Pandemonium

Stage Nine Part II

"You really are a monster-" Claude backed up and tripped over his feet. He fell into the table that the chalice had been resting on earlier and then collapsed to the ground. He crawled away from Faust as quickly as he could but was scrambling over himself. He looked pathetic tripping over himself, as if his body didn't belong to him and a miserable beginner puppeteer was trying to maneuver him. 

"Are you going to choose or leave it up to me?" Faust snarled. They picked up the chalice that Claude had dropped and were fully intent on using it as a murder weapon. Their eyelid twitching with each moment that passed. As they held the chalice in one hand their free hand caressed the rim of it.

I watched all of this go down but my brain was seeing things happen in slow motion. The more I wanted to move to stop Faust the less I was able to. I knew I had to stop them but I didn't know why. Why should I try and protect Claude? He hasn't done anything for us. But, the thought still resounded in my brain. Move. I need to move. I need to stop Faust. I need to move. 

"Faust!" I started by shouting and the rest of my body moved with me. I ran towards Faust, pouncing on them, and the shock of this interaction made them lose balance. They fell forward and dropped the chalice. It landed on Claude's head, killing him anyway, but at least now it was my fault and not Faust's. I don't want to watch Faust kill anyone. Not because they shouldn't act on revenge or out of anger, but more because it just didn't suit them to get their hands dirty. 

"What are you doing?" Faust growled and waved their arms around, moving their body to try and escape me. 

"I didn't want you to become like him!" I explained, even though my explanation didn't make much sense. That wasn't it. That's not what I meant. 

"He is dead now! Why shouldn't I have tortured him a bit?" Faust snapped back at me. "He deserved every bit of what he had coming to him and you ruined it, you little pest! I should kill you instead just to satisfy me!" They glared at me and grabbed my arms by forcing, digging their nails into my skin. Hissing noises intensified but I clung onto Faust tighter, squeezing until they finally stopped squirming. If they really wanted to hurt me they could rip my arms off and get away. 

Faust ceased moving. "What is going through your brain right now?" they asked me. "Why would you decide to attack me with a hug when I look like this? Do you not have a decent amount of brain cells? Hendrix, what in the world is wrong with you?" Faust's expression relaxed and they frowned a bit, staring at me, wondering why I was being so stupid. 

"You don't scare me Faust, you're my friend!" 

"I'm your...what?" Faust's demon-like qualities disappeared. I assume it was because of shock, confusion, or just the simple sudden lack of rage that caused this to happen. I released Faust and moved to sit beside their body. They rolled onto their back and stared at me, waiting for an answer. 

"You're my friend," I repeated. 

Faust blinked rapidly a few times and then held their stomach. They cackled and kicked their legs up in the air as they laughed. Because of Faust's laughter no one noticed the wall behind us moving. 

"Friend! Friend, he says!" Faust continued cackling and tears escaped their eyes from laughing so hard. "Friend!" Faust hid their face behind their arm and ceased moving. They took a deep breath in and then stood up. "Hendrix," they held out their hands as their nails began to grow in length once more, as did their teeth, but none of their remaining demon-like qualities returned. "You're going to regret calling me that," they warned, walking over to Claude's body. They dug their nails into Claude's chest and watched with a grin as his blood oozed out. Pandora gasped, covering his eyes as Faust continued to rip open Claude. 

I tried looking away. Hector grabbed my arm and tried to drag me, but my eyes were drawn to the scene. Faust continued ripping apart Claude, using his bleeding limbs as paintbrushes on the wall, laughing as they went. They wrote in a language I didn't understand. Maybe it wasn't a language at all. It might've been simply symbols or designs. Would Hyde have understood?

"I've been wanting to do that for a while now," Faust's forked tongue licked off some of the blood on their face before they spat it onto the ground. They walked forward and my eyes continued to follow them. We turned, each one of us watching Faust, as they walked towards the missing wall. A long hallway with pillars on either side of it stretched out as far as the eye could see. The floor was clean, much cleaner than anything we've seen before. The instant Faust crossed the threshold between the room we were in and the strange hallway of pillars, their appearance altered. Starting from the shoe that took the first step and moving up their entire body. The stains of Hyde and the blood of Claude disappeared. The dirt from previous floors and the rips in clothing disappeared as well. They looked as fresh and as clean as the minute we first started the game. 

Pandora watched this and crossed the threshold next. "Oh my," Pandora started crying, and touched his face. "I'm finally clean," his joy of being cleaned completely made him forget all about Faust tearing up Claude's body. "I finally have new clothes. I don't know how this works but I like this floor so much already." 

Hector and I did the same. I looked down at my clothes and then forward. "This is...strange." 

Faust chuckled. "This is strange to you? But not my horns or tail or anything you've just witnessed? My, my, what does go on in that weird little brain of yours?" I opened my mouth to reply when the game master's voice cut me off.

"Congratulations on making it this far," the game master's voice resounded from all sides, still no person to match the images we've seen. "Welcome to Pandemonium."