Chapter 32:
"Ok," said Connie. "My husband talked them down from immediate execution." Simone blew out a breath. She'd been worried that they'd be fighting their way out of here. She could fly, but she could only take one person at a time. None of them wanted to commit murder on the Bee folk. "How did you do it," Cherry asked? With a shrug, Connie said, "he merely reminded them why it was they still had a kingdom..." The Vampire King was a very dangerous person to cross. "So," said Connie. "What're we doing?" "We're figuring out why Finn decided to beat Barton to a pulp," Cherry retorted, "literally."
"Maybe I can help," a voice announced.
Three sets of eyes flicked to the window, where they found Penelle perched in a demur yellow dress that still managed to leave her calves exposed. She was just what Finn had said–a dangerous little thing with the heart of a viper. Simone, ever the motherly type, pitied a child who'd been forced to grow up that way. Her kids could have ended up like Penelle. In a time not very long past, Finn was the Hero of Ooo, and he could very well have parleyed that fame into more. He'd stepped back from the stage like the good and honest man that he was, leaving the game of thrones to those who wanted to play.
Penelle hopped down off the window and came striding into the room, hips wig-wagging saucily as she pranced along. She was too young to be what she was, and Simone imagined Breezy having quite the time with her. The nasty little thing went and sat herself on the edge of the table and sat there, as if waiting for the questions to begin. That said something about how Breezy's household ran–and just what part Penelle typically played. She was the spy. She was the little info-merchant, catching folk unawares and learning their secrets for later sale. She was loyal to herself and likely nobody else. Cherry could see what she was.
Wearing a twisted smirk, the young girl said, "I'm dangerous. I know it. I can see what you're thinking right there in your eyes. You're transparent to me. You fear me." Turning a glance on the gangster, the naughty little bitch said, "I'm possessed of a malign intellect. Born this way, I'm afraid. Just you consider that before you reject me out of hand. I could be a problem for you, or I could be useful." "Your point, Lady Penelle," Simone rumbled. Turning to face them directly, the little princess said, "my father is an inveterate despoiler of little girls, Your Highness. He always has been. I understand it's... a curse of his family. When I was ten, he crept into my bedroom. I hid in the closet until he left..." Simone's mouth came open in horror.
"What do you know about Barton," Cherry interrupted. She saw somewhat, where this was going. Glancing down to examine her fingernails, as if she were bored, Penelle remarked, "that sort of thing is... leverage, as you well know, Your Highness." Cherry nodded, conceding the point. "Who owns your dad," Simone demanded? "I'm not sure," Penelle replied. "I've... overheard phone-calls. When he thought he was alone, he would take calls from somebody. He's been ordered to... do things. The Inspector of the Royal Honey has been skimming money from the sales of honey to the wingless at our border. My father takes the money and passes it on to this person for some scheme she has." "Bandit Princess," Cherry muttered. It all made sense now.
"What else did she ask your father to do," asked the Mafia Princess? "Not sure," Penelle replied. "The last conversation I heard was... frantic. Shortly afterwards, mom 'got sick'." Simone couldn't miss those 'air-quotes'. She was now afraid for Breezy's life, and she knew exactly how Finn might have reacted if he'd heard that news himself. That was a matter for later, though. Penelle was still speaking, and the Ice Queen tuned back in to what she was saying.
"Aerwin was supposed to offer herself up to the King," Penelle replied. "While you were distracted with Lady Mogg, my insipid big sister was supposed to throw herself at your husband... and sting him when he was, shall we say, compromised..." Simone's face was twisted in a rictus of anger now. Now she understood what had so enraged her husband that he'd beaten a man to death with his bare hands. She wanted to bring Barton back to life and murder him all over again. "There's a house," said Penelle. "There's a house in the woods. It was once a cottage that belonged to a couple of wood-nymphs and the little harem of males they kept in their thrall. My father goes there... Rumors hold that it's become more than a little cottage for a couple of whores..."
Nodding, Cherry said, "I guess I know where I'm going tonight. Simone? Hold down the fort and keep our husband's head attached to his shoulders." As she turned to go, Penelle asked, "well? Is that enough? Am I in?" Power. It could only have been about that for this twisted child. Yes, she was a dangerous little creature. They would have to figure out what to do with her sooner rather than later. In the right now, Cherry wasn't going to be the one arranging marriage for a child. "Come back in a couple of years, Lady Penelle," said the Boss of Bosses. "We'll talk then."
When she'd gone, Simone turned to the interesting young lady and asked, "where is your older sister?" "In her room," Penelle replied. She sounded irritated. Connie headed off the looming confrontation by reminding their little problem, "usually we Royals don't start murdering our siblings and grasping at power until we're at least sixteen, Penelle. Maybe you should slow down a bit and leave the back-stabbing to the professionals a little while longer. Maybe take a study-break for a couple of years..." The little witch's face went red hot. Taking her by the arm, the Empress led her to the door advising her, "your body's a little young to be cashing the checks you're trying to write with your mouth."
The Empress waggled her eyebrows suggestively. This little bitch was going to set herself up to get molested if she kept on this way. While Finn had the morals to turn down underage poon, there were a lot of unscrupulous men out there just itching to get hands on some kinder-snatch. "Things are going to change around here now that your father's out of the picture," said Connie. "Bide your time a bit and get a couple more years under your belt." The vampiress shoved the twisted child out the door and shut it in her face and stood there listening a while to make sure the little bitch was gone.
When they were sure their future problem was gone, Simone announced, "I want to see Aerwin. I need your help." Simone herself could fly, so there was only one reason she would need the Empress's help. "You won't like the feeling," Connie murmured. Simone knew exactly what she was talking about. She'd heard it from Star. Finn, characteristically, never talked about what it felt like to him when Marceline covered them with her invisibility. "It won't be worse than having the Lich cohabiting my body, Connie," Simone retorted. "Let's go."
Meanwhile, after leaving Simone, Cherry headed back to her own room. She felt both exhausted and dirty. Arriving in her bedroom, she shut the door and immediately started shedding her little black dress. "Ok," said Marshall, as he materialized in Cherry's bedroom. "What's really going on?" Covering her knockers, Cherry muttered, "figures you don't know how to knock..." "Seen it," Marshall retorted. "You were shot, remember?" The little woman glared at him, as she stepped behind the bathroom door. She hardly needed the reminder. "My father isn't a murderer," Marshall muttered. "What the fuck did that guy do? Who did he hurt?" Finn the Human was the kind of man who tried to save the marriage of two predatory spiders, even when those spiders were trying to fucking eat him. The idea that he would just randomly kill some spank was a joke–and a piss-poor one at that.
"His wife," Cherry sighed. She was getting out of her stockings now. The thin fellow could see her in the mirror. He could kind of see how his dad got hooked on that. She was a sexy little thing, with curves everywhere, and that little ass was scrumcious. Marshall grunted in response to her not-so-shocking revelation. It figured that this was about a girl. His dad was a hopeless blue-pill loser in some ways. He always took the girl's side, even when it cost him. Fighting down temptation, the Vampire King glanced away from the mirror when the cherry-pop started pulling her panties off.
"Breezy," Cherry, said, as she came out of the bathroom clad in a towel. "Breezy is missing. Finn believes that Bart had something to do with it." "She the girl that used a magic song on him," Marshall rumbled? "The same," Cherry replied. She'd healed Finn twice, saving him from death at the hands of the Dipped the second time. Marshall sighed heavily. That was the girl his dad had been willing to arm-twist Marshall to help out. There was a lot of history there. Now he understood. He might have done the same thing to somebody hassling Shoko, Star, or Betty.
"Ok," said the Vampire King. "When are you sneaking out?" Cherry frowned at him. With his typical roguish grin, the tall man said, "you usually have some dirty dudes in low places you can talk to. Guy like that who tries to do his wife probably has skeletons in the old closet. When are we going?" Cherry rolled her eyes and said, "sometime tonight, when sneaking out of the palace doesn't attract attention." With a grin, the tall man teased her chin with the tip of his finger and said, "don't need darkness..." As he faded from view, he said, "I bring my own..."
Rolling her eyes, the little woman said, "I'm taking a shower. I've been up for the last twenty-four hours." A voice near the door said, "I'll get you some coffee." The door opened and shut again. "Marshall," Cherry growled. "You're a fucking mouth-breather! I can hear you!" Caught! "Going," Marshall Lee burbled, as he opened the door again. This time, he did step out into the hall as he shut the door.
The Vampire King was as good as his word. He was gone a scant thirty minutes. Returning to the room his wicked stepmother was using, the tall fellow knocked politely and waited. "Come in," Cherry announced. She was pulling on hiking-boots when he entered. That brought back unhappy memories. The tall man put the coffee cup on the side-table and waited. The gangster girl finished tying up the boots and climbed to her feet. Striding across to the table, she took the cup and drank deep. Setting the cup down once more, she told him, "the place we're going to is a whorehouse run by nymphs..." "Shocker," Marshall retorted. "It might well be," Cherry replied. "I think there's unsavory shit going on there." Marshall frowned. She was a gangster. She was the gangster. What was there that was unsavory that would bother her.
Looking into her dark eyes, the tall man shivered, as he realized that he maybe might not want to know. "I need you focused, Marshall," she said. "Focused on saving your dad's life. I need a promise that you'll stay focused on that..." "Or...," he growled? "Or you're not going," she said. His hands curled into fists. The darkness was never far away, and he realized that she feared whatever was in this house would drive him to murder just like his dad. That's when he realized just what it was that she feared they'd find. Her eyes were unwavering. She needed his help, but she feared his reaction.
Taking out his phone, the Vampire King flicked it on to his private number. "Put it on voice-dial," he said. "I'll wait outside." Nodding, the Mafia Princess, typed the younger man's phone number into her phone and keyed it to voice-dial before slipping the phone in her pocket. "Ok," he said. "We're going for a little ride. You'll need to be quiet. People can still hear you..." Without a further word, he swept the little woman into his arms. One step. Two. Then they were flying–out through the window and into the sky above the Royal Palace of the Bee Kingdom. Marshall climbed swiftly, soaring up above the canopy of the forest–taking them out of the range of prying ears. In the cool air up there, he turned to his father's wife and said, "ok. Where we going?"
Cherry gave the directions, just as she'd gotten them from her agents. They'd confirmed where the house was, what was on offer there, and who ran the place. It was the kind of ugly thing that her husbands had both fought against. It was the sort of ugly karma that threatened your soul. She was ashamed to know that her agents had profited from that place. She would have to do something about it. Someday. That was the thing that was even uglier for her. To save her husband, she might have to spin an ugly deal that left these sick fucks in business for a little while longer.
Forty minutes after starting out, the Vampire King alit a hundred yards out from the sinister house in the woods. "Is that what it's like for you," Cherry asked? Marshall flinched. He'd forgotten. He was used to this. He was getting used to that ugly, skin-crawling feeling. His dad had felt it many, many times with his mom. Finn always took care of the girl, even when she was so soaked in evil you could feel it on her. "We're going to talk, when this is over with," Cherry said, as she turned back to the business at hand.
The house was a raucous place. There were a large number of customers there. Far from being the home of a few harlots, it was clearly the place thirsty men came for a party. They'd encountered a few bee-dudes coming back from the place or heading there in a hurry. "Ok," said she. "I'm headed in." Stepping off, the little woman left the Vampire King standing in the shadows. Almost he decided not to hide himself again. He'd wanted that power not very long ago. Now that he had it, he hated that feeling.
Back in the palace, Simone and Connie came swooping through Aerwin's window and into the young princess's quarters. They found her laying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, her face shadowed with fear and worry. There had been a dozen soldiers on guard outside, which could have meant anything. What it suggested to Simone was that something was very wrong here. Finn might well not be the only person in danger here. Separating from Connie, Simone called out to Breezy's daughter.
Aerwin was out of bed, her face contorting in terror for a moment. Then, as recognition dawned, she rushed her mom's friend and threw her arms around the older woman before bursting into tears. Hugging the younger woman, Simone stroked her short hair, whispering soothing words. Taking her by the arm, the Ice Queen led her over to the bed and sat her down. Settling on the bed beside her, the older woman took her hand. It was so smooth and natural, Connie found herself envying Simone. She could only hope to be a mother like that.
"I-is Finn ok," Aerwin murmured? "Nobody's talking... The guards won't let me leave..." "He's imprisoned," Simone allowed. "Your father is..." Aerwin flushed. The man who'd left her had looked like a man ready to commit murder. "He's had my momma taken," Aerwin murmured. "He had pictures of her on his phone... tied up and laying somewhere... in somebuddy's dungeon..." Connie announced, "we need that phone..." It was key to proving Finn was in the right. "It's probably still in his pocket," Simone mused. "I'll get it," Connie said. She knew where they'd taken the body.
Back in the forest, Shawna Desmarais sat in the corner of her bar opposite the door, listening to the thumping music with a couple of vials of rendered Fruit-Witch Venom before her and a needle poised at her arm. The house was full, and the sounds of vice drifted to her occasionally from the upstairs and the back rooms. She was a woman of demons. When the house was full like it was tonight, she found herself remembering her own life in a house like this. She'd been an underage sex-worker until a hit team hired by a rival madam set the house on fire and burned it down, killing many of those inside. Shawna was haunted by the screams. Only she and her sister had escaped that night.
They'd come here to hide out, and they'd both managed to latch onto men to take care of them. It had been a relatively happy life until Gemma's man missed a dose of the drugs. He and his brother were buried out in the garden. They'd smashed the older brother's head with a rock and poisoned the younger. The sisters had never been the same after that day. Both had gotten into drugs. Unfortunately, while Gemma had somewhat managed to control her addiction, Shawna's had spiraled out of control, going into harder and harder drugs. Fortunately their business mostly ran itself.
Just as the evil nymph would have jabbed the needle in and pressed the plunger, the stranger walked in. Everybody in the underworld knew who she was. A tiny, humanoid candy-person with a heart of stone. In her way, the little candy person was just as bent as the two sisters, but she was far more dangerous. Weaving her way through the early morning crowd of horny nobles, the gangster-girl strode up to Shawna's table and spent a while giving her the stare. Those dark eyes seemed to suggest that Shawna was a piece of humanoid garbage–living filth.
"Good morning," Cherry murmured. "You're the fuckup that's sold out to the Bandit Princess." Shawna's mouth came open. How did this woman know that? Sitting back in her chair, the nymph rumbled, "you don't run the world..." "I run enough of it," Cherry retorted. "Don't make me marshal my forces against you..." Outside in the forest, Marshall Lee's phone rang. The young anti-hero swiftly drew it out and answered it. He found himself listening in fascination to the conversation in the building.
Cherry read the evil bitch the riot-act, pointing out the dangers of her current business model in a world where the King himself had sanctioned conventional vice. "This shit's off limits," said Cherry. "I should make you disappear!" "Really," growled Shawna? "I don't see an army..." Motioning to the guards scattered around the room, the evil woman remarked, "maybe I should make you disappear. I'd probably get a pile of money as a reward..." That was the moment that a specter came striding out of the wall. He was a tall, blonde humanoid with a massively fractured skull. The nymph fell out of her chair in shock and terror. The specter kept right on coming, though, passing through the table as if it weren't there. In short order, the crowd in the common room were crowding the windows and doors trying to get out.
"Baby," howled the dead man, "why did you do it? Why did you kill me?" Cherry snapped her fingers in dramatic fashion, and the dead man stopped right where he was. Shoveling the filth on the table onto the floor, the crime-boss said, "the Queen Bee was kidnaped and snatched right out of the palace. She was moved out of this kingdom. How was it done, Ms. Desmarais? Any thoughts?" The terrified nymph lay on the floor, her heart pounding as she gulped down air. Her eyes were wild and frightened, and she looked like she might either die on the spot of fear or flee into the woods, never to return. When the second specter came waltzing through her walls, his face and throat colored purple from the poison he'd ingested, Shawna Desmarais began to spill her guts of every dark secret she knew.
In less time than it takes to tell, the Mafia Princess came walking back out of the now-empty whorehouse just as she'd gone in. She found a grim Marshall Lee standing there in the shadows of a tree. "I'm sorry," she said. She meant the evil shit he'd had to overhear. "Forget it," he muttered. "C'mon. If I know how shit usually goes for my dad, they're planning to burn him at the stake or something." Without a further word, he scooped up his stepmomma and vaulted into the sky.
Indeed, matters were moving forward. The Bee Kingdom's governing council was now in session, with members having come from across the kingdom and even from business abroad to deal with the crisis at hand. The Queen was ill and mewed up in her quarters, and the Consort was deceased, having literally been beaten to death by the man who was supposed to be their protector. The news had the council in a state of turmoil, with half the council unsure what to do now.
Of course, there were those whose eyes were on the main chance. With both Royal Parents now out of the picture, the Heir would need shepherding. The Council would need to appoint someone as Regent, and there were a number of faces who hungered for that power. The Kingdom would have to speed up the marriages of the remaining Royal Children to get them out of the way of course, with Naome being the most immediate problem.
And, of course, there was the question of what to do with the murderer.
Lord Curtis Howard wanted to get right down to business with the trial, but he had been Barton Banks' cousin and long time friend. He had more than a few reasons to want to do in the King of Ooo. The Howard family had been insulted, long ago, by Finn Mertens, and they still remembered that day. Lady Corrine Mogg counseled patience. While the facts of the matter were clear, she thought that Finn Mertens ought to be given some leeway. He was holding the whole damned world together, preventing the forces of chaos from running wild. "We bloody can't just ignore the fact that he beat a man to death, Corrine," muttered Condeleeza Hammond. "We can't put him to death, either," Corrine retorted. "What do you suggest instead?" "A trial," announced Gerard Walker! "We'll put him on trial!"
"There will be no trial," Simone announced, as she thrust open the chamber doors. The gathered councilors spun to face the Ice Queen. Lady Mogg frowned down her narrow nose at their impertinent visitor. "You don't have power here," she declared. "I have the power of truth," Simone retorted, as she strode towards the gathering. It was only then that the gathered councilors realized that Princess Aerwin was with her. "Princess Aerwin belongs in her quarters," announced Lord Curtis. "Under guard." "The guards are not to be trusted," said Connie, as she materialized. "They're part of the plot." "What plot," howled Councilor Walker?!
"My father's plot," Aerwin declared. The councilors' eyes narrowed on her. Many of them were friends of the late Consort. Barton had his hands in the pockets of several noble houses in the kingdom. Aerwin met those hard expressions without wilting. Simone thought her mother would have been proud to see it. "My father plotted with outsiders to have my mother taken from our home," Aerwin declared. "He showed me her picture on his phone. He threatened to have her murdered..."
"And what proof do we have of this," demanded Curtis Howard? Calmly, the Empress lay the dead man's phone on the table, opened up to the offending pictures. It had been a matter of simply ordering the corpse to unlock the phone. Fortunately, there was enough brain-matter left in his ruptured skull to do that. "B-but why would the Consort do such an evil thing," howled Condeleeza Hammond? "Because he would be Regent," said Aerwin, "until I turned eighteen... maybe longer if he could get the council's backing."
As the councilors listened–some in horror, all in some flavor of unease–the young heir told of how her father had meant for her to take the King back to her quarters. She talked of how she'd been pressed to commit murder upon him, though it was clear in hindsight her father would have been satisfied for the King of Ooo to be caught diddling the heir. Finn the Human had seen through the whole thing, and he'd been very angry. Even the most cavalier of the courtiers could well understand why.
"But... This makes no sense," howled Lady Mogg. "W-why would Barton do such horrible things?!" "It makes sense in context with what I discovered," announced Cherry. The Mafia Princess came striding into the hall, with the Vampire King at her side. "He is... or was in thrall to the Bandit Princess." Whispers of consternation drifted through the room at the mention of that name. Word had been getting around in the civilized kingdoms. Everyone was aware of the army of the starving massed at the Grey Forest's border. Everyone had heard of the murders and outright cannibalism in Lizard Kingdom. There had been rumors of secret dealings between Emerald Kingdom's princess and the bandits. Far from being a base murderer, the King had every right to sanction them if Barton had been in league with his enemy.
"I demand the release of my husband," Simone growled, her eyes blazing with pale fire. It was a convincing–and terrifying–reminder of who they were dealing with. Corrine Mogg rushed to the doors and sent the guards to the dungeon to free the King from prison. Almost done, thought Marshall. "One last thing," said Simone. "The Royal Bodyguard of the Bee Kingdom is corrupt... They are sentenced to sixty years. Dungeon. Then they are banished for life." One of the soldiers who'd been standing guard there in the room raised his weapon, and, belatedly, Corrine Mogg realized that he was the the one man there wearing the badge of the Bodyguard. He'd barely begun to move when the Ice Queen froze him into a statue on the spot. Just eighty more to go.
It didn't take much convincing after that to get the council moving. Soldiers loyal to the council were dispatched, and the arrests began. After a tense half hour, council guards arrived with Finn among them, looking dirty and a little disheveled. He looked none the worse for wear, though he was still splattered with gore from Barton's head. Upon catching sight of Aerwin, the King of Ooo immediately moved towards her. When one of the guards might have blocked him, the King gave him that patented stare, and the soldier backed down. Total intimidation. One step. Two, and then he was hugging Aerwin. "I'm'a get your momma back," he whispered. "I'm'a bring her home to you."
"All very touching," rumbled Lord Howard, "but there is still the matter of Regency." Finn knew what that word meant. It was one of those unhappy words he'd discussed with Bonnie a long, long time ago. She'd had two kids who were too young to take charge of the Kingdom, and she hadn't wanted a repeat of the clusterfuck with Lemondgrab trying to make a grab for power in her kingdom. Finn and Simone had been named regent in her will until Bon and Shoko were old enough to make their own decisions. Finn hadn't even been able to pronounce the word until recently, though he knew it when he heard it. Back then, it had been the 'look after my kids and their stuff' agreement. Today it was 'Breezy's neighbors are screwing with her kids and trying to take their stuff'.
The big man glanced up and said, "Queen Breezy has been the King's good friend of long years. It is my honor to act as Regent for her daughter until such time as she is brought home..." As the councilors howled, the King of Ooo declared, "I hereby appoint Constance, Princess of the Engagement Ring Kingdom, as my agent and proxy." Big words. Marshall winced. 'New Finn' was in full effect. Releasing the young princess, the big man turned his face on the councilors, as if daring them to argue. "So be it," muttered Condeleeza Hammond. Turning to his ladies, the King said, "we should pack and go. There's business waiting."
As the sun was setting Marshall Lee Abadeer found himself sitting opposite his dad's wife in the King's private car, his mind on his father. The family had gathered up their shit and gotten back on the tram in short order, but Finn himself had remained behind. Working deets, he'd said. He wanted everything squared away before he left because he didn't have the time to come back here if the bee-peeps got out of pocket. He was risking his life on people that Marshall no longer trusted. How many more traitors were there still in the Bee Kingdom?
Even beyond that, there were other issues at hand here. The shitbag he'd killed had done some pretty horrible shit. What kind of man used his own kid to try and murder somebody? And that was before you got into how Aerwin was supposed to do the deed. Barton had been essentially selling his daughter's ass to get at somebody he disliked. It was fucking sick shit anyway you looked at it. Growing up, Marshall had seen signs of the kind of ultra-violence that Finn was capable of. He'd seen it where his sisters and older brothers hadn't. Deep down inside, he would honestly have said he was afraid of Finn the Human because the big man was on the knife-edge of violence.
It was there in his eyes in unguarded moments–moments where some shitbag or other edged up on The Line. Marshall had edged up on that line a couple of times when he was younger and stupider. Honestly, the whole thing with Shoko had half been about creepin' up on the line. Fate had stopped him, and he was glad for that. He was glad to have learned who his family was. At the same time, the young man who'd become the Vampire King still sometimes wondered. What would it take? What kind of evil shit would drive Finn over the edge? Now he knew, and the thought made his blood run cold. It was a lesson, though, and a reminder. Don't do evil shit to kids. The larger lesson? Finn was on the edge of his own darkness, risking losing his soul for people he might not even know.
"My mind is on you, honey," Cherry retorted. "I'm afraid for you. I'm afraid and horrified to know that I'm partly responsible for your condition." "You didn't make me do shitty things to people from the time I could wipe my own ass," Marshall muttered. He'd been on that slope a long, long time before he found himself in that old lab in the mountains. "I want you to consider some things," she said. He knew exactly where she was going to go, and he found himself wondering how many times his dad had held the same conversation with his mom.
Marceline Abadeer had reveled in her ability to be an invisible dick to any and everybody she met. Terrorize some superstitious locals with a horde of skeletons for the kicks? Marcie Abadeer had done it. Conjure up a few ghosts to frighten people at a show? Yeah, been there. Creep into somebody's space all invisible and gaslight them? She'd done it to a couple of boyfriends who pissed her off. Marceline used to boast about the things she'd done, little realizing that she was growing ever closer to darkness with every dick thing she did.
The thin man glanced away, but Cherry didn't let him go too far. Twining her fingers in his, she remarked, "power is temptation... Ask me how I know that..." Marshall flinched. Of all the people in the family, the only people not to be shocked by the feel of his darkness were his dad–and Cherry. "You're now my project," she said. "I'm responsible for some of how you came to be in this place–a soul that had nothing to do with my war..." Question was, who was looking after her? She was just as messed up. No sooner had Marshall had that thought than Finn passed by, almost as if he were answering the question, his hand brushing his son's shoulder, conveying the love he had for his boy without his saying a word.
Meanwhile, up at the far end of the room, the Empress sat staring at her husband and the mystery woman, worry and puzzlement naked on her face. Marshall and Cherry, sitting in a corner of the salon. Talking. They were talking in low voices as Finn passed them by. It was a weird sight to Connie. It was completely normal to someone who knew Cherry was a mom. From Simone's view, Cherry made the perfect choice. She'd done her best to help Marshall, but she had a handicap. She approached the business from the position of a person who knew nothing of what it was like to be consumed by darkness as he was. But Cherry knew. She knew the rage and hate that motivated their stepson.
"You're going to be fine," Simone remarked, drawing Connie's attention back to her. "You're part of this family, Connie," the Ice Queen reminded her. It was as if she knew exactly what Connie was thinking. Insistently, Simone said, "I was never more alone than when I was going mad, but my family saved me. I was alone again when I woke up in that hospital to find my husband missing and my world turned upside down. My family was there to catch me again. You're part of this thing of ours, and we're always here to catch you."
Down at the end of the compartment, Marshall rose from the table. With a sigh, Connie said, "I guess it's time to go. I'll..." "We will be in touch," Simone insisted. "We're gonna' stop by... See the grand-kids. Ok?" "Ok," said Connie, and she meant it. With a smile on her face, she turned and headed down the aisle to join her husband.
As they stepped outside, the thin man turned his face to the west–to the sun he never got to feel anymore. Connie could feel the mood on him. She'd been striving with all her might to break through the wall he'd built around himself. Now she saw the way. Twining her fingers in his, she lay her head on his shoulder, reminding him that he wasn't alone. Shaking off the mood, the thin man said, "let's get home. Shit's going to get real when they find out the Queen Bee's missing." Dudes would start maneuvering, and Marshall wanted to spare Aerwin the grief while they could. It was like Shoko all over again–one lone girl holding up the whole damned show, with a hundred shitbags trying to tear her down for fun and profit. The pair stepped off, bound for their own train.
Finn's family saves the day. Marshall is still a lech. And some heart-warming family moments amidst the tragedy.