The Journal of a Connecticut Yankee Ch. 05

In Victoria's hand, I felt something small, metallic. She pressed it into my palm as I finally figured out what it was.

It was the key to Big Boy...

"Then that's even more stupid." I said back to her, "If that were true, you would be plunging this world into a blood bath! Millions would die! You're not saving anyone!"

"Not true Donnie, with my help, maybe even our help, we could change that. Once the Demon Lord is dead, the monsters will lose their little sex appeal advantage. Their numbers will stop growing and finally, we will have an equal playing field. Then we arm the Humans here with modern-day tools, weapons and knowledge from Earth. It wouldn't be as bad as you think, in about 5 years I'd say we would be victorious. Hunting them down to the last beast and the Human race here will finally be safe! Yes, lives will be lost but in the big picture, in the long game, Humanity survives!"

Geneocide or extinction... In the end that's always what it came down to. Us or them. Humans or Mamono, no middle ground. Everyone in this fucking world dealt with absolutes, including this cunt. If I had my way, I would take Romie and Victoria off this planet and let it burn, let everyone here have their just deserts. But that wasn't an option for me.

Looking into Faiths eyes, I made a decision. This was going to go one of two ways. Her and her goons die or Romie, Victoria, the baby and myself die. Knowing them, both the girls would put themselves in harm's way for me to live. I couldn't have that. They might not be my own species, but they treated me with more love, respect and kindness in this world they any Human ever did.

If this was the moment that I had to choose a side between the Humans or the Mamono of this world, well then, let me offer my answer.

Pulling Winona out from behind me, I quickly aimed and fired a round straight into Adam's head. Even though she was loaded with Silver rounds, the result was the same as if they were normal. The anti-magic field he radiated made them just as real, just as lethal. He fell to the ground, dead. With him gone, it instantly dissipated.

God, if you are out there, if I'm wrong about everything, please, please have mercy on me for doing it. I didn't want to but I had to, I had to save them and in doing so, I killed a kid that would have been barely in high school. I turned Winona on Faith as Romie and Victoria snapped out of whatever haze they were in. Romie jumped into action, attacking the other two soldiers while Victoria started to hyperventilate and backtracked away from the body.

I was a bit too slow, because Faith drew her own pistol on me as we faced off to each other.

"He was just a kid!" She shouted at me, her face twisted with grief and rage.

"You didn't give me a fucking choice! YOU brought him here, YOU started this shit, this is on YOU!" I yelled back with tears in my eyes. I didn't want to do it! Lord help me, I didn't!

The room became quite as my Cheshire succeeded in subduing the soldiers while neither Faith and I dared move or look away from each other. It was a game of Chicken except whoever blinked would die.'

"It's over." I said to her, my hands gripping Winona so tightly that my knuckles were turning white.

"You're wrong on that you fucking bastard. I have more men outside. When I don't come back out, they will flood this place then you all will die." She sneered back at me.

"I didn't think you had a gun. That piece of shit looks like it hardly works. Besides I could kill you and your whores before you could even pull the trigger."

"Winona here was made by the best blacksmith in the fucking world, so don't count on it. Plus I have perfect scores on all the Time Crisis games, don't go thinking you're the only sure shot here, bitch." I retorted back insanely.

A commotion of screaming and yelling from the halls told me Faith wasn't lying this time. I didn't know if Romie was gonna change to her alter ego and even if so, how many Red Romie could handle by herself without being overran. I just felt a cold numbness inside me. Maybe this really was the end.

"Oy! Now ain't this a sight, ey Zoe?" Came a feminine voice with an Australian-like accent.

Wait, what the fuck?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two Red Oni in ornate silver armor with giant gold clubs hung over their shoulders entering the cavern.

Who the hell are they?

Breaking our eye contact with each other, Faith turned her head to them and shouted,

"Where the fuck are my men?!"

"They our men now, Shelia." One of them said with a menacing grin.

With Faith distracted by the Red Oni's, I squeezed Winona's trigger. The thunder of gunpowder exploding, a splash of red. There was shouting, screaming, I couldn't tell you from who or where. All I saw is her body falling before me in slow motion, lifeless before it hit the ground. There was blood on the ground, a lot of it. Someone or something slammed me to the ground, Winona fell from my fingers or maybe she was taken away, I'm not too sure...

I just know that I killed another person that day.

Think what you will of me at this point. I won't stop you or defend myself. So far I've confessed a... chilling amount of murders including that of a kid and a member of the Armed Forces. I won't discuss with you circumstances or argue deservement. I'm more of a monster then Colonel Faith, then any Mamono... or anything. Please... forgive me if I'm not making much sense right now. I don't know who's reading this or if anyone out there is, but if someone is... I just want to say... to tell you I'm sorry... I really am. I've committed horrible sins, more than maybe you'll ever believe of me capable of.

I want to stop right now. I want to walk away from writing this, but I can't. You deserve to know, you need to know the truth. I need to tell you what happened after because... because it changes everything...

I don't remember much from there, just someone pushing me. But what I do remember is the look in Victoria's eye as our gazes met. I killed two people in front of her, in her very home. I'll never forget the look on her face... I lost her that day.

We rode in some kind of carriage. I was out of it for a time. Romie told me that I didn't eat, I barely drank. I wouldn't respond to her. I just stared at the floor. The only explanation was maybe I shut down. Shell shocked or traumatized by what I did, my mind needed to heal or at least come to terms with what happened.

***************

I ended up snapping out of it a few days later. I remember fully becoming aware as I found myself in Romies arms. She was asleep as the carriage swayed and rocked, soft yellow light filtered through the doors windows. A crushing feeling of hopelessness, depression and despair filled me. What did I do? What was I even doing? What's the point of saving the world if you end up killing the people in it?

Romie stirred slightly and tightened her hold on me. For some reason I felt a little better as she did. I told myself that as long as I had her, everything would be ok. She was my everything now..

I learned that the Mamono who grabbed us were members of the elite Royal Guard to the Maou herself. Don't ask me how they found us, maybe they were following Faith and her guys, who knows. They were taking us to the Royal Maki, home of the Maou for an audience with her. I also learned that they had Rudolf, Winona and Big Boy as well. I suppose it made it a fucked up family road trip.

It took another 4 or 5 days to reach the Maou's realm and her castle. By that time, I was nearly back to my old self, but I knew there was a piece missing. I lost Victoria and all hope of having some kind of relationship with her and the baby. I couldn't afford anymore time to grieve, to show weakness. So I did what I had to do to stay sane, I buried it deep inside myself. A way of filling the hole in my soul. Just another day on the job, right?

We were ushered to the throne room without delay when we arrived at the castle. Romie was allowed few moments to dawn her crystal crown tiara before we were brought to stand before the raised platform of the throne that Maou sat on. A tall, beefy football player looking guy dressed in black, nobleman's clothes, her husband I guessed, stood by her side as they glanced down upon us.

"Please come forward and state your full name and lineage for everyone in the room." The Maou requested.

Romie swallowed hard and took my hand in her paws as we both took a step forward. Taking breath, she said loudly,

"I am Princess Romilia Smith de' Cor'Meum. Daughter to the Queen of Hearts, Misrelda de' Cor'dibus and the Human, Eric Smith... of the place called Earth."

There were various gasps and whispers among all the Mamono courtiers there. I was surprised to see the Maous husband wearing a slightly shocked expression as he looked to his wife then back to Romie. I was stunned as well, I had never heard Romie's full name before, it definitely sounded very royal. Not for the first time I wondered to myself why she was hanging out with a bum like me.

Romie turned her head to me and offered a large, mischievous grin that was somehow comforting right up until she called out again,

"Let it also be known that the man next to me is Donnie, also of Earth. Prince and Hero to Wonderland as well as my husband and my love."

Everyone in the room, including the Maou and her husband, turned their eyes to me. Uh, well surprise, surprise, grandma and grandpa?

Gee, thanks Romie...

But I also cursed myself too for not remembering to ask her about the whole 'Prince' thing too, so yeah my bad. I was a bit worried when old grandpa fixed me with a pissy stare and even more worried when grandma Maou gave me a predatory smile. Dinner was certainly going to be awkward.

"We recognize and welcome you, daughter of my daughter," The Maou said, smiling warmly at Romie. Guess it was a little too taboo to just call her granddaughter. Then, turning her head to me she said,

"We also welcome you, Traveler and bid you both to enjoy our hospitality.

Now your favorite gun slinger here might be an idiot but I wasn't born yesterday. There were a lot of connotations in that short sentence she just said.

The first being she never formally recognized me as Romie's husband - my spidey sense was telling me that was some bad news. The second, she said hospitality so even though we were brought in by her elite guards, we technically weren't prisoners- yet. The third was perhaps the most interesting to me. She called me a Traveler - there was a capitol T in there folks. Something very important was in that meaning and I badly wanted to find out.

"Now then, with introductions out of the way, you have in your possession something I badly want... I badly need... Donnie." She said, looking over to me.

Well, it's always nice to be needed. But not by her.

"If it's the cheat codes to Donkey Kong, I'm taking those to my grave."

The Maou gave me a blank look that then turned salty as Romie bumped me with the side of her hip. From the corner of my vision, I saw a smirk on her face and glint in her eye. Yeah, that just turned her on.

"The activation of the device."

What the fuck? Did like Mark Zuckerburg put it out that I had a nuke? Cuz for what's supposed to be a secret, every god damn person seems know about it.

Maybe something inside me snapped a little. I used to be terrified of the thought of meeting the Maou. I always saw her as a parasite on this world. Now, I was just tired, angry, frustrated and that kids death was still fresh on my mind. All because that of that damned thing. Now this one wants it for god knows what...

"Why?" I asked simply, defiantly.

"Why? Because you were correct when you once uttered a very true statement. I can't solve the problem of Mamono birthing male child. That avenue was forever closed to me by The Chief God, herself when I made the Great Change. I sought an end to an endless war. No more slaughtering, no more battles, no more bloodshed, just peace and love. A mixing of our two kinds as one, where we would live happily ever after. But that didn't work out quite the way I was hoping for." The Great Maou said softly, her eyes gazing distantly off. Then she snapped her attention back to me.

"Your world is different isn't it, though? Your kind embraced technology over magic and that is where the key to Mamono survival lies." She said intently to me, "I want to use the weapon to open a permanent gateway between our two worlds. Your scientists and geneticists hold the key for Mamono to birth human male children."

Mamono aren't on Earth... They will be... Came a faint whisper of a forgotten dream in my ear.

I started to laugh. At first just a chuckle, then to a point where it was almost hysterical. Everyone in the chamber was staring at me as I fought a battle to compose myself.

"This... this isn't funny to anyone else but me huh?" I finally asked looking around, meeting angry, stony stares from everyone but Romie.

"No... I guess I would be the only one to think so."

"You doubt that I would be adept at diplomacy and negotiating with your leaders?"

"The whole rape first, ask questions later bit calls that into question, yeah. Sure that might work here, but not over there. Look, doesn't the fact that there is such a thing as a nuke spark any kind of warning signs? I asked, looking around at everyone. No one met my eyes.

"So what, you think you're just going to go take a merry old stroll across the dimensional street? Knock on Earth's door, maybe holding a fresh-baked apple pie in your hands and say 'Hi neighbor, was wondering if you could help me with a small problem?' Is that it?" I said, fighting to keep the laughter down as the insanity of the moment unfolded. Then my face hardened at the thought as I continued.

"My people don't even like each other. We discriminate and hate and kill because of religion, of nationality, of gender, of the color of a person's GOD DAMN SKIN! " I shouted, causing the guards to stir even more. Romie tried to comfort me, to calm me, but I wouldn't have it. If the Maou wanted to follow through on this insanity then she would have to learn exactly how fucked up my kind of Humans were.

"You will start a war you cannot hope to win, Maou. Your people will DIE when missiles and bombs and bullets hit them, your Superman of a husband over there will DIE when he gets pumped full of depleted uranium rounds by Special Forces, you will DIE when a god damn nuke, bigger then the one I have, blows this whole place to hell. There is no scenario where we all end-up sitting around a fire singing kumbaya, Maou."

"Are you quite done with your dramatics?" She asked in a bored tone, "I'm a quite a few years older than you, young man. You're going to have to trust me that things will not come to that."

"Trust you? You basically admitted that you and the Chief Holy whats-her-tits fucked this world over and now you want me to trust you to take a ride over to my side of the yard to get help? Someone, please tell me why is it that every single voice in my head is screaming no?" I laughed bitterly.

"Your psychological conditions are not my problem." She said angrily.

"You're right, their not. But the fact that I have the key to Big Boy is." I retorted back at her. In the end I had my ace. If she wanted this, she had to go through me to do it.

"If you want to use him, you're gonna need it." I snarled menacingly.

"My patience with you is wearing thin, child. Give the key to me." She growled, her eyes turning red. I could feel pressure building inside the room but I was too damn riled up to care.

"Well, that makes two of us, Grandma. The answer is still no- Earths closed. I am not going to endanger my home planet to fix your fuck up."

The feeling of the place took a whole another turn as I heard various gasps and saw Romie cover her mouth with both paws in shock at what I said.

...Yeah, I fucked up, didn't I? In retrospect, and I fully admit, calling the Demon Lord 'Grandma' to her face wasn't exactly the smartest thing in the world to do... Then, on top of that, rubbing in her greatest screw up... Yeah...

Me and my big mouth, I thought as 2 burly Red Oni guards dragged me away.

********************

"Well... this is a revoltin' development," I said aloud to myself as I grabbed on to the bars of my jail cell. Had Winona, my horse and my nuclear bomb confiscated, aaaannnd now I'm singing the jailhouse blues. Plus the Ogre guard over yonder was eye raping me something serious. Remember lady, no means no- even when you think it means yes. Thanks Nivena, for that little insight on consent.

But hey things could be worse, right? I'm not exactly sure how things could be worse, but I'm pretty sure they could be worse. Maybe something with an Ushi Oni or... something...

My musings were interrupted by the sound of someone praying in the next cell. Looking over, I saw a guy on his knees facing the wall, praying feverishly to himself. I was impressed, the Royal Maki was the biggest and baddest Demon Realm out there and pretty much any Human (except yours truly) that spent more than a few hours here gets turned into an Incubus. Billy Gram over there must be a pretty tough bastard.

"Yo, what are you in for?" I called to him. He paused in his praying and looked over to me. The guy looked to be in his mid 40s with streaks of grey in his jet black hair. He had a fair amount of wrinkles around his eyes and mouth giving me the impression that he'd seen some shit.

"Heeding the true word of the Chief God and smiting the abominations that spit on her teachings." He said sternly to me.

"Ah... Groovy."

Yep, he was an Inquisitior alright. I seem to be running into more of them than drunks at a bar. Wonder if it's the 'I've been banging a member of Mamono royalty' cologne that I've been putting on as of late.

"What of you, boy? Why haven't you been swallowed up by these demons?" He asked.

Heh, well guy, there was some swallowing involved...

"Eh... I kinda fucked up. Called the Maou a grandma to her face, refused to give her the key to an ultimate weapon and I think I may have told her that the Feng Shui of her throne room was off." I said nonchalantly.

He stared at me for a moment, probably trying to figure out if I was A: Lying, B: Crazy or C: All the above. Finally he said,

"Get on your knees and pray for your soul, child. The Chief God will have mercy on you if you join me in prayer."

"Yeah, no. I'm good, thanks." I said as I started to pace around in my cell while El Inquisitior snorted and went back to praying.

Looking around, all in all, the place wasn't exactly your run of the mill prison cell. For one it was clean with stone floors, in the corner was a cot made up with a pillow and blanket. Next to it was a small table with a vase and flowers. It was all kinda... nice? For a prison cell that is. Guess that's what happens when you have women make the jails.

My musings were interrupted when the Maou herself paid me a visit. She wasn't alone however, a slightly shorter, cloaked woman was in tow behind her. She had the hood pulled deeply up over her head obscuring her face.

Walking behind the woman, the Maou placed her hands on her shoulders and whispered something in her ear.

The woman nodded as she stared at me, then after a moment said in a monotone voice,

"Deep scan completed, analysis will take 4 hours, 53 minutes."

"Good, now continue on with the rest of your tasks, Jenny."

She... Jenny wordlessly walked away as I gave a questioning look to the Maou and said,

"What the hell was that a-"

"MOTHER OF DEMONS! THE CHIEF GOD WILL SMITE YOU DOWN ONE DAY!" Yelled the Inquisitior next door. Turning to him I saw the look of pure unbridled rage as he all but foamed at the mouth. Spouting some shit off to the Maou, herself... Son of a bitch had balls, I'd give him that.