One Hundred and Twelve: The Coming Storm

Dark storm clouds
rolled over Pleasantville, grumbling with the weight of the rain that
was about to spill over the city. In the Begly household, the Masters
were over for a roast dinner and to watch the latest reality
television drama. In Sunnys house, Sunny was plotting revenge on
Sammy while Patrick and Melody wondered if they should be worried. At
Tammys apartment, Sammy was plotting revenge on Sunny, while Tammy
and Rose wondered if he needed professional help. TJ and Petunia were
home with a pumpkin soup (and an irate phone call from TJ's father).
The Death Valley Mobsters were having a group therapy session at the
Misneach Manor, the Jones family were out at the movies, the
Crusaders were fixing up their hideout to keep out the rain (even
though the rain wasn't forecast to hit Fallsville), and the Haunted
Maze Troupe were in the process of developing more new and addictive
substances.

It seemed like everyone
had a place to be and people to be with. All except Daniel, the
ex-Sir Lionheart, who felt cold and alone as he stood on Pleasant
Dam. The wind blew hard at his back as he looked over the city. How
had one little split-second decision turned everything upside down?
One act of rage, frustration and exhaustion. How different things
would have been if he had just kept his scythe down instead of
killing the Inspector of the Pleasantville Police!

“You're STILL
sulking. You're a mess, kid.”

Daniel groaned and
turned around as the wind began to pick up. “Hey Judy.” He
greeted Judith Jofrey weakly. “Why aren't you inside where it's
warm?”

“Are you kidding?
Revolvers got the entire Mob talking about their feelings and hugging
it out. It's disgusting.” Judith stood beside her boyfriend,
looking out over the city.

“How's Marion taking
it?” Daniel asked.

“She's just sitting
there sipping her wine.” Judith sighed. “She used to be so
focused, so strong and determined. I kinda hate your buddy Charlie
for taking her sword from her, twice, and just destroying everything
she was.”

“You sure it was just
Chuckles?” Daniel asked. “I mean, Revolver and yourself have to
take some of the blame.”

“Well geez, thanks.”
Judith snapped. Daniel flinched. “Don't stand there looking like a
scolded puppy either, you had no right to accuse me of being
responsible for my sisters mental breakdown.”

“It's true though!
You and Marion have been fighting since the Crusaders came back to
Pleasantville.” Daniel sulked.

Judith bit her lip.
“We've been fighting a lot longer than that.” She pulled out the
necklace that her sister had given her from under her shirt. “Ever
since we were told that we were being separated. I hated my father
for that. He took my best friend away.”

She clutched the
necklace tighter. “He took her best friend away. He started all of
this!”

“But then, he
probably had his best friend taken away too.” Daniel pointed out.

Judith gave him a wry
smile. “A vicious circle, just so we could build and keep power.”

“It worked, didn't
it?” Daniel asked.

“And where did all
that power get us? Absolutely no where. It's driven my sister crazy
and left me exhausted, and for what? Just to get turfed out after a
few years in power.” Judith grumbled. “This whole “share our
feelings” afternoon is a last-ditch effort to keep the Death Valley
Gangsters and the Mobsters of Misneach together, because if the
Gangsters leave the alliance, they're taking all our people. No one
can stand Marion anymore.”

Judith straightened up.
“Anyway, nice deflection. We're here to talk about you.”

Daniel groaned.

“Don't you groan at
me. You need to talk to someone. You haven't been right since the
Riots.” Judith snapped. “I get it, you're on a mission and the
mission keeps on failing again and again and again, mostly because of
things out of your control. Like Wallace dying.”

“Will people just
shut up about that already?!” Daniel snapped.

“And there it is, you
feel responsible for his death even though it wasn't your fault.”
Judith tried to comfort him, but he pulled away.

“Just stop trying to
psycho-analyse me, because you're getting it way off the mark.”
Daniel snapped, livid. “Why can't you all just let me do things my
way?!”

“Well, because in
eight months you won't be able to do it your way!” Judith fired as
the thunder started.

“Huh?” Daniel
asked.

“I'm pregnant you
ass. I only got the doctors call this afternoon to confirm it.”
Judith grinned.

“You're…we're…I'm…?”
Daniel couldn't believe it. Judith was pregnant? With HIS baby?!

“Looks like the
Knights of the Last Order and the Mobsters of Misneach are going to
be linked forever. That has to be a bonus, doesn't it?” Judith
asked.

Daniel was about to say
yes, when he remembered.

“I'm not a Knight
anymore. They kicked me out.” He said miserably.

“That lot? Kick YOU
out?” Judith raised an eye-brow. “They wouldn't. They love you
too much. They're probably trying to give you some space to sort
yourself out and you're sulking.”

“I'M NOT SULKING!”
Another thunder-clap and a flash of lightening punctuated Daniels
yell. The rain began to fall on the two, a few drops suddenly turning
into a heavy downpour.

Both of them stood
silent for a moment, letting the rain drench them.

“You shouldn't be out
in the rain, it's bad for the baby.” Daniel finally said.

Judith felt her lips
tug upwards. She then let out a loud laugh, unable to stop herself.
That set Daniel off, and the pair of them roared with laughter while
the rest of Pleasantville remained dry in their houses.

—

Marion rolled her wine
glass between her fingers, watching the pale yellow liquid inside. A
fine white wine from a vineyard in the Great Nations, apparently,
although Marion had started caring less and less about that.

She had overheard her
sister talking to someone on the phone before running off into the
rainy night. It seems Judith had succeeded where Marion was failing –
she had managed to get pregnant and was on the way to producing an
heir.

Just another way
I've failed. Marion sighed to
herself. She uncrossed her long legs and got up off the couch where
she had been luxuriating. She walked over to a nearby mirror and
looked at herself.

Beautiful.
Not a hair out of place, her blue silk dress draped perfectly over
her body. Make-up was perfect, blue eye-shadow against bright red
lips. Sparkly blue high-heeled shoes, and a white fur shrug around
her shoulders. Everything looked perfect.

Except
her eyes. The ice-blue eyes were windows to a soul that was breaking
apart, falling to pieces, unable to deal with the pressure of having
to keep up the pretence of everything being fine. Nothing was fine.
After ruling Pleasantville for years with Demon, the Mob was cast
aside in favour of the Haunted Maze Troupe after failure after
failure after failure against those two monsters and their petty
little Knight friends.

Everything
would have been fine if Chuckles and Giggles hadn't shown up. If
Chuckles hadn't stolen her sword. If she hadn't been forced into a
flimsy alliance with Revolver, a man who had never had any intentions
of helping her provide her people with the heir she was supposed to
produce.

It
was her own fault really. She should never have been so ambitious as
to think that he could just pop out a kid and have that kid rule
Pleasantville as the true ruler of the Death Valley Mob. Ambition had
killed her father after all, as it had killed his father before him.

“Am
I going to die of ambition?” Marion asked the reflection in the
mirror. “Probably, but I guess it's not my problem after that.”
She answered her own question.

“Are
you okay Madame?” One of the butlers asked her.

“Why,
should I be?” Marion asked lazily. The butler stammered for a
second, before walking away, wondering if Madame had completely lost
her mind.

—

“I
can never really enjoy the rain. Not after the flood.” Belle looked
out of Charlies bedroom window. The rain was pelting down quite
heavily now, and the thunder and lightening had driven most of
Pleasantville to unplug most of their electronics, fearing a power
outage.

“The
flood was nearly seven years ago Belle.” Charlie pointed out, lying
on his bed.

“What,
you don't flinch slightly when you see clouds in the distance?”
Belle asked.

Charlie
sighed. “Yeah, I guess I do a little. That was such a messed up
summer.”

“It
just goes to show how easily people forget about things. Everything
was cleaned up by the time school was back in, and no one has really
mentioned it since.” Belle sighed. “People have even started to
forget about the DVM, since they only really showed up during the
riots, and haven't been heard from since.”

“I
think we've established that people aren't particularly smart.”
Charlie said.

“I
think it's more they don't want to know. Out of sight, out of mind,
it can't hurt me anymore.” Belle pointed out.

“Which
doesn't bode well if the DVM decide to make a comeback like the
Crusaders and the Troupe did.” Charlie sat up.

“I
wish we had Dan around still. We could talk to him about having
Judith keep an eye on them for us.” Belle sighed again. “I just
wish Dan was okay.”

“I
know. But I also know he'll come back to us one day.” Charlie said.
Why did it feel like a lie to say it? Daniel WASN'T a killer. There
was no way.

“You
sure? He seemed pretty upset.” Belle asked.

“I'm
certain.” Charlie told her.

And
that was definitely a lie.