37 Stonegarden Castle / The King in His Castle, Pt 2

Previously, on Usagi Days: The Usagis are about to escape, but the King grabs Ruby and Anemone at the last second. He destroys the drawbridge, sending Lucy falling into the moat.

- 37.1 - Ruby Gets Up -

Ruby coughed. She had blacked out, for a second.

"Ruby! Ruby, get up!"

Ruby opened her eyes. The world was a blur. The surrounding castle was becoming more and more abstract. Nothing about it seemed of this world. As if she were looking at pencil sketches, and line drawings, their shapes and forms dancing on the edge of reality.

Anemone pulled at Ruby's arm, trying to get her to her feet.

"We have to go, Rubes."

The King was approaching them, slowly. A dark mass, a black shadow. No longer human. Interstitial.

Ruby tried to stand. The world was spinning around her. She thought she might have a concussion.

Anemone took Ruby's hand, and began pulling her toward the storeroom. "Come on. We have to get to the Usagi."

On unsteady feet, Ruby followed.

Behind them, a terrible, stilted, distorted voice. Guttural noises. Barely coherent.

"H-ha … na … s-sa … ki …"

- 37.2 - In Front of the Storeroom -

Anemone: "The Hayate … the engine—…"

Ruby: "—was destroyed. When Sylvie cast it into the Pit."

They stood in front of the Usagi's storeroom. The building was still standing, still whole, the doors still closed. But the stone, and wood, were all now black squiggles on some blank canvas of another reality.

Anemone: "Does this—does this even count as cover!?"

Ruby shrugged. "We can't see past it. I think that's good enough. It's not like we're observing the Usagi directly. The cover's not what I'm worried about, Annie. I can't just—… It's not just going to—…"

Ruby was having trouble finding the right words. But Anemone knew what she was trying to get at.

The likelihood of the Usagi appearing randomly fixed when they opened the doors was … not in their favor. If they had a week, a month, a year—sure. But the King was still headed for them, and he would be here soon.

Ruby breathed in, and then out, and then opened the storeroom door.

The Usagi sat there, as expected. Ruby ran in, popped the hood. The engine was still gone.

Ruby: "Alright, let's try this again."

She ran back out, and shut the doors again. (SLAM!)

And then opened them. (CREEEEEAK.)

- 37.3 - Ruby and the Definition of Insanity -

"… Nope."

SLAM!

CREEEEEAK.

"Nope."

SLAM!

CREEEEEAK.

"Still nope."

SLAM!

Anemone watched as Ruby opened and closed the black squiggle doors, over and over again. No change each time.

The King was closing in, slowly. Menacingly. He seemed to have grown even bigger.

Anemone reached down, and picked up a sword from the hands of a nearby fallen Knight.

She readied herself for battle.

(CREEEEEAK. SLAM! …)

- 37.4 - Anemone Fights the King -

The King was bigger, taller, stronger.

But she was faster.

She dodged his black squiggle-fists as he swung for her. She rolled to the side, ducked under another swing. She darted past him, behind him, slashing at his legs with her blade, none of her blows doing anything to slow him down.

She was definitely cutting … something, but at this point she wasn't even sure if he could feel any sort of pain anymore. He was a shadowy, vaguely human-shaped mass of black ink squiggles. His movements unnatural, jerky.

Nothing left of his humanity—if there had been any, at all.

- 37.5 - Ruby Keeps Trying -

The doors were heavy. Ruby's arms were getting tired.

She knew deep down, it wasn't going to work. The Usagi was not going to fix itself, this conveniently. There was just no way. But she had to keep trying—Anemone was keeping the King busy, for both their sakes.

… Or maybe they'd be better off if she just gave up, and picked up a sword instead.

The way she saw things, was this:

A) The Usagi would ensure their escape, but the likelihood of it being repaired was slim to nil.

B) Picking up a sword was something actionable at this very moment, but Ruby couldn't see them winning the fight, even with the 2v1 advantage. Best case, Ruby might delay their eventual loss a tiny bit longer.

… What was she supposed to do?

Anemone continued to fight the King, the ground shaking each time his fists struck the ground.

- 37.6 - Good Luck, Ruby -

Ruby was so busy opening and closing the door, that she didn't recognize the ghostly figure that had been standing by her side for close to a minute now.

When she did notice, she let out a yelp. It took her a while to realize who it was. "Lucy! Yeesh—… Ivy was right. You can look like a ghost, sometimes."

Lucy was dripping wet, her clothes and hair soaked from the moat.

She extended a closed fist toward Ruby. She unfurled her hand.

Ruby stared at her palm, and what was inside it.

The 20-sided die.

Ruby: "… Are you sure?"

Lucy was staring downward, at the ground, penitently. Then, in a barely audible whisper: "… Lucy … Sorry. Motel. Caught. Lucy … fault."

"No, no! That wasn't your fault! It—"

"Lucy … want … to help."

- 37.7 - Anemone Slips Up -

The King's fists came down, again. Anemone dodged away, but just barely. She was getting tired. Sloppy. She couldn't keep this up much longer.

Even though the King was slower, he had more endurance. It was only a matter of time before she made a mistake.

… In fact, she didn't have to wait long at all.

He swung again—this time, she wasn't fast enough.

She was sent flying. Her entire body screamed in pain as she landed on the hard ground. Her sword flew away, skidding far away from her.

The King was on her, immediately. He picked her up by the neck with massive arms that were now jagged, black, formless lines. Looking as though some crazed artist had hastily scratched his being into existence.

And he began to squeeze the life out of her.

Anemone's world began to fade away, the dark creeping in from the edges of her vision.

She thought of her friends.

She thought of the time they spent together.

She thought of Onee-chan.

She thought of—

VROO-OOM!

Anemone's eyes shot open at the sound.

The King's abstract, formless head turned to the storeroom, where a pair of headlights were now shining in their direction.

The revving of an engine. Then, the screech of wheels, spinning in place. Smell of smoke, exhaust. Burning rubber.

The King dropped Anemone, just in time for the Usagi to slam into him at full force, sending his jagged, ink-line form flying back.

Anemone, coughing, gasping for breath, stumbled to her feet. The passenger door of the Usagi opened up.

Ruby: "Get in!"

Anemone was all too happy to comply.

Inside the car, she looked back to Lucy, in the backseat.

She frowned. "Ruby … Her nose is bleeding."

Ruby: "I know. She … rolled. She saved us." Ruby turned around. "We're never making you do that again. Okay, Lucy?"

Lucy nodded. Her nose still dripping with blood.

- 37.8 - Laps Around the Castle -

The Usagi could run circles around the King, easily. That wasn't the issue.

The issue was, how were they supposed to get out of Stonegarden?

Anemone, brainstorming: "Um … Anything we can use as ramps? Jump over the moat. … Maybe we could bait the King, get him to destroy a wall, get out that way. … No, it'd just be more moat. … The sewers Sylvie mentioned? Ah, but how would we get the car down there? …"

Ruby, coming up on her second circuit around the castle: "I don't know what's going to happen if we stay in here, but I don't like it. All these … 'sketch lines' … they give me the creeps."

"Can't we just run him over again?"

"That full impact didn't even phase him. The Usagi's not going to take another hit like that."

Anemone chewed her lip.

From behind, the King pursued them. He was no longer a shape—only a dark shadow.

- 37.9 - Ruby's Will -

Anemone: "We could just … drive it into the moat. Lucy was able to climb out. I mean, I don't like it, but—… Oh, no. Why are you smiling like that? … What'd I say? I don't like that look."

Ruby, grinning madly: "Why need to climb out at all, Annie? We'll just drive over the moat."

"… Across what, exactly?"

"Sylvie said the castle was Interstitial, right? The Interstitiality … the castle's reality is coming apart at the seams—so let's tear it open some more. Let's tear ourselves open a new drawbridge."

Anemone simply gawked at Ruby.

Ruby, innocently: "… No?"

Anemone, sputtering incredulously: "Ruby, you've never even heard of the word Interstitial, until Sylvie mentioned it."

"Okay. … And?"

"My point being that, you don't even know what you're talking about! You're just making whatever up! Reality doesn't just bend to your whims, just because you will it!"

"… Well, I know one crayon scribbling that would disagree with you." Nodding to the King behind them.

Ruby accelerated, and headed for the gates.

- 37.10 - At the Gates -

She brought the car to a stop just before the non-existent drawbridge.

Anemone: "Ruby, please tell me you have an actual plan."

Ruby revved the engine.

Anemone: "… That's not an answer."

On the other side of the moat, Ivy and Violet were caught in the Usagi's headlights, watching.

(Ivy: "She's not doing what I think, is she?"

Violet: "This is Ruby we're talking about, so …"

Sylvie: "… Usagi-chan …")

Ruby revved the engine, again. Behind them, the Shadow-King approached.

Ruby: "Okay. I'll do it, but only if both of you agree. I won't do it if even one of you is unsure. I won't bring you down with my own craziness."

Anemone: "Oh, great. Some self-awareness, for once."

Lucy leaned forward from the back seat, and placed a tiny hand on the wheel of the Usagi. She looked at Ruby, and nodded.

"Lucy … believes."

Ruby smiled, and ruffled Lucy's hair.

Then she looked to Anemone. "… Annie?"

Anemone sighed, defeated. She, too, placed her hand on the wheel. "Just so you know, one of these days, I'm going to shoot down one of your crazy ideas."

Ruby smiled. "But today is not that day."

Anemone: "No. Today is not that day. … Punch it, baby girl."

Ruby winced. "Ew. That's like something Sylvie would say."

Anemone blushed. "… Y-yeah. … Forget that happened."

(On the other side of the moat, Sylvie, sneezing: "… I think they're talking about me in there.")

- 37.11 - Usagi, Moat -

Ruby shifted into Drive, and floored the Usagi, the Shadow-King inches away from the back of the car. They sped toward the edge of the castle boundary, straight for the open moat ahead.

The Shadow-King reached for the back of the car, as the front wheels came off the edge of the boundary …

… and found purchase on the crosshatching, penciled-in lines of screentone and jagged line-edges that were now forming under the Usagi.

Ivy and Violet watched in disbelief as the Usagi drove all the way over the impossible bridge, the Shadow-King's form stuck on the other side of the moat.

The Usagi came to a stop on the other side. Ruby and Anemone stepped out, and the Usagis, Lucy, and Sylvie watched as the Shadow-King screamed into the night. A terrible, inhuman screech.

Sylvie crossed her arms, and grinned.

"The King is in his castle. All is right with the world."