The Man who tried to Kill Dante - THE END

[Christmas Chief]

Nice work maintaining the noir style throughout. "Using a phrase which here means nothing" is a brilliant line, and something I almost wish would appear in the canon. Of course, I'm interested in the case of characters introduced here as well; the questions only serve to intrigue, even if we must wait until Chapter Three for the answers.

[Dante]

I think something not dissimilar did appear in WCTBATH, in fact.

[Anka]

I like what you have made of the town. And Isabelle is interesting.

[MisterM]

Dante, you are corect. The line is taken from the scene when Theodora books a room at - wait for it - the lost arms.

[Christmas Chief]

Well, good of you to integrate it, then. It's a fine selection.

[Tryina Denouement]

It was awesome! And keep on correcting your capitalization!

[Charlie]

Well this is simply wonderful. Well worth the wait, which is reasonably insignificant anyway. I love the way that you set your characters out, and their interactions are splendid. If you ever write a full length novel, I would love to read it. Capitalisation is one of my pet peeves, but I don't really care seeing as the quality of the writing is so good. Well done Mister M.

[MisterM]

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews!

[MisterM]

--Chapter Two--

And for a while things were cold.
And they were scared down in their holes.
The Forest that once was green, was coloured black by those killing machines.


Isabelle has clearly not expected to be interrupted, but then again, that’s her fault for not being cautious enough.


Issac was a light sleeper, and always had been. In fact that night, after long hours of working things out with Thomas, he had hardly slept at all. So when a loud noise had come from the lobby of the lost arms, Issac had no choice but to go and investigate.

‘Do you need any help?’ She gave a shriek, as she had clearly not expected to be interrupted.

‘What are you doing wandering around at night?’ She asked

‘Watching you,. What are you doing wandering around at night?’ I asked

‘I’m wandering. Because its nice.’

‘Why are you lying on the floor?’

‘Because I like lying on the floor. And then I wander around. Because its nice.’

‘Okay. I might try it tomorrow night.’

‘You do that.’

There was a long silence, which some people may have found awkward.

‘Are you going?’ She asked

‘No.’ I said

There was a slightly shorter silence, which some people ma have said was even more awkward

‘Are you going now?’

‘Ill go when you stand up.’

And so, as the sun rose on a Sunday morning, we remained in those exact positions, until there ws a knock on the large wooden doors that led into the building. I went over and opened the door, to find a man who I thought was Pip, only, he looked different.

‘Who are you?’ The man asked

‘My name is Issac, the woman on the floor is Isabelle, and I believe you must be Pip’s brother, and you’ve just come back from out of town, where you happened to be o business, despite the fact that the business you run is contained entirely within this building. How do you do?’

‘What are you doing here?’

‘Im here on business.’ I replied.

The man looked at me, slightly annoyed, before making his way past me.

When I turned around, the man was walking through a door with ‘office’ written on it, and Isabelle had pulled herself up from the floor and was now sitting on the old sofa.

‘So you’ve finished then?’ I asked.

‘Clearly.’ She sat up ‘I’m going to bed now.’

‘But its morning?’

‘Yes..’ she said, as she walked down the corridor. ‘it is.’

‘Well, we need to talk.’

She stopped and turned to look at him. ‘About what?’

‘Many things. Me. You. My brother. What you’re doing here.
What I am doing here. What my brother is doing here.’

‘We could talk, but im tired.’

‘Well, when you’re not, you know where my room is.’


Isabelle woke a few hours later, and decided she would talk things over with Issac. He seemed… trustworthy, at the very least.

She showered, applied make up, and squeezed herself back in the same red dress, before walking to Issacs room.

She rapped her knuckles on the door, and a voice
replied ‘come in’, but the voice was different, and did not sound like issac.

Tentatively, she pushed open the door.

Inside was a room similar to her own, but everything in the room was blue. The bed was ina complete state, with the duvet thrown onto the floor, and there were various items scattered all over the room. Issac was nowhere to be seen, but she could hear the noise of running water coming from the bathroom.

A man She had never seen has stepped out of the bathroom, with nothing but a towel around his waste. ‘oh.’ the man
said. ‘I was expecting someone else,’

‘I can see. My name is Isabelle. Im looking for Issac?;

‘Hes outside.’


She found Issac lying on a patch of dying grass, staring up at the sky, wearing nothing but a bathrobe.


‘Aren’t you going to get dirty?’ She asked me

‘Yes.’ I replied. ‘But I like looking at the sky so it doesn’t matter.’

‘Aren’t you cold?’ She asked

‘Yes.’ I Replied, ‘But I like looking at the sky so it doesn’t matter.’

‘Don’t we need to talk? She asked

‘Yes.’ I replied ‘Bit I Like looking at the sku, so it doesn’t matter.’

‘Can we talk out here.;

;’Ah.; I leaned forward to look at her. She looked away awkwardly.; ‘That is a good idea. Lie down.

‘I’m sorry?;

‘Lie down next me. We can look at the sky, and talk the world below it,’

She laid down next to me, and looked up at the sky. ‘Who was that man?’ she asked

‘Which man? The man at the door or the man in my room?’

‘I know who the man at the door was. His name is squeak, and he and his brother are smuggling drugs out of the city.’

‘So you want to know who Thomas is?’

‘Yes.’

‘He is a very close friend of mine. I knew him from a relatively young age, and he I called him here to discuss the
latest information.’

‘What information?’

‘That VFD have sent an agent to observe my brother.’

‘And who is that.’

I turned to look at her. ‘I haven’t time to play that game, Isabelle, we both know VFD sent you here to find out what my brother was doing.’

‘Very good sir. How did you know?’

‘You made the mistake of giving me your name. Markson. Your mother was a friend of my fathers. Well, I say friend..’

‘Who was your father?’

‘As I said, lets not play that game. You know who my father is.’

‘Who do you work for then?’ she said, turning to look at me.

‘Your enemy.’ I said

‘So why haven’t you killed me?’

‘Because we can help each other find my brother. We know hes here, somewhere., so why not… combine our knowledge and resources.’

‘I suppose we could….’ she said. ‘But you were wrong.’

‘Im sorry?’

‘You were wrong. I wasn’t sent here to observe Mister M. I was sent here to kill you.’

And quick as a flash, she pulled a gun out of her pocket, and aimed it straight at me.

‘Give me the last three numbers.’ she shouted

I remained calm, looking at the sky ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘5, 9, 16. What are the other three?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.'

‘Tell me or I fire!’

‘No you wont.’

She made to pull the trigger, but blood erupted from her head, and she fell down dead upon my chest. I looked to my right, where Thomas stood. He had shot her

‘Well thank you very much.’ I said. I stood up and threw her body over my shoulder, walked over to Thomas, kissed him, and we walked back into the lost arms


Alone I fight these animals
Alone until I get home


Questions you may want answered
1) What was Isabelle doing in the lobby?
2) What did Thomas and Issac talk about?
3) Why are Pip and Squeak smuggling drugs?
4) What is hidden inside Isabelle’s dress?

[Dante]

This is increasingly becoming quite a good mystery, Mister M. It has the right amount of me not knowing at all what's going on. It's very much in the spirit of All the Wrong Questions and its shifting alliances - very fitting, for a story that takes place in Stain'd.

[Charlie]

MISTER M!!! IT'S WONDERFUL!!! Yeah. I am intrigued, is Isaac really the son of Hangfire? Is he the son of Lemony? Is he the son of someone else entirely. Who can tell

[Lucas]

Is he the missing son of Stanley?

[Anka]

How could I totally not see the second chapter until now? It's great, but I think I have to re-read chapter 1 to know what was going on again.

[MisterM]

--Chapter Three--

His crown lit up the way as we moved slowly past the wondering eyes of the ones we left behind.
And in that sea that painted black.
Creatures lay below the deck.
Ill be there to hold your hand
Because you’re my king and I’m a lionheart.


The lighthouse was stained by ashes.

A fire had broken out many years ago, and nobody was truly sure who had started it. Years had come and gone, like the leaves blowing in the wind, and the story of the fire had become buried in the sands of time.

The lighthouse had remained untouched for many years, until a man with one long eyebrow, a tattoo of an eye on his ankle, and noble intentions had taken a small statue of a mythical creature, after finally finding a way to keep it safe.

A year later, a man with less noble intentions had also disturbed the lighthouse, trying to find the same item, only to discover he was to late.

And now, just under two years later, this sad place was disturbed once more.

Issac looked at the faded photograph of the faded town. There were three people in the picture, who Issac had not met, but of whom he knew. All three of them had been related, and all three had recently died. But their legacy lived on in books, papers, and young children. ‘it’s a shame.’ he said to himself. ‘If only you’d listened to me lemony.’

‘What’s that?’ said Thomas.

‘Nothing.’ He smashed the picture on the side of the shelf. ‘Just… looking back.’ He pulled out the picture and but it in his pocket.

‘So.. See anything strange?’ Thomas asked.

‘That depends what you mean by strange.’ There was a
strange collapsible typewriter lying on the floor, with one side smashed in. Isaac picked it up, noted the strange green hue on the broken side, before dropping it back on the floor. ‘No.’ He said. ‘There is nothing here to concern ourselves with.’

‘Okay then.’ Thomas dropped the large sack on the floor. ‘So we’re just leaving her here then?’

‘We have no more need of it. And ive got what I came for.’ He moved towards the door. ‘Oh, Thomas, I want you to go straight back to the lost arms. I’m going to go to the house near the sallis mansion alone. I need you to phone this number.’ He handed Thomas a piece of paper ‘and leave a message for a man called Dante. Tell him I know where my brother is staying, and I finally have a chance to end this, but I need to know a few more things that only he knows, and also to tell him to find the woman before its to late, and I believe she may be at the horseradish factory.’

‘Okay.’

‘Did you remember all of that.’

‘No.’

‘Probably should have written it down then shouldn’t you.’

'Yes.’


Awaken by the sound of a screaming owl.
Chasing leaves in the wind going where we’ve never been.
I said goodbye to you my friend, as the fire spread
All that’s left are your bones that will soon stink like stones, so hold on to what we are.
Hold on to your heart


Isaac found the small cottage nestled among the trees, hidden from view. He pulled the packet he had taken from walleye out of his pack, and turned to page 129. He could not be sure which tree was being described, and it didn’t really matter. So skipped ahead to page 132, which read as thus :

‘She lead the way through the trees to the cottage I had seen from the road and from the hawser. Curiously, it looked even smaller now we were close up, with a few windows here and there and a creaky looking door and a white grey chimney puffing grey smoke into the night’

Issac looked up, and was surprised to find the chimney was puffing grey smoke, all these years later.

He walked up to the cottage, and slowly pushed the door open.

He was equally surprised to find a girl inside she had ‘strange, curved eyebrows, each one coiled over like a question mark. Green eyes she had, and her so black it made the night look pale. She had long fingers with nails just as black, and they poked out of a black shirt with long, smooth sleeves’ And when she turned around he saw her smile 'shadowy in the moonlight. It was a smile that could have meant anything.’.

‘Hello.’ she said. ‘I’ve been expecting you.

‘It cant be. You’re Ellington-’

‘Feint. Yes, that right. It is a pleasure to meet you at last Issac.’

‘How do you know who I am?’

‘I Could ask the same thing.’ She pulled on a backpack, and walked towards Issac, or the door. He was so confused he wasn’t sure which.

‘But you’re dead.’

‘Yes..’ She stepped outside. ‘Now, are you coming with me or not?’

‘Where?’ He asked.

‘To go and talk to your brother.’

‘I.. I need to sit down I.’

‘Look. You can come with me, and I can explain some things, or you can stay her bumbling about like an idiot.’

Issac ran up to her ‘You are dead. You died. I have the evidence right here in my hands. My father killed you, years and years ago. So how can you be here?’

‘Because I am. Because the world is vast an complicated, and sometimes unexplainable things happen and we call them miracles. And Because I need to help you.’

‘Why do I need help?’

‘Because you’re gong to die Issac. Your brother is going to shoot you, stone dead. And when that happens, all hell will break loose. But we can stop that if I help you.’

‘What? How can you know I’m gong to die? How can you help?’

‘I know you’re gong to die because I do. And there are three things we need to do to help. The first is to talk to your brother.’

‘Why? What good will that do?’

‘Because there is a sequence of six numbers only he and a cowardly banker knows, and we need to find out what they are first.’

‘ Hang on. Six numbers…. I think know what the first three are.’

‘Excuse me?’ Ellington turned and laughed ‘Great! What are they?’

‘5, 9, and 16.’

‘And I’ve got the last two. 24 and 53.’

‘So.. What is the other one?’ asked Issac.

‘Only your brother knows. Or Mister M. Or whatever he’s calling himself these days.’

‘Surely he could just kill me when we go and find him?’

‘No. You will not die for a long time yet, Issac.’

‘Im not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.’

‘Well, get used to it. Are you coming with me?’

‘Where are we going?’

‘The Clusterous forest.’ She started walking towards the strange seaweed, and Issac reluctantly followed.


Several minutes later, Dante Rubens received a telephone call, and booked a taxi, before heading towards Stain’d By The Sea.


Several minutes after that. An entirely different man in an entirely different taxi pulled up outside Stain’d By The sea.

He paid the driver, took his suitcase out of the trunk, and headed to the lost arms.

The man had no hear, but he did have a beard, and as he walked into the lobby of the lost arms and saw Thomas, he smirked.

He had found Issac.

[Tryina Denouement]

Oh no! The man with no hair but with the beard! Oh no! Oh no! *Ed Howard mode on*
*OFF*
*Kyle mode on* Ehmm... Sorry I was being too frantic. Your story was amazing, and Ellington Feint was a very wonderful but creepy surprise.*off*
STOP.
I honestly think it was splendid! I enjoyed reading it, but unfortunately you would like to correct some of your spellings, MisterM.