When we got home, I heard everyone talking excitedly in the Meeting Room. Priscilla told me that Kinski's five days were up. I felt my heart stop. It was Kinski's last day? Already? I ran into the Meeting room. The rebels turned their heads to me. "Banshee-" started Beans. "Please let him stay for just one more day!" I blurted out. The rebels stared at me. I closed my mouth and looked away. Beans got up from her chair.
"Banshee, you promised, he has to leave now," said Ambrose. "I was going to tell you, but you and Kinski were already gone," said Beans, crossing her arms over her chest. "Where did you two go?" asked Doc. I felt the tips of my ears burning. "Market Street," I said in a low voice, I slowly lifted the food in my wings. Everyone went quiet. Just then, Kinski came in. He stood behind me and looked over at the rebels. The rebels looked back at him, Elgin, Mr. Furgus, Ambrose, and Doc glared at him. Spoons took a step back.
"Why do you want him to stay a little longer, Banshee?" asked Beans. I stiffened where I stood. All eyes were on me. I couldnt tell them. My heart thumped loudly. I couldn't think of a lie. Just then, Kinski stepped forward. "I 'ave already talked to one of ze market traders. He said he vas going to take me to a different town, a town he always goes to every week to trade food. He couldn't take me today because he vas still fixing his stand. He's been trying to fix it since the day a certain Nightmare crashed into it," he paused and eyed me for a moment. I suddenly felt small.
Then he cleared his throat and continued. "One more night is all I need, then I leave yer place, first thing tomorrow morning," he said. The seriousness and firmness in his voice surprised all of us. I blinked in disbelief. He already had plans on leaving?
The rebels murmured amongst themselves. Finally, Egin looked over at Kinski. He sneered. "All right, hunchback. You can stay here a little longer, but first thing tomorrow morning, yer ass is gone, got it?" he snarled. Kinski nodded. With that, Kinski left the room. I left the room too.
...
The day wore on till it was dinnertime. I gave Kinski his last meal, then went to my room. I wasn't hungry. I laid in my bed, staring up at the crumbling ceiling.
I didn't want Kinski to leave. Yes, he was a handful and annoying at times, but I just couldn't be apart from him. The five long years in the Dark Ages without him was torture for me. I couldn't stop thinking of him. Always thinking that he did something stupid and killed himself. I remembered what he said, on the first day that I brought him here, when I tried to stop him from leaving and asked him where he would go: "Away from 'ere, zat's fer sure, maybe a different town. I don't care, I'll find a place, and the migraines will eventually go away, now git!" He'll be leaving town first thing in the morning…and I won't ever see him again…
I sat on my bed, thinking of him, and what he said earlier. Where was he going to go? How was he going to take care of himself? I asked myself. I could hear low murmurs in the other rooms.
Suddenly I heard a strange noise. I looked up from my pillow. What the-? I thought. Suddenly the sound got louder. The sound was like dirt being scraped. I looked down from my bed and saw the cold grey dirt being pushed up, like someone was digging from underneath. Then the dirt exploded and Kinski came up, covered in dirt.
"Hello," he said smiling. I looked at him confusingly. "You know, there's a door," I said, pointing my wing toward the door. Kinski shook his head and grains of mixed soils fell from his face and hair. His smile gradually faded as he turned to where I was pointing, then back at me. "…I know," he said, but it didn't seem like he did. He coughed up some dirt from his mouth.
"What do you want?" I asked him in a calm uninterested voice, but inside, I was glad he was here. Kinski came out from his little tunnel. He shook the dirt from himself and sat at the edge of my bed.
"Please get off," I said. Kinski got off, leaving a pile of dirt on my bed. Kinski stood. "I vanted to talk to you about something, about my last day here," he said as he picked out the clusters of dirt from his hump and shook his shirt. He kicked his legs a bit and mounds of dirt came out. I didn't want to talk about his last day. I changed the subject.
"How long did it take you? To dig that hole?" I asked. Kinski stopped shaking the dirt from himself and looked down at the hole. He thought for a moment, then shrugged, "I dunno…twenty seconds?" he guesstimated. I nodded, then I turned and used my wing to brush the dirt off my bed in long sweeps.
Kinski watched my sad, long sweeps. "Something wrong?" he asked. I didnt look up at him, "D-did you really mean it?...Are you really leaving?" I asked. Kinski nodded, "Yah, I said I vas, yes?" he asked. I nodded, I felt tears come to my eyes, but I fought them back. "Why can't you..." my voice faltered. Kinski stared down at me. He cocked his head. "...vhat?" he asked. I stared down at my wings. "...stay..." I said, barely a whisper. Kinski didnt hear what I said, he just shrugged and decided to tell me what wanted to talk to me about.
"Tonight, I vas hopin' zat maybe we, you and I could...," his voice faltered. "could...do something together..." he said, smiling nervously from droopy ear to droopy ear. I looked up at him confusingly. "Do something together?" I felt myself blushing. Kinski's smile widened a bit. "Yeah."
...
"We're going to get caught," I whispered as we walked along the dark, empty streets to Main Street. It was night, no moon, only dark clouds. Kinski just waved his hand, "We'll be fine, trust me, yer gonna 'ave ze time of yer life," he said. I followed Kinski, to the bright colorful side of the City. I shifted my eyes from left to right. Everywhere I looked, there was a group of security guards. I pulled my hood lower over my face. "I don't like this, Kinski, let's go back," I said. Kinski shook his head. "No, and I promise you wont git caught," he said as he continued pulling me through the street.
We both wore old worn coats to keep us warm from the cold night, but underneath, we wore "nice clothes." I really don't know why he wanted me to wear my "best dress." Something was up, but Kinski wouldn't tell me.
I have never been on Main Street at night, but tonight, my breath was taken away. The whole place was bright, colourful, and festive. Strings of rainbow lights were strung, bustling people moved around in elegant dresses and sharp suits. Music poured out of every casino and night club left and right. Neon signs flickered reds and oranges, greens and blues everywhere, enticing people to come in.
Kinski grabbed my wing, snapping me out of my hypnotized state and pulled me down the street. "Look lively," he said grinning. I couldn't help but smile. We zig-zagged and shouldered our way through the busy streets. "Where are we going?" I asked the hunchback jackrabbit. He didn't answer and kept pulling me down the street. Finally, we stopped at a night club called The Red Flame.
I stopped. "No," I said. Kinski stopped and turned to me. "Vhat?" he asked. I narrowed my eyes at him, "That's one of Bill's night clubs, they're evil," I said angrily. The rebels and I loathed Main Street, it was an evil place, we would never be caught dead there. Kinski rolled his eyes. He grabbed my wing and pulled me closer to it. After that, he let go of my wing.
Kinski walked past the line of people and up to where the sign up reception stand was. The man at the stand glared at him. "Name?" he asked. Kinski smiled and rested his left arm on the stand, "Zat wont be necessary, yes?" he asked grinning mischievously and pulled out his gun. The people who were waiting in line behind us screamed and bolted away in different directions.
The man at the desk gasped. "O-oh, I'm s-sorry, of c-course! F-follow me s-sir," he said gesturing Kinski to follow him into the club. I got a quick glance at his gun before he placed it back in its holster. Kinski turned and looked at me, "Come on," he said, motioning his arm to follow. I shook my head.
"Only unless you tell me what's going on," I said. I could see Kinski's eyes flicker. He sighed, "Fine, I..." he faltered. My ears swivelled forward to him, listening. "Yes?" I asked. Kinski recollected himself, he looked down at his feet. "I...really appreciated your kindness to me…and I vant to return ze favor, by treating you someplace special… and zis ain't a night club, it's just a normal restaurant," he said, correcting me.
I raised an eyebrow at him. He appreciated what I have done for him? I thought. He looked up at me. I looked back. Something was different about Kinski. I could see something flicker in his eyes. Change. It was change. Kinski has changed, maybe those five long days have finally changed him, maybe he was a new man, trying to start over. Trying to start fresh. I couldn't believe it. I didn't know what to think of this change, but something in my stomach made me like the new Kinski. My thin tight lips loosened and formed a small smile. Kinski smiled back. I approached him, feeling a bit light. He grabbed my wing and pulled me into the restraunt.
A woman took our coats. Kinski wore his borrowed buttoned up shirt, it was tucked in, and he wore a nice pair of pants with no holes or dirt smudges. I wore my usual black sleeveless dress. I still wore the cloak. I kept the hood over my face as we followed the man from the reception desk. He led us down a row of tables already full of elegantly dressed women and handsomely dressed men. Sipping crystal gasses of red wine.
Inside it was dark, except for the occasional red and orange lights revolving around. Blood red curtains glimmered and sparkled from the little reflective lights of the disco balls. Gold and silver stars were painted along the dark blue walls like a real night sky. The carpet was a deep lemon yellow with red and orange flame designs. The layout of the place was like layers on each side, where you had to walk a couple steps up to the next level of tables of chairs. At the very end was a red painted stage, where a group of musicians played a nice upbeat song. Around them were flickering flames of fire. Mostly everywhere was fire, but I'm sure it was safe. The flickering flames made everything give off reflected light, making the place seem even more magical.
We followed the man up the steps to the top of the layer. "Here you go lady and gent," said the nervous man, an empty table for two waited for us. The man bowed his head, then walked back down. I quickly glanced around at the place again. Each table looked the same. The tablecloth was black with red flame designs with looked like it was painted on. In the middle sat a decorative candle with a decorated candle holder, which was stained glass and gave off a beautiful color of red and blue, which reflected on the table, a very nice purple. To the left of where the black menus laid waiting, were two tall crystal glasses of water.
Kinski and I sat down at a table, facing each other. "This nice, Yes?" he asked. I smiled, "Yes, it sort of fits you," I added, referring to the flames and fire. Kinski's eyes widened and looked away. His shoulders went up. "Yeah…vhat a coincidence," he said in a low voice. Then Kinski picked up the menu that sat in front of him. I did as well. I looked at all the names for the delicious dishes.
A waitress in a black dress and a white apron came to take our order. When she was done writing our order down, she took our menus and left. I listened to the nice music. It was calm, but had a nice beat to where you just wanted to get up and dance. The guests at their own tables murmured amongst each other.
I squinted at the bright revolving blue light every time it faced me. Kinski fingered his glass with one hand. The other was curled up into a fist and rested under his rough cheek. His eyes shifted to me and noticed me squinting. "The lights?" he asked me. I nodded, "Yeah, but its no big-" I started. Without turning his head, Kinski grabbed the front of a waiter's shirt right as he just started to pass by our table. The man yelped at the sudden action.
"Turn off the revolving lights, Miss Banshee 'ere has sensitive eyes," he said, gesturing to me. He bared his teeth at the scared waiter. Then he let go of the man's front shirt. The man smoothed out his shirt and nodded his head rapidly. "Y-yes, s-s-sir," he said and bolted down the stairs. Couple minutes later, the revolving lights stopped and went dead. Kinski smiled a satisfied smile and went back to tracing the lip around his water glass. The music changed again and went into a different tempo. Kinski grinned and thumped his hand on the table to the beat of the music.
Just then, a twenty five year old female lizard in a glittering black dress stopped at our table. She held a Polaroid camera in her hands. "Oh you two are such a cute couple, mind if I take a picture?" she asked. My heart stopped. I sank down lower in my chair. The waves of hot and cold increased. Kinski's face lit up. He smiled up at the lady, "Sure, why not, eh?" he said turning back to me. I shook my head nervously. Kinski cocked his head, his smile widened into a grin, revealing a mouth full of yellow rotting teeth. The lady smiled and raised her camera. She paused and lowered the camera a bit.
"Can you scoot in closer my dear?" the lady asked. I didn't move. Kinski rose out of his seat and went around where I sat and went down on his knees next to me. He smiled and placed his hand on my shoulder. His head lightly touched against mine. I stiffened. The girl smiled. "That's adorable. Ok, now stay like that…" she said and got her camera ready again. Kinski smiled and stuck his tongue out. I smiled a small smile, then the lady took our picture. Kinski got up and walked up to the lady. "Can I see it?" he asked, fumbling his fingers impatiently. The female lizard snatched the blank white picture from the slot it came out of and waved it back and forth. "Hold on, it takes a while for the image to appear," she said.
After about two minutes, she stopped waving it and checked it. Then she handed it to Kinski. Kinski snatched it from her and looked at it. His face lit up. "Heheh, ze look on yer face, Banshee," he laughed and showed me the picture. I laughed half heartedly. The lady smiled,
"If ya like it, the pic's ten dollars," she said. Kinski looked up at her. He fingered his gun in its holster. "Ten dollars? You sure?" he asked, the lighting in the room made his face more sinister. Shadows formed under his tired eyes.
The lady looked down at his hand fingering his gun. Her eyes went wide- eyed in shock. "Oh! Uh, n-no sir, I-its n-not," she said. With that, she did a quick curtsy and rushed down the stairs. Kinski snickered, the creepy shadows from under his eyes disappeared. He sat back down in his chair, staring at the picture.
I still couldn't let go of how he threatened that girl with the camera. I glared at him and crossed my wings over my chest. Kinski glanced over at me and saw the anger in my eyes. "Vhat?" he asked. Before I could answer, our female waitress came back and placed steaming alabaster porcelain plates with hot, mouth watering food. Kinski's eyes widened at his plate of food while he slipped the picture in his front pocket. He rubbed his furry hands together happily. Drool seeped out of his mouth. The waitress placed his glass filled to the top with his favorite wine.
When she left, Kinski attacked his food. I looked down at my plate. The music stopped for a minute, then the musicians played a different song for the guests. I picked up my silver fork and knife, and struggled with the food on my plate, which had fresh fruit, mashed potatoes smothered in gravy and a small slice of medium rare steak. I lifted my fork with a piece of steak at the end and chewed it. The small piece of steak was sweet and juicy. I beamed and ate a couple more bites.
After a couple of minutes, I looked up to see how Kinski was doing with his food. He had his head down over the plate, chewing the food like a savage animal. Then his eyes went up and noticed me looking at him. He slowly lifted his head up to me and smiled. His teeth were covered in food and chewed pieces dripped back down onto the plate. I just shook my head and went back to eating.
Kinski was done with his plate in thirty seconds flat. He drained his wine glass in one long gulp. He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. He smiled happily and leaned back in his chair. He patted his full stomach and flicked his droopy ears over his shoulder.
"Zat vas good," he said happily in his German accent. I smiled and continued eating my food. After a couple minutes of watching me eat, Kinski looked down at his front pocket where he slipped the picture in. He placed his two fingers inside the pocket and touched the picture. He thought for a moment before getting up from his seat. "Where you going?" I asked. Kinski pointed to where he was going, "Over zere, I 'ave some business to take care of…vont be long," he added. With that, he left me alone at the table. His chair not pushed in, and his plate licked clean with bits of food around it on the table...
...
It took me eight minutes to finish. Kinski came back five minutes later when I was done. We got our coats and left the restraunt without paying. No one protested as we made our way out. Something didn't seem right. The dinner, the dressing up, Kinski acting strange…and the picture…It still just didn't seem right…
We walked along the edges of the casinos, careful not to be seen. Kinski moved in between me and the security men, blocking their view so they couldnt see me. After that, we finally made it out of the festive streets and toward the less crowded Rebel Street. We walked in silence. I couldnt stop thinking of the...what would you call it? Just a nice night out? A date? I felt my stomach twist.
Suddenly we heard noises from behind. "Well, well, who do we have ere?" asked a sly voice. We both turned around and found ourselves face to face with a gang of rats. The leader had one ear torn off, he wore dirty clothes, just like the rest of his members. Kinski moved in front of me. "Git lost ya bastards! you 'ave no idea who yer messin' with!" he snapped angrily. The leader of the rats smirked. "Neither do you...freak." Kinski snarled. My eyes were wide with fear.
All of the sudden, I felt someone grab me from behind. I tried to scream but a hand clamped down on my mouth. Kinski whipped around. His eyes widened. I struggled in the gang member's grasp, but stopped when the barrel of his gun touched the side of my temple. I was too scared to move, I couldnt even change into The Nightmare. Kinski whipped back around. The gang of rats snickered.
The leader grinned, revealing a set of cracked yellow teeth, "So, what's it gonna be? You, or yer girlfriend there?" The leader looked over to me. His grin softened a bit. He stared at me. Without looking, he pulled out a yellowed piece of paper from his back pocket and unfolded it. He looked at the paper, then me. His grin came back. "Well, well, well! How interesting."
Kinski flinched when the leader showed what the paper had on it. A wanted poster with my face on it. "It's the bat girl!" he said. The gang's eyes widened. The gang member who was holding me, ripped the hood from my head. My ears flicked up. The leader smirked. "We've hit the jackpot boys." The gang of rats laughed and whooped.
"You have a real perty face on there with that many zeros under it, huh?" the leader said as he slowly approached me. I flinched. Kinski growled and started to step forward. He stopped when two guns were shoved into his face, he backed up a couple of steps and stopped.
The leader stopped in front of me, his face inches from mine. I looked away from him. My eyes flickered over to Kinski. Kinski's teeth were bared. His hands curled into fists. The rat leader started saying something to me, but I ignored him. Kinski grolwed under his breath. My eyes flickered to the outlaws who had their guns pointed at Kinski's face. The two gunslinger's heads turned to their leader. It was just for a split second, but it was all Kinski needed. Suddenly, at lightning speed, Kinski grabbed the two gunslingers guns out of their hands.
Before the two could blink, Kinski shoved them down, spun the two guns around in his hands, and shot the two. Bang! Bang! The leader of the rats whipped around. He gasped.
Kinski snarled and started to walk toward the leader. Just then, two other gunslingers came up to the hunchback jackrabbit. Kinski kicked the first one coming toward him in the stomach. The gunslinger fell backwards, his gun went off, missing Kinski by inches. The gunslinger knocked into the others. They fell to the ground. Kinski approached the leader. The leader took a couple steps back. He was about to pull his gun out, but Kinski beat him to it. He knocked the leader's gun out of his hand and grabbed him roughly by the shoulders. He spun him around and aimed the gun right at the leader's head. The leader was now his hostage.
"Let her go, now!" Kinski screamed at the outlaw who was keeping me hostage. The leader's face went pale as the barrel of Kinski's gun dug deeper into the rat's temple. Kinski gripped the leader's shoulder tightly. "D-do what he s-says," said the leader. The gang member who had me started to tremble in fear. Kinski bared his teeth. His eyes looked like they were burning. The rat finally let go of me and ran. I collapsed to the ground.
Kinski turned around, still holding the leader and faced the remaining members of the gang. The gang flinched at the sight of Kinski. Their eyes wide with horror. "Git lost!" the hunchback jackrabbit shouted. The gang scrambled to their feet and bolted. Kinski looked down at the leader. The leader trembled in his grasp, "P-please...h-have m-mercy," stuttered the rat. Kinski snarled. He pulled the hammer back on his trigger-
Suddenly, he stopped. Kinski's eyes flickered over to where I sat on the ground. My eyes were wide with fear. The insane, outraged look on his face horrified me. Kinski's face gradually calmed down as he stared at me. Finally, he turned his head back to the leader. He loosened his hold on the outlaw. The outlaw collapsed to the ground. He gasped and coughed, his chest rising and falling. He turned his head and looked up at the hunchback jackrabbit. Kinski glared down at him, his face shadowed, giving him a dark appearance. "Go, and if I see yer ugly-ass face 'ere again, I wont be so generous," Kinski said in a low gruff voice. The leader didn't move. "Go!" Kinski screamed. The rat got to his feet and bolted away. Kinski breathed heavily. His face hidden behind his long, disheveled hair.
Suddenly his head turned toward my direction. I flinched. Kinski slowly walked up to me and stared down. I felt myself shaking as I stared up at him. Finally, he knelt down and helped me up. He carefully placed an arm over my shoulders to somewhat stop me from shaking. When we were around the Rodent family house at the back door, Kinski let go of me. He looked down at his feet. "I...I'm sorry fer vhat happened back zere," he said in a whisper.
I calmed myself down and looked up at him. "It's not your fault... actually, I should be thanking you... for saving me," I said with a small smile. Kinski looked up through his bangs to me. I felt my face turning red. "I...I actually had a fun time," I admitted. Kinski didn't say anything, he kept staring down at me. My wings started to sweat. "...Thank you, for taking me to that place...it was very special," I said. Kinski finally averted his eyes away. He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah..." was all he said. After a couple seconds of awkward silence, we walked into the hideout, and down the stairs.
We walked into our own rooms and went to bed. I laid on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. Tonight's occurrence continued to repeat in my head. My heart was still pounding. It was scary, but thrilling. For the first time since the Dark Ages, I felt excitement. Kinski showed me how it was to go out and have some fun, while not getting caught. It was the most fun I've had in years. Just then, tears flowed down my face.
Tomorrow...he'll be gone...and I'll never see him again...
A/N: In my opinion, I didnt like the "dinner date" part. I don't think it went well with the action scene after, but if you liked it, then ok. This chapter was a tough one to work with, leaving more open gaps and all that, but dont worry, it'll explain itself later.