Trigger Warning: Mentions of abuse, murder, and suicide.
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Previously on TLA: While still operating under the alias of Para5yte, Phantom aided the Signers in freeing an arrested Yusei at the price of Red Dragon Archfiend. Despite their agreement, she later messaged Jack (via Stephanie) that he could keep the card.
Following an incident in which she attacked Jaden and fled, Phantom now returns to the Signers with a request of parlay.
Grabbing her by the front of the stolen overalls, Musume slammed her quarry into the wall and had the Tender Hands pinned to Phantom's throat by the time she could begin the rebound. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't end you." She screamed with barely an inch of space between them.
Those swirling blue eyes stared at a point two inches behind themselves as she calmed the hissing cat on her shoulder. Because I can make coffee you describe as 'better than sex'.
There was an awkward pause as everyone tried to erase that from their memory.
"Give me one good reason?" Crow couldn't afford to let the opportunity pass. Besides, Musume had the magic knife in place. How bad could it be?
For you? She evaluated the situation from this new angle. It would be better to side with Musume.
Well, that was cheerful.
"Do you mind?" Zen Jack interrupted the conversation with a mellow tone. "I'm making coffee and don't want to miss anything." It was such a ridiculous request that everyone paused to look at him. "Okay," He tapped the teaspoon against his mug and dropped it in the sink for later. "Continue."
Musume looked to Akiza who raised both hands helplessly. "Erm, right."
I believe you were threatening me? That earnestly helpful approach riled her back up again and she lifted Phantom off the floor slightly.
"Where the fuck have you been?" Why the fuck had she even thought to trust this freak in the first place? They knew practically nothing about her and she'd just waltzed in by the grace of fancy technology and a basic understanding of who the Signers were - that alone basically eliminated all options outside Yliaster.
… Getting a second opinion. Remaining in place was the only plan she had come up with. Making any move, no matter how slight, would only exacerbate the situation. The safest option for everyone was that she stayed dangling gently against the wall.
"You have some guts to come back here." It was incredibly tempting to mention the lack of actual guts but Phantom resisted. "We should take care of you right here and now."
"Exactly what I was thinking." Rarely do people have to consider their mothers when making dramatic threats yet Akiza chose that moment to approach the pair. "Why don't we sit down and we can talk about everything?" Gritting her teeth, Musume slackened her immense bloodlust.
Slowly lowered to the floor, Phantom inched her way to the table with radiant golden eyes watching her every move. Jack and Crow shuffled aside in stoic silence and didn't react to her formal bow. They weren't exactly friends of Jaden but the attack had happened in the same house as the twins. They recognised this situation as a danger they couldn't leave alone.
Circling to the corner seat near the clockwork mechanism, Phantom sat opposite Akiza without the slightest sign of emotion.
"So." With Musume flanking one shoulder and the brothers lurking in the near background, the doctor knew violence was a single word away. "You disappeared on us again. Can you tell us where you went?" Unlike the others, she was prepared to trust Phantom a small measure. But it was difficult to accept any situation where she had attacked one of them and instantly disappeared for days afterwards.
I was visiting... people more... specialised in my condition. Contemplative pauses marked her words.
"Who would you even see for that?" Crow butted in.
"What did they say?" The boys behind her were more interested in who would know what Phantom had become but Akiza was focused on her patient.
They confirmed what I had already suspected. I am... manifesting. Uncurling her palms atop the table, she looked down at them with an empty expression. Purring gently, Hoshi slipped herself down into the empty cradle and nuzzled enthusiastically.
"Get away from her." Picking up the cat, Musume dropped it onto the floor as it began hissing and swiping at her hands. "Screw you too. What do you mean?" Turning back to the clear and present danger, she knew nothing good could come from a word like 'manifesting'. She had manifested spectral limbs as a result of the creatures inside her. "Are you saying that you're like me?"
Nothing close. Folding her hands again, she felt the claws coming up one leg. A soul is much like a battery. Those who have... passed on require immense energy to appear on this plane. Ones in physical form use it to remain intact. All that spare energy is manifesting aspects of myself... in various ways.
"Your autism." Akiza instantly knew what they were talking about. At least, she knew part of it. It quickly became obvious where parts of the transformation had come from. "Audio sensitivity... that's why you can hear so much now. Ocular sensitivity means you can see things others can't. But tactile sensitivity..." There was no obvious continuation.
Minor empathy. I can now 'feel' what people intend. Scrabbling her way up onto the table, Hoshi tucked herself alongside one arm. It appears to be reciprocal.
"Works both ways." Crow mouthed to his brother.
"I know." Jack whispered back with a hint of irritation.
"Okay. Thought you hadn't moved on from colouring yet." Any other time would have resulted in a more scathing remark but the situation was moving on again.
"And what about whatever the fuck you did with the candle?" An enemy who could spontaneously cause a fire would be tricky. But she could handle the flames long enough to seal the deal.
I… do not know. Reciprocal empathy meant they all felt her fear over that one.
"Sure you're not a Psychic?" Crow instantly fielded three glares. "What? It's a legitimate question." He defended himself against both redheads and the, um, empty head(?).
I have never shown indications before. Phantom replied firmly. And the Occam Razor supports a common underlying source.
"What's the Occam Razor?" Jack sipped his coffee. For all her violence the other day, their guest was keeping a tight lid on it so far.
"It's a scientific principle. Briefly put, whichever theory has the fewest unknowns is more likely to be true." Either that or Phantom was referencing the cutthroat knife Din had taped to the underside of a chair which he'd won in a bar brawl in Surrey.
"Cool," Golden eyes rolled back in her head as Musume sought her crumbs of patience. "You're freaky with a couple of screws loose, welcome to the group, why did you choose now to come back?"
Dr Izinski indicated that coming back after her shift would be preferable? Horns sounded and tired screeched as their unquestionable leader was thrown under a row of buses.
"How long were you outside?" Crow demanded angrily.
All day.
That's when the shouting began. Crow shouted at Akiza for knowingly leaving a thug in the alley while Musume was asleep, Akiza shouted that Musume neither listened to her nor kept regular hours, Musume shouted back that she wasn't a child, Jack shouted back that they should all take a deep breath to which Crow shouted back he should stick his neck down a toilet and take a deep breath, and then everyone was really shouting as Jack silently drained the rest of his coffee with an increasingly red expression.
ENOUGH! Phantom roared to her feet. Now is not the time to assign blame! It was hard to ignore the voice that carved directly through their heads. Settling back to her seat, she gently soothed the cat cowering on the table. If anyone is to blame, it is me. Unless there are any dissenters?
"Get fucked." Crow agreed. "And answer her question: why are you here?" They each decided to let that one item of profanity slide to prevent another outburst.
Reigning her temper in, Phantom carefully lowered Hoshi back to the floor and sent her on her way. I have an offer for you all,
"I offer Crow as payment." Was the immediate response. After what he'd just said, Crow was lucky that was all Jack came back with.
No deal. She said firmly. As I was saying, I have an offer to make; I will tell you all that I know, answer any questions you have with free and total honesty, and transfer any ownership and control I have to you. Holy shit. Part of the reason she had so quickly integrated into their group was because Yusei had been fawning over her use of advanced technology. A bit of handwaving and some voodoo had nicely ingrained Leo to her side as well, Luna a package deal with her brother. Throw in her shady contacts and this was the motherlode. Which inevitably meant,
"What's the catch?" Jack had fallen for too many of his brother's schemes over the years to trust anything that appeared to be in his favour. Even the last time Crow had made him coffee had been a ploy to see the dirty dishes and let guilt force him to clean them.
Once our business is concluded, you kill me. She said miserably.
"No deal." Not even a consideration when it came to the doctor.
With respect, Usually meaning with as little respect as possible. I have now been conscious longer than any sane human in recorded history and present a clear and present danger. Do you feel comfortable letting such a person loose in society?
"I mean," Musume shifted uncomfortably. Compared to capital punishment, throwing Jaden into a wall was practically nothing. "What's the worst that you've done?"
Agree to my terms and I will tell you.
"Better or worse than murder?" Jack tried to establish a reasonable baseline before they moved forward. He instantly wished he hadn't.
Worse.
"Worse than what Crow did to my coffee?"
"Are you seriously trying to claim that was worse than murder?" Crow said testily.
"What was?" Akiza leaned around in her chair.
"He put gravy granules in my coffee." Jack didn't react to the coffee cup shattering in his grip. "For six weeks."
Wow. It was bad when a killer agreed with you. It was worse when they went a step further. I am impressed.
"Great." Both hands got thrown in the air. "Now the serial killer agrees with you." There was an uncomfortable silence.
I am not a serial killer. She gently corrected. Do we have an agreement?
"Can we have a moment?" Autists may not always get social cues but there was no mistaking Akiza walking away with the group in tow to huddle in the living area. "Anyone who's entertaining the idea, stop thinking." She noticed the two brothers still glaring. "And enough with the gravy thing!" They continued regardless.
"I'm not saying we think about it,'' A social rule around the word 'but' says anything said before the word doesn't mean anything. "But let's ask her why we should think about it first."
"And I said no." She hissed at Crow.
"And I'd normally agree with you but," There it was again, from a higher altitude that rarely agreed with the ginger. "What's worse than murder?" Horrifying notions rose in all their minds.
It was not rape, mutilation, or sexual in nature, nor did it involve children in any capacity. Phantom called from the other side of the room.
"See? And it's still worse than murder?" Crow gestured erratically. "Jack, back me up." Jack glared aggressively. "Jack's with me on this, I know that glare." Or maybe there would be another worse-than-murderer by morning. Trudge would take a look at that face and instantly start preparing body bags.
"Can we have a moment?" Taking her mother by the arm, Musume dragged her into the corridor for another layer of privacy. "Don't make me agree with those idiots but Crow has a point for once."
"And he's… not wrong," Like mother like daughter, neither wanted to give the ginger credit. "Except that murderers don't often want to confess. If she's done worse, why come to us? Why make a case that we kill her?"
"Shit." For once, she was given a pass on swearing. "We're gonna have to admit he was right."
"Yeah," Akiza gave her hand a tiny squeeze. "I'm scared too." Not about giving Crow ideas. About the other thing. "Don't worry about it, I've got this one. Psst, Little Bird." She gestured to the one man she trusted with her daughter. "Good idea on the interrogation. Can you take the lead?"
"Oh, thank you." She gave Akiza the tightest hug she could without breaking anything. "That was completely worth it." Watching Crow splutter and bluster in shock made agreeing with him a small price to pay.
Phantom continued to calmly play with the cat as the group returned. "Fine. You want to explain yourself?" Retrieving the sword, Musume planted herself in an empty chair. "Let's do this one more time." Sliding her left palm onto the table, Phantom watched as the Tender Hands coldly pinned it to the wood. It hadn't hurt her yet. That was optimistic enough for her to reach out with a glowing right hand.
"Hold on a second." Grabbing Musume's arm away, Crow let her snatch it back before she could break his fingers. "Are you sure that's a good idea? You could be playing right into her hands." Hands that were within throttling distance. He carefully backed away without making any aggressive moves, keeping both eyes on the remaining glove in case it lunged. "You said you're just you in there. I don't like those chances." Now that there were real stakes involved, he was starting to doubt the wisdom of his choice.
"Don't I look like I know what I'm doing?" Before anyone could give an honest answer, she gripped the cold blue waves.
There was a storm brewing high above. Rumbling clouds of anxiety and fear clouded over the sky and raised the sea in larger swells than before. An edge to the very air itself raised the hairs on the back of her neck. "The fuck is going on?" The last time she had been invited into Phantom's soul, it had been all calm seas and pale moonlight, not a damned hurricane!
"Mild anxiety." Sitting on the gritty sand, elbows on knees, Phantom couldn't discern between angry sarcasm or angry confusion. They sounded the same no matter where the words were spoken. "You get used to it." Handing out a sturdy leather book, she kept her gaze fixed on the sea. "Here."
"And that is?" Anyone who didn't think any harm came from reading a book had obviously never heard of religion. Or scientists with differing opinions and immediate access to certain equipment. Or Din - those were the lucky ones.
"Story of my life." Taking the binding, Musume let the pages flick themselves from end to beginning. Blank pages from shades of pure black to burning white tumbled by without a single line of writing.
"Short read." The sarcasm was easier to notice this time. "Loved the colour scheme. Have you considered finger painting?"
"It is a metaphorical object." A crack of moonlight shone through the clouds. "Everything within a soul is merely representative. I thought you knew that."
"So, what? I'm not meant to pretend that this page isn't" Everything changed as she grabbed one of the white pages.
One eye was still swollen shut from the fight. Everything filtering through the lid was tinted with a scarlet hue. "... and he is having troubles at home." Bullshit. Everyone had troubles at home. The report from the school counsellor is visible in that pile of paperwork on your desk. You know exactly what my family is going through. "Besides, we can't have one of our best athletes missing upcoming competitions. You'll have two weeks of detention and that will be the end of it."
"How is that fair?" Clawing one hand in outrage, it was incredibly tempting to sweep all the paper on the floor. What excuse would they come up with for punishment, making a mess? "I did not start the fight but I get penalised?"
"Be grateful you didn't do more damage or it'd be a lot worse." Writing out two slips, they were held out in a hairy fist. Learning that people didn't always get punished was an old lesson. Finding out that the innocent party could get punished instead was an unpleasant twist.
"Fine." Taking them in both hands, the papers were torn and dropped on the ground. "If he will not be reprimanded, I will not show up for the detentions. Have a nice day." Shouted threats came until the office door was slammed shut on them.
"What was that?!" Dropping the book on the floor, she didn't even dare to try and kick it further away. "What the fuck was that?!" She screamed at the unmoving helmet.
"A fairly average day at school." At least Phantom didn't seem surprised by the hallucination.
"Why the fuck couldn't I control myself?" It had been like another person was puppeteering her movements. She couldn't imagine a fate worse than being locked in like that.
"Because that was merely the memory of an event - impossible to change." Memories of a place or a person could be freely interacted with. But what had happened had already happened. Nobody could alter the past.
"I know you had a shitty life but that's not a reason to... why are you laughing?" In bitter chuckles that snarled at Musume's ears, her host was laughing at the unfinished statement.
"Life? Wait until you get to my sixth birthday." Focusing a bit closer on the tome, Musume realised that the open page was barely past the start of the book. Dragging it closer by a corner of the cover, she let the pages slip further ahead as more white sheets flipped past.
"What sort of shit is screwed up in your head that you think those are happy memories?" The pages were still waiting for her with the gaping jaws of a bear trap.
"They are not happy memories." Twisting to look beside her, Phantom was waiting for the obvious to be realised. At least, what she thought of as obvious.
"But why are the pages so bright if they're not..." And it was realised. This thick tome of shining paper, nearly all of them at least a light grey, was bound in obsidian covers. An encyclopedia of pain and misery, years of misfortune and fear listed inside the pages. And there was only one reason why they would be inverted in this fashion. "Darkness. You're aligned with the darkness." How the fuck had she not seen it sooner? Phantom couldn't even go outside during the height of daylight and wore the darkest armour physically possible. Everything she had done had been hidden from sight. Engaging Yliaster from the shadows for years. And yet… "If you're working for the darkness, why the fuck are you helping the Signers?" They were literally on opposite sides of an eternal conflict. Signers and Dark Signers, soaring dragons and Earthbound Immortals. If Phantom was anything like she claimed, her support should have gone towards whoever else had supported the Goodwin brothers.
"Why should I not? Signers have saved the planet on several occasions." Watching the waves bob up and down, Musume knew they were constantly one step away from an execution. If she decided that Phantom was truly evil, this peaceful scene would be obliterated before they could debate it any further. "Good and evil are human concepts. They do not rely upon the existence of light nor dark."
"Bullshit." Was the flat response. "Look at what the Earthbound Immortals wanted to do. If it hadn't been for the Crimson Dragon, they would have turned the entire world into a fucking wasteland!"
"Look at what the Light of Destruction wanted to do." Calm as the tides, Phantom had already solved this argument. All that she had needed were words to throw back in Musume's face. "If it had not been for the Gentle Darkness, it would have turned the entire world into a wasteland."
"That's not the same." Except that she couldn't deny the brutal similarity. Only the most fundamental differences separated the two instances: one attack had been from the dark and the other from the light.
"True: the Light of Destruction did not necessitate the opportunity for the situation to be righted at any point." Even if it cost five millennia of horror and oppression, the Signers were fated to return at every battle. "My worst memories are crafted in light because it is always the light that caused the most pain. Light will burn and blind and erase any possibility of resisting. At least those who hide in the darkness are honest about what they are." Politicians would shine as brightly as they could until it was impossible to see what their true motives were. Celebrities would dazzle adoring fans into mindless subservience until they could be used as leverage to gain unfathomable power. People in all positions of authority could erase any damning actions which may be taken against them. Everyone who had ever mocked a Psychic Duellist had called them monsters from the darkest pits. As if being from the light made every action acceptable.
"But you attacked us!" Focus on why she was here. Phantom had finally snapped. They needed to know how dangerous the situation was.
"Yes. I did." Passing a hand across the volume summoned up a patchwork page made from some of the brightest parts in the ledger. "Would you prefer I tell you why? Or"
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU?!" A meaty finger swiped against the tip of an already raw nose before the memory shifted.
"HOW CAN YOU BE THIS STUPID?" Another blow carved an entry into the fracked psyche as everything changed again.
"ANSWER ME!" A ruby nose indicated that he had been drinking again in a fresh memory. He was always drinking.
Dozens of instances flickered past and each one presented an overwhelming bully shouting insults and obscenities as they pinned down a child they were meant to protect. And punched. And kicked. And struck. And struck. And struck.
Musume already wished that she hadn't been reckless enough to touch the page as she retched atop the grainy sand. It wasn't the memories alone but the sheer terror overflowing from inside them. "You are very brave." A gentle hand trembled on her back as tears streamed down her face.
"Whrugh..." Another wave of disgust swept through her and emptied her stomach. She couldn't imagine such a terrifying nightmare after having someone as gentle as Crow raise her. It was more horrifying than any nightmare by the sheer normality which had accompanied it. "Who was that?"
"My step-father. He would frequently smack my nose while beating me to provide an innocent trigger for public - one tap and all that floods into my mind." Primitive yet effective conditioning. "Are you okay?" Grabbing the wrist as it stroked soothing circles on her back, Musume couldn't figure out which of them was more insane. Admittedly, she was walking around with a literal demon inside her but she had spent years mentally preparing. Meanwhile, Phantom had spent years piling trauma atop trauma and never showing the slightest outward sign.
"The other day," She had grown numb to the frequent stabbings. They were barely more impactful than her constant cursing. Until she had accidentally grazed past where a nose would have been. "It reminded you of all that? All at once?" A single nod answered her question. "Has that happened before?"
"There have been a few times since I started running. And.. a guard. When I was arrested. He chained my hands to the bars first." She didn't need to spell out her reaction. Musume and Jaden were important beyond compare. A violent guard wouldn't have received the same level of restraint. "He will... survive."
Phantom must have checked after leaving the penthouse. But there was another monster out there. "What happened to him? You step-father?" The matter of Phantom was one thing but Musume couldn't sleep well knowing that the man responsible for this pain was still free. Regardless of the verdict in Poppo Time, she was planning a trip abroad.
"I could accept what he did to me." Sitting back on the sand, she sounded tired talking about a burden she had resolved a long time ago. "But he hurt my brother, my mother. Actions I could not be allowed to stand unpunished."
"Phantom," Muusme knew how far she would go for her own mother. If she was honest about it, she might not be as vicious as Phantom could be. "What did you do?"
"I had him arrested. While in jail, rumours spread of what he had done." Prisoners – for all their shortcomings – nearly universally took a low view of child abuse. "I understand it took a while... I hope he suffered the entire time." Musume had heard of and done some fairly terrible actions in her time yet arranging the brutal murder of another person without the barest hint of emotion beat any of her choices.
"And every white page is like that?" Most of the book was at least grey. Very little of it was darker than gravel. And only a very few pages were dark enough to be called black but she was scared to look and see what lay inside. "Don't you have any happy memories?"
"I can think of one you may like." There was little overlap in their interests but there was a memory she felt was safe to share. Calling the book to open nearly at the end, there was a splotch of darkness on an already clouded page.
Warm coffee filled the air was every other seat in the narrow cafe was crammed with undercover operatives. "A package arrived for you this morning." Sipping a cup of tea, the slight tint of glasses made it possible to watch Jack talking with Stephanie whilst remaining unnoticed. "Give me a minute, it's out in the back." As he was left standing impatiently at the counter, Jack swept his gaze around the room. It was clear that he knew most of the customers were either police or reporters and his eyes slipped right past without stopping.
"Here you go." Seeing the parcel on the counter brought a surge of relief. It had been the least risky approach but there had been no way to guarantee the phone would arrive without seeing it in person. "Care to explain why I'm acting as your mail collector now?"
"Just a joke from a friend." Heh. With the price that had been asked, it was a wonder that he hadn't lost his temper from saying those words.
"Apologies for opening it." Oh, yes! This was the best possible scenario. "Your 'friend' added my name as well."
"Sorry about that." Hahaha! Jack Atlas was blushing. It was easily the best moment of the week. And he had seen the cake so he knew Red Dragon Archfiend would be staying right where it belonged. It had only been demanded to avoid distrust. The Signers would have suspected Yliaster if there hadn't been a price for the assistance.
"Everything alright?" Stephanie had figured out something was afoot. She was sharp.
"Much better." Seeing Jack blush had been funny yet seeing his smile was an unexpected bonus. Lifting the cup obscured the tiniest twitch of lips as the book raised slightly. Nobody could be allowed to see the expression lest they make a connection to the smile at the counter.
"Oh, you're evil." But Musume's smile couldn't match her words. They had known Jack had come back with Red Dragon Archfiend but he had been lax on certain details. "Seriously, did you plan all that?" One sudden kick had been enough to force her to use supernatural powers. Having days to plan meant that Phantom could probably plan far more.
"All of it? No." The sea was starting to calm as the clouds filtered away. "Nobody can plan to that degree. No matter how detailed the plan, people can always make their own choices." For a while, they sat beside the illusionary sea and watched the waves pound against metaphorical sand. The storm above had slowly dissipated until only a few scant clouds filtered past the moon.
"Fuck." Musume glared up at the glowing orb. As unreal as it was, the image was every bit as detailed as the actual item. "Worst part of this place is there's nothing to drink. Shit," She recalled the abusive figure in the blinding pages of the book. Of course there would be no alcohol down here. "Sorry." Phantom waved away the unfortunate reminder. "Is that what you meant?"
"Is what what I meant?" A pale radiance filled the air as the moonlight returned.
"When you said you'd done something worse than murder," Another scattering of clouds briefly crossed the moon.
"I made my mother believe I am dead." Thunder rumbled in the distance. "I stole two litres of O- blood from a blood drive. I siphoned two litres of my own blood and replaced it with the donation before staging my murder. Two litres of blood is unrecoverable - even without a body, the police declared it a murder."
Out of everyone in the room back in reality, only Musume would understand the level of anguish that would have brought. "Ahhhh, fuck." She sighed bitterly. "At least you've never killed anyone." Phantom silently watched the sea lap against the shores. "Phantom? Tell me you've never killed anyone." Unable to help herself she shoved the armour over in anger.
"Yliaster were persistent in their chase. My hands are not as clean as yours." She picked up a stone and balanced it in her hand. "At least sixteen people have tried to kill me over the years. I was the one who managed to survive." Phantom spat the last word as she threw the stone into the ocean.
It was small solace that she had never gone out with the intent of murder. Death was death, no matter the reason behind it. "What are we going to do now?" Angry family outside, mental breakdown inside. Nothing else could go wrong at this point.
"I have a confession to make." And there it was, the last twist of the knife. "In here, we are disconnected from the outside world. But the instant we return, the Tender Hands will react to your touch. If you find me without chance of redemption, I will expire in an instant." Quick. Painless. Unavoidable.
"You bitch." Musume responded quietly. "You utter, heartless, bitch. This was always your plan." Empty promises, guilty pleas – all an extensive plan to get her here while the sword was waiting outside.
"In part." Stretching upright, Phantom watched the waves lap against the shore. It was a place of calmness against the chaos of reality outside. "If your family had delivered a guilty verdict, I would have asked one of them. However, you have the highest chance of... Anyway, your verdict carries the most weight."
"Because I have the best chance of killing you?" A child could see the missing content.
"Because you have the best chance of sparing me." Picking up the story of her life from the beach, she shook a few grains of sand free from the pages. "I am a broken toy soldier made with loose screws and crippled by mistreatment. My first instinct in a new place is to seek ways to either kill myself or escape." Now that she wasn't limited by a fragile human form, that approach was also streamlined by being able to make any escape routes she wanted. "My second is to determine the best ways to kill or incapacitate everyone else. And my third instinct is how best to steal everything in sight. Only afterwards do I consider how to help."
Flipping through the pages, she opened the novel to one of the darkest entries inside. Faint wafts of music gently coloured the air as she focused on the memory. It would be a comfortable last thought. "Now that you know all that is necessary, you can make an informed decision." Keeping a finger tucked between pages, she reached down for her guest.
Taking the hand, Musume stared down the calmly ebbing flows inside the helmet. "No." She scowled. "You promised that you'd tell us everything you knew. I'm not going to kill you before you hold up your end of the bargain." That helmet leaned back and roared laughter across the rolling sea and up the forest hills. "I'm not going to kill you." Yet the words rang hollow. She had enjoyed the harmless magic of the Tender Hands, working only on evil. But that curse was cutting both ways now – she couldn't get it to spare the guilty any more than she could force it to punish the innocent and her hand was holding the blade in place while she couldn't drop the sword from in here.
That smile sucked her into believing that everything would be okay. For a moment. "Then I forgive you, even if you do not." And then the dark armour was alone as Musume was expelled back to reality.
Phantom turned to face the empty sea. There was maybe a minute before time caught up. Lifting the book in hand, she fell into the calm of her happy moment as music gently filled the air.
Can the dead still die? Can the readers still review?