Chapter 14
Now it was Quote's turn to stare. "... Wait, what?"
"I said you can take it." Jack shrugged. "I don't see why you're confused. King pretty much gave it to you, anyway."
Quote thought about this for a moment, before realizing that this was to an extent true. He nodded. "Right... Thanks, Jack."
Jack laughed. "Hey, don't thank me yet! You still gotta save the gal first!"
"Right."
As Quote was leaving, Jack decided to pipe up once more. "Oh, and don't forget to invite me to the wedding!"
Quote slammed the door behind him.
Jack laughed, and then sighed. He was tired, but he knew he wasn't going to get back to sleep tonight. Instead, he decided to busy himself with work until he finally collapsed of exhaustion. It seemed to work just as well.
As Quote entered the graveyard, he couldn't help but realize how eeirily quiet it was. There were no pignons in sight, or anything else besides headstones. He was quite sure he remembered clearing out the former before holding King and Toroko's service. Perhaps, now that more Mimigas had returned, the pignons had retreated; or perhaps Jack had them regularly cleared out. Either way, the silence bothered Quote, so he decided to be in and out as quick as possible. He made his way up to King's grave, the blade of the sword still half-buried in the ground. As he was about to simply yank the sword out from the earth, he realized how incredibly disrespectful that would be. His hand retracted, slowly, and he knelt down. He decided he should probably try to say something, if not for King, then for himself, at least to make himself feel better about the whole situation.
"... Hey..." Quote was really at quite a loss here. "I, uh... I came back. Probably not under the best circumstances, though..." He sighed, searching for something meaningful. "... I need your help again. Someone really important to me, a friend... she's in trouble. You shoud know about that, the way you cared for Toroko." Quote smiled. "And just like you, I'll do anything to get her back... but I don't know if I can do it alone. So... I came to you." Quote stood up. "... One last time. I promise."
Curly and the man were making their way through the dark catacombs of the factory when an odd thought struck her. She had no idea what his name was. It hadn't exactly crossed her mind before, but now that it did, she felt quite compelled to ask.
"Hey mister, wha-" Curly was quickly cut off by the man, who clamped his hand over her mouth. He raised a finger to his own, signaling for her to be silent. She nodded. She had forgotten they were supposed to be sneaky. When he let go, she made a small huffing sound, a bit put-off by the fact she couldn't ask him. She put it aside however to focus on the task at hand; getting out alive. They made their way through winding corridors and archways, that didn't appear to have been used any time recently. She was quite wrong though, for as soon as she thought that, something moved across the hall a good 20 meters off.