Part 1 of the season finale.
As I mentioned before, this episode features a TT-style choice, so I created the poll for you to decide what will happen.=========================================SEASON 1, EPISODE 9AND YOU DON'T - PART 1========================================= The group was going back to Wellington.
"When we were at House Kenneth," said Tom, "I saw her. Jake Sis. She was there, talking with some mute fuck. It was strange, to be honest - the only thing I've heard was some metallic clicking and screeching. That guy had aleph on his clothes, just like the mercenaries on the battlefield and bandits who attacked Brotato. This is all connected."
NFTS was still in shock. It was his wife, after all. "What did she do when she saw you?"
"She said she was in a hurry and threw me out of the window. She used magic. Did you know she could do that?"
NFTS didn't know how to respond. "It feels like I didn't know her at all..."
"I just don't get it" said Brotato, shaking his head. "Why would she do that? For power?"
"She's already married to the Grand Master of the Order" muttered TKA. "What else would she need?"
"That's right" said Walter. "But if she sent her men after Brotato, it would mean that she opposed to changes in our Codex. And we know that it can't be it. Because we intercepted TKA's message, we were ready to attack. If we didn't know about it, we would be already dead."
"Something is clearly not right in here" interrupted Rock. "I mean, what would she get out of this if she slaughtered us all?"
"Maybe she doesn't care" said Brotato.
"No. It was all planned" responded Tom. "We just don't know what's her goal. The situation with Jake... it all happened because it would get her straight to NFTS. It's not just about killing us. I guess she's trying to take over the Order. For what? I don't know"
"Oh God, you do you really think..." NFTS was visibly shaken, "...that she killed her own brother for this?"
"Here's the thing - she didn't" said Rock quietly.
Everybody turned towards him.
"What are you talking about?!" asked Brotato, horrified.
Rock tried to explain. "Well, when Pete resurrected Tom--"
"He WHAT?"
"Oh, for fuck's sake!" shouted Tom. "Just let him finish for once!"
"...yeah, thanks" Rock cleared his throat. "Well, when Pete resurrected Tom, he kind of implied that we were all wrong, thinking that Jake's dead"
They approached the main gates. They were open, as if nothing had happened.
"You might be right" said Carlos, hovering next to them. "If Jake was dead, I would sense his presence. That's the uh... the dead thing, you know? We sense the new souls when they pass to the afterlife. And I am prety sure I don't fell Jake at all".
"I guess that, after all this ends, we'd have to make a formal truce, don't we?" said TKA, observing the walls of the castle. "I will make the greatest party ever, and you are all invited to House Kenneth"
Rock was about to say something, but he noticed Tom shaking his head.
"Yeah. That's for your precious Kenny" said Rock. He waved his staff and Kenny's portrait exploded. The frame dropped to the floor."I'm telling you, Rock, you've never been there. It's the biggest castle ever built. You will be amazed by its beauty!" said TKA, excited.
"God fucking dammit!" Rock waved his staff at everything he could see. Each strike of energy caused the explosion in the castle walls."Yeah... we'll be there" said Rock, smiling weakly.
"Alright" said NFTS. "She's somewhere here. We're going to find her and take her down." he tried to sound confident.
"Sounds like a plan" said Walter. "We just have to--"
He stopped, as a mighty explosion occured just in front of them. They were swept away by it (except for Carlos. He just watched the scene unfold, amused by the view). Getting up from the ground, they noticed a gaping hole in the pavement. Through the dust, they saw two figures climbing out of the pit.
"Oh. Hello guys. I missed you" said Jake. Harp was standing next to him.
FIVE MINUTES EARLIER"The thing is..." said Jake, finishing his story on how he tore off the head of the guard. "...there was no blood. And after I got the head off, the only thing I've heard was a metallic screeching. They chained me up moments later"
Harp thought about that moment several minutes ago when he heard a gear-like sound. "That's weird" he said.
"And you know what's even weirder?" said Jake in a grim voice. "That the guy I've supposedly killed... came back the very next day with another meal, as if nothing had happened."
Harp was lost in thought. "Then they must be some sort of mechanical golems. But that's impossible. No one was ever able to create one."
Jake sneered. "Looks like the people who hold us captive could do it"
"Yeah, about that..." said Harp. "Before I got there, I tried to stop a war. You see, we were in conflict with TKA. We thought that he was trying to wipe us out, but..." he stopped for a moment. "When some of us went to the castle of House Kenneth, one of our own was killed. Before he died, he told us... that it was your sister, Jake Sis. She somehow orchestrated all this behind our backs. We don't know why"
Jake turned to him abruptly. "My sister?!"
"Yes. We know about her from your last will. We found her and brought her to Wellington. She got married with NFTS."
This was too much for Jake to process. "How... how could she do that? Stage a war...? IMPRISON ME?!"
Harp shook his head. "We don't know why. I'm sorry"
Jake was mad. He was getting redder and redder with every passing second.
"THAT BITCH!" he swung his left head in the air, breaking the chains. "I'LL FUCKIN' KILL HER!" he swung his right hand, also breaking off the chain and freeing himself completely.
Harp just stood there, half confused, half amused.
"You know, you should have yelled 'Hulk is mad'. The effect would have been much better"
Jake threw him a death stare, but calmed down after a few seconds.
"So... now that I am free, I am open to hear your ideas about escape plan. Care to share?"
Harp grinned widely. He nodded his head towards the ceiling.
"I don't know where are we being held, but I can see the sunlight through the cracks. The ceiling didn't collapse despite that, so it must be enchanted. Fortunately..." Harp picked up an exploding potion he got from Rock. "...I have just a thing to help us with it. Now duck"
Without further ado, he threw the potion at the ceiling and jumped away, Jake did the same. The next thing they've heard was a loud explosion.
***
"Oh. Hello guys. I missed you" said Jake. Harp was standing next to him.
They looked around the place.
"We're in Wellington?" asked Harp, stunned. "I didn't know we had a secret prison"
NFTS looked at him. "Neither did I"
"Jake!" Walter, Rock Brotato and TKA ran towards him. "We thought you were dead!"
"Well, I didn't. My house exploded, but some freaks got me out of there and kept me imprisoned for an entire year. But it's nice to see you too."
He looked at Tom. "I don't know you. Who is he?" he asked the others.
"That's Tom. If it weren't for him, I would have died a year ago" said Brotato.
Tom reached out towards Jake with his hand. "Tom Hagen. Nice to meet you"
"Yeah, whatever" Jake turned around. Tom retracted his hand, slightly surprised.
"Don't mind him, he does that from time to time" whispered Walter to Tom. Hagen didn't mind, he got the fact that Jake may not be the most sociable person after spending almost a year in prison. What he did notice was that, despite the fact he just met Jake, he seemed awfully familiar to him - as if Tom saw him sometime in the past. The thing is, he didn't know why exactly Jake evoked that feeling in him.
"Well, we've got things to do" said NFTS. "We should split up and check the entire castle. If anyone finds her - shout."
"From my experience, I'm pretty sure they will" said Tom, chuckling slightly.
***
TKA was walking slowly with Rock through the hall, armed and on guard. For Rock, it almost felt like a deja vu - and he didn't like it at all. Last time he wandered through a certain castle, a person was almost killed.
In another part of the stronghold, Brotato was walking arm in arm with Tom.
"Rock mentioned a resurrection in passing." started Brotato, looking at Tom with uncertainty. "What, uh... what did he mean?"
Tom looked at him and smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Brotato saw that look before.
"He meant that I died and returned from the grave. Thanks to him and Pete. What else is there to talk about?"
He resumed his march, looking suspiciosuly around every corner.
"I wasn't exactly okay after Jake Sis pushed me out of the window" he said quietly.
"What I meant," said Brotato, "is that you seem kind of... different"
Tom looked at him again.
"Right now, there is nothing in this world that I crave for other than this bitch being dead. THAT'S what's different."
"You don't sound like yourself, if you ask me"
"I don't" Tom cut him off. "And that's how I've always been. You just didn't notice it. That scares you?"
"Of course not" answered Brotato. "It's just... when Zyphon died, I was in rage. I killed so many soldiers after that, and honestly didn't care what happens. Now I know it's a dangerous thing to feel" he said in a confident voice.
Tom didn't say anything for a moment.
"Let's just get this over with" he muttered. After a while, they were wandering around the castle again, looking for Jake Sis.
Carlos was flying outside around the walls to make sure that the girl won't try to escape. Walter helped him, waiting and observing everything from the main gate.
"How is it to be a ghost, actually?" Walter asked.
Carlos looked surprised at first. "I am the Knight God, the deity of your Order, and the first question you ask me is, 'How is it to be a ghost?'"
Walter looked at his feet. "Sorry, I meant no offense. I just don't know"
Carlos shook his head. "It like being human, only you can't drink until you summon your corporeal form. Can be a pain in the ass from time to time"
Walter perked up. "You can summon a corporeal form after you die? Nice!"
Carlos looked at him like a father looking at a child. "I can do that, because I'm the god. Usual souls can't do that, I'm afraid"
Walter seemed sad to hear this. "Oh"
Rock and TKA walked down the hallway when TKA noticed a bright, green light coming from under one of the doors.
"This must be here" he said.
He marched to the door.
"Wait!" said Rock. "We don't know what's on the other side. We should be careful"
"We don't have time for being careful!" hissed TKA. "Let's kill this bitch!"
And with that, he kicked the door open - but he didn't know that there was a portal behind him. Because of the impact, he accidentaly got his leg caught up in the portal and TKA felt that his entire body was being dragged inside.
"Help me--!" he managed to yell, but it was too late.
Before Rock could do anything about it, the portal disappeared.
***
TKA felt that he fell on the tiled floor. He slowly got up, because his ribs hurt a little. He noticed that he was in a dark room with no light, but after looking to his side he noticed the passage to a hallway, which was dimly lit. He didn't know what this place was - it certainly didn't look like any of the castles. Everything seemed to be taken from a different epoch. He noticed that every metal object was slightly covered in rust.
He heard a distant, manic laughter. Looking down, he saw that there were blood spatters on the floor. He didn't like this place at all.
"Where the hell am I?" he asked himself.
And then he heard it.
A scream. A scream of a child, somewhere down the hallway. He hid in the room where the portal threw him out. Leaning out of the door, he suddenly saw a little girl, running aimlessly. She was probably eight, maybe ten years old.
"Help, help me! He's going to kill me!" she shouted. Then, there was that manic laughter again.
TKA didn't know to do. He was probably safe here... but he had to help this little girl. She's going to die without him. But could he risk his life? He didn't know the assailant, it could've been anyone. Sitting here would at least buy him some time to figure this all out.
"Aaaaaaaaaa! He's coming! Somebody help me!"
"What am I supposed to do?" thought TKA.
HELP THE GIRL [ ] [ ] DON'T HELP THE GIRL***
Everybody was walking around the castle, when, out of sudden, they felt that some sort of energy lifted them up and, with a flash of bright light, teleported them to the main chamber of House Wellington - the same one where the Order was always gathering, the same one where Tom met NFTS.
Getting up from the floor, the men looked around, surprised.
"What the hell did just happen?" asked Harp.
"Honestly, I have no idea" responded NFTS.
"Well, guys" they heard the voice of a woman. She was standing where the master of the Order is supposed to stand, with her back turned to them. "I couldn't wait for you to finally move your asses and come here. I was almost bored to tears."
Everyone looked at her with gritted teeth. She was wearing the clothes of master's wife. It was Jake Sis.
"But one of your friends, TKA, fell into one of my precious traps. He's in another dimmension right now. I honestly look forward to him being ripped to pieces"
"You bitch!" yelled Jake. "So this is who you turned out to be?!"
"We know everything!" shouted NFTS. "We discovered your plans! That symbol -" he pointed at the aleph on her shoulder. Why didn't he notice it before? "- was worn by mercenaries and people who attacked Bro. You were always behind this!"
They heard her laughter.
"My plans of infiltration... foiled by a mere spelling mistake. Should've used K, as I intially thought. TKA wouldn't be able to explain it so easily as he did".
"You're not getting away with that, Jake Sis!" yelled Tom.
She pointed her hand up, and suddenly five alephs appeared, floating in the air.
"Jake Sis? Oh my god..." she kept on laughing. "You didn't figure it out at all. Here, let me help you."
The alephs started to rearange their shape - some of the lines changed positions, and some of them disappeared. They formed a message.
"Wh... what is it?" asked Brotato. He didn't know what to make out of this.
"Oh, I think you know that by now" and then she turned around. But they didn't saw Jake Sis's face. It was someone else.
Harp's jaw fell to the floor; Walter was breathing heavily; Tom almost fell down but Brotato helped him to stand; Jake stood with his eyes wide open; Carlos's ectoplasma was dripping and NFTS looked as if he was about to puke.
The letters formed the message:
and beneath them stood the one and only Lexi Porter.
END OF PART 1***
Next time on TFTWL:
The second half of the season finale: secrets are revealed and the Order squares off against the dark power that forced them into the war as TKA's fate hangs in the balance. However, there is one final twist that no one saw coming; this one final revelation will bring major consequences for the future of the Order - for Brotato and Jake in particular... - in the conclusion to the first season of Tales from the Wellingtonlands, "AND YOU DON'T - PART 2"