The Colors And The Deal With Death - Chapter IX: The Calm

Waking up the next morning, everything feels a little better... all things considered. Last night, I told the others about my little adventure with Brooklyn and Bonnie, and our rematch against that giant bird. I just hope that we can let this all go, and we can get back to the matter at hand. It’s just a shame that my gown from last night is ripped in many places, and I’ve been forced to wear the same pyjamas I have been wearing for the past few days with no chances to really wash... I know it’s gross, trust me.

I quickly get dressed and walk out of my tent, blinding by the bright light. When my eyes adjust to the heavenly glow of the sun, I see that the grass is much greener here, with trees all around us, blossoms sprinkling to the floor like confetti. The wind doesn’t seem as bad as last night, but it is still blowing strong. I notice that the others, except for Blanche, are crowding around something, whispering amongst themselves. I slowly walk over to them to catch a cheeky glimpse of what they are saying.

“Alright, it’s finished. Lizzie is going to be so happy when she sees this.” Roxy whispers to the others.

“When Lizzie sees what?” I ask, tapping Roxy on the shoulder.

She suddenly jumps out of her skin, turning around faster than I’ve ever seen anyone pull off, and letting out a little scream.

“Oh, it’s you. You scared the life out of me. Right, just give me a second to recollect my thoughts.” Roxy says, clutching her chest and breathing heavily.

She pulls out an inhaler and takes a deep puff of air into her lungs, before exhaling. Strangely, her eyes look bloodshot and dazed as well.

“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” I ask, feeling pretty bad that I didn’t know she suffered with her breathing until now.

“I’m okay now, thanks. Anyway, like we rehearsed guys.” Roxy says, returning to normal as she counts down with her fingers down to 0.

“Surprise!” Roxy, Poppy and Andy say at the same time in an over-the-top expression, moving away together to show me something hanging from a clothesline.

“Oh, surprise!” Nuko says a second later, moving away with them.

“Damn it, Nuko. This was your one job.” Roxy says, hitting Nuko in the arm.

I walk forward to see my battle costume, remade from the good materials from the gown I was wearing last night. The gown is a lot thinner now, as they implemented the design into the black overcoat, with a few new adjustments like pockets and two strange compartments by the chest level of the coat.

“So, what do you think?” Roxy asks, struggling to keep herself up straight.

“Wow. Just wow. You really didn’t have to do this. Thank you.” I say, trying not to seem too eager, lest I say something embarrassing and over-the-top.

“Nah, it was our way of saying sorry for everything that happened. We were stupid... I was stupid.” Roxy says, beating herself up as if it was her fault.

“Don’t say it like that. Really, it’s fine. I’d feel better if we’d just let sleeping dogs lie.” I say, still not able to overcome my fear of being the center of attention, it seems.

“Alright. Though I would probably go talk to Blanche, she hasn’t said a word since we woke up.” Roxy says, pointing towards Blanche, standing out into the world, taking in the view.

“Hey, you did great over there. I would... love it if we could have that spar soon.” Andy says, nervously tugging at his shirt.

“Sure thing. Once I beat this thing, I’ll make some time to teach you a trick or two.” I say, self confident in not much except my fighting prowess... even though my loss count is now up to two.

I walk over to Blanche, who is throwing pebbles at the nearby lake just below us. In the horizon, I see Watcher Central quite far away, yet it still looks so tall.

“It’s weird. All my life, I wanted to visit other places other than Watcher Central. And now I’m this far away for the first time, I actually miss it.” Blanche says, not even looking in my direction, in a much more melancholic voice than normal.

“Yeah. I haven’t lived there long, but it seems like a nice place.” I say, taking a spot next to her.

“Listen. I wanted to apologise... again. I’m not like that, I promise. I doubted you, tried to hurt you, and got what I deserved as a result.” Blanche says, pulling up her shirt to look at her small scar.

“Can’t say it didn’t hurt me a little, but hey, it’s all over now, so let’s just leave it at that.” I say, trying to voice my concern, but also trying not to be too harsh on her for doing something I probably would have done myself.

“Yeah. You did get me my mother’s necklace back. I’m going to make it up to you, and this time, it’s going to be bigger than some makeover.” Blanche says, finally looking at me, taking my hands in hers.

“Blanche, you don’t need to buy me anything to make things better, that’s not how it works. What I want is for you to trust me, and for me to be able to trust you. Confide secrets in each other, tell embarrassing stories, get to know each other, that sort of stuff.” I say, finding it strange that the girl who spent most of her life alone knows more about companionship than the famous rich girl.

“You know what, you’re right. Alright then, I’ll tell you something rather secret about me to make up for it. Ready?” Blanche asks, edging a little bit closer to me.

She brings her lips close to my ear, and softly whispers “I have a strange thing for men with thick exotic accents.”

“What, why?” I ask in a confused tone, before she presses her hand to my mouth, looking over at the others to make sure they weren’t listening.

“I don’t know. Can you really explain where every fetish originated from? I just like the guys who sound like they’ll take you on a grand world tour, or something. Soooo, what about you? Any type? Any man on the horizon for you?” Blanche asks me, edging even closer to me.

For some reason, my heart sinks after the question, and I can feel my face burning up.

“It’s... embarrassing.” I say, trying to hide my face behind my fringe.

“Come on, we’re bonding. Don’t leave a girl hanging.” Blanche says, sweeping the hair out of my face.

“Alright, fine. I... I don’t know what love really is, okay? Happy now?” I ask her, once again hiding my face in pure embarrassment.

“What? Never ever? Not even once? You really missed out big time. Of course, you have love for family and friends, but this type of love, it’s something you can’t deny. If there’s someone in your life that you would give anything just to see them smile, someone is who is always there for you and someone who makes your heart go a-fluttering, then you have your answer.” Blanche says, patting me on the back.

Hearing her say that made me put something into perspective, something I never really thought about, and yet now, I can’t stop thinking about it. My heart starts to pound out of my chest just at the thought of it, though the concept still confuses and frightens me a little. I can’t believe I’m about to say what I’m about to, but there’s no coming back from this.

“...I’ve felt that recently.” I say, through a muffled mouth, trying not to bring too much attention to it.

“Really? That’s amazing. Is it one of the boys on the team? Oooh, this is so excited. You want me to matchmake for you?” Blanche asks, beaming to herself at the idea of it.

“No, not just yet. At least, not yet. Wait until I can stop this stupid stomach thing. I can tell you, as long as you promise that you will not breathe a word of this to another soul.” I say with no hint of a joke in my mouth.

“Sure, if it’s that important to you, you can count on me. Lay it on me.” Blanche says, bringing her ear close to my lips... I guess there’s no way around it.

I whisper the name to her, as she looks at me with a shocked look on her face, going to lean on the leaning post, but almost falls just shy of it. She catches herself from falling, as she moves closer to the leaning post.

“Really? No fooling?” How? When?” Blanche asks me, getting louder and louder.

“Shhh. I don’t know. It just sort of occurred to me at the dance last night, that’s all I know.” I say, trying to keep my voice down so the others don’t hear.

“Wow, this is unbelievable. Now that I think about it, you two would make an amazing couple. A strange one, but amazing.” Blanche says, likely picturing the two of us together... a little weird to think about.

“Hey you two, we have our plans. Come over here, will you?” Roxy shouts us from afar.

“Thanks for the talk. I really do hope we can be good friends for realsies this time.” Blanche says, putting her hand out to me.

“Yeah, likewise.” I reply, shaking her hand.

A few minutes later, we are all standing in a circle around the middle of our makeshift campsite. The wind seems to have died down now, as the trees around us stop shaking blossoms everywhere.

“Alright. Due to the most recent events, and Poppy’s message from Mandy herself, it stands to reason that her hideout is located somewhere around here, but exists in some sort of hidden part of the world. So we should take the car to the nearby village and ask around for any clue to some sort of entrance. Does everyone still remember their designated colours?” Roxy asks us, as we all nod in agreement.

“Good, because we should really be making it a habit to use these names when on a mission. Also, chances are we will be fighting some strong foes in there, so make sure to prepare your suits and weapons too.” Roxy... no, Blue says, securing her place as our official strategist.

Everyone starts to pack up their things, so it occurs to me to do the same.

“Excuse me... Black.” Blue says, still getting used to the whole code name thing, even though it was her idea.

I turn around as she walks towards me, her shoes making a crumpling sound with each step, as she travels over the crunching leaves and twigs.

“I’m sorry, but with your face’s notoriety and your current condition, I think it would be best if you were to rest for a while here until we return.” Blue says, with utmost sincerity in her voice.

“Fine. I understand.” I reply to her, kind of bummed that I am the one who once again gets left alone because of that name-stealing witch.

“Please take it easy for now, Liz- No... Black. And take these, they should help.” Yellow says, going into a little bag, pulling out a small box of painkiller pills, which only has two left.

She hands me the box with a little smile on her face.

“Thank you. You just keep these with you?” I ask, wondering just how much medicinal stuff she actually has right now.

“Yeah, I keep a couple of medicinals on me just in case of long travels. When we get a chance, I will have to tell you about some of my adventures.” Yellow says, beaming with pride, as she thinks back to likely all the people she has saved.

Before too long, all of the tents were gone, except mine. Wanting nothing more than to forget the constant pain, I take both pills one after the other and rest my head on the pillow that is too humid for words right now. Laying here, my brain starts to act overtime, like a machine without an off switch. I suddenly start thinking about all of those people who were nice to me, but I turned away, all the things I should have done better, and all of those times I finished an argument in violence, most of which I have not much recollection of, except for the aftermath. Was my father right in my punishments? Am I really just a demon? I guess seeing how much the others have accomplished in their life, it’s made me a little envious. To put the truth into words, I really don’t know who or what I am anymore.

Thinking about my life, I know I haven’t been the best person, far from it, but I promise that if I somehow get through this ordeal, I will leave the past behind, and make the future a little brighter for myself. Though all I can do is lay here and wait for the others to get back... wait, no. Instead, I’m going to do something I should have done this whole time.

Where the hell am I right now? As I feel myself getting colder and colder with each passing second, I have a sack on my head and I can feel myself chained up and wheeled off towards heaven knows where, I’m going to assume that Bonnie and I didn’t pinpoint her weakness after all.

“Hey Mandy? Is that you? Don’t you think this is all a bit much? Taking me back to your place, all bound to a chair?” I ask, sensing her frustration with me from here.

“So you’re awake, then? I finally had a moment of peace from your irritating voice. And we’re not at my place.” Mandy says, as the sounds of squeaky wheels gliding across a hardwood floor, and some bodies falling from left and right of me... sounds like her place to me.

“I suppose you’re not in the mood for letting me have one last smoke? I had the last one waiting for your sorry ass last night. Oh and is Bonnie there with us too?” I ask, practically foaming at the mouth for one, fully aware I have a problem.

“And we’re here. Put on your best smile, it’s the last time you’ll see it in a long time.” Mandy says, as a huge door is heard slamming right in front of me, as we continue forward.

“Let me guess, this is being filmed for some stupid video, isn’t it? Oh the embarrassment.” I say, as I feel myself stop before some burning presence.

The sack is suddenly whipped away from my head, as my eyes take a little time to adjust to the light. Looking around, I can see a corridor of crimson flames, leading down a red carpet. There are a bunch of guards in dirty blood-riddled armour and- oh crap, I know where we are. This is bad. By the scared expression on Bonnie’s face, I’m assuming she has the same idea.

“I caught your little spies, Freya. Haven’t you learned your lesson yet?” Mandy asks the master, just as commonly as if she was talking to someone under her. She is a very brave or stupid woman.

Freya just continues to look out of the window, just behind her flameproof chair, chuckling to herself. The light casts a devilish shadow on the ground, making her appear like a silhouette to us.

“Girls, you have disappointed me yet again, but in doing so, you brought Mandy to me. I don’t know whether to punish you or reward you.” Freya says, turning around to look at us, and even though I can’t see her eyes, I can feel the chill of her stare from here.

“Your little toys have been bothering me again, so I came to take it up with the owner. Give it up already. You cannot find something that doesn’t exist, you can’t kill the unkillable.” Mandy says, as her little staff glows that ominous green light again.

As soon as she finishes her sentence, a green fireball fires out of her staff towards Freya, who just catches it in her hand and crushes it, crumbling to little pieces to the floor.

“I know that. Come on, I still think we should be partners. The two most powerful beings in existence, truly an unmovable object and unstoppable force situation. We could run this entire world, nay, this entire universe before we know it. What do you say?” Freya asks, holding her hand out in front of her.

“I say it’s just another excuse to line your own pockets and exploit the lesser people on a grander scale. I may have acted on my revenge plot, and I have gone too far to turn back now, you kill and pick on innocents whenever you please. So thank you, but no thank you.” Mandy says, rubbing her shoulder nervously... I suppose her humanity isn’t entirely gone, despite what they say about her.

Freya just laughs quietly to herself, which if you ask me, is even more unsettling than her yelling.

“Fine. That crown you bare has some weight to it. Allow me to carry the burden for you.” Freya says, preparing a fireball of her own.

She throws it at Mandy, who blocks it with her staff, as the room gets even hotter than it was before. As the two run at each other, Bonnie and I start to crawl away. Bonnie manages to break her ropes, continuing to break my own. Even before I can get up from the chair, the guards start to close in on us. For the last few seconds, we watch as the world goes super slow around us, like the last seconds before a huge crash. Mandy and Freya seem to fighting on equal grounds right now, exchanging blows as fast as human eyes can comprehend, fire and lightning erupting from the scene.

As the guards grow closer to us, I pull Bonnie close to me and point my gauntlet downward. A portal appears beneath us, making a hole to the floor below, closing back up just before the guards appear above us. Deciding not to take anything to chance, we try to run for the exit before we are attacked by a huge group of similar looking guards.

The two of us attempt to fight through them all, giving it our all, but as a couple of them fall to our sheer might, Bonnie receives a bad hit to the head with an iron stick. Don’t worry, Bonnie, there’s no way they’re going to get-

Too pumped to sleep, I take my phone out of my pocket, which honestly I’m surprised has survived this long, and use the data I have to open an music app, as one of my more upbeat choices of song plays out. In the time I have before the pain starts to kick in again threefold, like a kick from a thousand horses, I work out by myself and practice my fighting on a couple of trees around the area. I want to know that when I eventually find Mandy again, I will be more prepared this time. After about an hour of alternating between pure exercise and attacking trees, I manage to completely cut down a tree, letting it fall to the ground. Either I am more than prepared for what waits ahead, or my hand is bleeding for nothing.

“Lizzie? We’re back!” Poppy says, from just behind me.

In a panic, I rip one of the biggest leaves from the tree and wrap it around my hand, praying to whichever god will listen, that the blood doesn’t seep out.

“Did you cut that tree down? Great, we got some firewood for tonight.” Andy says, as his eyes immediately gravitate towards the tree.

“What happened to you? Weren’t you supposed to be resting?” Roxy asks, remembering the conversation between Poppy and I earlier.

“She was. But never mind that right now. We got a lead to where Mandy might be.” Poppy says, excitedly as she takes my hands and sits me down on the stump from the tree.

“Well don’t just wet yourself over it, tell me.” I say, getting a little impatient, wanting this all done before it gets too late.

“Roxy? You probably remembered more than I did.” Poppy says, paving the way for Roxy to take over.

“The tale of Decain. Ever heard of it?” Roxy says, stepping to where Poppy was just standing.

Everyone reassumes their place in the meeting circle, as we all prepare ourselves for another helping of Roxy’s Storytime.

“Can’t say I have.” I reply to her, and though I would love to say I did and feel smart, she probably wouldn’t recap it, and I’d be left further in the dark.

“There have been stories of experiments carried out to breed random animals and bring fantastic mythological offspring to the real world, which resulted in a colony of beasts that the laws of nature looked down on. They were feared and eventually forced into a part of the country that got cut off from the rest of the world entirely. That part of the village kept growing and growing, until it became its own recognised little kingdom. The people around these parts say that there is a train station that served as a bridge between the gap, but no one who has boarded it in recent times have ever returned to tell their tales.” Roxy explains, as I grow a little sceptical of the story.

“Are you sure they were just messing with you guys?” I ask, knowing that it sounds a little too good to be true. “It does go well with what Mandy told Poppy though.”

“I am sceptical of such a place too, believe me, but this is all we have left. We can at least try, right?” Roxy asks, remaining optimistic about something even she doesn’t know anything about.

“Hey, when they say no-one returned, do you think that was just to scare people out of trying it?” Blanche asks, tugging on Roxy’s shirt.

“I can’t say for certain, but what I do know is that once we catch this train, there’s likely no going back until this is all done. We either come back as heroes, or not at all.” Roxy says, putting her hand out for the circle.

The others don’t put their hands in, I’m assuming it was the risk of never returning that scared them out of it... me too.

“I know this seems scary, I’m terrified myself, but like it or not, we are a team with a lot of pressure on our shoulders, and this might require us all to pull this off. I can’t make you, but please give it some thought.” Roxy says, her legs shaking a little, as she retracts her hand.

Suddenly, Poppy’s phone goes off, making the air go awkwardly still and silent. She flips the phone and holds it to her ear.

“Poppy Nguyen here. What is the emergency?... Oh hello. How are the patients doing? We’re just about to shake the cure from- What?! When? How? No... no. Please, tell them I am so sorry. I’ll be back with it, I promise. Alright, bye.” Poppy says, getting louder and louder with each passing sentence, as we all just listen in dread.

As soon as she puts the phone, I watch a tear fall from Poppy’s eye.

“It was the hospital. The sickness has taken three lives since last night. All of them children. I was given this gift to cure the sick, yet for this, I am useless. I may be a firm believer of forgive and forget, but Mandy can not walk free for this. I’m in.” Poppy says, more serious than I’ve ever seen her, getting a whole new personality when it comes to the hospital.

“Mandy is the reason I can’t walk around freely anymore, and the reason I am in this situation to begin with. She and I have a big score to settle, so I’m in.” I say, as the pain in my stomach resumes where it left off, coughing up a small puddle of blood on the floor.

“Taking down someone that strong would be a great feat, one that even my father would be proud of. I’m in too.” Andy says, pumping himself up.

“Me too. I’ve been waiting for a chance to use my new artillery on something.” Nuko says, casually flipping a grenade in his hand.

“Fine, if everyone else is doing it, I guess I will too. I just hope you’ll pay for my therapy in later life.” Blanche says, half-heartedly and still shaking in her expensive looking boots.

We all silently put our hands on top of each other, forming a pact to see this through to the end together, no matter what.

“From here on out, we will need our suits, weapons and whatever else we might need., and our nicknames will be a must starting when we leave this place. The train station is not too far from here, and should be arriving later tonight. Let’s use this time to prepare ourselves. Until then, this meeting is adjourned.” Roxy says, sounding like a true professional at this already.

After we all split from the circle, we all move to the car to grab our things from the back. As I look around for a place to change, seeing nothing but muddy patches and places where peeping toms can take their money’s worth, I overhear Roxy talking on the phone to someone.

“Hello sir. It’s Roxanne Hendrickson. Yeah, I’m calling to tell you that we are off in search for the cure from the perpetrator herself. We now know her location. I’m afraid that might not be a Ringbearer, but she does wear a small crown on her head. Okay, don’t panic, we’ll be fine. We might lose signal in there so I thought I’d give you a head’s up. Alright, sir. Thank you.” Roxy says, sighing to herself once the phone call is done.

“Salvador?” I ask, assuming that we six and Salvador are the only ones we know and talk to that actually understand the rings and crowns.

“Yeah. He called it a suicide mission, but there is no other way to force Mandy’s hand. Hey... after we do this and you survive, I would like to talk more with you. You are the only one I haven’t really spoken to on this team yet. Here, do you still have your phone?” Roxy asks, walking towards me.

I take my phone out of my pocket and hand it to her, as she taps her fingers on the keys so fast, I can swear they were making little sonic booms with each impact. After a minute, she hands the phone back.

“Here. I added my number to your phone, as well as everyone else’s. I hope we can talk more soon.” Roxy says, walking deeper into the trees where no one can see her.

I look curiously at my phone and see that true to her word, there are more numbers next to Poppy’s, belonging to the other four members and even Salvador’s private number, which originally appeared withheld. I think this is the most contacts I have had in my phone ever, as sad as it seems. As I’m sure people have come to assume, I’ve never been the social butterfly, more the hurricane that followed thereafter.

For the next few hours, we decided to prepare some food for the journey ahead, not knowing just how long we will be in there for. We fill a bag with everything we can eat cold before tucking down to something hot, sausage sandwiches a la Nuko.

“Mmmm, this is pretty good, Nuko. Kudos.” I say, as a shameless meat lover, loving every second of this, like that first puff in the morning... which just makes me sad and frustrated that I don’t have any cigarettes on me anymore.

“Thank you. It bodes well for me that my meat pleases the ladies so much.” Nuko says, tapping his grill with his fork like a drum rimshot to accentuate a punchline.

I start to giggle a little, as immature as it was. What is happening to me right now? A joke like that would have made me roll my eyes to the back of my head this time last year, so why now? I am getting soft.

“Hey, watch it with the dirty jokes, you don’t know where to stop with them.” Roxy says, now in her blue suit, pointing her half eaten sandwich at him, unable to get a free hand.

“Meat is dirty? Since when?” Poppy asks, with no sense of a joke setup in her voice.

“Are you kidding me?” Blanche says, confused how Poppy didn’t get it.

“Poppy, never change. It’s too cute.” Andy says, petting her on the head.

After the moonlight arrives, I get dressed into my brand new suit, and preparing my new guns, I can’t help but wonder what the hell happened to the other two, Brooklyn and Bonnie. I had hoped I could get to know more about them after I cleared my name with them, but I suppose that can wait until next time... whenever that is. After a lengthy and awkward walk, we come to a huge abandoned shack in an overgrown and vegetated part of town, filled with dried up plants as big as we are.

Opening the door, I can see that everything is just as bad here as it was outside. The dead plants are all over the place, rubbing against the ceiling. Not one part of the wall is free from spiderwebs, and there seems to be an odd aura about the room, like there are other a thousand eyes watching us at any given moment, probably rats. The stench is also ungodly, resembling that of a decomposing corpse of a vegetarian that let loose their bowels before they left this world. That analogy made even me sick. At the end of the rectangular room, there seems to be some train tracks, though with the rust build-up and overgrowth on the trail, I’m assuming a train hasn’t been down here in years.

“Eww, this place is disgusting. Did we really have to come here?” White asks, holding her nose with one of her arm weaves.

“Don’t worry, if the stories are true, we will only need to wait another 10 minutes.” Blue says, looking at the clock on her phone.

“That’s if a train does show.” Andy says, getting himself excited about everything, for some reason.

“Be patient. We can only have faith that the train will come. If not, we’ll just have to wait for Mandy to make another appearance, and who knows how long that will take.” Roxy says, watching the tracks diligently, not taking her eyes off it for even a second.

“I can’t help but feel like something is crawling up my leg.” Blanche says before letting out a small scream, making me jump as I accidentally nudge the gun and fire a pistol out of my pocket, only narrowly missing my leg, but gouging a hole in my suit pocket.

After the gunshot echoes through the walls, thousands of rats all run out of hiding and escape through the open doors.

“I hope the train comes soon, I’m sure they’ll be some angry villagers who will hate us for releasing a plague of rats into the world. I just hope they’re okay.” Yellow says, worrying about the wellbeing of the others.

“They should be okay, as long as the rats don’t have rabies or something.” Green says, nudging Yellow on the shoulder.

“Wait, do you hear that?” Blue asks, shushing everyone, making the room go silent again.

The distant sound of a train whistle can be heard from far away. As we all go to speak, we are left speechless as a sinister looking train comes bulldozing onto the scene, black puffs of smoke spewing from its chimney. Its face is the very icon of nightmares, with its dead eyes, toothy grin and washed out paint. It pulls out to the station, as one of its carriages at the back open up to let us board.

“And we have our train. You all ready?” Blue asks, as we all climb onto the creepy train.

Taking one last look at the world before the doors close, I can’t help but feel kind of sad that this could be the last time I see it if the going gets too tough. Ready or not, this may be the battle that decides whether I live or die, whether we all do. With a truckload or pressure on my shoulders, a crappy stomach, and a wobbly set of knees, I can only sit and wait until we touch down on unfamiliar ground. We’re coming, Mandy.