"You were… what?" Pac was in disbelief all over again.
"Yeah…."
"What are you talking about", Inky questioned skeptically.
"What did you do", Pac growled.
"No. It's what I… didn't do. What I refused to do."
Blinky got a faraway look in his eyes, clearly his mind was elsewhere.
"Guuuys, we gotta go", said Spiral. He was very much correct. Who knew how long it would be until they were caught. What could they do?! Staying was certainly not an option nor was running. This was it. They were doomed.
"I'm so sorry", Cyli suddenly spat out, "this is all my fault! I never should have made this plan!"
"Hey", said Mr C tenderly, "your heart was in the right place. If we don't make it out of here, it's okay to know we tried."
"YOOOOO" Pac shouted. All eyes were now on the yellow orb, who was… floating?! "I totally forgot! These little berries make me fly! If we're gonna get outta here, maybe we can use it!"
"We?" said Cyli raising an eyebrow.
Pac began to look sheepish. "Yeah?"
"No."
Pac's expression changed from bashful to hurt. "Not cool Cyli", Spiral said folding his arms.
"But he's-"
"Evil? Rude? Yeah I know. But the dude's clearly going through something really tough."
Cyli felt a pit in her gut from guilt. Spiral was right. But why was Pac helping in the first place anyway?
"Ok Pac… you can come."
"Yee-haw! But we should go. This berry's probably about to wear off."
"Can you even carry both of us?"
"Oh.. uh… probably not. Why not try one yourself? It might give you cool stuff too!"
Well, they didn't really have a choice. Cyli picked up one that was a nice shade of pink, while Spiral picked a green one.
They both chomped down on the mysterious fruit at the same time. She felt... Something. Then nothing. Then- "AHHHHH!"
She too was levitating, but beyond her control. Whatever that berry did made her lighter than air. Poor Spiral wasn't having a good time either-
"Uh guyzzzz whatzzz going on?!" The newly formed Fly-Spiral just hovered in place.
Luckily for poor Cyli, Pac managed to grab onto her hand before she floated away. "Let's go!", he chirped.
"Uh ain't ya forgettin' someone", Mr C said with very much apparent annoyance.
Sadly that was the last of the berries, but at least he could be lifted by two people. Pac and Cyli grabbed him by either arm (holding onto Mr C helped prevent her from floating away, and Pac could steer).
They were off, but not before Pac looked back and stuck out his tongue at the quartet who were still in disbelief. All three flew away, Cyli giving directions to some place in a hushed tone. They went over the building out of sight of the cameras and the soldiers, and into the city. Uh oh.
"We're dead", said Inky.
"Big time", said Pinky.
"I'm scared", Clyde whimpered.
"We gotta tell the big cheese", Blinky said hurriedly.
"Hey Blinky… what were you and the lemon ball gabbing about?" Inky said, eyeing Blinky suspiciously.
Blinky just let out a heavy sigh. "I was there."
"For what?"
"The execution. You remember that the Resistance was killed right?"
"Duh?"
"His parents were there."
"WHAAAAT?!"
"Yeah."
"I thought they-"
"Died in battle? Yeah that's what people who weren't present were told. The rest of us were sworn to secrecy."
A very long, very awkward silence passed.
"So what did you refuse to do?"
"Kill them permanently."
"Huh?"
"You can destroy a ghost for good by crushing their eyes."
"EW!"
"Yeah. Betrayus told me to do it but I refused. I was shot as a result, but I survived somehow."
"Ouch. But the least you could have done was tell us!"
"I wanted to."
"You don't keep secrets from friends, Blinky! Especially something like THAT!"
"I had no choice!"
"I thought I knew you…"
"Inky!"
"You lied. You lied to us. You lied to Pac. You lied to ME!"
"Guys stop", said Clyde who was beginning to cry.
"Uncool Blinky" Pinky said with a hmph sound.
"But at least I didn't go through with it! I didn't kill them!"
"But you knew! If you had said something all those years ago, maybe this wouldn't have happened!"
It was Blinky's turn to cry. "If I told you guys, Betrayus would have killed all of us and you know it!"
"..."
Inky just looked away.
The ice was seeming to get colder and colder by the second. Blinky's tears fell from his eyes and landed on the ground below. He reached out to try and put a hand on Inky's shoulder only for his hand to be harshly shoved away.
Over the buildings they flew, doing their best to stay out of sight as Cyli acted as their navigator. Then- they were falling. The berries had all worn off, somehow all at the same time. They all landed in a tree, thankfully unharmed. "We're here at least", Cyli said as they all hopped down from the branches onto the sidewalk.
The pink Pac Worlder pointed at a tall, dirty building that clearly hadn't seen proper usage in quite some time.
"That's our HQ."
"Radia…" Mr C mused, "I hope you weren't lying to me, Cyli. If she is in fact there, I hope I can look her in the eye again…"
They all rushed towards the heavy metal door and Cyli banged on it.
"RADIA! IT'S ME CYLI! LET US IN!"
The door opened in less than ten seconds. There was Radia, whose face went from shock to relief, then shock all over again.
Her eyes darted from one Pac Worlder to the other, and her eyes stopped once she saw Mr C.
"Diamitri."
"Radia."
"It's been fifteen years… come in. All of you. Yes you too, young Pac."
They all stepped in, and the door was shut behind them. "Miss I-" Cyli began.
"Are you nuts?!"
"I'm sorry?"
"I knew you could be reckless, but this takes the cake kid. Tell me- how many people saw you guys?"
"At least four, but Pac froze them in place so it'll be a while before anything happens."
"I see. And what is he doing here?" Radia said eyeing Pac.
"Betrayus killed my parents," Pac said bluntly much to his newfound companions' horror.
Radia's face softened. "So… that's how it is."
"HE WHAT", Cyli shrieked. Never would she expect to hear that. She began to feel horrible about how she had been treating Pac, and now it all made sense about why he was so eager to help.
"Talk about some serious drama," Spiral cried.
"Why didn't you tell him?", Radia snapped at her brother.
"Because it would break him."
"It's far better to live a harsh truth than to live a lie. And you know that."
"I-"
"But it doesn't matter. What matters is that it's done, and now we need to figure out what to do next."
"We're going to take down Betrayus", Cyli said, her eyes full of determination.
"That's the spirit kid! Pac, Diamitri, Cyli, Spiral… I think it would be best if you all remained here for the time being. If you have been seen, you're now wanted criminals."
"Cool", Pac mused.
"Not cool! You know how yer daddy is with criminals! Not exactly merciful."
"Oh yeah."
"Now, let's all get some sleep. I gotta feeling we'll need it."
And need it they did. Staging an escape operation sure was exhausting. Thankfully Radia had some spare blankets she kept around (You see, it was difficult to stay warm in an old abandoned warehouse). She handed one to each person.
The downside was a lack of pillows, but they had to make do. Pac went into a corner and sat down, wrapping himself in the blanket like a cocoon.
One moment he was living the most lavish of lifestyles: All the toys and food he could ever want, all the petty mischief he could do. His world had been turned completely upside down.
He leaned back against the wall and shut his eyes, attempting to sleep… "Hey."
"Huh?"
It was her. He began to flush again as she sat next to him.
"I'm… really sorry about your parents."
"Don't worry about it."
"I didn't mean it."
"Mean what?"
"When I said I hated you when we first met. I'm sorry about that too." Oh yeah. That.
"You didn't?"
"I guess back then I sorta did, but not now. I was scared. I mean, it's not everyday you're kidnapped by a dictator."
"Heh, yeah."
Cyli was filled with pity for the poor heir; and was still in disbelief over the events of the past day. Well it was no use just sitting here. They had a dictator to overthrow. Cyli got up and went back to her designated sleeping spot and plopped down, falling asleep almost instantly...