@thebattcr : You're the Batter. You're busy playing hide and seek with your dear son, Hugo. It's a good day.
You're pacing around the sugar factory, idly checking behind stacks of boxes and under the desks of the workers, not quite caring whether or not you disrupt their work. You never thought you would be again, but you're admittedly fairly entertained by this foolish time-wasting game. It sort of reminds you of how things were before you were given your sacred mission to purify the corrupt world that your wife had created. But... with the file on pause undoubtedly forever, you can't carry out that mission anyways. You don't have to worry about purification right now.
So, in the meantime, you continue to semi-aimlessly look around for Hugo, wondering where he could be hiding this round.
@filsroyal : And you're Hugo. You're playing hide and seek with your father, the Batter. At the moment, you're hiding under a desk you'd found to be void of an elsen sitting at it.
What a lucky break, you'd thought to yourself as you ducked to crawl under it and pull the chair in to shield you from view. You're not that good at hide and seek, though, you usually end up giving yourself away by accident. But that's not your fault, you can't control your coughing fits.
To pass the time, you'd decided to think. You thought about how strange all of this was, the Batter suddenly not caring about purification, him genuinely wanting to spend time with you. Him trying to be an okay father. You still don't know what to think of him. He's terrible, he really is terrible. You don't know why you're letting yourself fall back into him after... everything. You suppose you just missed the feeling of it. Of having someone there with you. Of having a dad.
All of this is quietly mulled over, from your hiding spot under the desk.
@thebattcr : As you wander around, you start to think about how things seem better now. You can actually start being the parent you were going to be, like you first wanted to. The corners of your mouth turn upwards near-unnoticeably, and you glance around once more. You've checked most of the other rooms in this area, you've got a feeling Hugo's nearby. You'll find him, and then once this round is over, maybe you can see what you can do about taking him to the park. Has he been on the rollercoaster? Or the pedalo ride? You're not sure, but you think he would like them. You can recall, he hates being cooped up inside.
However, the longer you look around, the more your good mood begins to ebb away. You draw to a stop, brows furrowing as you start to genuinely look around rather than the passive seeking. You're feeling different than you have been the past few days.
You're feeling more like you again.
You summon your bat from your inventory and tighten your grip on it, staring at it for a moment and letting the thoughts run. What do you think you're doing? You've spent all this time around the boy you should have purified, wasting opportunity with mindless games and incredibly stupid comics, and for what? For nothing. It's pointless. You've got a mission to carry out, you shouldn't be letting family bonds get in the way of that.
You feel a slight pang of regret at the thought of a family, of what you did have, and how you ruined it, but you shove the thought down and bury it deep. You can't go through that right now. This Zone needs to be purified.
When you move forwards again, it's with more purpose than before, both sets of eyes scanning the room with utmost care. You can't afford to pass up this opportunity to remove another impure soul from this existence. You will succeed in your quest for purification, and the progress thereof starts now. You start to look more thoroughly, prying lids off of crates and rearranging them in hopes of finding Hugo cowering behind them.
Eventually you would figure Hugo was nowhere to be found in this room, and you reluctantly pace towards the door. He's no more than a kid, if you hadn't found him in the previous rooms already, he wasn't there. There was nothing to do but move on.
In your haste to find the child, you almost forget to look under the desk in the back of the room.
@filsroyal : You rub your eyes and hold back a yawn, you're starting to feel a bit tired. Sure, this is exciting at all, but it's late. At least, you feel like it is. Should you risk poking your head out from under the desk for just a second to check the time? You almost do, before you remember you could check the time on your mobile device. You'd forgotten you had it on you right now. That could have been a mistake.
You shift in place to pull your phone from your pocket, and quickly dim the brightness once the screen lights up. You're not sure if that would have given you away or not, but it's just to be safe. You then check the time. It's almost 9. You're usually going to sleep right about now. Or, at least trying to sleep. Whatever.
You're about to put it away again when you hear someone moving crates to your right. You suck in a breath and curl into an even tighter ball, all four eyes widening. Is that him? You don't want to look...
Oh, who are you kidding, of course you do. You're not in any real danger... you don't think. As quietly as you can, you put your phone away and start to inch forward on your hands and knees to peer out from under the desk. With just a quick peek, you see your father messing with some boxes in search of you. If he's going as far as opening the boxes, he'll be over to the desk soon, quite soon. Oh, well.
But... something about this feels wrong. This feels more urgent than it should be. This is just a game. He looks like this is an emergency, or that he's.. not looking for something, but hunting for something. For someone. For you. You eyes dart down to see he's got his bat now. This game's over.
A cold pit of dread quickly forms deep in your gut, and you quickly shuffle back to hide under the desk again. Oh God, he's going to kill you, isn't he? He's off his rocker again. You should call someone for help. You fumble for your phone a second time, hands trembling slightly as you open your messages. Who's first on the list? The Big Mister, of course, who else? You start to type a message to him- You're then struck by another abrupt coughing fit. You throw your arm over your mouth to try to muffle it, but it's too late. You know he heard you. There's no saving you now.
@thebattcr : You're just about to head out of the room, when a coughing fit brings you to a dead halt. You know that cough. You slowly turn back around, and your gaze fixes on the desk. Bingo.
You start to slowly make your way over to the desk, tightening your grip on the bat even further as you approach. There won't be any escape for him this time. He's cornered, trapped, vulnerable. He has nowhere to run from your holy wrath, and with Hugo gone, the world's all that much closer to being purified for good.
You pace over to the desk and stop next to it, taking one last look around the green walls of the factory. They won't stay solely green for long. Not with what's about to happen.
You rest your hand on the desk and tense, before pulling the chair out and dropping to the floor in one swift motion. You make eye contact with Hugo, and the corner of your mouth twitches, before your deadpan expression sprawls into a menace-laced grin, all four eyes squinting slightly.
"Found you," is all you say, before reaching one arm under the desk to grab Hugo by the sweater and haul him out. Finally, success is within your reach.
@filsroyal : You slowly open your eyes again, in time to see the Batter's cleats making their way over to your hiding spot. Your pupils contract, and you quickly hit send before you put your phone down. You'd only managed to type "help" before you were found out, but you're pretty sure that'll get the message across.
You press your back against the back panel of the desk, making yourself as small as possible. He stops right in front of the desk, and everything's quiet for a second. But just a second. He pulls the chair out and squats down to see you. The two of you make eye contact, and he grins. You feel your blood run cold, and your eyes start to burn. You're terrified.
He reaches a hand towards you, and you shrink away, but he grabs the neck of your sweater and pulls you out of hiding. Something in you screams for you to fight back, so you squirm and try to bite his hand. Hard.
@thebattcr : As you drag Hugo out, your lower set of eyes' gaze darts to the phone. Rapid messages from whoever he's tried to contact- Enoch, by the looks of it- pop up one after another on the screen, desperate for more information that wouldn't be received until it was too late.
You start to stand, your grip on Hugo's sweater steadfast- until he sinks his teeth into your hand. You curse rather loudly and reflexively let go, mentally damning whatever inspired him to try and fight back. It's not supposed to happen this way. You'll show him that his efforts are useless.
Yet, you react almost immediately after dropping Hugo, lifting your bat above your head with one hand and reaching to grab him again with the other. "Hold still and this will be over faster," you snarl, baring razor sharp-edged teeth. Even if he tries to run, or you miss this grab, you won't be stopped this time. You'll send this devil child to be reunited with his mother.
Which is to say, you're going to kill him.
@filsroyal : He drops you, thank God he drops you. You land flat on your ass but recover quickly, turning over and planting your feet on the floor to start to stand and run.
But he grabs at you again, this time gripping your arm. You gasp and have to stop, almost falling onto your side, but you wind up catching yourself by swinging back around and grabbing the Batter's hand to try to pry his fingers off of you.
You look up towards the bat raised over the Batter's head, and that's when you know it's over for you. No one can help you now, not even Enoch.
Maybe it's better this way.
@thebattcr : You manage to latch onto Hugo's arm, and you fasten your grip like a vice. This is it, this is where it ends for Hugo. You're going to be the last person he sees with those fear-filled eyes, and that's how it's meant to be. You're just making things right.
But... you can't.
You stare for a few seconds, your expression falling deadpan again. That's your son. That's your son and he's terrified of you, because you're going to kill him. You're going to kill him after having been a decent person for once, and you know that's unforgivable. That regret begins to spark up again, and you shove it down. None of that.
You have to do this.
You force a growl and bring the bat down, but you know a single attack won't be enough to end this. It never has been, for any battle you've fought. The hollow steel connects with the child's shoulder, and you remind yourself that this has to be done- that you have to purify. It's what you were made to do.
This is like the Queen all over again.
@filsroyal : There's a moment of hesitation from him. You stop struggling, looking up at him with wide, fearful eyes, almost silently pleading that he let you go. But you already know that's not going to happen. He's already killed your mother, and you're next. You feel like you're going to cry.
And then he brings his bat down on your shoulder with a resounding crack. The sudden, blinding pain makes you cry out, and your legs give out from beneath you, bringing you to your knees. You still try to pull away from him, albeit weaker than before with the new pain in your shoulder, your sobs broken up by an occasional cough.
"S-Stop-!" you hiccup, squirming to try to get away from him, "Let.. go!"
@thebattcr : Hugo begs you to stop and let go of him, but you can't do that. You have a job to do, and this is a part of it. In the end, if the file is ever reset, you'll have to do this all over again. You can't stop now, it's your purpose. It always will be. Escaping from your purpose is impossible.
You start to lift the bat again, arm trembling almost unnoticeably with the weight of your task. Purification is more difficult than you had expected it to be... but again, it must be done.
You're about to bring the bat down again, when a yowl from the doorway catches your attention. Your lower set of eyes darts their gaze that way, just in time to see a large, white cat hurl himself over a stack of crates and at you, claws outstretched. In a brief moment you recognize the cat as the one that lives in the mines and pesters Dedan. But before you can do anything else, you're met with claws being dug into your cheek and your shoulder, the force of the impact causing you to let go of Hugo and stagger sideways.
"Leave the kid alone you bastard!" The cat spits at you, thin fur standing on-end in fury. He darts back after leaping on you, moving to stand between yourself and your son. You narrow your eyes, baring your teeth again. If you're going to have to purify the both of them, so be it.
@filsroyal : The Batter's about to bring his bat down on you again, but a cat yowling makes him stop. Your eyes snap open as you're released, everything's a blur for a moment, and then you're sitting on the floor, clutching your shoulder.
There's Alain, standing between you and the Batter. You couldn't make out what he said, but the Batter's got his eyes on him. Your fight or flight response is telling you to fly, fly so fast out through the door behind you. But, Alain... You can't leave him with him.
You try to push yourself to stand, though your legs tremble beneath your own weight. Your heart's racing, and you already feel faint.
"A-Alain-..." Please don't try to fight him. Please.
@thebattcr : The cat- Alain, apparently- stays put, standing tall, eyes blazing defiantly. You can tell, he's prepared for a fight. But so are you.
"Don't worry, I can handle myself. Go to lardass whatever his name is," he tells Hugo, though he keeps his gaze focused on you. His ears angle back, and he takes a step towards you, muscles tensed in preparation to pounce again at any moment. You take up your battle stance in turn, and listen as he speaks words that fail to intimidate you. "Back away from the kid, or I'm gonna claw all four of those eyes out," he threatens.
You prepare to swing your bat again, keeping quiet, though your gaze silently challenges him to even try.
@filsroyal : Alain tells you to go to Enoch, but you don't want to. You don't want to leave him here. He'll get hurt, like you did.
But, Alain's a stubborn cat. He wants to fight this fight, and you certainly can't do it. You can't tell him no, either. In fact, you can't say anything, you feel like your throat's closing in on itself. You struggle to swallow your immobilizing fear, then look up into the Batter's eyes. You stand still for one last second.
And then you turn and run. You run as fast as you can possibly manage, almost tripping over your own two feet making the turn into the hallway from the door. You forget your phone left under the desk, you push Alain and the Batter to the back of your mind. You've just got to get to the office, that's all you have to do. That's all you have to do.
@thebattcr : You notice at the last second that Hugo's making a run for it, and you try to go after him. Unfortunately for you, the stray cat leaps at your legs and trips you up, causing you to land with a loud thump against the metal floor. You growl and start to push yourself to stand, only for the cat to whirl around and leap onto your back, batting at the back of your head with unsheathed claws. To throw him off you roll onto your back and then arch your spine, digging your shoulders into the feline's scrawny frame before leaping to your feet again as he lets go. Alain takes a sharp breath and scrambles to his paws again, and lashes his tail.
He springs at you, but this time you're ready. You swing your bat with full force and send Alain skidding across the floor, his claws on the metal making a sound akin to that of nails on a chalkboard. You snarl in irritation at the noise, and start towards the cat as he forces himself to his paws.
A few more rounds of combat were exchanged, albeit blurring together in your mind as a rush of adrenaline took over. Once you had knocked Alain down once again, he hunched up and coughed briefly, before shakily rising to his paws once more. God damn it all, why wouldn’t he just stay down? You’d have to fix this-
You then noticed that Alain paused, as if seeming to listen for something, and that's when you picked up on a different sound as well- Enoch's familiar deep voice calling for Hugo.
Crud.
You looked around once more and, knowing you weren't any match for Enoch right now, decided your best option was to flee back to Zone 1 where you were supposed to be.
And so you would do just that, while Alain gave a triumphant huff and dragged himself out the way Hugo had gone.
@filsroyal : You have no idea what's happening back there. You can't hear anything but your heart pounding in your ears. You're left running down a seemingly endless hallway for what feels like a long time, but you haven't been running for even two minutes before the adrenaline ebbing from your system leaves you feeling ill.
You want to get to Enoch's office, you really do, you want to be there right now, but you can't see straight and it hurts to breathe. So you stumble to a stop and sit down right in the middle of the hallway, coughing and wheezing and crying. You don't want to be here. You don't want to feel like this.
You want to sleep. You want your mother.
@cannibalisticat : Your name is Alain, and you just got your ass kicked by that weirdo in a baseball uniform.
Well, you kicked his ass too, but he used a goddamn weapon. Talk about unfair, right? God.
You plod out into the hallway and look around, one of your hind legs lifted off the ground because it hurt too much to walk on. You pick up on Hugo's scent within moments, and you start down the hall after him. You could hear fatty bellowing somewhere else in the factory, but it would take him forever to reach Hugo. Until then, you'd keep the kid company.
After a short while you would find him sat in the middle of the hall, an absolute mess of tears, coughs, and wheezes. Your whiskers twitch, and you can't help but feel a little empathy. That's not something you feel often.
So you limp over to the boy in the sweater and carefully sit beside him, giving a soft hiss as a pain in your leg protests. You then settle to lay down, curling yourself around him protectively just in case any danger found its way to the two of you.
You okay, kid?" You speak up after a moment, glancing at him. "How bad are you hurt?"
@filsroyal : You sniffle and wipe your face with your sleeve, stifling another cough when you hear Enoch calling from somewhere else in the factory. He still doesn't know if you're okay or not, he must be worried sick about you. You wish you could have gotten your phone before you left, that way you could let him know you're at least still alive.
The throbbing pain in your shoulder and your head makes you close all four of your eyes, lips pursing to just keep yourself quiet as you clutch at your aching shoulder. You're stupid to have trusted the Batter at all, you're a stupid idiot. It was never going to last, you don't know why you thought it did. You hate him. You hate him.
You didn't notice Alain settling down on the floor with you until he spoke up, making you flinch and open your eyes again. You look towards his voice, your expression stuck between pained and plain dazed.
"Hh... I don't.. kn-know," you stammer, wiping your eyes dry with your sleeve again before you hold your shoulder and slump forward, tired and defeated. "My shoulder hh-hurts."
@cannibalisticat : Hugo looks at you, and his expression makes you feel even worse for him. You can't say you know exactly what he's going through, but you can kind of guess what it's like. You know what it's like to be scared and to feel trapped, to be doublecrossed by someone trusted, to be lost and hurt.
"Just hold on tight, okay? Big guy will get here soon I'm sure, and uh..." how the fuck do you comfort people? You don't know. You only really know how to be an asshole to everyone. "And... i'll stay with ya until he gets here. Sportsy turned tail and ran. Once we get you somewhere safe I can see if I can't get Zacharie here with those magic tickets or whatever." You say, trying to make your tone a bit softer than it normally is as you rest your head on Hugo's knee. You're trying your best, here.
@filsroyal : You rub your shoulder and take in a deep breath, nodding slowly as Alain speaks to you. Okay, this isn't the end of the world, you're going to be okay. It's bad now, but you're okay. But there's still something you want to ask.
"Are... A-Are you okay?" you ask, voice wavering as you move your hand to pat Alain's head. You really can't help yourself, you love cats. Alain just being here was making you feel a little better. Right after you ask, you hear someone down the hall behind you calling, "Prince Hugo?" You look over your shoulder to see Martin half-jogging down the hall towards you and Alain. Now that you've thought about it, you haven't seen an elsen move faster than a walk. It's weird. "My God, we've been looking everywhere for you! A-Are you alright? You scared the daylights out of the poor director," "I'm sorry," you murmur as Martin draws near, your gaze falling to Alain again.
"Can you walk? Do you need me to carry you-?" He'd started to bend down to pick you up, but he noticed Alain and lifted his hands away again in surprise. "O-Oh, um. Hello. Would you, uh, mind at all if I took him with me?"
@cannibalisticat : "I'm fine. Been through worse." You say dismissively, flicking your tail. When Hugo starts to pet you, you tilt your head towards his hand, a low purr beginning to rumble in your throat. Normally you hate it when people pet you, but you can make an exception this time.
You then hear footsteps approaching, and your ears angle back, your muscles tensing apprehensively. You turn to look as well, narrowing your eyes as you seen one of the guys with heads that explode approaching. The fur on the back of your neck begins to stand on-end, and you start to let out a low growl.
He leans down to pick up Hugo, and you nearly snap at his hands for fear that he would do the fucked up explosion thing at any moment and hurt Hugo further. However, he speaks to you, so you refrain from sinking your teeth into his flesh.
You start to stand, hissing as you accidentally put weight on the wrong leg and slip, but you try again anyways and stand as tall as you can without rearing up on your hind legs. "I do mind. Who the hell are you and how do I know you're not gonna fucking blow up as soon as you have the kid?" You snap, trying to move yourself between squarehead and Hugo.
@filsroyal : Martin straightens back up and takes a little step back when Alain gets between the two of you. You turn yourself around to watch, scared to speak up.
"Uh, I-I'm Martin." he replies, "I.. I'm not going to... blow up. I don't think I can do that." He purses his lips, eyes darting between you and Alain for a moment before he continues, "Look, I just want to get him to the director- He's very worried about him. I'm not going to hurt him. I promise I won't. So, can I please-..?"
"Okay," you finally speak up, though it's quiet. You know Martin. He's never done anything to hurt you, and you don't think he would now. You think you can trust him. "Y-You can... You can take me to Enoch. Please."
Martin hesitates, looking from you to Alain again, seemingly anticipating something else from him as well. You think he might be a bit scared of him.
@cannibalisticat : You narrow your eyes further with distrust, but Hugo gives Martin the o.k. to take him to Enoch, so you slowly limp out of his way, though you hang nearby just in case. You just got beat up for this kid, you weren't about to let him get into more trouble.
You look to Hugo and twitch your whiskers nervously, though your facial expression itself doesn't give anything away. "You gonna be okay with him? Should I come with you? Should I go get Zacharie, maybe? If you're really safe with blockhead here I can go get Zacharie for you," you start to fret, before pausing because wow you normally don't do shit like that.
You've decided you fucking hate worrying about people.
@filsroyal : Martin watches with bated breath as Alain steps out of the way, then his shoulders relax. "Thank you," he breathes, and steps forward to lift you into his arms. You wince and start to tear up all over again when your shoulder moves as Martin's picking you up, and you rub it again when you settle in. That's definitely going to bruise. You bruise way too easily.
"I-I'm gonna be okay with him, I think," you reply, craning your neck to look down at Alain, "You can go get Zacharie if you w-want. But I dunno if he's gonna wanna come all the way out here so late at night..." You remember Dedan being so tired when he came into Enoch's office the other night because you tried to eat glue. He didn't think you noticed, but you did. You felt bad.
@cannibalisticat : You watch Martin pick up Hugo, tailtip twitching nervously when you notice the boy wince. "Be careful," you can't help but snap at Martin, before returning your attention to Hugo.
You hesitate briefly, before responding to him finally. ".... Alright. I'll come back in the morning, then. With Zacharie. And uh... i'll see if maybe I can get Pueblo or whatever and Valerie to come by too." You start, glancing around. Saying this feels so unlike yourself, really. You're not used to actually showing that you give a shit. It feels awkward to you, despite the fact that you're trying to be sincere with your concern.
"Stay safe, okay? I hope tomorrow goes better for ya than tonight did. And if anyone tries to lay a hand on you don't be scared to give me a holler, I'll claw 'em to bits and feed 'em to Valerie's brother." You try to throw in a joke, but it feels off, so you try to direct the attention away from that. "But uh, yeah, stay safe kiddo. If you ever need me, I'm in Zone 1... and you can reach me online too."
@filsroyal : "Okay.." you reply, wiping the new tears from your eyes with the palm of your hand, "I'll- I'll stay safe... Thank you, Alain." Martin's starting to walk away, but you're not done yet. You squirm in his arms to look back at Alain, and you speak up again, "Y-You stay safe too, and hh-have someone look at your leg, please..!"
There was more you wanted to say, but you decide that's enough for now. You feel like if you talk any more you might be sick. You give a little wheeze, shrinking back to just curl up in Martin's arms, pressing your face into his shirt. You're so tired, you could just fall asleep right here.
But you won't, because you still want to see Enoch, so you'll keep your eyes open no matter how much they burn right now. You want to let him know that you're okay, and you're going to be okay. Even if that might not be true.
@cannibalisticat : "I will!" You call after Hugo, watching as Martin began to walk away. You wanted to follow, to make sure Hugo would be alright, to make sure the baseball man wasn't lurking anywhere, but despite your suspicions, you had a feeling that everything was safe now.
And so once they're out of sight, you turn and start to limp towards the nearest red box, aching just about all over. But aside from that, you feel good. You feel like maybe, for once, you did something good for someone else and it was worth it. You can't help but be proud of yourself. You wonder briefly if your family would have been proud, too.
In due time you would find your way back to Zone 1, where you would promptly slink into the darkest area of the mines, and carefully wedge yourself into a corner. You would rest for a while, then when you woke up, you would fetch Zacharie and the other cats for Hugo. And so you closed your eyes, and let yourself drift off.
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