Museum Studies

Awaken my Masters

The day after the breakin, everything was abuzz. The Speedwagon Foundation had shown up, arming every museum staff member with an UV torch, in case of "foul flesh" left behind by Santana. The agents told them that it was to search for leftover remnants of relics, yet their true purpose was kept a secret, in order to prevent chaos and panic. The cameras had short-circuited on the night of the break in, meaning that there was no footage of Mark or Santana leaving the building. Since Roberta was a stand user, she was taken aside with Kakyoin, in order to be filled in on the true nature of Santana.

"If you see him, target him with the UV torch." The SPW agent explained. "He can't see stands, but Santana is a wild card. We've got no clue where he could be right now."

"What would happen if the pillar men awaken?" Roberta asked. The SPW still thought that the decoy statue was Wamuu, so at least "Jorge Miguelos " was safe- for now.

"Imagine the stories of "Aztec Apocalypses", but worse. Imagine the earth ripping open to form lava rivers, and humanity subjugated as nothing but zombie chow or a vampire slave. Imagine a gigantic obsidian pyramid bursting from the Mexican jungle, and rainforest blanketing every human civilisation. And imagine, if you are unable to stop Santana- that it is all your fault." The agent snapped, jittery and anxious from too much stress mixed with too much coffee. Roberta shuddered, for although the agent didn't know about Wamuu's release, there was still the fear there that he would. As Kakyoin talked back and forth with SPW agents and the Mexican Government, Roberta repaired ruined artefacts from the piles of dust that Mark had reduced them too. The greater the damage, the more energy the restoration power took, so she was feeling exhausted by lunchtime. Jus as she'd finished repairing an Inca necklace, a police officer ran in.

"Mister Kakyoin! The museum robber, he's escaped captivity before we could question him!" The officer yelled.

"What?!" Kakyoin gasped.

"We've got officers looking out for him, based on the description. As for the statue- there's no sign of him." Although the police had been told that Satana was "Just a stolen statue of cultural significance", The SPW had told the government otherwise. Already, predator drones were circling Mexico City and the Mexican border, equipped with huge UV lights. All pre-Columbian ruins had been roped off and guarded 24/7 with riot police, and every vehicle that entered the country was searched liberally. There were even rumours that the Cartels had put aside gang war and drug production to search for the statue, as there was a bounty of £25 million on its head. However, no police outside of New York State had been given descriptions of Mark, as there was no way that one man could get that far. And it wasn't like a man dragging a statue with him would be hard to spot!

When Roberta arrived home that day, she was exhausted. She'd used up so much energy restoring artefacts that she immediately flopped onto the sofa when she got in.

"Roberta, welcome home!"

At least there was a handsome face to come home to, although Wamuu did nothing to aide her turmoil. The Pillar Man had just set a pot of tamales onto steam, and had apparently cleaned the entire apartment when she was out.

"Wham, you didn't have to..." She started, but he cut her off.

"Nonsense, you're hard at work all day. Anyway... I might as well earn my keep."

He looked away, sitting down on the floor.

"Earn your keep? Wamuu, you're always welcome here with me." She replied, sitting up.

"I was always told as a child that love was conditional. That I had to earn it. And that if I disappointed my masters, it could so easily be taken away."

He took a deep breath, and continued.

"And if I ever made friends with a human, they would force me to kill the friend. I... I could never kill you, but now that Santana is loose, my masters could reach godhood. And if Kars is to become the Lord of all Nature, there's no reason why he couldn't engineer a brain parasite that makes me kill you just because..."

Wamuu broke off, pressing his hands over his face.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't bother you with my problems, it's a sign of weakness." It hurt, but Roberta saw herself in Wamuu. The inability to talk about her insecurities, and the worry of what those who had hurt her had done.

"Wamuu, look at me. You're not weak, don't say that. And you could never disappoint me. If those no-good "masters" of yours try to make you hurt me, I'll... I'll kick their arses! You're important to me, and I won't let you rot. So take it from me, you don't need to earn affection. Those who care love you regardless."

She put her arms around him, and rested her head on his huge shoulders.

"Take it from someone who worries every day that she's never enough- you are perfect just how you are."

Wamuu had never been faced with such caring, unrequited love before. His face broke into a smile as he held Roberta in his arms, the two cradling each other, trying to vanish each other's self-doubt. They stayed like this for a while, until a smell filled the air.

"What's that?" Roberta asked.

"The tamales! I forgot!" Wamuu gasped.

"You made tamales? They're my favourite! Wham, you're the best!"

Wamuu simply lifted Roberta onto the couch, tucked a weighed blanket around her shoulders, and handed over a plate of tamale goodness.

The humans were clueless. Their day of reckoning would come soon, as they'd hadn't even noticed that Mark was missing until he was safely on a greyhound bus, heading to Houston. After a few days, he was getting off the coach in Mexico City, where his masters awaited. Santana had laughed to himself as the pathetic humans searched the bus for him, not knowing that he was inside Mark, sustaining himself on his lesser organs. God, what a disgusting human this was- he could see Mark's memories as he wrapped around his brain, and the images of him berating and attacking his partner were simply foul. Yes, he hated the annoying pink-haired human too, but he'd never do such a thing to someone he loved! Mark shambled down the streets of Mexico City, predator drones buzzing overhead. He kept his eyes open to a familiar old monument- just a carved boulder, nothing that had been fenced off. The Aztec ruins were under Mexico City, and the Pillar ruins were even deeper. He checked that nobody was looking, before slipping down a manhole near the boulder, a marker of the entrance to the Underrealms. Mark crept through the sewers, before sliding through a gap in the pipe walls, entering the remnants of an Aztec chamber. He recognised the wall carvings, and punched down- bursting into a familiar, sealed-off chamber. This was once the throne room of their temple, and there, frozen into stone, stood Kars and Esidisi.

"Masters..." Santana growled. The SPW had set up UV lights with batteries powered by radioactivity in the 1930s, the nuclear material meaning that the Laos would burn bright for thousands of years, powered by nuclear decay wrapped in lead. The UV lights had to be covered or turned off, but with what? Santana smirked, and cracked his ribs. Mark's body ballooned disgustingly, bloating with twisting foil flesh-leeches, before the human exploded. Rancid gore covered the UV lights, plunging the room into darkness. Santana lashes out at the now-masked lights, destroying that which would kill his masters.

"Fathers! I've freed you!" Santana called. There was the sound of cracking, crumbling stone, and Kars and Esidisi awakened from their near-century long slumber.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want? And where's Wamuu?" Kars drawled.

"I know where Wamuu is masters." Santana said, nose wrinkling at how he was always second best. "And you won't believe what he's done..."