It had only been a few seconds for Elise, but it was like time had not only stopped...it ended completely. The Whoo Doo lady had warned her of a handsome rogue that was bound to betray her, but even though she had a 'buncha hunches' as she called them, she didn't want to believe it was Captain Archibell who'd be the mutinous rapscallion.
"Please..." Elise begged Lyra. "Tell me it isn't true. Did Archie really hurt you that badly?"
Lyra was silent, but she slowly reached towards her long black coat. She let out an exhale that sounded like a dead body giving off its last breath.
"Wait a minute..." Captain Archibell exclaimed as Lyra unzippered her coat. "There's a kid here, Miss Lyra!"
"Don't forget me too," Tito smirked with a scampish expression. There was a hungry look in his eyes. "But I don't mind at all. Hubba hubba!"
Pulling the zipper, Lyra revealed no skin beneath her clothes, but a swirling black, heart shaped void.
Tito's arms sank. "Lame. That sucks... literally."
Lyra's eyes held no vulnerability. They leered at Archibell. "This void in my heart was created by Archie dearest. He practically sliced it into my dead veins."
Elise winced, imagining the pain, but Lyra continued.
"And this is where that blight on this mortal realm originates!"
Lyra snarled at Elise. "Does that answer your question, child?"
Elise's eyes filled with tears. She wanted to bawl for her daddy more than anything. "Stay strong..." she muttered. "Stay strong..."
"Now..." Lyra said with a demented grin. "Now that I've exposed myself and the truth. None of you will live to tell the tale."
"Whatta ya gonna do, old pally?!" Tony barked. "Ya already flashed two kiddos here. And me!"
"Well," Lyra said, her eyes narrowed with a smug look. "The only thing left is to consume you all!"
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Suddenly, the void began to suck hard, pulling everyone towards the center of the room. "I..." Lyra exclaimed. "Am no longer Lyra Blackswan. I am the embodiment of Death itself. And I love to consume in my master's name!"
Everyone scrambled against the suction of the void. "I can't believe this," Sincirce cried. "She's got a more magnetizing torso than me!"
"And that's saying something!" Tony the Troutface shouted. "At least hers is real!"
Sincirce reached to whack Tony but as she did, he slipped out of Elise's hands into the void.
"Tony!" Elise cried, her tears also getting sucked into the void. "Sincirce whhhhy?"
"That chauvifish got what's coming to him!" Sincirce snarled, but the witch's turquoise hat was sucked off her head. She reached to grab it, but tripped on the floor. She spiraled towards the void too. "I guess I did too!" she exclaimed. "Oh what a world!"
Tito also puffed and panted. "Speckles...I'll save you!" He shouted, but Elise screamed back.
Stop calling me that, coconut head!" she slapped him and caused the young scamp to get sucked into the void too.
"Tito!" Elise cried. "I'm sooooorry!"
Soon, the only two people running against the wind were Archibell and Elise.
"I can't believe this, first mate!" Archibell shouted. "We're about to be done in by my first love. Funny ta think how she gave me many a sleepless night. I never thought I'd see her again...and now...she's the last thing any of us will ever see..."
Elise thought for a second, one of the few seconds she had left. She puffed up her rosy freckled cheeks. "Why don't you tell her that!"
Archibell raised his bushy eyebrows. "Tell her about my chronic insomnia?!"
Elise growled in a voice she didn't even know she had. "No you conchhead! Tell her how you couldn't stop thinking about her! She is your one true love after all!"
"Golly gee, freckles!" Archibell remarked. "For such a young age, you sure are a romantic. You must have a lot of experience in the dating field."
Elise put her fingers together. "Naw. My daddy used to read me a lot of fairy tales."
Archibell winked. "That's how I learned all my moves too, kid!" He raised his toned but thinned chest. "Now let's give this a shot!"
Archibell turned around. "Lyraaaaaaaa!" he screamed in his nasally, birdlike voice.
Suddenly, Lyra stopped. "Huh..." she said, pointing her finger to her face. "What?"
"You uh....keep me up at night!"
Lyra shook her head in disbelief. "What do you mean by that, Archie...?"
"Ummm uhh..." The good captain tugged at his collar. "Kid..." he said to Elise. "Got any good pick up lines?"
Elise flinched in shock over the sheer bluntness of his words. "What the shell?" she exclaimed. "Are you kidding me!"
The rather daft captain scratched his head. "Lyra, my deara," he said, trying to make his voice deeper and more suave.
Lyra was as silent as the eternal void in her chest.
"Your ravenous beauty turns my hardy knees to jellyfish!"
"Ok..." Lyra said her face nearly motionless. "Now I will have no remorse over killing you once and for all."
Like a vacuum, the void began to pull even harder. "Fiddlesticks!" Elise screamed as the her and the captain were lifted off their feet and sent spiraling towards their doom