It was like a dream, you try to move and you're always half a step too slow. You try to talk and the words will not form. This Thomas and Finn didn't seem bad, but he was caught and the world doesn't sit still waiting idly by while you try to sort yourself out. They wanted to know what was going on? So did he. All Alex really knew it that Bel dragged him along and wanted him to choke the girl next to Yoshino.
As he was about to open his mouth and explain what he saw as his own lack of knowledge on the matter, the guy holding him started talking frantically about Guilds and battles and all that. Alex was shocked at what was happening, but not entirely surprised he was out of the loop. Verdant Grin didn't seem to like him all that much, or at least was on the aggressive side of passive aggressive. Hearing him being called out to again by Thomas, Alex finally shook himself 'awake' and back into the current moment.
"All I know is that Bel wanted me to choke the girl next to the Prez. I didn't and then I stopped Bel. She went all odd and ran away before being caught by you where it looked like you were an accomplice to assist her escape. Now you know the jack all that I do." Scratching his head as he leaned over Bel all Alex could do right now is wish he knew first-aid.
"Well, yeah, waking up Bel would be good. I'd like some answers from her... but the only way I can really think of waking someone up is how in the movies you splash water on their face. Do we carry Bel somewhere and dump a bucket on her head?" Alex saw it as rather impractical, but on short notice with limited experience... well it was all he could think of.
"Wanna carry her to the gym's change room and turn on the cold shower or something?"Thomas contemplated the idea briefly. He didn't really have any better ideas but he thought that it would be a little excessive. The messages he'd received and Finn's urgency indicated that they were rather short on time. And while there were certainly more important things going on, 2 students dragging an unconscious girl who knows where would turn eyes regardless, especially with the teachers, and that would definitely eat up their time.
"Let's not go that far. Not yet anyway." Thomas said.
"Just go get some water, from the bathroom or something. ""All right I guess. If I come back here and you two are gone I'll... I have no idea what I'll do actually. I've never been in this situation oddly enough" dashing out of the room, Alex went to the bathroom but stopped just outside, smacking his head with his hand before rushing back to grab a bucket. Flashing a nervous grin at Thomas, he ran with a bucket in hand, slowly filling it up, suddenly hating that the water pressure from the taps was so low. Once it was mostly full, Alex picked it up and stumbled from the weight. Carrying the water bucket back to Bel and Thomas he was about to dump it on her, but stopped.
"Should we move her somewhere else? I don't want to accidentally spill this on something electrical. That could be far worse than just letting her wake up naturally."Thomas resisted the urge to palm his face at the amount of water the boy had brought.
"A water bottle would've done, you know." He said.
"Just put it down for now. You don't want to drown her, do you? We'll start small."He was pretty sure that whatever it was that had changed the blue king, whether that be disease, curse or possession, it wouldn't be fixed with just water. But it was worth a shot, and would hopefully at least make her conscious.
That awkward smile plastered over his face, Alex lowered the bucket. To be honest his mind was thinking of the movies scenes where a bucket of water was splashed on the sleeping person, but at Thomas' words and the look on his face, he couldn't bring himself to explain and instead flushed red in embarrassment.
"Yeah, but what if we needed... more?" the halfhearted response was all Alex could manage as he dipped his hands into the bucket and cupped his hands and readied himself to douse Bel.
"You've done such a great job bringing water already, what more could we need?." Thomas replied sarcastically, moving back as he saw the boy prepare to act.
"Besides, the bathroom's right there, and Maribel isn't going anywhere anytime soon."Recognizing the sarcasm, but figuring a verbal sparring match is far from what's needed right now, Alex lifted his hands filled with water and dropped it on Bel's face, trying to avoid her nose and mouth in case she choked, as Thomas said, it's not as it they're going to run out of water. Needless to say, the water did wonders in rousing Bel from her slumber. The Blue King coughed and hacked as if shaken from a bad nightmare, blinking with confused eyes up at the two boys. Her blue locks hung down from the wetness and she shifted in her bonds to test how much freedom she really had.
"Oh...so I've been captured. Oh noooooo," she said plainly, right eye still a distorted red color."Umm... well, it worked. You seem kinda... lethargic, Bel." Looking at the entire bucket of unneeded water, still not really believing that a movie cliche worked so well. Still, Alex needed answers.
"So... why'd you want me to choke the girl next to the Prez, Bel? And why were you choking the Prez for that matter?" The soft grind of teeth could be heard, the only sign that Alex felt a bit betrayed by what Bel had asked of him.
This one was going to be trouble. Thomas had only half believed (well, more like a quarter) that the blue haired girl had really tried to kill the president. He didn't actually think that Maribel was possessed or anything either - but here were some sure signs that something not scientifically explainable was happening, unless there was some kind of new disease that resulted in drastic personality shifts and one red eye.
Thomas rested his chin on his fist, contemplating the situation. He supposed this situation could be explained by science, if someone opened up her head, but that would never be an acceptable option. Looks like he had to settle for good old questioning, and there was only one real question to ask right now.
"...Who are you?" The black haired boy asked.
"My, my. Two different questions from two different fools," Bel said in a snickering grin.
I'll answer you first Jukey. I wanted you to choke that girl cause she's a real pain in my plans. Retsu Goroshi. That's her name so memorize it good and well for me! And Yoshino Tsugumi? I guess it's because...she needs to die. That's all there is to it. She wants to kill me, so I'll kill her first," Bel said with a wink before turning to Thomas.
"And now for Clark Kent over here. I'm you dummy. I'm also him too," she said, nodding to Alex. "I'm every student in this school even! Think on that!"That was probably the worst response he could've gotten, but it shed some sort of light on the situation. The response itself showed that, as students, they were in way over their heads. It was quickly turning into a murder mystery without bodies, although if left alone, that particular caveat could change. Regardless of whatever-it-was-inside-the-blue-king's intentions, its explanation had given Thomas something to work with. Even though the students of purple crown came from a variety of backgrounds and countries, there was one thing that every single student shared, without fail. But Thomas could think on that later, there was more that needed to be done for the present. He adopted a pokerface and stored the information it'd given him for later.
"...Why are you helping the white guild?" He asked after a pause.
"I need them to act through my will. Especially this one," Bel snickered, her way of phrasing no doubt weird.
"It's all to get rid of the President. Duh.-hey, hey, hey!"Cupping his hands full of water once more, Alex dumped the water on Bel's face, this time being less careful of where he dropped it. Taking his wet hands and running them back through his hair to pull his fringe out of his eyes, Alex's mouth split into a wry grin at the ridiculousness of the situation.
"Really? Retsu Goroshi. I'll probably forget it. I'd probably die of embarrassment if I saw her. I mean, choking a girl I hadn't even met? I don't have that particular kink." dumping another handful of water for good measure, just in case... and Bel was sounding kinda evil. As he listened to Bel's response to Thomas, Alex's mind raced.
"So, if you're me, him, everyone... are you more Bel than other people? Because your words aren't coming out of my mouth. If they were I'd probably feel like puking. So if you can be more Bel than other people, can you be more of someone else as well?""Would you quit with the water works Jukey! Geez, I'm trying to kill you and all but this is just rude!" Bel snarled, shifting in her tape binds. The line of his questioning was just as equally annoying and she visibly bristled when confronted with his words.
"So? Like it really matters. You don't even know "Bel" little man. You barely knew her for a month! Who are you to tell me what's the right and wrong Bel?"There wasn't much left to ask now. The being had been rather cooperative all things considered, but they probably wouldn't be able to glean anymore than it gave them. Pushing further wouldn't help, because from the way it talked, he was sure that it was pretty much just borrowing Maribel's body. Thomas gestured at Alex to stop talking for a moment before asking another question.
"And why is it that you're aiming for the president? And what does Maribel have to do with your vendetta?" He asked.
"Sorry, I seem to have lost my manners somewhere back when I was told to choke someone. Weird, right? Someone must have been a bad influence. Maybe you can help me find them? This cute girl with blue hair and sucks and DDR probably has them. Let her go and I'll be sure to pick them up. Also? I don't really care. I knew Bel for a month? Correct. Who am I to tell you? Well, I'm Alex Coleman and you're a rather dumb parasite that Blue Screen Of Death'd the second I didn't do what you wanted. Besides, you've already outed yourself as not Bel so it's kinda a moot point isn't it?" Flicking the last drops of water that clung to his fingers onto this other Bel, Alex leaned against a wall and sat down looking at her, letting Thomas ask his question.
Maribel shrugged to Thomas' question, still moving about on her bum.
"I told you didn't I? She was in the way. Yoshino Tsugumi is a threat and needs to be eliminated. She threatens me, so I threaten her. She tries to terminate me, and I terminate her-would you stop that!" Bel whirled about to glare at Alex, the last of the drips making her hair stick to her face. She shook her head violently to scatter. For some reason she was getting more and more ticked off with Alex specifically, showing a bit more emotion towards him.
"That doesn't even make sense! Who's to say the Bel you've spent wasting a month with was the real Bel?" "Oh? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're upset, parasite. Also you can't be the real Bel. The real Bel would have made some joke like, "You're getting me all wet, Jukey~" or something like that by now. Then I'd probably blush and stumble over my words. Since you haven't, you're not her and since you're not her, I'm not going to worry about 'who the real Bel' is by your definition. Why should I talk about reality and realism with a fake? Why don't you just go wish upon a star Pinocchio and get out of her head?" Alex's fingers traced circles in the water bucket, ready to flick more water at Bel on demand.
Thomas resisted the urge to screw his eyes shut and bang his head on the wall as the exchange transpired, instead opting to sigh loudly. He could've continued this line of questioning all day but he was running out of time and patience, for both of the other conscious subjects in the room.
"This is getting out of hand, so let me make this simple." He said, to both Alex and the strange being inside the blue king.
He pulled Alex aside and picked up the bucket, hefting it over his shoulder before crouching down in front of Maribel's prone form.
"I think you're growing tired of our company so I'll give you the choice." Thomas began, his voice low.
"Either leave our friend forever willingly, or I use this bucket to wash the stupid out of you."This was starting to get out of hand. Apart from Alex's stupid line of logic and Thoma's low-key threats, options were running far and between. But something seemed to resonate with Alex's words and Thomas' demand seemed to push this desire to the surface even more. Bel, or whatever it was controlling Bel's body, slowly turned to face both boys, specifically Thomas. And then she slowly grinned, nodding her head in agreement.
"Yeah, alright, fine. Guess you got me. I'll leave this one alone...forever is how you said it, right? Heh, just remember that he said it, not you Jukey," Bel snickered with a parting wink before suddenly fainting in place. As if a dark cloud had been lifted up from the room, the area felt much lighter than a few moments prior. Bel was still unconscious but at least now she wasn't acting like a demon possessed.
Thomas was left with mixed feelings at this change of events, despite achieving his primary aim. He had the distinct feeling that he'd played right into the thing's hands somehow. He felt like he was missing a lot of links that he could use to make sense of it all, and he didn't even know where to start looking.
"Alex." Thomas said, putting the bucket down next to the blue haired girl.
"Go wake her up."With that the black haired boy hunkered down on a nearby box overlooking the bodies of Finn and Maribel, resting his head on his hands. He began to think, trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. Retsu Goroshi, the student council president, the deep ground conflicts and the nature of the being, to try and solve the question that he'd wanted answered: Just what was it that happened to the blue king, and why?
Alex did smile at the thought of this impostor in Bel's head being drenched, but was a bit upset he wasn't doing it. Maybe it was a bit petty, but it just felt right to Alex. This odd feeling was confirmed with the parasites words about Thomas saying them and not him. Frowning at what the implication could be, Alex shook his head and nodded at Thomas' request.
"Sure, no problem" kneeling over Bel, Alex considered the water again, but that seemed more than overdone by now, unsure if it would even have an effect. Instead he opted to lightly slap at Bel's cheek. Feeling he was getting nowhere, Alex changed tactic and shook Bel by the shoulders, taking care to not let Bel's head get rocked around too much in case it hit the ground a bit too hard.
"C'mon Bel, rise and shine and all that.""....I felt you the first time Jukey," Maribel grumbled, reeling back and forth in his shaking grip. When she blinked open her eyes, they were no longer the strange pigmentation they had been for quite a while. However she did look exhausted, as if she hadn't gotten much sleep in forever. Despite this, she managed a shaky but snarky grin at the two boys.
"Whoah, whoah, what's this? All tied up and locked in a room with two boys? You weren't trying to get a raise out of the Vice President were you? >;3""You don't pay me. You could start paying me if you want though, I wouldn't mind. You can also pay me in trips to the arcade if you feel obliged to~" a relieved smile broke out across Alex's face, Bel didn't seem hurt, just tired. After what had happened, Alex wasn't so sure she would be.
He'd have to put the thinking on hold. It was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces and the cover art missing. And besides, there were more important things to get done at the moment. Thomas sighed, and decided to bring the vice president up to speed.
"I can explain it all later, but it was an emergency situation. And as far as I know, it still is." Thomas said.
"You might want to go into deep ground. The blue guild is being attacked.""Deep Ground huh? Looks like some things never change. You lovely boys wouldn't mind untying me while I log on right? ;P" Maribel closed her eyes to connect to whatever server was running and see what the situation was. After all, an attack on the Blue Guild could only mean...wait...why wasn't she...? With confusion, Bel opened her eyes and grinned sheepishly up at the two boys. Though only Alex could tell there was a hint of nervousness in her smile.
"Um, hey guys? So I...don't think I can log on anymore."Thomas screwed his eyes shut.
"Shit." He said.
