14 A Man or a Tool?

Faith had been the first to wake up from the group. She let out a yawn as she sat herself up, fixing up her bed head while she had been at it. After rubbing her eyes, she put on her glasses she had set aside earlier before she fell asleep.

"Well… Least the sleep did wonders. I feel better already."

She soon looked over to the group to see if they were up and about as well. She wasn't surprised when she saw that they had still been sound asleep.

She sighed as she shook her head, "I shouldn't wake them up just yet. I'll let them sleep a little while longer."

Though Faith had really been surprised when she looked over in Zack's direction. She expected to see him still up and about. She didn't expect to see him sound asleep, with his arm around Kristen; their heads had been touching one another as Zack had been letting out light snores.

"Well… At least they're not trying to kill each other."

Faith started to look through her bag, as she took out her own profile, reading through it for a second time. Her hands shook at the words written below. She crumpled the paper up before she tossed it away.

"It's fine… It's all fine…" She said to herself, "... I'll find a place to hide, after I get out… That way I won't have to worry about… Them anymore… Won't I… Brother?"

Suddenly Faith heard something peculiar, just echoing down the hall.

"On the farm, every Friday

On the farm, it's rabbity pie die

So every Friday, that ever comes along

I get up early and sing this little song"

"That sound… A gramophone…?"

Faith went to get up, though for a brief moment she looked back to the small group. She knew they would wake up soon, and she certainly didn't anyway to worry about her. She took a deep breath.

"It'll only be for a quick second."

With that being said, Faith stood up from the floor as she followed the sound down the hall, leaving her backpack behind. Eventually she had entered the darkened hallway as she couldn't see what had been in front of her. Soon enough, she came to a lone gramophone that had been sitting in the middle of the path.

"Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run run run

Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run run run

Bang, bang, bang! Goes the farmer's gun

So run rabbit, run, rabbit, run run run"

As the song continued to play Faith fixed up her glasses as she examined it.

"What is this doing here…? For that matter… How did it get… Here?"

Her thoughts had trailed off as she noticed something inside the speaker. She couldn't tell what it was at first, but once her eyes adjusted to the darkness around she was surprised to see what had been sitting there in the speaker. She picked up the object giving it a closer examination.

"A… Black rose?"

And just like that, she felt something hard hit the back of her head, before passing out; the last thing she heard was the music from the gramophone.

"Run rabbit, run, rabbit run run run"

***

He hated being in this place.

With every fiber of his being he hated being here.

The smell, the couple that lived there, the fact that it practically rained everyday.

He hated all of it.

Though he did what he did best.

He always survived.

Every chance he got he snuck into the kitchen or opened one of the bags they disposed of or left lying around in the house. He would tear open a part of the bag, and get all the food that didn't look to be moldy, and started to stuff it down his throat.

It hadn't been long before he heard voices coming from nearby.

"The child that arrived just last month…" A woman had said, "... I noticed the stench and realized they were already dead."

"So what?" A man said, "Just put it in the backyard."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"No one's gonna come here to see a bunch of kids who get dumped here for a couple of pennies."

He heard the woman groan, "I'm sick of burying bodies."

"Oh, so it's about you now?" The man said, "Hey, I know. Why don't you get that brat to do it?"

He flinched at this, as he swallowed what had been in his mouth. He knew that they had been talking about him. The quote on quote chore they got him to do everytime they found another body lying around in the house.

Another thing he hated more than being in that hell of a place.

"Nothing better to finish off a brat than another brat."

***

"Za..! Za...ck…! Zack!"

Zack felt himself being shaken roughly as his eyes opened. Even when his eyes had been open, he just found himself rocking back and forth, courtesy of Kristen. "Stop! Stop it!" Zack shouted as he grabbed her wrists, "I'm awake damn it!"

He looked up and as he saw Rachel, Eddie and her standing in front of them, as they looked to be distressed.

"The hell is wrong with you guys?" He asked.

"It's Faith." Rachel soon replied, "She's gone."

Zack's eyes widened slightly as he quickly stood; the space where Faith had slept had been empty. At this he gritted his teeth.

"The damn four eyes--" He said with a growl, "--Don't tell me she ran after all!"

"That couldn't be right." Eddie said, before holding her bag, "If she was going to run, she would've taken her stuff with her, but it's been left behind."

"Than… What happened to her?" Zack asked them.

"We don't know…" Rachel replied, "... Though it could be possible she decided to see what was ahead."

Zack stayed silent at this as he couldn't help but think to himself as the rest seemed to have her own thoughts. "Oh God--" Kristen started to say aloud, "--What if Cathy had something to do with it!? What if she's torturing her!? What--"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP!?" Zack suddenly shouted as he gave her a slap on the head, "STOP LOSING YOU SHIT OVER THE SMALLEST THINGS, DAMN IT!"

Kristen froze up at his tone of voice, and Rachel and Eddie flinched as the tone of his voice seemed to have sounded aggressive. Zack soon picked up his scythe as he started to mumble to himself; though they couldn't understand him as it had sounded incoherent.

"Zack…?" Rachel soon asked, "... Are you okay?"

"I'm--FINE." He told her as he still sounded aggressive.

"You don't sound fine." Kristen told him.

Zack soon looked at Kristen as he had a glare which took her back a bit, he told her, "Because of you, I had a dream that's got me pissed."

Kristen couldn't help but give a quizzical look at this as Zack had walked ahead of them; Rachel and Eddie seemed to have been processing what had just happened, as they both looked at one another. "Come on you two." Kristen said to them, "We should go, but stay close. Who knows what could be up ahead."

Rachel and Eddie gave a nod, before they started to follow Kristen and Zack after Eddie put Faith's bag over his shoulder. Though Rachel soon stopped when she noticed a crumpled up piece of paper on the ground. She picked it up, as she had uncrumpled it, looking at its continents.

"Faith's profile…"

She read what had been underneath her name, though her eyes widened slightly.

"Rachel!"

She flinched slightly though quickly calmed down, when she saw it had only been Eddie. "What are you doing?" He asked, before he took her hand, "Come on!"

She allowed him to pull her in a certain direction, though not before she had put Faith's profile into her bag.

As expected, there had been no light to guide them to the next door; Kristen felt herself about to lose it, though Zack took her hand as to keep her calm. She couldn't help but think as to why Zack had been angry as she felt him grip his hand a bit too tightly.

Because of her?

What did he mean by that?

She just couldn't put her finger on it, no matter how hard she tried.

Soon enough, a familiar voice came over the PA.

"Well, well~" Cathy said, "And here I thought you went off and died!"

"Shut up you bitch!" Zack shouted.

"Well, it's no matter." She said nonchalantly, "No need to have a temper."

"What have you done with Faith!?" Kristen soon said.

Cathy had paused for a moment as she pondered, "Now whatever do you mean?"

"Our friend, you jerk!" Eddie said, "She was with us, and now she's gone! You obviously had something to do with it!"

Cathy pondered, and pondered before she had come to a conclusion. "Oh the one with the glasses!" She said, "I have a special punishment planned for her! A friend of my own had been kind enough to bring her to me! Worry not, she'll be joining us soon!"

"Your friend?" Rachel wondered aloud.

"If you think about hurting her--!" Kristen said.

"Now now Krissy, no need to get your panties in a twist." Cathy said, "I won't hurt her… Yet."

Kristen couldn't help but glare at this, as Cathy laughed. She soon spoke up again, "I wanna get serious for a moment… How about it? Have any of you changed your mind about spending the rest of your life in a cell?"

"Like I said before, who the fuck would want something like that!?" Zack shouted.

"Ah~ You're no fun." Cathy said, "So you won't become tools for my entertainment?"

The group had been taken back by her words.

"I heard that you made a silly promise." Cathy told them, "One that only forces each other's desires onto one another. It appears that you only want the same thing… But aren't you both just deciding to be the other's tool? I wonder… Out of all of you… Which one is the real tool?"

"The fuck does that mean!?" Zack exclaimed.

"Oh? Don't you know?" She said.

Kristen winced slightly when she felt Zack tighten it, though it only caused her pain. She couldn't help but think if it was because of Cathy's words.

"That's okay." Cathy soon said, "I find idiots cute too." She giggled, "Please continue and enjoy your punishment!"

Most of them jumped when Zack kicked the wall suddenly after he let go of Kristen's hand. "That damn bitch!" Zack grumbled.

"Jesus Zack!" Eddie said.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Rachel asked.

Zack didn't reply as he grabbed Kristen's hand and had been about to make his way down the hall with her in tow. Though he felt her give a slight tug, as Kristen couldn't move. He turned and saw that a hand had grabbed her ankle. Kristen, Eddie and Rachel saw that the hand that grabbed her had been discolored and thin looking as they saw the person's bones; all that could be heard was the sound of a raspy groan.

Kristen merely flinched when Zack suddenly stomped on the person's wrist, dismembering it.

"All I did was step on 'em and look what happened." Zack said, "I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid enough to want to stay in a cell for the rest of my life. Let's go."

He went to go only to tug on Kristen's arm again. He noticed the look on her face as she looked to whoever had been in the cell.

"Don't worry about him Kris." He told her, "He's dying anyway."

"... He's already dead." Rachel said softly.

"Oh, is that so?" He said nonchalantly, "Let's go."

They started to walk down the hall again as Kristen couldn't help but feel solemn for a stranger; though whatever the case and circumstance maybe she had to keep moving forward. Still… She couldn't help but think she could've helped him in some way.

They eventually reached a room at the end of the hall. The room had been smaller compared to the ones before and on the floors she saw the words worker and navigator. The room contained a desk with many shelves that had red lights and a single book laid in front of it. The other desk had a dollhouse and looked to be surrounded by a gate. Kristen approached the dollhouse, as she saw what it contained.

A woman in a blue dress, a man with a white collared shirt and gray pants and what looked to be children, both of them laying in the bed. A small box that looked to contain fresh dirt with a hole freshly dug up with a pile of dirt next to it.

There also looked to be two dolls of children. The two of them looked to be boys; one with bandages and the other didn't. The boy with bandages had a white shirt with blue shorts, while the other had a light shirt with jeans that rolled up just enough to show his ankles and he had short black hair. The boy with the bandages had been just by the trash, while the other had been in the attic.

"That doll…" Kristen said, looking to the one with bandages, "... It looks a lot like--"

She soon noticed that Zack had been beside her, as his look changed. It looked sad as he looked at the dollhouse.

"Zack…?" She started to say, "... Are you--?"

The music started up again making most of them jump; Cathy appeared on the screen again.

"Hi~" She said, "Welcome and congratulations on making it this far!" She soon noticed that Kristen and Zack had been in front of the dollhouse, "Oh would you look at that! Do you two like my dollhouse?"

"That damn bitch…" Kristen heard Zack say.

She noticed his tone of voice, before she glared at Cathy, "What the hell kind of a game are you playing?!"

"... All in good time Krissy, be patient!" Cathy said, "If you and Zack can't behave than you'll never get your friend or get out of here."

The door they came through slammed shut, locking them in. "Now here's the deal--" Cathy began to say, "--Out of all of you, there will be a navigator and the other will be the worker. When you solve the riddle, the other will do what you say. Easy, right?"

"Well…?" Kristen heard Zack say, "... What should we do?"

"Why are you asking me?" Kristen asked him.

"Because you're basically the leader." He told her, as she just looked surprised, "Or did you forget that?"

Kristen looked to Rachel and Eddie as they both waited for what Kristen had to say. She didn't know what Cathy had been thinking, since this kind of thing seemed too simple, though… As far as she knew she didn't have much of a choice.

"We gotta do this for Faith…"

Finally she turned to the children, "Rachel, Eddie. You two be the Navigator. Zack and I will stay here."

Rachel and Eddie nodded as they both went over to where the floor had been labeled navigator.

"Alright than…" They heard Cathy say, "... Let the game begin!"

With the push of a button one of the drawers lit up with green before it had slid open. Eddie took out what had been inside.

"It looks like a math problem." Eddie said as he showed it to Rachel, "But I can't make any sense of it."

She looked at the problem on the paper; she started to put her brain to work.

"L is 27." She started to say, "W is 12. P is 226."

"Whoa, you were able to solve it that quickly?" Eddie said, impressed.

"It's just easy." Rachel merely replied with a shrug.

"Hey!" They soon heard Zack say, "What do we do here!?"

"Zack." Kristen said softly yet stern; he flinched at this sort of tone, "Just give them a minute, they'll figure it out."

Eddie and Rachel thought about the problem, twice or maybe three times as they were trying to figure out what it meant. That was until they both looked at the book.

"Rachel, you don't think--" Eddie said.

"--Yeah, I think so." Rachel answered.

She took the book as she started to flip through the pages, "The 'P' is for page, 'L' is for line and 'W' is for word…"

They soon gotten to the page in the book, "Page 226, line 27, and the twelfth word is--"

"There!" Eddie said, pointing to the twelth word, "That must be it!"

"Man…" Rachel read.

She flipped through the page, finding the next word.

"... Living." Eddie soon said.

She flipped through the pages again.

"...Room…" They both said.

"Any luck?" Kristen soon asked.

"I think we figured it out!" Eddie said.

"Zack." Rachel said, "Put the man in the living room on the sofa."

With a click of his tongue Zack went and did just that; taking the doll of the man from the bed, he put it on the sofa. The minute he did however, they were startled by a woman's scream; Kristen looked and saw it came from the television as it played what looked to be that of a horror film.

"What the--?" Kristen said as she couldn't help but find it familiar.

Cathy appeared on the screen again.

"My what a distasteful movie!" She said, "Zack, Krissy? Doesn't it make your skin crawl?"

"DON'T TALK TO US BITCH!" Zack yelled.

"Aw… Now that's no fun." Cathy said sarcastically.

"Okay, we got the next equation." Eddie said, "Put the woman doll, next to the man's right."

Kristen saw Zack's body shake as he grabbed the woman doll before putting it on the left side of the man. "That's the wrong side." Kristen told him gently, which surprised him again. Though the moment had soon been lost, when Cathy spoke again.

"The right hand holds the knife, and the left holds the fork. Remember?" She said.

Zack let out a growl at this, and he went to yell again, but--

"Hey Cathy…" Kristen soon said before she flipped her off, "... SHUT THE HELL UP!!"

The group had been taken back, seeing as how they hadn't seen Kristen act like that before. Zack had been especially shocked by this sort of thing, but quickly shook it off. Kristen soon took the doll and placed it on the right; though they had been taken back when the woman's doll moved with the wheels provided under its feet.

"Ah, so you're picking up the pieces for Zack?" Cathy said, "Aren't you a good gi--"

"SHUT UP YOU BITCH!" Zack yelled.

The next drawer opened, and Rachel had been quick to solve the equation again. This time however, she had been surprised by the next set of directions. Eddie's eyes widened when he read what the book had provided.

"Did you guys solve it?" Kristen asked as she noticed they were both too quiet.

"Uh, yeah…" Eddie replied hesitantly.

"Well, what is it?" Zack asked.

"... Put the girl doll in the hole…" Rachel said.

Kristen's eyes widened at this, "... A girl doll…?"

"Are you sure you read that right?" Zack said looking at the dolls, "There ain't a girl doll in here!"

"Oh there is a girl doll alright~!" Cathy said, "She's right there in the attic."

Zack and Kristen looked shocked as they looked at the doll in the attic. Zack was about to pick up and Kristen beated him to it, as she held it in the palm of her hand.

She looked closely at the doll's appearance as she found herself shaking.

Another image in her head seemed to pass her by; the image in her head looked blurry, though she could've sworn she was being dragged, and thrown somewhere. She remembered crying for help, but found the image darkening around her. Just from this, she couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach, as she found herself nearly gagging just at the mere picture that appeared in her head.

"Now, what could be the matter Krissy?" Cathy said, sounding gleeful, "Reminiscing now, are we…?"

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP TALKING!" Zack shouted.

"Zack." Rachel said, "Put the girl--"

"I KNOW DAMN IT!" He yelled, grabbing the doll out of Kristen's hand, seemingly snapping her out of the trance.

He put the doll in the hole so that it had been lying on its back.

"... Put the man by the hole… Give him a shovel… " Eddie soon said before he was shocked by the next words, "... And bury the girl doll…"

Even Zack had been taken back by this direction as he looked at the girl doll in the hole.

Kristen looked completely horrified as she watched Zack put the man by the hole, giving him a shovel. With his hand shaking, he pushed the pile of dirt on top of the girl doll. Kristen had started to hyperventilate as she found the scene appearing again and again in her head.

"Oh God…" Kristen said, as she fell to her knees as she held her head, "... Oh God… Oh God… Oh God…"

"Kristen!?" Eddie exclaimed out of worry, "What's wrong!?"

"Oh God--I--I remember--I remember--" She started to say, "--That man--He--He--He--"

"Oh now don't look so upset Krissy~" Cathy said, enjoying the sight, "Zack is doing such a good job, being done as he is told!"

Zack couldn't help but feel his blood boil as he looked at Kristen, before looking at the doll that had been currently buried. He found himself in a sense of deja vu as he watched Kristen go through a panic attack.

"We have to continue." Rachel said.

"But what about Kristen?" Eddie asked, "She doesn't look good."

"I know, but… If we don't finish this riddle, we won't be able to find Faith and get out of here." She told him. Eddie, though he had been hesitant, couldn't help but agree. He had gotten the next equation before she solved it.

"Put the doll with bandages in front of the woman doll." Eddie said.

Zack looked to the doll with bandages as he felt his rage steadily growing in him. He held the doll in his hands looking down at it.

"Zack?" Rachel said, "Put the doll in front of the woman."

Zack let out another growl, before he finally placed the bandage doll in front of the woman doll.

"Now, give the bandaged doll a plastic bag." Rachel said.

Zack's body shook at this, as he now glared at the dolls as he growled. The two of them seemed to notice this. "Zack…?" Eddie said.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked him.

"You only need to do what you're told…" Cathy said, "... That's not so difficult… Is it Zack?"

At this Zack snapped.

"YOU DAMN BITCH!!" He yelled.

Eddie and Rachel's eyes widened when they saw Zack lift his scythe readying to destroy the dollhouse. He went to take a swing--

"NO!"

Kristen suddenly stood up from the ground and practically tackled him, making him nearly stumble. He froze at the fact that her body had been against his own.

"Zack…" He heard say as he felt her body shake, "... Please… You can't…I know it's hard… But you can't..."

"... Kris…" Zack said as he didn't know what he should do about this, or for that matter why he felt a strange, yet familiar sensation in his chest.

"Now that was close!" Cathy said, "If you broke that, you'll never be able to get out of here."

Zack growled at the way Cathy spoke to him; he felt his anger coming back to him, though didn't make a move to shove Kristen away from him. Rachel and Eddie looked to one another before she spoke up again, "Put the bandaged doll's--"

"I FUCKING KNOW!" Zack yelled causing Kristen to flinch.

Despite Kristen still being against him, Zack put the plastic bag in the bandaged doll's hand. He than put it next to the woman, and the dolls started to move on it's own again till it had been outside of the dollhouse. The two looked to be by a dumpster as it had been supposed to simulate a backyard that had been next to the fresh pile of dirt.

"Give the shovel to the bandaged doll." Rachel said after solving another equation.

"There's no thinking required~" Cathy said.

Zack had been about to lose it again but felt Kristen give a tug on his hoodie. He looked at her, as he saw she still had been shaking. He knew he was pissed at this, sure, but he could tell she was suffering… Probably as much as he was angry.

"Zack." Eddie said, "We gotta hurry!"

Zack only flinched as he went to put his hand on her shoulder, but--

"Zack--" Rachel said, "--Do as I say."

Zack froze at this as he could've sworn, Rachel's voice had changed to a voice he couldn't but find irritating. He put the shovel in the doll's hand as he had been shocked by what the doll did next...

...The doll began to dig.

***

Zack felt himself being tossed in the mud, by the woman. Though he managed to pick himself up from the ground as he looked at the woman with a glare which made her flinch.

"Wha--What's with that look in your eyes?" She said irritated.

Zack only stayed silent as he stood, picking up the shovel, before he started to dig.

The woman only laughed at this, "That's it. That's all you have to do."

Thus the woman left him to do his work, not even aware that he gave a hateful look in her direction. He hated this. All of it… Every fiber of his being he hated it.

They always put him up to this.

Whenever they had quote on quote trash to put away, they got him to bury it in the backyard. He had been here so many times he couldn't keep count.

He had to think of some way he could put a stop to all of this. He wanted to get rid of them, but he did know how.

He soon heard the voices coming from inside the house as he stopped digging for a moment.

"You're watching this movie again?" He heard the lady say.

"I just love seeing these carefree morons get slaughtered." The man said.

As he picked up his head, he looked inside; he saw the lady give a look of disgust, "How distasteful."

"Shut up." The man told her, "So what happened to the brat?"

"He didn't want to do it at first…" The woman replied as she started to drink from her glass, "... But when I ordered him to, he did it without another word."

"Even a monster like that can turn into a good useful tool if you let him live."

"I see, that's certainly convenient."

"That thing is a tool!"

"Such a tool!"

He heard the two give a laugh, as Zack's body shook at the word. Tool--That word he hated most of all.

***

"I'm…" Zack started to say, as he watched the doll continue to dig, "... I'm… I'm…"

Rachel and Eddie looked to each other again as they couldn't help but find Zack's behavior to be strange. Kristen on the other hand kept herself close to Zack as she could still feel his body shaking with anger despite her own body shaking too.

"See Zack?" Cathy said, "You can do it, if you try! Just like a very convenient tool!"

Zack gritted his teeth as he finally put his arm around Kristen, and tightened the grip on his scythe.

"I'm… Not--A FUCKING TOOL!!"

With one swing the doll house and dolls had been smashed into a thousand pieces, making Rachel and Eddie jump.

"Zack…?" Rachel said with worry.

"Now, look what you did to my work of art." Cathy said, "After all the work I put into making it…" She shrugged, "Oh well, I won't be needing it anymore. Go ahead and proceed to the next room."

The TV screen turned to black as the gate between the four of them closed shut, leaving Zack and Kristen together and Eddie and Rachel with each other.

"Guys…?" Eddie said, noticing how quiet they had gotten.

Zack did say anything as he looked at Kristen. He tightened his grip on her as he couldn't help but lean into the embrace as he soon heard Kristen cry softly in his chest; neither of them said anything before he took her hand, and left through the door provided.

"Kristen looked upset, and I think Zack was annoyed." Eddie pointed out as he turned to Rachel.

"I guess so…" She said solemnly, "... It might have something to do with the dollhouse Cathy made."

"Maybe." Eddie said, "Anyway, we should go catch up with them."

Rachel nodded and they went through the door provided for them before they proceeded down the hall.

***

Kristen and Zack both stayed silent as they kept their hands intertwined with one another. Though as they were halfway down the hall they both stopped.

"Kris…" Zack started to say as he looked over his shoulder, "...That girl doll back there… It was supposed to be you… Wasn't it…?"

Kristen looked up to him as her cheeks looked to be puffy and the tears had been dried up. Kristen's lip trembled, as she struggled to reply, "... Maybe… I'm sorry… I don't know."

Zack finally looked at her, "... I guess this explains why you're afraid of the dark, doesn't it?"

Kristen let go of his hand as she buried her face into her palms, she finally started to sob as they had been muffled. "Oh God…" She said, "... I don't want to remember it--But I do! That man--He tried to kill me! That man tried to kill me!"

"... Why did the old bastard do it?" He asked her.

"Why do you think!?" She yelled, "It's because of my fucking eyes! He was like my Aunt! He blamed me for the death of my mom and dad!"

Zack's expression remained unchanged as Kristen continued on, "People literally tried to kill me because of these fucking things! Because of my goddamn colored eyes I was born with! They're literally a fucking curse that almost got me killed! Hell, I'm in this situation because of--"

Kristen had been cut off suddenly when she felt a sting against her cheek; Turns out Zack had slapped her. She noticed the look on his face as he looked to be pissed.

"If you so much as repeat that phrase--" He said, "--I swear I'm going to kill you where your standing!"

Kristen said nothing as she looked to him with eyes as wide as dinner plates; She had been about to say something when she felt him grab her by the neck of the shirt.

"I already told you before, didn't I!?" He practically shouted in her face, "Your eyes are fine! They're fucking normal! Stop believing those bullshit lies! It's annoying the hell out of me!"

"Za--"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! I AIN'T DONE TALKING!"

Kristen flinched a little at this sudden tone as Zack held a glare on her; though from looking at his hand, she could've sworn she saw that it had been shaking.

"Ever since we got to this shithole of a floor, you've done nothing but repeat the same damn thing, over and over again!" He stated angrily, "Over and over, and over again you and that bitch have been spouting out the same shit, over and over and over! You know what!? I am SICK of hearing you talk about it! I am SICK of hearing you say the same damn thing! I told you before, it's nothing more than some superstitious bullshit! Stop believing everyone's goddamn lies! Stop listening to what they told you!"

"Za--"

"STOP BEING A GODDAMN TOOL FOR THEM!"

Kristen froze as she noticed Zack's body started to shake. His scythe dropped with a clang as she felt him let go of her and did something that she didn't think she would see from him. He fell to his knees, she heard him take a shaky breath, as he covered his face with his hands.

Kristen soon kneeled before him as she noticed tears began to fall from his face.

"... You're not a tool…" He said with his voice cracking a little, "... You're not a fucking tool…"

Her gaze softened as she looked at the man before her. It was strange… Not some time ago, he gave off a terrifying aura that would scare even the most bravest of men, and yet now… He looked helpless before her eyes.

Like that of a child…

Slowly she reached out to him, when her hands came into contact he instinctively flinched back, though she had shushed him, before she finally put her arms around him so that her face had been resting in between his collarbone and neck.

"... And you're not one either… Zack…" He heard her say softly.

Zack couldn't stop his tears from falling, but at that point he didn't care. Hesitantly, he put his arms around her, returning her embrace, tightening his grip ever so slightly, letting the silence overtake them.

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