Chapter 11

(Ooh. The chapter in which all is revealed. Ooh. R+r please!)

It wasn't anyone she recognised – or so it seemed. She squinted at the shadows where the face was, trying to make it out.

"Here." He handed her a torch. Her fingers were shaking so badly it took her several tries to switch it on. When she did, the light burnt her eyes and dazzled her for a few seconds before she could see.

The light glowed on a male face, tired and worn, a fat scar coursing down the cheek like a slug. The eyes were the worst. If Chizu's hadn't been able to decide on their colour, these couldn't decide on their feelings. Hate fought with love which grappled with terror and anger.

"Who are you?" she gasped.

"Maybe you should ask her that." He indicated Cube.

Gum dropped down next to her. The GG was still conscious, but she was dizzy, just able to keep her face from slipping into the water.

"Who is it?" Gum whispered.

"Coin…" Cube groaned.

"Cube, we're not in Grind City now."

"Don't patronise me," Cube snapped. "It's Coin, I know it is. I don't know what's happened to him, I don't know what the hell is going on, but I know his face."

"Don't you have any pictures any more?" the guy said. "Or did you burn them all and hold a bonfire party when I finally left you alone?"

"There's one pinned up on the wall…" Cube gasped. "Go have a look, Gum."

Gum could see blood, smeared from the wound the axe had made on her forehead. It didn't look too deep. Maybe they'd get out of here.

Maybe Onishima would learn how to skate.

She walked through the water to the far wall where the GGs pinned up most of the pictures of the gang. There was one faded one of Triple-C, Cube on the right, Combo on the left, Coin in between them, further back. He was grinning, a charming smile with a slight hint of conceit, his baseball cap crooked.

Gum detached the picture from the wall and carried it over to the other two. She held the torch up, and glanced from the photo to the intruder.

It was frightening when she realised Cube was right.

"What's wrong?" Coin said. "People change, you know."

"You never accepted that," Cube snapped.

He kicked out at her, and she shrank back as water hit her face.

"You killed Mew?" Gum said.

"Yes."

"You bastard!" Cube snarled. "What the hell is wrong with you? Are you so crazy you kill all girls with dark hair?"

"It was nothing to do with your hair, Cube-chan. I suppose you want the story now."

"It would be nice," Gum said, trying not to sound sarcastic. If we get out of this alive, she thought, I'll never, ever hate anyone again.

If we don't get out of this alive I'll never get the chance.

Cube lay on her side in the water, her teeth chattering. Her face was really white now, dripping, like snow. The blood was as black as her hair was.

Coin was shivering too. Gum glanced at his feet. His skates were gone, his feet trapped in a pair of trainers even more decrepit than hers had been.

"Well?" she said. "Gonna tell me where it all began?"

"The Devil's Contract," Coin said. "Found it. Got hold of it from some wacky record dealer. I didn't like it too much, decided to try and sell it. The Golden Rhinos were the only takers."

He shifted his grip on the axe. The blade glinted. It was clean now. Gum prayed it would stay that way. How much did it hurt to be chopped up – oh, god –

"I found out…I found out what they wanted to do with it. I went to a friend of mine, another guy who was into records, and told him to get it away from here, break it up, not to let them get their hands on it. This was the morning…that night I was supposed to sell it to the Rhinos. I wanted to get out of there right then, but I…I thought if I did, they might take it out on Cube and Combo, they might hurt them…I couldn't let that happen. So I acted normal, that night they went out on a tagging spree by moonlight, right, Cube? I made some excuse and stayed behind."

"You…you did what?" Cube said. "You deliberately didn't escape?"

He didn't answer.

"So what happened next?" Gum asked.

"They came. They asked for the record. I told them I hadn't got it. They asked why. I told them I knew what they'd do with it, I wouldn't let them have it, so damn idealistic…they didn't like that."

"Your collection," Cube said.

"Yeah. They smashed it in front of my eyes. Well, that hurt, but I pretended it didn't. I pretended I didn't care. I thought I could take on the world."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Cube sat up. The effort made her gasp, but she made it, a slim black and white figure rising above the water. "Why didn't you let us help you?"

"I didn't want you to get involved!" Coin shouted. "I didn't want to hurt you, either of you…Combo was my best friend, and you…I would do anything for you, you know that. I'd die for you."

Cube was crying now, silently, tears staining her already damp face.

"They took me away from Bantam Street," Coin said, and his face seemed to darken. "To one of their HQs. They tried to make me tell them what I'd done with that record."

Almost unconsciously, one hand brushed the scar on his face.

"That wasn't much fun."

Silence a moment. Outside the rain rattled against the windows.

"Eventually I gave in. I told them who I'd given the record to. I hoped he'd got rid of it. I guess they traced him."

"But how did you get here?" Gum asked.

"The Rhinos…some of them thought it'd be best to kill me. Then one pointed out if I was lying, they'd be back to square one. They drugged me, took me along with them. I don't remember much about that."

"So – when Goji set off the Devil's Contract, you were here all along?" Gum said.

"Got it in one. I wasn't in Rokkaku Tower…lucky for me…I was…someplace else. When the whole thing was screwed up…Goji dead…the Rhinos arrested…they all forgot about me. I managed to escape…I needed to find Cube and Combo."

"Please, don't say anything else," Cube said, voice drowning out the furious rain outside. "I know what happened. Just stop there. Please."

"Why, you haven't told them what you are?" Coin shouted. "You surprise me. You certainly wanted me to know, didn't you, you low cheap whore…"

Cube was crying for good now.

"Combo tried to spill the beans tonight," Coin said more quietly. "That's why you called him what you called him. I bet he won't forgive you for that. And the others won't forgive you for what you've done."

"What? So she lost her temper with Combo," Gum said. "She's stressed."

"I'm not talking about that," Coin snapped. "I'm talking about Cube going to the cheapest, seediest, tackiest whorehouse in Tokyo-to."

"The Classy Lassy place?" Gum said.

Cube nodded.

"You see, I escaped," Coin said. "I was pretty out of it…they'd kept me asleep for a long time, and I didn't know what to do. I thought if I could find the rest of Triple-C, I'd be okay."

"So why didn't you?" Gum asked.

"I saw her." Coin kicked some more water at Cube, who had buried her face in her hands. "I wanted to run, catch up with her, but then I thought. I didn't look my best at the time, I wanted to make her happy to see me, not freaked out. So I followed her."

"And she went to…"

"She went to the Babe Emporium in Benten-cho. I wondered if she was working there, I knew they didn't offer guys."

"Was she?"

"No." Coin's face darkened. "She was enjoying the services provided."

There was another growl of thunder. Then lightning, flickering on Cube's damp face, Coin's scarred one.

"You…" Gum stared at Cube.

"Oh, for god's sake!" Cube snarled. "I'm a lesbian, okay? I'm a dyke, I'm a queer, I'm a disgusting sick freak. That's what you said," she sobbed, turning to Coin.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Gum asked.

"Because I knew you'd all hate me! Only Combo knows, he knew when we were still Triple-C. I went to the Classy Lassy place because I was desperate…I just needed to feel for once that I wasn't hiding…"

"We wouldn't hate you," Gum said. "Honest we wouldn't."

"Oh, yeah?" Cube said. "You heard Coin. He loved me. He would do anything for me. When I'm straight. Once I'm warped, as he so kindly put it, I'm nothing."

"You told me you loved me," Coin said, fury trembling under his voice. "You promised you loved me. You promised."

"After you went away I realised my feelings had changed, okay? It wasn't you. It was – it was –"

Coin moved painfully, but horribly fast. He grabbed Cube's wrist, hauled her up to face level.

"I don't care what it was," he said. "You lied to me. I needed you, and you turned away. I bet you loved it that the Rhinos got me. I bet you were so happy you couldn't breathe!"

"What happened next?" Gum cried. She couldn't stop looking at the axe.

"Next?"

Coin turned to face her, dropped Cube, who splashed back into the water.

"I tried to write to her. I wanted to tell her I loved her. But I couldn't make the words work – they kept changing and I couldn't make them do what I wanted. I kept on trying. Lots of letters. I think she knew who sent them."

"You sent the letters to her?"

"That's right. Who else would?"

"We thought – we thought they were to Mew…"

Coin snorted. "Well, you thought wrong."

"You bastard." Cube's face was still pale, but now the tears had gone, were replaced with fury. "You did send all those. I didn't know –"

"You really couldn't figure it out?" Coin sneered.

"I – I thought it could be, but I didn't want to believe it…"

"I just wanted you back…I just wanted to tell you I cared about you…" Coin closed his eyes, winced. "I did, really…I just couldn't do it…"

"You never cared for me," Cube said. "No one who cared for me could do something like this."

"Well, I tried! I saw who you fucked at Classy Lassy, I followed her, I – I wanted to tell her not to touch you and – that didn't work either –"

"You killed her too," Cube said, voice flat now.

Gum glanced out of the garage window. The road was empty. Dark. If he killed her and Cube, they could be here for ages if he planned it right.

He can't kill us. Something's got to save us. Right?

"I just…talked to her…then I hit out and…and she was dead." His eyes were frightened, as frightened as Gum herself was feeling now. "But I thought maybe no one would know. Anyway, I tried to write to you, Cube, lots of times, but I knew it wasn't working…I used to hang round the garage, see what you were doing."

There was silence now, except for the sound of dripping water.

"Gum," Cube said. "You remember, back here, when I came in and told you I'd been rejected by a guy?"

"Yeah."

"It wasn't a guy. It was Mew."

"Yeah," Coin said. "I thought now I'd got rid of that other girl you'd stop. I thought I could be with you now. And then I saw you go after her."

"But she said no," Gum said.

"I saw you all move out. I hurried to the house before you, hid in the basement. I wanted to stick with Cube. That night I climbed up the chimney, up into your main room. I walked into the kitchen. I wanted a weapon, I was scared someone would try and hurt me – I smashed the glass case and took the axe."

Gum realised she'd stopped breathing, and took a slow, nervous swallow of air.

"Mew came in to see what the noise was about. It was dark, she couldn't see me. And I was so angry with her. If she hadn't been there it would have all been okay, Cube wouldn't have done it…"

Cube was crying again.

"I hit her."

The sentences were delivered flatly, by someone who was too tired to care.

"I didn't realise I had the axe at first…then I did."

His eyes showed hate now.

"I thought if I did that she wouldn't be so damn pretty…Cube wouldn't want her any more…and then she was dead. She didn't scream, I killed her with the first blow."

He drew a deep, pain-filled breath.

"There was blood everywhere. It was worse than anything the Rhinos did to me…I hated myself. I heard you come downstairs."

Gum met his eyes as the lightning turned him white for an instant. This was it. This was the killer. This was the person she was supposed to loathe.

"I could see you were sleepwalking. I put on the lights, then ran back into the other room. I climbed back down the chimney and hid there. I could hear everything they said. I'd heard everything all day…how you," he looked at Gum, "had had your boyfriend stolen…I felt sorry for you then."

Gum saw, on the edge of his T-shirt, faint, rusty stains, old now. She swallowed as nausea rose in her stomach.

"But then I heard them all accuse you. I didn't want them to find it was me, they'd hurt me bad, you were so angry anyway, it would be easy. I heard Beat kick you out of the GGs. I decided I'd act how everyone thought you would."

"You chopped up the speaker," Gum said, throat aching.

"Yes. Then, that night, I heard how Tab had found the letters."

Gum remembered Tab leaning against the fireplace as they talked, and groaned.

"I couldn't remember exactly what I'd put in them," Coin said. "I thought they might be a giveaway. That night I crawled up the chimney to your room."

"The guy who hit me – that was you!" Gum's voice rose with fury.

"I thought if I told you you'd done it you might believe me. You had been asleep, after all. I went down the chimney again after."

"You're damn right I believed it. You – you – how dare you? How dare you?" Gum forgot the axe, forgot everything, ran forward and slapped Coin round the face.

"No!" Cube screamed.

Gum felt something heavy catch her in the ribs, throwing her down into the water. Biting her lip against the icy cold, she stared up at Coin. His eyes were raw with pain.

Thunder growled again.

"Don't – don't touch me – you just keep away…"

His voice was stumbling on a thin line between fear and anger.

"I heard Tab say he'd found something out, I thought I'd be blamed. Everyone went out. I hid the axe under the bed in the other room, I thought if it was found in the basement they'd all know it was me. That night I knew I couldn't stand by and let him just tell everyone."

He took a deep breath, ran his hand through his hair.

"I heard him screw you."

He laughed a moment, bitterly.

"Then when you went to sleep I went and got the axe. I just hit him once. I didn't want to hurt him, I just wanted him out of the way. Then I dropped the axe on the floor, I hoped you'd be blamed, and then I went back down to the basement."

"What happened to the letters?" Gum stared up at him, gritting her teeth against the freezing water soaking into her clothes.

"I took them out of his boiler suit and tore them up. I hoped he was dead, but he wasn't. I couldn't believe it when you all started suspecting him. Then you found the basement. I heard you come down, I climbed up into the chimney and hid until you'd gone."

"You made the footprints."

"I heard Cube yell at Combo, heard her say she was going back to the garage. I thought I could go talk to her. But you were with her. I thought – I don't know what I thought. And now I'm here."

"Gum…" Cube's voice was trembling. "Look at your side."

Gum glanced down.

There was blood all over her dress. She studied it coolly. It didn't look like it belonged to her. And yet it was frightening.

"You cut her." Cube stared at the axe blade. Gum could see red on it.

"Where did you get the axe from, anyway?" she said.

"I found it. Your ex buried it in the garden. Not far from his girl."

"Why did you bring it?" Cube snapped. "Why did you bring it if you just wanted to talk?"

"I was too scared not to."

He meant it. Gum could hear the fear in his voice.

"I don't want to hurt you," Coin said. "I don't…but I've got to keep going. I can't let myself lose…"

Gum looked at the axe again. It seemed pretty strong. Strong enough to break a bone – she felt a whimper rise in her throat.

Coin was gripping it with white-knuckled hands. Gum could see scars ripped across the pale fingers.

Broken glass? Or kitchen knife? And did they put salt on them?

"What do you mean, you can't let yourself lose?" Cube said over another mutter of thunder. "It's not a battle, damn it, it's not like I'm a prize for the winner. It was my decision to do what I did, and I'm sorry. Why can't you just move on?"

"You don't understand…" Coin said. "If I lose…if I just give in I – I'm scared I'll fall…"

"You're making no sense," Cube snapped.

"Yes, he is." Gum could feel herself trembling, and not because of the cold water. "He means if he doesn't fight, if he doesn't do something, he'll have nothing to distract him from what the Rhinos did. He'll have to remember, and he doesn't know what'll happen if he does."

"How do you know all that?"

"Let's just say been there, done that, got the T-shirt."

Cube swallowed. "I'm – I'm sorry…"

"Why else do you think I ran away from home?" Gum snapped. "Why else do you think I got so freaked when you started beating me up?"

"I told myself when – when it was really bad – if I got out I could see you guys, you'd help me," Coin said. "When I saw you doing what you did I knew I'd been wrong. I knew you'd betrayed me."

Gum was starting to feel drained. She wondered how much blood she'd lost. And she was so cold…it hurt to keep shivering but she couldn't stop.

She closed her eyes a second, and heard Cube gasp. "Gum, you look like shit."

"Thanks a bunch."

"Coin, we've got to get her to hospital."

"No. No, if you go you'll tell everyone and then they'll hurt me…I've heard you all talking. I saw what you did to her when you thought she killed Mew."

"No one will hurt you," Cube said. "I promise that."

"Why should I believe anything you say?" Coin's voice was rising with fury. "You lied to me about everything else you said, you slut, you bitch, I hate you, I hate you –"

Gum's eyes flew open just in time to see the axe rise and fall. Waves broke across her as Cube struggled to roll out of the way.

There was a thunk.

Cube swallowed as blood started to run down her arm. "So you loved me? You've got a weird way of showing it."

Coin stared at the wound he'd just made. "Now you really will hate me, won't you? You'll tell them all."

"I won't –"

"You will. Don't lie, Cube. I've heard the way you acted to Gum. You hated her. You'll hate me."

Despite her terror, Gum felt a weak flame of satisfaction that Cube picking on her had snowballed so badly.

"No," Cube said. "Please, please, Coin, no."

She was looking up at him, up into his eyes. Gum saw, as if in slow motion, him raising the axe, the lightning turning him into a silver statue for a brief moment – Cube's eyes were wide – and she screamed –

Time slowed…

Let him, Gum's mind whispered. Cube deserves it.

Is that what you thought about Mew when you killed her?

I didn't…

You're going to kill Cube any moment now. You're crazy, you're crazy, you're crazy –

Almost too late.

Gum threw herself across Cube, pushed out at Coin's legs – she felt the impact as the axe struck her side – Coin fell, dropped to his knees – he stared at her with pain-filled eyes.

"Why didn't you…" he cried out. "I thought you understood."

"You can't kill her," Gum said. "Listen to me. You don't have to kill people."

"I don't know what to do!" he yelled. "I can't make anything work any more, and I'm so scared!"

The axe was shaking like crazy. Gum tried to ignore it.

"It's okay," she said. "You don't need to be scared. Really. It's okay." She struggled to keep her voice low and calm, and tried not to think of the blood all over her clothes.

"You can't fool me with that psychotherapy shit," Coin spat out, suddenly sounding cynical. "I know what happens to people who kill people. If I don't do something, you'll send me to jail."

"I won't," Gum said. "I nearly ended up there myself, of course I wouldn't put you in there."

"But she would."

"I wouldn't," Cube whispered. Her lips were trembling.

"I don't believe you…I mustn't believe you…"

Please believe us. Gum didn't say it out loud.

"Even if you do kill us," she said, "what will you do then?"

"I don't know. I'll try and get away." Coin staggered to his feet.

"You won't get away," Cube snapped. Her voice was weak but Gum could hear the fury in it. "Because the really bad shit is in your head…and if you kill us, you're no better than the Rhinos are…and that'll blow your mind if you think about it too long…then you'll be nothing but a babbling loony, and then you'll be trapped for good."

The axe bit down through the water, sending up drops into Cube's face.

"I am not trapped," Coin snarled. "I won't let you trap me."

Gum swallowed and tried to stand up, but her legs didn't seem strong enough and she dropped back. Now how much blood was it? How long till she died?

Tab and Botan knew where she'd gone. But would they come and help or would they think Gum and Cube had gone back to the house?

She couldn't rely on them.

Cube's eyes were closing.

"Cube?"

The Gothic GG pitched forward into the lightning-bright water.

Gum grabbed her, pulled her head up from the flood, shook her. But it was no good. Cube was out for the count. The only good thing was that she was still breathing.

So she couldn't rely on Cube.

Which left one person.

Herself.

Coin swung the axe, but he was trembling so badly it missed them both.

"Please don't do this," Gum said. "It really won't help."

More thunder.

"I don't want to listen to you. I just want to be left alone."

"You think they'll leave you alone if you kill us? They won't. You can stop now. You can stop."

He wasn't listening, she could see he wasn't. It was no good. She was going to die in here, in the angry wet night, watched by the empty garage.

She closed her eyes.

"You don't need to hurt people," she said. It was better in her own darkness. She could fool herself she was safe. The thunder crashed above them. The storm must be right overhead.

Cube was slumped over her lap, cold and small.

"You can let us go. It won't do you any harm."

Was he moving?

"I know you're a good person really. You just got a little confused." As she spoke each word, she wondered whether she'd get a chance to say the next one.

Where would he hit her?

Dripping water. Thunder crashing over and over again.

She could run. But Cube couldn't. And she wasn't going to leave the other girl to die because you just didn't do that, you just didn't.

Goodbye, Tab, she whispered in her mind, and let her head fall. If he struck her on the back of the neck, maybe she'd die quickly.

(And it's another cliffhanger, sorry! I'll post soon. Hmmm…Noisetank13 and Xyrer get cookies for figuring out who the murderer was…and Disk gets one for figuring out Cube was a lesbian. Congrats, guys!)