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fruit-teeth · 2 years ago

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Chronicles of Love and War (chapter 23)

Bea leaned her back against the side of the alleyway, looking around. There was no need for a private alleyway meeting because nearly everyone in town was attending the ceremony, but Lazarus (yes, that was his real name) insisted. Bea had weapons and knew how to conceal them under her thick, dark jacket in case he turned out to be some sort of pervert (or, worse, if he turned out to be working for Mann Co., which was unlikely). She was not going to let herself be destroyed again. She would make sure of that.

Just then, footsteps approached. Bea glanced up, just in time to see someone walking towards her. She straightened up, stepping forward to meet him.

“Are you Lazarus?” she asked, looking him up and down. He was younger than her, decked in a trenchcoat, with dark sunglasses and slicked back black hair. To Bea, he looked completely ridiculous.

“That’s me,” he confirmed, his voice sounding raspier than it had over the phone. “I trust you’re Beatrice?”

Bea nodded. “Yes, I am. But you can call me Bea, I prefer that name anyway.”

“Bea…all right,” Lazarus took this in, nodding. “So, to recap our phone conversation: you said that a group of mercenaries working for Mann Co. are connected to both the park incident and the herbal shop incident?”

“Yes,” Bea nodded again. “They’re working with a wizard named Merasmus, which is funny to me because I thought he was their enemy. Do you know him?”

“Know her?” Lazarus scoffed. “People have been reporting her to our agency for decades! The wizard’s a menance to society,”

Bea blinked a few times, before asking in clarification. “Wait– she? What are you talking about? I thought Merasmus was a ‘he’, was that wrong?”

Lazarus waved her off. “Oh, it doesn’t matter. People call him both on the reports. Anyway,” he pulled out a collection of documents from his trenchcoat pocket. "I have here the information I was quick to get from Mann Co., and while I was unable to locate the Teufort Nine's current base, I did discover something else..." he handed Bea one of the papers.

She stared at the page for a moment, not quite sure what she was seeing at first. “Is that…?”

“Yes,” Lazarus confirmed with a smirk. “The Administrator’s home address. She keeps it private, but an outside source told me she's been seen coming and going from it several times.”

Bea glanced up again, a smile crossing her face. “Oh, this is…this is…I mean, its a start, definitely! From there, we can find the base, I assume?”

“Yes,” Lazarus agreed. “So– you’re in?”

“Absolutely!” Bea affirmed. “How far is that address from here? I have my own car, but–”

Lazarus cut her off. "Not so fast; I recall something else you mentioned on the phone: your sister..." His demeanor darkened, and he locked his gaze on her. “You said she was a witch. Is that correct?”

“...I…” Bea frowned, sensing something was off. “Yes, I did say that. Why?”

Lazarus looked her up and down, taking a step closer and eying her suspiciously. “Do you have any magic?”

“No,” Bea shook her head. “Even though our parents were both witches, she got the gift but I never did. I never learned it, either – they died when I was young, and Zelda was too busy caring for both of us to teach me properly.”

Lazarus let this information sink in for a moment, before he drew back slowly. “...I see. Well…that’s good to hear. I’m not too fond of magic, I don’t know if you knew that…”

“Okay…” Bea shook herself, clearing her throat. “Well, once we rescue Zelda, you won’t need to worry about her causing any trouble. I just need to save her and then we can all get what we want…”

Not too far away, just across town, the mercenaries had made their way to the mayor’s house. Sniper was the first to arrive to the house, but he stopped a few paces from the entrance.

Miss Pauling dashed up to join him, taking him by the arm. “I can go in first if you don’t want to,” she offered.

“Aye!” Demo agreed, walking up behind the two of them. “I’ll go first, too– you don’t need to deal with this, lad. Its all right if you’ve had enough,”

“Hey,” Sniper shook himself, clearing his throat. “Look, really, I’m fine. I’ll go in there and see what’s going, maybe he’ll respond better if he sees me first–”

“No,” a sharp response cut him off. Sniper looked up to see Lar-Nah standing there, looking towards the front door.

After a moment, she continued: “I don’t know what’s happening in there, but I’ll go ahead of you…”

“Okay,” Sniper agreed, straightening up and pursing his lips together.

Lar-Nah walked up the front steps, peeking in through the glass window. She tugged the handle, and much to everyone’s surprise, the door swung open right away.

“Should we all go in at once?” Medic asked in a hushed tone.

“No…” Spy decided. “Let’s trickle in slowly, one by one. That would be the most effective way.”

As Lar-Nah entered the house first, the others lingered behind for a moment. Sniper held the door open, waiting for her to get a head start before he followed after her. While Heavy and Miss Pauling stood nearby, Yana could be heard saying something.

Heavy turned around to look at his sister, squinting. “What?”

Yana had a concerned expression on her face and simply pointed to a doghouse that sat near the front garden. A low growling emerged from it, and the face of a furious labrador retriever appeared.

“It will attack us!” Yana reached for her gun, but Heavy stopped her.

“No, wait,” he rustled around in his pockets, pulling out a handful of dog treats. He cautiously approached the dog, clicking his tongue. “Do not attack, we are friends.”

The dog growled louder, but halted when Heavy handed it the treats. After inspecting the food carefully, it began to eat.

“Why you have dog treats on you?” Bronislava asked her brother.

Heavy waved her off. “Useful to have, many people have dogs. Go in, quick, before he finishes the snack and is angry again!”

Lar-Nah entered the home and approached the living room. Right away, she could hear the sound of voices coming from the next room, which was the kitchen.

Sniper stepped in behind her, looking around. “Well? Is he here?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“Yes,” Lar-Nah confirmed, though she gestured for him to stay put. “I’ll go see what’s going on…”

Bill-Bel was huddled on the kitchen floor, a dishrag pressed against his face as Lar-Nah entered the room. Above him stood the babysitter, a teenage girl who was holding baby Pierce in her arms.

“Mr. Waters, should I call someone?” the babysitter asked, concerned. “Is your wife here? I’m scared, I don’t think I should leave, I think I should stay!”

Bill-Bel just shook his head, dishrag still covering his face. “No, no, no…you can’t be here, you can’t! Please, just go, I…” he suddenly looked up from the rag, realizing Lar-Nah was standing there. He dropped the rag and shakily rose to his feet when he saw her. “What are you doing here?”

The babysitter startled, seeing Lar-Nah there. “What the– who are you!?”

“I’m his ex wife,” Lar-Nah told the girl flatly.

The babysitter stared at Bill-Bel and then at Lar-Nah. She muttered, "I'll, uh...let you guys figure this out," before putting Pierce in a neighboring playpen and slipping out the backdoor.

As soon as the girl had left, Lar-Nah glanced back at her former husband – or was he still her current husband? They’d never officially divorced, even though he was married to Nita. She was now just one of his two wives – that was an odd thought.

One thing was for certain: he was no longer the man she had once agreed to marry. He wasn't even the same man she'd spent decades with in the ocean as their country's only two inhabitants, withering away. He looked like a stranger with his beard gone, his traditional New Zealand clothing replaced with a cheap suit and tie, and his hair tinted a dusty brown in a futile attempt to make him look younger. He said nothing, though. He just stared at her with reddened eyes while his breath drew in and out in short, quiet bursts.

“You’re pathetic,” Lar-Nah said finally. “What the hell was that stunt you pulled on the stage? Did you know Mick and I were there? Is that why you said what you said?”

Bill-Bel just shook his head, sputtering out, “No…no, I saw him but that wasn’t until after…oh, God, Lar-Nah!” He let out a strangled sob and suddenly stepped forward, reaching for her. “It’s all my fault! I’m the one who ruined you, I ruined everything! I’m so sorry!”

Lar-Nah let out a shout, slapping his hands away and taking a few steps back. “Don’t touch me!”

Right at that moment, Sniper entered the kitchen, rifle in hand. He didn’t point it at Bill-Bel, but he held the weapon right at his side anyway.

“That’s enough, don’t go near her,” Sniper spoke in a low tone, eyes focused on his father. He then pointed to the kitchen table. “Sit down, we need to talk.”

Bill-Bel stared at Sniper, looking as if he wanted to speak, but he said nothing. Still shaking, he grabbed one of the chairs and pulled it closer, sitting down. Sniper sat across from him, and a second or two later, Lar-Nah took another chair to join them.

“What is it?” Bill-Bel asked after a moment, sounding timid. His hands fiddled with the edge of the table cloth nervously.

Sniper tried to think of how to open, but ultimately, he went with his first instinct. “We’re just here to stop you from summoning The Corrupt. Zelda told us about your contract,”

“...oh. That.” Bill-Bel looked away, scratching at the place on his neck where the sigil had been drawn. “I’m not going to be doing that,” he told them after a moment. “There’s no need to worry.”

Lar-Nah and Sniper both exchanged a glance, before Lar-Nah spoke. “But you’re obligated to, aren’t you? That’s why she carved that…thing onto you. What happens if you go against the contract?”

Bill-Bel let out a loud sob, covering his face with his hands. “I don’t…I can’t do this anymore!”

“Stop it!” Sniper snapped suddenly, his fury spilling out of him. “Stop with the sniveling and the crying and fucking talk to us! Good lord, what does it take to have a normal conversation with you!?”

Miss Pauling stepped in, watching the scene unfold with a worried expression. “What’s happening?”

“He won’t cooperate,” Lar-Nah explained. “I think he really did get cursed…”

"...oh," Sniper remembered smashing the jar containing the nightmare curse over Bill-Bel's head only a few days before. He shook his head, though, trying to stay focused. “Okay, well, what do we do!? He’s still working with Zelda, how do we know he’s really not a threat?”

Bill-Bel suddenly answered before anyone else could say anything, “Because it’s meaningless. All of it, it’s all meaningless…” he stared down at the tablecloth, picking at it with his nails. Finally, he looked up at Lar-Nah and Sniper again. “I should have realized that, long ago. My mother knew it – that’s why she put me on that boat and left me stranded in the ocean when I was just a child. She knew I would be destructive, she saw everything…”

Upon hearing this, Lar-Nah did a double-take. “Wait, what!? You’ve never told me this!”

“Because I forgot,” Bill-Bel responded simply. He rose from his chair, slowly walking over to Pierce’s playpen and staring down at the infant. “I was made to forget. My father didn't want me to remember what she did or said. He didn't want me to remember the Australians who had rescued me — but I remember, now. I remember it all,”

At this point, the others were inside the house and were slowly trickling into the kitchen to watch the scene unfold. Miss Pauling cautiously approached Bill-Bel and nudged his shoulder.

“Look,” she began. “Someone else we know was under this exact same curse. I saw Merasmus lift it from him, he could probably do the same for you–”

“No!” Bill-Bel suddenly exclaimed, whirling around to face Pauling. “No, don’t! I don’t want this to be fixed! I don’t…” he trailed off, focusing back on Sniper. After a few seconds, he reached into the playpen and lifted Pierce out, cradling him as he slowly approached Sniper and came to stand by his chair.

Sniper shrunk back slightly, unnerved by all of this, but he stared at the baby for a moment. Pierce was dozing off with his tiny hands balled into fists and a contented look on his face. As Sniper looked at the child’s face, he suddenly was remind of old photographs he’d seen of himself as an infant.

“What name did they call you?” Bill-Bel suddenly asked.

Sniper looked up, blinking. “Huh? Who?”

Bill-Bel clarified, “Your parents – the Australians. What name did they give you?”

There was a long pause. Finally, Sniper replied, “Mick. That’s my first name, that’s what they named me,”

“Mick,” Bill-Bel repeated. A smile crossed his face, and he let out a breathy laugh. “Thank you– thank you for doing this to me. My mind has never been clearer– I can see the truth…”

“Truth? What truth?” Sniper asked, feeling an even greater sense of unease spread through him.

“He’s not well,” Spy observed from where he stood. “Someone get that baby away from him, please,”

Heavy stepped in and obliged, carefully gesturing for Bill-Bel to hand the baby over to him. Bill-Bel obliged, but he lingered for a few seconds and brushed his hands over Pierce’s tiny head.

“Mick,” he said again, tears falling down his face as he looked back at Sniper. “Please– if you can, look after Pierce, will you? Don’t do it for me, do it for him, because he does not deserve to be alone. I know you’re a good man...I know he’ll grow up well if he has someone like you– someone like all of you, really,”

“What are you talking about?” Sniper raised his voice, getting out of his chair. “Are you leaving again!?”

Bill-Bel just sobbed, wiping his eyes and shaking his head. “It’s not my choice this time…not my choice. It has to be done. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry – I could say a thousand apologies, but none of it would ever wash away what was done by my own hands,”

“What do you mean its not your choice?” Lar-Nah demanded to know, staring him down. “What did Zelda say would happen if you went against the contract?”

“That’s what I want to know, too!” Demo agreed. “Why don’t you stop speaking in bloody tongues and just–”

Before he could finish, Bill-Bel suddenly turned on his heel and bolted for the back door. Sniper was on him in an instant, grabbing his father's suitcoat, but Bill-Bel only wrestled his way out of it long enough to throw open the door and run outside.

Together, the group hurriedly followed him outside to the driveway as Miss Pauling urged, “Go, go, go!”

The sky had become cloudy, and the faint sound of thunder rumbled in the distance. Bill-Bel ran to the edge of the driveway before stopping, head tilted up to the sky.

Hands clenched into fists, he began to scream up at the sky, “All right, Zelda! I say this to you, and to whatever dark magic force holds our deal: I do not agree! I renounce my agreement to live a lie and to harm anyone else for the rest of time! Now give me my punishment, I’m no longer afraid! I deserve it! Do you hear me!? I am not the man my father claimed I was, and I deserve this!’

Sniper ran towards him, shouting, “Wait! What are you–!?”

In an instant, a blinding light flashed across the whole driveway. Sniper stumbled and fell to his knees, instinctively throwing his arms up to shield his eyes. The light faded, and as his eyes adjusted, he could make out the shape of Bill-Bel still standing in the same spot.

“Hey! Hey, what was that!?” Sniper staggered back onto his feet, running up to his father and putting a hand on his shoulder. “What did…” he trailed off, realizing something felt off.

He looked to Bill-Bel’s face, and his heart dropped instantly. It didn't take him long to realize what had happened as he looked at the stone statue in front of him, face frozen in anguish while staring up at the sky.

“Shit, he’s a goddamn rock!” Scout exclaimed from where he stood a few feet away, bewildered.

Medic approached slowly, adjusting his glasses. “How peculiar…I’ve never seen anything like this!”

“Is he dead?” Soldier asked bluntly.

Sniper could only stare blankly, his whole body numb. After a few seconds, Lar-Nah slowly walked over to join him, and the two stared quietly at the alarming sight.

Sniper attempted to talk, but all that he could get out was a, “...why?”

Still connected to their earpiece system, Helen’s voice hissed out, “Everyone, get out of there, now! Before someone sees what’s happened!”

“But what do we do with him!?” Miss Pauling gestured wildly to Bill-Bel, despite the fact that Helen could not see her do so. “We can’t just leave him here!”

Bronislava tentatively approached Sniper and made an effort to console him, but she caught a glimpse of something. “Car is coming!” she warned everyone.

As the car slowed to a stop just outside the driveway, Miss Pauling exclaimed, “Oh, goddamn it, it’s his wife! We need to leave!”

It was too late. The car door swung open, and Nita leapt out, rushing over in a panic. She slowed to a stop, though, once she took stock of her husband.

“Bill…?” Nita reached out to touch his face, but yanked her hand back instantly when her fingertips came into contact with cold stone rather than skin.

“Merasmus can undo this, aye?” Demoman asked no one in particular, clearly very unnerved by this. “I’ll ask! I'll ask, I'm sure something can be done," he said, addressing the last part to Nita in an effort to reassure her in some way.

Nita covered her mouth with her hand, visibly in shock and unable to make sense of this situation. She didn’t cry, though her breath came in a little shorter, her lower lip trembling.

No one spoke for a very long time. Finally, Heavy carefully approached and put Pierce in Nita’s arms.

“Here is your son,” Heavy told her gently. “We will put your husband inside…it will be all right,”

Nita only nodded blankly, accepting her infant child. Pierce began to wail as Heavy carefully picked up Bill-Bel with the assistance of Soldier and Demoman and carried him into the house. However, Nita made no move to try and comfort the infant, too lost in her own confusion and pain.

Bronislava approached Sniper again, putting her hand onto his shoulder. “What is it you feel?” she asked him, her voice low.

Sniper did nothing but watch as his father's stone statue was brought inside the house through the back door, as if he were merely some furniture. Once the door had shut, Sniper carefully reached up and put his hand over Bronislava’s.

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “I feel something, but…this feeling doesn’t have a name.”

Pierce continued his crying, and Sniper turned to watch him for a moment. He then looked to Nita, and when he saw the expression on her face, he knew she needed some help.

“Can I…?” he offered, gesturing for her to hand Pierce to him.

Nita recoiled slightly, but she relented and carefully put the infant into Sniper’s arms. “Be careful, please,” she requested meekly.

“I will,” Sniper assured her. He gently supported his younger brother's head in his arms while gazing into his eyes. Pierce’s crying simmered to a whimper, and he opened up his eyes just a crack.

Sniper swallowed a little nervously, but he tried to smile. “Hi, there, bubby…it’s okay, you’re safe,”

“Why did this happen?” Nita questioned, staring down at her hands, shock still written across her features. “Who…who did that to him!?”

Lar-Nah turned to observe Nita for a moment, before she took the other woman’s hand into her own. Carefully, she helped her rise to her feet. “We’ll explain everything, let’s just go inside…”

At that same moment, trapped in the small basement prison, Zelda’s eyes opened. Something had changed – a tether had snapped.

“He broke our deal,” she said aloud, eyes wide. “He actually broke our deal…”

Merasmus paused when he heard that, hands still hovering over the items he was trying to enchant. “...what?”

“Bill-Bel,” Zelda explained, audibly annoyed but somehow amused. “The mayor – I found him wandering the beach and learned he was from New Zealand. I took him in and gave him everything he wanted in exchange for his help. I made the contract in such a way that, if he were to break it, it would turn him to stone.”

“Stone?” Merasmus repeated, bewildered. “That’s a very old form of magical contract…I hardly knew any witches still did that.”

“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” Zelda muttered, looking down at her bound legs and tugging futilely at her handcuffs. She looked over at the item Merasmus was enchanting. “Besides, you’re using a Stasis Cocoon. Didn’t the great mage Timothy the Wise create Stasis Cocoons?”

Merasmus stopped what she was doing and pinched the bridge of her nose. “No– no, I made the Stasis Cocoon. It was my invention. Timothy the Wise was a buffoon, that’s why he got sucked into the Mushroom Dimension!”

Zelda laughed, despite her situation. “Oh, how could I forget? How could I…?” She glanced at the cocoon again, though this time, her expression went back to a more serious one.

Merasmus paused his work when he noticed her staring at the cocoon - it hadn't yet been activated, so it lay like a translucent parachute on the desk in front of him. “What is it?” he asked her. “Or has the gravity of this situation finally sunk in?”

“I was just noticing,” Zelda began. “That this looks an awful lot like something I’ve seen before.”

“Oh?” Merasmus prompted, turning back to the cocoon. “Well, perhaps you’d better get used to it. This is going to be your prison soon,”

“When I looked into the magic mirror,” she clarified. “I saw hundreds of these within Coldwater Cave. They contained all of The Corrupt, including the Kingpin.”

Merasmus halted, going completely silent. A grin formed across Zelda’s face. “You wouldn’t happen to know something about this, would you?”

“Mind your business,” Merasmus hissed out, her teeth grit.

“Ooh, I’ve hit a nerve!” Zelda giggled maniacally. “So it was you, wasn’t it? You summoned The Corrupt and trapped it here on Earth, frozen in Stasis Cocoons deep within a cave? Merasmus, you naughty, naughty–!”

Merasmus stalked towards her and grabbed her by the shoulder, yanking her towards him before she could finish. “I could kill you right here! Do not test me!”

Zelda stared at his face for a long moment, before grinning again. “This is about your daughter. Isn’t it? That’s why you’re helping these people…this has something to do with her.”

Merasmus backed away, hands shaking. “I’m going to lock you into this cocoon,” she snarled out. “And I will never, ever let you back out!”

“Go ahead!” Zelda trilled. “You should wear a collar and become the Administrator’s pet wizard!”

“You’re disgusting!” Merasmus shrieked at her, visibly shaking. Suddenly, the phone rang.

When the phone rang once more, Merasmus stopped and Zelda said, "You should probably answer that. I bet it’s your precious daughter, or one of your little friends…”

The phone rang a third time, and Merasmus turned away without another word to go answer it.

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