The last time Ruben had ever seen the moon was when he was a child. Back then it held no significance towards him, but being locked under an asylum for most of your life makes you appreciate the natural beauty in things, and he certainly thought the moon was beautiful.
His cape bellowing in the wind, the cloaked figure peered down to watch for any strange activity. His eyes were well-adjusted to the dark, so he picked things up with near perfect ease.
He had been coming on to the roof every night since he'd managed to get out of his confines in the institution's underground quarry. Whenever the dreaded sun had set and no longer pained his sensitive eyes, he would awaken. From his perch he could see all of the world around him, lit by the comforting, yet empowering beams shining down from the orb above. He could see the shadows cast among the trees and the buildings, and he grinned beneath his paper-bag mask because they were his.
His name was carried by frightened whispers, of gossiping townsfolk and nervous orderlys. He was the sudden rush of wind in the trees. The thing that went bump in the night, the boogeyman, the metaphor that changes every episode.
He was The Phantom. Nobody, least of all his father, would ever bring him d-
*CRASH*
His foot slipped on a tile and he slid down the slanted edge of the roof, nearly falling a good thee stories down before he managed to grab on to the gutter.
Cursing under his breath, the phantom struggled to swing his leg over the side to hoist himself back up, only for it to continuously slip back off whenever he got a good hook. With a sigh, Ruben resorted to shimmying around the building until he reached the nearest window.
He had clambered into the open window of the supply closet when he heard the voices. Carefully, he crept to the door and opened it a crack. One of his father's men, he recognized, was knocking on the doctor's office door. Beside him was a scared looking young girl somewhere in her teens with long, black hair.
"I specifically asked not to be disturbed tonight." He could hear his father barking. The girl visibly flinched.
"Sorry boss, but, uh..." The man seemed unable to put together what he was trying to say. "We found somebody."
"Ah, so you've gotten the girl then. Excellent."
"Err, about that..." He nervously scratched behind his neck. "It's a girl, but not the one you were looking for."
"Then what could you possibly be bothering me for?"
"...You remember the kid you had locked up for ten years?"
He was met with a chilling silence.
Suddenly, Ruben dashed to the window, hoisting himself to the roof again. As quick as possible, he headed for the opening that led into the ventilation shaft. He had discovered this secret passage led directly to his father's office. From this point, he could listen in on the man's most private conversations, and had learned many things over the years. One of which had been of the girl who had killed his brother.
Crawling through the shaft as swiftly as he could, Ruben slowed himself as he came to the metal grate inside Marcel's office. Peering through the gaps, he could see his father in his wheelchair, face towards the window.
The door opened, and he listened closely.
Edna had expected that Dr. Marcel would look different, but the sight of him was still unnerving.
In the dark of the room she could make out the outline of his wheelchair. Though his back was turned to her, the girl could see the strap of an eyepatch over the gray curls of hair that was left on his head.
A chill went up her spine as the image of his mangled body at the bottom of the stairs flashed before her.
The doctor lit his pipe. The embers glowed as he inhaled deeply. He slowly blew a stream of smoke that rose above his head like a dark cloud before fading into the air.
"Sit."
Edna glanced at the cushy chair placed in front of the Marcel's desk. Cautiously, she took her seat, eyes drilling into the back of the old man's skull.
For an unbearable amount of time, the doctor was completely silent. He continued to stare out his window, every once in a while taking a long draw of his tobacco. Edna's mind was racing as she tried to think of what he could be planning.
"It's incredible."
Startled, she was brought back to reality and was paying full attention to Marcel. The man sighed long and hard before he began speaking again.
"When she said that it was you... I was certain that none of it was real. Just the product of a maladjusted child... But..."
He finally turned to face her directly. The look in his single eye seemed... distant, as if he were lost in his own world. Staring back, Edna couldn't help but feel similarly.
"You feel it as well." Marcel noticed. He spoke incredibly slow, processing each word in his head before speaking them. "It's as if... time... has reversed. Like... you were never gone in the first place... and that everything that has happened to us has all been just a dream... yet..."
He brought his hand to his face, caressing the soft leather that covered the dead organ beneath it. All at once, life seemed to return to him. His working eye formed into a glare so intense, it pierced through Edna like a knife, snapping her out of the daze and rooting her to the spot.
"No." Marcel growled. "Nothing has changed."
He turned away from her again to look out the window. Edna had so many things to say and so many questions to ask, but the words refused to come out of her mouth.
"No doubt you've noticed the change to your old home." Marcel said after a moment, a hint of amusement in his voice. "They are all like you, you know. They believe they are free. That they have escaped the rules and confinement that have kept them in line all their lives. But they only think they are free."
He lit his pipe again as he watched the inmates scrambling about the grounds below. He blew a smoke ring into the glass.
"Deep down, they know what they are. Sick, disturbed, unbalanced... they will realize this on their own accord. Then they will long for the order and structure they once considered imprisonment. They will come to me, begging to be cured, to be normal again."
He looked over his shoulder at Edna with a sickeningly smug grin. "Just like how you're here now."
You're wrong, She thought furiously, her grip on the armrests tightening. You're dead wrong, you demented geezer.
Dr. Marcel must have seen the anger in her eyes, because he began to laugh.
"You think I'm mistaken, don't you?" He stated haughtily. "I expected as much. Oh, Edna... you'll never change." His face formed a crude sneer. "You killed my son. You ran amok my institution causing chaos. You crippled me. You ran away to cause more mischief in a holy place, and you poisoned the mind of an innocent child-"
"Leave her out of this!" Edna suddenly managed to find her voice. "Lilli has nothing to do with anything between us!"
"On the contrary," Marcel responded, unfazed and putting his hands together in a tent shape. "She has nearly everything to do with our situation. You see, Lilli revealed a lot to me during her... 'interrogation.'"
Edna was about to interject again, but Marcel beat her to the punch.
"I know about your friendship. The way she leaped to your aid when trouble arose." He shook his head sadly. "If only she knew the consequences of her actions... but your influence had been firmly set in her mind by that point."
Edna stared in bemusement. What in the world was he talking about?
"But even before all that, I knew what had to be done. It didn't matter if you were real or not. I couldn't take any risks." He continued, a hint of pride in his voice. "I began my new therapy immediately. It was an extraordinary success, if I do say so myself... Lilli made for a fantastic test subject."
Without even looking, he could feel the unbridled fury coming from the girl behind him. He knowingly smirked to himself.
"I swear, Marcel..." Her voice was low and dangerous. "If you hurt a single HAIR on her head...!"
"Do calm yourself, my dear. Lilli is fine." Marcel said, narrowing his eyes at the thought. "The old hag's timely breakdown allowed her to worm her way out of the convent. Just when I was about to get more information from both of them too."
He let out a frustrated grunt, balling his hand into a fist. "I don't know how she keeps doing it. The restriction blocks I placed on her should be hindering her every move!"
Edna was somewhat relieved that Lilli DID manage to escape. But the doctor wasn't going to relent on catching her and turning her into his puppet. He wasn't intimidated by threats, and since he had wisely locked his polo mallets in a glass case, Edna had no other alternative than to make an attempt at reasoning with him.
"You have me." She said. "I'm the one you truly want. Lilli hasn't done anything to deserve any of this."
"Oh, please." Marcel turned his chair around again, sporting his ever-popular, condescending 'I'm smarter than you' look while taking another puff of his pipe. "You know better than to insult my intelligence, Edna. You're honestly going to sit there and act like you truly care about Lilli?"
Edna was flabbergasted. "Hell yes I care about her! She's my best friend!" She cried.
"Then why did you abandon her?"
She caught her breath sharply. "W-What?"
Marcel refused to take his eyes off her. "If she means that much to you, why did you hide while she scurried about the convent, cleaning up your messes? Why did you leave when she was in just as much danger as you were? Explain to me, Edna, how exactly have you been such a good friend when all you've done is run away and let Lilli be the one to face your perceived hardships?!"
Edna sat in a stunned silence. Dr. Marcel waited as she repeatedly opened her mouth to contradict him, only for it to snap shut as his words left her completely floored.
She had to say something! Marcel couldn't be right... could he?
"We... We're a team... We look out for each other..." She retorted, so obviously weak that not even she was convinced of herself. Marcel's unimpressed snort said the same of him.
"Is that so?" He said in a mocking tone. "That's unfortunate..."
Edna raised an eyebrow. "Why is that...?"
A huge, malicious grin spread across his face. "Because I know somebody who'll be very disappointed to hear that."
He opened a drawer to his desk, taking something out and placing it between them. Edna's heart nearly stopped dead in her chest. Her eyes widened into saucers as they fell upon the plush toy now sitting before her.
"H... Harvey...?"
Dr. Marcel chuckled, petting the stuffed bunny on the head. "I bet you thought you lost your little friend forever, didn't you?" He asked, fiddling with one of Harvey's ears. "He was in quite a bad state when he was brought to me. Torn limbs, most of his stuffing gone... it took ages to put him back together."
Edna's mouth remained hanging open, quivering lightly as a choking noise escaped her throat. Marcel was absolutely reveling in the moment.
"What... What did you...?" She tried to ask, too shocked to speak. The wide, goofy eyes Harvey normally had were now gone, replaced by a set of beady red plastic ones. Over his left one was a long scar-like stitch.
Marcel grinned again. "Here," He said, taking Harvey. "Allow me to give you a demonstration of my newfound therapy."
He took hold of a cord in the middle of the ragdoll's stomach and gave it a pull. Harvey's eyes began flashing as a grainy recording began to play.
"You must not contradict adults," It said lifelessly. "You must not lie. You must not play with fire. You must not use sharp objects. You must not..."
"No..." Edna whispered as the doll went on, droning a long list of rules that the real Harvey would never consider willingly. Doctor Marcel began shaking with excitement.
"It's quite ironic," He said, beaming at his accomplishment. "The very thing that made you what you are will now save thousands- no, millions of children from ever misbehaving again! It all starts right here with you and Lilli, Edna! Everything's come full circle!"
Edna continued to stare in horror as the deluded old man began cackling, manically hugging her beloved Harvey to his chest. She bit her lip, fighting back tears as her whole body trembled.
"Oh, don't look so sad my dear," Marcel said with about as much sincerity as an obnoxiously chipper narrator. "Everything's going to be alright. Soon you'll be together again with Harvey and Lilli, forever happy and courteous... right after you..."
His hand moved under the blanket on his lap.
"Go to sleep."
Edna only caught a glimpse of light reflecting off the metal object in his hand before the immense pain of a hundred lightning bolts made everything go black.
It felt immeasurably good to bring Edna back to her cell. Many times Marcel had pictured himself doing it, always feeling disillusioned in the end with the reminder that the symbol of his hate was long dead. Yet here he was now, triumphantly dragging her inanimate body by a clump of her violet-black hair. It felt glorious. Even the portrait of Alfred on the wall looked radiant, as if he were a war hero making his procession through the rank and file.
He unlocked the door to her cell and pulled it open. The feeling of pride continued to swell in his chest at the sight of dozens upon dozens of freshly-knitted Harvey dolls.
"Doctor...?" A weary voice spoke to his right. "How good to see you again!"
Marcel smirked, looking at the familiar old woman huddled in the corner of the room. She was currently in the middle of knitting another rabbit when she stopped to greet him.
"Indeed it is, Ignatz." Marcel replied to his latest 'patient.' He picked up one of the dolls to inspect it. "I see you've been very hard at work helping me with my project."
"Oh yes, doctor." The former mother superior replied in an almost comatose-like state. "I've never felt more happy before in my life... I can't thank you enough..."
He chuckled, patting her on the head. "It's my job to help wayward children find the light, dear. And now with your help, we'll be able to help many children all over the world."
"Ahh, Doctor Marcel," She swooned. "You do The Lord's work... much better than I ever did..."
"I do my best." He said, puffing up his chest. "Though there IS a child you can help at the moment."
"Really?" The old woman asked hopefully.
Dr. Marcel proceeded to unceremoniously toss Edna's limp form into the room.
"This girl is so lost and confused, we needed to put her to sleep just to calm her down." He said. "I'm afraid she'll need to be restrained if I'm to ever get through to her."
"Oh..." Mother Superior put a hand to her chest, looking at Edna pitifully. "The poor ch... child..." She leaned in a little closer. Even in her broken state, she faintly recognized the girl from somewhere.
"I was hoping you could use your impeccable embroidery skills to... bind her, as much as it pains me to say." He lied through his teeth. "I trust you to make it so she's secure, but comfortable."
"Of course, doctor!" She responded, gleefully nodding her head. "I'll begin right away! Oh, bless you, Doctor Marcel!"
"I shall leave you to your work." Marcel began backing his chair out of the padded room as Mother Superior scooped Edna into her arms. "Such a good girl you are..."
Slamming the door behind him, Marcel turned away in disgust. "Pah! Addled idiot."
He headed back to his office. There was much planning he still had to do. An idea had formed in his mind, though he needed much time to ruminate on it before he was certain it would work.
There was a lot he needed to think about. Especially considering another factor that suddenly hindered him.
When he returned to his office, Harvey had vanished from his desk.