Deals

It's amazing how many I've made since making The Dealer (Read: Jack of All) my enemy. Kind of ironic isn't it? Or maybe it's not. Maybe I'm just stalling because I'm not entirely sure how to say what happened.

We went ahead with the plan. Muffin fled I don't know where and Harold and I went to meet Ariadne. First of all The Brute's domain is terrifying and I never want to go back there. Second the coordinates led to somewhere that I assume was in Europe. I assume this because where we came out was the banquet hall of a medieval castle and I'm fairly sure you only get Medieval castles in Europe. I could be wrong on that fact though. A puppet led me to a seat at the table and Harold was led to another seat. Ariadne appeared a little later and sat down opposite me as The Wooden Girl appeared and sat down opposite Harold.

Ariadne spoke first as the puppets began bringing out covered dishes for everyone, but The Wooden Girl.

"I understand you're not inclined to trust any of The Fears and are definitely not inclined to trust me, but you could say we have seen the error of our ways. We seek the same outcome for the most part and yet we sought to manipulate and control instead of assist. It is unfortunately our way. We have seen our error though as I have said and now we seek cooperation. A quicker means to both our goals. As proof..." she said and then the dish placed in front of me had it's cover lifted and on the plate was The pocket watch, "We return to you your stolen property. Slightly improved from it's previous form by way of having one more essence then it did when you lost it. A loyal doll in my mistress' service was more than happy to give of his essence for our cause," I carefully lifted the pocketwatch and opened it. Two of the numbers were glowing now. The number three which I knew was The Convocation and the number 4 which I suppose was The Wooden Girl. There were no other numbers glowing. I guess either I was wrong about Faceless being The Archangel or I simply hadn't been able to absorb his essence for some reason.

"Alright, so you've returned the pocket watch and you want to help me. I got that much. So, the question is how exactly do you intend to help me?"

"Two possible ways. The first I will travel with you and help to protect you. I know that doesn't seem like much given what you've already got on your side," she said with a glance at Harold who was merely glaring at The Wooden Girl who was staring back at him, her expression unreadable as it was simply a painted on smile, "the second and far more important assistance I can give is to use the pocket watch for you. The main reason we interrupted you earlier is that we know you can't kill and that therefore you are currently having difficulty completing your mission. I am used to being a tool for another and so I am more than willing to act as a weapon for you. To wield the pocket watch and kill those you can't bring yourself to. For instance The Muffin Man. You know you can't do it, but you also know it's your only choice. I will be willing to kill him for you so you won't have to bear the guilt," as she explained this I stood up.

"The answer is no," I said quietly.

"You're going to have to kill him-" she began, but I cut her off.

"No. I'll find another way. I'm willing to take your assistance, but I'll be keeping hold of the pocket watch and you won't be killing anyone,"

"No one?" she asked.

"Yes. No one," I responded.

"You don't seem to mind when your friends kill people to protect you. Or at least you don't tell them not to," she mused.

"I would if I could, but unfortunately they don't follow my commands. You, and Harold in fact, will be following my commands and as a result you will not be killing anyone," I explained.

She bit her lip, "I'm not sure I can agree to those ter-" she began, but was cut off as The Wooden Girl spoke.

"Agreed," she said quietly. The voice was hollow and seemed like it was echoing from inside of her head as opposed to coming out of her mouth. Ariadne paled and then nodded.

"As my mistress commands. As long as I am in your service I will not kill," she vowed weakly.

"That's settled then," I said, "we will be leaving now,"

Harold stood up as did Ariadne and I rose as well. I elected to leave via The Screaming Tower instead of The Brute's domain, which, Harold has just informed me is called The Grove of Fetters, for reasons stated above. As a result of that I can now say. The Screaming Tower is just as terrifying as The Grove of Fetters and I never want to go back to either.

Now then. I have the pocket watch back time to get back to business.

Hey Faceless, I know you're reading this and I have one message for you.

I'm going to kill you for what you did to Lisa.

You, The Dove, The Guy in The Organization XIII cloak and anyone else you wanna bring.

Harold, Ariadne and I will be waiting for you.

You know where.

Come at me.