[The Kiss] is teleported to a theatre. It is dimly lit with two large red curtains pulled shut. The room is large with more than enough seating for everyone.
Harmonia appears and looks around in confusion, her guard up. She's wearing a brand new rose quartz scarab beetle necklace. "What?"
Drew appears, making motions like he's writing on a whiteboard.
Lock looks around. “Huh?”
Luna looks around in silence.
Melody was asleep but stirs and yawns. "Woah! Where am I?"
Knight just stands there like an utter buffoon.
Asphodel appears next to Melody, holding her.
"Where'd my whiteboard go?" Drew asks.
Lock walks to a seat near the back because she’s short and wants to feel tall for once in her life.
Spider appears and sighs. "So I guess we're doing this now.”
Luna sits next to Lock, feeling her height disadvantage.
Melody is sitting by the back with Asphodel.
Harmonia sits by the front.
Fenrir clears his throat on the loudspeaker as the curtains slowly open, revealing Cole Genesone tied to a wooden stake by purple vines.
The vines then promptly spread to everyone else in the theatre, tying them down to their seats. Even if they attempt to, they feel as if they can’t teleport.
“Motherfucker!” Knight exclaims.
Cole looks up at The Kiss as he struggles in the vines.
Harmonia starts panicking, struggling against the vines. "What the fuck is this- LET US GO-"
"..." Luna struggles.
Lock just vibes.
"If you're gonna tie me up at least feed me dinner first," Drew says.
Melody squeaks and looks at Asphodel in fear, squirming. "Asphodel-"
“Oh, shit….the dream. Fuck.” Knight swears.
Asphodel's looking at Melody with that 'i gotchu' type look
Spider sighs as she goes translucent, the vines going straight through her. "Yeah, I do not need this today.” Her voice is echoey and slightly distorted.
The vines tighten their grip on Luna.
"𝐇𝐞-𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞! 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭! 𝐈 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩~"
Luna continues to struggle.
Cole realizes and starts to hyperventilate as he struggles more muttering to himself. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck-”
"𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰... 𝐫𝐮𝐧-𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦? 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝!"
Lock tilts her head.
"LET US GO YOU FUCKING PRICK-" Harmonia is focused on Cole. "Cole! Cole, can you hear us?"
Luna refuses to raise her hand. Not that she can. Fucking vines.
Asphodel continues to look at Melody.
Cole nods quickly.
“I hate this and hate you Fenny boy,” Knight says.
Drew crosses his legs and leans back.
Spider is just standing off to the side watching, for now, still translucent.
"...𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞? 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭."
Pieces of paper appear in the air in front of The Kiss, as well as pencils.
"𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 '𝐲𝐞𝐬' 𝐨𝐫 '𝐧𝐨'. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐰!"
Cole glares at the loudspeaker.
Asphodel doesn't write anything, continuing to stare at Melody.
“What is the thing you’re about to do?” Knight asks.
Luna struggles to write something down, mostly due to the vines.
Lock writes.
"Everyone say your answers so he can’t fucking rig it,” Harmonia says.
"No," Luna says.
"𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐊𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?"
“I swear to god if that harms Cole I Will Eat You.” Knight says.
Harmonia tries to cut the vines with her claws but more vines take their place.
Drew stares ahead.
Harmonia growls, trying to cut them and get up fast enough.
It works for a split second, but the vines wrap back around her and pull her down into her seat, "This is bullshit." Luna says.
"𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐮𝐩!"
Harmonia growls more, seemingly exhausted. "Let us go, you bag of dicks.”
“Next time someone new shows up I’m kicking their ass,” Knight says.
“You can stick it Fenrir, I ain't participating in this,” Spider says.
The pieces of paper disappear as Fenrir clears his throat. "𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬."
"Sounds fucking great, Knight," Luna says.
Maiden appears in the back and is unseen due to the lighting as they watch.
Cole looks at The Kiss with a fearful glance.
"Cole we love you, don't listen to him!" Harmonia yells.
"𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐚: 𝐍𝐨. 𝐋𝐮𝐧𝐚: 𝐍𝐨. 𝐊𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: 𝐘𝐞𝐬. 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐤: 𝐘𝐞𝐬. 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐲: 𝐘𝐞𝐬. 𝐀𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥: 𝐘𝐞𝐬. 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐰: 𝐘𝐞𝐬." Gasoline comes from the ceiling, pouring onto the wooden stake.
“I PUT NO YOU FUCK!” Knight yells.
Melody looks confused. "I said no!"
Cole starts hyperventilating more as he starts to panic.
"I didn't answer." Asphodel's gaze is kept on Melody.
"RIGGED BULLSHIT!" Luna’s voice does not carry well to the front.
"Pretty sure that's not what I said," Drew says.
Loud classical music is heard in the background as the wooden stake catches ablaze.
Cole screams in pure agony. "I FUCKING HATE CATS AND I ALWAYS WILL YOU MEOW MIX MOTHERFUCKER!”
Lock’s eyes widen as she watches quietly.
Harmonia is shaking and struggling. "LET HIM GO- LET HIM GO! I'M NOT FUCKING LOSING SOMEONE ELSE!" Harmonia screams desperately. She's close to the front row.
Luna closes her eyes, refusing to watch. She tries to claw her way out.
Drew's staring intensifies.
Melody is shaking. "W-what's happening?"
Asphodel closes her eyes at the sight of the fire. She tries to reach for Melody's hand.
The music gets louder as the vines begin to grow large thorns.
“I WILL MAKE YOU PAY, YOU BOOTLEG FURRY!” Knight screams.
Luna cannot focus due to the loud music. Even so, despite the pain, she continues to claw at the vines.
Melody yelps in pain, whimpering as she watches in fear. "I-is this a nightmare-"
A wave of green distortion settles over Cole protecting him from the flames.
"Fuck this.” Says Spider.
Harmonia is struggling violently, not caring about the thorns. "COLE! COLE LISTEN TO ME-"
Lock grits her teeth and stares in horror.
Asphodel holds Melody's hand tight, keeping her eyes shut. She starts softly singing to herself and rocking back and forth as much as she can.
Luna eventually cuts herself free as the green wave of distortion is dismantled by purple smoke. The fire roars larger.
Cole continues to scream as boiling tar leaks from Cole's eyes. "FENRIR FUCKING LIED HE SAID THIS WOULDN'T HAPPEN, HE FUCKING LIED TO ME!”
Luna rushes up to the front as fast as she can. "I'm coming Cole!"
Melody starts crying, closing her eyes.
Vines grab onto Luna’s ankle, the thorns digging into it tightly.
Harmonia also tries to cut herself free and run to Cole, panicking.
Luna claws at the vines on her ankle, trying to reach Cole.
Knight tries to cut himself free. “WAIT TILL I GET TO YOU MOTHERFUCKER”
The vines begin to slowly drag Luna back to her seat.
Asphodel is unable to do anything due to the fire giving her flashbacks.
Same for Lock.
The others aren’t as lucky when it comes to cutting themselves free, but they almost get there.
Melody is just crying and trying not to move so she's not hurt by the thorns.
Asphodel has a tight grip on Melody’s hand.
Luna pulls out her Marked Broadsword, cutting at all of the vines on her.
Cole's skin melts away revealing his bones, the wiring inside has melted into a puddle as Cole screams his last words. "NEVER FORGET ME, NEVER FORGET WHAT I HAVE DONE!”
The fire starts to spread throughout the theatre, catching the curtains and the rest of the stage ablaze.
"Jesus fuck!" Luna yells.
“REEEEEEEEEEE” Knight continues trying to cut himself free.
Harmonia screams, her skin and death marks getting all melty, like goop. "COLE! COLE I LOVE YOU! I'M SORRY!" Harmonia screams, still trying to fight, watching him.
As Cole is turned into a mere puddle, the vines holding everyone down slowly retract and the music fades out.
Fenrir clears his throat. "𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠~" The loudspeaker turns off.
Cole's electronic voice box falls out of his chest as does his firearms fall out of his jacket and a half-melted MP3 player hits the floor.
Harmonia runs onto the stage, some of her skin dripping off into soul gunk when it hits the floor as she collects Cole’s remains, sobbing in the fire.
Asphodel grabs Melody, picking her up and running to the closest exit.
Maiden just watches, being unseen by the group
Melody clings to Asphodel, sobbing.
Asphodel and Melody exit the theater and Asphodel takes her into the woods
Lock is still sitting in place, watching.
Knight runs for the stage before trying to help Harmonia with the remain collecting.
Drew scans the theater, looking for the sound booth.
Luna focuses on the theater looking for any signs of Fenrir.
Harmonia holds Cole's items and stumbles out of the fire, no burns on her, just goop. She collapses once she's off the stage, cradling Cole's mp3 player, voicebox, and a couple of weapons
There appears to be a staircase that leads to the sound booth.
"Drew, shall we?" Luna asks.
"I'm coming with.” Spider heads up the stairs.
Knight attempts to put out the fire.
The fire dies down, eventually being put out.
Luna hobbles up to the staircase and tries to climb up due to her destroyed ankle.
Harmonia is laying on the floor, still all melty and covered in blood as she sobs and cradles Cole's remains.
After a bit, Lock just goes limp but is still breathing with her eyes open and a neutral expression.
Spider pauses and grabs Luna, helping her up.
“Thank you, Spider," Luna says.
“No problem."
Drew runs after them to the booth and looks for the light controls to bring the house lights up.
Inside the sound booth is just a normal house cat sitting on a chair with a bouquet of purple roses next to it. It meows at them.
"So we aren't fooled by this right?" Drew asks.
Luna screeches at the house cat. "I am not fooled."
“God, no,” Spider says.
The cat arches backward, running out of the door.
"Fucking." Luna says.
Drew reacts, trying to stop it before it gets away.
Drew stops it and it hisses at him. It looks like your regular old cat.
"..." Luna is speechless.
Spider grabs it before it has the chance to escape again. "So what're the chances it's a normal cat?"
Drew snaps a finger and a carrier appears around the cat.
"I guess... it's possible. Truth be told, Fenrir could be anything." Luna exclaims. "Including this cat!"
Drew looks down and notices Luna's ankle. "Want me to try and do something with that?"
"Please." Luna isn't showing it, but she's in a lot of fucking pain.
Lock gets up from her seat with cuts from the thorns and just looks over at everyone.
Drew rubs his hands together and holds them over Luna's ankle, willing the ankle to fix itself.
It works. Her ankle is back to normal. "Holy crap Drew."
Knight is standing on the stage and in shock.
"Did it work?" Drew asks.
"It did," Luna says. "Thank you, Drew."
"Cool, it does get easier the more you do it."
"That it does. I've learned that with my magic."
Lock sighs and resumes a smile and a chipper tone "So what show are we watching?"
Spider sighs and drops the cat carrier on the floor. "So that just happened.."
"Costs less mana, less cooldown. Less risk of passing out cuz 1% rule." Luna says. "Anyway, let's go get Harmonia and get the fuck outta here."
"Do you think we can get Kade to eat this cat?" Drew asks.
"I'm sure it'll make him happy," Luna says.
Harmonia is no longer melty and goopy but she's still pretty injured from the thorns.
"Cerberus definitely,” Spider says.
"Last thing I want is for Kade to distrust cats completely. Eris and I are on the up and up." Luna says.
"That's like playing Tetris on easy mode. And good point." Drew says.
"Can we watch the play?" Lock asks.
Luna walks back downstairs and heads to Harmonia.
Spider follows.
"Hey Knight, Drew, can we get a heal on Harmonia?" Luna asks.
Drew walks over and does the hand thing again.
Harmonia’s wounds are healed but she doesn't move, still sobbing and clinging to the remains of Cole.
"Harmonia, do you want a hug?" Luna asks.
There’s no response.
"Right," Luna says. "My apologies."
Drew kneels down and puts a hand on her shoulder.
Harmonia smiles but seems confused when she notices that she's smiling. "W-why did I just smile-" She mutters before she continues sobbing.
Spider goes back to her normal form and walks over to Harmonia, picking her up and hugging her. "It's ok, yeah?"
Harmonia leans on Spider, still holding the remains close to her chest. “No, it's not..."
"You know he's coming back. Cole's the only one here more stubborn than I am. He's coming back if I have to go down there and drag him back myself." Drew says.
“Exactly Drew,” Spider says.
"Absolutely. Man's basically an indestructible weapon at this point." Luna says. "Just gotta keep the hope alive!"
Drew holds out his hand and says, "Victory or Valhalla."
"Victory or Valhalla." Luna says.
Harmonia's still sobbing into Spider.
Spider hugs Harmonia tightly, attempting to comfort her.
"I think... we ought to leave the theater. Before it collapses on itself or some stupid shit." Luna says.
Speaking of which, the theater is in the process of doing that.
Luna looks around. "Yeah, maybe right now?"
Drew claps his hands and everyone disappears back to the living room.