Chapter 38: It Hits the Fan
The gang was currently gallivanting through the narrow streets of the Lake of Zombies on their way to where I was being held captive against my will.
"So Ruby when we get to the lockup where Zaí is how are we going to get in?" asked Len.
"Honestly I didn't think that far ahead. We're just gonna have to rely on our instincts to get there." Ruby answered.
"Well that's comforting." Poe said.
"We've just gotta keep our heads down and we should be okay." But before turning the corner around the building they bumped into someone.
"Oh we're sorry we were just in a rush. It was an accident." Ruby said picking every word carefully hoping that the cloaked witch would buy their act.
"Wait, I think I know that voice, Ruby?" as she took off her hood it was revealed to be Misery accompanied by Zerelda.
"Misery?" Ruby and the rest of the gang looked surprised to see her.
Neither of them knew how to react to the others presence, it seemed all was a flutter. Finally the ice was broken after Ruby wrapped Misery in a hug, followed by the rest of the gang. Misery was surprised to see them all but knew she was attempting to find them as well.
"What are you doing here?" asked Ruby.
"Who's that with you?" asked Scaredy.
"What are you wearing?" asked Skull Boy.
"We thought you were still crying in your room." Said Iris.
Frank made an attempt to avoid Misery's line of sight, since she was likely still mad at him. Luckily she was more focused on telling her tale.
"I was but when I found your note I realized that Zaí needed all the help she could get." As she told them about finding the underground society and meeting Zerelda they all were impressed.
"Oh the nobility of it, how very courageous of you." said Poe impressed by Misery's vigorous efforts.
"That's a pretty cool getup." Iris stated admiring Misery's spysuit.
"Thanks, I thought it would be more efficient to use for a rescue mission then a long dress." She explained. As she did Frank silently admired how much Misery's outfit showed her curves and exposed her legs.
"So what's the plan?" Misery asked her friends.
"We honestly didn't have one, we were mainly gonna wing it." Iris said.
"I might know how we can get inside." Zerelda spoke up. "I know every inch of this town, so all we've got to do is...
"Sounds like a plan, let's go!" Skull Boy said slightly too loud.
Unfortunately this would prove to throw up an even more difficult obstacle with evidently devastating results. (emphasis on "evidently", it'll make sense later)
"Hey! You there." They had been spotted by a gang of about a dozen witches who looked very unfriendly there were nearly a dozen witches both female and male and all wore black and seemed to be intimidating them.
A female and a male stepped forth, the female had long black hair and wore a black outfit that looked elegant yet functional.
The male had red hair and wore a leather jacket with his collar hiked up.
He spoke up in a southern drawl evidently mocking them.
"Well, well well look what we've got here."
"A whole group of trespassers, how fortuitous...unfortunately Vyperine Abernathy doesn't like trespassers." She said threateningly. "Isn't that right Xerxion?"
"I'll have you know trespassing is a crime punishable by death, and that is served immediately. So how about you make it easy on yourselves and say your prayers now." said Xerxion in a hostile tone.
"That's not happening!" cried out a voice.
It was Misery who had spoken. She stepped forth while her raven hair billowed in the wind and her high heeled boots clacking on the solid earth beneath her feet.
"I'm afraid we've come too far to let your organization win. We have a dungeon to reach and if you don't mind we must be on our way." She said without so much as a hint of fear in her voice.
"And what, pray tell makes you think we won't kill you where you stand before you can move an inch? Hmmm" he said clearly being sarcastic.
"Because you probably thought that we weren't carrying any weapons ourselves." Misery answered before pulling out her weapon of choice and unsheathed Shrieking Vesper in its glory. Both her friends and the witches looked in awe of the scimitar, some of the witches were taken aback and didn't look as comfortable anymore. But Vyperine and Xerxion clearly weren't phased by it.
"That doesn't justify anything. You have no chance against us with or without that." Vyperine added.
"That's what you think."
Misery stepped up, the witches charged at her with swords and weapons of their own as she used her weapon to fight off the attackers. The swords were rendered inferior to Shrieking Vesper and all the maces, scythes and other meagre weapons proved no advantage.
Misery defended the whole group fighting off five witches at once she then turned to the whole gang and reluctantly realized the sacrifice that had to be made, she then said heroically...
"Go find Zaí"
"But what about you?" Iris questioned her friend.
"I'll hold them off." She said confidently.
"But Misery, you're kind of at the wrong end of a numbers advantage." Skull Boy informed her.
"You will surely be eviscerated in seconds!" Scaredy said panicking before burying his head into clothing.
"Do I look like I'm worried? As long as I fight for what's right I'll never fall." as she spoke Zerelda looked on proudly as if she was a mentor who had watched her student find her destiny.
"You need to find Zaí and hurry! Who knows how much time she has left!"
The entire group began tearing up, they saw Misery had no chance against the armada singlehanded, it was all but guaranteed Misery wouldn't survive. But Ruby knew that her mind was made up and that was that.
Zerelda put her hand on Ruby's shoulder, silently saying to her that they needed to leave.
"We love you Misery!" Ruby shouted.
"Without a doubt!" Poe added trying to hold in his emotions.
"We'll never forget you!" Iris called out tearfully.
"We'll save Zaí!" cried Skull Boy.
The entire gang was reluctant because they don't want to leave her alone to face an entire affront of murderous witches, she had a slim survival chance even with a weapon. But they were her friends so the least they could do was to honor her final request as they turned away and ran with tears in their eyes thinking this is the last time they would ever see their friend Misery again as they took off through the streets.
One of the other witches named Euphemia took notice of their escape and shot her wand in the air and set off an amber colored firework. "That should do the trick." she said deviously.
As they took off, Frank realized this would be his final chance to make things right so he quickly ran back.
"What are you doing?!" Len shouted in shock.
"What I should've been brave enough to do in the first place." he said with clear hints of regret in his voice. They returned to the battle where neither Misery nor the witches side was showing any sign of fatigue.
"Misery!"
"Frank? I thought I told you to go, I need to do this on my own!" Misery called back.
"I know but I need to be honest with you."
"Umm... better make it quick." She said holding back her attackers.
"I'm sorry for what happened back home, I wasn't trying to kiss Zaí it was an accident she tripped.
"I just wanted to talk to her cuz I wanted some advice for how to tell you."
"Tell me what?"
"I'm in love with you."
Misery froze in place. Even some of the witches were surprised by the sudden confession.
"Whoa." was all that Len could say.
"Talk about your bad timing am I right?" said Xerxion to another male witch who nodded in agreement.
The amount of tension could be cut with a knife as she turned around to face him "What did you just say?" she said tearing up. A witch attempted to kill her while distracted but Misery used her scimitar to counterattack and knock her away into a pile of crates.
"I've always been in love with you, and only you. I figured if this really is it, I shouldn't let you go without knowing the truth." He said in a melancholic way.
"Oh Frank, I feel the same way." She said sobbing in joy.
"I'm sorry for what happened back at the mansion, I was so scared to tell you I thought since Zaí was so good at reading people she could give me some pointers for how to tell you. But then she tripped over a root by accident."
Misery was shocked and slightly embarrassed for how quickly she had jumped to conclusions.
"There's nothing going on between me and Zaí, I want for her safe and home with us but you're the girl I want to be with, no one else can compare. I know you get terrible luck but the fact that you don't let it bother you is beyond me, and that makes you strong, that makes you fearless, that makes you kind and as for beauty, you do that part all on your own."
Vyperine made a gag gesture to her gang but Misery ignored her.
Misery was touched by his words. He loved her. Beyond a shadow of a doubt it was true love. Misery then remembered what my mom had told her as her words echoed inside her mind.
"Maybe you just never had anything worth fighting for until now."
In that moment Misery knew she had something worth fighting for.
ran off thinking she is done for when it gets to the chapter where the gang is captured and all hope is lost misery shows up at the last minute saving everyone and everyone's glad she's alive
"Goodbye..." he said woefully.
After they put some distance between the fight, the conjoined brothers ran to catch up with the gang.
"You Ok Frank?" asked Len, seeing how much his brother was emotionally drained.
Frank inhaled, "Yeah, I'll be fine, there's nothing left we can do for Misery, but I know if she was with us, she'd say that Zaí needs to be saved first!"
They ran as fast as they could to catch up and free me from my prison.
—
Heh? Heh? Pretty grand eh? Let's just say It took a LOOONG time to plan this out, and even longer to find the time to write it, hopefully I can update again sooner. Stay tuned folks!
If you're wondering how I came up with The names for the witches I thought I should go for long elegant names that aren't used commonly. Also I had to think of names that I wouldn't mind if they died since they read be the villains. Vyperine was derived from a Monster High character that just sounded dastardly. Xerxion I honestly thought was pretty epic sounding. Euphemia was the name of my late grandfather's horrible second wife who arguably has the ugliest name I've ever heard.