Chapter 22

A wolf whistle pierced the silence. "Wow, guys. You two gonna make out?" Nanashi asked innocently.

Alviss' face exploded with color and he pulled back. Sol let him go and gave Nanashi an annoyed look. "I will brain you." She was rewarded with an 'eep'.

A feeling like oil slide against her senses and she grimaced. "How lovely. A rotting carcass." She turned towards the castle and looked up at the ramparts. "What the hell do you want?" She asked Phantom, who was standing there with his serene smile.

The audience was horrified. Partly by his appearance, confirming that he was, in fact, alive. Partly by the fact that Solara had just cavalierly insulted him.

Phantom started laughing. "Oh, Solara, I have missed you." This statement startled those gathered.

"Can't say I share the sentiment. If you want to talk, come down here. Otherwise, I'm ignoring you." Jaws hung.

Still chuckling, Phantom jumped down to the ground. Solara crossed her arms, standing across from him. "What do you want?" she demanded.

Phantom glanced to the side. "Rolan…you did well… I praise you."

Rolan blushed and giggled. "Oh, th-thank you so much…! I'm honored, Phantom…"

Phantom looked back at Solara. "The warriors of MÄR have been brave as well. Heh… It seems 'the 13' have expressed and interest in the game." Eleven people with masks and robes of various styles appeared on the ramparts.

Dorothy scanned them. That woman…isn't there. Nanashi suppressed a shudder. "The magical abilities of these 12…are beyond belief."

"And Rolan makes 13! The Zodiac Knights!" Ed stated.

Phantom smiled placidly. "You know…Solara…" His expression morphed into one of raw bloodlust. "I hate this world! Its stench sickens me!" His expression eased but remained sinister. "The flowers, trees, rocks, water, birds, villages, cities, mountains… but none of them stink as badly as…the humans. They put themselves at the center of the universe. They hurt others, they're envious, they lie – and all the time, they believe they are in the right. Jealousy, hatred, betrayal, arrogance, deceit…rage… These are the true faces of humanity… So putrid, they make me retch. They're all just living masks. That's why I decided to kill them all." He gestured to the Knights standing on the ramparts. "The Chess Pieces are beings that have abandoned this world. Or perhaps you'd say we're the trash that the world has thrown out…which is why we've come together as one. What do you say?" He held out his hand. "We always have room for another like-minded young lady…" His smile was once again serene.

Sol had looked largely disinterested through most of Phantoms speech. Now she sneered. "Bite me, ya bloody hypocrite." Phantom blinked. "Every sin you just accused humanity of, you and you're minions have displayed. I'm certainly not a saint, but I can acknowledge my flaws. Can you even recognize yours?" Phantom looked confused, withdrawing his hand. "Didn't think so. I won't join you, Phantom…but I will kill you."

Phantom found himself chuckling once again. "You are very like your father. All the more pitiful…" He held out his hand again. "Here. I'll give you this. It's Babbo's stone." Solara took the magenta magic stone. "Come see me again once you're stronger." He looked at Babbo. "I'd never dreamed that I'd be fighting against an ÄRM that I myself used six years ago. You, Babbo?" As they all vanished, Phantom's voice lingered. "I hope you both…entertain me."

Babbo scowled. So that was the man…who used me in the past…! Solara just glared at the now empty space.

Pozun cleared his throat. "Now… In the War Games, there is one day of rest for every three days of battle. Tomorrow, you may do whatever you wish!"

Nanashi jumped up in excitement. "Look out, ladies!"

"This is hardly the time for that!" Alviss snapped.

"Somethin' tells me we're going back into training…" Jack slumped.

"We can go in in the morning." Sol stated. "Right now…" Sol looked at Ed and Alviss, "we're getting rid of your curses."

Ed and Alviss looked surprised but moved over to the open space that Sol indicated. While they were moving, Jack asked, "Why did Phantom say he missed you?"

"Hm? Oh, I met him in Vestry." When the others were startled, she shrugged. "Phantom is deranged, but to him all of this is a game. You can't trust him to make a sane decision, but you can trust him to follow his own twisted rules. He wanted to see what I could do. If I could 'entertain' him. Corpses aren't usually entertaining… Phantom himself being the sole exception."

She looked at Babbo. "You ready?"

Babbo sulked. "I hate that form…but yes, we should remove these vile curses if we can."

"Version four. Alice." The dark haired goth girl, who looked like Alice from American Mcgee's Alice with a Lost Odyssey outfit, appeared and floated in front of Ed and Alviss. Both looked at her in awe as she began to emit that golden holy magic.

Ed found himself anxious. Six years ago…this curse was put on me…by one of Halloween's Darkness ÄRMs, Igneil. It made me one with Snow's guard dog…who had come to watch the battles. He closed his eyes against the now blinding light. Can it…possibly… He blinked his eyes open…and stared at the small dog staring back at him.

Ed and Alan sputtered for a moment. Then the audience watching went nuts. "It worked!" Snow cried, dancing around with Jack.

"Awright, dawg!" Alan exclaimed, slapping Ed with excitement. Despite eating dirt, Ed laughed with joy as well.

"Oh, yeah, Alviss!" Jack remembered and turned to look at him. Alviss blinked. "Is your tattoo gone?"

Alviss lifted his arms, his expression indicating that he was expecting it to have failed. He pulled up his sleeve…and his face went slack with shock.

Alviss' arm was bare! He jerked up his other sleeve, but that arm was bare too. Finally, ignoring the audience, he wrenched his shirt open to reveal his blank chest. He looked up at Alan and Gaira, tears forming in his eyes. "I-it's…gone… She…the tattoo…"

The two men looked at each, shocked. Before they could say anything though Snow jumped up and down, yelling. "Yay!" Snow's cheer was picked up by Jack, then Nanashi, and continued to spread through the team to the audience.

Alviss turned to Sol, wanting to thank her…but only Babbo was there. He looked around, but she was no longer in the courtyard. Dorothy was gone too… Where did they go?


I don't know what I thought would happen…but I certainly didn't expect it to burn… Sol stumbled into the huge walk-in closet that the confused guard had directed her to. She kicked the door shut, wandered over to the half-circle of full-length mirrors, and pulled off her shirt.

The yin-yang shaped like a flame was in the center of her chest, the jagged marks of the intricate Zombie Tattoo extending out from it. The parts closest to the center were black, but as they continued to spread, fresh portions turned the color of dried blood, with the very tips the red of hot steel. Sol hissed in pain as six years worth of tattoo were burned into place.

Sixty seconds later the tattoo matched what Alviss had had when she took it from him. Sol exhaled as in all turned black. A knock on the door sounded. "Who is it?" her voice was slightly husky.

"Dorothy. Can I come in?" Sol looked for something to cover up with but, "I know what you did, Solara."

Sol huffed a laugh. "Figures the witch would know. Yeah, you can help me pick a new shirt."

Dorothy walked in and froze. Sol was standing with her back to her. Knowing Sol had taken on Alviss' Zombie Tattoo and seeing it spread across her back were two different things. She took a deep breath and closed the door.

"I'm assuming you want a long sleeve?" Dorothy asked, walking over to the wall covered in shirts.

"Yes." Sol looked at her for a minute. "What's your question, Dorothy?"

Dorothy paused shifting through shirts. "You took it because Alviss didn't want it. He loathed the idea of becoming a zombie… Why are you hiding it?" She finally turned to look a Sol.

The corner of Sol's lip twitched up in the barest hint of a smile. "He won't understand." Dorothy frowned in confusion. "The concept of becoming a zombie terrifies Alviss, because he detests the idea of being like Phantom. However, from what I've heard and seen…being a zombie doesn't make you evil…it locks you in place."

"What do you mean?"

"Phantom is the same today as was the day the tattoo completed. Exactly the same. The way he looks, the way he acts, the way he thinks, they was he fights… His body, his personality,…his strength. Nothing about Phantom has changed since the day he became a zombie…and nothing ever will. That is the curse of the Zombie Tattoo…and it doesn't scare me. If I kill him, it's a moot point. If I don't…" Sol shrugged, "I spend the rest of eternity putting him right back in the dirt."

Dorothy tilted her head. "And you don't think Alviss will understand?"

Sol raised her left eyebrow. "Right after learning about Rolan? Hell no. Maybe later…but not now."

"True." Dorothy turned back to the shirts and pulled out a black long sleeved shirt that had three white straps with silver buckles around the upper arms and two more around the forearms. There were multiple decorative zippers. "How about this?"

Sol pulled in on and it fit nicely. Sol found a pair of black leather fingerless gloves with silver studs. Dorothy finished the new outfit by replacing her red sash with a white one that had silver accents and was spelled to repel stains.

With the tattoo hidden, Sol couldn't deny that the slow pain of taking on the tattoo had affected her. Dorothy told her to go take a nap. "I'll tell them that removing such a vicious spell exhausted you."

Sol squeezed Dorothy's shoulder. "Thanks, Dorothy."


Snow and the others had now noticed Sol's absence. Before anyone could panic, Dorothy came out of the castle.

"Relax! She's just tired. Removing two high-class curses ain't easy, you know! Sunny's just taking a nap." Dorothy chirped.

That made sense, so the group accepted it. As Alviss, Alan, and Ed received congratulations upon being released form their torment, no one noticed Belle in the background, burning with jealousy and shame.

I… I shouldn't be this upset… I wanted that nasty thing gone from Alviss… So why am I so mad that it's gone? Am I just upset that…it was Solara who got rid of it? I… I need to be alone. I need to deal with this jealousy before I say something I'll regret. She glanced at Alviss, was currently trying to escape the crushing hug he was getting from Jack and Snow. I shouldn't be gone long… he won't notice.

Her decision made, Belle flew out of the courtyard, heading towards the nearby forest…and a danger that no one had recognized was there.


BlackStar: Hello. So, yeah, I changed a major plot point here. Alviss no longer has his Zombie Tattoo. Partly because I always felt that this made Alviss way to uptight, because killing Phantom to be rid of it was all he focused on. So, by removing it, he can remember that there use to be other things that he valued. The other reason is to further the relationship development between the two. This means I changed the rules from "can't be removed" to "can't be destroyed."

I also wanted the chance to explain what I felt that the Zombie Tattoo really did to Phantom. If you think about it, Phantom is supposed to have been a zombie for several years before the War Games started, yet he got his ass kicked by Danna, who had been training for a fraction of the time. He should have blown Danna out of water, not fought to a draw. Unless he can't get stronger. I don't think Phantom ever noticed this flaw, since he's never encountered anyone stronger than him. Besides the King. Sol put this all together because she doesn't think the same way as the others and she's not from MÄR Heaven, so she doesn't have their predisposed conceptions.