Kart's fantastical journey!

Expiration Date

"Where am I?" asks Karter.
Karter Hawkwolf looks around. He seems to currently be located inside of a laboratory. Kart also seems to be tied to a cold, metal pole. He can neither move his hands nor his feet.
As much as he tries to identify the place he is stuck in, he fails. He's unsure of his whereabouts. However, Kart knows that he isn't in a very good position right now. It's not just because of Cookie's betrayal and Tokyo's death, it's also because he isn't with his friends. Karter is all alone.
"Welcome to Eternal Crown." Karter hears a voice.
A person appears in the dark, platinum room.
"It's...y-you?!" Karter seems shocked.
"Missed me?" Candy Wyverncaller, Cookie's older sister, popped out of the dark.
However, Kart doesn't seem to be focused on Candy. His eyes are locked with an intimidating person standing behind Candy.
"..." Candy notices and seems annoyed.
"You're pretty proactive, aren't you, traitor?" Karter is angry.
"Oho, I see the problem here." Candy moves out of the way.
"..." Cookie Wyverncaller is standing there.
"Care to say hello?" asks Candy Cookie.
She doesn't respond.
Cookie isn't wearing her Dino costume anymore. It seems she only wore it because of the cult she's apart of.
"Why aren't you saying anything, Cookie? Cat got your tongue?" Karter seems to be very furious. "Why did you do this to us?"
Cookie is staring at the ground. She isn't replying.
"I knew it." Kart gave up very quickly. "You were faking it all along. You never cared, did you?"
Suddenly Cookie can't take it anymore and flips out, "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
Candy and Karter are both startled by her sudden reaction.
"I can't take this anymore." Cookie falls to her knees and seems to be sobbing.
"Tell me one thing." Karter stays stern while Candy is watching a bit nervous. "Did you really change, or were you always as cold-hearted as you were at the beginning of school and right now?"
"..." Cookie is crying.
"You know..." Karter stares at the ceiling. "I thought you actually started to see the world how it is."
Cookie looks up, "What are you referring too..?"
Kart looks at her, "Well, after the incidents began rising at school, that's when you started feeling empathy. You tried protecting everyone and finally seemed to care about us."
"..." Cookie is silent.
"I see." Karter looks away with quite the disappointed facial expression. "Judging from the lack of contribution to this topic, it answers my questions."
Cookie startled.
Karter looks at her, "I believed in you, Cookie. Do you know that? After you stopped bullying, I thought you finally started to change."
"..."
"Oh well." Karter seems upset. "I suppose that had just been an act all along. You never cared. You only care about yourself...and your sister."
Candy is awfully quiet. She looks a bit distressed.
"W-what..?" Cookie is twitching. "Y-you're wrong!"
"Then prove it." Karter seems expressionless.
"None of it was an act, I swear! I'm not even a good liar! Please believe me! Kart, I-"
"Please stop." Karter looks away. "You're only making a fool of yourself in front of your beloved sister."
"I never meant to hurt anyone..." Cookie sobs.
"Well, you did."
"I'm sorry...it's just...I needed a way to cope with my trauma, I never intended to bully anyone-"
"That doesn't justify your actions. Just because you are traumatized doesn't give you the right to traumatize others. Are you even aware of the fact that 90% of the populace in Ambermoor is suffering due to their unforgettable past? Most of us had a bad childhood that scarred us for life, but never has it ever gotten on my mind to ever bully anyone to make them feel bad because I am feeling bad. You're irredeemable, Cookie. That's why all our classmates had to die, because you were reckless. You-"
"STOP IT!" Cookie is covering her ears. "I DIDN'T WANT TO HURT ANYBODY! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU? I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO APOLOGIZE TO YOU, BUT-"
"WHAT?!" Karter is shocked. "Kidnapping me is your way of apologizing? Awesome, I think you need some-"
"THAT'S NOT-" Cookie stutters. "Oh, Kart...you aren't any better..."
She looks at Karter with hateful eyes.
"..." Kart is quiet.
"You killed your own sister. Just because Fault reincarnated her doesn't-"
"Enough." Candy steps in." Cookie, leave the room."
"W-what?" Cookie shudders.
"Just do it...please." Candy's voice cracked a bit.
She seems to be vulnerable right now. Candy probably doesn't want to relive her past trauma.
Cookie gets up and leaves the room. Everything is quiet. It's only Candy and Karter.
"W-what are you going to do to us?" Kart still seems a bit stressed from what Cookie said.
"Don't worry," promises Candy. "We won't kill any of you."
"Tokyo is already dead though." Karter is suspicious.
Candy giggles, "Yes, she is."
"...Where are my friends?"
"They're fine."
"That's not what I asked."
"So-"
"Don't avoid my question."
"..."
"I'm waiting."
"They are in the same room as you are."
"Huh?" Karter looks around. "I don't see anyone."
"That's because they're behind you." smiles Candy.
She lifts her hand and suddenly a loud, long, metallic noise appears.
Light shines into the dull room and it suddenly looks like it's more massive.
"W-what!?" Karter is startled.
In front of him is a giant tube, and inside is Tokyo. She's wearing a white dress and seems to be floating in transparent liquid. Next to her are Dagobert and Minetta's corpses. They both have a pierced skull.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" DAGOBERT, MINETTA- NOOOOO-"
"Kart?!" Mia's voice appears.
"Huh?"
"Kart!" Isabella's voice joins Mia's.
"Where are you guys?!" screams Karter. "I can't turn around!"
"That's because you are on a crucifix." answers Candy.
"Eh-!?" Karter's vision seems to get clearer.
He is tied to a metallic cross in the middle of the room. He first thought it was just a pole, guess he was wrong. In front of him are Minetta, Tokyo and Dagobert. Their dead bodies are floating in test tubes. Tokyo's is the biggest and in the middle.
Karter's friends are behind him, all tied to a pole.
"What are you planning on doing to us, you sick fuck?!" screams Knologos from the back.
"Wait and see." Candy smiles.
"I can't believe it..." Sunny's eyes are watering. "Dagobert-"
"..." Leonie is quiet.
"Just let us go, please!" pleads Sweet.
"I went through all the effort of gathering you here and you want to leave?" Candy is angered.
"There is something we all know as communication. Maybe you should try that out." Knologos provokes Candy.
"Haha, how humorous of you." Candy smiles.
"..." Rain is quiet.
"Where is Cookie?!" Sunny looks around. "I need an explanation asap!"
"I can give you one." giggles Candy.
"Then do it." Knologos rolls his eyes.
"That would make me a bad villain though."
"..." Posa is quiet.
"Let's make a deal." says Karter. "You let my friends go and I stay."
"Hmm." Candy seems to have noticed Posa and ignored Karter's request. "Actually, I think I have what I need right here."
"..." Posa is shivering.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" shrieks Sunny.
"W-what's happening!?" Karter is scared.
Candy strokes Posa's chin.
"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Sunny's voice is cracking up.
"Shut up, you slut." Candy looks at her with intimidating eyes. "A life of a clone is even less valuable than a life of one microorganism."
"How could you say something like that..?" Rain decides to finally speak up.
"A clone has no purpose. They are only beneficial to science." says Candy.
"..." Posa is quiet.
"Begin the project." demands Candy.
"HEY! I AM NOT DONE WITH YOU!" screams Sunny.
A few people with intimidating masks appear and are setting up things.
"Wait," Leonie seems to know something. "I figured them out."
"What is it, Leonie?!" Isabella seems excited.
"They're trying to absorb Tokyo's power to have it for themselves." states Leonie.
"Huh!?" Sunny is shocked. "That's insane!"
"Don't worry, they won't succeed." says Leonie.
"We'll see." chuckles Candy and walks away to help set up.
After a few minutes, Leonie continues explaining, "She probably needs us as test subjects to see if her plan works. Since Tokyo is dead, her body is vulnerable. If she were to experiment on her corpse first, and a mistake happens, she won't be able to fix it because Tokyo's body might be damaged, so she needs us."
"Why can't she just try it out on animals or others, why us?" asks Mia.
"Because we know Tokyo...and Dagobert and Minetta...It will be more painful for us, seeing their dead floating bodies and one of our friends getting tortured for Candy's greed of might."
"I see." Mia seems a little bit distraught.
"Also," Leonie looks at Mia. "Strangers are no different to the people important to us. Everyone should be treated the same, if not us, then it would have been others."
"I get it, I'm sorry."
"Shit." Knologos is helpless. "I can't use my tentacles."
"She probably did something to us, like anesthetics or something..." mourns Sunny.
"Well," Leonie looks at Tokyo's floating body. "At least I know that unless you are a witch or a spirit, you can't steal power. Tokyo was a witch. She was a gifted person."
"What if Candy or-" Sweet gets cut off.
"No," Leonie interrupts. "There shouldn't be many witches left, and the same with spirits. Unfortunately, we will never know if Zach was one or not, because the person to confirm that is right in front of us, but dead."
"We never even found his body. Weren't Tokyo and Zach together when they died?" asks Mia.
"A spirit's body evaporates after they die, we all saw what happened to M-"
"Don't." Rain stops Leonie from talking. "Please."
"...Alright." Leonie halts.
"..." a tear rolls down Rain's left eye.
"Wait," Isabella is confused. "So a spirit who possessed someone's body from three centuries ago will evaporate if their identity is revealed?"
"Isabella, please not now-" pleads Sunny.
"Actually, not all bodies disappear." says Leonie.
"Huh, really?" Isabella is shocked.
"Ignored..." Sunny feels neglected.
"Yeah," says Leonie. "Only the spirits who lived a happy life evaporate."
Rain twitched after hearing that.
"M-Max...his...his body evaporated..." Rain stutters. "That means he lived a happy life...at least."
"What happens to the others?" asks Isabella.
"The other spirits who didn't live happily will just die with their soul being stuck in the body until it decomposes." says Leonie.
"That's sad..." murmurs Isabella.
"..." Posa looks upset.
He looks at Sunny and asks, "Will I die sadly too?"
"Of course not! You're not going to die-"
"I know I will, but I can't process my emotions right now. So much happened lately." Posa seems sad.
"Posa..." Sunny feels for him.
"However," Posa snickers. "I can decide for myself, and I lived a great life, so I will die happily."
"Stop saying you're going to die." says Knologos.
"You heard her," Posa points at Leonie with his tied hands. "Candy will experiment on us, and I am the first one to go."
"We will stop her." says Rain strongly.
"We've got this. We are a team after all." smiles Sweet.
"Yep." agrees Mia. "You guys are amazing."
"To be frank," Isabella speaks up. "What happened at the palace....it means a lot to me, thanks for helping me."
"That's what friends are for." smiles Mia.
"Well, at least we all had a nice bonding moment before we die." sighs Knologos.
"No, we haven't." sighs Sunny. "Kart hasn't. And he's too far away from us..."
"Stop being so pessimistic! No one's going to die, we all came so far!" Mia resists.
"Then why did Max have to die?" asks Rain.
"Ah..." Mia feels bad now.
"He had to die because he killed my brother."
"Leonie-" Sunny can already see a disagreement unfolding.
Before Rain could say anything, there was a loud bang.
"What was that?!" asks Sweet worried.
Suddenly out of nowhere a bunch of people appear wearing masks. They all have different kinds of animal as their face, it looks frightening.
"Are you ready?" smiles Candy and puts on her mask.
Candy's domino is a blue wolf with a purple hyacinth on top. Their masks all must have a meaning.
"Let the scrutiny begin." Candy smiles.
The mask-members are getting closer.
"HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON!?" screams Kart.
"Nothing to worry about!" shouts Candy.
"You promised me not to kill anyone! Did you lie!?" asks Kart in velocity.
"Dear," Candy licks a knife she's holding. "I'm sorry to break it to you, but I have to withhold my promise."
"What!?" Karter is anxious.
"I'm a stranger, you should know that you can't trust people that easily." Candy giggles.
"It's a pity, really." Candy gets closer to Posa and pets his chin. "I don't want to slice up such a beautiful face."
Everyone else is screaming and trying to break free from the restraints, but they can't. Posa won't have anyone to help him.
"I'm begging you..." pleads Sunny. "Don't do it."
Candy looks at her and then at Posa.
"..." Posa is quiet.
The mask-members are all standing around the others, waiting to react.
"Smart girl." Candy looks at Leonie.
"Huh?" she's confused.
"You were right."
"Wait, did you hear what we were talking about?"
Candy smiles, "I'm doing this for power."
"But why?!" shouts Isabella.
"You want to know why?" asks Candy.
"Yes!" Mia nods crazily.
"So I can protect the people important to me." says Candy proud.
"Oh, I didn't expect you to actually tell us, well nice." Knologos laughs.
"But you don't need might to protect the ones you love." consoles Sunny.
"..." Candy doesn't say anything.
"You don't need to have magic to protect your people, what you need is to show them that you care about them." Sunny smiles happily.
"Is that so?" Candy seems a tiny bit touched.
"Yeah!" grins Sunny. "Humanity can't survive if it kills itself. Therefore, we must show each other love and affection, because if we do that, we are appreciated."
"..." Candy seems a bit sad.
"Candy..." Sunny feels empathetic towards her. "It's okay. You don't have to do this."
Candy's grip loosens and the knife she is holding is dangling.
"It's still not too late," says Sunny. "You can always restart."
"..." Candy is staring at the ground.
Sunny smiles, "It's what Cookie would have wanted."
Suddenly Candy's grip tightens again and her teary eyes get covered by her wolf mask.
She raises her knife and slits Posa's throat.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Sunny is shrieking. "YOU MONSTEEEER!"
"WHAT THE HELL!?" Mia is distraught.
Isabella's eyes are widely open.
"I won't have to feel bad about killing Mr. Handsome over here, since I can have the real one for myself." Candy laughs in a psychotic manner.
"Ma'am." a mask-member comes closer to Candy. "The process didn't work. The special knife doesn't seem to be able to absorb the power of its victims. We have to try other ways."
"I see, thank you." Candy cleans her hands with a handkerchief and distances herself, following the mask-members.
"You're a horrible person..." mumbles Leonie while staring at Candy's back.
Posa is gasping for air, but he can't move his arms. His eyes tear up and everything becomes blurry. Posa is crying. He is afraid.
"LET ME GO!" Sunny is trying to break free.
Everyone else is rather screaming, crying or speechless.
Even Karter seems to have realized what happened, because he isn't saying anything anymore.
Posa's head suddenly tips over. He died.

Everything is getting blurry.
Everything is disappearing.
Everything is gone.

Posa expired.

"Someone..." huffs Isabella. "Please...come help us...Posa died...and we are next."

Isabella is crying now, "Please help us...

...Mujunii."