Chapter Text
Charles woke up slowly with a dull, spectral ache all over his body. His eyes were still closed, but a looming sense of dread made him open them. His vision was blurry, but it clarified to reveal the face of the witch, Esther, eyeing him. She was far too close to his face inspecting him, and he could smell a bizarre mix of herbs and rot surrounding her like a bad perfume.
"There he is." Charles was more than confused. The last thing he remembered was saying goodbye to everyone and then... being asleep? Seemingly noticing his confusion, she continued:
"Pow! Bam! Fire? Burning. Remember that?"
His eyebrows pulled together as he was trying to process everything. The way Esther spoke and looked at him made him want to kick her off a cliff even more than the Night Nurse, but he knew she probably had some cruel trick up her sleeve.
She giggled in delight with herself, and added:
"I'm feeling bad that I trapped you in that little glass box, but... you teens... are so hard to pin down." As she spoke, she reached for him. He tried to back away, but realized he was leaning against a counter in Esther's kitchen. Her finger touched something he hadn't noticed before. It was heavy and cold, resting on his shoulders all around his neck.
"And, if I'm being honest I didn't want you to ruin my plan and try to rescue your pal." The realisation hit Charles like a semi-truck. If Esther had kidnapped him, she most likely had Edwin as well. Disregarding the fact that the woman in front of him was one of the most powerful and ruthless people on earth, If you can even call her a person, he moved forward to attack her and promptly felt a sharp, hot sting on his throat. Iron. Esther only backed away a tiny bit, and looked at him, unimpressed. If anything, she seemed to enjoy this. Charles made a pained noise and leaned back so the iron would stop touching him.
"Nasty sting, the choker's iron..."
Charles, trying to ignore the pain, interrupted her: "Where is Edwin? Don't you dare-" Now, it was Esther who interrupted him.
"Where is Edwin? Where is he, mate?", she mocked him and it took everything in him for Charles to not try and punch her in the throat.
"Honey, don't be jealous... Once I get him up and screaming, I'll come back and play with you, yeah?" The implications of that sentence were numerous, and none of them were good. He needed to escape and save Edwin, but how?
As she stood up to leave, Esther said: "Just... you... wait." She bent down to poke the iron around his neck again. Charles instinctively flinched backwards, once again to no avail. As she walked away, presumably to Edwin, Charles' thoughts started spinning.
What is she doing to Edwin?
I need to save him!
But how?
I need to get out of this bloody choker first.
He could barely think clearly as a familliar panic washed over him. Now, though, more than thirty years later, it was even worse. Now, Edwin's suffering as well. He had to hold back the strong urge to cry as he was trying to think of what to do.
From the other room somewhere else in the house, he heard music. Followed by screams.
Edwin! His thoughts became more frantic. He couldn't stand to hear this, not while he couln't do anything to stop it.
Then, he heard something else from behind him, but the iron prevented him from turning around to check. It sounded like steps and frantic whispering. He recognized their voices. Relief flooded over him as he realized it was Crystal and Niko.
"Crystal, Niko! I'm over here.", he called out quietly, almost whispering.
He heard their steps nearing him until he could see Crystal when he turned his head very carefully.
"You have to get me out of this thing.", Charles said, pointing to the choker.
"We have to help Edwin!", she responded, saying it like it was an answer to his request. The response confused him.
"So do I." Crystal shook her head.
"You have to kill the snake in the cupboard. It's keeping her young and strong. We'll handle Esther, but we can't defeat her while she's still immortal.", she explained, before sliding Charles' backpack towards him as the two of them kept moving. However, it slid too far and now lied on the floor in front of him, still out of reach.
Charles pointed to his backpack, trying to get her attention.
"Crystal, I need- Crystal!" But her and Niko had already left and Charles couldn't shout because that would get Esther's attention.
Charles heard Monty caw from his cage on a counter behind him. He stared daggers at the bird.
He knew he needed to get to his backpack. In it were his lock picks, his cricket bat, everything he needed.
The only problem being, my backpack is on the other side of the kitchen.
He stretched out his leg, trying to get hold of one of the backpack's straps, but to no avail. He tried again, this time while sliding lower down the cupboard and putting more weight on his arms, but he still couldn't reach it. On top of that, it moved the choker and he felt its burn on his throat again. He quickly sat up again, trying to get his head perfectly straight again. When he heard that caw from behind him again, though, he lost his patience with Monty and turned his head a little too far. Again, his head snapped back and he winced in pain.
"Fat lot of good you turned out to be." He couldn't stand the crow. Not only had he tricked Edwin and hurt his feelings, but he'd also led them both to almost be swallowed by a giant, interdimensional mushroom. He didn't know what to do with the anger boiling within him, so he tried to focus on both his task and giving the cowardly bird a piece of his mind.
"You tricked my boyfriend, set us up..." He was still trying to reach his backpack, but it was still just barely out of reach.
But that doesn't matter. I have to get out of here.
"When I get out of this thing, crow, you're gonna find you backed the wrong side."
In a way, Charles felt vindicated, seeing how he hadn't trusted Monty to begin with, but also disappointed. In the end, he'd taken quite a liking to the boy when he'd seen how happy Edwin was with this new friend.
But, I guess he was just pretending after all. Charles was still seething internally, and he was starting to get impatient. Edwin's screams had subsided, which didn't do much to calm Charles down, as it could either be a good sign or a very bad one. He had to defeat the snake. He had to help his friends.
So, he stretched out his foot for the backpack again. He slowly put more of his weight on his arms as he slid forward, inch by inch until he was almost lying down, careful not to tilt his head in the wrong way. When he noticed the chain attached to the choker didn't allow him to move further, a sudden reckless determination gripped him.
What happens to me isn't important. But I'm not just gonna let Esther win.
He moved further forward. When he felt the iron on his throat, he winced in pain, but kept moving. He felt the choker burn his skin as he was straining against it. It felt like it was going to burn right through him and he let out a ragged scream. Out of the corner of his eye, Charles saw a small, black figure, and suddenly the backpack lied in his lap. Breathing heavily, he sat back up and leaned against the counter. Blinking away the tears revealed Monty sitting on the floor in front of him. The crow had helped him get the backpack. He smiled at him as he was reaching for the backpack. He normally would've made a funny comment and perhaps thanked the crow for his help, but because his throat still felt like it had been burned by acid, he simply gave Monty an appreciative nod and pulled out his lock picks.
The lock was pretty simple and he was able to open it in less than a minute. Using his sleeve to make sure he didn't touch the iron, he removed the choker from his neck and put his lock picks back into their case. He breathed a sigh of relief as he stood up, throwing the choker and chain to the floor and kicking it away from him for good measure. He looked around, listening for any movement, but all he heard were indestinguishable voices from another room down the hall.
He opened the cupboard that led to the snake's lair. Without hesitating, he pulled a rope out of his backpack, attached it to the leg of a table and made his descent. When he reached the end of the rope, he jumped the rest of the way, somehow managing to land on his feet. He tried to crane his neck to look upward, but decided against it when the burning at his throat intensified to glowing hot pain.
Charles pulled his cricket bat out of his backpack without even looking, as it was one of the items he used most. He heard the snake hissing, and it sounded like it was approaching. He spun the bat, following the noise and readying himself for an attack. He dropped his backpack next to him for greater mobility.
The hissing had stopped.
More out of instinct than decision, he swung around and hit the giant monster in the head while dodging its fanged jaws coming towards him.
His cricket bat splintered into many pieces which fell to the floor. He stared at it in disbelief, but before he could think about it further, the snake struck again. Though it had clearly been hurt because its fangs missed him, the scaly head still knocked him down and left him gasping for air, which didn't improve his burning throat. When he'd regained his composure somewhat, he stood up.
I didn't know it even could break, but I guess it makes sense in retrospect. Alright, gotta improvise.
He knealt down and rummaged through his backpack, pulling out two cleavers he didn't remember packing, a fishing rod and an impressively long stick before finally finding what he was looking for. He was going to remark on how lucky he was to find it, but the words got caught in his throat. He couldn't focus on that now, though.
He ran his fingers down the length of the sabre, admiring its sharpness.
As the ginormous snake lunged for him again, Charles jumped sideways and swung the sword in the snake's direction. It cut through a portion of the snake's body, leaving a giant gash starting at its mouth which emitted something akin to burning, golden smoke. Charles backed away quickly as the entire snake exploded in fiery light.
After taking a few moments to catch his breath, Charles started climbing up the rope that led out of the void where so many children had met their end, only one thought on his mind now:
I gotta find Edwin.
-Edwin-
Edwin sat up slowly, gripping Niko's arm as she helped her best friend up. He felt dizzy and exhausted, but he also felt relief flood over him as he realised:
We're safe. Esther Finch is dead.
Watching the vile woman getting dragged to hell by Lilith herself had been a wonderful sight.
He looked first at Niko and then at Crystal, who was still breathing heavily from fighting the witch. Niko started grinning ear to ear in relief.
"We did it!", she said, hugging Crystal tightly.
Then, Edwin looked around and asked: "Where is Charles?"
Crystal approached him.
"He was gonna fight Esther's snake, and given the fact that she turned into an old hag and died, I'll assume that he succeeded.", she explained while helping Edwin stand up.
"We should still look for him." Before he could, though, he heard steps from the doorway and turned around to see Charles entering the room, his head turned at an odd angle.
His face was tense, but softened a bit when he spotted Edwin. He looked tired and like he was in pain, but he was alive.
Edwin crossed the room to give Charles a hug, but Charles backed away before he could.
"Charles, what's wrong, did-" He gasped audibly and covered his mouth with his hands when he saw it: A deep wound on the right side of Charles' throat.
Injuries from metal looked different to human burns - metal left marks similar to charred wood - but nonetheless, it looked bad. It was certainly the worst iron burn Edwin had ever seen in a ghost, as it was still glowing in some spots, like hot metal or coals.
-Charles-
"What happened to your throat?", Edwin asked, clearly shocked.
Charles stared at him blankly, like a deer in headlights. He didn't know what to say.
The burn can't look that bad, right? It was only a few seconds. He remembered what the iron had felt like, like it had eaten away at his skin, but pushed the thought aside.
He wanted to calm down Edwin, to clarify that he was fine, but he couldn't utter a single word. Panic arose in him when he, again, tried to speak, but all that left his mouth was a pained cough.
Now, Edwin looked even more alarmed.
"That burn came from iron, didn't it? How did that happen? Did Esther hurt you?" Charles shook his head.
Niko said: "She trapped him with some sort of iron choker. I think that did it." She, too, looked worried.
"You two said he was fine just a minute ago!", Edwin remarked accusingly.
"He was fine when we left. He probably hurt his neck when he tried to get out of it.", Crystal responded.
"You know how reckless he is! You should've freed him first!"
"Maybe we would've if you hadn't had the afterlife actively sucked out of you and been tortured by a maniac witch!"
Niko added: "Our priority was defeating Esther."
Edwin sighed.
"Thank you for that. But now, we have to rest. All of us." Crystal nodded in agreement.
"Me and Niko are gonna go back to the butcher shop. We gotta check on Jenny, and I need to sleep for at least a month with how much magic I used."
Drained of his energy? Charles looked over to a strange table which was full of cables and had multiple nasty-looking prongs coming out of it. Edwin was attached to what looks like a medieval torture device on steroids, and they're all worried about my throat? I just need some rest, I'll be fine.