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In the middle of the room, Bim is splayed on the floor, out cold. It took more than it should have to take him down and Silver could wash for a year and never clean himself of the feeling of wrong that came from knocking Bim out. Phantom stands beside him, clutching his cane and also staring at Bim.
The silence between them is tense, having lasted a good ten minutes at this point, both of them thinking on the current predicament.
“You do deals right?” Silver is the first one to speak, his voice gravelly and quiet, wary of the others sleeping in the other room, and not wanting to wake any of them. “That’s your thing.”
Phantom glances over at Silver, an unspoken accusation and general state of disapproval in his eyes. “Why are you asking?”
“No.” Phantom attempts to interrupt.
“I said no. I’m not a fairy godmother. My deals do not come with happy endings.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Silver shuffles in place, letting out a quiet oof as Phantom’s cane thumps him firmly in the chest. Looking up he sees the dealmaker glaring at him.
“Every choice matters.” Phantom states firmly, inarguably. “From cradle to grave, everything you do, every turn you take changes the world. Not just for you but those around you as well.” The cane moves away again, returning to being held between Phantom’s fingers. “Take it from someone the Author created to get people to make the wrong choice.”
“Created?” Silver looks across in shock. He knew the Author/Host was powerful but creating a person? “Are you sayin-?”
The kid holds a hand up to silence him. “Please don’t say it. The last thing I need is another existential crisis right now.”
The silence descends again and Silver’s eyes drift back to the unconscious body. Bim, the real Bim, would be horrified by this mess. He’s the only one in the whole building, except maybe Dark, who tries to maintain some kind of order in the mess of chaos that the others throw around. So to see him soaked through with…. Silver bows his head.
“Well then, with all offence intended, why are you here?” As much malice and spite as he can manage is stuffed into his words.
“Because hard as it may be to believe, I want to help you.”
He scoffs, oh he totally believes that. “Why?”
Silver turns, raising an eyebrow at the kid. Yeah that kind of vague bullshit isn’t going to fly tonight. The dealmaker shuffles under the glare, doing his best to avoid the gaze but ultimately, his shoulders sagging as he realises the hero isn’t going to let this go.
“I think I was meant to be a Faustian demon, you know. A being that comes to you offering you your deepest desires in exchange for something vital. The Author told me I was like a test. I was supposed to make people reassess their lives. Either make them grateful for what they had or punish them for having skewed priorities. And that’s how it was before Mark….” he swallows. “Before Mark took the Author’s eyes.”
“That was Mark?” Silver had always wondered about that but the others had insisted it would be rude to ask.
“Mark forced me to draft a deal with him to bring back his wife. Except it wouldn’t work. My power comes through sacrifice, and Mark had nothing left to give at that point. Just anger and pain. And when he realised I couldn’t do what he wanted....” Reaching up, Phantom absent-mindedly scratches at the side of his head. “Author had shown him how to...mess with my head. He couldn’t erase me or rewrite me but Mark could screw with me until I didn’t know what I was doing any more.
“Then one day,” Phantom snaps his fingers, “it was like I’d woken up. I still couldn’t fight Mark but I could breathe and see everything, every deal I’ve done for him for what it was. And I hated it.” He wraps his hand around the glass globe on the top of his cane and drums his fingers against it, enjoying the slight tingle the gesture gives him. “He had me watching you guys for a long time. If anyone so much as sneezed, he wanted to know. And honestly, you guys are insane. I mean certifiably cuckoo crazy bananas. None of you would last five minutes out in the real world.” The drumming stops, the dealmaker freezes and his gaze saddens as he continues to stare. “So you carved out your own little corner of reality.”
Thinking on it, it doesn’t take too long to realise what the kid is hinting at having happened and Silver can’t help the little smirk that comes as he puts it into words. “You like us.”
“I don’t know.” Phantom shakes his head. “I don’t know who I am. I don’t like what I’ve done. And I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m flying through this by the seat of my pants and underneath it all, there’s this little voice,” he taps the side of his head firmly, “right at the base of my skull and I just can’t get it to shut up.”
“That I’m not going to survive this.” There’s an echoing ominous nature to his words, an undeniable weight to them and both of them can’t help but to shiver.
“You’re right.” Phantom looks up in horror, but Silver raises a hand to dismiss the immediate thought. “Choices do matter. If you don’t want to offer me the deal, that’s a choice. One that closes off any chance of us turning this around.”
“You don’t know that.” He can see the kid’s resolve is weakening and continues.
“If we’re going to save our family, we need Bim to do it.” If Phantom watched them he’ll have seen. He’ll know just how strangely controlled and level headed the TV show host is. How vital he is to keeping all the crazies in the ‘family’ balanced.
Phantom turns and looks purposefully in the other direction and Silver huffs a tired sigh. “At least tell me what it would take.”
For a while, the kid does nothing and Silver sighs, resigned to having to find an alternative solution when he hears the dealmaker move beside him. Opening his eyes, the hero sees Phantom stood before him, fingers twitching, cane firmly grasped in his other hand.
“This is probably going to feel weird.” is all the warning Phantom gives before firmly placing his palm on the hero’s forehead.
Silver’s eyes flutter closed as a million memories, many long forgotten all flit by at speed. He can feel the dealmaker there, leafing though every last one, looking for that vital cost, the price that could save them all.
Faces long forgotten, and others he’ll always remember pass before his eyes in the space of mere seconds as a lifetime just flies by. When Phantom draws back, the world comes back into view.
It takes a moment for Silver to come back to himself, finding a black handkerchief in front of him, offered out by Phantom as the kid looks morose. Another second and Silver realises he’s crying, snatching the hanky and purposefully turns away so his emotions have less of an immediate audience.
“Well that was an experience.” he mumbles.
Seconds feel like hours as Silver tries to compose himself, pushing away the thoughts and faces that keep trying to float to the surface. Phantom doesn’t push which doesn’t help, any kind of words would do well right now but there’s nothing and after a few deep breaths, Silver turns back.
There’s a firm thunk as Phantom lowers his cane, the base thudding into the floor as he wraps his fingers around the globe, focusing on his fingers and refusing to meet Silver’s gaze.
“The price for Bim,” he speaks firmly, “is your soul.”
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