The Guardian Chapter 14: Assault and Abduction, a disney fanfic

THE GUARDIAN

Chapter 14 is now ready for reading! This is where the story gets better, and worse, if that makes sense. If you want to know what happens, that's what proceeding with the reading is for!

And this isn't the end of the story; we still got a bit of a way to go.

Chapter 14: Assault and Abduction

The next day, Pinocchio could be found accompanying Terence in the marketplace. Jiminy, naturally, was with them. They were just about ready to take leave—now that Pinocchio had a new home, a legitimate guardian, and all—but they needed to purchase some food first, along with several other necessities, before they went on their way.

Pinocchio had felt an initial uneasiness about addressing Terence as "Father" or "Papa", so Terence very kindly assured the puppet that it was perfectly all right to simply call him "Terence".

"After all," the man had added, with a touch of humor, "'Mister' makes me sound old."

This made Pinocchio giggle somewhat. But the wooden boy, indeed, couldn't help but wonder just why Terence's hair and beard were as white and as shining as they were, especially considering how young, strapping, and agile Terence himself was physically—or appeared to be, anyway. Jiminy wondered over this, too, and when Pinocchio asked Terence about it at one point, Terence simply told the little puppet, "Oh, that's just the way it has always been, Pinocchio. I was born with silver-white hair." He raked one hand through his thick, luminous locks while he thus spoke, and of course, they just tumbled right back down into his eyes after he pushed them away from his face.

This led Jiminy to bring another matter to light. "Exactly how old are you anyway, Terence?" the cricket asked.

"Older and younger than most people realize," Terence replied casually.

"What does that mean?" questioned Pinocchio.

Terence opened his mouth at first, as if to answer, but then he stopped and gave out a brief chuckle. With a somewhat bemused shake of his head, he just said, "We'll talk more about this later. Right now, Pinocchio, we still have a good number of things to buy, and a good number of things left to do, before the day is over. Come along."

So Pinocchio readily tagged after Terence as the man set off.

After the episode at the circus the previous night, Pinocchio had been hesitant about showing his face in public. Terence, knowing how Pinocchio must feel after a stunt like that (and unable to say he blamed the boy), made sure to bring him to the market early in the day, when there were not as many people lurking about. So far, no one else appeared to recognize Pinocchio, but Pinocchio remained close to Terence's side all the same. Terence still felt considerably guilty and ashamed for what he had put Pinocchio through—and it touched his heart that the puppet still wanted to be with him, and didn't reject him, as the young man would have expected.

While they went about their business, neither of them were aware that Master Fabrizio himself was spying on them from behind a corner, along with several of his lackeys from the circus, including Gianni, Dino, Vitale, and Paolo. All of them were dressed in solid black, and Fabrizio had forced his men to mask themselves, so that no one else would recognize them.

As the evil circus master regarded Terence and Pinocchio in the near distance, his thin lips curled once more into that revolting smile, and he thought in his mind with sinister glee, And so the predator corners his prey, and waits for precisely the right moment to pounce…

Jiminy, who was perched at that moment on Terence's shoulder, felt that old sixth sense begin to kick in once more, all of a sudden. Almost without realizing it, his tiny head started twisting every which way, his sharp eyes darting in all directions. He couldn't say why, but he had the most peculiar feeling that they were being watched, that something—or someone—was waiting for them, and it wasn't a good thing. Terence noticed the cricket's unease, and asked him, "What is it, Jiminy? Is everything okay?"

The man spoke very gently and softly, not wishing to frighten Pinocchio or cause him any unnecessary alarm.

"I have a bad feeling, Terence," Jiminy whispered back apprehensively, as he continued to glance about. "Call me a crazy cricket, but I don't think it's safe for us to be here."

Terence, who relied on the cricket's intuition wholeheartedly, and would trust Jiminy with his very life, asked in the same hushed tone, "Why is that?"

"I don't know…but I sense someone's watching us, that something terrible is waiting to happen."

Like Jiminy, Terence looked from here to there, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. All the same, the man knew better than to get complacent about Jiminy's word of warning.

He was determined to never make that same mistake again, if he could help it.

"Stay close to me, Pinocchio," the silvery-haired youth admonished.

An uncalled-for command, he knew, for Pinocchio refused to ever leave him; but Pinocchio scuttled a little closer all the same, and Terence slid a protective arm around his shoulders.

Looks like we may have to do this the hard way, Fabrizio thought, upon seeing this.

While Terence and another man were engaged in a bargain over some freshly baked bread—the man was trying to sell his wares for more than they were really worth, and Terence was amiably attempting to get him to knock it all down to a more reasonable price—Pinocchio suddenly found himself eclipsed in a tall shadow. And when a not-so-friendly hand grabbed the boy by the shoulder, he gasped out loud and jumped a mile. This caught Terence's attention immediately, and both he and Pinocchio whirled around to discover Fabrizio standing right there.

"Fabrizio!" said Terence, as soon as he recognized him.

I'd thought I smelled a rat! Jiminy thought bitterly, scowling at the loathsome man.

"Well, well, well!" said Fabrizio genially, as if they were all old friends who hadn't spoken in years. "This is quite a pleasant surprise!"

Pinocchio said nothing, but only bolted behind Terence and cowered behind the young man in fear, though he dared to peek out a little.

Like Jiminy, Terence narrowed his cool blue eyes as he regarded Fabrizio, and the muscle along his jaw pulled straight.

"And how fares my little circus star this morning?" Fabrizio addressed Pinocchio, in his sickly sweet way.

"I don't want to be a star in the circus!" Pinocchio never hesitated to blurt. "I'm never going back there again!"

Terence told Fabrizio very coldly, "You have no right to come anywhere near Pinocchio again, Fabrizio, after what you and your cronies had done to him last night. And I should have known better than to accept your so-called invitation to begin with!"

The other man they had been conversing with was giving them curious looks, so Terence simply led Pinocchio away from the area, saying brusquely, "Come on, Pinocchio, let's go."

Before they had gone many paces, Fabrizio hurried swiftly after them, and placed himself directly in front of them, forcing them to stop.

"Will you get out of our way?" Terence demanded. "Haven't you done enough damage already?"

"Now, now," Fabrizio said cajolingly, "let's not get so melodramatic—"

"Don't give us any of that 'melodramatic' mumbo-jumbo, Fabrizio," Terence cut him off sharply. "I saw for myself what happened back there. Just about everyone in town saw what happened for themselves, and you didn't even do anything to try to stop it! All you did was stand there the whole time, and watch. Don't think you can get back into Pinocchio's good graces so easily after a stunt like that, let alone mine!"

"But, my good sir, you don't understand. The boy was an absolute sensation!"

"I was?" This perked Pinocchio's interest, in spite of himself.

"Oh, yes," said Fabrizio to the puppet, "everyone loved you! After the show last night, no one would cease to talk about you. They said it was the greatest performance they had ever had the pleasure of attending. Why, this show was the most profitable one my company had given in over three years!"

"Really?" said Pinocchio, his eyes widening somewhat.

Terence wasn't about to buy that for an instant. "Even if Pinocchio was a success, you still hurt him all the same," he said sharply. "You still put his life in danger—and that's not worth all the gold and jewels in Christendom! I don't care how big a hit your show was, Fabrizio, or just how much revenue your company rakes in; and I don't care what you say, or what you do. Both Pinocchio and I will have nothing to do with the likes of you, ever again! And that's my final say on the matter!"

You tell him, Terence! Jiminy thought jubilantly.

Pinocchio took a slight step back from Terence; he had never seen or heard the young man so angry.

Terence gave Fabrizio a none-too-friendly shove, and his last words to him were, "Now, stand aside!"

"Pinocchio, my boy," Fabrizio cajoled, as Terence hauled the puppet away, "you're passing up a golden opportunity! You can be famous! You could have your very own niche in the edifice of history!"

"Just keep going, Pinocchio," Terence instructed. "Don't listen to him. Act like he is not even there."

Pinocchio was all too glad to comply. The boy had already had enough of fame and prestige. It had already cost him far too much. He would much rather be a plain wooden puppet than a celebrity. And if making a fool of himself and risking his very life was what he had to do in order to be famous—he didn't even want to go there.

When Fabrizio saw that they were not going to stop or listen to him, he didn't even bother to get mad; but rather smiled that cruel and nasty smile of his, for he had Terence and Pinocchio precisely where he wanted them. As Terence and Pinocchio passed by the alley where Fabrizio had commanded the rest of his gang to hide, the masked men sprang forth from the shadows and lunged out at them all of a sudden, all at once—like wolves lunging out at their unsuspecting prey.

Before Terence and Pinocchio even realized what was happening, two of the strongest men seized hold of Terence and grappled with him, while another snatched Pinocchio away, slinging the puppet over one shoulder like a bag of potatoes. When Pinocchio screamed to Terence for help, Terence somehow found the strength to wrest himself free from his masked oppressors. Before the two men had a chance to take him again, Terence kicked one of them swiftly in the gut, knocking the wind right out of him and making the man double over in pain. Then Terence hurled a furious punch to the other's face, scoring a direct hit that sent the second man spiraling off balance and falling to the ground.

Terence then wasted no time in going after the man who had Pinocchio in his possession, and he tackled him with full force from behind, so that all three of them went flying to the ground.

As Terence struggled to pin the man down, he shouted to Pinocchio, "Quick, Pinocchio! Run!"

"But, Terence—" Pinocchio protested, not wanting to leave him.

"Go!" the white-haired youth urged him. "Don't worry about me! Just go, now!"

Knowing this wasn't the time to argue, Pinocchio did as Terence said and began to flee. Jiminy, who had flown from Terence's shoulder, hurried after the puppet as fast as he could. The wooden boy hadn't gone very far, however, when another one of the masked strangers caught him by the collar, saying, "Not so fast, little boy!"

Pinocchio cried out in terror as he was roughly yanked back.

When Jiminy tried to stop the man (being a cricket, there was no way in the world he could take on a full-grown human; but he wasn't going to just stand by idly and let Pinocchio be hurt, either), the toe of the man's boot unknowingly kicked him, and the force knocked Jiminy flat against a solid brick wall.

While the blow wasn't lethal, it did knock Jiminy's lights out cold, and he fell hopelessly to the ground and remained still, his top hat lying sideways next to him.

Terence didn't see this happen, but he did see the predicament Pinocchio was in, and he hollered indignantly to the one who had him, "Hey, let him go!" And he rushed out at him and pounced on him from behind, wrapping his arms around the man's neck in a none-too-friendly headlock.

"Oi, get off me!" the man shouted lividly, and as he fought to extort Terence from him, the diversion enabled Pinocchio to make another dash for it.

Meanwhile, the man that Terence had brought down only a moment ago came up from the rear, bringing a decent-sized wooden board with him.

Using both hands, the perpetrator swung the board at Terence with all his might—and struck the young man squarely in the back of the head.

Terence was knocked unconscious in an instant. He didn't even cry out or groan, and his hold on his other opponent loosened, and the young man dropped to the cold stone-paved ground in a limp, lifeless heap, landing with a dull thud.

Upon hearing the thud, Pinocchio skidded to a halt at once and turned back.

And when he saw Terence lying there, not moving, the boy felt his heart stop beating altogether. It was as though the very earth itself had just split apart beneath his feet.

It took but one look at Terence, and the man with the board who stood over his body, to figure out what had just happened.

Pinocchio couldn't move himself; his wooden limbs seemed to have seized up. Nor could he breathe; it was as if a two-ton boulder were pressing down on his lungs. He didn't even realize it when two or three of the remaining men surrounded him and laid their hands on him. Nor did he care. All he could truly do was stare at the still form of his friend, his guardian…the only man in the whole world, aside from his father, who had ever truly cared about him, whom he himself had ever come to trust and love.

Terence, was all his mind could register. Terence…Terence…Terence…

A gunshot rang out right at that moment, causing everyone to stop what they were doing instantly, and freeze. When Pinocchio looked to one side, he spotted Fabrizio standing there with a revolver in his right hand. The revolver was aimed skyward, and a thin curl of smoke from the nozzle testified of a fresh shot. Fabrizio's finger still rested upon the trigger.

The alley was now dead silent. No one moved, or spoke, or made so much as a peep. You could easily hear a pin drop there.

Fabrizio calmly blew across the smoking end of his gun, before tucking his weapon away and saying diplomatically, "That will be quite enough of that, gentlemen."

He sauntered over to Terence, and the man responsible for injuring him hastily backed down.

Terence never stirred as Fabrizio nudged him with his foot. That was when Pinocchio was truly convinced that the young man was gone forever, and it shattered him. Hot tears welled up in the boy's eyes and began to pour steadily down his cheeks, but he never made a sound. The shock and the pain that engulfed him was beyond worldly description.

It was all like a dream—a truly horrible dream, from which Pinocchio desperately wished he could awaken but knew he never would, no matter how hard he tried.

"Well," said Fabrizio at length, as he regarded Terence, "that takes care of that." Turning to Pinocchio, the man said, his tone and countenance as cold and hard as stone, "Now, then, Pinocchio, you are coming with us, and you are coming quietly. You will do everything we tell you, exactly as we tell you, and you're not going to give us any trouble. You got that?"

At a loss for words, Pinocchio could only nod faintly, and Fabrizio said simply, "Good."

Then he ordered his men, "Now, let's get out of here, before anything else comes about, or anyone else has a chance to find us out."

So his men followed him out of the alley, toward their covered wagon, which was parked quite close by. And Pinocchio went with them, without a fight.

The poor puppet never resisted as they picked him up, literally threw him into the back of the wagon, and slammed the door firmly shut.

And as the horses were roused and the wagon started moving along, Pinocchio simply curled up in the darkest, furthermost corner, and allowed the bitter tears to fall.