The Bureau Files: Series 3
ooOoo
Episode 8: The Prison (Part 2)
Written by: KuraiArcoiris
As she opened her eyes, Haru noted two things. One, the place she was in looked slightly familiar. Two, she was currently still only a foot or so tall.
"It's that strange weed again," said a voice to her right. A human-faced scruffy dogrose leaned forward to glare at her. Oh. She was back in Wonderland. "And it's taller now."
"How do we get rid of it this time?" said a somewhat familiar spindly tulip.
"No need to get rid of me, I'll get rid of myself as long as you tell me where I can find Absolem," said Haru. The dogrose humphed and crossed two of its leaves.
"And why would you need to know where Absolem is? Are you going to go grow near him, weed, and strangle his mushroom's roots? The mushrooms would get you first, you know."
"Look, I just need to talk to him. It's urgent. A friend of mine's in trouble, and if I don't hurry, he'll… he'll…." The words died in Haru's throat. Glinda had said that he might not be figuratively in one piece, but what did that mean? What was happening to Baron?
"He'll what? What's wrong? Pollen in your stem?"
"Oh, I know what happened to it! My seedmate said that's what happens when you start a lie," a poppy said. "You get pollen in your throat and can't finish it."
"I'm not lying! I need to talk to Absolem or something bad's going to happen to Baron! So just tell me where he is!"
"It's mouthy for a weed, isn't it?" said the dogrose.
"Yes, and rude," replied a daisy. "But then all weeds are. Just tell it where Absolem is. Let him deal with it."
"Fine, I'll do it," said the tulip. It pointed with a leaf to a small path not too far from the flowers. "He's down that way, or that's the way he went last time we saw him. Off with you, now, weed. And do try to keep from tying up anyone's roots."
"Thanks," said Haru with a short bobby bow as she quickly ran off down the path. She could hear the flowers starting to discuss whether or not she really was a weed or not, but she ignored them focused on finding Absolem. If what they had said about mushrooms was correct then there was one person, or rather insect, he should be.
Haru quickly found herself in a very shadowed area full of mushrooms, as she expected, and any other time she might have stopped to gape at the beautiful sight. The mushrooms ranged from the size of her leg to ones several times her size. Her current size, anyway. And the colours… Some mushrooms were black, white, and brown, but most of the mushrooms were much brighter colours. Some glowed, and others shimmered. Some looked carved out of crystals, while one tickled her leg with its fuzzy cap. Only the memory of Glinda's words kept her from reaching out and touching various mushrooms to find out if they felt like mushrooms or not.
"So you have returned," said a deep voice, and Haru blinked at the form crawling out of the shadows. Perhaps it was because in all the illustrations the caterpillar towered over Alice, but Haru expected the caterpillar to be much bigger. But if she was about of foot tall, it made sense for her to be about four times taller than him. To her, the caterpillar was still strangely tall. About as long as her arm if not longer. "You caused quite the ruckus when you were here last. What do you think of my work?"
"I need to know what Cap is and a ring."
"My, you sure are straight to the point. And rude. What make you think I will give you either of those things?"
"Because you owe me that much now."
"Do I?" said the caterpillar before taking a deep breath of his pipe thing connected to a small vase-like thing (Haru wasn't exactly sure what it was, and neither was she about to ask) and blowing out smoke directly into Haru's face. She coughed violently and took a step back, waving her arms to dissipate the smoke. "Owing is something caterpillars like myself don't do."
"I need to find my friend," said Haru swallowing back coughs. "He's in trouble, and it has something to do with a cap and a ring, and you will help me find him, whether owing is something you do or not."
"Not a cap. CAP. If you don't even know that much, how do you think you will release your friend? To be honest, releasing him is impossible, but then you appear to be the same."
"Appear to be the same what?"
"You appear to be impossible. The kind of impossible that means warnings are useless and you don't understand the word no. So I might as well tell part of my tale and finish my part in yours."
"If you could do it quickly, I would appreciate it."
"That was my intention, stupid girl. Why do all girls have to act so stupidly?"
"I have a feeling it's something more to do with you than us," said Haru as she sat on a deep red mushroom. She sunk in it a bit and nearly gasped at how soft it was. Instantly, she focused back her attention on Absolem. "So, what is Cap?"
"CAP is my Creation," said Absolem as he took another deep breath of smoke and exhaled it straight into Haru's face again, causing another round of coughing. "Much like Baron is your father's Creation, CAP is mine. Though I did not cheat as your father did and use someone else's power or powder. When I moulded CAP, I put my whole essence into it. It was the only one of my projects that took a life of its own, but then I did design it to do so."
"Okay, so CAP is a Creation, your Creation. But what is it exactly, and what does it have to do with where Baron is?" asked Haru.
"Impudent child, do you want me to finish rapidly or slowly? I thought even clueless children as yourself knew that interruptions do nothing but stop a tale."
"I'm not a child," snapped Haru. "And as long as you tell me what I need to know, I won't interrupt again."
"Yes, you are a child, girl. At least to me. Years mean nothing to me, but if they did, I would be older than even that pretentious sorceress that sent you here. I would be so old that things like how to reach your friend would be too deep in my mind for me to reach. Fortunately, Time and I no longer have anything to do with each other. Now excuse me while I reach for what you nearly put out of my reach."
Another puff of annoying blue smoke, another round of coughing, but otherwise Haru refrained from doing anything but glare at the annoying blue caterpillar as he stared out into space.
"Ah, there it is," said the blue caterpillar at last. He returned Haru's glare with a flat stare of his own. "It is extremely difficult to keep this tale, so try not to interrupt again. It is very unpleasant, and I'd much rather let it fall back into the void. However, it must be told, hopefully for the last time. When Time and I were still in contact, I lived elsewhere, in a world that no longer truly exists. It was a world far more sophisticated than any other I have seen or in all probability exist. Those fellow creatures that lived with me did not only know of other worlds, we fashioned them much like someone might fashion a new home.
"Not to say that we could indeed create worlds, but we preferred to think of it that way since we took budding worlds and shifted them around to suit our purposes through those things that are now translated as magic and technology. We sent our people to live in these other worlds or used them as vacation destinations. And then came the Crimes War. Certain individuals had started abusing others, some had even been killing entire populated worlds. I had little to do with the situation, since I have rarely cared for those outside my work. Two of those who I bothered caring for were my wife and daughter, but I had sent to test out a new world and so was not overly concerned with them. I believed them safe in a closed off world. As is usually the case, I was wrong. One of those life-enders got into my closed-off world and ended every life in it."
Another burst of smoke caused Haru's eyes to water, but as she blinked she thought she saw a field of yellow wheat stained red in a straight lines with mangled bodies. Bile burned its way up her throat, but the image disappeared and instead another with a blue caterpillar-like creature (with only two arms and two legs and antennae on his caterpillar-shaped head) frantically typing (or something like that with fingerless hands) into spheres made of multi-coloured light.
"After that, I was aware that something had to be done, and so I did it. I created a world to contain and trap these life-enders and other criminals. A prison that would adjust and correct those lesser beings into beings of worth, or so I told those who had what you now call 'authority.' For the world would do just that. It would target the danger in dangerous and destroy it. To do so, I knew that it would have to have a brain, a self. How could it judge and study a self if it itself was not one? And so I poured my soul like a proper artisan and let it attain its essence from it. And I was successful. Too successful."
Haru could have sworn she saw the caterpillar-like creature literally spill its soul (blue like a dwarf star) out a gash in reality and into a deep, dark void. The image changed again into those spheres of light showing various caterpillar-like creatures (all different colours) falling through the same gash and now-multi-coloured void. The blue caterpillar-like creature sat nearby watching a sphere showing a yellow-striped black creature get thrown in again and again.
"Lessers went in and Constructives came out. Even then we knew there was something off with the Constructives. They reacted too strangely to their former interests, too filled with terror. But as long as the job was done, I had what I thought was peace. War disguises itself like peace too often, and it came and trapped us all. One took 'authority' over our world and destroyed it by means of punishment. He punished thousands, millions, billions, numbers that you children haven't invented yet because you do not realize numbers are useless in understanding the universe. He punished those numberless selves using CAP, using my Creation."
A large grass green caterpillar creature with yellow wings flew stared down at a huge crowd of caterpillar creatures that were being herded into the gash and void. The familiar blue caterpillar creature was being dragged between two black caterpillar creatures through the crowd and towards the gash. One of the black caterpillar creatures had yellow stripes.
"I myself grew to know what my Creation could do. I spoke to it. I grew to fear it. Eventually, I escaped it. By then, I learned that my world was no more. The few who remained had destroyed themselves, and that holder of 'authority' was cast into my Creation himself. If any besides me escaped my Creation, they have not deigned to show themselves to me. But then, I have hidden here in this last of my moulded worlds, and I have worked hard to remain unknown."
"Wait. What do you mean the 'last of my moulded worlds'? Do you mean you made this place?" said Haru, looking around at the mushrooms once again in wonder.
"I did not 'make' this world. Are you deaf, child? I moulded it. Despite their names, Creations are not actual creations. They are made or moulded by their Artisans. But like children, we who make cannot claim to have made them from nothing. Creation is from nothing. As far as anyone who has sense can tell, only One has power to do that. Worlds can be guided once they appear, and that is what I did. I encouraged colour and shape and texture and sentience. It takes a delicate handle to mould a world where one can forget."
"So you made—sorry, moulded this world so you could forget?"
"So everyone can forget," said the blue caterpillar. Another puff of blue smoke assaulted Haru, but she didn't even flinch. "I have learned selfishness and self-importance is dangerous. Anyone who wishes to forget may come here to do so."
'Like my father,' thought Haru but shook the thought away. She was here for a reason. Out loud she said, "So what exactly did Cap do to… target danger and destroy it?"
Blue smoke spun on rings around Haru as the blue caterpillar stared straight into her eyes. His beady black eyes reflected the light like stones, and Haru found it hard to breathe.
"It finds what makes you dangerous to those around you and manipulates the world, itself, around you so that you suffer the worse possible consequence to your actions. It repeats this until you stop. And then it spits you out into the nearest world when it is certain you will never think of choosing to do the dangerous action again."
"B-but what about those who aren't dangerous?" asked Haru, her voice near pleading. "Those who haven't done anything to hurt the ones around them?"
"The first my Creation knew of any world was the worst all of them could offer. When one sees the worst at the beginning, it is impossible to see anything else."
"So… what? Are you saying that your Creation believes everyone is dangerous? That everyone is out to hurt those around them?"
"It does not know good or bad. Just dangerous and safe." Again the stone-like eyes reflected the light eerily. "What makes your friend dangerous?"
Haru shook her head reflexively, but the word "nothing" stuck in her throat. A person who hides a sword in his cane, who toppled kings, who did all those things she had been reading the day before, could be called many things. And dangerous was one of them.
"But then why didn't you teach it? Why didn't you show it right and wrong? Why leave it to keep… to keep making people safe?"
"My excuse has always been that it is impossible. To get to CAP, one must be very powerful. My former world made sure of that before ceasing to live. More powerful than me or that annoyingly meddling enchantress. There are other ways. One could be a Creation themselves. Or one could have a ring that has long been destroyed. Or one could have one that still exists and have the ability to open doors," answered the caterpillar with his piercing stone-like eyes. A cloud of blue smoke swirled around Haru but didn't distract her.
"Even if it's hard to get to, you should have found a way to go back. It's your Creation!"
"It's only mine when I allow myself to remember. When I lift the effects of this world. But I don't. Even if it is selfish, I don't. And after this, I no longer will. That me will fall into the abyss and never return."
"How do you do that? How do you remember after living here so long?" asked Haru.
"Simple. Very simple, you silly girl. Why do you think I am playing with smoke? It isn't for fun, whatever you may believe. This smoke is an invention or spell or whatever term you wish to give it. It allows me enough strength to fight off the effects. To recall what I want and forget what I want. And now it will allow you to remember yourself when you go attempt the impossible twice over."
Another and last spiral of smoke encircled Haru, and she suddenly realized she was no longer coughing.
"Now for the ring. You're quite fated since you yourself have caused me to have it. Dealing with Cheshire is truly a ruthless business," said Absolem taking the strange connected pipe out of his mouth. The last puff of smoke crept through the air and behind Absolem. The blue tendrils lifted a circlet that looked more like a bracelet than a ring and dropped it at Haru's feet. Haru bent down to get it. "Before you touch it, there are a few more things I would like to say."
With a jerk, Haru snapped back into an upright position, now a bit more wary of the gold "ring."
"You will know the Creation's puddle because it will be quilt. And yours has a red line in front put there by two other children. Take off the ring and put in your pocket when you get there if you want to jump in. Also, Time will most likely be up to his old tricks as will the Creation, so now is when speed really matters. Finally, remember this if nothing else girl: Be careful. Nothing there is real. Nothing, except those trapped there and it. So go away and don't come back."
A cloud of blue smoke surrounded the caterpillar, cleared, and left no trace that Absolem had ever been there. Haru took one last look at where the blue caterpillar had stood throughout the story before steeling herself and reaching for the ring.
"Hold on a little longer, Baron. I'm coming."
ooOoo
Louise's dress surrounded her in white, and for a few moments, Baron couldn't recognize the angel walking down the church aisle. More than a few envious glares bore into him, but he could only stare at the white Half-Cat walking down the aisle. Behind him, the silver grey cat in priest garb chuckled.
"I believe that in your case, I am not exaggerating when I say God's blessed you with an angel," said the minister. Baron's cheeks blushed on cue, but those blasted brown eyes distracted him with a millisecond of an image of a human brunette. His blush intensified even as he shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts of another when he had this angel in front of him.
The wedding ceremony lived up to every expectation he had of it. The haunting brown eyes notwithstanding, Baron held the white Half-Cat's hand throughout all of it, and his heart threatened to tickle his ribcage with warm, feathery pieces of joy for the rest of time. He allowed himself to forget his more recent attempts to aid those in need (the librarian had banned him for another month for the bookcase fiasco) and simply enjoyed the present. For Louise, he focused solely on being happy.
And then his eyes were drawn to a young tan Half-Cat staring blankly in the corner. He would have let her be, but her eyes… they were brown. Those brown eyes. He blinked. No, not exactly those eyes, but very close. Louise excused herself to dance with an old friend (an older gentleman who thought of Louise as a niece), and Baron found himself walking over to the staring girl. A little boy watched them with an almost sorry look in his black eyes.
"Good morning," said Baron.
"Good morning."
"I'm sorry to be rude, but I don't recognize you."
"I'm not surprised," muttered the Half-Cat. A little louder, she continued, "My name's Harumi."
"Haru… mi?" asked Baron. The name failed to come off his tongue smoothly, one syllable too long.
"Yes. And you're Baron. I've seen you around," said the girl with a wane smile.
"You've seen me around? What do you mean?" asked Baron.
A blush crept up the girl's neck and glowed under her brown hair. Baron smiled at the fetching picture the young Half-Cat made. He quickly and subtly shook his head to clear it of such unfaithful thoughts.
"You're the Baron who tries to help." The words were barely rose above a whisper. A smile lit those almost-right brown eyes, and Baron knew no amount of shaking could stop his admiration of them. He took a step backward, but she didn't seem to notice. "You're not very good at it."
"So my wife keeps telling me," said Baron, reminding her and himself of his marital status. A slight shadow dimmed the light in those eyes, but the tan Half-Cat kept smiling.
"Why do you do it?" she asked. "Why do you keep helping when you know you're so bad at it?"
"Because I cannot ignore a person in need." The oft-quoted phrase had the opposite effect on this tan Half-Cat than it did on Louise. The girl let out a quiet laugh.
"I see," she said, and Baron believed she did. "I admire your confidence, Baron. I wish I could be so sure about what I was doing. I'm always so scared of messing up."
"All you have to do is believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear." Even as the words came out of his mouth, Baron felt his shoulders straightening and his whole being filling with rightness. These words, like the ones he had told Louise weeks ago, were more real than… than this life. The girl's smile widened, and her brown eyes sparkled. Baron couldn't help grinning back.
"Thanks. I'll do that," she said. Brown eyes peeked over his shoulder. "You should probably return to your wife. She's almost done dancing with that older gentleman."
"That I shall," said Baron. Sweeping off his white top hat, he gave the lovely Half-Cat a bow, his heart both rising and sinking at her renewed smile. Why was it that he felt guiltier about returning to his wife than talking to this girl? He replaced his top hat on his head and proceeded back to his wife.
A scream froze him mid-stride. A black and white cat streaked out the ballroom's door.
"My necklace!" yelled a human woman. Without hesitation, Baron chased after the thief. The black and white cat caught sight of Baron and picked up his pace, and Baron did the same. They came to a street, and the cat with the pearl necklace in its mouth paused briefly as he noticed large carriage coming down the road.
A quick look back convinced him to go forward. Baron took stock of the carriage, and he quickly calculated he could cross the street in time to avoid it. His dress shoes clacked along the cobblestones as he ran right behind the black and white cat. He could hear the carriage driver crying out and the horses whinnying in protest to the sudden jerk back of their reigns.
Baron only had a moment to remember Louise's words from when he woke up from that carriage accident months ago. He ran faster. He was on the other side of the street before the horses came close to him. Horse cries and other human ones sounded behind him, and the black and white cat stopped to look back. Baron caught him by the scruff of the neck and yanked the necklace out of his mouth. He opened his mouth to scold the cat when he noticed its grey eyes staring at where they had come.
The horses and carriage were being backed up by their panicked driver as several men surrounded the middle of the road. Forgetting about the furry thief, Baron drew closer to the commotion. A Half-Cat with broad shoulders and grey fur noticed him.
"You fool!" he yelled. "What were you thinking running out into the street like that?!"
"I apologize," said Baron. "I was trying to apprehend this thief, and I was certain the carriage wouldn't hit me."
"What about her?" yelled the Half-Cat. "Did you know the carriage would miss her too!?"
"Her?" said Baron, the word reverberating through his head and icing over his heart. "What her?"
"The young girl who was following you!" the dark grey Half-Cat yelled in his face, making Baron take a step back. The Half-Cat's face crumpled, and his grey ears hung limply. His dark eyes glittered with tears. "She wanted to help… to help you. She always just wanted to help. Oh, Harumi…"
Every muscle in Baron's back stiffened, and he almost felt as if he was shifting back to wood. Wood? Why would he shift back to wood…?
"Baron. Baron!"
The cry snapped him out of his daze. Familiar blue eyes greeted him, just as they had months ago. After that carriage accident…
Baron's head snapped into the direction of fallen horses and an overturned carriage.
"Oh, Baron," said Louise, banishing all thoughts that he had somehow returned to that moment in time. That everything in the last few hours had been undone. The carriage driver stepped out of the way to reveal the broken, bloodied body of a brown Half-Cat, red obscuring any eyes the body might have had. Louise stepped into his line of vision and attempted a smile as she stroked his cheek and extricated the pearls from his white-knuckled grip. "You always mean so well."
ooOoo
Peace. Haru felt the sensation well through her from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. She slowly looked up at the trees above her and the pools that glistened beneath them and smiled. Haru didn't know how she had gotten here or where she was or even had been. But none of that information mattered. She had peace that rested in her from her very soul. A cute little brown guinea pig nudged her hand, and Haru picked it up, placed it in her lap, and stoked it. So much peace.
A noise rippled through the otherwise silent forest, and Haru placed the calm guinea pig down. She needed to find that sound. For some reason she could barely remember, she needed to find the source of that sound. Quickly making her way through the soft, pleasant undergrowth, she passed several pools before reaching one very different from the others.
The pool lay under a tree that should have looked like all the others but didn't. The branches of the tree reached lower than the others, as if the tree was attempting to hide the strange pool. The pool itself looked nothing like the others. It was not smooth as glass but rather looked like someone was continually dropping rocks into it, with ripples upon ripples meeting and forming an almost patchwork pattern. Like a quilt. Someone had mentioned a quilt to her before…
The thought snapped Haru's mind fully out of its peaceful, half-awake mood. This pool had to be it, the entrance into that living world. The one that had all the characteristics of being a Creation like Baron. Looking closer at the pool, Haru realized what she had thought were ripples weren't. Although they lifted the water and crisscrossed like ripples, they had no movement. And where the not-ripples met in patches, making the pool look very much like a watery quilt. Haru reached down to touch the water. Immediately, she fell forward and down.
The sensation made her want to scream, but she couldn't because there wasn't enough of her to scream. Or rather she wasn't together enough to scream. She was falling into a dark, dense place at the same time as she was flying through a hot, glowing twilight. The confusing sensations, the feelings of un-wholeness, and the falling had Haru's soul writhing in agony. Or she supposed it was her soul since she couldn't feel her body properly. She was cold and pressed and hot and torn. So painfully torn.
Then the dark press dissolved, and Haru was left falling through the bright twilight. Memories of falling through the sky holding onto a furred paw with a reassuring weight on her back. But here, the sun was setting instead of rising, and Haru was falling alone. But she would not be rising alone.
Determination filling her heart, Haru managed to keep her feet under her as she landed softly on the road. However, her legs collapsed beneath her as her stomach lurched out all the food she had been able to eat in the last 24 hours.
"Haru, are you sick?" asked a very familiar voice. Haru blinked and lifted her eyes to see her best friend's worried face. "If you were sick, you should have stayed home. Michael could have done without you one day. In fact, he would insist on it."
Haru's mouth dropped open in surprise to say her best friend's name.
Be careful. Nothing there is real. Nothing, except those trapped there and it.
Haru closed her mouth and shook her head.
"She's not real," she muttered.
"What did you say?" asked the illusion with her friend's face.
"I want to talk to Cap," said Haru, standing up and sounding as authoritative as possible.
"Cap? What are you talking about Haru? How sick are you exactly? And how long have you been hiding it?" asked Hiromi, more to herself than anyone else. She lifted her hand to touch Haru's forehead, but Haru caught the hand.
"I said I want to talk to Cap." Haru stood up and glared at the sky. "You heard me! I want to talk to you! I came a long way, and you won't believe what I've been through. And what was that a minute a go? Were you trying to split me in half?"
"No," said Hiromi. "I was actually trying to keep you alive."
Haru stared at the girl whose hand she was holding.
"You wanted me to talk to you," said Hiromi. "I'm talking to you."
"Do you have to talk to me looking like my best friend?" Haru asked. "It's a little unnerving."
"Unnerving?" said Hiromi, or rather CAP using Hiromi's form. "Shouldn't talking to your best friend put you at ease?"
"Not when it isn't her talking."
"All right," said the Hiromi look-alike. The light brunette's skin rippled and shrunk. And then Haru was holding the hand of a little boy with a cap on his head and blank black eyes. "Is this better?"
"Yes?" said Haru in an almost squeak. Seeing her best friend turn into a little boy wasn't necessarily the weirdest thing she had ever seen, however strange of a fact that was, but to see brown, understanding eyes shift into blank, black-inhuman black-ones had sent shivers up her spine..
"You don't look reassured."
"I'll try to be," said Haru. She took a deep breath. "I need you to release Baron."
"Interesting," said the boy reaching into his pocket with his free hand. He took out a lollipop and stuck it in his mouth.
"What's interesting?" asked Haru, ignoring the strange action.
"You ask for his freedom, but not your own."
"I came here to free him," said Haru. "Besides he won't leave me here. Even if I can't get out of here with him, he'll come back and get me. And he'll probably be better at it."
"I wouldn't be sure of that if I were you," said the boy. "He isn't going to be in the right state of mind to help anyone."
"What do you mean?" said Haru, her grip on the child's hand tightening. "What have you done to him!?"
"You know that doesn't hurt me," said the boy. "Your entrance, however, did. I had to pop a cell. That always hurts."
"Pop a cell? Wait. Forget about that. What have you done with Baron?"
"Considering you came in here and demanded to speak to me, I assume you know what I am," said the boy. "Or did no one explain what a correcting prison does?"
"But… but… what would that have to do with Baron helping me?" asked Haru. "Correcting prison? Is that what you call yourself?"
"Correcting Alt-dimensional Prison. It's what I am and what I do and what everyone calls me, though considering you came here I supposed you would at least know that much... I suppose you didn't stop to think about what might need correcting in Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, did you?" The boy's voice sounded overly bored, as if people forgot this all the time.
"I didn't have time. I was trying to get here as fast as I could," said Haru. "But what does that have to do with—"
The words faded as the realization lit and clouded Haru's brown eyes. Then she yanked the boy closer and stared into his unnerving blank eyes.
"What. Have. You. Done. To. Baron."
"Humans are so emotional," said the boy. His eyes remained blank and unmoved. "Surely you already knew what makes him so dangerous to those that surround him."
Haru's grip edged white while the little boy's hand remained unaffected. With a sound that both resembled a cry and a sob, Haru threw the little boy's hand almost into his face.
"So emotional," said the boy staring at his hand.
"Please," whispered Haru. She didn't stop the tears that dripped from her eyes. The image of terrified green eyes that she had hidden deep in the back of her mind finally broke to the back of her eyes. "He helps as many people as he can. He's been helping me since the first time I met him. That's who he is. He helps. Surely even you can tell that he… that that isn't a bad thing. I would be a cat if he didn't help me."
"Barely," said the boy. "You've said that yourself, haven't you? He doesn't think things through and makes up plans as he goes along. If he can't help without endangering those around him, he shouldn't do it."
"But that's our decision!" cried Haru, her tears drying in the heat of her anger. "I decided to help him help other people. Muta and Toto and all the others who helped us decided to do that on their own, because they know that what Baron does is good. That the Cat Bureau has helped and saved so many people. Why would you try to correct that out of Baron?!"
"He was thrown in here, and according to his multiple world resonances and even yours, those adventures weren't beneficial to all those concerned, including you," said the boy, utterly calmly. "Surely even you can tell that he will get someone irreversibly hurt if he continues to help. That some people already have."
"A lot more people will get hurt if he stops."
The blank gaze continued to focus on Haru.
"Do you love him?"
The question pushed Haru a step backward.
"W-what?"
"Do you love him?" the boy repeated. "I've seen people 'love.' They go through such great lengths for the person they 'love.' You are going to great lengths for this Creation. Do you love him?"
Heat blazed across Haru's cheeks, and she attempted to cool them by clearing her throat. Surprisingly, the attempt failed.
"W-well, that's a complicated question—"
"Is it complicated because he's a Creation and not an organically formed? Is it harder to love an inorganic, magical being?"
"No," said Haru, her cheeks miraculously cooling. "I do love Baron. It's just… I don't know how I love him or maybe it's more like how I'm allowed to love him…"
"That's because you fight against what should be," said the boy. "You shouldn't love him in any romantic way. He shouldn't love you in any romantic manner either. But how can you love him in any manner? Inorganic, artificial beings aren't made to be loved."
"But aren't you made out of love? You were made because Absolem loved his daughter. You were made with all his heart and soul. How can think you aren't allowed to be loved?" asked Haru.
"Because I'm not," said the boy, and Haru blinked as the blank gaze slightly wavered before returning to its stony, marble gaze. "I was made to correct dangerous individuals and release them back out into their worlds reformed. That is my purpose. No one loves the rod that corrects."
The gaze remained stony, but Haru suddenly looked at the boy wearing those eyes. Of all the forms for the Prison to take, it took the form of a child. A young boy with a cap that half-hid his face when he wasn't looking directly at you and a lollipop hanging out his mouth. Crouching to the boy's eye-level, Haru stared right through the black eyes.
"I love Baron," Haru repeated. She did, in what way and whether or not it would become anything substantial didn't matter. Not now. "I love him because he sticks his nose in other people's business and determines to help no matter what. I love him because he doesn't rely on a plan but trusts himself and those around him to do what needs to be done to succeed. He offers to tea to whoever needs it. He holds out his hand to catch whoever falls. He has made it his life to help people, and he wouldn't… wouldn't be Baron if he didn't."
"What makes him dangerous makes him him, is that what you are trying to say?" asked the boy. Haru nodded and smiled slightly. "And you love him?"
"Yes," Haru answered as her smile reached her eyes. The stony gaze shifted, but the expression behind them was too dark for Haru to interpret.
"You came here of your own free will," said the boy finally. "I have no jurisdiction over you. I only deal with those thrown in here for correction."
"Baron wasn't thrown in here either."
"He was. The person who sent the cuffs wanted him sent here, therefore he was sent for correction. You came on your own."
"Whoever sent him here wasn't a good person. Whoever sent Baron here deserved to be corrected, not Baron," said Haru.
"I see," said the boy. The clouded gaze darkened. "He is like Jhinan. I thought he might be, but from your world resonances, I have decided he must be. However, I am not a judge. I am merely a prison."
"No you're not," said Haru. Her thighs had started to complain about her crouch, but she managed to shuffle forward. "But a prison shouldn't keep innocent people."
The boy's clouded gaze flickered with some hidden thought. And then he nodded.
"I am not a judge, but perhaps the person who entered my domain of her own free will could count as one."
Before Haru could release the question on her tongue, the world spun under her feet, and she fell into a blue circle and into a raining street. People passed her with black umbrellas and without giving her a glance.
"I assume you can judge," said the boy.
"Judge? What do you mean judge?" asked Haru. "I'm not—"
"The only ones who are allowed to come into my domain besides prisoners are those who judge," said the boy. "You are either a prisoner or a magistrate."
"A magistrate? But I'm no—" said Haru, but she stopped herself and stared at the boy instead. "Are you helping me?"
"Perhaps."
Water dripping through her hair and knees on wet, hard cement, Haru smiled.
"Okay, so what do I do?" asked Haru as she stood up. The boy was standing in the rain, but none of the drops hit him. As Haru stood up, the rain began to miss her as well.
"You judge my work," said the boy. "Decide whether or not he has been corrected enough. He will not be able to see you or me, so you will be able to see what his natural reactions."
"Do all magistra—"
The words died in her throat as she recognized one of the figures in the rain. Haru hadn't noticed that the people walking by her were of differing species, but she noted now. And the one who had caught her attention was familiarly orange-furred, though the line of his shoulders drooped downward in a very unfamiliar way.
"Baron?" Haru whispered.
"He can't see you," said the boy behind her. "You can only watch for now."
Baron's green eyes didn't even flicker to her, and the cat figurine kept walking forward without looking either way. He didn't march, but his stride was purposeful as if he was just walking to get from one place to another. As if he didn't want to stay on the street longer than necessary. Haru quickly started after him, barely noticing the boy vanishing behind her.
A cry broke through the monotonous march. Baron's steps halted slightly but didn't stop. Haru did and glanced back at a human child who had fallen behind her mother. The mother kept walking, and the little girl sat alone in the rain crying. Baron kept walking, keeping his gaze forward and away from the child. The child's cries grew louder. Baron gripped the rim of his hat and tightened the one on his cane, but his steps slowed. And then the piercing cries softened into confused sobs when no one stopped to help the child. With each motioned pained and hesitant, Baron kept walking.
"Baron," whispered Haru as she watched him ignore the little girl crying alone and soaked in the sidewalk. Then he stopped. His fingers twitched, and he looked over his shoulder. His green eyes filled with agonizing pain. Firming his shoulders, he grabbed the arm of someone walking past him. Haru blinked. The person was an orange-striped cat-like man who gave Baron an annoyed look with his yellow eyes.
"Why's no one helping that child?" asked Baron quickly, as if he was trying to cut off whatever the orange-striped tabby would say.
"Because she's well known in these parts. She's most likely throwing a temper tantrum about something or other," said the tabby in an almost snappy manner. "Her mother isn't far."
"She might catch a cold," said Baron.
"You don't have very good eyes, do you? She's under a covering," said the tabby. "I wouldn't go over to her, either. She's terrified of adult Half-Cats since her brother told her a story about a rabid Half-Cat. Though anyone would think you were done with sticking your nose in other's business after what happened."
Baron twitched and released the tabby's arm. The tabby's gaze became a little more sympathetic, but he didn't say anything. He gave Baron a quick goodbye and strode away. Giving the near-screaming child one last look, Baron headed back in the direction he was going. Haru gazed after him as his shoulders slumped and his ears flattened.
"What have you done?" whispered Haru.
"What I was made to do," said the boy reappearing next to her. Haru rounded on him, but the tirade bubbling up her throat was stopped by clouded black eyes. Eyes that Haru could now see were clearly clouded with something very close to regret. The boy's voice continued in a small voice, "He's less dangerous now."
"He's less Baron too," Haru said in the same soft tone.
"They're always less," said the boy. "It's my job, and I always knew they should be less. They couldn't be what they were. They would hurt others like my creator's child."
"Do you still think that?" asked Haru, and the clouded gaze focused on her again.
"I don't know," said the boy. "Some should be less. Less murderers. Less rapists. Less harmful on purpose. But the others… I don't know."
"You should," said Haru, walking in the direction Baron had. "You should see him and know."
"Do you think Creations can be more than what we were made for?" asked the boy so quietly that Haru wasn't sure she heard him. She looked back, and he was gone. Or rather he wasn't in a form she could see. Haru fought off a shiver as she realized he was literally everywhere here.
She found a small grey house with green lining and large double wooden doors that she recognized so well that she was half-surprised that she didn't shrink when she neared it. But then she didn't have to. Carefully she opened the doors and entered the house. Although her entrance wasn't silent, neither of the occupants took notice of her.
"What took you so long, Baron?" asked a sophisticated looking white Half-Cat with blue eyes. She looked up from her needlework as if startled. "Baron… You didn't… You didn't try to stop and help anyone, did you?"
A tawny ear flicked backwards as Baron flinched.
"No, Louise." Haru's heart didn't leap in her throat when she heard Baron say that name – it didn't. Telling herself to ignore her stupid, movable heart, she focused on the situation. She didn't cross multiple worlds and risk getting stuck in a limbo world to get distracted last minute.
"Sweetheart," the white Half-Cat started, but the endearment drifted off into silence as those bright blue eyes dimmed. Baron said nothing as he headed towards the teapot. Sighing, Louise set her needlework and walked over to Baron. With a weak smile, Louise made another attempt. "Making your special blend?"
"Always," he said, returning her weak smile with one of his own. Her smile widening a bit, she reached over and grabbed a cup. Without pausing, she tilted the teapot and poured the tea. Tea that Baron hadn't had a chance to finish preparing. Baron didn't pause as he poured himself a cup. Testing out a theory, Haru stuck out her hand and reached for one herself. The whole tea set disappeared, and the couple didn't notice.
The two sipped, but neither seemed to be tasting the tea. Haru felt a bit cheated since she was apparently not allowed the tea, and she could certainly use it right now. Again, Haru reminded herself to focus.
"You're going to lose yourself if you're not careful."
Haru shot an irritated glance at the boy who had once again reappeared beside her.
"Either stay, or don't," said Haru. The boy's blank eyes stared at her, but she didn't look away. He nodded and didn't disappear.
"He was hard," said the boy hiding his gaze with his cap as it pointed towards the silent Baron. "He knows himself well." He peeked around the rim. "You would be hard too."
"That's because I learned from the best," she said smiling slightly and staring at Baron. The smile faded as she saw him dully stare at the wall behind the white Half-Cat. Flatly, she repeated the question this being had pointedly refused to answer, "What did you do to him?"
"Nothing was working with him," said the boy lowly, as if afraid that the oblivious couple would hear him. "I had to be extreme."
"I can't imagine what would leave Baron like this," said Haru. Memories of a dark cave and of quivering shoulders flinching away from her crossed her mind, but even then, Baron hadn't looked like this. Fearful, angry, mistrustful, yes. But not empty. Not as if part of his soul had been stripped away. Those vivid green eyes looking more like the green glass marbles they originally were than the ones that had greeted her with warmth every time she stepped into the Bureau.
"He lost you."
Jerking back half a centimetre to stare at the boy that wasn't a boy, Haru nearly lost her balance but grabbed the nearby counter and kept some of her dignity. Half-blushing from her blunder and over-reaction, she straightened and half-choked out the question that naturally followed a statement like that.
"W-what?!"
"He lost you," the boy repeated. The lollipop that had been earlier in his mouth had returned (and Haru had ceased trying to keep track of what came and went in this place), and he pulled it out, making his words clearer as the lollipop spun in his fingers. "He didn't know it was you, exactly. It wasn't optimal to allow him traces of you. Not that some didn't cling to him persistently. Or perhaps he clung to them. In either way, there is no true version of you in this place. Not originally. I only made her for a brief period, and he ran into her at his wedding."
The word wedding nearly made Haru's mind wander again, but she snapped it back into focus.
"She died shortly after. He's been this way since," explained the boy. His blank gaze fell on her again. He put the lollipop back in his mouth, but his voice continued unmuffled. "I didn't count on such an extreme reaction. He is almost fully reformed now."
Haru's hand clenched, and her mouth opened to introduce this monster to the exact capacity of her lungs. The blank eyes shifted towards the couple and something less blank filled them.
"They're supposed to be happy," said the boy lowly again. "He was made to be happy."
The angry rant died in Haru's throat. The boy who was not a boy had a recognizable lost little boy look deep in those dark eyes, and all the wind was knocked out of Haru's sails.
"Why would he be happy?" said Haru quietly. The couple had barely moved, both lost in their thoughts. Or perhaps only Baron was lost in his thoughts since this Louise wasn't real. Haru blinked. Why hadn't she remembered that before? That besides her and Cap, Baron was the only real person here?
"He was made to be happy with her," said the boy a little louder. "I was just trying to help him do what he was made for. Maybe, if he was happy, he would… he would perhaps not want… not want to…."
"You want him to stay?" asked Haru softly. The little boy clutched at the rim of his hat and nodded ever so slightly. A sudden thought hit Haru, and she quickly voiced it. "You've been alone for a long time, haven't you?"
"A correctional prison is to do its job and then release its prisoners. No one has sent me any new prisoners in longer than your world has been in existence, and therefore I have been without purpose for a long time. As long as I have a prisoner, I have a purpose. If I fulfil my purpose perfectly, perhaps I will be happy," said the boy without uncovering his eyes.
"Has being a correctional prison ever made you happy?"
The boy, Cap, shook his head.
"Then maybe that isn't your purpose," said Haru with a small smile. The boy peeked at her, and her smile grew. She crouched down to meet those inhuman (but still vulnerable) black eyes. "Sometimes what others think your purpose should be isn't your purpose at all. You have to find it yourself. Maybe your purpose is something bigger than this."
Those black eyes stared into hers for long enough that Haru's legs started to cramp, but then he nodded.
"What is your judgement?"
Around the corner of her eye, Haru glanced at Baron. He still sat over his cooling tea and staring into the middle distance.
"I judge that he needs to go back to the Bureau," said Haru. She gave Cap one more smile. "That's where he'll be happiest. That's where his purpose is."
Again, CAP nodded and gave her a tiny smile of his own.
"Then I release him and you with him to that place you call the Bureau. Please help him forget about me."
"All right. But I won't forget about you. I promise," said Haru. And instant later, the two were gone, and CAP continued to smile at the place Haru had been.
"I won't forget you either," he said to the completely empty surroundings. "I'm sorry for being me."
ooOoo
"So you were stuck in a world that was a Creation."
"Apparently," said Baron as he heated his tea. Muta stared at him before turning to where Toto was perched on the balcony railing.
"Yeah. It's official. Nothing in any of those boring files was going to help us with that one," said Muta.
"Are you actually admitting that my idea was a good one?" said Toto.
"Hey, even a chicken has got to have a good idea once and a while," said Muta. "Even if it had to include the weirdest, most annoying witch in multiple worlds."
"It wasn't my fault that she was annoying, though I wouldn't call her that anywhere near her world. She's one scary lady. I'd also point out that I'm not a chicken, but to that I would need to believe you capable of actually learning something."
"How about you learn some manners instead, beak brain!"
"Beak brain? Did you spend the last three days coming up with that?"
"Come here, feather duster!" yelled Muta as he lunged at the crow.
"Ooh, someone's been thinking," said Toto as he fluttered off his perch and out the window.
"I'll show you what I've been thinking," said Muta as he ran out of the Bureau. Haru watched them with a smile.
"I hope they behaved while I was gone," said Baron selecting a cup and saucer from the cabinet.
"They did. But it was strange not to hear them arguing," said Haru. "I think I prefer when they're arguing. Feels less like doom is upon us."
"I have heard of more accurate signs for the end of the world, but few would be more convincing than the lack of fighting from those two."
Haru's smile widened at the quip before falling away slowly. Baron continued to prepare the tea in silence. The Cat Creation seemed fine. Nothing like he had in that forest (the Wood Between the Worlds, he had called it when he had started looking like he was fine). Arms had wrapped around her tight enough to squeeze the oxygen out of her lungs. Only a wheezing breath from her had loosened the hold. Green eyes had stared at her as the arms pulled away. The gaze had been both piercing and fragile. Eventually, Haru had asked him what was wrong. And then the Cat Creation had straightened and asked how they had gotten there.
Honestly, Haru didn't know exactly how much Baron remembered of his time in Cap's world, but it was enough. Whatever he remembered was enough for him to act like as if it hadn't bothered him. And she had no idea how to get him talking about it. Baron hadn't even interjected more than some cursory details into her version of the events. She watched carefully as he stirred a drop of milk into his finished cup of tea.
"He was lonely, you know."
"I apologise, Miss Haru, but it appears I have lost part of the conversation," said Baron as he looked up at her. Haru bit her tongue from pointing out that it wasn't like him to miss anything, and he actually hadn't. That he thought he had—
"Cap. He was lonely. He had no one for company in thousands of years," said Haru.
"That isn't surprising, given what he is. Nevertheless, there is little that can drive a being mad faster than solitude."
"He wasn't mad. Actually he seemed to be rather sensible. More sane than a lot of people we've met, including a certain caterpillar I had to deal with during this fiasco. But he was lonely and confused. I hate leaving him like that. I mean, I know what he did to you wasn't right. A lot of what he did before that too. But he didn't know how to do anything else. It was what he was Created for, or at least what he thought he was Created for. Do you think that there is some way to help him?"
"Perhaps. I'll look into it some time. First, I think I should get the Bureau in order."
A frown tugged at Haru's lips as her focus remained on Baron and not on the files strewn everywhere. Maybe she shouldn't have asked so soon about Cap after everything he had put Baron through—No. That wasn't it. Baron wasn't the sort to carry a grudge, and he would most likely understood better than her about being Created for something. No, something else then…As Baron sat across from her, Haru stared wide-eyed at him.
"Is something the matter, Miss Haru?"
"Yeah, something…," she half-muttered, trying not to flinch at the title before her name. Haru would have smacked herself if the action wouldn't have caused further worry. Instead she forced a smile on her face. It was too soon. Too soon to ask Baron to help someone. A slimy, acidic gurgle assaulted her stomach, but she kept it off her face. She had known he was not fine. But then, if she had any say, he would be. "You know while I was watching and 'passing judgment,' you made tea and I wasn't allowed to have some. Do you think I might have a cup now?"
"Help yourself," said Baron as he placed his own tea cup on a semi-clear spot of the table.
"I could, but I was hoping that you would. It tastes different when you make it. Better really," said Haru. Baron's shoulders tensed, and Haru kept her own relaxed and looked up at him. "Please."
The stiff shoulders shifted briefly into wood. Horror and guilt squeezed in her throat, but she continued to plead silently.
"As you wish, Miss Haru," said Baron, and Haru did not flinch. Slowly (and too stiff for flesh) Baron moved towards the kitchen. With the uttermost care (and with not-shaking hands) Baron took out another saucer and cup, picked up the teapot (as if it would try to jump out of his hands), and set the half-full tea cup jerkily in front of her. Haru took the cup in her hand and stared at him over the brim.
"As good as always," said Haru with a soft smile. The stiffness in his shoulders shifted away from wooden. Haru's smile grew. "Thank you."
"You are always welcome, Haru, but I believe for the near future, it should be I thanking you."
"Seeing as you saved me the first time we met from being stuck in world not my own, I believe we have just become even," she replied.
"You were a client then."
"And now I'm your friend. And friends are there for each other no matter what."
"As is increasingly so, you are correct."
"Somehow, I feel like that was a bit of an insult."
"If you say so."
"What happened to thanking me?"
"Let me try again then," said Baron. He stood straight, the stiffness disappearing into the straightening, and took of his hat. He bowed at his waist with his hat over his heart. "Thank you, Haru."
"You are always welcome, Baron."
ooOoo
Next story: The Fifth Night
Teaser: Her cheeks reddened as she tightened her arms around him and buried her head into his shoulder. "Please… believe in yourself, Baron. I miss you." / "He's gone," Haru whispered. "He's gone without us." / It tilted its head to one side, staring down at the human. Haru's breath caught in her throat. She could see the metal endoskeleton jutting out at the elbow, the neck, and even the insides of its mouth, all startling reminders that this should be nothing more than a programmed toy. / "Brody said the animatronics really do come to life," she repeated. "Plural. So where… are the rest?" / "Hey! Let us in!" Muta began pounding his paws against the door. "I don't wanna become bear food!"