Chapter 26: ACT 3 – Resolution (Part 4)

About fifteen minutes earlier, Jackie noticed Sumire Shakespeare appearing from behind Lady Kuro. Unfortunately, that was the last thing she saw before Luna took back control of the girl’s body for the final time. Jackie was banished back to the Unconscious Zone, unable to stop Luna from shooting Sumire. Jackie stared at the Unconscious Zone’s screen in anticipation and terror as Sumire fell to the stage. Her one ticket back home lay dying at her kinkind’s feet.

“Chloe?” a voice called out behind her.

Jackie turned around to see her favorite author floating beside her in the black void. Her idol. Maryanne-Susan Webber. Maryanne stared at the screen, heartbroken seeing her own sister encouraging Luna to slay her kinkind.

“Yeah,” Jackie sighed, “Chloe sure is Kuro, huh?” She paused. “Oh, er, I’m Jackie. Are you Miss Shakespeare’s summoner?”

Maryanne nodded.

“Sorry about… shooting you.” Jackie frowned, turning her eyes away from the screen.

“It’s ok,” Maryanne sheepishly smiled. “Sorry about forcing you to fight Kuro.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jackie said, “neither of us can control our kinkinds, right?”

The two floating ladies stared at the screen, curious and horrified about what might happen next. The only summoner on that stage who was still in control of her kinkind’s actions was Chloe Webber, a fact which failed to instill confidence in either Jackie nor Maryanne’s mind. As Jackie resided to the fact she would never regain control of her body, that she would float endlessly in the Unconscious Zone for all eternity, she couldn’t help but reminisce about how she ended up there in the first place. About how everything went so wrong so quickly…

 

It seemed like a distant memory now, but Jackie was sure it was only two or three days ago… She woke up on the couch like normal. There was only one bed in her apartment, and Sarah had called dibs on it the night before. Sarah. Her train of thought derailed temporarily as she wondered what Sarah was doing right now. What time was it back in London? Had Sarah even noticed Jackie was gone?

 

“CHLOE!” Maryanne’s screams interrupted Jackie’s internal monologuing as the author watched Luna split her sister in two with a portal similar to one of Sumire Shakepeare’s.

 

“That’s right,” Jackie thought, “It was one of her books, wasn’t it?” Jackie remembered trying to contact her best-friend to recommend him M.S. Webber’s newest novel, Two Beings, Or Not Two Beings. Arthur King. She later found out he had gone missing. All those “missing person” posters... “There’s probably a few of those posters with my face on them by now,” Jackie thought. When she fell asleep that night, she had dreamed about Arthur. She had dreamed that he turned into a knight she now recognized as Excalibur Aristophanes. Perhaps that was Excalibur’s magic power? That didn’t matter now though, Jackie supposed. Arthur and Excalibur were dead…

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It was then that she woke up in Sumire’s tatami room. In Phantasia. That was when she met the witch who ruined her life. Sumire Shakespeare. Even though she was just trying to save her universe from the evil Lady Kuro, Jackie couldn’t help but hate her. After all, how couldn’t she? Sumire was responsible for Luna taking over her body. Responsible for turning Kuro to the dark side in the first place. Responsible for the deaths of the Ye Olde Corner Shoppe cashier, Marissa, Vladimir and Arthur. It was all her fault. If Jackie ever regained control of her body, she’d give Sumire a good telling off! It wasn’t all bad, though… That was also when she met Katherine Genet, Sumire’s eldest familiar. Unlike Sumire, Katherine was kind, understanding and wanted the best for her. Jackie smiled as she fondly recalled everything Katherine had done for her since arriving in Phantasia. If she ever managed to escape the Unconscious Zone, she’d give Katherine a loving hug and kiss. There was also Kitty Genet, although Jackie didn’t have much of an opinion about her. She was just sort of “there”, the Englishwoman supposed. Come to think of it, she didn’t even know what Kitty’s power was.

Sumire had been so kind at first, although Jackie realized now that that was just a front. The witch gave Jackie hot chocolate and calmly explained why she had spirited the girl away. At that time, Jackie didn’t feel like Sumire was dangerous at all. When Sumire left to take a phone call, Katherine took the opportunity to tell Jackie a little bit about kinkind. She hadn’t said much in the way of warning Jackie about things to come, although Jackie now supposed that Sumire would’ve scolded Katherine if the French maid had done so. Or perhaps Katherine was going to mention it, before Jackie found herself suddenly transported outside a border guard station? Whatever the case, Jackie felt unwell as she recalled her first meeting with Vladimir. Mister Chekhov was a nice man, but all Jackie could remember about him were his screams as his body disappeared over the borderline. It’s funny how memory works, isn’t it? Jackie shook her head as she tried to banish the thought of Vladimir’s death from her mind.

 

She looked to the Unconscious Zone’s screen once more to distract herself from those grim thoughts and saw Luna arguing with Katherine, Noh and Kabuki. Ah, Kabuki Mishima. Jackie had met him when she first visited Old King Hamlet. If Jackie knew what had become of that village since she’d last seen it, she would’ve freaked out.

 

Kabuki had always acted coldly toward Jackie. “Understandable,” she thought, “if my master forced someone to stay with me and Sarah, I wouldn’t be very happy either.” That night sleeping under Kabuki’s kotatsu was the first time Jackie saw Luna Wolfe, the kinkind that would later take over her body and refuse to let her conscious back in. At the time, Jackie thought it was a nightmare, but it would turn out to be a prophetic premonition after all. She awoke from that premonition and slept with Kabuki, like a child crawling into their parents’ bed after having a bad dream. Thus concluded her first day in Phantasia.

 

Jackie’s recollecting was once again interrupted as she heard Kabuki scream out in pain on the screen. Luna had killed him. Jackie swung around and grabbed hold of Maryanne’s shoulders.

“Miss Webber,” Jackie pleaded, “please… Please tell me that you know how I can take my body back?! L-Luna’s… Luna’s going to kill them all!”

Maryanne shook her head and wrapped her arms around the distressed girl.

“I’m afraid… We’re both trapped here forever,” the author sighed. “Although it looks like my time is nearly up.”

“W-What do you mean?” Jackie stammered.

“Luna,” Maryanne explained, “any second now she’s going to kill Sumire… She’s going to kill me.”

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