A Song of
Fire and Ice
Chapter 7
Day 7: Just Beat It
Max woke up groggily next to Elizabeth and Michael from the previous day. Christoph was still asleep as he rolled over and let out a surprised gasp. He accidentally had rolled over Elizabeth for some reason, in his sleep, and quickly got up before she noticed. Max wasn't going to be that lucky, however, because she had managed to wake up right after Max had gotten up.
"…Listen, I'm really sorry about that. I have that weird tendency to roll over in my sleep." The Pale Horse guitarist said, scratching the back of his head. "Hell, I think I did that to poor Christoph here once or twice."
Elizabeth smiled at him. "It's OK. To be honest, when we were younger… I'd wind up doing that to Michael here." She said while blushing. "To be honest, I want to get out of this game as soon as possible… Max… I never told Michael this, but.... I'm constantly scared now that we're in this game… I don't wanna be erased…" She said, beginning to tear up a little.
Max embraced the girl as a sign of his support, when Christoph and Michael began waking up. He quickly let go when Michael turned his head, fearing the boy's wrath would be brought upon him. "Good to see you two are awake at last." He said, rolling his eyes as Christoph continued to sit on the ground. He helped his Partner up, when suddenly; the group's cell phones simultaneously went off. "Defeat the Dungeon Master. You have until sunset. Fail and face erasure. ~The Reapers" And almost instantly, timers were burned onto their hands.
"…Did it say where he would be?" Max said, scratching his head. "…Because uh, I don't really know the guy that well..." He said, trying to figure it out.
"Alright, let's think for a moment. We're facing and Dungeons and Dragons addict… Where would you be if you were being hunted by a large sum of people?" Christoph asked the group, trying to get everyone to think.
"If video games have taught me one thing, the final boss is always in the flashiest and scariest place in the entire video game world… In our case, the biggest building…" He said, trying to think.
"Wait a minute, the concert hall! Think about it, it's big enough, right?" Michael blurted out.
"Alright gang, let's roll out!" Max said, and began to run to the Concert Hall with the group in tow, Christoph in the back and grumbling.
Once they arrived, they simply found a small note on the stage where Pale Horse had still been set up. It read,
"Dear Metal-heads,
Nice guess, but no cigar. Try bigger."
-Marty
Max began to growl in anger, and he lit the piece of paper on fire and left it to burn. He kicked the stage out of anger and shouted, "Where the hell could he possibly be?!" He asked himself and the group, then, it hit him. Almost like a wrecking ball.
"Chris, remember that building we saw when we went to get ramen that one time?" He said, almost like he was onto something.
Christoph simply nodded, thinking now that his band-mate had just gone past the brink of insanity.
"That huge skyscraper! What the hell was it called… Pork somethin'…" He said. "Anyway, I know where it is, follow me! We ain't got much time!" He said, and began sprinting towards Dogenzaka. "I know what I'm talkin' about, you don't have to fall back!"
But before they could leave, a huge dragon Noise dropped down, roaring at the Players. "Marty set us up!" Max said, and met the monster head on with a quick strum of his guitar, playing a quick solo to send sound waves at the beast as well.
The battle was quick, but it cost Max and Christoph some of their energy.
Once the group had reached Dogenzaka, the aforementioned skyscraper was dead ahead of them. Max quickly went inside and punched the elevator button in a hurry, only to realize something. The elevators were forced shut by some kind of energy field. Just as the rest of the group entered, cobra like Noise dropped from the ceiling, causing Elizabeth to scream out of fear.
Max quickly sent out a wave of fire to meet the snakes that leapt at him, while Christoph used his power over ice to keep the ones that attack him at bay. Michael and Elizabeth seemed to use their own style of Psyches. Michael seemed to use some kind of energy that he could channel into beams and other objects, while Elizabeth seemed to be able to pick up objects, hell, even other Noise, with her mind and bash them against each other.
Once the snakes were dealt with, the group of four quickly hopped into the elevator, punching in for the top floor of the building. "Come on, come on…" Max said, when suddenly, the power was cut short. The elevator stopped.
Max began to scream out of anger, punching- and leaving dents- in the walls of the elevator they were in. A small hatch was opened overhead, and someone appeared to drop something in. It was a small note, and suddenly, the elevator began to work again.
Christoph read the note out loud.
"Sometimes boundaries must be crossed before the final barrier can be broken."
"…What the hell does that have to do with beating a Dungeons and Dragons nutcase?" Max said, not even bothering to figure it out. "We don't have time for stupid quotes, can't this thing go faster!?" He asked, when the elevator had reached the top floor.
The four of them quickly got out of the elevator to find Marty sitting on a medieval throne. Marty was clapping his hands together, smiling and laughing as well. "You made it. I'm honestly surprised you figured it out." The D&D addict said, getting off his throne and smiling. "Do you know why you're here, Maximof, Christoph, Elizabeth, and Michael? Because you all screwed up in the Real Ground."
"…Real Ground?" Max said, scratching his head.
"Yes. You died, and your soul wound up here, where it should've, in the Under Ground, which is a form of the afterlife. To sum things up, you're a higher plane of existence right now, kids."
"Like Heaven?" Elizabeth asked out of curiousity.
"…You could say that." Marty said. "The real reason, though, is that you're here because you've done some things that we need you to fix before we can send you back to the Real Ground." Marty said, and smiled like he belonged in an asylum. "You two. Maximof, Christoph… You're metal-head rockers. You're not going back to the Real Ground. You don't deserve that. None of you deserve redemption!" He said, and began to turn into his Noise form, which was… a Dragon. A huge, medieval looking dragon. It was staring at the group of four now, its large yellow eyes glaring down. The arms and legs were comprised of tattoos, and were colored the same as Marty's hair.
Max barked back at the Reaper. "YOU JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH PEOPLE, SO YOU TAKE IT OUT ON US PEOPLE THAT ACTUALLY HAVE LIVES!" He said, and the battle began.
Max and Michael took to one zone, while Christoph and Elizabeth took to the opposite zone. Marty summoned other Noise to deal with one duo while he himself dealt with the other.
A few seconds into the battle, Marty began to spew flames at Christoph and Elizabeth. Chris used his ice Psyche to form a shield around the two, trying to force it forward, and kept repairing it.
Max took this opportunity to blast a fireball at Marty's head, gaining his attention. The dragon swept at the guitarist with his claw, knocking him down. The second Max got back up, a snake Noise wrapped itself around his legs, knocking him back down again.
Marty created a cage of fire and managed to trap the brother and sister duo in it, leaving Max and Christoph to fend for themselves.
"We're boned here, you know." Max said, backing up from the hoard of Noise gathering before them.
"Wait, Max, the note. I know what it's about now! We have to play a certain song." Christoph said, taking out his bass. "…Okay, what song?" Max said, taking out his guitar in reply.
"…Are you familiar with Michael Jackson's music?" The bassist asked, quickly tuning his instrument.
"…You don't mean? No, no I can't play the solo man, you know I can't!" Max said, his eyes widening a little.
"Max, come on, I know you can play the solo. You HAVE to, or else we're snake chow, or worse, Dragon crap." Christoph said, holding onto his partner's shoulder. "Come on man, I know you can!"
Max took a deep breath. "Hit it."
Christoph began to play the opening bass notes, which seemed to do away with the weaker Noise, and began to damage the stronger ones, which were mostly made up of Dragon and Elephant Noise.
Eventually, Max's guitar part came into the opening, and Max began singing. "They told him "Don't you ever come around here- Don't wanna see your face, you better disappear"-, The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear- So beat it, just beat it
The song went on with Max singing and Christoph joining in on the chorus, the both of them singing in perfect harmony.
Then, Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo was coming up, and Max played it flawlessly. Hell, it even looked like he was channeling Eddie's amazing guitar soloing skills. By the time the song was over, the hoard of Noise that had been summoned had been defeated, and Marty was left considerably weaker.
Max and Christoph took this as an opportunity to make a ball of fire and ice, batting it at Marty for the final blow. The Reaper was erased, and the group of four was enveloped in a warm, white light.
They arrived in a white room, which had three tall buildings(which were actually a seat and two spires) in the background. The remaining Players were already being sent back to life, when a man dressed in a black suit approached the four. He had short, light blue hair, a small soul patch to match, and he had skin pale enough to rival Marty's. He appeared to be about 26.
The man spoke in a very, very heavy Russian accent when he told the group, "You four. You broke the rules." He said, smiling at them. He didn't really seem to care who they were, and almost didn't look at Max. "Allow me to introduce myself before I go further. I am Pietro, and I am this Game's Conductor. You see kids, I'm kind of a right-hand man to a Higher-up. Whose identity shall remain anonymous for now." He said, smiling.
Max was horrified by the revelation. "…Oh my god." He said, and sank to his knees. "BROTHER!" He said, and ran over to hug Pietro. He muttered something in Russian, only to have the Conductor push him away. "Shut it, Player. I rid myself of you and your family the day they turned their back on me."
"But Brother... We thought you died that night… We didn't know… We thought those guys killed you and… and hid the body somewhere…" He said. "Why though? You're alive… right?"
"Don't be stupid, Maximof. Of course I'm alive; I'm standing here speaking to you." He said with a sneer now. "Now, if you'll kindly shut up." He said, and opened an envelope. "You two, Maximof and Christoph, have two choices. Erasure… Or, be forced to play the game again."
Max and Christoph decided rather quickly. "Play the game again."
Pietro smiled. "Ms. Elizabeth and Mister Michael, you're going back. Congratulations, you didn't break the rules unlike these two idiots."
"Wait, what rule did they break!?" Elizabeth shouted.
"Marty left one rule in his book that he forgot to mention. If anymore than two Players should challenge him, the two who instigated the alliance were to be forced to play the Game again."
"Goddamnit, that's absolutely retarded!" Michael said, showing his teeth. "That's not fair!"
Pietro rolled up his sleeves, and showed him a series of scars. "Do you see these scars? Take a good look. These were given to me after Russian mob bosses decided mine family couldn't pay them collection money. Is that fair? I die so that precious Maximof gets to live and form major rock band!? HE GOT PICKED OVER ME!!" He shouted at Michael, and breathed heavily. "I apologize, comrades. But you have to understand. I'm just simply following mine orders."
The two suddenly disappeared into flashes of light, along with the other Players.
"Pietro… Why do this to your own flesh and blood?" Max asked, moving closer to his brother again.
"Maximof, you left me to die, you, Papa, and Mama." He said, growling. "You have been favorite since birth." He said, and examined the cross Max wore around his neck. "You were given family's prized possession. Father taught YOU how to play stringed instrument, at YOUR choosing? Me? I was forced to play piano. And then, you come here today, after you know very vell vhat happened to me, and call me brother. You make me SICK, Vergil." He said mockingly, trying to show his younger brother he meant business. "Sit around for a while; I must go talk to boss. Please, help yourselves." He said, and snapped his fingers, causing a small refrigerator to appear.
Max couldn't help but cry, and Christoph was rendered speechless. He wanted to ask his band mate about his family trouble, but… He decided to let it go. Right now, it wasn't worth it.
