You guys are so immature and so disgusting. Please, let’s keep it Disney (™).”
As we continued through the forest, I noticed how human the moment was before. Death and Pierce were just acting. How could I not see that? If they were everything but human, they would never be that way, unless they were acting. So they must be acting, obviously. ‘Duh.
“Guys, were you acting before?” I asked without thinking.
“What- uh… no.” Pierce smiled.
“You don’t lie well. Maybe Ike can give you lessons.” I offered, relieved that Pierce acted more human than me sometimes.
“Yeah, thanks.” Pierce grunted.
“Listen, we are just trying to make you feel more at home. Pierce, lay off the act.” Death growled.
“I’m not acting!”
“Whatever. But, doesn’t it make you feel better to think that there is nothing better to argue about than who is going to carry you and who isn’t?” Death inquired, closing in on me, his regular antics now playing a part.
“Yeah, actually, as immature as it was, I forgot about what could happen, and now I’m thinking about it again in the long awkward silence that we had, in the back of my head of course.” I explained.
“Where I live,” Pierce rolled his eyes again.
“Yeah, so could you read that right off my face?” I asked Death, spinning around to see him.
“No…” Death admitted. “You can use that to your advantage.”
“I wonder if they have a Psychic Masque…”
“You’re not joining their group.” Pierce grunted, slapping the back of my head.
Hey. This is RoseEmoGirl speaking. MasterMillie and Bringtrouble are two great friends o’ mine, and BT told me about her site, so that I decided to join! Hooray. Anyways, I’m going to be posting stuff like news, other blogs, and-if possible-some comics! But, I don’t know if this site will let you upload pics…Oh well…Also, like BT, I will probably upload some of MY writings! Whoop. :-g Yes. Let the fun begin!
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