Chapter 6: Friends

"Here we are!" The target smiled, standing in front of the toy store with her arms outstretched. "Mari's home!" She led me inside and towards the back of the store.

"Can Nyte wait here?" The target asked, walking up to a shelf of Phoru dolls and tapping their heads in some pattern. Suddenly, the shelf slid aside and revealed a staircase. "Mari will go tell the se... se... secretary...? not to kill Nyte."

"Secretary? Do you mean security?" I corrected her, smirking.

"Yeah, that word!" The target grinned at me and skipped down the stairs. While I waited, I idly, picked up a stuffed cat and looked it over. It was a black and red patchwork toy. When I pressed on the paws, three sharp blades extended from the tips, startling me.

"Just how many of these dolls are weaponized, I wonder?" I muttered returning the stuffed cat to its shelf. I stood around for some time, looking over the various toys, before deciding to follow after the target. I made my way down the stairs slowly. At the bottom was a plain metal passage leading to an automatic steel door, with similar doors along the way. Lining the walls were toy soldiers armed with spears and shields, looking like they would spring to life at any second. They blocked every door except for the one at the very end. Were they the security that the target mentioned, I briefly wondered.

As I neared the door, I heard a man's voice, fatherly but slightly panicked.

"Mari, dear, I've told you time and again not to bring strangers home with you."

"Nyte's not a stranger, he's Mari's new friend, and he came to apologize for hurting the friends Papa gave Mari." The target sounded so innocently trusting, and it was causing that strange warmth to return, along with painful regret. I shook my head to clear both away and listened to the rest of the conversation.

"Mari, your only friends are me and the ones I make you. Remember what I told you? Humans are cruel, evil liars, and all of them just want to hurt you and use you. You can't trust anyone except your Papa."

"B-But Nyte said-"

"He lied, dear. He's not your friend. He doesn't care for you at all. He just used you to reach me. Isn't that right, Lieutenant?"

I took a sharp breath. Just how did he know I was there, let alone who I was? I turned to escape, but found that the soldiers had formed up behind me, acting as a barrier. The door opened up and my eyes met the Marionette's.

"N-Nyte?" She seemed to desperately hope I'd say something to defend myself, but I couldn't bring myself to lie to her anymore. I avoided her gaze, not wanting to see that look of betrayal on her face.

"He's right..." I sighed, walking into the laboratory. "I lied to you..."

"Mari trusted you!" The target screamed, making me look up at her. "She thought she made her first friend on her own! She thought maybe Papa was wrong about humans!" Tears streamed down her cheeks and her case fell from her hands. "M-Mari hates Nyte! All humans should die!" She stomped her foot and chains erupted from her case, whipping around wildly. Some pierced my side and arms before I was flung into a wall. Behind her, her Papa grinned.

"My dear girl, you could easily tear this world to shreds. You've gotten so powerful. Come now, let's kill every last one of these disgusting humans, starting with that boy there."

The target's gaze met mine once again, this time full of hate, and a chain wrapped around my neck. The target approached me, eyes glowing red. Another stuffed cat like the one upstairs appeared from the case, claws extended. It began to tear at my stomach and I became unable to move. Paralysis poison dripped from its claws. The entire time, the target stood right in front of me, watching. This was it, I thought, This is where I die. After everything, in the end I failed. Not even Eclipse could save me at this point. Not with my body shutting down like this.

"I'm sorry." I spoke softly, my words even surprising myself. "I'm sorry, Mari. I may have... lied at first... but I guess I... really did have fun... being your friend..."

Her eyes seemed to widen a bit.

"Don't listen to him! He's just trying to make you hesitate! Finish him!"

"I just wish... I got the chance to... be a real one..." What am I saying? "Maybe I'd have shown you this ice cream shop I like..." Are these my true feelings? "It's called... Blizzard Hour... Hehe, their Chocolanches are to die for, lemme tell ya..." It's been awhile. "Would've loved to take you to try one..." My voice began to slur as I got lightheaded from the blood loss.

The target's- no, Mari's eyes suddenly returned to silver and the stuffed cat fell to the ground. The chains retracted into the case as the girl caught me.

"R-Really..? Nyte would be Mari's real friend? For real? Promise?" Her voice shook. I nodded and grinned weakly.

"Promise." She smiled and hugged me, making me almost forget about the wounds all over me.

"Papa, isn't that great? Nyte wants to be Mari's friend! Maybe Papa was wrong about-"

"Gah! You damned fool! You're ruining everything!" Mari's Papa shouted. "You should have just died so my ultimate weapon could be complete! You nearly pushed the project all the way to Phase IV months early! "

"P-Papa?"

"And you, why the hell are you stopping? Years of work, thrown away! I didn't design you to be this weak! Stop hesitating! Kill him! Now!" The man growled, no trace of the 'Papa' from earlier.

"P-Papa..?"

"Dammit, I'll have to start from scratch! This trial was obviously a total failure. Go ahead and die along with that 'friend' of yours, trash." He said, pressing a button on a console. A hidden door opened in the wall and the man left through it. The entire building suddenly began to collapse. I couldn't move at all, and the only reason I was still alive was because of Eclipse's energy, though that wouldn't last much longer. I could already feel his strength slipping.

"Hey, Mari... You should get out of here..." I managed to say. "I'm finished, but you still have a chance. Go and find"

"No! Mari is not leaving her friend behind!" She tore parts of her dress and bandaged my wounds clumsily. She then lifted me onto her back and started heading towards the exit.

With her puppets protecting us from the debris, she managed to get out of the building without being crushed. Sora and Night must have been nearby, because I heard their voices just as my consciousness left me.

Nyte: Been awhile, hasn't it?

Mari: Surprise! Nyte and Mari are back!~

Nyte: With this, we've reached the end of the Bloody Marionette arc. Hope you all enjoyed the ride.

Mari: Stay tuned for the next one! Try not to miss it, okay?~