Disclaimer: I may mutilate MAR, but I don't own it.
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Chapter Five: The Game's Afoot
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Phantom's revival hit all of MAR-Heaven like a storm.
Although the Chess Pieces weren't really the type to have a balloon-and-funny-hat celebration party, nevertheless their mood significantly improved. An air of anticipation filled the Castle. Soon all of Mar-Heaven would belong to the Chess!
…On another note, Rolan actually did decide to throw a party in honor of Phantom's return, complete with balloons, streamers, and a cake with "Happy Un-Death Day" written on it. Phantom participated cheerfully, Peta participated reluctantly, and Alviss participated because he'd been tied to a chair. All the other Chess Pieces hid in their rooms and hoped Rolan wouldn't come by and make them wear a funny hat.
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In the strategy room, Peta was giving Phantom a status report when Rolan popped his head in.
"I haven't seen Alviss' fairy around recently," Rolan said. "It's a little worrying."
After Peta had refused to let her bring back another little boy to play with Alviss, Candice had bagged a random fairy to give to him instead. Even she had regretted it later, given how annoying the tiny creature had been. The fairy's recent disappearance had been widely noticed, but no one had cared.
"It could have been eaten by a cat," Peta said hopefully.
"I think Alviss sent it away to do something," Rolan insisted. "He's always lurking in his room now, and sometimes he disappears for long periods of time. What if he's involved in something…dangerous?"
"He'll be fine. He's gotten quite strong," Phantom said dismissively.
"I know, it's just, with the next War Game coming, you don't think he could have possibly…joined the other side? No, it couldn't be. Maybe I'm over-thinking things too much."
"Gee, I wonder," Peta said sarcastically. "He only goes on about how he wants to destroy us every five minutes."
"He told me yesterday that he was going to look for powerful warriors to defeat the Chess Pieces," Phantom said cheerfully. "So, I gave him an ARM I stole from the Cross Guard called the 'Gatekeeper Clown' which I think will help him considerably."
"Why did you do that?" Peta asked disgustedly.
"Because anyone he summons is just as likely to join us as him! It's a bit of a gamble. I like to keep things interesting."
"You should just leave things as they are! Right now we're already the ones with the greatest chance of winning. There's no need to take risks."
Rolan's eyes began to fill with tears. "But why is Alviss turning against us like this? Didn't we give him enough love and affection?"
"Switch 'not enough' with 'too much' and I think you have the problem," Peta grumbled.
"Rolan, you have to look at things in perspective," Phantom said. "Alviss is a very loyal and devoted person; he just doesn't happen to be loyal and devoted to us. But basically, once all of his old friends are thoroughly annihilated, he won't feel obligated to be our enemy any more, and everything will work out."
"So, we just have to crush everyone in the next War Game, right?" Rolan said enthusiastically.
"Exactly!" Phantom beamed at him.
"This is too troublesome," Peta complained. "Seeing as how we knew from the beginning that the brat was going to run off the enemy, why didn't we just lock him up in the Castle or something?" Alviss was now sixteen, but he would always be "the brat" to Peta.
"But things are much more fun this way!" Phantom insisted. "I want to fight lots of strong opponents!"
Surprisingly, Rolan said, "I agree with Peta. This is too dangerous."
Phantom sighed. "Rolan, Rolan, Rolan. You don't understand. I consider all of us Chess Pieces to be a big happy extended family. I'm like the father, and you and Alviss are like my two sons. Peta, I guess that makes you the mother."
"Wait, what?" Peta said.
Phantom continued, "And everyone knows that a family has to have a rebellious member. It's often the youngest child. It adds drama and spice to the story! But in the end, everyone reconciles and they all live happily ever after. Or everyone dies, if it's that kind of story."
"You're making death look increasingly attractive," Peta muttered.
Rolan, however, seemed to be buying every word. "Phantom, you think of me as family? I'm so happy! Is Candice part of the family too?"
"Candice is like the family pet."
"Fair enough."
"All of you are missing the point," Peta growled. "The point is that you let a self-declared enemy run off with a valuable ARM because you think it will make life more interesting!"
"But Peta, family has to come first," Rolan said patronizingly.
"Shut up."
"Phantom, now Peta's rebelling!"
"Rolan, do what your mother tells you to do."
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Meanwhile, at the inn where Team Mar had assembled:
"Another round of drinks please, my dear," Nanashi called to the waitress.
Alan glared at him. "You've already beggared the treasury paying for the ridiculously large fee you charged for joining Team MAR, so from now on all of your food expenses are on you, got it?"
"Don't be so stingy," Nanashi said dismissively. "I heard you have piles of money from pawning all of the former Queen's jewelry after her treachery was uncovered. You should count yourselves lucky I agreed to help you at all. I'm only here because Galian insisted the Luberian Thieves send a representative. He seems to have a massive grudge against the Chess Pieces for some reason."
"So we didn't have to pay you at all, did we? Give back the money!" Alan demanded.
"Don't be so stingy!"
"So, if Nanashi is getting paid, can I get paid too?" Dorothy asked.
Alan thought about it. "Make him give you some of his money."
"Okay!" Dorothy said brightly. Nanashi began to edge away from her.
"Is that dog that turned into a tree going to be alright?" Ginta asked worriedly.
"Oh, Ed? Yeah, he'll be fine. He's under a curse where every time he sleeps three times, he turns into a tree. But he changes back after a week or so. It's a lingering effect from the last War Game."
"That dog fought in the last War Game?" Babbo asked skeptically.
"No, he's just as weak as he appears. Actually, he was hit by a misdirected curse aimed at me. Halloween almost had me there. But for some reason he stepped on a rock and then started screaming about how the rocks were out to get him. While he was flailing his arms around, he completely missed me. Someone told me he has rock-related trauma or something."
"Well, that's just strange," Ginta commented. "Babbo, we should try to get a Holy ARM next so we can cure Ed."
"No need to make that a priority," Alan said dismissively. "It's not like the dog is much use even when he isn't a tree. You should concentrate your energy on weapons to use against the Chess."
"Eh, the Chess Pieces are all just a bunch of dysfunctional morons. We can beat those losers easily," Jack said. He was dressed entirely in black and sitting with his chair tilted back and his feet on the table. He kept his long black hair swept in a dashing ponytail.
"You sound awfully confident," Dorothy commented.
"I've had some past encounters with them. They actually kidnapped me once. It wasn't as bad as it sounds; I learned a lot. Mostly, I learned not to be afraid of them. If I could pull one over on them when I was ten I have every confidence in my chances now."
Ginta had first met Jack when some werewolves were attacking the boy's farm. Ginta had dragged Jack off his opponents' battered bodies to prevent him from killing them. Despite that, they'd become fast friends, and Jack had offered to guide him around Mar-Heaven. Even though he dressed like a Goth and acted like a punk, Ginta knew that Jack had a good heart. Somewhere very deep down.
"Don't underestimate the Chess Pieces!" said a high pitched voice.
Everyone turned to look at the small person hovering over the last seat. It was wrapped in a long cape and wearing a mask. No one was sure why; no disguise was going to make a tiny fairy any less obviously recognizable.
"So, what's your advice?" Alan asked, trying not to be sarcastic.
"Well…I don't know. But when Alviss- I mean Mysterious Member X- arrives he'll have lots of good ideas!"
"Look, you can stop with the 'Member X' stuff," Dorothy said. "You've already slipped up five times now, we all now it's some guy called 'Alviss' that you're talking about."
"He's the one who brought me into MAR-Heaven, right? I really want to meet him!" Ginta said eagerly.
"Plus, no matter what costume you put on you will not look intimidating," Dorothy finished. "You're the size of a bug. Just get over it."
It was a rather rude thing to day, but given that the fairy had started following the team around uninvited a week ago and made sarcastic comments about all of their abilities despite being completely useless, it was perhaps understandable.
"Shut up! I don't see you as much of a match for that sister of yours! Yes, I know about your family secret! And I bet Ginta couldn't even touch Phantom!"
"Phantom!" Snow screamed, and began trembling. Alan quickly dumped a glass of water over her head.
"What did you do that for!" Ginta demanded angrily.
"It's okay," Snow said quickly, forcing herself to stop shaking. "When I get like that, it's the only thing that stops me from throwing a fit. I'm sorry."
"What just happened?"
"I have a massive emotional trauma every time I hear the P word. It's because of a nanny I had as a little girl, who was obsessed with him. She talked about him non-stop for days at a time! She didn't even pause to sleep! Now I can't even hear his name without going into convulsions."
Ginta put his arm around her comfortingly.
Alan declared, "We'll all need to become stronger before facing Pha- err, He Who Shall Not Be Named. That's why I intend to put you all through intensive training!"
"I'm up for it!" Ginta said determinedly.
MAR-Heaven was a lot of fun, but for all that Ginta sometimes had a strange feeling that something was a little…wrong. It was probably just his imagination.
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Gido tried to restrain her panic as she was dragged down the dark corridor by Chimera. She had known that she was doomed when she had volunteered to take Ian's punishment for him. But she still wished her fate had been given over to anyone other than the ferocious Chimera.
The masked woman's fingers dug into her arm as she was forcibly propelled into a small room.
Inside, a number of small children were laughing and playing. Gido blinked, but the hallucination didn't go away.
Chimera growled, "Now it's your turn to babysit them!" She stalked off muttering, "I keep telling Ashe that I don't actually like children, but does he listen to me? No!"
Gido was relieved, she really was. But she couldn't escape the feeling that something was very wrong with this situation…
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Author's Note: We're nearing the end, folks. Everything will be concluded in the next chapter, maybe with an epilogue. Next time will finally cover the War Games, but obviously things will happen quite differently. It's amazing the chain reaction that can come from one little change! Phantom makes one slightly different decision in the first chapter, and no aspect of MAR Heaven is unaffected...