Episode 35:

Obligations of the Eldest

-Frankie-

Steam gushed out of Robecca's foot as she twisted off her boot.

Frankie stared at the rough schematics Ghoulia had drawn, "I'm sorry Robecca, I can't make heads or tails of this. I'm more of a bioelectric science kind of ghoul," She set down the notebook as she went to her trunk and opened her chemist bag, "But I have dabbled a bit in engineering and I've come up with this."

She rifled through various reagents and grinned, "Tada! A self-replenishing oil can!" She connected various pipes to it, "And it doubles as a staff for those hard to reach places."

Robecca gave a wry smile, "It's quite alright Frankie, thank you."

Crecha screamed as she kicked her bed and knocked it over.

Frankie leaned away, "Are you okay?"

Crecha held her arms wide, "Look around you, Frankie. We are the only ones in this room." She smacked her head multiple times, "And all because of me. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Ghoulia said it was okay. She knows it was an accident."

Crecha gave a guttural snarl as she lurched forward, "It should have never gotten to that point!" She paced the room as she chewed a string that held her finger.

Robecca whistled softly as she closed her eyes, "It will be alright. Let us think logically for a moment."

"I'm done thinking logically!" Crecha panted as she stared at them, "Twyla has murdered four of our classmates and gone unpunished long enough."

"Crecha-"

"No Frankie," Crecha placed a trembling hand against her lips, "You will listen. You are young and trusting, you don't see the world as I see it. You miss things because you believe everyone is your friend. Well let me tell you something about your friend Twyla, I was on watch the night Blondie brought in the sword of Darling was going to use. I was silent about it then but I remember ever so briefly how I thought I saw it move while under the bed. When I shined a light on it, it stopped moving, I guarantee you that was Twyla."

Frankie shook her head, "Did you tell Faybelle about it? You both had the second watch. Why didn't you say anything to Cleo that morning?"

Crecha threw her hands in the air and walked a circle, "All our allies have been slain by Twyla!" She paused and grit her teeth, "And Billy, he's the worst of all. Why would he push Cleo down the stairs?"

"Maybe it was an accident?"

"How do you accidentally shove someone to their death?"

Frankie shrugged, "Well I don't know Crecha, but maybe we should ask him."

"No," Crecha lunged and grabbed hold of Frankie's hands. Her eyes were wide as her breathing increased, "No, no, not you." She kissed Frankie's fingertips and shook her head, "I won't allow him or anyone else to hurt you. I worked too hard to get you."

Frankie cringed as she tried to withdraw her hand, "Umm, okay…"

Robecca placed a hand on Crecha's shoulder, "We'll both do our best for Frankie's sake, right Crecha?"

Crecha cut her eyes towards Robecca and smiled as she released her grip, "Yeah, we."

Frankie snatched her hand away and quickly stood up, "Well, glad we all have each other's backs." She grabbed the schematics and staggered backward, "I'll just ah, study this so I can help repair Robecca."

Crecha nodded as she stalked towards the door, "I'm just going to secure things, be right back."

"We'll be right here." Frankie grimaced as Crecha left the room. I really hope she doesn't do anything crazy.

-Twyla-

The next day, Saturday morning, everyone was slow to get out of bed. Billy remained invisible as he shuffled into the latrine that morning.

Twyla noticed a toothpaste tube floating beside her, "Morning."

"Mm," replied Billy.

Lagoona scowled as she slammed her toiletries onto the counter next to the sink.

Billy startled became visible, "Sorry Lagoona."

Lagoona walked around him and pointed at the toothpaste in the sink, "Look at you making a mess of everything, like always. What have you got to say for yourself?"

Billy looked at the toothpaste in the sink and closed the lid on the tube, "Uh…sorry."

Twyla watched them with mild interest.

Lagoona grabbed her toothbrush and the toothpaste with a growl. She squeezed it in the middle and threw it at him. Billy caught it as it hit his chest and looked at her sideways as she aggressively brushed her teeth. She walked around him once more, elbowing him in the back as she passed. He moved to the side of the sink and closed the toothpaste while she spit. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as he finished brushing. She walked around him once more and poked him in the back with her arm fins. He sighed in annoyance and moved as she filled her cup up with water to rinse.

Lagoona glared at him as she spit, "You gonna clean up your mess there, mate?"

Billy gestured towards her, "This isn't about the sink…"

Lagoona rolled her eyes and walked around him, smacking his back with her arm fins once more. She then applied her face wash and scrubbed, glaring at him the entire time.

Billy threw water in her face and grabbed her wrist, "You're only hurting yourself you know. Not telling me what's really bugging you. I get it, you blame me for everything. I'd blame me too but doing this, scrubbing your scales off, it won't help anyone. Talk to me."

Lagoona's gaze softened, "I…well I… you just… and maybe…"

Billy let go of Lagoona and leaned on the sink, "I know. This year is full of shoulda, woulda, couldas, but I didn't and now we are here. And I intend on protecting the friends that I have left, even if it's from themselves."

Lagoona turned the faucet on, "Fair enough, now think fast." She threw water in his face

Billy wiped his face with the back of his arm as he chuckled, "Feel better now?"

Lagoona applied the rest of her face routine, "About you? A little bit, about our situation…"

Billy hummed thoughtfully, "Yeah, if Crecha was the one who killed everyone…"

Twyla brushed dust out of her hair and sighed, "Yeah, I'm not sure anyone can be good with this. How do we go about handling Crecha?"

Abbey huffed and sat down on the counter with her arms folded, "We are going to talk to her. We ask about things; we tell her to communicate with us. Right now, only other person in dorm with them is Robecca. Maybe we get Robecca to help us with Crecha, find best way to approach."

Farrah clapped her hands, "That's a great idea Abbey. Talking always works best."

Billy's stomach grumbled and everyone giggled.

Twyla smiled, "I'm thinking breakfast is our best bet right now."

Lagoona rubbed her stomach, "Saturday morning brunch, oh I hope they have sushi."

Billy shrugged, "I don't see why they wouldn't, they always have some type of fish option the morning after fish Friday."

Lagoona hummed thoughtfully, "Wait… are you saying the fish is leftover? As in it's not fresh…"

Farrah shook her head, "Well if by fresh you mean fresh out of the water then no. Blondie was always saying how the fishing boat leaves every morning and comes back every night. For some reason though, Friday seems to be the big catch day…"

Lagoona gasped, "Unless the fish is a week old, ugh!"

Abbey chuckled, "You should be able to tell how old is fish."

Lagoona slammed her fist into her palm, "I can and I will!"

Twyla headed towards the door, "Well then let's go."

Once dressed and at chow Twyla, Lagoona, Farrah, Abbey, and Billy all sat at the same table and to their surprise, Robecca joined them.

Farrah smiled, "Morning Robecca, how are you today?"

Robecca smiled, "I am performing adequately. How is everyone doing today?"

Billy raised an eyebrow, "Adequately? That's not good."

Robecca smiled and nodded, "That is correct Billy. If you will excuse me, I must consume this beverage."

She reached for the waters on her tray and began chugging, her normally smooth movements were rigid and clunky.

Twyla stared in awe at the quantity of water Robecca was drinking. Robecca normally drank three glasses of water with lemon and the occasional tea but today Robecca had fifteen.

Frankie and Crecha joined everyone at the table.

Frankie smiled, "Hey, are we all good friends again?"

Crecha leaned closed to Frankie and whispered, "Let's not sit here, let's sit by ourselves."

Frankie turned to her sister, "Everyone is sitting here. I think it's great. It was getting lonely over there by ourselves."

Crecha scowled and started poking her food.

Frankie turned with a smile, "So are we all studying together today?"

Lagoona nodded and smiled, "Sure we can all-"

"No." Crecha slammed her fist on the table, "We can't, remember Frankie? We have laundry."

She turned towards Lagoona and forced a smile, "Robecca, Frankie and I have laundry. We can't come, sorry."

Robecca finished her water and shook her head, "I have no laundry to attend to Crecha. So, I will gladly attend the study session."

Crecha's left eye twitched as she forced a laugh, "Ehehehehe, Robecca we have all that laundry to do, remember."

Robecca tilted her head, "I do not have sweat glands, nor do I use formaldehyde-based lotion products. Any uniform items that are torn I repair. The only waste I produce is steam which cleans any smell that may be present on my clothing. I have no need to do laundry as I have no clothes to launder as this uniform is the only one I have worn."

Twyla leaned closer to Robecca and sniffed, the uniform was pristine, "She does smell lemony fresh, and you guys can do laundry later today, after lunch. Join us for the morning study session"

Abbey nodded, "Yes, Frankie, I haven't chatted with you all year. I miss your company. Come to classroom one and we can all study together."

Frankie smiled, "I would love-"

Crecha slammed her hand onto the table and threw a protective arm over Frankie, "No, ehehehh. No, we have a lot of laundry. We do use those formaldehyde lotions. Totally stinks up your clothes. You guys wouldn't understand. We also have to gather up Ghoulia's things. Zombie laundry rots like you wouldn't believe, especially the gym clothes. Sorry, that's going to take us all day."

Lagoona sighed, "Okay… well maybe tomorrow? We can study together then."

Crecha narrowed her eyes and smiled, "No promises."

After breakfast, everyone sans the Stein twins went to classroom one to study.

Robecca had trouble walking, sitting and moving around.

Billy furrowed his brow, concern etched into face, "Robecca, you look like you're having a lot of trouble, let me help."

Robecca chuckled, "Billy, you have helped me enough this year. I appreciate the offer, really, but I'm afraid disrepair is inevitable."

Billy sat down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder, "And therefore repair is inevitable. Tell me what you need, I'm no Blondie but I can sneak up to the second-floor offices no problem and get it."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

Robecca placed her hand over Billy's and smiled, "Blondie is strong, I am sure any day now she will wake up and greet the morning with her bright and sunny smile."

Billy smiled then winced as Robecca's hand released a gush of steam.

Robecca pulled her hand away and raised her arm so the steam would release into the air. She glanced at Billy's hand and grimaced, "So sorry about that, it would appear that I have a few burst nozzles and my steam is re-routing to the most inconvenient locations."

Billy reached out and grabbed Abbey's hand covering his own, "It's okay. I'll go find some nozzles in O'Malley's office. She's got lots of mechanical things, just tell me your size."

Robecca covered her face with her hands and turned her face away, "Tell you my size… well, I suppose it's important… 36B-"

"Not what I was talking about," Billy coughed into his other hand, "The pipes or nozzles or whatever. What size are those?"

Robecca blinked and looked at the table, "Oh! Well… I don't want to trouble you, really. Plus, if you were to open me now… you might get a face full of steam. That would be detrimental to your health. Don't risk your life for me. I am simply… past my warranty."

Twyla patted Abbey on the shoulder, "Don't say that, look we'll have Abbey on standby as a cooling system. We'll just get the nozzles, replace the burst pipes and tada, no more leaks."

Abbey nodded, "Help us help you. Don't be stubborn like Crecha and hide your hurt."

Lagoona nodded and jerked her thumb towards Abbey, "Trust me when I say that this girl won't let you remain quiet."

Robecca tilted her head, "Like Crecha?"

Farrah nodded and sighed, "I'm afraid so, we failed to notice it but Crecha is an aggressive girl and highly protective of Frankie."

Billy nodded, "So angry she might do something bad, we just don't know what Evie and Faybelle did to anger her."

Robecca blinked, the sound of gears cranking and steam hissing echoed throughout the room. She tapped her chin, "A memory is coming to me, now that you mention it. It was a while back in spring I think… Yes, it was spring, Faybelle was still studying with Evie, Farrah and I. We were looking over one of the assignments when in walked Frankie and Crecha…

Frankie was excited to go over chemical regulation in the human body with Evie and Evie was happy to discuss. Their discussion was quite stimulating and I was absolutely engrossed in their conversation. Crecha seemed to be there only because Frankie had come. And Faybelle, well Faybelle hated science really, she was more interested in translating ancient Aztec curses for our H.A.D assignment. After about five minutes of being ignored, Faybelle decided to umm, prank Frankie.

Frankie, as you know, falls apart, a lot and so she sews herself back together. Well, Frankie had a string, it wasn't that long but Faybelle set it on fire. This was dreadfully frightening and Frankie panicked, flailing her arm around catching books and paper on fire. I put it out with my steam of course, but steam and raw electric sources don't mix. Frankie's bolts sparked and she shorted out a bit. Crecha had to recharge Frankie and was non-to amused. I think she mentioned how Faybelle was going to get what she deserved. Faybelle laughed it off of course, but I think Crecha has held it against her ever since."

Twyla sighed and looked at the table, "Well that explains Faybelle but not Evie."

Robecca shrugged, "Sorry, that's all I can remember."

Billy drummed his notebook with his pencil, "Maybe because Faybelle and Evie had been super close all year, Evie was the bystander to the Faybelle murder."

Twyla shook her head, "There were two apples. Faybelle's apple was the deadliest, which since she set Frankie's arm on fire would make sense."

Farrah squinted, "But it doesn't explain how the apples were poisoned, it was some type of light magic…"

Billy shrugged, "Evie always said magic was just science without an explanation. Perhaps Crecha, in her drive for revenge learned to blend the two."

Lagoona leaned forward on the table and gripped her hair by the roots, "Uhhhh, I really don't want to think about this anymore, but we can't let Crecha continue on like this. She's not even allowing Frankie to hang out with us."

Abbey huffed, "Crecha doing most damage to Frankie by trying to protect her. We need to stop this."

Farrah leaned forward, "But how, if Crecha feels threatened she will just electrocute everyone."

Twyla drummed her fingers on the table, "Well then we will need to ground her, or at least her electricity."

Farrah perked up, "Ooh! How?"

Twyla shrugged and looked around at everyone, "Any suggestions?" Twyla and crew discussed various plans of action until they grew hungry and went to chow.

Once in the chow hall, Frankie eagerly joined them at their table with a grumpy Crecha following behind her.

Frankie sat down and smiled, "Hey ghouls. Man, I thought Crecha was just making it up but I really did have a lot of laundry. I've got like five more loads of clothes left. I didn't know I had that many uniforms."

Robecca smiled, "Perhaps it's because every time you went to clothing sales to get a sewing kit you got another uniform?"

Frankie blinked, looked up and giggled, "I guess I did, huh."

Lagoona raised an eyebrow, "So I guess you really will be doing laundry all day?"

Frankie nodded sheepishly, "Afraid so, and I was so hoping to hang out with you guys all day today. Sorry."

Robecca chugged fifteen glasses of water then sighed as steam whistled out of her ear, "It's all right Frankie, I will cherish the memories we had together."

Frankie smiled, "Aww, thanks Robecca, I cherish you too and hey, tomorrow we can definitely study together."

Robecca lowered her eyelids and stared at the empty water glasses as she mumbled, "Cherish every memory."

Twyla furrowed her brow, "Robecca…are you okay?"

Robecca nodded, "Ten percent…"

Billy squinted and turned his head, "Ten? Robecca, I will go right now if you-"

Crecha's bolts sparked and she grabbed Robecca, "If you need a charge just say so, don't be all cryptic."

Robecca's eyes brightened and she blinked. Turning to Crecha, Robecca smiled, "Thank you, you have done so much more than you know."

Crecha waved dismissively, "No problem, perhaps you should do laundry with us. You know just in case you need another jolt."

Robecca shook her head, "I appreciate the offer but that jolt just jogged my memory. I have something that I must take care of."

Crecha put her hand on her hip and nodded, "All right, well you know where to find us."

Robecca smiled and waited patiently for everyone to finish lunch before she stood up, turned and marched into the hall. Crecha and Frankie continued down the hall towards the laundry room.

Robecca stared up at the clock above the main door and clenched her fist. Twyla, Lagoona, Farrah, Abbey and Billy stood around her with raised eyebrows.

Twyla asked, "What's the matter Robecca?"

Robecca looked determined, "I now know why the raven cries nevermore. It was so obvious. These hands, they injure, they maim, but I will house these hands. I will complete the set."

Steam gushed out of her boots as she zoomed up towards the clock.

Billy reached out his hand and yelled, "Robecca, wait! You kept it this whole time?"

Robecca reached out and took hold of the extra minute hand. The moment she touched it, a surge of red electricity shocked her. Steam spurted to a halt as she malfunctioned but she gripped the hand tighter and tugged despite her lack of flight.

Billy stood underneath her and cupped his hands around his mouth, "Let it go, Robecca! It's killing you! It's not worth it, we will find another way!"

Robecca looked down and shook her head, "For my friends… for freedom… I…." The light in her eyes dulled as her voice became distorted, "... total… system… shut… down…"

She plummeted towards the ground taking the entire clock with her. The moment the clock left its position on the wall the faint blue shimmer around the door disappeared.

She shattered like glass when she hit the ground, her parts corroded and dismantled. Billy had to duck out of the way of the various clock and robot parts. When Robecca's torso bounced off the ground, her head popped off and rolled, her lifeless eyes stared at the door to freedom.

Abbey, Twyla, Lagoona and Farrah ran over to Robecca.

Billy tried to pick Robecca up but the red electricity cut him leaving thin gashes up his arm.

Twyla jumped into shadow and quickly pulled out webbing. She hopped out and attempted to wrap up his hands, "Here, this will slow the bleeding."

"No! Not her too, why!" Billy shoved her out of the way and began gathering Robecca's parts in his arms, hurting himself further.

Twyla held the webbing and backed away from him.

Abbey punched Billy in the stomach which launched him across the hall and caused him to drop all Robecca's part onto the floor.

Abbey froze the parts and huffed, "Twyla wrap him up, Farrah lift this. No one touch it, we take to infirmary, Montoya fix. Come."

Farrah cried as she magically lifted the ice block that housed Robecca.

Twyla ran over to Billy as he lay on the ground with his face covered, "Billy, you might feel a bit sticky but it should help, come on, sit up for me."

Billy shook his head and sobbed quietly through gritted teeth, "Montoya can't fix her, she's not a mechanic, she's a healer. I should have seen this coming, I should have monitored Robecca closely. Dammit!"

Abbey stomped over and lifted Billy with one hand by his blood-soaked shirt, "Get up. Are you man or are you child? I am needing you to be strong, we are all needing you to be strong. No more tears, time for mourning is not now. Is time for action. We go."

Billy inhaled sharply as he silently stood on his feet and wiped his face with the back of his arm, smearing blood everywhere.

Abbey turned on her heel and followed Farrah and Lagoona towards the infirmary. Twyla wrapped Billy's wounds with webbing as they joined everyone.

Once inside the infirmary Billy called out, "LT Montoya we need you."

Montoya stood up and exited the partition that hid Blondie and sashayed to the front of the room, "Looks more like you need me Private Billy. Go lay on that bed over there."

Billy pointed to Robecca as Abbey defrosted her, "I'll be fine, Robecca needs your attention."

Montoya paused and looked at the pieces of Robecca on the floor and gasped, "The hand… well… I'm afraid there is absolutely nothing I can do. Even if I could put Robecca back together she would simply fall apart. The hands are cursed items, it is not wise to hold onto them. Your friend here, how long has she had the hands?"

Billy sighed and looked at Robecca, "She's had the second hand for a while now, as for the minute, she just now grabbed it."

Montoya nodded, "I see. Well, like I said. The hands are cursed and while one is corrosive on its own, two together do compound damage. I'm sorry. Now, you seem to be bleeding all over my infirmary floor. Go over there, strip down and wait for me. I will tend to your wounds. As for the rest of you-"

Glass shattered everywhere as LT O'Malley burst through the infirmary window. In her hand was a fifteen-foot-long wooden pole with an iron spearhead affixed to the top. She strode over to Montoya and handed her the pole arm, "Brought your pike, as requested."

Montoya took the pike and sighed, "Grace… Shih told us it was for later, what am I going to do with this right now?"

O'Malley shrugged, "Kill the spiders on your ceiling."

Montoya closed her eyes and shook her head, "Ughhh, well thank you, Grace. I appreciate your enthusiasm."

O'Malley cackled, jumped onto the window sill and saluted, "No problem, call me when it's supposed to happen. I want to see it for myself."

O'Malley jumped out the window, threw a bomb and flew upwards with the explosion.

Montoya sighed and stared at the pike, "She had to grab the biggest one she had, didn't she."

Montoya waved everyone away, "Go on, off with you. Except you Billy, clothes off, on the bed, now."

Billy groaned and waved goodbye to Twyla, Abbey, Farrah and Lagoona as they left the infirmary. No one spoke once they got to the classroom, nothing needed to be said. Their class of fourteen was down to seven.