It was a weird sensation as Arthur held the orange and blue theonite crystal in his hand. He had successfully pulled Marie's soul from the skullheart. Though her old body is gone, he had the moment where he was alone with the heart.
"What have you done!?" the heart shouted at him as there was the piece of theonite stuck in it's skull.
"Taking back what doesn't belong to you" Arthur remarked as his scarf pockets the heart and then tries to punch the heart out. Though the heart had what seemed to be glowing tendrils of flames that would grab onto Arthur and try pulling itself in towards him.
"It's either her soul, or yours!" the heart was furious at the boy and with the instability it had was quite volatile. Though a quick slash from Arthur's brush sending out a sharp red slash that cut the heart in two.
"Not today heart breaker!" he remarked as the heart was split and soon faded into nothing. Though as he did this, he saw the lights from the veins around him going dim and their rapid deterioration. The place was collapsing.
"Well shit!" he exclaimed as he was hurrying out the way he came. He ran into Filia who was nearly to him as he was surprised to see her.
"Filia?! What are you doing here? This place is caving in" he told her as she stopped in her tracks and nods.
"Told ya we should have left him" Samson remarked as Filia led the way down the hall and up the stairs.
"Oh thanks for showing your care hairball" Arthur got a good glare from the parasite on Filia's head as they got out of the catacombs. The place was an utter wreck when the two got out of the church out of breath as they were breathing hard. After a few moments of catching their breath, Arthur looked over at Filia who was sitting on her butt from all the sudden running for dear life.
"What the hell were ya doing down there? I thought me and Squigly told you two don't go after it" he knew all to well what they had told the memory lost gal, but there had to be a good reason.
"I wanted to help you guys. Though when I got down there, I saw Squigly knocked out and you were fighting the skullgirl. I got her out of there and came back for you" Filia offered a small smile as she did mean well.
"Plus there were these nice people outside willing to help us" she added as she motions away from the building with a nod of her head. Arthur looked over seeing a large van and the cop car Peacock was driving earlier. It was the ASG group that Peacock was apart of. Peacock herself were there, including Big Band and some tentacle looking nurse with a face mask. The nurse was working with Squigly and putting her into a specific position laying down. Seemed the undead girl had ran out of juice. That was actually unfortunate. He wanted to at least tell her it worked.
"Oh, so Patricia did come through" he commented as Peacock was coming over along with Big Band.
"It's Peacock! Come on, do I gotta spell it out for ya Arty-pants?" her tone was as sassy as earlier while the other looked down at them all.
"So I take it the skullheart is gone" Big Band was straight to the point as he spoke. It was good that he did get out of there, and yes Arthur looked a tad roughed up. But if he got out of there and the heart got away, that would just make his life and their lives harder.
"Hey! Did you manage to do what you were planning on huh huh?" Peacock sounded more excited to see if Arthur had done what he had told her. Filia was looking at him puzzling as Arthur smiled.
"The answer is yes, the skullheart is no more. Split it in two and watched it disappear. I also managed to get Marie" as he spoke his hand slipped into the messenger bag and pulled out the theonite piece with Marie's soul in it. An image of her could be seen floating inside it now as the three of them looked at it in amazement.
"Hot damn! Knew you could do it ha!" Peacock was smiling ear to ear as she lit a cigar and placed it in her mouth.
"Dr. Avian would be very interested in this for sure. This would also help his research. Though I must admit, I was figuring you were bluffing when I heard you were gonna try pulling a soul from the heart" Big Band was quite impressed with how the artist handled himself as the boy nods.
"I am a bit surprised too. Though what happens now? I really don't want to hand her over so quickly" Arthur held onto the crystal in his hand as he looked up at brass man in the coat.
"Well, I can't make any promises at this point. My best guess is you could hand over that theonite piece to us" Big Band started on before he was interrupted by the nurse.
"I think we can accommodate him back at Lab 8. If Peacock's story is true, he's come a very long way to doing what he's done now. I think giving him something in return would only be fitting" she offered that bit of advise to her big friend.
"Yeah pops! We got plenty of those empty rooms that we never use back at the commons so we could totally house him" Peacock jumped in on the conversation as Big Band was thinking.
"I suppose having him stay the night or two would be alright. Though I can imagine Dr. Avian will still want to talk to him" as the big man spoke he looked down to see Arthur had vanished from his spot along with Filia. The three looked around as Arthur was looking down at Squigly's lifeless body as he sighed. Filia was next to him as she was rubbing her upper arm looking down.
"She looks peaceful asleep like this" Filia commented while Arthur simply sighed.
"Peacefully asleep til some skullgirl comes along and wakes her up. She was such a nice girl too, a same she's stuck in this fate" he sighed remembering her peaceful face at the very least. A sort of second funeral but hey, at least this one had people that would care about her that would bury her.
"I know it's terrible" she added as Samson remained silent. It was funny seeing the parasite be this quiet. Then again, Samson still had some respect for Leviathan even if he was hooked up with a corpse and were on nonspeaking terms.
"I can see what I can do to try getting her buried. I was helping a couple the other day and they said they work at a funeral home. I could see what I can do" she offered as Arthur gave her a soft smile.
"That be nice. I'm sure these guys will be willing to help too" Arthur was merely suggesting as Big Band sighed. Great this kid definitely had no idea how much burial really costs huh. Then again, Arthur's probably seen bodies just dumped into the water by the docks to cover stuff up.
"I think I can handle it Arthur thank you for the suggestion" Filia told him with a smile.
"Oh, do ya have something to write with?" she was wanting to share something as Arthur produced a pen and some paper.
"Well sure what are you wanting that for?" asking this as she scribbled as hands the paper to him. It had a series of numbers on it.
"Give me a call if you ever want to, I don't know, hang out or talk. That's if you got a phone that is. Or whenever ya get one" she smiled at him as Big Band approached them.
"I hate bust you two apart, but we need to get going. There's gonna be a lot of activity out when people realize the skullgirl is gone. We can hold onto Squigly's body for a while til we have her burial arrangements setup" Big Band was already thinking of a plan for the mean time as he looked down to Arthur.
"Arthur you can ride with us back to the lab. Ms. Filia we can offer you a ride back home if you wish as well" he offered as Filia turned him down.
"No I'll be fine but thank you Mr. Big Man" she didn't quite catch his exact name and felt odd calling him Big Band. He didn't correct the young lass. Would have been rude if he had, maybe another time. With that he looks over to Arthur.
"Well, time to go" the brass man went on into the van as Illium was going towards Squigly's body. It was then Arthur realized she was on a clothed stretcher as he went to the other end to help pick her up to place her inside the van. He waved Filia a good bye before he disappeared inside the van as well. Peacock left with her crew in her car and with that Arthur left too with the other two leaving Filia alone. She felt a tad relieved this skullgirl thing was over for now, but sad that she wasn't able to get her wish. Then again, maybe they were right. Sometimes forgetting is better then knowing.
The next several hours went by quickly when he made it to Lab 8. There really wasn't a welcoming party except for a few of the other ASG members. One he noticed had some of clickers on his forearms and mechanical legs. Another was a female that looked to be a bee. A strange semi mechanical bee. Those two were just glad they came back in one piece but were curious as to the new person that was with them. Arthur gave a small introduction to himself before Big Band pulled him away to talk with Dr. Avian. After explaining what was going on, it seemed the scientist were working on some sort of bio-making body experiment. Could make a biological body if they had a power source or a brain to place into it. Seeing Arthur had not only a power source but a soul as well, it made things a bit easier. He agreed to hand Marie over for now as Illium showed him to a room in the commons. The commons was a large open room that was on two floors. It seemed to have a small kitchen area on one side of the room with a living room/lounge area across from it. Down the hall there were rooms and a few restrooms, including shower rooms. One for men and one for women. There was a second floor that went up a small flight of stairs still over looking the commons. Same layout as the one below them. Seems the guys were on the second floor and women on the first. He was shown to one of the vacant rooms so he could rest there for the night. He thanked the nurse before she bows with a smile before walking off. The room was relatively simple. Single person bed next to the door with a desk against the far wall under a window looking outside. A closest next to the desk and was located at the foot end of the bed. A dresser and some shelves were on his right when he entered the room. Pretty standard for basic living as he sets his things down. Leaving himself in just a t-shirt and pants, he locked the door and rolled into bed. Found there was a night stand between the door and the bed. A lamp was sitting on it as he turned it off. Worry was getting to him as this was the honest first time he had slept on a bed since the orphanage. Typically he just slept on a mat or sleeping bag at night given he didn't have a home for himself. Plus the added worry of the fact he was in a new place. Not to mention he just busted his ass off trying to save Marie and ending up handing her over to someone else. He sighed to himself as he rolls over on the bed closing his eyes for some sleep. He needed the rest, he was definitely unsure what tomorrow would bring.
The next morning came fairly quickly though Arthur stayed asleep for sometime. Maybe his body just liked resting on a bed for a change. Though it was nearly noon before he finally woke up with a yawn. Groggy Arthur was much groggy to say the least. He checked the time on his pocket watch and found it was nearly noon. Best to get up for sure, the rest of the people here maybe thinking he was dead or something. Which came to no surprise when he heard a door knock on his door. Yup someone was making sure he was awake. He got up finally, his hair a bigger mess then normal as he unlocks the door and answers it. It was that electric boy, the one with the mechanical arms. Leduc was it? Looked to be wearing a white lab apron in front to cover up some of the mechanical works that most of his body seemed to be comprised of now he had a better look at him. Unsure of the boys age, but could guess younger them him.
"Morning Arthur, Illium asked me to check up on you seeing you didn't come down for breakfast" the blond haired, blue eyed boy said as Arthur sighed. Guess he could have gotten some breakfast then huh. Guess it was more brunch for him now.
"I overslept I suppose. Leduc was the name right?" Arthur was still trying to remember names from midnight last night as Leduc nods.
"You're correct, at least the skullgirl didn't knock your head around to much" it felt a tad loaded for Arthur as he sighed.
"Leduc, please understand I knew her before she became a skullgirl and I saw her as a little sis. I think she may have went a bit easy on me cause of that fact" Arthur was speaking a bit of truth here. Arthur and Marie had seen themselves as siblings helping the other out. Though Arthur was more protective around Marie then her friend Patricia was.
"Oh I didn't realize that. My apology. Oh speaking of her, Dr. Avian wanted to speak with you down in one of the labs. Said he has a little something for you" Leduc informed while Arthur raised an eyebrow at the him.
"Something for me huh? Last time I heard that, had to dunk an alley cat into a trash can" he chuckled remembering how he handled Ms. Fortune yesterday. Leduc however looked rather confused at the statement that was just made.
"Right, well we saved you some breakfast downstairs if Peacock hasn't eaten it yet" the mechanical boy gave an uneasy smile trying to be polite but also trying to apologize on Peacock's manners. Arthur simply shrugged.
"Boarding house rules, if you're not up for the meal, when it's gone it's gone. I'll be down in a minute" Arthur told Leduc as he left the artist be for a moment. Arthur got his things together and sighed seeing the damage that was on his jacket. Will have to stitch some patches on it or something to repair it. But that aside, he got his jacket, scarf, hat, and shoes on as he grabbed his messenger bag to sling across himself. He carried a lot of useful stuff in his messenger bag plus it was his home that he lived out of. Once done, he left the room and went down with Leduc to the kitchen area. Peacock and her crew were watching a cartoon show while Arthur had a bit of late breakfast. The food wasn't bad. He had a lot worst don't get him wrong there. But it didn't exactly knock his shoes off either. With that being said Leduc was at least good company to say the least. The boy was a tad fascinated with how Arthur's scarf worked and the fact he was living off the streets for as long as he had while still looking the way he did. Granted Arthur did do a lot of days where he didn't work or went hungry. Simply to repair his clothes or at make himself a bit more presentable the next day. Though after he had finished his meal, they both went off to the labs to find Dr. Avian. For Arthur it was evident how much larger this place felt as he wandered the halls with Leduc. He could look into some of the labs as there were large windows in them. Scientist were working on various experiments. Some he didn't understand as he noticed a few had large test vats to grow or develop certain artificial parasites. But he didn't realize that nor know that, however they both came to a set of double doors and they came to the main lab. It was a very huge room with various vats and lab equipment strung out. A few desks were here and there, with some excitement going on around one specific spot. A few scientist were seeming to work on a newer vat machine with Dr. Avian overseeing the entire operation.
"We only have one chance at this, let's make it count" the good doctor told his crew. They did have more chances but considering they had been prototyping for weeks, this should work first time.
"Dr. Avian!" Leduc shouted to get the doctors attention. The doctor turned to look at both Arthur and Leduc. His red eyes seemed tired but had a smile on his face.
"Ah Leduc, glad you could make it. Same with you Arthur. You're just in time" the doctor placed his hands into his pockets watching the two boys as Arthur spoke up.
"So what exactly are you guys doing here? Why did you want me to come down here?" Arthur was wanting some answers in regards to what was going on. And the good news is, Dr. Avian had the answers.
"We're going to make an artificial organic body for your friend inside the theonite crystal you brought us. Realizing she was the last skullgirl, we did some modifications to the tank. See we can create artificial parasites as well as fuse parasites together much like Peacock. She's a combination of two parasites fused together to function the way she is now. In this case, we're making an artificial parasite body for Marie and adding parts from another parasite to it. If we did it right, we could make a hybrid of what she use to be, at least able to summon up bones to defend herself if need be" Dr Avian explained as Arthur was soaking it in. That wasn't exactly what he was wanting himself.
"So you're making her as a weapon? Without her consent?" the artist asked crossing his arms with a raised eyebrow.
"It's not that way Arthur. How do I best explain it. The process we use will give her powers and that's something we can't avoid. Most of the ASG members here have had medical issues before coming here and wanted a second chance. Some we brought off the street that were abused and horribly mangled up" as the doctor spoke Leduc turned away shivering a bit. Arthur had no idea as the artist stood there listening.
"I hear that and what an individual does is what they decided to do. Someone can lay a good deal down but in reality be a bad deal. I just want to make sure of one thing. She gets a choice on if she wants to help being apart of your organization or not. I don't want it forced on her" Arthur clarified his own stance as Avian nods.
"I will assure you, this is the first time we'll be doing this process and most likely she won't be placed into combat unless it's dire emergency. We've had several prototypes before this but we've only tested the bodies themselves not with any mind or soul in them so it's hard to determine if this will really work" Avian explained further, assuring the artist that things were going to be alright. A great white shark in a scientist outfit raised his head from a terminal and waved.
"The vat is ready" the shark announced as Avian nods.
"Then begin the process Mr. Whitefin" Avian gave the go ahead as Whitefin started the process with the theonite crystal containing Marie drop into the vat. The vat was glass and had some sort of fluid inside it as Arthur watched it float in there.
"So why did you want me here?" Arthur asked as the doctor looked back to him.
"We are suspecting that she'll feel a bit lost when she comes out. Disoriented to say the least, she could be completely aware of what's going on around her or sleeping we don't know. And according to Peacock, you two have a bit of history together as siblings was it?" Avian asked as the vat became more active as energy was being pushed into it.
"Yeah, the three of us came from the same orphanage. Me and Marie, we just gravitated to being almost like siblings. We all wanted a family so we at times just made do with what we had. They were captured by slavers and I got away when the orphanage was raided. I just hope this makes up for that mistake I did" Arthur said as he watched the crystal inside. The crystal started to grow layers it seemed as the glowing light inside was slowly being filtered by the layers and layers of material encasing the crystal. A body was slowly forming inside the vat along with hair.
"I understand. I think thus far out of all the people here, you've done something amazing. I was never expecting a soul to be taken from the skullheart once it was tied to it. But now we know, the heart can be effect by direct theonite contact. This we were suspecting but never confirmed" Avian remarked as they watched. Leduc left the two to watch as he went to get some of the other ASG members to see this, especially Peacock. More and more of the body formed and clothes thankfully came through the vat as well?
"Clothes too?" Arthur remarked a bit grateful for that. Hang heavy on the conscious if he was staring at a nude gal especially as young as she was.
"Yes, this vat can create anything that is asked of it from the computer terminals. We uploaded a design that we observed from her first appearance in New Meridian. A bit modified but hopefully it won't cause her to much panic" Avian was relieved the procedure was going well as the body was soon fully formed. It was indeed Marie, the same one he remembered two years ago before they were separated. This time, no skullheart included. Heck even her outfit was the same minus her hair pins as she was floating unconscious inside the vat.
"Body is holding, looks like everything is going well" Whitefin was a bit relieved at the terminal as he started to lower the solution inside the vat causing Marie to drop down to an exit port. She slides down into the port and dried off rapidly before the other scientist, including Avian, were standing in front of a sliding door. At this point, Leduc had returned with the other ASG members. There was a holding of breath as the door slid open. Marie was in a standing position but still not awake. Her chest had a soft orange glow as the team were watching. They hoped the pathways were made properly. Arthur was the one that decided to be gutsy and step forward towards the gal. He touched her cheek for a moment and yup she felt real, alive as her body jerked for a moment. Thankfully Arthur was fast enough to miss the cough of vat fluid that came from her mouth as her body was clearing her throat. Kinda the reason the team didn't approach, the possible mess. Her eyes slowly were opening, haze as she was waking up as if for the first time.
"Where… Where am I?" she finally spoke up as she was slow at first but a familiar voice greeted her ear.
"Marie?" Arthur was watching her from one side as the science team and ASG members looked at her too. Her eyes were orange with a few hints of blue. Could be from the theonite crystal that was inside her body causing this. She turned her gaze to Arthur in a bit of disbelief.
"Art-Arthur? Is this… No it must be a dream" she spoke up looking away as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Something in her mind was telling her this was all just some sick dream the skullheart was pulling on her til she felt his hand on her. She immediately turned her attention to him eyes wide as he came to focus.
"This is real Marie, you're safe" Arthur gave her an assuring smile as tears welled in her eyes as she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck. Holding onto him for dear life as she closed her eyes sobbing. She had thought she was done for when Arthur had shoved that theonite into the heart. She didn't realize what he had done instead. The lab was in uproar of celebration. Their prototype procedure worked! But for Arthur, it was the fact he finally got his sibling back as he held her close.
