-1Chapter 23
Malak was still at Pandora's bedside, hoping she would come out of her comatose. It was a miracle as it happened right before his eyes.
"Jor…. Jorel…lo…" Pandora murmured with her eyes barely open.
"No, no it's Malak," the mallowolf told her softly as he leaned over her, almost ready to cry.
"Mal…lak?" Pandora struggled, wondering where Jorelo was. Malak nodded at her with a small smile.
"Yes, Pandora, it's me," he confirmed as his eyes watered up.
"…Why?" Pandora didn't want Malak by her side. All she wanted was Jorelo, Jorelo could ease the pain just by being there, that was something Malak couldn't do.
"Jorelo… He doesn't care about you anymore," he slowly informed her, which was true after all thanks to Priscilla.
"Wha…Why?" Pandora asked while pondering what Malak just said to her, those words didn't feel right at all, oxymoronic even.
"He left you to die Pandora… By a stroke of luck, I found you and saved you from your lonely demise," he admitted to her as his tears fell onto Pandora's face. She was too weak to wince at them, "I swear, if I find him again, I'll make him pay for what he did to you," He growled feebly, overtaken by his emotions.
"Jor…relo…" Pandora repeated, knowing that if he had left her, it had to be for good reasons. She wasn't ready to let Malak's ideas of Jorelo take control of her thoughts just yet.
"I… I don't have it on me…" Falkor replied gloomily, "please… We have a history together Hilary… You just have to believe me," he didn't know what else to say to reassure his stories were true to her.
"I'm sorry… Fal...kor," the pretztail cleared her throat as an excuse if she happened mispronounce his name and closed the door on him.
"Hilary…" Falkor whined in the same tone as when she left him in his dream, it was almost déjà vu to him, but this time Falkor had the reassurance that Hilary still existed.
Walking off the porch, Falkor wondered where his friends were. He had no clue as to where, but he still had his cell phone. The lonesome fudgehog took it out and dialed Jorelo's number hoping the dark fudgehog had charged his phone after it died on him back on Prisca's little moon hideout.
Jorelo and Priscilla were still on the sidewalks together, searching for their target. Jorelo was walking by himself now, still not fully recovered however, but he was doing great on his own. His phone suddenly began to ring, he removed it from his belt and answered it.
"Hm?" Priscilla hummed, probably guessing it was Falkor since their phone numbers weren't to be known by strangers. Jorelo sat himself down on the grass to rest before he took the call.
"…Yes?" Jorelo answered, wondering who was on the other line.
"It's me, Falkor, where are you guys?" He asked Jorelo as Priscilla watched Jorelo survey the area over.
"Well I think I see a hospital in the distance, will that help you out?" Jorelo replied, trying to be positive about the situation. He hasn't seen this part of Piñata Island before.
Though before Jorelo could say anything else, Priscilla's palm pilot started to beep obnoxiously. The pretztail ripped the palm pilot out of its holder and looked at it. Malak's signs of life were showing themselves all around the hospital Jorelo mentioned earlier, Priscilla called out to her fudgehog partner.
"Um… Jorelo," she hesitated, unsure of herself, and unsure if Jorelo was ready for the upcoming events.
"Hold on a bit Falkor…" Jorelo told Falkor as he put his phone face down on the grass, but Falkor was still able hear them. "What is it?" The fudgehog asked Priscilla, fully facing her.
"Malak's inside the hospital you pointed out just now" Priscilla informed him, afraid of giving Jorelo eye contact as well as the looks he might give her.
"…Really?" Jorelo responded, acting like it was no big deal.
Jorelo took his phone off the ground and worked himself up onto his feet, Priscilla reached out to help him up, but the fudgehog was already on his feet before she could get to him. Jorelo put the phone back to his ear to continue the conversation, "Falkor, listen, meet us inside the hospital, got that?" Jorelo ordered, but before Falkor could reply Jorelo had already hung up the phone. Jorelo turned to Priscilla, "let's hurry then," he said as they both rushed themselves towards the hospital.
Priscilla didn't notice that her wallet had fallen out onto the ground while she ran. As a gust of wind nudged the wallet open, a folded up piece of paper had freed itself from the leather pouch's grasp. The paper looked fairly stained and wrinkled as it partially came unfolded. The light breeze then blew the parchment away into the distance.
Jorelo had trouble making it look like he wasn't limping in his steps as they were nearing the hospital, though Priscilla could easily see it. Once they were at the front doors of the building, Priscilla had held the door open for the recovering fudgehog as he managed his way inside.
The barkbark receptionist saw the two fly right by her without even checking in, she had immediately called for security, because piñatas don't just bolt into a hospital and run through the halls, especially looking like they did.
By this time Priscilla noticed Jorelo's difficulty moving had increased. She had aided him onwards until she was practically dragging Jorelo across the room. The duo eventually came upon the room Malak and Pandora were staying in. Priscilla knew both of them just by glancing at them, Jorelo was still trying to process them and their faces, still a little lost from the mind wiping.
"This… this him?" Jorelo asked Priscilla as he watched her give Malak a death stare. Malak faced towards them within an instant of hearing Jorelo speak.
"You…" Malak muttered and soon met with Priscilla's glare, Priscilla stepped slowly inside the room incase Malak were to resort to tricks.
"Malak-" Priscilla started, but was instantly cut off by the furious mallowolf, "Silence!" His attention was now focused on Priscilla. Malak had stomped over the pretztail and slapped her across the face. The blow was hard enough that it make her fall flat on the floor.
"Hey!" Jorelo shouted at Malak, "what's with you?" Pandora picked up Jorelo's voice, but she was too frail to turn her head to face him.
"Jor…relo…" Pandora murmured softly. Naturally Jorelo responded to his name, but the voice was almost too familiar. He had heard that voice somewhere before, but he couldn't place his finger on where or who. Unfortunately, before Jorelo could give it any real thought, Malak had took him off guard by raising the careless fudgehog by the throat with one paw.
"It's time we settled this," Malak growled as he used his other paw to create another portal like Prisca had. Jorelo's fear returned instantaneously as he tried to struggle free from Malak's death grip, it was nearly choking the life from him.
Priscilla had worked herself up to her knees, but she didn't have enough time to react once Malak seized her by the back of the neck and yanked her to the portal. Jorelo was the next, being forcefully thrown in. However, Malak was gentle with Pandora, cradling her in his arms as they both entered into the portal.
Falkor was rushing over to the hospital, he wish his legs could carry him faster as it was taking forever to get there by foot. His steps seemed to be flowing smoothly, that is, until he slid and fell because of a piece of paper on the pavement. Falkor landed on the hump of his back as the paper flew into the air and landed delicately on his face. Falkor let out an anger filled growl.
"I don't have time for this!" He growled as he tossed the paper aside, completely oblivious that it was the letter he was searching for to show Hilary. The crinkled letter took its course back in the wind again. Falkor eventually reached the hospital about five minutes later, however the rush made the poor fudgehog desperately catch his breath by the time he had gotten through the door.
"Can I help you?" the barkbark receptionist asked him, Falkor trained his eyes at her while breathing heavily.
"I'm," Falkor started as he filled his lungs to speak again, "looking for two piñatas," Falkor paused to breathe for awhile.
"Yes?" The Barkbark replied monotonously, getting a little impatient with Falkor.
"A light blue-ish and white pretztail tagging along with a black fudgehog," he took in another breath, "have you seen them anywhere?" He asked her.
"Yeah, I have," she sighed irritably, "they came in, thinking the hospital was a part of their marathon track," Falkor's eyes widened in hope of finding them faster.
"Where are they?" His voice grew louder as he leaned over the desk a bit.
"I have no clue, I gave up and called security once they reached the hall," she pointed to the hallway behind the double doors. Falkor headed off in that direction, knowing he wouldn't get anything else from her that'd help him find his friends. Maybe some of the piñatas wandering the hallway would know.
Going from piñata to piñata, Falkor asked them if they had seen the two piñatas any place inside the hospital. Each answer had gotten him closer… Or so he thought.
Priscilla woke up to room of pitch black nothingness, everything seemed quiet. It was actually quite nice to be able to just rest and relax for once since their departure from the spacecraft.
"What is this place?"She thought to herself, "Am I… Dead?"Priscilla tried to pull herself up to a sitting position, but her wrist and legs were restricted by binds she couldn't feel until now. It was then a faint light had fallen on her. She squinted and blinked her eyes at it, trying to adjust her vision.
"I see you're awake," a male voice addressed her calmly as the pretztail saw a dark figure loom over her, the light behind it had hid its identity.
The floor beneath Priscilla had lifted upwards and was flipped forward so that she was face to face with her captor. The angle of her sight now revealed the stranger as Malak.
Priscilla's couldn't help but be fearful of the situation she was in as Malak had her trapped and cornered.
"Tell me, why are you with Jorelo," Malak dived straight into interrogating the pretztail. Priscilla felt something ripping viciously off of her lower face, she could help but start howling and crying in pain.
Malak threw the used piece of duct tape that he used to keep Priscilla quiet onto the ground. Bits of her mache came off with the tape as tears had drained out from Priscilla's wincing eyes. She tired hard to resist because she knew that Malak craved to see her at her worst.
"I… Don't know…" Priscilla struggled to say with bloodied lips, not wanting to share any information with the mallowolf. And with that said a whip materialized in Malak's right paw.
"If you're smart and value your life, you'll tell me what I want to know," Malak smirked, knowing she'd put up a fight. Even knowing the consequences, Priscilla just shook her head slowly, making sure not to look him in the eye.
Her disobedience did not go unpunished. Malak replied with a harsh lash of the whip to her lower torso. The tear inducing pain was much worse than the tape being violently torn off. Priscilla was more fearful of Malak than ever right now, she knew he meant business.
Blood began to escape from her new wound as the frightened pretztail fixated her eyes at it for awhile before Malak had tore her attention away with the same question: "Why were you with Jorelo?"
"I…" Priscilla desperately wanted to tell this time, but couldn't find the right words, "I guess… I li-liked him…" she stuttered, still not aiming her eyes at the mallowolf.
"Liked him?" Malak grumbled, "so… I'm guessing he left Pandora for you then, am I right?" The words mocked her.
"No! No, I swear he didn't!" Priscilla cried, trying to struggle free, though her attempts were in vain. "We needed to leave Prisca's hideout, things there became too bad for us," she squabbled frantically as she closed her eyes tightly, feeling the whip kissing her right cheek with a loud crack.
"And you couldn't take Pandora with you, hm?" Malak rubbed her mistake in as he was starting to grow slightly irate with her incompetence.
"We couldn't! We had to leave because of her, you see…" Priscilla's voice trailed off, "… She and Prisca got into a fight, and Pandora had lost control of herself and she ended up bringing the whole place down, that's why we had to leave," Priscilla explained as she could taste the blood that ran from her new gash.
"Lose it? Pandora was just barely grasping onto life when I found her! If anything, I bet Prisca had left her like that! You could have stopped this! I know you could of!" he shouted at her, making her feel worthless inside.
"But…" Priscilla whimpered, "you were there too! You were left behind with them, and look at you! I don't see a scratch on you!"
"Lies!" Malak growled, his whip leaving a new welt on Priscilla's left arm. Priscilla shrieked in pain from the brisk contact of the leather.
"You were there! …It's just too much, of a blur, for you to… To remember," Priscilla managed to speak trough the pain, "Trust me… I saw you there," she added on before taking another sickly gasp of air, "and I, tracked you down… Right after… The accident."
Malak wasn't able to recall his memories all the way back to that point in time. All he had remembered was that he found Pandora lying in a pile of rubble and simply blamed Jorelo for it because she and Jorelo were rarely apart.
"Stop lying!" Malak roared as he branded Priscilla vertically across her right eye. Her eye had instantly gone blind from the blood gushing out like tears. The gruesome pain was overwhelming now, Priscilla wished if Malak's intentions were on killing her that he should just get it over with already.
"…What's going on?" A new voice had made itself known behind the darkness. However Malak already knew who it was.
"Jorelo…" Malak grimaced as he faced the fudgehog, eyeing him through the blackness. As Jorelo made eye contact with the mallowolf, a lone light shined itself over Jorelo. "Just in time to see your new lover die," his grim words made Priscilla swallow the nervous lump in her throat. She knew now that Malak was indeed going to kill her, and most likely in a slow and painful manner so that way Jorelo would die emotionally before physically if that's what the mallowolf had planned.
Malak stepped to the side so Jorelo could have a clear view of Priscilla. The fudgehog gawked the blood trailing down her papery fur until his eyes followed it to the bottom where his sight was greeted with the mess of crimson puddles.
"How, could you…" Jorelo uttered while staring at Priscilla's wounds in disbelief. Malak shook his head and laughed at the unfortunate fudgehog.
"How couldn't I?" Malak countered, "you had it all Jorelo, and you threw it all away! I've envied you day and night from the moment I met you, and by the time I'm done, there'll be nothing left of you to envy!" Jorelo recoiled mentally from Malak's words. The fudgehog began to shed tears, however he was too distressed to realize it.
"Wha-…Why?" Jorelo begged him, "I… Used to trust you like a brother! …But, ever since the recent incident back at Piñata Central… I just couldn't think of you as that anymore," Malak blew off what Jorelo said as he snapped the whip across Priscilla's muzzle. Jorelo winced at the vicious snap it made as Priscilla let out bloodcurdling scream from the pain. Her new wound started bleeding into her mouth, preventing her from speaking correctly.
"I don't care about what bullshit you used to have for me," Malak snapped back furiously, "the only thing that matters is that both of you will suffer greatly before you die," Malak turned and cracked his whip over Priscilla's stomach.
Jorelo saw that Priscilla had the wind taken out of her from the recent blow as her face scrunched together repugnantly. As Priscilla quickly came back to her senses, she found herself choking on her blood instead of screaming. The macabre sounds tormented Jorelo as the troubled fudgehog just wanted to cover his ears up and fall into a coma, never to come out. Anything to get away from this horrible nightmare.
But before Jorelo broke down, a piercing gunshot had abruptly ceased the game Malak was playing. The fanatical fudgehog watched as Malak, now stunned in his tracks, fall onto the floor. The mallowolf's head oozed out blood which soon met up and mixed in with Priscilla's.
Jorelo faced himself towards the sound and found a feeble Pandora struggling to keep herself up. Sadly, Jorelo didn't really have any idea who she was. The blue Pretztail was grabbing onto her chest with one paw and gripping a handgun of some kind in the other.
"Jorelo…" Was the last thing Pandora had uttered before she fell to the ground. Jorelo's instincts had instantly kicked in as he rushed for Pandora and caught her in mid-fall.
"Pan-… Pan…dora?" Jorelo replied without much thought as he looked into her lifeless eyes, her body was completely limp. "Say something! Pandora!" It was in that moment that the memories rushed back into Jorelo's mind, he felt fairly renewed inside, though that didn't mean that he felt any better emotionally.
Pandora however, didn't respond. Jorelo checked for her pulse, but he couldn't find any. In tears, Jorelo held her close one last time, cherishing the last moment he would ever have with her before laying her down on the dark floor below.
"Pandora…" Jorelo let out an involuntary sob, which soon grew into a deep mourning. Priscilla had eventually passed on as well during the time Jorelo took to cry over the death of Pandora.
Now stuck with three corpses and no way out, Jorelo was left to rot until he became a corpse himself. The fudgehog took the gun from Pandora's paw and started to contemplate taking the easy way out…