Scars (Part II of J.H. White's Puss in Boots)

Chapter Twenty: The Trial

Puss pushed on the doors to the tower and they clicked open so suddenly that he almost fell into the entrance. He walked into the hall, which was pitch black and pictured in his head what Scars would do to him if he lost. There were so many questions floating around his mind as well, but maybe these would be answered.

God, if I die, spare Kitty. Spare Maria. Keep them safe. In the name of your Holy Son I pray, Amen.

His boots echoed on the reflective tile. He couldn't see a thing. There was silence. Then, his legs were swept out from under him and his back slammed into the floor. He still couldn't see. It was as if a shadow had brought him down. Then, by the light of a single candle, he appeared. The devil on Earth.

Scars, wearing a black robe that trailed on the floor behind him, his eyes pure red just as they had been in Kitty's vision.

"I knew you would come," he said cryptically, his voice like a siren right before the boat smashed into the rocks.

"I've come to kill you. Did you know that too?" Puss spat at him.

"If you wish to kill me and achieve heaven, you must first venture back into hell."

Puss looked at him with the sharpness of a dagger. "Enough of your games. I will make you wish you were dead, and then I'll grant your wish."

Scars scoffed. "If you pass my trial, you may just survive." All of a sudden, Scars vanished and Puss landed in the club he had found Kitty in.

The bartender turned to him. "Phone for you, Señor Puss." Puss was confused, but he took the handset and, having no idea what was going on, spoke into it.

"Hello?" he said in a whisper.

Scars' voice entered his head like a virus.

"Welcome back."

****

Kitty sat on the ground, curled up in a ball, tears streaming down her face. She had accepted that she would never see him again; he wasn't making it out alive.

Then, she heard a voice in her head.

"Kitty," it said. "Come to me."

She had no idea what was happening, but the voice sounded eerily familiar.

"Kitty," it said again, "come."

This time, she was abruptly dragged forward by what seemed to be magic, dark powers that were moving her against her body's will.

"Come to me," the voice said a third time, now becoming more raspy and almost distorted.

Kitty was thrown through the doors of the tower and into the hall, where Scars stood. She saw Puss on the floor, hacking up black and screaming her name.

"PUSS!" she cried, then she turned to Scars. "STOP IT! STOP IT! YOU'RE KILLING HIM!"

Scars ran to her. "He was going to kill me first. We'll see if he survives, Kitty."

Kitty looked perplexed. "How do you know my name?

"I know everything about you," he said venomously. He put her paw in his. "You have no claws. What a tragedy." She pulled it away in disgust.

"Stop hurting him," she said fiercely.

"You don't remember me," he said. "That is apparent."

"What are you talking about?" she hissed. Scars smiled.

"I loved you, you know," he continued. "A long time ago. But then I realized dark secrets, secrets that were hidden from me. I had power that couldn't be tamed, and I killed you like I killed everybody else. But then I realized I was in the SIM; the world your husband is trapped in now, the world you have experienced before. And then I realized something even more tantalizing. I created the SIM. I created a world where pain and fear reigned supreme. Some people in the SIM are real, some are illusions to prey on the darkest parts of the brain. They are all trapped in this cosmic purgatory, carrying out my bidding."

Kitty gasped. "I remember. It was you."

"When you were a mercenary, Kitty, when you were younger, I trapped you in my reality because I wanted you. But you fought it; you got yourself killed, realizing that you could control your own fate in the reality. You kissed me when you lay there, when that bullet was in you, to unleash my power upon you. Your death in the SIM was your freedom."

Kitty reached for her knife, but then Scars snatched it and held it to her neck, pointing her in the direction of Puss writhing in agony, dark tentacles beginning to emerge from his mouth, squirming around him.

"I can't win your love now. But I can force you to watch the one you gave your heart to die."