Chapter 1

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The Judge was curled on Zacharie's bed when we returned home. He didn't acknowledge our presence in the slightest.

I expected to feel relief now that the Zones had been purified. Instead, an empty, sinking feeling found home in my stomach. Zacharie left us alone to head down into his secret room, leaving us with the Judge.

"Let's let him sleep," Regina suggested, giving me a slight push toward our room. "You did well today...I'd say that earns a...reward."

"No," I pushed her away. "Please, stop."

My puppeteer simply cast me a hurt look, a mixture of confusion and lust in her eyes. "Why not? Did you not like our sex?"

I didn't respond. Instead, I shoved past her and headed to Zacharie's secret room, waiting just outside the underground door. Regina didn't follow me.

The white haired woman was still there. This time, she was pacing across the middle of the room angrily, body shaking with madness. Zacharie was sitting, his back pressed to the far wall, trembling. His mask blocked out all emotion he may have had, but I could tell he was terrified.

"You don't want to play? My kitty does not want to play with me? :-(" The woman droned. "That's not very nice!"

"S-Sugar, let m-me back upstairs..." Zacharie muttered.

"You're not very nice!" Sugar nearly shouted. "You should be nice!"

"Sugar, stop it..."

She turned toward him, tiny strings trailing from her fingers and ending at a piece of candy. "No! No! No!" She wailed. "I will not!"

With a fluid motion, she sent the candies flying at the merchant. Zacharie gave a strangled gasping sound and curled into himself as they sliced through his sweater and mask, cutting away part of his disguise. A scarred cheek took the place of the unnerving, catlike grin the mask offered.

"I will not!" Sugar screeched. She retracted the candies and threw them back, drawing bright red blood from Zacharie.

I stepped into the room, the Add-Ons detaching from my wrists and collar. "Sugar!"

The woman whipped around, an unnerving grin growing on her face. "Ooh! Can the ducky dance with us? Can the ducky be more fun than the kitty?:-)" she backed off from the trembling merchant, drawing closer to me.

I hefted my bat. "Let Zacharie go."

"No! I can't let my kitty go! I can't!" She stomped her foot. "I'll kill you for that! I will!"

Before I could act, the candies were sent flying at my face. I barely managed to dodge them, still sustaining a gash under my left eye. The pain only angered me, sending a chill down my spine. I recovered quickly and managed to deliver a hard blow to Sugar's arm.

The woman only grinned and danced away. "Dance, ducky! Dance! You can do better than that!"

Epsilon whizzed past my ear and sliced through her already short hair, cutting it uneven. Omega barreled into her gut, knocking her back into the wall. She was laughing now, laughing even as blood trickled from her lips.

"They are good dancers! Very good! But the ducky isn't!"

For some reason, this only made me madder. I slammed the bat into her head, something snapping as I did so. Sugar fell to the ground, but I didn't stop my merciless attack on her. I struck her again, and again, and again...

My blows ceased when I registered the red pouring from her wounds, staining the yellow metal orange. Sugar gave a wheezing cough, more blood bubbling from her throat. "Very...very good. Good d-dancer...good ducky..."

I raised the bat to end her life. Something happened in her eyes as I did so...the insane look she had vanished. It was replaced with something else.

"Tell... Zacharie...g-goodbye..."

I hesitated before bringing my weapon down on her face. Her skull cracked and she didn't move again.

I backed away from her now lifeless body as I turned to face Zacharie. He still hadn't moved from where he had been huddled against the wall. I wiped my bloodstained bat on Sugar's sleeve before approaching him.

"Perhaps... Perhaps it was better this way." He whispered. He glanced up at me. "T-thank you. For ending both of our misery."

I gave a short nod. My legs didn't feel stable. I had just murdered a woman and yet…I didn't feel a hint of regret. The murder made me feel mad…

A scream distracted me from my own thoughts. I acted instantly, running up the stairs to the main floor. "Regina?!"

"The Zones!" She wailed. She pointed frantically at the Nothingness cube. "I went back to Zone 2... It's gone!"

"Gone? What do you mean?!" I ran for the cube, Zone 0 vanishing around me to be replaced by the Nothingness as it teleported me to my destination.

White.

Everything was bleached white. Not a single colour remained anywhere. As I strained my ears, I thought I heard whispers...

"My home..." Regina was at my side again, tears pouring down her face. "It's gone. Everything is gone..."

No...I refused to believe it. The Zone was still here...but it had been purified.

Purified of everything unclean. All life.

"The other Zones!" Regina whirled around and vanished, whisked away by the cube. I followed closely after.

Zone 1 was the same as Zone 2. Zone 3 had even been purged of its burning smell. There was nothing left except for the bleached landscape and the faint whispers.

"We're the last ones..." Regina gasped. "The last four alive."

Zacharie, the Judge, Regina and I. The last four on this world.

I turned to head back to the cube. I didn't care about the Zones anymore. My mission was complete. I had succeeded. I felt numb.

...What's this?

A strange light glowed from the darkness of the Nothingness. Out of curiosity, I approached it, reaching out to grab it...

I was surrounded by grey. Not white, grey. A grey room leading to a long flight of stairs.

I slowly began to climb, feeling as though I was in a dream. The stairs led up past the clouds...and into a blue sky.

There was a platform at the top, occupied by two beings.

One was a tall woman. Her skin was as grey as the room below, her hair as white as the purified Zones. It covered her face and snaked down her back in constantly moving waves. She was wearing a gown; what looked to be a wedding dress. It had faded to a light grey over time, yet it was still beautiful.

In her arms she held a child.

He was bald and nervous looking, at least four years old and dressed in bright red cloth. His eyes widened at the sight of me and he clung to his mother.

"You are the chief of the Spectres." I accused.

"It's been five years, Batter." The woman ignored my accusation and set the kid down. A door appeared behind her and she quickly opened it and ushered the child in. The door vanished again. "I expect a better greeting."

"Who are you?" I hissed, gritting my teeth.

"Oh, surely you haven't forgotten..." She was walking toward me now, a faded smile in her sunken eyes. "...you haven't forgotten your wife, have you?"

Wife?

"You mistake me for someone else." I said flatly.

"Oh no...how can I forget you?" Her grin widened slightly. "How can I forget the man I loved so dearly? The man I was torn apart from? The man I made love with?"

I held my bat out in front of me. "Stay away."

"Don't you remember? Back when the world was so corrupt? It all makes sense now. The King finally showed me the truth. You are the real enemy, Batter." The woman accused, pointing a long, slender finger at me.

"How do you know my name?" I nearly shouted.

"How could I forget the name of one of the only surviving beings in this wasteland of a world?" The grey woman drew closer to me, her hair billowing around her in angry waves. "There is nothing but the void after me. Rethink what you plan to do."

Before I could react, she reached out and touched my forehead. From that single touch, a flurry of blinding colours and deafening sound exploded in my mind. I screamed, dropping to my knees and clutching at my head.

'Regina took a few steps toward me and lifted my chin with one of her fingers. I found myself staring into her eyes.

"It's been five years since the King," she said in barely more than a whisper. "You were asleep for five years."'

The King...?! Who was the King?! The memory changed to one not of my own, but from the woman's...

The memory changed to one not of my own, but from the woman's...

'"I know you..."

I nodded, trying to block out the sounds of my puppet's—my own—pain. "You do."

The Spectre thought for a second more. "You're that girl...the one who screamed. The one who was rescued by Zone 2."

I tried not to let my fear show. "My name is Vader."

"Vader... Such a lovely name. Delicate... Like a flower." The ghost chuckled. "I know about you. I've been watching you for quite some time."

"Who are you?" I asked hoarsely. I felt tears of anger well up in my eyes.

"I am the King." The Spectre's twisted grin grew wider.'

Vader... Vader Eloha...!

'"Good. You should laugh more often. I love your laugh..."'

Memories exploded in my mind, bringing an excruciatingly painful bolt of agony tearing through my head. I was screaming...a voice somewhere was laughing...

"ENOUGH!" I roared. I felt the Add-Ons dislodge from my wrists and collar as I stood. Something felt...odd. My arms felt stronger...my eyes were sharper. My breaths were coming in ragged, deeper gasps as I faced my adversary who was anything but the woman I would love.

Where there was a King, there was always a Queen.

"I will purify you!" I roared, swinging my bat at her frail figure.

She retaliated quickly, a spindly structure blossoming from her back as she dodged backward. I was looking at a set of Add-Ons not unlike my own.

Six entities went to war with each other, leaving us to fight on our own. Vader leapt back, buying more time to think up a strategy. I didn't let her. With a feral swipe, I lashed at her face and drew thick lines of red.

"You've been wrong since the beginning." Vader accused. A ropelike web of grey formed in her hand as she slashed it at me, striking me across my arm. I barely felt the pain as I yanked it forward, pulling her closer to me. She abandoned her attack and jumped backward. "I am the only one with the answers now."

"I don't care!" I brutally swung my bat at her head, missing by mere centimeters. "You will be purified!"

"There is nothing but the void after me."

Anything was better than this hell! Anything was better than knowing I destroyed everything and everyone on this world!

"And Batter..." Vader turned her cold eyes on me. "You don't even know his first name."

The child...the child she had locked away from me? Was he...my kin? My son?

"No!" I lashed out again, only to have her grab my arm and twist it sharply. With strength I didn't know she had, she forced me to my knees and jammed her elbow into my throat.

"He loves you not." Vader continued. "You are a monster."

I only managed a choked wheeze as I brought my other arm up, slamming it into her head. Her grip on my arm slackened and I managed to free myself.

"I ...am not a monster! I am a purifier!"

"You are mistaken." Vader coughed. "How ironic. The purifier has been corrupted."

Rage shot through my system as I blindly lunged forward, my hands outstretched to strangle her. Something knocked me down, pinning me to the ground...one of her Add-Ons.

"Have you filled your life with beauty, Batter?" the Queen whispered as she knelt down beside me, her hand drifting over my head. "Otherwise, it would have been wasted."

Her finger brushed between my eyes as a lightning bolt of pain struck me immobile.

'Vader was wearing a pure white gown that trailed slightly along the ground. Sugar had done a magnificent job with it, despite only having a few hours to work. Her hair curled around her body in a snowy cloud...'

'Regina...the girl...her eyes were so blue. Blue and full of pity. Pity toward me...?'

"She knew. She about knew everything that happened. And she still took advantage of you."

I ripped myself from her Add-On's grasp, flailing blindly. I wanted to kill her. I wanted to end this. I just wanted it to stop...

Something struck me hard, knocking me back to the ground. I scrambled up, roaring with agony and misery. The same thing struck me again.

"VADER!"

I managed to turn my head toward the voice, squinting to make out the form of the man standing at the base of the stairs. Zacharie wasn't wearing a mask. His scars were as obvious as the red heart on his sweater, and yet his eyes were full of anger and fear. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Vader turned her attention on the merchant, buying me time to gather my strength and stand. My knees were weak. My vision must have been altered, as my hands appeared different; almost reptilian.

"What do you want, Zacharie?" Vader's voice was full of annoyance.

I didn't give the man a chance to respond before I lashed out again, striking Vader's shoulder and throwing her to the ground. Her shoulder, now mutilated and stained red, didn't seem to bother her as she turned to face me again.

"BATTER! STOP!" Zacharie shouted.

I ignored him and raised my bat again. Vader easily dodged, her eyes flashing fury and pain. One of her Add-Ons slashed by my face, ripping a chunk of flesh from my nose and cheek. I roared with anger, a feral roar I didn't know could originate from my own throat. I blindly flailed, but I didn't strike anything.

"BATTER!"

Someone was pulling on my jersey. "STOP IT!"

"Leave me alone!" I screeched, twisting and hurling my fists at the annoyance. Zacharie's eyes widened as my fist connected squarely with his throat before collapsing to the ground.

"Zacharie..." Vader muttered. She turned her gaze on me, her face consumed with a terrible anger. Her wounds did nothing to stop her from commanding her Add-Ons straight for me, backing up the attack herself.

I was mercilessly slashed and beaten by both the Queen and her Add-Ons. I couldn't see from the blood that had dripped into my eyes. I couldn't deflect them as they ripped through my skin and muscle...

Their endless barrage of pain eventually ceased, leaving me drifting in and out of consciousness. I was lying in a pool of my own blood and skin. I couldn't move...I was...dying.

"BATTER!"

Someone was shaking my shoulder, paying no attention to the deep cut in it. I managed to catch a glimpse of red hair...

Regina...?

She was coating my injuries in Luck Tickets, speaking in a worried and fast tone. My vision began to focus again. I made out the Add-On that hurled itself at her, burying itself in her back.

I was healed enough to continue the battle. I ignored Regina's cries of pain, turning my attention instead to the corrupt Queen.

"Aren't you going to help her?" She taunted.

I picked up my bat and ran at her, fueled by a new ferocity. We engaged in a intense battle, neither if us willing to crumple first. We left no room for the Add-Ons to interfere. It was a battle not just of physical duration, but of willpower. I could tell she was tiring. So was I.

"You are mistaken," the Queen repeated. "I am not the enemy here."

I didn't reply. Instead, I tried to dart around her to gain more ground.

"He has your eyes." She continued. "They're so full of fear..."

It was if she lost the strength to continue. I found myself slamming the bat against her torso, making her crumple to the ground. I raised the bat and brought it down on her body again and again...

Vader was laughing. Blood trickled from her mouth, but her laughter continued. She lay, broken and beaten, hysterically laughing.

"You don't understand, do you?" She whispered at last.

"I understand everything." I hissed my knees gave out, sending me falling to the ground nearby her.

"Let me show you." Vader reached out, pressing her entire bloodied hand to my forehead.

'"I am Eloha... Vader Eloha. I am your puppeteer."'

My mind exploded in a mass of memories and thoughts I didn't know I had. I watched as the King, the ugly Spectre, scarred Zacharie. I watched as we discovered the Judge in Zone 0. The more I saw, the more I remembered in a blinding, agonizing wave.

The wedding, the burnts, the Zone 2 library...

"Stop!" I gasped. "STOP!"

Vader was so lovely before the King corrupted her. Beautiful...loving... And now that's all gone, replaced by cold hatred...

"STOP!"

"Do you see the truth now?" Vader coughed. "Does it make sense?"

She was the chief Spectre…their Queen. The King had fused itself to her...it was obvious. Their intentions conflicted...Vader still loves me.

I finally collapsed, clutching at my head. Regina knew about Vader. She knew everything that happened to me. And yet...

I was blinded by rage, confusion, sadness...I could barely see what I was doing. I somehow found the strength to crawl to Regina, who was pale as the purified Zones. She looked relieved as I took hold of the Add-On in her back...

...And shoved it through her body. The entity protruded from the front of her chest, dripping with blood. The shock on her face was momentary before she went completely limp.

Dead.

Regina was dead.

"Batter..."

I turned back to Vader. She was struggling to breathe, her eyes fluttering shut. I knelt by her side, sadness and regret so strong in my chest it threatened to kill me. Tears were falling from my eyes, landing on her now extremely pale face.

"He...he has your eyes..." She reached a slender hand up and wiped away my tears. "They are...full of fear..."

"No..." I gasped. "No! Vader, I'll get you somewhere safe!"

"Who's left in this world...to save me?" She coughed again, blood curling down from her mouth.

"Not you too..." I pleaded. "Please, not like this..."

"Do you want some coffee, my love...?" She said in barely more than a whisper. She exhaled one last time and breathed no more.

I had never felt so angry...so helpless. I screamed and swore into the sky, the madness overtaking me. The only thing that deterred me from throwing myself over the ledge was the grey door that appeared to my left.

The door that Vader had hidden the child in.

I opened it.

He was huddled in the far corner, clutching a blanket to his chest. His eyes were wide and scared, brimming with tears.

Those were not my eyes. My eyes were filled with anger.

"Wh-where's mama?" He sputtered.

I didn't respond as I approached him, bat clenched tightly in my hands. He tried to back away from me, but the wall prevented it.

I made short work of him. Only two well-placed blows were all it took.

I exited the grey room, not at all alarmed to find the balcony as white as the other purified Zones. The bodies of Vader, Regina and Zacharie were nowhere to be found.

I descended the stairs and came face-to-face with not the Nothingness cube, but a switch.

It was labeled ON, the lever in the upward position. The bottom label read OFF.

"Batter!"

I turned. The Judge was sitting on the bottom stair, eyes narrowed at me. He quickly approached me, spitting and hissing, "How could you do such a thing? Killing both wife and child...! Your friend and your Puppeteer!? Have you gone mad?!"

"They ...must be purified," my voice was gravely.

"I cannot let you continue." The Judge stated. "This foolery has extended past its limit. Far past its limit."

I turned my gaze on the switch.

"I will prevent any action of the sort that involves turning the switch to off."

I wavered on my feet. "Then kill me. Kill me!"

"I intended to." The Judge narrowed his eyes. "It's the least I can do to offer revenge to the lost Zones. And to your family."

The Judge pounced at me. Despite my wishes to die, I found myself dodging his attack. Anger coursed through my limbs; blinding, rage filled anger.

I must have screamed. I was so angry, so lost. I had lost everything...

The Judge jumped up and raked his claws down my chest, tearing open my jersey.

My pectoral muscles didn't take any sort of damage...as though my skin had somehow withstood the attack.

The Judge circled me. "You are corrupt, Batter. You've been corrupt."

I glanced down at my own hands, startled to find spindly fingers and crooked claws. My skin had hardened to an almost scale-like sheen.

"I'll end this quickly," the Judge's eyes flashed red.

I collapsed, clutching at my chest. Everything was hurting...! I couldn't breathe...! I watched as a vein exploded in my arm...

The Judge was suddenly clawing at my face, ripping chunks and pieces of flesh away. I managed to knock him off, slowly recovering from the pain that was beginning to leave my system. I managed to stand.

"Just stay down, Batter. You'll make it easier for both of us." The Judge's eyes flashed again.

The pain doubled this time. I clutched at my head and dropped to my knees, screaming. Something was different...my jaw felt like it was extending...

The Judge threw himself at me again. This time, I snapped at him with newly formed teeth, ripping a chunk of fur out of his shoulder. The cat yowled and backed off, eyes narrowed.

"Batter!" he hissed.

An unearthly growl rose into my throat. I waited until he pounced again before I made my move.

I snatched the Judge out of the air with my jaws, catching his body between my teeth. I could feel him tearing at my gums and lips, yet I hesitated.

"STOP THIS MADNESS, BATTER!"

I tightened my jaws.

"STOP THIS!"

I felt his bones break and pierce his organs and my gums. The Judge gave one final rasping sound before going limp.

I flung his dead body into the corner, the crimson red staining the otherwise grey walls. My mouth throbbed with pain. I slowly reached up to my jaw, surprised to find it back to normal. Blood poured from my shredded flesh.

I stood, my vision fading. I collapsed. My strength was gone. My head was throbbing with pain...had the Judge done something...?

I began to drag myself toward the switch. I still had a mission to complete... To purify...

Vader...

Vader, I'm sorry...

Tears mixed with my blood as I struggled to reach up the wall to the switch. My fingers brushed the lever and I collapsed yet again, my strength completely gone. My sight left me. I was blind.

"Vader..." I choked. "Vader...!"

No one answered me. There was no one left.

Something cold was pressing into my side. I fumbled with the object, drawing a mass of broken metal and plastic from my jersey. The obliterated contraption uttered a sick sounding chirp.

The music box.

I cast it aside and forced myself to my knees, blindly feeling along the wall, using the last of my dying senses to locate the lever. I grabbed the handle, tears flowing freely from my blind eyes. It took my dead weight to pull it.

The switch had been set to off.

I fell back for the last time, a bright light engulfing me. This was death. I didn't have anyone to pull be back from it this time.

I gratefully accepted it.

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End.

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Hurray for sad endings!

Honestly though, I actually felt really bad for writing this last chapter. I actually intended for this story to end with the Judge killing Batter, but I decided against it at the last minute. So now instead of only one living being in all the Zones, there is no one.

This chapter holds my record for most main characters killed.

Yeah…

Remember to review! Should I do more OFF stuff? What did you think of this story? Please leave feedback!

Hasta la Vista, Readers!

Lordoftheghostking28