During the elevator ride to The Meeting Place, listen to the song that Matthew, Justice and Wendy sing.
The minute they stepped through the elegant french doors of the Palace's main entrance, Matthew knew that he would enjoy living there.
The first room they were in when they entered had dozens of spiral staircases that seemed to stretch on up forever. Then next to each staircase were elevators for guests who were tired of walking up and down the never ending stairs. Diamond chandeliers hung in neat rows from the very high ceilings and fancy looking lamps lined the walls. On every wall next to the elevators and staircases were long halls stretching deep into the Palace.
"Hundreds of bedrooms with their own bathrooms, 87 kitchens, 26 school sized cafeterias, hundreds more of stores and entertainment centers, office spaces for government officials living here, 4 separate gun ranges, Indoor pools, arenas for sports and combat training, private movie theaters, bowling alley, and a huge climbing rock wall." Justice listed out aloud.
"There are other people living here?" Matthew asked, wondering how big the place was to house everything she just said and hundreds of people at the same time.
"Oh yeah, tons of people. High ranking officials, ambassadors, special government agents, countless employees like butlers and chefs, and maids as well. Then we have at least several dozens of military units guarding and watching over this place, and I live here as well."
"Wow, this is just...so unbelievably awesome!" Matthew said with childlike wonder. "What should we do first?"
"Whoa, slow down cowboy." Justice advised. "We have to attend to a few things first. You need to meet the Grand Senate first. With you and I being royalty, we are members of the Senate as well. You need to sign a few things so you can officially become king of The Motherland. Plus there will be some people you need to meet, such as the Senate and...others, who are important to our cause."
"Aww man!" Matthew half heartedly complained. "Alright, let's go meet some people. But I want you to be with me, you know how I am around people I've never met."
"I'll be right there with you, don't worry." Justice smiled.
"Wait, can Wendy come, too?" He asked, still kind of uneasy from being around his sister, whom he still didn't trust very much.
"Well, we don't usually don't allow lower ranking soldiers enter the Meeting Place, where the Senate has it's meetings, but we'll make an exception for her."
"Thank you so much, m'lady." Wendy said with a bow. "I've never been inside the Meeting Place before, even when I was stationed here."
"You've been here before?" Questioned Matthew.
"Yep, I was stationed here for a few months last year. Since things were really boring I got to invite some of my friends from Gravity Falls and we basically just screwed around and enjoyed the many entertaining things to do here. Best time I've had in my life."
"Thought you said you've only seen a few months of fighting." Matthew said, remembering their conversation from leaving the base.
"I enlisted about a year ago, but I've only been on the front lines for a few months." Wendy explained.
"Come on guys, it would be rude to keep our guests waiting any longer." Justice insisted. "They're very eager to meet you, Matt."
Matthew and Wendy followed Justice to one of the nearest elevators and hit the button. A few seconds later the doors opened and the three on them filed into the elevator. Justice hit a button labeled Meeting Place, then the doors closed and they went up.
While they stood in silence, a song came on over the elevator speakers. Matthew recognized it as a song he liked, "The Sounds of Silence" remake by Disturbed. He could then hear Wendy very quietly singing the words to herself. Without saying anything to her, he also began to sing.
"Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seed while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain, still remains
Within the sound of silence."
Wendy looked over at Matthew when he joined in on the song, then flashed him a warm smile and they continued singing.
While they sang, Matthew thought back to his conversation with Wendy about killing people during a war. She said the ones she's killed haunt her when she's in the dark, alone, or in her dreams. The lyrics that Matthew knew by heart that he always enjoyed suddenly made him think of the men he himself murdered at Fort Dane.
"In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That spilt the night
And touched the sound of silence"
The lyrics painted images in his head. Walking down by himself on a cobblestone street in Victorian England, a lone streetlight being his only light in the deep and inky darkness. A teenage girl in a red dress approaches him and begins asking him for directions. Since he was alone with the girl, he took the form of a cold and heartless murderer. The flash of light was Matthew pulling a gun and shooting the girl point blank in the heart, the flash from the barrel illuminating the darkness around them. Then after the woman's final breaths cease, the dark night is now accompanied by a piercingly loud and unbearable silence. Unbeknownst to Matthew, in the elevator away from these images, Justice also began singing, the song triggering terrifying images as well.
"And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dare
Disturb the sound of silence"
The ten thousand people were spirits that began to appear around Matthew and the lone streetlight, accompanied by the freshly killed woman's spirit as well. They were all moving their mouths, yet no words came out. The spirits and Matthew couldn't hear, so they couldn't listen to themselves and Matthew couldn't communicate with the phantom gathering. The reason the ghosts couldn't speak is because they were Matthew's other victims, people that he had murdered, like the girl. Matthew has snuffed out their voices, their music, and the songs they'd sing to their loved ones when they were alive still. Since Matthew was alive, he could talk, but he didn't want to disturb the peaceful but equally unnerving silence in fear that the ghosts would kill him for his sins.
"'Fools" said I, you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might reach you
Take my arms that I might reach you
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence"
Silence grows. Many more ghosts began appearing all over the darkness, showing that Matthew's killing spree would continue. Finally, after years of murder and evading arrest, he developed cancer that would quickly kill him. In his finals moments under the streetlight, Matthew felt remorse and guilt for his crimes, and he began profusely apologising and begging the phantoms for forgiveness. They did not hear, for it had begun to storm and so Matthew's pleas were lost in the droning sound of the sudden storm.
"And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming"
The ghosts all bowed, with the exception of a lone ghost, the girl Matthew just murdered. On her the sound of the storm, as clear as day, she spoke to him.
"The sign said "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
She spoke of finding the spirit army's forgiveness many centuries into the future, when subways had been invented everywhere. The spirits' words of forgiveness would be hidden within the graffiti spray-painted by all the aspiring artists of the world, who were in fact descendants of the ghosts. Only after centuries of guilt and remorse will Matthew have paid his debt to his victims and be forgiven.
"It whisper'd in the sounds of silence."
The song came to an end, as did the story displayed in Matthew's mind. When he snapped out of his daydream, he found that he was silently crying. Tears flooded his eyes and stained his cheek. All these emotions from killing the Nazis from earlier, to the murder of the innocent girl he met, just charged at him and hit him with the force of a bullet train. The girl but even closer to home, partly because he knew her...
And partly because she was his very first victim. Not the Nazis. Her. The Nazis were acts of self defense, things you do in a war. Things you have no choice but to do.
He made the choice. He murdered her in cold blood.
And she was haunting him again.
"Matthew, what's wrong?" Justice asked in a concerned tone.
"Nothing." He lied, wiping his eyes dry and straightening up. "I'm fine. Eager to meet this Senate I'm supposedly a member of."
The elevator dinged and came to a halt.
"Here we are." Justice said. "The Meeting Place."
The elevator doors slid open and they stepped out.
The Meeting Place was about the size of a very large classroom, except circular.. In the center of the room were 7 chairs that looked like thrones sitting in a large circle. The rest of the room was filled with rows of seats divided by waist high walls that each had different colors, like a pie chart, that ran along the circle walls and surrounded the thrones in the center. People in all the chairs, except for the thrones, were filled with people right to the walls dividing the crowd. All do them were in business attire, and they all looked like they worked for the government. Matthew felt underdressed for the occasion, and he could tell Wendy was as well, but Justice was calm and collective as if she had attended these meetings before.
While the crowd milled about and talked to each other, 5 separate people stood by the thrones.
"Come Matthew, let me Introduce you to the senators."Justice said. "Wendy, go take a seat with whatever party you belong to."
"Alright, Independents all day!" Wendy said passionately and went off to find her seat.
Matthew followed Justice up to the 5 senators by the thrones. As they drew closer the senators all turned and faced them.
"Senators." Justice began. "I'd like you to meet my brother Matthew. Matthew is the newfound king of The Motherland."
"Um, hi." Matthew said meekly.
One of the senators held out his hand and smiled. He wore a black business suit, blue tie, thick framed glasses and brown dress shoes. He had fair skin, was young, had short brown hair and blue eyes. Matthew also took notice of a strange scar on his temple that long been healed.
"Thomas Clay. Good to meet you, Matthew." He said with a slight southern accent.
Matthew shook his hand and before he could say anything back another senator came up. He was a young black man with brown eyes short curly brown hair. No strange scars on him though.
"Name's Samuel Slater." He said in a Michigan sounding accent. "Like the famous industrialist, but not as tech savvy."
"Peter Quinton." Said a very fair skinned man who looked like he was middle aged. Matthew could immediately tell Peter was grouchy and stingy. Peter reminded Matthew of Donald Trump. He even looked rich. Great.
(It was really hard trying to make descriptions for all the senators, so just use your imagination.)
The other senators were Max Murphy, John Van Pelt, and Michelle Olson.
After Matthew had been introduced to all the senators, Justice said in a loud voice, "All those in the Meeting Place, take your seats."
The crowd went silent and took their seats. Then the senators sat down in the thrones. Matthew sat in one of them once he saw Justice do the same.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I called this meeting to officially make my brother Matthew here as our rightful king." Justice announced.
Some of the parties cheered, while the others stayed silent. Wendy and her party were one that cheered, so Matthew thought that was a good thing.
"Well Matthew." Spoke up Samuel. "All you have to do is sign a document and you'll be king."
Samuel reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen and paper. Matthew took them from him and read over the document. After he read it and agreed to stay within the legal guidelines of being king, he signed at the bottom and returned the pen and paper to Samuel.
"Thank you, Senator Slater." Justice said with gratitude.
"So that's it? I now rule over the Motherland?" Asked Matthew, surprised that that was all he had to do.
"Yeah that's about it." Answered Justice. "We don't do things like you do in the Real World. A lot of things are different, but you'll catch on over the years."
"Well, if I'm king, then why do we have a Senate? That's not how a monarchy works." Matthew said.
"This is the Senate for The Motherland." Said Michelle. "We're for any conflict, political or otherwise, that arises for the Motherland. You can run your country Skyrim however, but we have a war to win, and we're doing it together."
"You ever see one of those movies about the apocalypse or a huge terrorist threat affected different countries?" Asked Samuel.
Matthew nodded.
"Those people you see on all those Tv's are the world leaders, and they get together to deal with international problems like those. That's what we are for The Motherland basically."
"Ohhh, I get it now." Matthew said in understanding. "So, now what?"
"Well, since you're here, I want to congratulate you on your first battle." Thomas said. "You had no combat training whatsoever, yet you held ground and survived the defeat. After you get proper training, you can do even better. The War is happening on everyone's soil, both Motherland's and The New Reich's. We want you to be ready. For the offense on the front lines, and for the defense back here at home. Will you do that?"
Before Matthew had answered, Justice answered for him.
"Yes he will. He has proved his worth at Fort Dane and he will be a great leader." She said.
"Good good." Said Thomas.
"So is there anything anyone has to say before we conclude the meeting?" Asked Justice.
The Meeting Place stayed silent in response.
"Then this Meeting is adjourned."
Matthew saw everyone in their party get up and file out of the place. The Senators also left the room. Wendy came over to Matthew and Justice, leaving the three of them alone in the Meeting Place.
"So how does it feel to be king?" Wendy asked with a smile on her face.
Matthew thought for a minute, then said, "Empowered."
"Sounds about right." Justice confirmed.
"So now what?" He asked.
"Well, we need to assign you to a military unit so you can officially be a member of the armed forces, but first you need to know something." Justice when on.
She raised her hands up and made some sort of weird gestures, mind of resembling Chinese symbols. Then to Matthew's surprise, her hands started to flow a white light color.
"That's Gesturism." Wendy whispered.
"Reveal hidden room!" Justice said loudly.
The minute she finished those words, their environment changed so drastically that Matthew actually jumped back and yelped with fear.
The Meeting Place had vanished. The trio now stood in a completely white room that almost looked like it was glowing. There were several different thrones on one end of the room against the wall, and people sat there. Matthew knew that these were no ordinary people though, just by looking at them. He could literally feel power radiating off them.
"A few minutes ago you meet the Grand Senate of the Motherland." Justice spoke. "Now you get to meet those in charge of all of Cloud 9."
Justice walked over to the beings, and Matthew and Wendy followed suite.
There were 5 people in total, 2 women, 2 men, and surprisingly a little girl.
"Is this the boy you spoke of, Mary?" One of the women asked.
"Yes. This is Eskalion." His sister answered.
"Come forth, boy." The woman said.
Matthew complied and stepped in front of the woman, shifting on his feet and showing that he was nervous.
"You claim to be a God. A cosmic being. In your stories, yes?" She asked.
"Yes ma'am, that's true." He replied quietly.
"You stand before 5 Gods. Can you guess what I am the goddess of?"
"No." He said.
"My name is Elizabeth DeWitt, and we all have C9 Awareness. I am from a video game called Bioshock Infinite, which you are aware of. In the game I can access gateways to other worlds via tears in reality. So tell me what goddess I am.
"Goddess of the Multiverse?" He tried.
"Specifically Cloud 9's Multiverse, but yes."
"Does that mean you are the only who can see the Multiverse?" Matthew asked.
"Others can. I'm just the most prominent." Elizabeth replied.
While they were talking the little girl walked over and tugged on Matthew's pant leg.
"And who are you?" He said in a cute voice.
"Don't talk to me like a child, boy. I can turn you into dust if I wanted to. Or a zygote. I like doing that."
"That's Lydia, the goddess of Youth. Can be any age she wants, but she's actually thousands of years old." Justice explained.
"I'm Mortis. Rigor Mortis." One man said. "God of Death. Don't fuck with me."
"And I am Bob. The physical embodiment of all Magic." The Last man said.
"These are the Cosmic beings of Cloud 9." Justice said.
"Well, some of us anyway. There's a bunch more of us, but they're not...like us, exactly." Said Elizabeth.
"Ok, if we don't leave right now, the world will end, so let's go!" Said Justice.
Before Matthew could ask why she said that she snapped her fingers and they were gone.
Hey Everyone, sorry I haven't been updating. I've come to a stop for this story because I don't know how I want to structure it and because I've been working on two other stories, one is finished and the other is almost finished. To be honest I probably won't update again for a while. I just don't know how to do this story. The passion is gone, so I may just stop altogether. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Take care everyone and I'll let you know what I plan to do with this story.