The Phantom City

“Shh, or it’s going to hear us…” the group of 5 kids huddled together behind the rusted door. Sound of their breath is quieter than the drops of water coming from the ceiling, but neither of those could match the loud stomping outside.

“I’m scared…” - one of the boys said, but he seemed to have calmed down when one of the girls that was sitting next to him squeezed his hand tighter and smiled.

However, right after that, the stomping outside disappeared. All of them stopped breathing, in order to focus on hearing even the tiniest sound, but not even 2 seconds later, something crashed through the door from the outside. As all of them got up and away from it, they made a run for it, but one of the boys, the same one who said he got scared a few seconds ago, stopped in his tracks when he saw the monster’s head peeking through the door. Its elongated mouth was a mix between a horse and a dog. It didn’t have any skin on the bottom of its jaw, and instead all of it was nailed to the top of its mouth, long enough to nearly reach the floor. Its black skin was stained with blood, and the little fur it had looked putrid and unkempt. Even if its eyes had no light behind them, it still felt like something was inside of it, and when the boy locked his eyes with it, he couldn’t move until one of the kids returned and pulled him by his arm.

“Quick, run!”

They left from the other door, and as soon as they got out onto the brick street, the monster forced itself through the door and began running after them. The other 3 kids were a bit further but the girl turned around to wait for them, standing firm even after seeing the monster slip and slide on the ground, before getting back and chasing after them.

Once she made sure they were running, she turned around and started to catch up with the other 2 boys that were in front of her.

While the two of them ran behind, they felt the monster getting closer, and even if it was far away that it couldn’t reach for them, it was slowly catching up. From the rock street, they ran straight onto a wooden pier, and as the children in front were hurrying them, the moldy piece of wood that they stepped on broke in half, trapping the leg of one of the boys, the one who got scared earlier. The other boy, who came back to get him to his senses was about to try to help him get out, the monster which was only a few steps behind them, bounced on the boy that was stuck between the planks, and began tearing into him. The girl, who was standing with the other 2 boys far away, was about to try and go back, but one of the boys who was with her grabbed her arm and shook his head.

The creature focused all of its attention on only eating, so despite one of the boys standing right next to it, it didn’t attack him even when he stood still for a while, but soon after he quickly turned and ran to the rest of the group.

All of them jumped onto a small boat that was tucked into the pier, and as they looked down upon it, they saw a stream of blood flowing through the water, from the direction one of their friends was killed, but without any other choice, all of them jumped on it. There was one other person waiting for them on it, an older man, with an aged gray skin, but it didn’t look sickly, or perhaps it was because he otherwise was covered from head to toe, including his giant hat.

As soon as all of them got on, he began rowing away, deep into the sea, and as all of them looked at each other, none could say anything. The tiredness showed on their faces, as they got further away from the shore, more and more of them began drifting into their sleep.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a dark, untidy room. 10 Single beds lined up next to the wall, with an IV bag and a night stand next to each one of them. Although the scene looked almost like a hospital, it was too unsanitary to be called one.

While 5 of them were unoccupied, the other 5 had children, the same ones who were just running away from the monster, lying motionlessly on them. The room was silent up until the point where 4 of them started to wake up, not including the one who got mauled. Their eyes twitched under their closed eyelids, their fingers curled before they started to wake up. They moved sluggishly as two of them tried to sit up on the bed, one of them ripped the IV connected to his forearm, before spitting something solid out of his mouth onto a bucket that was on the opposite side of the room..

“I told You Edward, these might be used up, but please take care when disposing of them”

The voice of the man who said this sounded scornful, and it seemed like none of the kids noticed him till he said anything. His hair seemed almost white, especially because of the moonlight that was shining from the window above him reflected from his head. He got up, and took the bucket to which one of the kids spat into, before making his way closer to the rest of the kids, who then proceeded to take out the same small wooden thing from their mouths, before putting it inside of the bucket, but more carefully. When he made it to the bed with the boy wasn’t moving, the girl, who was on the bed next to him started speaking:

“Father Viktor… Marcus didn’t make it…” -

“I see… What a shame, but he is with lord Zukra now… At least the rest of you have made it safe, I’ll prepare the burial site for later, but let’s just have breakfast now.”

Though none of the kids seemed happy, they all obeyed and left towards the dining hall.

The boy with blonde spiky hair in front seemed to kick his legs high as he walked

“I’m so Pissed! There weren’t supposed to be any PhantomS tonight, I can’t believe we found one right by the entrance!”

“Don’t be so loud, Edward! Father Viktor will hear you!” - Despite the scolding the girl seemed to be quite hesitant

“Ethel is right, Edward.“ - The boy with brown hair and circle glasses continued probably from what Ethel was unable to finish - “We’re all mad you know? I can’t believe Marcus would die like this”

“He’s not dead yet” - Said the last one out of them, description mc? . After which, all of them started to wear an awkward face, and didn’t say anything till they made it to the dining room.

The large table at which they were sitting could definitely hold up to 20 people, but at the moment only 4 of the chairs were occupied by the kids. The food was already plated, and it included a small bowl of soup, and a slice of bread. While they all got seated, none of them touched it yet, and instead they waited for father Viktor to come, which only took a couple of minutes.

He sat down opposite to them, and even if he didn’t have any food, all of them started a prayer.

“Lord Zukra, thank you for blessing us with this meal”

After which, the kids got straight to eating and he started talking.

“I’m really sorry to send You guys right after you come back, but it was a private request from Baron Hartwell. He’ll most likely expect a personal apology.”

He could see the dissatisfaction on their faces show, but continued speaking:

“As long as You apologize sincerely, I’m sure he’ll let us off the hook, despite how it seems he doesn’t have any other option than Us. Now, don’t keep waiting, all right? ”

“Right.” - All of the kids said in unison, their tones varying slightly.

“Good! I doubt we’ll be going back in tonight, but depending on the baron’s answer we might, I’ll prepare the charms and the payment. Good luck on your end”

He left his seat and walked away. The children finished eating, while a bit hesitant, before gathering in front of the main door. All of them seemed to put on a dark leather robe on top of the clothes they were wearing, right before leaving, and when they finally opened the main door, which was at least 3 times their height. They passed gravestones on both their sides, before finally reaching the metal gate and leaving the estate.

“We’re getting a carriage, right?” - Edward

“No, I believe the Baron said he won’t pay for it, so Father Viktor didn’t push” - The boy with glasses exclaimed.

“Cheapskate geezer…”

Similarly to how they walked to the dining room, Edward was in the front of them while the other 3 followed behind. Ethel and the boy with round glasses were walking together, talking, while the other boy walked slightly behind them.

“Are you still sad about Marcus, Ethel?”

“Yes, but to be honest , I’m more scared of the baron, you know that even father Viktor doesn’t go against his will?…”

“I guess he doesn’t, but I think it’s because he has to always think about what’s best for us right? I’m sure He’s had to hold himself back for the greater cause.”

“Even so…”

“Don’t worry, It’s just like he said, the Baron doesn’t have anyone else other than us, even if he’ll get angry, he still needs our help.”

“You’re right Jacob… I’ll try” - After which she forced a weak smile.

Despite the downpour being heavy, none of them seemed to mind it. As they walked past people, some would give them a dirty stare, while others pretended to not notice them at all. After walking through a small alleway, they were on the main town square, which was surprisingly packed for the weather they were experiencing. A small kid, with his butler who held an umbrella above the kid’s head, was buying food from a stand, before making his way back into the white carriage he came with. Some children seemed to play with the big puddle of water, while their mothers chatted together. And in the alleyways, homeless people were peaking through looking at the food in food stands. Though it was an ordinary view for them, they still stopped to look at it.

“Let’s go” - As Edward said this all of them put their hoods up, before continuing their walk.

They made it out of the town, and after walking up a small hill, saw a large fenced estate, which was probably even bigger than the town square. As they approached the gate, two men who were on both sides of it got closer together and signaled that there was no entry, but when the kids removed their hoods, the bodyguards looked at each other, and after looking through their notes, let the kids in through the gate.

“They definitely knew we were coming, I bet he told them to stall us so we’d get soaked” - Edward still seemed to be in sour mood

“Would he really be that petty?” - Jacob

“If I was in his place I would”

They walked across the gravel path towards the large mansion in the center, despite the weather being rainy and foggy, everything they’ve walked so far still looked beautiful, especially the purple flowers, which spread across almost the whole garden. All of this was just proof of how much money and effort he put into decorating the place.

After walking past a fountain, they finally reached the main building, and servants were already waiting for them, this time they didn’t have to wait for them to open the door. Inside, they didn’t even get to change out of the dirty clothes and shoes, before being urged by the servants to go deeper inside of the mansion.

Inside of the main room, an older, a bit of a fatter man, was seated writing out something on papers as he checked their contents. When they saw him, Edward hit Jacob with one of his elbows weakly, and whispered in his ear

“Must be the baron.”

“Master, the people from MOONDIVER are here” - One of the butlers who guided the kids into the mansion spoke, when he noticed that the baron was still glued to his work, but upon hearing that, he looked at the kids before standing up from his chair, and going in front of them.

“So, you’ve got something to say to me?”

“We’re sorry… We couldn’t find Your wife…” - Jacob started explaining

He seemed to get visibly angry upon hearing that, and upon seeing that, Ethel started to explain

“Erm… The scouting didn’t work… we met a Phantom before we could get further and-”

“I don’t want to hear any excuses!” - the baron screamed, causing Ethel to flinch. - “Just how much money do You think I’ve poured into Your orphanage!? What a bunch of useless kids, you’ve had everything provided to you, and yet you still couldn’t finish a simple job!”

“You’ve heard her, it’s not like it was our fault, we lost someone important too, you know?” - Edward added, but it seemed like he just wanted to rile the baron up, rather than to defend Ethel. And it seemed like he was successful.

“That’s right! It all happened because of that monster, if it just wasn’t there!” - Ethel got emotional as she spoke

“I told you I didn’t care about Your excuses!” - He was about to slap Ethel, but the boy who walked behind her and Jacob, caught his hand at the last moment.

Even if the baron seemed pretty angry, he couldn’t free himself from the grasp of the boy, and only seemed to ease himself out, once he looked at the boy's eyes, which were staring him down. After his hand got freed, he shaked the pain off and seemed to have calm down a bit.

“Well, whatever. I’ll let this go, but until the job is finished, I won’t continue my regular financial support. You should have enough coins to pay the fare a couple more times, don’t disappoint me next time.”

After he said this, he waved his hands at the kids and the butlers, who then proceeded to escort the kids outside, before slamming the door on them. The kids waited a while to make sure the butlers were gone before they started talking.

“See! I told you he’d be petty. I didn’t expect him to resort to violence so fast though, guess all that money must’ve gotten to his head… Anyway, how are you Ethel? You okay?”

“Yeah.. I’m fine… Thank you, Vincent…”

“It’s nothing…”

“I didn’t think You could pull off something like that, haha! But so we’re clear I had it under control, I would’ve intervened if you didn’t first”

“”Haha…”

“Anyway, we sorted all of the stuff out, right? Let’s head back before Father Victor starts to worry” - Jacob added, and all of them seemed content with that, so they made their way back towards the orphanage.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At some point during their way back it stopped raining, but it was still cloudy and foggy. When they walked past the main gate, they noticed Father VIktor was finishing off burying a coffin in the graveyard next to the path, but that didn’t stop him from speaking to the kids..

“How did the talk with Baron go?”

“Bad! He’s all up ass, You know he even made us wait in the rain?”

“Hey Edward! We’re still not sure if he did it on purpose!” - Jacob was the one to correct him

“I’m telling you! I’m sure he did!”

“Haha, I guess he does seem like that kind of man. So, what else did he say?” - Father Viktor continued his questioning

“He said he won’t send us anything else till we finish the request”

“I see… I should’ve expected he might pull something like this… I’m sorry, but with most other backers out, we might just have to go back in tonight, I was hoping you’d all get some rest”

“It’s fine, not like we have any other choice and the sooner we get it done the better”

“In any case, let us pray for Marcus, and then you’re free to rest till evening, is that fine?”

“Yes…” - All of them said in unison once again, before they joined their hands in prayer.

“May Lord Zukra accept his body and soul in the other world” - Father Viktor chanted, while the rest of them said in silence. After around 10 seconds, all of the boys and Father Viktor loosened the pose, and started going back inside, but upon seeing that Ethel still held her hands in a prayer Father Viktor smiled and decided to stay with her.

She must’ve kept that pose for at least 10 minutes, but he didn’t interrupt her and just stood by. When she finally let it go, she kept looking at the newly placed grave as she spoke.

“Say, Father Viktor, do you really think Marcus is in a better place now?”

“Would you feel better knowing that he is?”

“I think… Probably…”

”Hmm… I guess we can never know for sure what the deep death brings.” - She seemed to look at him with a rather shocked face but he continued - “But, that shouldn’t stop you from believing. If we all assumed the worst, we would get nowhere in life, so sometimes, you just have to have that little hope that keeps you going. At least that’s what I think”

The rather puzzled look on her face turned into a smile and she hugged him tightly.

“Thank You, Father Viktor…”

In what seemed to be a bedroom, with multiple bunk beds lined up against the wall, Jacob and Edward were both trying to relax themselves. While the former was reading a book, Edward was throwing a bouncy ball at the wall, catching it as it came back and throwing it again.

“Hey, Ed”

“Huh? What do you want”

“Doesn’t the Baron situation smell a bit fishy to you?”

“Why would I care? He paid us already and it’s not like we have any other choice anyway. Why do you ask? “

“No, It’s nothing, just something felt odd…”

“Hey, you’re the smart guy here, if you’re not sure then I won’t for sure have a clue either. Ask Ethel or Vincent.”

“I’ll pass, I guess Ethel could know, but I doubt she noticed anything considering how scared she was. And you know, Vincent…”

“I get it, but It’s still a better lead than me”

The two of them continued talking till Ethel herself came into the room, at which point they started to include her as well.

At the same time, in another room. In the center of it, a bed with a boy plugged into an IV, sitting on a chair next to him was his mirror reflection, though he looked much less sickly. He didn’t say anything, and just stared, before being startled by the door opening.

“Father Viktor…”

“I expected that you’re going to be here” - he slowly made his way towards the room and closer to the two of them - “Can I sit down?”

Vincent nodded, and after Father Viktor took one of the chairs, he proceeded to sit down and also look at the spitting image of the boy which was laying on the bed, but soon decided to break the silence.

“Have you made friends with everyone yet?”

“No…”

“But You still stepped in to defend Ethel from the baron?”

“They said they won’t mention it on their way, did she tell you?”

“No, just a hunch, but it looks like I was right. So? still play cold to them “

“I’m not playing cold, I’m just focusing on saving my brother, I don’t have time to play family when he’s trapped over there”

“Pushing everyone away isn’t the solution you think it is”

“And what would you know?”

“It doesn’t matter if I knew or not. Think about it, even with the 5 of you, you couldn’t take down a single Phantom, what makes you think you can accomplish something there alone?”

He couldn’t speak back, because he couldn’t come up with a logical reason.

“Despite the fact we failed the first time, the baron still has no one else to put his trust in, because of how difficult it is there.“

“I know…”

“We did our best we could here. As long as his body is sustained, and his soul stays intact, and we find it, we can save him. And the people who can help you do that are right here, so please try and make an effort to get along with them, despite how it might seem, they do care about you.

“I’ll try…”

When the boy admitted his defeat, Father Viktor patted him on his shoulder and made his way out, but right before he left, he turned around as if he’d remember something

“Ah! One more thing, do you really think this is the kind of life your brother would want you to have?”

Though he wasn’t met with a response, and simply left after that.

A couple of hours later, all of the kids were back again in the hospital looking room. With an IV already plugged to each of their arms. Father Viktor was around the same place as before, but he didn’t sit down this time, and instead spoke while standing up.

“Do we really have to do this again? We all know what we have to do”

“I know Edward, but since this is our only chance left, I want to make sure we get everything right. You understand, right?”

“Well…I guess…”

“In any case, we still have time so let’s just go over a few key things. First of all, the main purpose of this job is to find the baron’s dead wife. According to my and his employed 3rd party investigators, her death shouldn’t be a deep death, so she must be there somewhere. He didn’t give us any specific instructions as to what we should do once we get ahold of her, but he mentioned that she’ll know what he wants once we meet her.”

“I don’t really get it you know? I mean, why spend all of this money and then give us such a half-assed job.”

“Edward, can you not interrupt Father when he speaks? “

“Thank you, Jacob. And even if that’s a good question, I’m sure he has his reasons. But, It's not our job to pry, just do what we’re told, you said so yourself right?”

He seemed to get a bit embarrassed but Father Viktor continued.

“Well, since the job is pretty vague that’s about as much as I can say. We might’ve lost Marcus last time and went back empty handed, but I’d still like to add one condition to the mission”

The kids sensed the tenseness in the atmosphere

“Please don’t throw your life away for the mission, if you feel like you’re in danger, come back here straight away.”

“Right!”

“Looks like it’s time” - He said this as he noticed the moonlight started to shine on his head through the window. - “ I sent all of the things that the baron has given us, but I’ll leave that as a surprise for you when you get there. Now, here”

As he said this, he took a platter from one of the tables behind him and on it were 4 wooden coins that each of the kids took and placed in their mouth, before all of them laid on their backs on the beds and closed their eyes.

“May Lord Zukra have you under his care…” - As he said this he left the room leaving the children alone, who soon began to drift away into a coma.

With a sensation of almost drowning into the ground, they slowly lose control of their limbs, their breathing becomes heavier, and although they are first filled with a sense of dread, at its peak, all of it disappears, and their bodies become lighter, allowing them to move again, this time in a different place.

They all laid on the ground, on what seemed to be a really small island. Once they’ve woken up, it didn’t take them long to get up, compared to how sluggish they were back in the hospital.

“Ahhh! It’s always so uncomfortable!!” - Edward stretched as hard as he could

“I think it’s a bit nice, you know, even if it’s scary when you finally wake up it’s all gone, and you feel better than before”

“Man you’re so weird Ethel.” - She seemed to get a bit embarrassed when Edward said this, but he didn’t pay much attention - “So, did you check what else we got from the baron?”

“I’m checking right now” - As Jacob said this, he took a large bag which was nearby on the ground, and flipped its contents on the ground.

Laid out on the floor were provisions, a couple of matchsticks and a lantern, two small knives, a notebook, 4 small pendants and a large musket with a small ammo pouch.

“Sweet! A gun!” - Edward was the first one to rush to it, before picking it up and already starting to aim.

“Hey! We haven't decided who gets what yet…” - Jacob assumed a defeated pose, and Ethel chuckled a bit - “In any case, let’s split these up equally, all right?”

“This split is fair isn’t it? I get to shoot things, and you guys get to be the support.”

“Did you even check how many bullets there are inside?”

“Of-Of course I did!” - He hid one of his hands which held the ammo pouch behind his back and fondled it, but the other kids could still tell - “5! Probably!”

“Whatever… I’ll keep track of them, but that’s a pretty small amount, especially for dealing with PhantomS, so don’t shoot until we’re sure you can hit, all right?”

“All right, all right, well, I wouldn’t miss either way…”

“Ethel can you carry the notebook, matchsticks and some of the provisions?”

“Eh… Sure, It’s fine…”

“Perfect, I’ll take one of the knives, the lantern and the rest of the provisions. We’ll walk as a pair, with Edward in front, and Vincent behind. “

“Fine by me” - Edward seemed content probably because he had the most important position

Vincent didn’t say anything, but he didn’t show any discontent with the arrangement either.

“Perfect, everyone get Your stuff then and let’s go”

Edward and Ethel were already grabbing some of the things from the pile, but Vincent was clearly waiting for the two to be done before he went himself, however Jacob came up to him with one of the pendants and the knife.

“Here, Father Viktor talked with me so I more or less know how you feel. Even if we still might not know each other the most, you can trust us, I just hope it goes both ways.”

“Uhm.. Thank you”

“Don’t worry, did you use the pendants before?”

“Maybe once…”

“Well I’d rather not cut it close, so I’ll explain the gist to you. They're a physical manifestation of a blessing from Lord Zukra. In theory, as long as we have them, it should discourage some of the PhantomS from coming near, however if it decides to actually attack you, these won’t help at all.

“I see… I’ll try and take care then”

“Good, all right I think the other two are also ready.”

Once everyone got their equipment, they started to move towards the edge of the island, which was only a few meters away, as they got closer, the same boat which took them from it earlier started to come closer towards the shore. Once it got sufficiently close, they slowly made their way into it. The same older man from before, who was in the corner of the boat, stretched his hand forward and placed it facing up, expecting something.

At the same moment, all of the kids reached inside their mouths, and pulled out the wooden coins, before placing them onto the man’s hand. Once he got all four of them, he clutched his hand, although a bit unnaturally, before pulling it back, and with a swift movement of one of his oars, pushed the boat away from the small island, deeper into the waters.

“Hey, Jacob, open your hand” - Edward started

“Huh? Sure” - He proceeded to open it the same way as the older man did. After which Edward spat something out on it and started laughing

“Ed! You’re disgusting, why did you do that?”

“We might get there twice as fast if I pay double the fare, right?”

Ethel seemed to have started laughing at that point as well, and Vincent threw a smile too.

The fog in front of them got more dense, and after they’ve traveled in it far enough that the island behind them disappeared, Another view started to show in front of them. The pier from which they ran away ran last time. Though their faces were much lighter when they chatted on the boat, when they started to approach the pier, they became much more serious.

They docked on the exact same one as last time, and once they got off, the boat with the man still inside disappeared into the fog back again. Without saying anything, all of them slowly walked alongside it, until they made it to the place Marcus was killed, where they saw dried blood around the hole in one of the planks. Their faces soured even more, but Edward started walking forward.

“Come on, we don’t have all day”

Despite the fact that in this area last time they encountered a Phantom, they were pretty calm, since normally they don’t make their way around the shore, and with 4 pendants, it was even less likely they’d be here, even so, they were still moving using the positioning discussed by Jacob.

As they passed the house they had to run from last time, they saw the Phantom’s footprints engraved onto the floor. They walked through the hole in the wall that was created when it was chasing them, and walked on the other side, unveiling a relatively small town square, with a fountain at the center, though there was water inside of it, it wasn’t actually spraying any. They moved closer towards it and started discussing what they should do next, considering the large area, they weren’t sure if they should split up and scout a larger area to find the baron’s wife, or if they should stay close together just in case. Edward seemed pretty confident that they’d do much better if they went in separate directions, but Ethel suggested that they should still keep close, although Jacob had to be the one to convince Edward, since Ethel was speaking very weakly compared to him. As all of this happened, Vincent walked closer towards the fountain and looked at his reflection in the water. Although at first it seemed like it was normal, but he noticed that the eyes on his reflection were closed, when he moved his face closer to investigate, they opened abruptly causing him to reflexively flinch away, and after he did, he interrupted the rest of the group speaking.

“I… think we should stick together” - All of them turned around to look at him, and while Ethel and Edward seemed a bit surprised, Jacob smiled

“Well… I guess it might be the best move” - Edward said as he scratched the back of his head.

And so they assumed the position from before before continuing forward. They made their way around the rest of the houses. While some had doors ripped off their hinges, in others they had to climb through the windows, and for other ones, they simply had to break their way in. But after making their way around the whole plaza and finding nothing, they once again went back to the fountain.

“Man, it’s such a pain, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, if she wants to be found why can’t she make it easier!” - Edward seemed pretty bummed out - “Ahh, I can’t be asked to think, just call me once you figure something out” - He said as he made his way and laid on the fountain.

“Hmm, I guess we just have to go deeper, but she should still be somewhere around here… What do you guys think?” - He said to both Ethel and Vincent, switching his gaze from one to the other.

“Uhm… I’m not sure

“I think I agree… “

As the three of them spoke, Edward didn’t care enough to listen, and instead just watched the empty town square. Then, in an instant, in between two of the buildings, he saw a figure running from behind one of them to another, at which moment he erupted from the fountain, grabbing the musket, and instantly started chasing into the alleyway he saw it from.

“That Idiot!” - Jacob sounded pretty mad - “Let’s go!”

All of them started chasing after him, but because of the already built up distance it was hard to catch up for them, however Vincent was able to still run faster, so after looking at Jacob and him nodding for confirmation, he sped up also distancing himself from the group.

When he finally made it behind the houses he saw what Edward must’ve run after. Standing before him was a Phantom, though much larger than the one they encountered earlier. He could only see its back but the drool that came from its mouth splashed heavily on the ground, looking like it was corroding it. Its legs were relatively short and it seemed to be holding up itself mostly on its large arms, kinda like a gorilla. However, because of its stature Vincent could tell what it was looking at. Surrounded by walls from all sides, and the monster in front, Edward was holding and pointing his gun with the pendant on it towards the beast, and next to him was a fashionably, though distressed looking woman with black hair.

He locked eyes with Edward, who despite showing off a brave front, had the same scared eyes he did back when Marcus was killed. Both of them stared at each other, and couldn’t move, however the monster itself was slowly approaching. Ethel and Jacob were still far away but they could tell the panic on Vincent’s face.

But then, Edward fired 2 shots from the musket, though neither of them hit the monster, they grazed it, drawing blood and causing it to become agitated and start running towards Edward and the woman.

At the moment Vincent saw it, a familiar scene flew into his mind, one where instead of Edward being cornered, it was his brother. And as that image flew into his head, so did the words of Father Viktor, reminding him that it’s not something he can tackle alone. And while his face quickly changed from panic, to frustration to finally, determination, his legs have already started moving.

Edward was already loading in another bullet, but he seemed to have stopped to look at what Vincent was doing. When running, he took out the pendant, and underneath the monster’s legs, slid it across the floor hard enough so it reaches Edward, who proceeded to catch it with one of his legs and at the same moment, threw the knife in his hand at the back of the monster’s neck lodging itself into it, but still not deep enough for the whole blade to be in.

It seemed to surprise Edward as much as the monster, who upon feeling double of the pendants in the front, and an attack from his back, slowly turned his head to notice the now defenseless Vincent, before it started to run at him. In the same instant, he started running away towards the other side, which unlike the side with Edward and the woman, was not a dead end.

Right as Jacob and Ethel got to the alleyway, Vincent ran past them, again looking at Jacob with a determined face, soon followed by the monster, had they run in deeper they probably would’ve collided. They first looked at the monster’s back, before it and Vincent disappeared into depths of the alleyways, before checking the other side to see Edward cornered into a blind spot with the woman, and quickly making their way towards them.

“Ed!” - Both of them ran towards him, and they saw his bruised up leg

“It’s fine, I’ll walk.”

“And is this?”

“Yeah… Our Prize” - The woman seemed a bit ashamed once Edward said this, and then all of them seemed pretty unsure of what to do next, but for now they decided to go inside one of the nearby houses.

Ethel stood by one of the windows watching for anything that could come close, occasionally hearing loud noises, probably from the monster still chasing Vincent, while Jacob was interviewing Edward and the woman.

“First things first, You are the baron’s wife, that is correct, right?”

“...Yes…”

“Well, at least that’s one thing. So, the baron said you’ll know why we had to find you, care to explain it to us?“

The woman stayed silent

“Hey! We saved your life, you know!? If not for me, and Vincent, you’d die a deep death!”

“...I know… I just can’t believe he’d send you children for something so stupid like this…”

“So You do have an idea at least”

“Well, then say it, the sooner you get it out the faster we can get out of here.”

Both Jacob and Edward seemed pretty hasty about the woman confessing, but when Ethel approached and placed one of her hands on the woman’s hand, her tone was much more gentle.

“It’s Okay… take your time, otherwise You can’t pass in peace, right?”

“Thank you… Well, let’s start from the beginning. I knew I was going to marry that man ever since I was young, but back then, I actually found it quite endearing. I dreaded meeting him for the first time, but once it happened, I was probably the happiest woman alive. He was so kind and loving, even if I was just a stupid girl back then. He’d skip out on the lessons his father prepared just to dine with me, sneak into my room to talk all night. We fell in love…”

“Can you imagine that fatso doing something like that?” - Edward whispered to Jacob but was soon silenced by Ethel

“Shh!”

“But then, one day… He changed. In a single night, the man who I fell in love with has disappeared. I still remember it, the night he came drenched in rain, ever since then, it was like something had possessed him. He’d lock himself in his office, day and night, no matter what I tried, he wouldn’t look at me, it was almost like I completely stopped existing to him.”

I thought maybe he’d found some other woman, got bored of me, even if I was younger than him, I’m sure he could find someone prettier and better. Even if that was the case, I don’t think I could bring myself to hate him, all I wanted was for him to tell me everything, but he didn’t..”

The woman took a pause, but when Ethel clenched the woman’s hand tighter and locked eyes with her, she continued speaking.

“It was then, when my health started to deteriorate. By the time I got the diagnosis it was already too late, the disease had already progressed too far, and I only had a little left to live. But, disgusting how it was, a part of me was happy to hear it. If I only had a tiny bit of time left, then maybe, just for this one last time,I hoped my husband would go back to normal…”

All of the kids seemed to guess what happened next.

“But no matter how much I tried, he didn’t. Even when it progressed far enough to keep me bedridden, I stared at the door to the bedroom, hoping one day he’d walk in, but no matter how much time passed, the cold spot in my heart was never filled.”

None of the kids could say anything.

“Haha, I’m sorry for the rambling of this old woman, love is a strange thing, isn’t it?”

“Uhm… I think there’s one thing he’d want to hear from You… It’s… ”

The woman’s eyes widened when she heard what the girl suggested, but she seemed to think that might be the right answer too.

“Haha, I guess you might be right, but before that happens, we have to get you out of here.”

“Yeah, but there's one thing we have to do as well, get Vincent back” - Edward was the one who proposed it, which surprised both Ethel and Jacob initially, but both of them nodded

“Ethel bring out all of your things, let’s think on how to take it out”

“Right…”

“Edward, I’ve heard two shots, that’s how many times you’ve fired right?”

“Uhm.. Yeah…”

“Great, I think I have an idea of what to do. Now listen closely”

But, there was one thing Jacob missed while he was busy explaining the plan to the group. The expression on Edward’s face after he answered the question wasn’t his usual one and there was one thought racing in his head “I can’t tell him I lost one of the bullets while running away now”

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the same time, hiding between alleyways was Vincent. The heavy weight of the monster walking reverberated through the bricks of the houses he was holding his back to. He was in too small of a crevice for the monster to actually run into, but if it wanted to force its way in, it definitely could destroy the space and catch him there.

As he stood by the wall, he thought about what he had done. He felt a bit stupid for doing such a reckless thing, but it was amplified by his feelings of doubt. Even if he was told to trust them, they’ve already accomplished their mission, he knew they probably have gotten what they needed from the Baron’s wife, so why wouldn’t they retreat now? There was no point in risking their lives, and yet, that’s what he did for them. He concentrated hard, perhaps too hard, because just a second later, with the corner of his eye he noticed that the monster was staring at him from the exit of the crevice, before using one of its large hands to destroy the walls on either side to reach him.

Luckily, he was swift enough to avoid the initial blow, and because the hand was now lodged into the walls, the monster couldn’t move it fast enough to squash the boy between the floor and his arm, which allowed him to get out of the alleyway and start running.

Even if his conditioning was the best in the group, with perhaps Edward being the only person to compete, after being chased by the monster for so long he was starting to get tired, and with his brain making him doubt that he’s going to get saved, his legs only got weaker, however that is when he heard it.

“Vincent! The Fountain!”

The familiar voice of Jacob gave him strength and confidence that they must’ve had a plan of some sort, and since he got chased for so long, he more or less had an idea on how to get back to the fountain, so he started running in that direction. Similarly to how they ran away last time, by squeezing in between the alleyways he was able to outpace the monster even if on a straight line it would probably catch up to him.

After a handful of turns he finally made it back to the plaza, where he saw that across the plaza, Edward was pointing the gun at him and the monster. And while he did, he reminisced about Jacob’s plan.

“Ethel and I will take the pendants and mask ourselves on both sides of the fountain. I think it should be enough, at a signal we’ll toss both of them away and jump towards Vincent, with three of us it should turn around. This is part where you come in Edward“

“Y-Yeah…Of course…”

The Phantom was getting closer, but he kept his breath calm,

“WIth your first shot, hit the knife in the monster’s head. I doubt that will kill it, but it’s good to try. When we’re regrouped as a three, I’ll toss the lantern above it’s head, I need you to hit it, so it sprays oil all over the monster, and with your third shot, aim anywhere where the ricochet would spark, all right?”

“Uhm.. Yeah You can count on me…”

“Good, I’ll go set everything up”

Vincent was already in position, both Ethel and Jacob nodded at each other, knowing they’re about to take action. In the instant Vincent crossed the path, both of them slid their pendants across to Edward, and rushed toward River mc, who stopped in his tracks when he realized what they were doing.

“Ethel, I need your help with something” - Edward’s voice rang in her head.

The monster leaped and almost flipped mid air in order to face Vincent, Ethel and Jacob, exposing his back to Edward.

“Now!” - Jacob shouted.

And with a single breath, Edward shot the first shot, perfectly hitting the knife and embedding it deeper into the monster’s spine, though it seemed to be in pain it was still moving/

“Here!” - He said as he tossed the lantern mid air, though the trajectory seemed to be off, for some reason…

When Edward finished reloading, the lantern was already starting to fall, but nevertheless, he aimed, and with a clean shot hit it, covering the monster in oil.

“Good!” - Jacob kept commenting on how the plan was going.

And at the instant Edward hit his shot, he tossed the gun from his hands and started running full speed towards the monster.

“Where is the third shot!?”

From his pocket, Edward pulled out the matchsticks that he got from Ethel, and lit his oil-covered hand on fire. Even if for the rest of the kids the view was obscured, the light from the fire on his hand was still bright enough to see on the edges of the monster.

With a pained expression on his face, he ran past the monster, slapping it with his burning hand as he went, which caused the oil on it to catch fire also, before sliding underneath his legs.

He couldn’t confirm just how effective it was with his eye, but the monster’s scream was almost deafening, and the shocked looks on everyone's face confirmed it was a good gamble, he continued running full speed until he reached the fountain from before and jumped into it, extinguishing his hand.

Even underwater her could hear the monster writhe in pain, however when it finally seemed to stop he resurfaced from the shallow water just to see the monster was already down on the floor, not moving, only burning away.

He had a smile on his face, before he was punched in the back of his head by Jacob

“Are you stupid!? Why didn’t you tell me you only had 2 bullets, do you know how many things could’ve gone wrong!?”

“Haha! But it worked out in the end, didn’t it? Also, it was my mistake, so it was up to me to make up for it.”

“And you Ethel, why did you help him, knowing how dangerous it was!?”

“Uhm… I trusted Edward, I knew he could do it”

Jacob seemed pretty defeated at that response.

As Vincent looked at all of them laughing, he smiled, and words of gratitude came out of his mouth.

“Thank you, Everyone, for coming back”

All of them seemed to get a bit embarrassed at first, but soon after, they all smiled.

“Of course, I mean, we’re family now, right?” - Jacob said - “Now, let’s finish this up and get out of here”

Both him and Ethel started going back towards the entrance, avoiding the burning Phantom, which although not moving still felt pretty intimidating. Vincent was about to follow them, when Edward’s voice from behind reached him.

“Hey! We’re even now, right?”

Vincent’s face of confusion as to why Edward would call to him changed into another weak smile “Yeah”

“And… you know, If you want, you can just call me Ed.” - His face got a bit red when saying this, and he avoided eye contact, but seemed to go back to normal when Vincent extended his hand to help him out of the water.

They slowly walked across the empty plaza, until they met up with Baron’s wife again.

“I’m really sorry you had to go through all of this”

“Don’t worry, old lady, that’s the kind of life we have”

“Edward is right, you don’t have to blame yourself at all, in any case, you’re ready to pass on right?”

“Yeah, I’ll say it”

She said the words that Ethel did earlier, and at the moment her lips finished saying it, her body seemed to become more and more ethereal, disappearing into the surroundings with a blue color.

“I know that’s the answer he wanted to hear, so please pass it on from me”

“Don’t worry, I will” - Ethel said with a smile on her face

Which was their last exchange, before the woman disappeared before them.

All of them seemed to stand for a while, appreciating the moment, but Edward quickly broke the silence.

“So, can we go home now?”

“Yeah, let’s go”

All of them made their way towards the pier from where they came from, and the boat from earlier was already waiting for them. As they jumped in, they went back again to their normal conversations.

“You know, I don’t understand how he’ll always know when we’re going back”

“Well, Considering how loud you are Edward, he can probably hear you talking even from the middle of the ocean.”

The boat began moving deeper into the fog again, as they laughed together, their eyes became sleepy once again, and soon enough, they drifted away, only to wake up back in the room from earlier.

However this time, despite feeling tired and sluggish, their movements still felt much more alive compared to last time they left that world. Edward proceeded to once again spit out his coin into the bucket, only to notice that Father Viktor was sitting next to it. He got up and started making rounds next to everyone’s beds again, as they pulled the coins out and placed them inside.

“You’re all pretty happy, did you get what the baron wanted?”

“Yes, and we managed to complete your request too”

“I see… I’m glad… So, what are you planning on doing now? We didn’t get any other jobs”

“We’re going to visit the baron”

“I’ll let him know you’ll be coming”

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They were all dressed the same as before, getting ready to leave, this time more optimistic, and as they opened the door, even through the thick clouds in the sky, some sun managed to shine through.

As they walked, Edward stared at his burned hand, which didn’t show any signs of regenerating. This time, walking next to him was Vincent, who upon seeing it became visibly sad

“I’m sorry, Ed, about your hand”

“Oh, this? Don’t worry about it, It was my fault, and I mean I can still use it right?”

They all walked together in a group, the same path as before, passing through the familiar town-square, through the same narrow alleyways before making their way to the mansion. The guards in front of it instantly opened the door upon seeing the kids get closer, so they continued forward. Passing once again by the beautiful garden inside.

They were greeted by the same butlers, who guided them towards the study room the baron was in. This time he wasn’t occupied with papers, and instead was already sitting in his chair waiting for them. However, for some reason, upon the kids entering the room, he felt compelled to signal to the butlers to give them some privacy. Ethel stepped forward and spoke for the whole group.

“So, how did you finish the job? Did you find my wife?”

“Yes, she passed on in peace, she had just one thing to say to you…”

“What was it?”

“I forgive you”

“I see… You can leave now”

“One more thing”

“Hmm?”

“Your wife’s name… it was Violet, wasn’t it?”

He didn’t confirm, but the look on his face couldn’t hide it, Ethel smiled upon seeing she was right, and all of them left. Only for one of the butler’s to walk back into the room.

“Barclay”

“Yes, Master”

“Bring me some Liquor, something strong…”

“As you wish…”

Outside of the mansion, the kids started walking back, however while the boys continued walking, Ethel continued to look at the purple flowers, which were growing strong in the garden, with a smile.

“Hey! Ethel! We’re going!”

“I’m coming!”