A/N: Hey everyone! Update time! Fair Warning, this chapter's a bit violent, so if anyone if triggered by it, I advise skipping to the end and then scrolling back up until you see the word SAFE.
TW for violence and someone having their head destroyed.
Mr. Tophat stood tall with a confident and dangerous air around him. Before anyone could say a thing, he ran up towards Mr. Nobody clocked him right in the face with a fist. The punch sent Mr. Nobody reeling backward and onto to his back. Knowing it would take him a moment to recover from the attack, Mr. Tophat turned to his daughter and made quick work of one of her rope ties before moving back to Cassidy to do the same.
"I don't have much time before he's back up so you girls need to get these ropes off by yourselves. Now, where's my cane?" Mr. Tophat spoke as he worked on the rope around Cassidy's left wrist. As he worked, Rachel untied the other rope restraining her other arm.
"By the pot, leaning on the right side of the table," Cassidy replied, quickly setting work on her wrist the moment she got her hand free. A groan drew all three's attention back to their enemy, who had just begun to managed roll over onto his hands and knees. Knowing he had only seconds left before Mr. Nobody was back in the game, Mr. Tophat ran over to the table and retrieved his cane from the exact spot as Cassidy had mentioned. Just as Mr. Nobody managed to get himself into a kneeling position, Mr. Tophat delivered another blow to the man's face, swinging his cane as though it were a baseball bat.
"That's for going after my daughter!" he growled. Rachel paused in the untying of her leg to let out a cheer at the action, causing her father to smirk in satisfaction. In the distance, a group of voices could be heard. "I believe that would be the calvary, girls." With his attention drawn away, Mr. Tophat was unprepared for Mr. Nobody to collide into his, sending both men to the floor. Seemingly having heard the sounds both men let out, the group of voices began to move closer to them. Cassidy made quick work of her last rope before running over to Rachel to help with her own last rope knot. Pulling her off the table, Cassidy positioned the younger girl behind her as they focused on the fight at hand.
Mr. Nobody had managed to get on top of Mr. Tophat and was now attempting to try to strangle him, smiling gleefully down at the other man as he struggled to breathe. Mr. Tophat had one hand around one of Mr. Nobody's wrist as the other was grasping around to get ahold of his cane that was laying only a few inches away from his searching hand. Knowing he was fighting a losing battle, Cassidy seemed to figure out a way to help.
"Get him, Marcus!" She cried out. This successfully distracted Mr. Nobody as he turned to look back at her with intense jealousy and causing his grip to loose as a result. This gave Mr. Tophat the chance he needed to look over at his cane and finally grasp in his hand. He quickly swung the cane once more at Mr. Nobody's head, this time hitting his temple, knocking him away towards the table and knocking it over, causing the utensils on its surface to scatter onto the ground and spilling the contents of the pot to the floor. Mr. Tophat quickly moved away from the fallen man and positioned himself between the man and the two girls. Mr. Nobody let out a growl as he rose once more.
"I'm getting tired of playing this game, Cochran." He growled.
"Then why don't you just do us all a favor and die already!" Tophat hissed back, causing Mr. Nobody to grew even angrier. He quickly snatched up The sound of footsteps reaching them caused Rachel to look away from the scene before her. The other members of the Midnight Society ran up to her with looks of relief to see her safe with Bartholomew, Horace, a few of the other employees of the carnival running up behind them.
"Marcus!" Cassidy cried, causing Rachel to look back at the battle at hand, just in time to see Cassidy trying to catch her father as he landed just before them. Rachel ran up to help place him on the ground. Mr. Tophat nodded his thanks to the girls while continuing to glare back at Mr. Nobody, his left hand now hugging his right side, indicating an injury, though no blood was visible.
As Mr. Nobody brought up his hand to attack, a hand grabbed onto his wrist, preventing him from moving. From out of nowhere, a ghostly woman appeared behind, looking him with emotionless dead eyes. Seeing her face, Rachel's eye looked over to one of the figures that stood surrounding them, despite half of the face having been melted away, Rachel could see that the figure had the same exact face as the woman before them. Looking back, Rachel saw that more figures were beginning to appear, each one having a face matching that of figures around them. Each one grabbed onto a part of Mr. Nobody's body, restraining him to the spot.
"It's them," Cassidy whispered, "It's all of his old victims." At the sound of her voice, the first ghost, the woman, looked straight at Cassidy, holding her gaze. After a moment, Cassidy spoke once more. "Anyone got a light?" Everyone looked at each other in confusion before Horace pulled a lighter from a pocket hidden in his clothing. Taking the lighter from him, Cassidy considered it for a moment. "How attached are you to this?" she asked, looking back at him.
"Not very, I found it on the ground after one of the shows, no one ever came back for it, so I just kept it. Why?" He said with a shrug.
"Because of this," she replied and then in quick succession she lit the lighter and threw it straight at Mr. Nobody. The second it made contact with him, he lit up in flames and began to scream in pain. "Mind if I use this?" Cassidy's voice asked now right next to her and her father, causing Rachel to look up to see that Cassidy had one hand loosely around her father's cane. Receiving a small nod, Cassidy took the cane into her hands and walked up to the burning man, the ghosts still there to hold him in place. Taking in the man one last time, Cassidy swung up the cane and held it in the air. "Eli?" She said, causing him to pause in his screams and look up at her with a hateful glare. "Go to hell." She then brought the cane as hard as she could and hit him straight in the head. The cane went right through the man and out the other side, scattering pieces of the head onto the ground beside them. Horrified by the events laying out before her, Rachel quickly hid her face in her father's chest. Mr. Tophat's arm tightened around her the moment she did, wishing to shield her from the horror. She could hear someone gasp from behind them.
"Its wax," she then heard her father say. Looking up from his chest, she looked at him with confusion. His gaze was stuck on the sight before them. Mustering up the courage to look, Rachel looked back to the scene. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw exactly what he was talking about. Instead of red blood coming from the spot where his head should have been, a pale yellow liquid dripped from it instead. There was no argument about what it was. Eli Wickham had been made of wax.
SAFE
Cassidy stood staring at the body before looking up at the figures before her. She shared a look with each of them before turning around and walking back to the group. She stopped beside Mr. Tophat and held out the cane.
"Thanks. Sorry about the wax, it should come off easily," she said with a slight smile. Mr. Tophat grimaced and took the cane with a nod. Bartholomew appeared beside them and held out his hand to help his friend up. Giving the man a thankful smile, Mr. Tophat took hold of the hand and stood. The two men then hugged each other, still holding hands.
"Its good to have you back old friend," Bartholomew said once they parted.
"Its good to be back," Mr. Tophat returned. He then turned back to Rachel and helped her up as well. He then pulled both her and Cassidy into a hug. "I'm so proud of you girls," he whispered.
"Thanks, Dad," Rachel said.
"Thanks, Marcus," Cassidy said at the same time.
"As much as I am all for this sweet little reunion, can we do this somewhere less creepy?" Akiko asked from where she stood beside the other Midnight Society members. let out a small snort before nodding.
"Good idea," he said, letting go of the girls before wrapping his arm over the shoulder of Bartholomew, leaning on him for support due to his still injured state. "Let's get out of here."
It turned out that Mr. Nobody's lair was another pocket dimension that stood on the other side of one of the trees surrounding the Carnival of Doom. Once everyone was outside of the tree, the door on it swung shut and morphed back to regular bark.
"Think he'll ever come back?" Louise asked, staring at the tree. Cassidy shook her head.
"I have a feeling that's the last we'll ever see of him or that place.," Cassidy answered.
"Now what?" Rachel asked, looking up at her father.
"Now, we go back to the way it was before," he answered with a frown.
"What?" Rachel asked in shock.
"The curse, I can still feel it in my veins," he said. Cassidy frowned in confusion.
"But Rachel stopped you, she was the child who remembered!" She said as distress became evident in her voice.
"I don't know why, but I know it's still there," Mr. tophat shrugged.
"There must be something we can do!" Rachel cried. Cassidy nodded before a look crossed her face.
"The original agreement," she whispered. The other children furrowed their brows before Graham's face lit up in realization.
"He never specified when the sunset had to be, did he?" He asked in excitement. Cassidy gave him an approving smile showing she had the same idea. Looks of realization all across the other members' faces one by one as they then understood what was going on.
"No, why?" Mr. Tophat frowned, not understanding what was happening out before him. Cassidy shared a mischievous look with Rachel before answering him.
"Tell me, Mr. Tophat, you up for one more show before the night's over?" She asked with a smile.
A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! I hope this chapter wasn't too uncomfortable for anyone!
Also, for next week's update, I think I might actually post the last two chapters together. I'm not sure yet, I need to see how quickly I'm able to get both done. Until then, take care!