░ Chapter 13 ░ (1/2)
Author Note: You’ve all seemed very cranky in the comments last week…..was that my fault J ? Please enjoy this week’s Playhouse m(_ _)m Do you want to play?
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The cobble stone basement underneath the Tuan manor was alight with a blue glow as Rea’s body floated in the center of a sphere of concentrated magic.
Dressed in her night gown, her knees huddled to her chest with her arms locked around them and her hair out and flowing you could barely tell she was on the fine line between life and death.
Her eyes were closed peacefully, unconscious, the magic numbing the excruciating pain from her injuries and her seal was flashing dully like a dying firefly.
Mark stared at her form with hard eyes and balled fists. His clothes were drenched in her blood from cradling her tattered body in his arms all the way home.
He thought he’d be sick from the sight of his blood covered hand brushing his Doll’s hair out of her face as her body fought for every breath in his lap.
Jinyoung could read aura, Jaebeom had telekinesis, Jackson could paralyze, if Mark didn’t have his trait of durability and accelerated healing there was no way Rea would have survived.
Her body was riddled with gashes and stab wounds so severe she would have to stay incarcerated in the orb of his magic for quite sometime, if her heart didn’t give out.
The five Dolls looked on in anguish, their eyes swollen from tears and their voices hoarse from screaming.
Karin sobbed softly into Mari’s chest as the elder Doll smoothed her hair soothingly, her mouth a firm line as little tears still trickled from her bloodshot eyes.
Chrysalis was in a daze with her lips parted as her body had a hard time breathing and was leaning her head on Faun’s shoulder.
Faun laid her head against hers, her hat disheveled and hanging precariously from her head as she rubbed soothing circles on her lower back to calm her down though she wasn‘t doing any better.
Talia leaned her back against the wall next to Miss Mona with her arms crossed and her face impassive.
She couldn’t even look at her sister right now and she was the first one to slip out of the room.
“I want you all to get to bed. Now.”
Mark commanded quietly, his voice barely a whisper and the girls bowed respectfully and while supporting each other they left through the door as the six of Mark’s closest friends entered silently.
They nodded towards Mona and the hairs on the back of their necks stood tall as Mark’s rage began to resonate from his body.
“I’m going to find who did this…and I’m going to kill them….”
“Mark I’m so sorry…..”
Jaeboem began and BamBam and Yugyeom cowered while the older four didn’t even flinch when Mark jolted around, his eyes ablaze, his fangs snarling and his voice an animalistic roar.
“I’M GOING TO BREAK EVERY BONE IN THEIR BODY! THEN TEAR THEM LIMB FROM LIMB AND AS THEIR BODY’S LAY SURROUNDED BY THEIR OWN POOL OF BLOOD, GASPING FOR THEIR LAST FEW SECONDS OF LIFE, BEFORE THE PAIN BECOMES TOO MUCH AND THEY GO NUMB…..I WILL CRUSH THEIR SKULL IN MY BARE HAND, SLOWLY, REVELING IN THE SOUND AS IT CRACKS UNDER MY FINGERS!”
Before he could change to Demon form Jackson blurred and held his shaking best friend in his arms tightly.
“This is all my fault.”
“YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT THIS IS YOUR FAULT”
Jaebeom’s chest sunk as Mark yelled at him. His voice was pained, so pained. Jinyoung squeezed his shoulder reassuringly making the elder shake his head.
“Mark, this was no one’s fault but the assailant. No one knew this would happen…”
“THEN HE SHOULD’VE BEEN FUCKING PREPARED!”
Jackson groaned as he held Mark back and the sight made the youngest watch in fear and Neema covered her eyes with her little hands.
“Was it the same aura from the murders?”
Youngjae asked with his arms crossed and everyone turned to face Jinyoung who nodded his head grimly.
“So what do we do now? We can’t just do nothing!”
“Well what do you suggest we do Jackson? We don’t know who this person is, where they’re from, all we know is they murdered Doll candidates in alleyways for some sort of revenge.”
Mark’s body tensed, his head tilting up towards the ceiling with closed eyes as he tried to regain his composure.
“I know what you’re implying Jinyoung, don’t you think I’m suffering enough already? Rea is on the brink of death and now you want me to offer up another of my Dolls as bait to lure out this monster?”
The room fell silent and Mona’s crystal voice finally spoke up.
“Everyone’s exhausted, their judgment clouded so it’d be best not to make any hasty decisions at this time. All we can do is just hope for Rea to pull through and comfort the girls in their time of need.”
They nodded their heads in agreement and Jackson walked away from Mark as Jaebeom came up to him with an apologetic expression.
“I’ll inform all the Puppeteers, have them keep a look out, and if they hear or see anything….”
“They’ll do nothing. The culprit’s death will be by my own hands. Now if you‘d all be so kind as to leave my estate.”Mark stared up at his ceiling as the morning light began to pour in through his curtains.
After brushing his fingers through their hair and kissing his girls good night as they slept he returned to his room and burned his blood ridden clothes and laid in bed with the idea of sleep completely out of his mind.
He sat up as he heard strange noises coming from outside. He slipped on a grey shirt and ventured out to the garden and was surprised to see Talia up and about still in her night wear.
She looked over her shoulder with her arms ready to land another punch on the oak tree and she beamed at him.
“Good morning Master~”
“Good…morning Talia. Why are you up so early?”
“Wanted to get a head start on a brand new day that’s all Master♥”
She laughed brightly and returned to assaulting the tree and Mark frowned deeply. She wasn’t activated yet there was a dent in the bark of the sturdy oak.
The brown bark was splintering and covered in a red substance and Talia groaned with each blow. He walked up to his Doll with sad eyes and brushed her twin tail over her shoulder.
The skin of her knuckles were completely worn away revealing the white bone underneath it and blood dripped from her clenched fists and trickled down her arms.
Her eyes were puffy and dark and her lips were curled over her teeth in a painfully forced smile.
“Talia stop”
“Can’t do that Master, I just started~”
“Talia it’s alright”
“It’s not alright Master, nothing is alright…..”
Her eyes began to glisten as her blows landed more frequently. Her smile shrunk little by little and by the time it disappeared her body was erupting into full on sobs of pain.
Mark pinned her arms to her chest as he pulled her into his embrace and they knelt to the floor as her legs gave out underneath her.
“I SHOULD’VE DONE SOMETHING!”
Talia cried leaning her head into his shoulder, the grey fabric turning dark from her tears and Mark kissed the top of her head comfortingly.
“There was nothing anyone could do Angel. If you think about it, she protected a lot of people….”
“I’m suppose to protect her! I’m the oldest Doll, the rest of the girls are my responsibility. We’re suppose to stick together and…..”
Her words became mumbled as she cried harder. Mark carried her quivering body in his arms and blurred her to his room.
Laying her in his bed and pulling the covers up he brought her injured knuckles to his lips as he activated her.
Her soulless eyes still glistened with tears and he forced her body to relax so she can rest. Slowly the skin on her hands grew back and once he knew her conscious had fallen asleep he kissed her forehead, lingering there for a moment, then left the room.
Once out the door he banged the back of his head against the wood and sighed. If Talia was like this he feared what kind of state the rest of his Dolls were in. He blurred to Faun’s room and threw the door open while calling up into the trees, his voice echoing in the vast forest.
“Faun, are you alright?”
Birds chirped and the hammock swayed emptily in the breeze. Maybe she was in the kitchen?
Mark opened Mari’s door and he frowned at her bed that was neatly arranged, her stuffed animals aligned and her romance novels put away with no sign of her.
“Where in the world……”
He opened Karin’s door and looked up at the giant books but her bed was shut and Herbert’s carrier door was wide open. A sign hanging from her shelf read “CLOSED.”
He started to panic, his heart rate increasing and his brows furrowing and he quickly blurred to Chrysalis’ room, almost breaking the door off it’s hinges from throwing it open hastily.
His face paled. She wasn’t there either. There was no indication she had been in the room all morning.
“No no no no no…..”
Every worst case scenario began to play in his mind as he blurred all over the house. What if the assailant broke in and took them away?
“Mona! Mona!”
Or worse, what if they left him? Hearing his Marionette reply to him in the basement he blurred so fast he almost fell over as Mona stopped him abruptly with a finger over her lips.
“The girls….”
She nodded her head towards the cracked open door and Mark peered inside and his shoulders dropped in relief.