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Pete starts to feel the tea seeping into his porcelain, seeping into his cracks and crevices, invading his programming and fogging up his mind’s eye as darkness envelops them. A great pain envelops his whole being, locking his bolts and screws freezing them in place and stopping any movement. An endless void.
Is this the end, am I going to die? We’ve got nothing left. Carlos, Maureen, Cheeky. Cheeky my friend, my best friend, he gave me my hat. They all think that they’re free but they’re not. Carlos, with his religion (it’s not a cult). Maureen, trapped and chained down by her quest for revenge that is only fuelled by anger. Cheeky, even if he doesn’t realise it yet, he’s as owned as I am to the Mobgoblins. I can see no escape. I can see no light at the end of the tunnel, not even the embers of light burning, for any of us.
This darkness is pulling him down. Grasping, scraping and scratching at him to give in, as the hands clasp around every inch of him, waiting for their meal. Waiting for their dept to be paid.
There is nothing left. I have nothing left. Why did I think I could ever be free. I am nothing, useless, just muscles.
Images of his friends surface and create a whirlwind in his mind. Different places where he was with them and felt true happiness. Even when they were fighting others like the twilight twins and they almost died… multiple times, they were still having fun together and saving each others lives. ”betray”: Carlos, even if we rarely spoke he saved me. “The broken bits on your face it’s beautiful” “well I think you and me will get along very well”: Maureen, She was always trying to help me.“Pete take care of yourself yeah” “you’re my best friend too” “I’m so proud of him”: Cheeky, my best friend, I would still be in that warehouse without him. These images and memories behind them give him the strength to get back off from the ground. Even with all this weight of the souls holding them down, he slowly makes his way towards the dying embers giving off the smallest flickering light.
I cannot die, I cannot give up. I must succeed, for them, for Cheeky, for freedom.
He brakes away from the infinite amount of hands grabbing at him while fighting against the winds that are trying to force him away from the small light source. Pushing himself further than he ever has before, he reaches the embers, picks them up, and holds them to his chest compartment placing them inside. The embers of hope.
He’s back in the room, a room filled with chaos. The centaurs, one of them tackles a Street Gene out of a window, the other starts letting loose with arrows. The krags claw their way through the chairs trying to get to Pete. He can see Carlos in the middle of the fight, Maureen coming from the bathroom and John Nippes by the curtain.
I must get to Cheeky. I have to save him.
Light abruptly bursts out from the cracks on Pete, casting bright aurora-like patterns and covering every surface. Pete’s porcelain form breaks apart into a million tiny pieces, shattering his cog work and dispersing his programming.
“Pete? No, PETE! DONT DRINK IT”
Pete could barely hear the words shouted by Cheeky over the buzzing of the tea working through his system. Cheeky, struggling against Mr Tips as his hostage, tries his best to escape Mr Tips grasp and reach the now floating Pete. Pete looks over and meets his glowing orbs with Cheekys tear filled eyes.
“Please”
Pete, instead of barely hearing, is now aware of everything, aware of the whispers, the clashing swords and arrows flying through the air rooms away, the ragged breaths and even the rushing heartbeats of those looking his way.
Cheeky I must save him
”You are threatening Cheeky. Cheeky is my best friend. Fuck you”
Pete’s voice comes out layered and more animatronic than ever before, almost commanding and laced with power. He lifts their arm towards Mr Tips, whilst scanning the rooms for their opponents, the Krags, Gordon, Percy, the mobgoblins, and closes his fist in a swift movement.
They all turn to dust.
A moment of confusion passes then they all look at the new iron Pete, who is looking out to Magpies direction. Ropes of light flow from his hands and reach beneath the ground below a tree pulling Rover out. The light wraps around and envelops him for a moment before glowing brighter, then releasing him to the ground. He lays there still but changed, no longer a dog, a man and a moving chest. He’s breathing.
“Pete? Are you alright big boy?” : Maureen
”Maureen, I believe I’ve finished your list. I’m sorry if you wanted to do it yourself” :Pete
“Pete, you did it, you’re free” :Cheeky
”No Cheeky, we’re free” :Pete
”You brought Rover back?” :Carlos
“I believe I did, I don’t know how though” :Pete
All three of them run over to have a group hug.
”Thank you Pete” :Maureen
“I’m so proud of you.” :Cheeky
”So what do we do now?” :Carlos
”I think we should do what we want to do now, not what others want, what we want” :Pete
”I have a friend who lives in a forest community and you can live there, start new lives. Maureen you can perform again, Cheeky can make new friends and protect everyone with Pete and Carlos can discover who he truly is, not who his religion had made him out to be.” :Magpie who’s been in the corner bewildered. “There name is London.”
A few years later, they are living their own paved out lives. Maureen dances under the stage lights every night, remembering and commemorating Chlorine with every step, finally accepting the life she now leads. She’s met a bird who comes and goes, a black crow called Poe, who helps with her music. Carlos lives with his new love who continues to help him through seeing the world differently. Cheeky and John Nipples help out with clearing up the streets from criminals (not of dead bodies). Pete works alongside Cheeky ,his best friend, taking out criminals who kill mercilessly with his new Demi-god powers. Rover lives with Suzie and their three kids. And at the end of each week our four miscreants always meet up to have a drink of tea.
We are free.