Of Kings & Queens

Mikey Might Be A Dead Man Walking

"Frank! Frank, wake up!" Mikey was trying to shake his friend awake after his encounter of what he could only guess was Montresor's ghost.

"Wha-? What the fuck is it, Mikey?" Frank asked, rubbing his eyes as he sat up, "Don't tell me Gee conned you into getting me out of bed, too."

"This place is haunted!" hissed the younger Way, "I just saw what happened to Montresor!"

"You did?" Frank was now looking a bit less angry and a bit more frightened, "Where's Gerard?"

"What do you-" It then hit Mikey that part of the rest he had gotten up before was to look for his brother. He hadn't found Gerard, he had ran straight back here after his encounter, "Damn it! I'd meant to find him, but then I saw ghosts and-"

"Hey, hey!" Frank grabbed ahold of Mikey's shoulders, "It's okay! Whatever happened, it wasn't your fault. Tell me what happened."

"I-I heard crying, and when I got up I found Gerard gone. I followed the noise to see if he had followed it too and then I saw how Montresor got murdered. It was Gervasius and then after it was over, I came here." Mikey ran a hand through his hair, "I completely forgot to look for Gerard after that."

"Calm down, okay? I'll get dressed, we'll get Ray and Bob, and then we'll go look for him together. That okay with you?"

"Yeah, yeah it is..." Frank nodded.

"Good." The smaller man shivered as well when his bare feet hit the stone floor, but he quickly dressed while Mikey waited. The taller of the two wasn't about to go out into the halls again alone.

"Ready?" Mikey asked.

"Yep." The two then left the room and went down the hall towards the room where Ray and Bob were, "Where do you think Gee could have gone?"

"I don't know, but I don't think he went of his own free will. He was pretty spooked about not knowing how he got to Gervasius' room."

"Think this might result in another memory loss episode?"

"Maybe." Mikey wasn't so sure, though, "He's never sleepwalked before, either, so...could Gervasius be here and possessing Gerard?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions." Frank had been thinking the same thing, though, "Let's just get the guys and find him first."

Blank eyes stared straight ahead as he walked down the hall, no thought to where he was going. There was literally no thought at all to anything, because he wasn't in control. Gervasius was and he didn't know it. Not like he could, he was asleep, which allowed the ghost king to possess his body quite easily.

Soon enough the ghost-possessed man came to the security room and opened the door, which was unlocked. No one was there, Gervasius knew from observing, and he entered. He used the man's fingers on the keyboard to type in codes, where 'ALARMS DEACTIVATED' popped up on a computer screen. The man then stood and left the room, heading elsewhere at Gervasius' command and coming to the Hall of History. The ghost-possessed man walked down the hall, stopping in front of the black tapestry that showed the fight of Gervasius and Percival. The case holding the sword was locked, but the man had taken the keys from the security room before he had left, taking them out now to open the case. The red ruby hilt glinted in the moonlight as he opened the case and took the sword and sheath.

"I have to make this fair, Montresor." The man spoke, but his own voice was layered over with another's, making it sound like it was in stereo. He put the sheath around his waist and drew out the sword, which didn't make a sound despite how the years had passed. The sword also hadn't rusted and was still in amazing shape, though it looked like it could use a little sharpening. It wouldn't need to be sharpened for what Gervasius had in mind, though, "Time to die once again, little brother."