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The Player wasn't one for hesitancy. When The Batter had first introduced himself she had nodded in a courteous manner and told him it was a pleasure making his acquaintance before taking a graceful step forward and compelling him to follow with her invisible strings. Her orders were always tactical, she showed a remarkable sense of restraint when faced with carnage, her behavior was never anything but professional, and he came to admire her quite ardently. By the time they were nearly complete with their mission, three zones' worth of bloodshed, puzzles and cooperation had forged a strong bond between puppet and puppeteer, with the puppet feeling wholly satisfied in his decision to enter into their arrangement.
Thus, having had such a high opinion in his Player's capability, The Batter felt sufficiently rattled when his Player showed a lack of conviction upon entry into the final zone.
"Wait."
As though her voice wasn't enough, she had reached out and gripped the back of his jersey. It was as though she had forgotten she could control his every move. Startled, The Batter gave her a look of mild consternation.
"I need to...it's just..." She paused, closed her eyes, and sucked in a deep breath. Then she squared her shoulders and looked up at him. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this."
Having recovered from his surprise, The Batter shot back, "What are you talking about? This is the final step in completing our holy mission. Surely you can't be hesitating now, after all of the trails and tribulations you have been through by my side."
"No, I'm not getting cold feet!" She insisted, looking away and past him, into the crawling darkness. The other zones, while undeniably corrupt and laden with pollutions that needed to be purified, had at least some semblance of liveliness and splashes of color. The moment she and her puppet were transported to The Room, it felt as though the darkness before them was an endless abyss; already she could sense the shadows vibrating all around her, desperate to squirm closer and closer until she was swallowed whole. It just wasn't logical, and it felt contradictory to her character when she had shown detachment and determination through the gory deaths of Dedan, Japhet, Enoch, and countless Elsens, but she could not deny the gnawing nervousness deep inside of her.
"I just have the feeling that this zone will be entirely different from anything we've faced before," she admitted. She looked to The Batter in hopes that he would assuage her fears with steadfast assurance, or at least show her some semblance of camaraderie, but all she got was a blank expression and eyes devoid of any sympathy. If she saw anything in his face it was disappointment, and that thought prompted her to say, as smoothly as she could, "I merely needed a moment to compose myself. I am soothed, now. Let's go in."
She went in past him with a solid posture and a confident stride, and The Batter followed after her with the obedience of a servant that has been convinced of the superiority of his master. Still, although he felt reassured, in the back of his mind the feeling that he actually didn't know her as well as he thought nagged at him like a locust.
-
Through the chapters that followed The Player had recovered quite well, receding into her usual role of quiet controller up until they had reached Chapter 1 and it was time for them to face The Queen. After they crossed the bridge and entered the platform she felt about as disoriented as Alice after her fall down the rabbit-hole.
"How strange," The Batter said, squinting and searching the platform for any semblance of life. "She is not here."
"Was she supposed to be here?" The Player inquired.
"Yes! That is how it was supposed to be!" The Batter was getting irritated now. "What is going on?"
"Maybe it is just not the time to face--"
Suddenly the world around them blurred, and when the world cleared again they found themselves in a large room as red as blood. They exchanged doubtful looks before glancing towards a large doorway which seemed to glow with light. "This is not right," The Batter muttered under his breath. "Something is wrong."
The Player said nothing, opting instead to head towards the doorway. Before they even entered the room there was a a high-pitched gasp.
Down on the floor sat a small little boy, not even five years old, peering up at the two of them with large doe eyes that widened with fear. He was clutching a ham, he had dots all over his forehead, and the Batter's stomach churned with disgust as he looked down at the creature he came to recognize as his Final Opponent. His expression darkened - This was not the ideal order of events, he thought, But I must purify all that is impure - his grip tightened on his baseball bat, and he took a step forward.
Then his Player's voice stopped him. "Oh my goodness!" She cried out, her voice high with an emotion the Batter had never heard her express before. He wasn't sure it could be true, so he turned to look and sure enough, her eyes were sparkling and her mouth was set in a big, delighted smile. There his Player was, looking down at Hugo with pure happiness. It baffled him, and he became only more startled when she fell to her knees and held her arms out towards the little boy.
"You sweet little darling!" She cooed. "Oh my, aren't you a little sweetheart?" She batted her eyes at the little boy, who gasped and shuffled away from them. He was obviously very distressed, but the Player seemed oblivious to his emotional state and continued: "So precious; I haven't seen anyone as adorable as you in the game! Aww, don't be scared, sweet pea," she lowered her voice a couple tones to sound less excited. "There's nothing to be afraid of. Come on, come closer..."
She looked up at Batter, and he was speechless when he saw the bright gleam of affection in her eyes. "Oh wow, Batter, isn't he a cutie?" He just stared at her, causing her to humph and turn back to the boy, whose back had reached the wall. He was trembling something awful; his fearful eyes darted from the Batter to the Player as though they were wolves and he was trying to guess which one would move to devour him first.
"Darling," the Player murmured, shuffling closer to him. "No one is going to hurt you. There's no need to be so afraid!"
The boy swallowed hard and looked at her doubtfully. Finally, he croaked: "R-really...?"
"Yes, really!" She assured him ardently. "Neither of us is going to hurt you! Come on, how could anyone ever hurt someone as precious as you?" The boy blinked rapidly and his gaze softened, but then his eyes flickered towards the Batter and he began shaking even harder than before. This irritated the Player, who whipped around to face her puppet. "Batter!" She hissed. "Get down with us! You're scaring the poor baby."
"Excuse me?" He was getting ready to voice his true feelings when he felt his body lean down of its own accord. When he was sitting on his knees on the red carpet, he shot a glare at his puppeteer, but by now she had shuffled a step closer to Hugo and was making clicking sounds with her tongue, trying to coax the child closer to her.
"You see?" Player murmured. She smiled gently at Hugo, whose posture had lost a good deal of its tenseness when the Batter sat down. Finally the little boy swallowed hard and looked the Player in the eye. When she held out her hand and introduced herself, he tentatively lifted his hand to hers and she shook it gently. "It's nice to meet you, Hugo," she said, and The Batter was surprised to hear genuine warmth in her voice. "May I hug you?"
Hugo's eyes fluttered as he blinked fast. He voiced his concern about hugging a stranger, but after a few moments he reminded himself that since they were introduced they couldn't be strangers. Thus convinced, he put down his slab of ham and crawled over to the Player, resting his head in her stomach and reaching his tiny arms as far around her as they could go. The Player chuckled genially and put her arms around him before kissing the top of his head. "Oh, you are such a cute and wonderful baby," she said in a voice as soft as silk.
The Batter could see her rest her head atop little Hugo's and move it in delicate, catlike motions. Disturbed, he squirmed in his seat, unused to such displays of tenderness. He had expected that by now his uniform would be coated in the blood of his enemies, that he would have made good use of his time and have furthered his quest to purify the land. Instead, here he was sitting down, feeling awkward as he watched the woman that controlled his every move snuggling with his father, whom he had come to eradicate once and for all.
This respite from violence was entirely unprecedented, and he wasn't sure how he felt seeing his Player switch from brutal eradicator to coddling and gushing mother figure so quickly. He had fancied his Player as a cold and calculating partner in purification, who, like him, was focused only on the goal of purifying the land. It hadn't occurred to him that she was capable of the entire spectrum of human emotions. (Or rather, he thought now, perhaps it was that I wanted to believe she couldn't.) Seeing her act so warm and loving out of a sudden bothered him more than he wished it, and he looked away.
The only sound in the room was that of The Player's lips as they gave Hugo another kiss, this time on the top of his head. When Hugo pulled away she told him that he had the sweetest little smile she had ever seen and he giggled with shyness and pleasure. She squealed and started to pinch his chubby little cheeks, now reddened from her compliments and affection, all the while showering him with high-pitched compliments such as, "Aww, you are so precious, so sweet and so adorable~!" This in turn caused Hugo to laugh even harder, and he gleefully protested her hold on his cheeks. By now the two of them were wrapped up in their own little world and seemed to have completely forgotten The Batter, who now watched the two of them with a morbid curiosity as they exchanged excited whispers and played hand-clapping games.
"Do you want to see some of my pictures?" Hugo asked.
"Ooh, of course!" The Player chirped, and the Batter almost groaned audibly. Unsurprisingly she began gushing over his pictures and profusely complimenting the little boy, which only made him more confident and eager to show off his pictures to her. It was obvious that the two were positively smitten with each other in the way that only new friends can be, when there seems to be an impossible amount of new and exciting things to learn about one another and yet so little time.
The Batter didn't know how long the two of them played together like children; all he knew was that sitting there and watching the two of them became more torturous with every passing second. Finally little Hugo stifled a yawn, and The Player asked, "Ohh, are you sleepy ...I'll tuck you in then." The Player then picked him up, sat on the bed with him, and laid him down among the rich crimson sheets before pulling the soft covers over him and giving him a loving kiss on the forehead.
"Miss Player?" He coughed, and she looked at him with deep concern. "Will you come and see me again?"
"Oh, of course!" She said earnestly. "I will absolutely see you again! I couldn't just not visit a new, darling friend of mine," she gave him a sweet smile, but Hugo held out his hand and extended his pinkie finger.
"Pinkie promise," he said gravely, his serious expression eliciting a bubbly laugh from the Player.
"Pinkie promise," she assured him, wrapping her pinkie around him and giving her hand a small, but sturdy, shake. Hugo looked satisfied and settled back into bed. He waved at the two of them as they left, and called out, "Come back soon!"
The Player had the Batter leave first; the Batter could only presume that it was so the last thing little Hugo would see before he went to bed was his new friend The Player blowing him a kiss goodnight.
-
"That," the Player said with firm conviction, "Was wonderful. Just wonderful!"
The Batter said nothing; he continued walking with her as they strolled down the dark hallways that not too long ago had brought forth trepidation in both parties. It seemed as though meeting Hugo had wiped away all of the anxiousness in his Puppeteer. Now she twirled with joy she could barely conceal.
"I'm being honest," she continued meaningfully. She must have taken the Batter's silence as disbelief. "I'm glad we met that darling little angel. What a sweetie Hugo was! Have you ever seen a child so precious?" And then her eyes brightened up again and her smile widened and she did another twirl. By now the Batter was desensitized and had fully accepted that his Player was not as hard-hearted as he had previously suspected; by now her nature had been proven to be quite the opposite of his earlier suspicions.
"I feel much better about this Zone, now that I know someone so wonderful lives here. Speaking of that, I wonder how he can stand it here! It's so quiet and creepy." She stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him. "Batter! Before we purify this zone, we must come back for Hugo." She scanned his face and appeared dissatisfied with what she found. "I'm entirely serious! I really love that kid, and I don't want him to fade away like the guardians. When we defeat the Queen, you will go back for Hugo, right? You'll save him before the game ends?"
"He will be saved," The Batter assured her. "I will make sure of it."
Now The Player's face dropped all pretenses of seriousness and blossomed with a bright, happy smile. "Oh, good!" She exclaimed, completely convinced by the steady conviction in his tone. "That's wonderful. I'm so happy to hear that," she went on. "You're a good man, Batter. You're making this world a better place - making it better for people like Hugo."
As the two of them walked through The Room and prepared for their final showdown with the Queen, The Batter stayed silent and allowed the Player her high-spirited naïvite.
There was no doubt in his mind that he would carry through with his promise and be Hugo's salvation -- it just wouldn't occur the way his Player envisioned it, but she didn't have to know. He would let her be blissful in her ignorance.