Restless, Part 3
Clop-clop-clop
The iron-clad hooves of the noble knight's mighty steed struck the ground again and again, trampling dirt, root, grass, and stone. The gnarled trees of the forest passed by in a blur, their leafless branches hanging over her like grasping hands, too slow to stop her.
Clop-clop-clop
The knight leaned forward in her the saddle, one gauntleted hand clutching the reins, the other holding her lance steady, its sharpened tip pointing the way.
Clop-clop-clop
Beneath the closed visor of her helmet, the knight's countenance was grim and determined, for hers was a weighty undertaking. The princess was held captive by a monstrous beast, who had holed itself up in a dark castle deep within these cursed woods, and the knight had been charged with slaying the monster and returning the princess home safely.
The queen had been quite clear on the danger of such a mission. The knight's return was not guaranteed. Indeed, there was every likelihood that she would perish, that her flesh would be rent asunder and consumed and that her bones' would find their final resting place in a pile of dung.
It didn't matter. For even if she had not been commanded to face the danger, the knight would have done it anyway. The princess was kind of heart and strong of spirit. She did not deserve this.
The knight thought of the princess's bright blue eyes and warm smile. She thought of her soft hands and gentle laugh. That alone set her on this path. Even if her own return was denied her, even if she was destined to die in agony and flame, she would not fail. The princess would come home.
Clop-clop-clop
Up ahead, the trees were opening up. A clearing was fast approaching, and in it were bright lights and the sound of music, voices, and screams. And also a very strange rhythmic rattling, one that was in tune with the screams. This was it.
The knight burst into the clearing, and found herself in facing a world of colorful lights. The bright tents of a carnival were ahead: the Ferris wheel was turning, the rollercoasters were rattling, and the carnival-goers were having a grand old time.
Well, this was it then. The knight slowed her horse down to a steady trot and directed it into the parking lot. She carefully maneuvered it into a space in Lot Calliope B, beneath the glowing green orb. Which, of course, was the lot furthest from the carnival entrance. All the others were full. Go figure.
She slipped off the horse, tied its reins to the sign pole, and gave it one last pat before heading toward the carnival gates.
"LAAAAADIIIIEEEES AND GENTLEMEN!" cried the carnival barker into a megaphone. "BOOOOYYYYYS AND GIIIIRRRRRRLSSSSS! Come one, come all, and step right up! Gather 'round for the greatest show in the world! Wonders and mysteries, trinkets and treats, temptations and thrills, you'd scarcely believe your eyes!"
A line had formed in front of the barker. The knight moved to join them, but then paused. The barker was very familiar, a tall woman dressed in a tight, black suit with long coattails and a jaunty top hat. Her hair was long and green and her eyes iridescent, their color seeming to change every time she moved her head.
And from her back sprouted a pair of enormous golden butterfly wings.
"That's right! Come one, come all! Just have your tickets ready and you'll be in for the most magical day of your life! Thank you ma'am! Welcome ladies, and do enjoy yourself! And-" Then the barker caught sight of the knight, standing by herself in the parking lot.
"Well, well, well, looky who we have here! A right VIP, a noble knight of the queen!" The barker beckoned the knight over to the front of the line. "Come, come, no lines for you! I've got a special ticket right here, guaranteed access to any attraction."
The knight looked at the gleaming silver ticket clutched in the barker's gloved hand with disdain. "You lied to us," she said. "Back in the forest. You're a liar."
"You shoulda known better," groused the ticket-taker from within her booth. She raised her head, and the knight saw a heavily pierced face framed by multicolored dreadlocks.
The ticket-taker stared out at her with a bored expression. "You shoulda known better," she said around chews of a wad of gum. "It was right in front of you, and you ignored it."
Rather than be offended at the knight's accusation, Lily merely grinned. "Oh, come now, my knight! The real world is dreary and painful. Lies are what make it fun!" Then, setting her megaphone aside, she leaned forward to whisper into Sayaka's ear. "Besides, if it's truth you seek, you'll find it inside. But I warn you: you will not like it."
The knight jerked back. "Don't seek to confuse and confuddle me with your tricks. I am here for the monster and the princess."
"And you shall find both within. But don't blame me if can't tell which is which when you do."
"Though do me a favor," the ticket-taker said from within the ticket booth. She grabbed another carnival-goer's ticket and ripped off the stub. "When you do, take a selfie for me, okay? My break's not for another two hundred years, and I would love to see the look on your face."
"Oh, don't tease the poor hero," Lily said. "I'm sure the Sayaka Miki here will face all of her trial with appropriate chivalry and nobility."
For a briefest of seconds, Lily's face was superimposed by another, an oval, white, animalistic face with an unmoving cat smile and a pair of beady red eyes, with two long antennae-like limbs dangling out of its ears.
And then it was gone, and she was looking at Lily the Siren.
The knight angrily snatched the ticket out of Lily's hand. "That's not my name," she said, her tone tinged with warning. She laid a hand on the sword at her side. "Address me properly."
Lily laughed again. "A thousand apologies," she said, bowing low at the waist. "Sir Sayaka Miki."
"That's better." With that, the knight marched through the carnival's colorful gate, leaving the insufferable villain behind.
Once inside, the knight found herself almost stupefied by the lights and sounds of the carnival: lights from the gaudy tents, from the games, and hanging from wires overhead, and the sounds of games chiming and clinking, of people talking, and of music blaring from all around. It was enough to put her off her ease.
"Move it, tin woman," someone growled as they pushed her way past her.
"Hey!" the knight protested. The rude person, an exceptionally tall and muscular girl with a purple mohawk and a spiked warhammer draped over her shoulder, just spat at her and flipped her a raised middle finger.
The knight started to get hot. She was a knight on a mission from the queen himself! She deserved some measure of respect.
She stepped forward, ready to confront the miscreant, but said miscreant had already been swallowed up by the crowd, which was weird, considering her size and striking appearance.
The knight sighed. Oh well, brush it off. She had a job to do.
She strode forward, eyes searching the fairgoers and the carnival workers, looking for any sign of danger.
Then, to her delight, the first person she recognized wasn't a potential enemy, but a friend. Kyoko was there, trying her luck at one of the water-gun games. The knight hurried over to her.
Kyoko was so engrossed with trying to beat the game that she didn't even notice the heavy metallic clinking of the knight's armor as she approached. However, she finally looked up when the knight took the seat next to her.
"Oh, hey!" she said, her face lighting up. "What's up, Swordfish?"
"Hey, Kyoko," the knight said. "I'm on a quest to save the princess from a monster. Wanna come with?"
Kyoko shook her head. "Sorry, Blue Tuna. Already got my own quest right here. I gotta save my sister!"
She pointed at the booth's prizes, which were dozens of stuffed felt representations of herself. "Just gotta fill this bitch up," she muttered as she concentrated on holding the stream steady. "Just gotta win, and I'll have her back. Just you watch, Chicken of the Sea!"
Perhaps, but it would probably be a lot easier had Annabelle Lee not been manning the booth and actively trying to sabotage her. She wasn't even being subtle about it either. She was floating right next to Kyoko's water cannon and was shoving down on its nozzle, redirecting the spray. Kyoko struggled and fought to keep it steady, but for whatever reason she never thought to call out the booth operator for blatantly rigging the game.
The knight stared. "What are you doing here?" she said to Annabelle Lee.
"Fuck off."
"I'm serious. Tell me."
Annabelle Lee cast her a dour look, which seemed to be the only expression she was capable of. "Because you assholes ruined my life. Gotta make ends meet somehow."
"By rigging carnival games?"
Annabelle Lee shrugged. "It's a living."
"Anyway, you go on ahead, Little Mermaid," Kyoko continued. "I gotta concentrate on this."
"Okay," said the knight. "But…that's not my name."
"Sure thing, Moby Dick!"
"I'm serious. I have a name."
"Alrighty, Sea Witch!"
Feeling frustrated, the knight stomped off. Kyoko was a good friend and (sometimes) a stalwart companion, but she could just be so pigheadedly stubborn sometimes.
Okay, time to return to her search. She had to find her way to the monster's castle. It had to be somehow in this ghastly place…
"Oh, Sayaka! Sir Sayaka, over here!"
Expecting another enemy, the knight turned, hand on her sword. But when she saw who it was she brightened. "Oh, hey!"
Mami and Charlotte strolled up to her, Mami pushing a baby carriage while Charlotte did battle with a mound of cotton candy on a paper cone so ridiculously large that it was almost grotesque.
"We're so glad you could make it," Mami said, giving the knight a warm hug.
The knight returned the embrace the best she could in her armor. "Well, you know how it goes. Orders from the queen."
"Ticky-ticky-ticky…" growled the little girl in the baby carriage. She had an oversized spiral lollipop in her hands, one that she was stabbing over and over with a sharp knife.
"Right, we heard! Princess taken by a monster in that castle over there!"
Mami pointed to the carnival's centerpiece, its pride and joy, a wooden rollercoaster that wound around and snaked around and around a half-sized Medieval castle.
That was it. The monster's castle, where it was keeping the poor princess."
"Want to come?" the knight asked.
"Oh no, sorry," Mami said. "This is your quest, isn't it? Given to you by the queen? It wouldn't be honorable."
"Yeah, you're right," the knight sighed. "Well, it was great seeing you guys, but I'd better get back to saving the princess."
"Okay, but before you do that, you might want to save her first."
Charlotte pointed over to one of the nearby booths, and the knight's heart fell.
Kyoko was there, and not only was she no trying her hand at the rigged water gun game, she had been made part of a rigged game. She was sitting on an unstable-looking platform inside of a glass tank, one that sat over a barrel of water. A red-and-white target was suspended next to the tank. In front of her, Annabelle Lee was manning the booth and looking quite pleased with herself.
"Oh, damn it," the knight sighed. "All right, I'll take care of-"
But Mami and Charlotte were already gone, pushing the baby carriage forward to get swallowed up by the crowd.
The knight headed for the tank. Seeing her approach, Kyoko flashed her a sheepish grin.
"Hey, Fish Filet," Kyoko said morosely.
The knight stared up at her. "Kyoko, how did you get yourself into this?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Arzt Kochen murmured as she walked up to the booth, hand-in-hand with Nie Blühen Herze. "She lost, and now must pay the forfeit." The disturbingly intimate duo handed Annabelle Lee a pair of tickets, and were given a basket of baseballs.
"Sorry, Fish Stick," Kyoko said. "I tried."
Arzt palmed one of the baseball, measure the distance and angle, reeled back, and let fly. It hit the target right in the center. Kyoko's seat gave way from under her, and she plunged into the barrel.
"Score!" Annabelle Lee cheered.
The wooden seat reset itself. Coughing, Kyoko reached up out of the water, grabbed hold, and climbed back on. The knight noticed then that her boots were missing, leaving her feet covered just with a pair of soggy socks.
"Your turn, sweetie-cakes," Arzt said.
Nie nodded. She tossed a baseball straight up and then whipped out both of her pistols and started firing at it. Each bullet hit its mark, each impact pushing the hacky-sack further and further until it hit the bullseye, dumping Kyoko back into the drink.
"Score again!"
Kyoko looked so pathetic as she tried to climb back out. Her soaked hair was plastered back against her neck, her arms were trembling, and she just kept on coughing.
Also, she had somehow lost her jacket.
Arzt tossed up a baseball behind her back, and then threw herself backfirst into the ground, her foot coming up to kick the baseball right into the target. Kyoko, who had just managed to get her knees onto the seat, dropped back into the water.
"Why are you doing this to her?" the knight asked.
"Duh," Annabelle Lee said. "It's my job and I hate her."
"But it's cruel!"
"So?"
Kyoko's arms came up out of the water, seized the platform, and tried to bring herself up. She seemed to be having trouble supporting her own weight. Every centimeter was trembling with exertion, and her face was twisted up into a grimace of pain and frustration.
Furthermore, she had now lost her shirt, leaving her torso covered by nothing but a plain white bra.
"Stop it!" the knight cried.
"No," Nie said. She turned around and tossed a baseball over her shoulder without looking. It hit, and Kyoko was dropped again with a splash.
"You're hurting her!"
Now openly crying, Kyoko struggled to pull herself out of the water. Her shorts were gone, leaving her in just her underwear and her necklace.
"Not my problem," Annabelle Lee said.
Arzt threw a baseball, not at the target, but at a nearby tent pole. It rebounded off the pole, struck another pole, and then another, and then another, before sailing right for the target, dunking Kyoko yet again.
"That's enough!" the knight shouted. "You won!"
"Not yet," Nie said.
Kyoko was now just down to her panties and necklace. What was more, she barely had the strength to lift herself out of the water. The knight rushed around the booth and climbed onto the back of the tank.
"Here!" she said as she leaned over the top and reached down for Kyoko's hand. "Let me help you!"
Sobbing, soaked, stripped, and bedraggled, Kyoko just looked up to her with the most pitiful look and shook her head.
"No," she sniffed as she held onto the platform with one hand. "This is my…this is my…"
Another baseball whooshed in, hitting the target and dropping Kyoko back into the water.
"No more!" The knight leaned all the way in and reached in with both hands into the water to seize Kyoko by her armpits to haul her out. Now limp and wearing nothing but her necklace, Kyoko shivered and whimpered. She didn't even appear to be conscious.
"Stop getting in the way," Arzt said as she picked up one last baseball. This one she stabbed with all five syringes in her hand and injected with her venom. The baseball suddenly started glowing nuclear green and shook with barely contained power.
This time there were no trick shots, no showing off. Arzt merely wound up and threw.
The baseball smashed through the glass tank and hit Kyoko right in her bare stomach. She slipped from the knight's hand and tumbled back into the water for the last time.
All the lights of Annabelle Lee's booth lit up as a bell started ringing. "Ladies and ladies, we have a winner!" she called.
"Kyoko?" The knight searched the water for some sign of her friend, but it was now bubbling and foaming, obscuring her view. "Kyoko!"
"No park guests allowed behind the booths." Annabelle Lee seized the knight by the cape and yanked her down to the ground, where she fell with a crash.
The knight struggled to sit up, but her heavy armor made it difficult. She managed to rise just enough to see The Twins standing on either side of Annabelle Lee, with her hands draped over their soldiers.
"I don't see what you're so upset about," Annabelle Lee said. "The game's the game. And if you win…"
Suddenly the blades hidden in her wrist guards popped out, plunging into the fleshy undersides of each of The Twins' jaws. With identical sighs of relief, they slumped to the ground and lay still.
"…then you get the prize," Annabelle Lee said to the horrified knight. "And if you lose, then you gotta pay the forfeit."
Leaving The Twins' bodies where they lay, she went over to the dunking tank. Pressing her fingers in-between the now-empty tank and the water barrel, she upended the tank and sent it crashing, seat and target and all, to the ground. She then picked up a round, metal lid and covered up the top of the barrel.
"Hey," the knight said as Annabelle Lee wheeled out a dolly and shoved it under the barrel. "Wait, what are you doing?"
"My job," Annabelle Lee said. "You should try it sometime. Better than just helping other people get what they want."
With that, she hoisted the barrel containing the waterlogged Kyoko up and wheeled it away.
"Hey!" the knight protested as she struggled to her feet. Darn it, was her armor always so heavy? "Stop!"
Annabelle Lee did not stop. She continued to cart Kyoko away, moving deeper and deeper into the crowd of fairgoers.
The knight fought to keep up, but all of the heavy plate she was wearing slowed her down, and it seemed like every time she started to gain some ground, another group of people would push their way past her, heedless of the fully armored knight in their presence. The knight doggedly refused to quit, pursuing Annabelle Lee through the carnival, past the booths, past the food carts, past the lights, past the rides, all the while keeping that shock of purple hair in her vision.
Then Annabelle Lee turned toward a tent, one whose entrance was framed by a huge board cut and painted into the shape of a rodentlike black face, one with round red eyes and bizarre antennae, like the face she had briefly seen superimposed over Lily's. The tent entrance was dark and foreboding, as was the sign that hung over it.
THE FREAKSHOW.
"You don't want to go in there," Elsa Maria murmured as she sidled up to the knight. The dark-haired girl slurped noisily from the Xtra-Large soda she had in her hands.
"But I have to," the knight protested. "She took my friend in there!"
"Kyoko made her own choices. You warned her, and she didn't listen. Your job is to save the princess, remember?"
"Can't I save both though?"
Elsa Maria shook her head. "You can't save everyone. You can try, but that often leads to saving no one."
The knight frowned at her through the faceguard of her helmet. "Did I…Did I ever save you?"
"Once, but that was a long time ago, and no one alive remembers it." Then Elsa Maria sighed. "Well, go in if you must, but be warned: in there you will find things you are not prepared to fight."
In answer, the knight drew her sword. "I beg to differ. I came here to fight monsters, remember?"
At this, Elsa Maria looked amused. "How can you fight something when you don't even know what it is?" Then she shook her head and sighed. "Well then. God be with you."
The knight entered the Freakshow.
It was dark inside the tent, which did little to steady the knight's nerves. She advanced slowly forward, taking each step with care, sword drawn and held out in front of her as her eyes scanned for any sign of danger.
The path was not straight, but instead this way and that, leading her on an involuntary tour of the tent's…attractions, if they could be called that. What little light there was came from dim bulbs of red, blue, and green, and they illuminated the attractions and the attractions only. They were very odd, made of obviously cheap materials like plastic, paper, and cloth, but that didn't make them any less unsettling. She saw skinny creatures with legs made from butterflies, with dandelion puff heads and overly large mustaches. She saw pink and blue mice made out of cancer with large nurse hats. She saw winged mannequins with joined limbs and grim smiles. She saw black animal heads suspended on overhanging rubber hoses.
They were all fake of course…but were they? It seemed like every time she passed by one, she heard strange whispers, muted giggles, and shuffling, but when she turned to check, there had been no change.
Now she was really on edge. The knight pressed forward, trying to find an end to the labyrinth, trying to find a way out. Damn it, where was the exit? Where was Annabelle Lee?
Then she passed by a cage, in which sat a doll with a painted clown face and overly long sleeves.
The knight paused. She looked at the doll, head tilted in puzzlement. Now, why put that doll in a cage, when all the other exhibits were propped up or hanging from wires? It was as weird as the rest of the horrors, but no more threatening.
Then, as she peered into its round, blue eyes, the doll lifted its head.
The knight leapt back, sword brandished. The doll opened its mouth and vomited up an abomination, a huge worm with a black body studded with pink polka-dots and a round clownlike face that would be almost comical if it weren't for its gaping mouth filled with triangular teeth.
It was hideous. It was malformed. It made no sense, and unlike the other attractions, this one was very real.
The worm threw itself at the bars of the cage. They rattled against its weight but held. As fascinated as she was horrified, the knight stared at it again and again tried to escape, smashing its body against its restraints.
Then the bars began to bend.
Shaken out of her stupor, the knight hurried along, leaving the cage behind as she fled through the labyrinth.
Then she saw another cage. In it was another abomination, this one having a fat body with many insect legs, spread butterfly wings, and a head made of a rose bush. It noticed her, and threw itself at its bars like the worm had. It managed to squeeze its head through, but its body was too wide to fit.
That didn't deter it though. Jagged black tendrils reached out, each one topped by a pair of snapping scissors.
Now frantic, the knight slashed at the scissors with her sword and again fled.
But it did her no good. All around her, the attractions were coming to life, reaching out toward her with deformed limbs of plastic and wood. She ducked, pulled away, and slashed out at them as they grabbed onto her arms, her pauldrons, and her cape.
"You!"
In another cage the large, rude girl that had bumped into her at the carnival's entrance was imprisoned, but it looked like she had been there for years. Her face was a mess of open sores, her eyes were shot through with red veins, snot was dribbling out of her mouth, veins were bulging all over her skin, and foam was pouring out of her mouth.
"Gonna get you, fishy!" Brooklyn roared. She threw herself at the knight, was stopped by the bars, and thrust her meaty hands through, greasy hands pawing at her. "Show me some leg! Show me some leg!"
The knight ducked her grasp and kept running.
There! At the end of the path was a door marked with a green exit sign. The knight focused on that door and charged forward, swiping aside the grasping hands, claws, and tentacles that tried to stop her, that tried to draw her in, but she wasn't going to be stopped.
The knight burst through the backdoor, heart pounding. Part of her was deeply ashamed at her own cowardice, but most of all she was relieved that it was over.
And sure enough, she had done it! Annabelle Lee was there, still pushing that dolly along.
And on the dolly was the barrel containing Kyoko.
The knight slowly exhaled, purging her mind and soul of fear and doubt. Now was the time to act. Sword in hand, she stepped forward.
The room they were in was another tent, one with a sandy floor. Annabelle was on a wooden platform in the middle of the room, one with a large hole cut out of its middle. A long blue diving board extended out over the whole.
Annabelle Lee parked the dolly next to the diving board and wrestled the barrel off of it. She pulled off the lid, dropped it on the ground, and then shoved the barrel along the diving board's length, moving it toward the end.
The knight followed.
Annabelle Lee tilted the barrel toward the edge. Blood-red water spilled out to pour into the hole.
The knight came up behind her. She drew her sword back to thrust forward.
Without turning around, Annabelle Lee said, "Not very chivalrous of you. Stabbing a defenseless girl in the back."
The knight hesitated. It was true, to vanquish Annabelle Lee in such a manner would violate every oath she had ever taken, no matter what she had done.
Then she saw the red water continued to pour and her face hardened beneath her helmet.
"You hurt my friend," the knight said, and thrust her sword forward.
The blade penetrated Annabelle Lee's jacket between the shoulder blades and plunged right in.
Annabelle Lee's clothes collapsed to drape themselves over the diving board, now completely empty. The barrel fell, the rest of the red water flooding out to pour into the hole.
"Kyoko!" The knight rushed forward and grabbed the barrel. Hoisting it up, she looked inside.
It was empty.
"Kyoko?" The knight then peered down into the hole. At the bottom was a scarlet pool, one that violently churned and bubbled. Floating on the surface was Kyoko's necklace, the one that the knight have given her.
The red water…that was Kyoko, and now she had been fully poured away.
The knight stood on the edge of the diving board and dubiously looked down. She could dive in, but could she even swim with all the heavy armor she was wearing? She couldn't just kick it off; she needed it for her fight against the monster! And even if she didn't drown, what could she do? Kyoko had become water! And even if she could somehow change Kyoko back to normal, how were they even going to get out again? There was no ladder, no stairs. They would be trapped!
Turning around, the knight grabbed onto Annabelle Lee's empty flight jacket and held it up. She violently shook it as she said, "What did you do to her? Change her back!"
There was no response. After all, it was just a jacket.
The knight felt tears forming. "Fix her!"
The jacket remained stubbornly silent.
"Please, fix her! Give me back my friend!"
And then the lights all went out.
For a second the knight stood frozen, afraid that one misstep would send her off the edge of the diving board. But then the light returned, or at least part of it. A single spotlight shone down on her from above, illuminating her and no one else.
The knight looked around. She was standing in the middle of a sandy ring, encircled by a low wall painted bright red. The diving board was gone. The hole was gone. The crimson pool was gone.
Kyoko was gone.
"Laaaaaaaaaaadiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeessssssssss and gentlemen!" a bombastic voice boomed out of the dark. "Boys and girls! Give it up for the clowns!"
An unseen raucous crowd laughed and applauded.
Dropping the empty jacket, the knight again drew her sword and stood at the ready. "I'm not a clown!" she declared. "I am a knight in service of the queen, and you will address me with the respect due to-"
The words died in her throat. Her sword. It was no longer an elegant weapon of steel and silver. Instead, it was made of blue and red balloons, all twisted together.
The crowd laughed again.
"Don't feel bad," Lily said as she emerged out of the dark, her megaphone still in one hand. "We all have our play in the show, and the show must go on!"
And then the clowns appeared.
They stalked out of the shadows, entering the ring from all around. The knight reflexively brandished her now-useless sword, its rubber blade wobbling comedically.
The clowns ignored her. They just danced in a circle around her and Lily, turning somersaults, flips, and cartwheels, their bodies moving in strangely jilted fashion, like their joints didn't work properly or they were puppets operated by stop-motion. And they were all malformed in some manner, some possessing animalistic features while others had pieces of inanimate objects added to their anatomy while others were twisted in manners that made no sense.
The Twins were there, despite having been murdered by Annabelle Lee not too long ago. They spun and twirled one another as they cavorted around and around, their hands running up and down one another, their normally sensuous behavior now on display as entertainment for the masses.
Then someone bumped into the knight. She whirled and saw, to her shock, Annabelle, now dressed and painted up like the others.
"Like I said," Annabelle Lee laughed. "Gotta do what I can to make ends meet."
Then she stuck two fingers up against her mouth and blew a raspberry between them.
"It's okay," Lily said as Annabelle Lee spun off to rejoin the dance. Her ringmaster outfit was gone, and she too was dressed and made up as a clown. "We're all clowns here." She held up a small, silver dressing mirror. "And the sooner you accept it the happier you'll be."
She held the mirror in front of the knight's face, showing the knight her reflection.
The knight gasped. Her helmet was gone, and she saw that she too now had white paint all over her face, with tiny triangles around her eyes and a round, red bulb over her nose.
"No," she said. "No! I'm not a clown, I'm a knight! A warrior! Slayer of monsters! A protector of the weak!"
The crowd laughed again, and the clowns' danced closed in tighter around her.
"Accept it," Lily said with a ghastly grin. She reached over to give the knight's big red nose a honk. "It's who you are. It's what you are."
The knight's vision went red.
Then she seized the silver mirror from Lily's hand.
"Maybe you are! But this show is over!"
With that, she smashed the mirror into Lily's face.
The shimmering shards of glass fell to the ground. Lily was gone. So was were the clowns. The crowd had fallen silent. The knight stood alone.
Panting, she let the mirror fall and examined her sword. It was once again a proper blade, as lethal as it was beautiful. She looked her arms, legs, and torso over. Her armor was there, just as it was supposed to be. She felt her face. Once again she was wearing her helmet.
Good.
Shaking, the knight left the circus ring, her cape billowing behind her. She had been distracted long enough. Her quest remained. The princess needed saving, and she was the only one who could do it.
Another spotlight shone down at the opposite end of the great tent, illuminating a new scene. The knight headed toward it.
As it turned out, it wasn't really part of the tent at all, but some kind of train station. A bench sat on a platform, with the train track running past it.
The knight paused. There was something disturbingly familiar about that station, something she just couldn't put her finger on.
Something bad had happened there, of that she was certain.
There was someone sitting at the end of the bench. It was the punk girl that had been manning the ticket booth out front. She was slouched back with her legs crossed as she played with her phone.
Though she wasn't wearing any kind of park employee uniform, there was a nametag pinned to the front of her denim jacket, one that read, "Hi! My Name Is."
The name itself was an illegible scribble of characters that the knight couldn't even begin to recognize.
As the knight approached, the punk girl looked up and blew a large multicolored bubble, popped it, and resumed chewing.
"Hey," she said. "Here to ride?"
"I suppose I am," said the knight.
"Kewl. Well, all aboard."
There was a rattling sound, and a white rollercoaster cart with a pair of round red lights stuck to the front, right over a painted cat smile.
The knight stepped into the cart and sat down. Then she hesitated.
"Um, should I leave this or…" She held up her sword.
The ride operator just shrugged. "Eh, rules say no carry-ons, but shit, they don't pay me enough to care. Take your phallic security blanket."
The knight laid her sword across her knees. The safety bar then came down. The armor made it a tight fit, but it still fit.
"Please remain seated, and keep your hands and arms in the yadda, yadda, yadda, you know the drill." The ride operator waved a hand, and the car started to move.
It took her into a dark tunnel, and the knight, who really hadn't been having much luck with tight, dark spaces, felt her hackles raise again. Her grip tightened on her sword.
The track then rose up, and she saw a light coming up. The real track was coming up, where it wound around the carnival before diving into the castle.
The cart burst out into the open air, and the knight was in a nightmare city.
The buildings were all black and the windows dark, but there were so many bright neon signs, advertisements, streetlights, and banners that they threatened to blind her. Everywhere she looked something was flashing at her in toxic green, sugary blue, and lipstick red.
Added to the problems was heavy rainstorm. The neon city was being assaulted by rain so thick that it was practically a curtain, one that blurred vision and made the flashing lights even more eerie. The knight was soaked within her armor in seconds.
She shook her head and tried to shield herself, but the cart kept moving around and around, weaving in and out between the buildings. As they did, she noticed that something was weird with the sky. The clouds were as colorful as the city, and they were constantly writhing and morphing, twisting themselves into the shapes of monsters, of people, and of animals, over and over and over in a nauseating kaleidoscope display.
Now feeling quite sick, the knight looked away from the sky. This proved to be a mistake for two reasons. Firstly, it just showed her how increasingly weird the city was. The streets beneath were all rushing rivers, forming a network of canals that threatened to overflow at any moment.
Secondly, it reminded her just how much she hated heights.
Where the hell was she?
At the very least she was going the right way. As the cart took another turn, she saw the monster's castle, sitting by itself, with the track leading right into its front gate.
Then the cart took off. The knight was thrust back into her seat as it twisted and turned throughout the neon city, rain splattering her face through her helmet's visor. The knight gritted her teeth and hung on, praying that the ride would end soon, lest she end up vomiting inside her helmet.
The car then rose up. Its path was coming to an end. When it fell again, it would take her right into the castle.
It rose higher and higher and higher until it reached the top of the slope. There, as rollercoasters are wont to do, it hesitated, letting the fear and anticipation build.
The knight reached down to clutch the safety bar, but realized that it was no longer there. She looked down around her. To her dismay, she realized that she was no longer in a coaster car at all, but seated in a wheelchair.
Oh.
Well, shit.
And then the dive came.
The wheelchair plunged downward. The knight held on the best she could, one hand holding onto the armrest while the other held her sword. Vertigo rose up, threatening to suffocate her as the G-forces pressed her back into her seat.
The doors of the castle opened, and she went through.
The wheels of her wheelchair thundered as she rushed through a narrow hallway with round windows on either side and arches zipping past overhead. Up ahead, she heard the sound of music playing, an orchestral string session loudly sawing away that was swiftly growing louder the nearer she drew. In the windows she caught glimpses of murky shapes, but she was moving too fast to make any of them out, and she didn't dare move lest she lose her grip. All she could do was hang on for dear life as she was sped forward, deeper into the monster's domain.
A door swung open, and the ride was over. The knight was through, into the monster's lair.
In shape it resembled a domed room, lined with red theater seats, as if the audience's area of a great symphony hall had been curved up around her. Along one end of the room, a ghostly orchestra was playing, shimmering white silhouettes that performed on and one, heedless of the battle that was going to take place. Several lines of musical notes zigzagged their way through the room.
The knight looked around. The room was a lot smaller than she had expected. The spectral orchestra didn't even come up to her waist, and her body filled almost half the room.
No matter. She had her duty.
The orchestra still continued to play, and the knight found herself smiling beneath her helmet. The song…it was her song, the song that would play at odd times in her head, the song she had never been able to give a name to but intimately knew. They were playing her on, leading her onward to victory.
And, as she looked down, she saw them, her reason for coming. The monster, and the princess.
They were kinda small.
In fact they were tinier than ever the orchestra, a pair of miniscule figures that the knight could have seized with one hand. The monster was garbed all in red, and held a two-handed spear at the ready, its gleaming metal head ready to plunge. The princess stood beside it, a small pink-haired figure, helpless and innocent-
(wait, pink? The princess's hair was blue!)
No time to worry about that. The monster was taking the first move, using its occultic powers to throw up a scarlet barrier around the princess, cutting her off. The knight hefted her sword, holding it at the ready.
The monster charged.
They fought, the monster striking forward again and again, while the knight held it off with her wheels (wheels?). They spun around and around, battering the monster, driving it back (why am I using wheels?). The knight pressed her advantage, shattering the barrier and reaching forward to pluck the princess to safety.
The knight had her, had the princess, had her safe…but then the monster lunged forward, it's blade flashing. It struck the end of the knight's metal gauntlet and cleaved her hand from her arm.
Gasping in pain, the knight fell back, her stump gushing bluish-black blood (oh, that couldn't be right). As she did, the floor beneath them collapsed, plunging them to the lower levels of the monster's lair.
They fell together, the knight, the monster, and the princess, into a new room, one shaped the same as above, only with blue chairs instead of red. They fell and they fell and they fell until they reached the bottom.
The knight was not to be deterred. She raised her weapon to strike again, but the monster had already thrown up a barrier between them and the princess, who had been joined by another small person, this one with long, dark hair, no doubt one of the monster's minions. The monster then fell to its knees. It looked as if it were praying, but to whom? Was there a god of monsters, one that listened when they were afraid and alone.
Well, it would do it no good.
As the knight readied to attack, the floor began to rumble, and multiple spears burst up from the ground. They were huge, larger than even the knight herself, and they rose up in a ring around the two combatants. One came up under the monster, and it rode it into battle.
And in that moment, her vision changed.
She saw herself as if she were an outsider, an observer, a member of the audience. She saw the monster riding its spear, not from the front but from the side. She saw the ring of spears, not from within but from without.
And she saw herself. A great, hulking form, barely even humanoid, clad in heavy armor and wielding a sword. Over her head was an inhuman helmet, one shaped like a many-eyed skull. A long cape with a high collar was affixed to her back, and from the waist down…
Fear clutched her heart. She had no legs.
Her legs were gone, and in their place was the tail of a great fish.
What is that? she wailed from the recesses of her mind.
It is you, a voice responded. It took the knight half a second to recall the voice of the bored ride operator, the one with the multicolored hair.
But how? the knight responded. That's not me, that's a monster!
Yes.
Fear and dread gripped her heart. She did not like what was being implied. She did not like it one bit.
So…wait, are you saying that I…that I…
That you what?
Am I the monster?
Yes.
No. no, This couldn't be true, this couldn't be right. No, I'm not. I'm the knight!
Yes.
Now she was just getting confused. Wait, I'm what? I'm still the knight?
Yes.
But you just said that I'm the monster?
You are.
From behind her cage, the dark-haired girl seized the princess and pulled her away. The princess tried to resist, crying out for both the monster and the one that was about to kill it.
She is not the princess. At least, she is not yours.
Now things were getting really confusing. She's not? Then who is?
You are.
A pause.
A beat.
And then…
What?
Yes.
Wait, what are you talking about? Am I the knight, the monster, or the princess?
Yes.
Suddenly, from within the ring of spears, a bright crimson light exploded, brighter and hotter than the sun itself. Both the armored monster and the one that faced her were consumed in its blaze.
And then the monster felt herself falling, falling, falling into the dark. As she fell, she heard the voice speak to her again.
Nobody is all one thing. You are indeed the knight, stalwart and true, defender of the innocent and vanquisher of evil.
You are indeed the monster, a twisted creature of nightmares, born of hate and rage, of sorrow and guilt, of pain and despair.
You are indeed the princess, the sweet maiden with a kind heart, lead away by dark powers and entrapped by them, waiting for her savior.
A light was fast approaching from below. The monster wondered if she should retreat from it or embrace it. Well, it really didn't matter. No matter what she tried she was going in.
However, she had time for one more question. But…the monster is the one who entrapped the princess.
I see no contradiction.
Then who is the savior?
Guess.
She fell into the light, and realized too late that it wasn't light at all, but instead a reflection upon dark waters. Her body plunged beneath the surface and descended, down and down and down and down.
For the briefest of moments she felt a surge of panic. With no air, how was she to breathe? With all of her heavy armor, how was she to swim?
But then she became aware of how little danger she was in. Her armor was gone, leaving her with nothing but a white shirt with long sleeves, the one she had worn beneath her breastplate, which was patterned with a single musical note, her insignia. And though she wasn't breathing, air was still moving in and out of her lungs.
Her fingers went to her slender neck. Slits were cut through the smooth skin on both sides, slits that were opening and closing in time with the air entering her body.
Gills. She had gills. So that would mean…
The monster looked down. As she expected, her legs were gone, and in their place was a large fish tail, the scales of which were patterned with the colors of water and flame.
So, she really was the monster. She had failed in her charge, and now had become the very thing she pursued.
That is, unless she had been it all along.
With no other place to go, the monster kicked her fins and dove down deeper, as far from the surface as she could go.
She hoped that the ocean was bottomless and she would just disappear forever, but her wishes weren't accounted for much as of late. Soon she found herself swimming between great structures of coral, their twisted walls and towers little more than silhouettes in the dark. However, there was now sources of light. Windows of glass were set in the sides of the coral, and through those windows the light was shining.
The monster swam up to one window and looked through.
She saw three little girls walking together through a park, talking and laughing. One she recognize immediately. It was herself, a spunky tomboy with short blue hair and an energetic attitude. The second was a lovely girl with long pale green hair and a distinguished air, and the third a petite girl with pink hair tied into twintails on either side of her head.
They looked so far familiar. Childhood friends, long forgotten? One couldn't be expected to remember everyone they knew as a child. However, she got the most uncomfortable feeling that she ought to know who they were, that they were incredibly important.
But she just couldn't remember.
Another window attracted her attention. In this, she saw herself seated at what appeared to be a large auditorium, watching the stage with rapt attention. On the stage a young boy with silver hair was playing the violin, and doing it well. Though the monster could barely hear the notes through the glass, she could see the enraptured look on her own face, could see how wholly her younger self was enraptured with the violinist.
Huh.
Another window. Through it, she again saw the violinist, only now he was lying in a hospital bed, his hands, which had so deftly, and yet so gently commanded the bow and strings, now bandaged, and his face, which had been completely absorbed by the music he had been creating, was now fully downcast with despair. And she again saw herself, now a bit older and sitting next to him, talking to him, trying to cheer him up, but he wouldn't respond.
Another window. Through it, she was standing on a rooftop, speaking to a tiny white creature, one with strange appendages coming out of its ears and beady red eyes. The creature used those appendages to reach into her chest, and there was a blinding flash of blue light.
Another window, and she was standing by herself in the shadows, watching the young violinist, now once again healthy and walking, as he was approached by one of her friends from the first window, the one with the green hair.
Another window, and she saw herself sitting by herself at a train station, forlorn with despair. Whatever it was that had happened, it must have broken her inside, as all trace of the heart and spirit she had seen in herself from the previous images was gone, leaving nothing but an empty shell.
But she wasn't completely alone. There was someone approaching, someone coming up to sit next to her.
It was the monster, or rather the person that she had thought was the monster, the spear-wielding warrior with the red hair. As the actual monster watched, the warrior sat down on the bench next to her past self and talked.
Then, as she watched, she heard the sound of someone tapping against glass. It was coming from a window a few levels below her.
Looping around, the monster swam down to investigate. There, standing on the other side of the glass, was a pair of twin girls, both regal and beautiful with identical faces, identical black hair that flowed far down their backs and cut in the classic Hime style in the front. They both wore school uniforms in grey, green, and black, with the only difference is that one wore a bright emerald tie and the other did not.
Unlike the other apparitions, these knew that she was there. They could see her through the window, and seemed delighted to see her, if their smiling and waving was any indication.
Well, the monster didn't know them, and she was annoyed at the interruption. So in response to their greeting, she pulled down one eyelid with her finger and blew a loud raspberry. Then, before they could react, she spun around and swam off.
Whoops! Sorry about that. Accidentally opened a window to someone else's dream. My bad.
The monster paused. It was that voice again. "Who are you?" she asked.
Who am I? Is that really your biggest problem right now?
"Um, kind of? What is all this? Why are you showing me this?"
Just a good Samaritan, helping you work some shit out. You can thank me later.
"You turned me into a monster!"
I did nothing except strip away the illusion. Anything you are is of your own making. So hey, here's an idea: how about you stop blaming other people for your stupid decisions and take some fucking responsibility, that sound good to you?
The monster didn't bother dignifying that with a response. She just kicked her fins and swam downward. Maybe if she went deep enough she would escape the voice and its taunts.
And maybe she wouldn't have to face what she had become.
She went deeper and deeper. Other windows were open around her, but she didn't look to see what they wanted to show her. All she wanted to do was escape the light and find solace in the dark.
No such luck. There was a shining red light, small but bright, twinkling at her out of the dark.
With little else to do, the monster swam towards it. Might as well see what that was all about. Maybe she could snuff it out.
As she drew closer, she realized that it was a necklace. It had a single scarlet gem that hung from a black cord, with a black arrowhead strapped to the bottom of the gem.
Perplexed, the monster grabbed onto the necklace. It seemed weirdly familiar to her, though where she had seen it before she could not recall.
Well, it was a nice trinket at least. Holding it in her hand, the monster dove down deeper.
In time she came to a place deep enough that there were no more windows, but the dark wasn't as complete as she would have liked. In fact, the deeper she went, the lighter the water became.
She looked down in confusion. Sure enough, far below her was a shining orb of light, one that turned the water a pale shade of green.
The monster considered just turning away. The last thing she wanted was more painful revelations. But she had a feeling that no matter where she went, they would only follow.
So, with a sigh, down she swam, down towards the light. Might as well see this through to the end.
The light grew brighter and brighter, and her feelings of unease started to grow. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. She was a monster, after all. What business did she have with the light? Monsters were supposed to keep to the darkness.
She hesitated. Maybe she ought to go back. The light wasn't for her. She was too horrible, too sinful. Happiness was for those who deserved it, not something like her.
Then something flitted past her vision. It was a fish, one that was tiny, silver, and sparkling. Another silver fish darted by, and then three more. A whole school of the glowing fish surrounded her, swirling around her body.
Bemused, the monster floated and watched them. She didn't feel threatened by them, but she did want to see what they intended.
And then, as one, the whole school swam directly into her, melting into her body and filling her with light.
Then a hand broke the surface (surface? What? She had been going down, not up!) and seized the monster by the wrist.
Startled, the monster tried to pull away, tried to retreat, but the grip was too strong. She was hauled out of the water and into the open air.
Either up had switched places with down, or her sense of direction had really been off, because the next thing she knew, she was hauled up out of the water like a hooked fish. Bewildered, she had just enough time to register the pale blue sky surrounding a fresh sunrise and a sandy beach before a pair of slender but strong arms grabbed her and held her close in a tight embrace.
"I found you," said a very familiar voice. "Goddamn it, I actually found you."
Wait. Was that…
"Kyoko?" Sayaka Miki struggled out of the other girl's grasp and put some distance between them. "Get off of me! What the heck is going-"
Then she stopped. It was Kyoko Sakura all right, or at least it looked like her. Sort of. But instead of the old green hoodie and shorts she had been wearing the last time Sayaka had seen her, she was now wearing a multi-colored robe with long, open sleeves and depictions of flame across its back.
Also, her hair was on fire.
Sayaka opened her mouth to say something. Then she forgot what that something was and closed it again. Then she thought of something else and opened her mouth again. But then she realized that what she had to say was entirely insufficient and closed her mouth again.
Finally she managed to squeak out, "What?"
For Kyoko's part, she seemed wholly unconcerned about the inferno on her head. She just put her hands on her hips and grinned at the dumbfounded girl. "Damn it, I actually found you! And it's really you and not a bunch of fishes or the ugly fish half or anything. I mean, fucking finally, right?"
"What?" Sayaka said again. "What are you-"
Then an image popped in her mind, that of herself as a mermaid. But that was weird. Why would she be a mermaid?
She turned to the water and peered at her reflection. Well, on the upside it was definitely her. Face, body, and legs, all where they ought to be, with no sign of fishiness. However, instead of the school uniform she had been expecting to see, she was wearing a beautiful blue gown that looked like it had been woven from the sea itself. Around her neck was a necklace of sparkling blue stones, and on her head was a tiara of the same design.
Her sword, however, was still there, now sitting sheathed at her waist.
"Oh," she said. "Okay. So, you're on fire and I'm…a princess apparently? Kyoko, what is going on? The last thing I remember we were in that train station!"
"Kyoko? Who's Kyoko?" Then, before Sayaka could ask her what she meant, Kyoko then looked down at her hand. "Hey, you found my necklace!"
Sayaka looked down. She was still holding onto the red necklace with the black cord, that she had found…somewhere.
"Oh," she said. "Well, here."
She handed the necklace over, and Kyoko wasted no time slipping it down around her neck. It looked good on her.
"Thanks," Kyoko said. Then she grabbed Sayaka by the wrist and pulled her away. "Now come on, we need to find the others!"
"Others? You mean Madoka and Homura?"
"The hell are they?"
Sayaka opened her mouth to answer, but this really wasn't her day for completing thoughts, because it was then that she saw the horse.
"Kyoko, where did you get a horse?"
"Elsa Maria gave it to me. Her, and that rude chick with the rainbow hair."
"Uh…"
"Now come on!" Kyoko nimbly hopped onto the horses back. Her feet planted in the saddle's stirrups, she extended her hand. "Hop aboard, Sayaka! This adventure is just beginning!"
Oktavia von Seckendorff, Sayaka's mind automatically corrected. She blinked, frowned, and shook her head. Where had that thought come from?
Not knowing what else to do, the princess took the noble warrior's hand. Kyoko held her up into the saddles in front of her, one hand holding onto the horse's reins while the other was wrapped around Sayaka's waist. She wasn't sure how she felt about the close contact, but she had to admit it was not unpleasant.
Kyoko kicked the horse into motion, and soon they were galloping across the beach. "So Kyoko, are you going to explain what's going on, or do I have to guess?" Sayaka asked.
Kyoko laughed. "Why do you keep calling me that?" she said. "You know my name's Ophelia, right?"
…
What is it with me and overly long symbolic dream sequences taking place in circuses?
Also, yo: anyone who's read Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire, go back to that story and reread chapter nine. Tell me if anything sticks out to you. That's how long I've had that scene in the back of my head.
Until next time, everyone!