Chapter 10: Relationship therapy
A faint Lylat tries to shine upon Krystal and Phantom's place of staying but a grey, smog-like fog lingering around prevents this. It's early, frosty morning on Papetoon, about 6:34 last time Phantom checked. He has himself gladdened for at least 10:00. But Krystal, unable to wait to any longer to get out of here, nearly dragged Phantom out of his bed. It was humorous, seeing his struggle with his bedspread and Krystal pulling him out by his leg. That was until Phantom made a rough faceplant with the floor. For a short while, it was quiet.
'Phantom?' she asks concerned. 'Are you okay? It wasn't my intent…' He could hear the concern was out of pure guilt. He starts to laugh as he gets up, letting Krystal know everything is okay. After a skinny fifteen minutes the both were suited up and ready to leave.
Phantom knows about Krystal abandoning the case and leaving him therefore. She explained it during those skinny fifteen minutes. He sees she has her reasons and didn't go into further discussion, much to Krystal's liking. Money will not be an issue; case unsolved means no payment necessary. He's already dressed up to go while Krystal braids her hair correctly. Phantom got himself dressed in her hotel room. His room didn't hold much significance to him anyway. Krystal's room on the other hand, was more important to her. He appears a little chary in the opening of the bathroom where Krystal is doing her thing. She just got done with the braiding. Phantom looks upon a walking beauty model. She sees him in an open, shaded, metallic chrome trench-coat, a darker grey plain shirt, the wooden spike between his teeth and his belts fully loaded.
'You coming?' ask two dim ruby-red eyes to which Krystal agrees.
The door of the hotel may open and close, but the trunk of Phantom's Chevy isn't. He and Krystal are moving her stuff into the car. Phantom himself didn't had much. Only his gun, his yet to be revealed melee weapon and some cash. And of course his Chevy. Just as he brings Krystal's last baggage downstairs, he hears Krystal calling from the staircase.
'Phantom! Catch!' she shouts as she throws a small chest towards him from up the staircase. He grabs it out of the air with zero extra effort, holding it in his right paw. With a smug smile, he walks away while tossing it up in the air several times.
She shouldn't have thrown it. It's a Cerinian ring, once belonging to her mother. She kinda snatched it and kept it to herself. It's the only thing she regrets for a lifetime, aside from coming to this doomed planet. At least she knows for sure that Phantom will not drop it and luckily Phantom is not planning too.
The trunk finally closes as the two vulpines get in.
'Brrrr!' shivers Krystal as the inside of the car feels like a freezer.
'Early morning in car from the late 60's. Expected some luxury?' asks Phantom sarcastic as he buckles up. A chill also runs through him but he can cover it up.
'Could you at least turn on the heat?' she asks a little blunt.
'Sure. But only because you dragged me out of bed.' replies Phantom sarcastic again.
He turns the switch to its highest level as he drives away from the hotel. After some time, the foggy city streets have given way to sunny countryside. However, as outside things look prettier, the atmosphere in the car is grim. Not a graveyard yet. Yet...
'You sure that Panther can be trusted?' asks Phantom.
She sighs irritated. 'For the hundredth time: Yes! Can you please stop pondering about him?'
'I just don't wanna put us into more trouble than we already are. That's all...' he reacts to Krystal's snarl.
'He can be. Believe me.' she answers with a toned down voice before scrolling through her messages to find the address Panther send.
'Suuuure... "Believe you". With all these events connecting to you...' He laughs awkward in between, but it was meant to come out more serious, even if the seriousness was a façade. Krystal has become more than just a responsibility for him. '...I don't know what to believe.' he admits vexed. He turns right on a crossroad without saying another word anymore.
'Why this mean tone? Like it's my fault.'
She folds her arms and tries to focus on something else outside the car. But her curiosity can't keep her to it. She has no idea why he's suddenly blaming her. He sounds agitated and grumpy. She reads his mind. A quick swoop is enough to see a manifestation of interference. Priorities clash as fear battles bravery.
*He's pulling himself down. First it was "us" and then "him" and "her", with "him" getting worse.*
'You okay Phantom?' she asks after the silence. 'You're not looking so good.'
'Yeah... I'm fine.' he replies growling. He looks at himself in the rearview mirror. The bags under his eyes are pretty big and have the color of a light bruise. As if seeing himself like this hurts his eyes, he gives the mirror a smack, turning the mirror-side the other way. He cringes into his seat a little. Like in a burning pain, his breathing gets heavier. The part of his face she can see, starts to show old scars on a filthy furred backdrop. They are numerous and don't look pretty.
'Are those...' She reaches out for them to get a better look and touch. Maybe she could help.
'Leave it!' bites Phantom quick, batting away her arm and cutting her off. He quickly regrets his hardened tonation and continues a little softer. 'Just... leave it. It's not a big deal.' he waves off.
'Sorry...' she says beaten down. Her eyes start to burn as she holds a tear in.
*Geesh. It's like a flipping machine.* complains Phantom groaning in himself. *First it's me scolding and then her. Me... her and so on. I hate this!*
He wants to apologize, but doesn't want to come over as desperate or not serious.
'Okay.' says Krystal out of the blue after some thought on the subject. She sniffs a few times before continuing. 'I know why we... and this situation are so tense.' she states with a break in between as a pardon for the whole "we" thing that might fall wrong on the right ears.
'You do huh?' comments Phantom casual who has decided to leave what happened behind.
'Hmhm.' she nods. 'You don't want me to go to Panther. Pfff! Panther doesn't matter to you. No… you don't want me to leave.'
Phantom swallows and feels himself getting warmer while maintaining his causality. He tries to hide it as best as possible.
'When you kept asking if Panther could be trusted, you were not worried about "us"...' She turns to him. '...rather about me.'
'I-is that so?' He starts to get a blush even a trained pokerface would have trouble with. An awkward smile appears on his as he bites the right side of his lower lip.
'You don't me to leave at all. Because you think I understand you like none other.' she deducts.
'Aside from Adonis that is.' he quickly adds to avert the statement. But the opposite is true: acknowledgement. He feels like having a session with a psychiatrist. A blue furred, sweet vixen named Krystal.
His eyes meet hers. The gateways to his soul undo themselves from the dim and replace it by a more flourishing coat. Like real blood diamonds should be, not the other kind.
'There's no shame in surrendering the wall you've set up to exclude others, to include those really caring for you.' echoes through his mind as Krystal smiles at him. 'Tell me what the scars are about.'
He exhales, hating to cite exposition. His head hangs lower than the steering wheel as the speed of the vehicle decreases.
'I wasn't... always a PI. Let alone a good guy. I was a convict. Always one step ahead until I messed up. A parking ticket left unpaid uncovered a list of other things that should have remain uncovered. In prison, the government was seemingly so hyped over my record, they employed me as a guy to clean up the dirty work. Espionage, sabotage and a slit throat. Daily business.'
'Did something go wrong that you received those scars?'
'No. Self-inflicted.' He's a little disturbed that he can say that without breaking a sweat and he nearly suffocates in front of Krystal. 'In order to "harden" me for excessive situations, they needed to make a monster out of me.'
An image flashes across his vision. A fat cat, a mad doctor and a Cornerian Army Capitan dressed in a green Pepper-like uniform. The Capitan looks grievous, unable to do anything as the mad doctor, with the fearsome grin and coming closer, will take care of him.
'Amrish...' he continues sad. 'He was powerless. Project Butcher should have been a replacement for Slayer, not an exaggeration of it.' Cold breath leaves his lips as his grip around the wheel tightens. 'Now to the real shocker...'
'What shocker?' implies Krystal curious, unaware of what Phantom will tell her.
'They broke me and created something out of that wreck. That something, was Psycho.'
He drags Krystal's telepathic connection she had going in his head into a flashback. She stands in the middle of a giant area. It's mostly shaded and/or hauled in total darkness. She stands on the only lightened spot as a spotlight shines down on her. She has no shadow; she does not exist as a being in this world.
'To see our result!' roars over dozens of speakers hung and placed all around. Strange, static-filled words seem to tail behind the real message. It's different language from what see can make out. Either Phantom's Fichinian, a strange Saurian or Japanese.
*Neither of those Krystal.* transmits Phantom as a voice-over. *It's language you shouldn't dig into. Just reversing our daily speech is enough.*
The light moves over the closed gate in the wall. 'Reveal yourself!' commands someone over the speakers.
*Here I come...*
The gate slowly opens in a rusted fashion with a lot of noise. What comes out of that hallway, is no one other than Phantom himself.
'But that's... just you.' says Krystal who expected something a lot bigger. 'Granted, being broken is horrible but you don't look that bad.'
*Look again.*
As Krystal focuses a little more and the appearance of Phantom comes closer, she gets a better look at him. Same fur color, eye color too. But his face... Blood-caked would barely cut it. Wounds all over, a horrible arrangement of ragged fangs and to top it all: the All-Seeing Eye almost burned into his forehead. The binder between the skin and the Eye was a thin string of copper that didn't molded with his skin. She can see the rusty impression, emphasized by another self-inflicted cut and half-molten copper parts that did stick.
*Remember when I told you that the Gatekeeper's creation needed to collect 5 symbols? Psycho was created as Plunder number 4, after its corresponding symbol. The weird words you heard, came into my sub-consciousness. They were soothing, with everything I did. Every kill, every wound... it gave me an...' He stops as he feels shame taking over. He feels like has cheated on his wife, but he has none. 'An arousing pleasure.' he spits out. 'There you have it. A pure, relentless killing machine. Controlled by the Gatekeeper's creation.'
The flashback turns to black as Krystal has only her own mind to read. She's back in the reality, back in the passenger seat of his Chevy. She sees that Phantom is having a hard time, sobbing a little.
'Thank you Phantom.' says Krystal sweet as she lays her left paw on Phantom's shoulder. It startles him a bit at first. 'That was one bitter pill nah?'
Relieved, Phantom exhales and can actually put a smile on his face. That is out of his system.
'It doesn't matter what you were Phantom. No matter if the killing machine is still inside you. Because the one that's here with me right now, is so much more powerful.'
With that said, the tense situation is not there anymore. Phantom can't show his gratitude in words. All he can do is stutter and laugh at himself. He decided to pick up the pace by stomping the gas.
'Hang on Krys. I'll show you some real power!' he states as the engine begins to howl. The speedometer and the tachometer rise like they never did before. G-forces come almost into play as the both feel the adrenaline boiling up inside.
She opens the window and hangs over the edge with her upper body. She rises her arm up in the air like she's in rollercoaster. She can feel the wind on her face and through her hair. Helping someone who helped through all this felt a lot better than she'd ever expected. For once, she's stress less. For once, there's no worry. She lets herself go completely.
'Yeeehaaa!' she screams out of pure joy. The car's engine howls on as the countryside changes to a more modern suburban style. A couple of extra deluxe villa's varied by flat, green landscapes. It's the perfect, peaceful atmosphere to ruin with a noisy car, an ex-psychopath behind the wheel and Krystal screaming her lungs dry. It's a like a heavy metal concert she once saw on TV when she was zapping through channels. Only thing missing, is that music.
At that moment, Phantom puts his mp3 in a holder on the middle dashboard. Before he can put his plugs in, Krystal snatches the wires and pulls the connector out the device.
'What the...' exclaims Phantom, looking at Krystal's expressing that she wants in on it too.
'Don't keep this to yourself.' She connects his mp3 with her smartphone, acting as a speaker.
'Now give me your all.' she says with a sweet smile. Phantom laughs as he holds his finger on the play-button.
'I bet that sounded better in your head.' he remarks funny.
His finger comes off the button as the mp3 turns on. Krystal sets the volume on max; why should she care? She's free for a while.
*And I'm gonna enjoy it too dammit!* she states strong to herself.
When the first song blasts his way in, it's nothing special. Until the singer screams, the aggressive riff plays and the dark and hard drums kick in. It's Disturbed's Dropping Plates. It seems Phantom is a great fan; the lyrics are all in his head. Reading that, Krystal has no problem singing along while head-banging in symphony with him.
*Writer interruption*
This will probably never happen again. But I've put the lyrics of that song in here. The underline parts is what Phantom sings, the bold parts together and the Italic part is just Krystal. Best to be skipped if you don't like it or play it yourself and sing along.
*Writer interruption*
Ha!
Well here we go again, get up
A little somethin' for your earhole, get up
Baring a part of my soul again, get up
Disturbed in the house, we're droppin' plates
You said it couldn't be done
Told me that it's the kind of battle
That just couldn't be won, you know
You're too sick, too hard, too fucked in the head
You'll never make it, no, not in this lifetime
Well guess again my friend
Don't act surprised
We got the bass drum kick
That will blow out your eyes HA,
Cause when you hear this shit
You'll get to steppin'
Gonna fight the war
And use my music as a weapon
You know I'm talkin' bout recognition
You know I'm talkin' bout vindication
Another goddamn slap in the face
Don't wanna give us a place
Are you afraid?
Well fear this,
Cause I'm breakin' through the walls of your nightmare
Wake up time to die
The way you're livin' there is no compromising it
Better get ready for another surprise in it
May leave a mark because I'm coming fast
Plantin' thoughts in your mind
And droppin' plates on your ass
Well here I come
I'm droppin' plates on your ass bitch
You never mind and you don't need this
Said here I come
I'm droppin' plates on your ass bitch
You never mind and you don't need
Well on your mark, here we go again, hey ya, ya
Well never mind cause you're not a number one, oh ya, ya
You're too hard and from the other side, hey ya, ya
I think it's time to bring it home again
Right to me
Well on your mark, here we go again, hey ya, ya
Well never mind cause you're not a number one, oh ya, ya
You're too hard and from the other side, hey ya, ya
I think it's time to bring it home again
Right to me
You know I'm talkin' bout recognition
You know I'm talkin' bout vindication
Here I come
I'm droppin' plates on your ass
Well here I come
I'm droppin' plates on your ass
Said here I come
I'm droppin' plates on your ass
Now here I come
I'm droppin' plates on your ass
Plates on your ass bitch
Plates on your ass
Well here I come I'm droppin' plates,
I'm droppin' plates
Plates on your ass bitch
Plates on your ass
Here I come
I'm droppin' plates
And I'm droppin plates in me
Well on your mark
Now here we go again
I'm droppin' plates
I use my music, my weapon
I'm droppin' plates
Break through the walls of your nightmare
I'm droppin' plates
Well here we go
We're droppin' plates
'Whew!' exhales Krystal. 'That was a great outlet.'
The mp3 doesn't stop going on; the next song plays already.
'Another?' she asks astonished, not knowing if she can take another.
'You're not getting away from The Sickness that easy…' says Phantom relaxed.
After a good hour, the suburban area has given way to the packed neighborhood. The mp3 stops playing as soon as Phantom parks the car in front of a stone storage building on Coalgrave Avenue 117, the address Krystal gave him during one of the songs. He turns off the engine and it's silent inside the car. The both have gone wild on some impressive nu-metal, letting it all out for once.
'Now… how was that?' inquires Phantom to a tense Krystal. She utters a gasp.
'How was that?' she repeats before laughing. 'Let's put it this way: if my hair wouldn't have been in shape, I would have a very, very bad hair-day.' she assures.
They laugh for a few seconds before an awkward silence takes over. In just over an hour their relation has grown significantly. Not in the way of loving each other, but in friendship.
'It seems uh… this is goodbye then huh?' sighs Phantom, knowing that there's no other way.
'Yeah…'
She almost sounds like she's having second thoughts. That is until she mans up and opens up the car door. She steps out and stretches herself out, glad to be out of a rather cramped car compared to the open world. A little reluctant, Phantom does the same. But before he can grab the handle to open the door, Krystal sticks her head back in the car through her open window.
'Phantom? I know that you hate to see me leave…' She grabs her smartphone, unlocks the screen, opens her contacts and shows Phantom his own number being stored as PI Phantom. '…so I stored you as a speed-dial and put a little "devil-hands guy" at the end. If I'm ever around, could I call you then for another ride like this?' she asks slightly blushing.
'You mean when your boyfriend Panther is an ass to you?' he answers casual. He shrugs like it's not too significant to him. 'Of course you can. Maybe I'll change album next time.' he says tempting.
'Looking forward to it.'
Phantom exits the car and closes the door. Krystal joins him as they walk towards the storage.
'Are you sure Panther can be trusted?' asks Phantom for the thousandth time plus on.
'Oh god…' she sighs with a facepalm, to which Phantom laughs.
The storage is closed off by a garage door. Phantom tries to lift it, but it's locked.
'Of course.' he complains. But he already has a solution. He grabs his revolver from the inside of his trenchcoat. A special button on the side, separates the three barrels. The weapon is now able to fire one barrel at a time.
'BAM! And that's open.' says Phantom as he blasts the lock off. He reloads one round into one of the fired cylinders before he opens the door. A huge dust cloud greets them. More of those hang around inside, looking like ominous plumes of fog in a horror game. Someone hasn't cleaned this place since the Big Bang. To top it off, it's an enormous black, empty storage.
'That's reeeeaaally a wreck.' he comments dry. He puts his fingerlight on and shines through the interior of the building. The light can't even reach the opposite side. 'Yep. A wreck for sure.'
'Panther doesn't seem to be here yet.' notices Krystal.
Phantom checks the time on his PDA. 'It's only 8:02. It was 9:00 that you guys agreed on. Heh heh. We're way too early.'
'Hmm… you're not… coming with me… are you?' she asks sad, looking at him.
'No. Unfortunately not. Adonis is still here. I'm not leaving without him. Hope he got my text. But yeah… I'm uh… not coming with you. And since Panther clearly said he didn't want me involved at all, I'll stay here. At the entrance.'
Krystal complies and walks ahead with all her stuff. As she's several meters away, he realizes she's missing something. Also inside his trenchcoat, is the chest with the ring Krystal threw at him.
'Krystal!' he shouts at her. She turns around, asking why. 'Here!'
He throws the chest at her in relative easy-to-catch underhanded throw. 'You almost forgot this. If you trusted me with this, it must be important.'
'Thanks Phantom.' she says grateful. She opens the chest and the ring is untouched. Ancient, Cerinian cuneiform is etched into the ring. The ring was worn during special occasions by her mother. A gigantic party, or even an execution of a notorious criminal. The last one she never liked, but tradition had it that the royal family, her family, had to see the criminal die by the hands of an executioner. Typically, a sword was used. They hated axes for ancient reasons that have been left unmentioned as time moved on.
*Wait. Why am I focusing on that?* she asks herself. *Normally I don't think like that at all.* Something is not right here. Someone is planting these thought into her mind.
'All true my dearest queen.' mumbles Délarbé on a catwalk further away and above her. He has his flaming finger pressed against his nose, impersonating a crazy guy with a mohawk sitting on a beach with a handgun. He's the real insanity, not some drug-addict modern day pirate he saw on a billboard advertisement.
*I can manipulate minds and thoughts. I would like to see that villain do that sort of thing!* 'Fox… you can see it all play out now.' he shows.
'I see that Krystal is here. If you're trying something again…' replies Fox threatening.
'Have no worries Fox. Nothing will happen to Krystal.' he assures with a fanged grin. 'Unless you count psychological damage.' he adds mumbling, with Fox unable to hear it.
Meanwhile, on the ground level, Krystal puts her mother's ring on her ring finger. The emerald emplaced inside the golden ring shines faint in the light of the morning sunshine that comes from behind her.
*Maybe… one day… another ring will grace this finger. Maybe one I got from Panther.* she suggests to herself. A small smile comes on her face. *But this ring, I will never take off. I consider it to be Phantom's gift.*
When silence dares to take over again, Phantom can hear a car speeding into the alley. The tires squeaking and the engine roaring. He doesn't think much of it until he hears the sound of crash. He turns around and sees with a face of horror that his left tail light is completely busted. Krystal, who heard it too, runs towards Phantom who's slowly sinking into the ground.
'What happened?'
Phantom hangs his head and slaps his knee cynical, like hearing a bad joke.
'Three days. I had this car for three days. Completely customized. New chassis, vinyls and everything. And then… this!'
From his right, where the speeding car came from, he hears police sirens. A police cruiser enters the alleyway and stops next to Phantom. The window rolls down and an old police officer's head comes out.
'Phantom?' he asks.
'Regular cop guy?' answers Phantom funny.
'Yeah. Hilarious. Now listen: the guy that hit your car, is a bank robber. He uses his fast and agile car to trash ours. These alleys… are a maze and that guy knows his way around. I'm the only one still on four wheels!'
'So… how can Phantom help?' asks Krystal as Phantom is at loss for words thanks to his ruined car.
'This guy is coming around. He can use his car as a roadblock and shoot the guy in the head. Saves us a lot of trouble and he has his revenge.'
'Papetoonian police mentality, right?' comments Phantom.
'You got it.'
The window rolls back up as the cruiser speeds off. Groaning, Phantom grabs his revolver again. He checks the iron sights and the hammers.
'Krys, it seems I'm not even coming with you inside the storage. I'll try to get here as fast as I can… but…' he says in dubio. His car is very important to him but Krystal became that too.
'I understand Phantom.' says Krystal noticing the inner struggle. She doesn't wanna burden him any longer. 'Good luck.' is her way of saying goodbye before walking back into the storage. Right into Délarbé's set trap.
'I uh… I'll call you.' he calls after her but she doesn't hear it anymore. She has walked further into the storage. A loud CLANG is heard behind her; it's the garage door closing behind her. As if it wasn't dark enough already.
'Hmm… Phantom probably closed that.' she tells herself a little startled. 'He wouldn't want the guy that ruined his car to escape if he isn't shot.'
She shrugs and moves on. Without her, knowing Délarbé is looking down on her. The third symbol starts to tickle.
'Watch it all play out Fox. Watch it all play out.'
There is no reaction from Fox. Not even his silence. He looks over his right shoulder to see that Fox is indeed not there.
'Grrr… he went back to the Nether. AGAIN! Nevermind, I don't need him for this. All I need, is to witness what I created.'
Suddenly, another door in the back on the left opens. Light falls in and a shadow comes into that same light. The person of whom the shadow belongs do starts to enter the storage. She recognizes the sounds of these boots on the floor very well: it's Panther. He's suited up and ready to go. Strange, since he only needed to be here at 9:00. Maybe he accounted that Krystal would come early? But that would mean he was spying on her. Before her mind diverts into another line of thought, she snaps out of it. Panther looks around, trying to find someone. He checks his watch.
'8:17. I'm 17 minutes too late and she isn't here yet?' he complains to himself as he starts tapping his foot.
*He's too late? I'm too early. Don't know why I was expecting him so early. Who cares? Better call out to him.*
She lifts her right paw in the air to wave for him. As she tries to shout his name, another door opens in front of Panther. A female shadow comes into the light. She too is looking for someone. Until she looks right ahead and sees Panther. Joy comes on her face as she runs towards him.
'Panther!' yells the yellow vixen Estelle who pounces at him. Panther catches her and hugs her tight.
'My dear Estelle. You're a little late don't you think?'
'Don't be a nitpick Panther and kiss me already.' she commands seductive.
That's something Panther will not go unanswered as the two share a kiss, right in front of Krystal.
'How was that?' asks Estelle after a kiss that seemed to last for eternities.
'The best I've ever had. You're the woman of my heart Estelle.'
Another nail into the coffin that is Krystal's heart. He said the same thing on the phone last night.
'Did you fix it with Krystal? That you would extract her from Papetoon, drop her somewhere off-screen so that we could live on Papetoon together forever?'
'Not just yet. She should be on Coalgrave Avenue 171 at 9:00. She's not so forgiving when I come too late.' sighs Panther as if that was the biggest burden in all of the world.
The final nail has been hammered into her heart as it lays shattered in her ribcage. She can feel it: Her soul is ripped to shreds.
'N-no…' slides inaudible over her lower lip. She opens her mouth a notch, but can't utter anything. All that leaves her mouth, is her stagnated exhaling and inhaling. Suddenly, her mind changes frequency on importance. The name "Fox" comes up, with the promise she made to him. That she would get him out of there.
'Why P-Panther...?' she asks shaky. This time, Panther hears her. His face bleaches when he sees Krystal standing there.
'Uuuh… Krystal… w-what are y-you doing here?' he stutters while trying to come up with an excuse of what just happened.
'Wh-what is t-this Panther?'
'It's… it's not what… it's not what it looks like!' he quickly defends himself. She however doesn't know a good excuse for what it could have been. With empty hands facing a hurt Krystal on one side and with a life of happiness and a still in-love-with-him Estelle on the other. The situation becomes a face-off, with Krystal being the only crying her face off.
The garage door behind Krystal opens with a still groaning Phantom coming in. He didn't succeed in avenging his busted tail light. Since Krystal is still here, he might as well accompany his new friend.
'Asshole never came back. PUH! I got more important stuff to do.' he states as he holsters his weapon. He looks up to the recently opened door. 'Who closed this one?' he wonders as he closes it. 'Hey Krys. Did you close…?'
He turns around but stops the question mid-sentence as he sees Estelle in Panther's arms, with a shaking Krystal look at that happening.
'What is this?' he asks without getting an answer. When Krystal begins to hang her head and whimper, Phantom puts the pieces together. A horrid realization comes upon him as he runs to Krystal's aid. She collapses to her hands and knees, crying out loud.
'Krys… you o… okay?' asks Phantom extremely concerned. All he can do is stay with her but he's willing to do so much more. Another fucking dilemma!
Krystal has no answer to Phantom's concern. She probably didn't hear it at all. Her mind feels floaty and yet so packed, it might just as well explode on the spot. She doesn't care about living at the moment. As long as the pain and grief stops, she'll be happy. Phantom looks up towards Panther with an intense glare saying 'you messed with the wrong guy here.'
'So. You must be Panther huh?'
'Listen Phantom. I can…'
Phantom interrupts Panther by aiming the three barrels of this revolver at Panther's face. 'Don't "Listen Phantom" me! I see what's going on here: you're cheating on Krystal!'
He pulls the hammers back as the sights overlap Panther's forehead. 'Wrong girl!' he assures as he squeezes the trigger. Just one, meager tap more is enough to fire three .50's in sync.
'From you Estelle, I expected such a thing. Frankly, I'm sure you would do it every time if you had the chance. But from you Panther… after all that Krystal told me? After the thousand times she said that you could be trusted when I asked her if!?'
Panther doesn't know what to say or what to do. Only short, cut-off sounds come out of his mouth.
'I never met someone this heartless, this cruel as you.' concludes Phantom. Nothing stands in his way to blast Panther's worthless head to pieces. Not Krystal, not Estelle, not even the law. This one is personal.
'You never met anymore more heartless and cruel?' suddenly sounds from above the group. Délarbé jumps down from the catwalk he sat on all this time and lands in between Phantom and Panther. He expands his claws and shows off his new forehead pentagram.
'You two better run.' he advises to Panther and Estelle as he wiggles his burning finger back and forth. 'I'll handle these two.'
Panther does as told by Délarbé and pulls Estelle with him.
'P-panther…' calls Krystal after him. But he's already gone. Gone with Estelle, leaving her to perish in the dust.
'It seems I'm on the right trail. Follow the path of hope… and end up with the Damaged!' finishes Délarbé.
'Délarbé!' hisses Phantom whose rage is only getting stronger. His former self Psycho almost shows his dirty face. Phantom is barely able to suppress him.
'Hahaaa! That you remembered that gives me some hope.' he points at Phantom. 'The name is exactly that: Damaged, Dañado, Délarbré! But I shortened it to Délarbé. Without the "r" it sounds better. Hmmm… I seem to recognize you from somewhere… ACK!'
The ache he uttered came from the three rounds Phantom fired into his sternum. Délarbé covers his wound, stumbling backwards. He lifts his bleeding paws from the sternum and looks at them. Shocked as he was, it gradually makes way for being proud.
'Aaah… my first number 4: Psycho!'
This, Phantom can't handle. He gives in to the rage build up inside him.
'I'll give you a FOUR!' screams Phantom furious as the trigger is pulled four times in quick succession. The first hits the sternum again, the other shatters a left rib, another in the right shoulder and the last one in the head. Délarbé is knocked on his back by the headshot. He remains silent, giving the illusion to Phantom that he's dead.
'But… what about Fox?'
Krystal's sad voice breaks through the tense silence that lingered since the shots. Did he go too far just for revenge on his former master that he didn't realize that Fox is the host?
'Don't you worry… uuuurgh…' moans Délarbé like being in labor. He rises from the floor and wipes his forehead. The blood stopped spilling already. All that's left are the impact wounds of the bullets. He dusts himself off.
'Fox isn't here. He was, but he went back to the Nether the moment he noticed this all was about you.'
Délarbé reads the shock of Krystal's face.
'Yeah. Remember him? The guy who you promised to get him out of there? And here you stand, betrayed by Panther, with whom you planned to leave Papetoon forever. Thereby… leaving FOX!'
The three barrels of Phantom's revolver split up again as one hammer is pulled, telling Délarbé to back off and shut up.
'Why do you stand up for her? The heartless and cruel creature you were talking about is right next to you!' accuses Délarbé. Phantom is far from impressed.
'So what?' he shrugs off easy. 'I haven't seen her do anything wrong except what she wants to do. I'm not here to judge, rather to protect.'
'Oh Phantom.' says Délarbé emphatic. One day you'll understand. Till then…'
Just as he's about to set a step, Phantom fires a round into a pipe on Délarbé's right and an another through a wire lying on the ground on Délarbé's left, stopping him in his tracks.
'You're not going anywhere.' he states with only one round left in the cylinder.
'And you think that one bullet is gonna stop me? If fifteen weren't enough…'
But Phantom has a plan. Water leaking from the pipe slowly flows towards Délarbé's feet. The wire should electrify the water the moment the power is on. A lever on the wall is what he needs to be pulled down.
'Krystal.' he mumbles just loud enough for just Krystal to hear. 'Go over the lever. Pull when I say "Pull" or "now".'
A little ramshackle and almost like an obeying voodoo zombie-slave, she saunters over to the lever. Délarbé simply watches her go, having no worries at all. The only thing bugging him is that fact that the third symbol on his face is still tickling, not appearing as a full symbol.
*What went wrong? I destroyed another relation! Krystal and Panther, and possibly Panther and Estelle as well. Or did I need to destroy that one too?*
'Bah!' he shouts. 'I'm out of here. I'll be seeing you guys on a later occasion.'
With minimum effort, Délarbé jumps up in the air and lands on the outer guard rail of the catwalk.
'Shall we say… when Hell's Bells ring in the churches?'
He turns around to exit the storage through ways of disappearing in the darkness, but Phantom sees the water flowing over the spot where Délarbé is going to land after he snapped an iron cable with the one bullet he has left in his cylinder. He aims upwards, the cable between his crosshairs. Within a split-second, he pulls the hammer back and fires his last round. The iron cable holding the catwalk in the air breaks off completely as the catwalk start to tumble. The lower right part of the catwalk falls downward, only to be caught by the remaining cables. Délarbé can't hold on and drops down towards the floor. He splashes into the water, just as Phantom predicted.
'Uurgh…' he complains disgusted. 'This isn't water. This is sewer shit!'
'Krystal! PULL!'
Without hesitation, she pulls the lever down. The wire transmits electricity again and indeed electrifies the water.
'RAAARGH!' screams Délarbé in pain as he's pushed down to the ground. Phantom, with an evil grin, now looks down on his former master. It's a powerful feeling and it makes him kinda careless as he's casually reloading his revolver.
'It seems you're pinned down, aren't you?' adds Phantom insult to injury. 'Now… let's get to the questioning okay? First question: are you or are you not one of the creations of the Gatekeeper along with Death? Aka, the Grim Reaper?'
Aching, he answers. 'Yes. We were part of the mechanism to open the gates of Hell.'
'Until one day you escaped the Gatekeeper's grasp?'
'Escaped? HA! I just walked away from that douche the second he got expelled from Hell! Knowing that he needed me for symbol collecting, he caught up to me and forced me into creating hosts. So he could challenge Satan once more to a fight. But I got to him this time.'
'How many symbols have you got so far then?'
'Only 2 out of 6...' His eyes move over to Krystal, still standing near the lever. He can read the fear, sorrow and agony from her face. Her shattered heart and shredded soul. 'But I'm about to get my third!' he suddenly exclaims as the aching makes way for a demonic meaner.
The ground starts to shake harder and harder and cracks appear. Red glows come from the ground as beams the same color rise up and enter Délarbé's third symbol.
'This electricity will not hold me back Phantom! I've known more exquisite suffering…'
At the height of the earthquake, all light disappears. Total blackness is all Phantom and Krystal can see. Phantom quickly puts his finger light on and turns it on. To no effect as the darkness simply swallows any light radiated.
'No light can come where my personal Hell is being built. I'm sorry that I can't stay but the fourth symbol is already calling me. And that would be yours… Psycho. And Krystal, I hope you learned something from this relationship therapy…'
As the echo of the "therapy" he just called bangs all throughout, the darkness subsides as the shady storage appears again. Phantom's paw holding the revolver is shaking like no tomorrow. Seeing that everything returned to normal, he lowers his arm and holsters his weapon. He sighs deep, glad that that's over with.
'He got away. Ah well… next time.' he says indirectly to Krystal. But Krystal doesn't react. Her fingers slide off the lever and hang loose next to her body. She feels weak, dizzy and disoriented. Her eyes begin to become heavy as her sight blurs. Eventually, she sags through her legs.
'Krystal!' shouts Phantom as he runs to her aid. He catches a whimpering Krystal underneath her armpits just before her tailbone hit the ground.
'Are you okay there? C-can you stand?'
'No…' she mumbles soft.
*Dammit! The car is so far away. I can't drag her over the ground, but I can't lift her either. Oh! I know!*
As gentle as possible, he turns Krystal towards him. He turns his back towards Krystal and squats down before her. He grabs her wrist and pulls her towards him.
'I'm gonna give you that ride you never called for Krystal. A ride to the car, on my back.'
Phantom throws her sloppy, almost dead arms over his shoulders as he picks Krystal up. Her armpits rest upon his shoulders while his paws support the backside of her knees, keeping her on his back.
Now piggyback-riding on Phantom, she simply lays her tired and confused head in Phantom's neck. 'Where are we going…?' she mutters.
*It sounds like she's drunk. She's so tired of all the bullshit that's happening to her. God… and I thought my life sucked.*
Phantom leaves the storage and gets to the passenger side of the car. He has to walk by the busted tail light but he doesn't care for that anymore; he'll get his revenge at a later time. He opens the door, turns around and allows Krystal to easily slide off his back in the seat. She herself has enough strength left to get her legs inside before the door closes softly. Phantom takes his seat next to her, turns the mp3 off in advance and starts the car. They exit Coalgrave Avenue 117 and head back to the hotel where they left.
'Where… where we're going…?' mumbles Krystal again.
'Back to the hotel.'
'But… we turned in the keys already…' She defiantly slurring, slowing sliding into the way of unconsciousness.
'Don't worry.' sounds echoic and far away. 'If that guy behind the counter won't give us the keys, I'll blow his brains out! You're getting some rest after all this bullshit, I'm promising you that!'
'Thanks… Phan…t…om…'
She dozes off when the world turns black as her eyes close. The last second compliment she gave him gives him all the more reason to carry on. As the car leaves the city, the countryside looks less pleasant then before. Even though nothing changed, the mood within the car certainly has its effects.
'No. That can't be…' thinks Phantom out loud as he passes by the car that rammed his tail light. That car is broken down and standing on the side of the road. Smoke coming out from under the hood. The driver must have run away already.
He stomps the gas as he sees something small resembling a person in the distance. As he comes closer, it's a guy wearing a mask and holding bags of cash. He rolls down the window and grabs his revolver.
'Hasta la vista motherfucker!'
With a straight shot into the running man's right shoulder, it knocks him down on the ground. As Phantom's car passes by, the downed man can see where the reason for the shot came from: he busted the wrong tail light. Adding insult to injury, Phantom flips him off before rolling down the window and speeding off in the distance.