The hollow king sat facing the corner of the room. On the opposite end of the room, Death was sitting facing another corner with his arms crossed as he sat there pouting. Abraham was tied by thick strands of rope to a chair, with even his hands and legs bound in place as well.

"What if I have to scratch my nose?" Abraham asked with a smirk.

"You should've thought of that before you broke out the first time we tied you up," Narissa said with a sigh. "Is Pockets still gone?"

Ted nodded. "Yep, she cartwheeled out of here when she first changed, and still hasn't come back."

"That is unfortunate," Sid stated. "Despite her eccentricities she is quite useful in a fight of any sort."

"Yeah, plus she's alone and easier to pick off like this." Ted added.

Pfft, that's if she even can be taken down at all. Death grumbled. She practically ignores all the rules.

"Hey! What did we say?" Narissa scolded. "You've got to be quiet while you sit in the corner."

But, that's not fair! Death complained. He's always quiet anyway! That's more of a punishment just against me.

"Just put up with it for now," Ted offered. "Think up some new moves to do on your skateboard, and it'll be over with before you know it."

"Except he is supposed to be contemplating his reasons for being put in the corner." Sid reminded him. "It is part of the punishment to try and ensure his actions are not repeated."

Ted sighed. "I suppose that makes sense. But it's not..."

BOOM!

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

A distant explosion rocked the room they were in.

"Do you think that was him?" Ted asked.

"He isn't really an explosion kind of guy," Og'drimun offered.

"Pockets is out there," Sid reminded them. "And she would definitely use explosives."

"So shouldn't we go check on her?" Ted asked.

"You want to abandon all our half-hearted preparations?" Narissa asked.

Ted rubbed the back of his neck. He knew it wouldn't be safe, and despite his natural dislike of clowns, he felt bad at the idea of leaving her on her own. But that'd be throwing away everything they did. Not to mention Abraham, the hollow king, and Death needed to be separated and supervised.

"It's not the smart decision," Ted said. "But...but it feels like the right decision."

Narissa scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Bleeding heart," she said as she tried to hide a smirk.

"It sounds like going after her is your decision." Sid interjected. "So there is no reason to second guess it."

Oh, uh...I'll go! Death offered. You know I'm just so worried about that poor girl. I, uh...yeah, I just have to make sure she's alright.

"Did that perhaps sound more convincing in your head?" Azrail asked.

Uh...I mean, if it didn't sound that convincing out loud, then definitely. Death said. Cuz that was super convincing to me. Real heartfelt, you know?

"Hah! You really need to practice lying then," Abraham scoffed. "That was worse than a child who just learned to talk."

"Come on guys, don't start again." Ted sighed. "But Death does have a point."

Ted turned to the hollow king. "Do you want to come along with us?"

The hollow king was still facing the corner. Slowly his head turned to one side, and then to the other.

"Huh, that was a lot more obvious of an answer than I was expecting," Ted said. "Well, what about everyone else? I already know Death wants to go."

Abraham tried to lean back in his chair, but ended up just flinging himself backwards because he was tied directly to the chair.

Narissa frowned. "I'll go, but first..."

She strolled behind Abraham, and pulled out a small strand of string from her pouch. With one hand she forced Abraham's chair up a little too quickly. The string in her hand straightened up and then sparkled in the light. She rotated her fingers, and the one strand was suddenly four.

With a flick of her wrist, she threw the solidified string down. Each one pierced through a different leg of the chair. The strands swelled in the legs, and held the chair firmly into the ground.

"There, now we can go without having to worry about this poor little boy hurting himself by being careless again," Narissa cooed as she smiled contentedly.

"Did you..." Abraham tried to shake the chair, but it refused to budge even an inch. "Did you bolt me to the floor?!?"

"If you keep it up. Why, ill have to find something to cram in that annoying little mouth of yours," Narissa threatened.

"Come on Narissa, you don't have to go that far," Ted said. "Just let it go."

"Ugh," Narissa grumbled. "He's acting like a child, and I absolutely hate children."

So, uh...we gonna get going? Death asked.

As they figured out who actually wanted to go, a headless shape picked themself up off of the ground. In their hand was a stick with a plain mask attached to the top. They lifted up the mask to where their head should have been, and the mask began to contort and change.

The mask had only simple features, with holes for the eyes and a mouth. The eyes shifted around as if the mask was looking to different sides. And then, a cacophony of voices all whispering in unison began to come out of the hole for the mouth.

> What fresh hell before me is this?

>

> Have I absconded from the abyss?

>

> Or did my plans simply go amiss?