Chapter Thirty-Two: I Don't Want To Fight Anymore

Belle lay in bed, still unconscious but
stable now that the Ruby Suit had been removed. It had taken a while
for Charlie and Peter to get it off, but at least Belle was safe now.

“She'll be sick for a while. I've
contacted the school and the University so it should all be okay.”
Peter sighed.

“She needed to take a break anyway I
guess.” Bill rubbed his brothers back. “She's going to be
devastated when she wakes up.”

Peter simply buried his head in his
hands. He didn't want to think about it, but then he felt horrible
for not wanting to think about it.

His father was dead. Killed saving
Belles life. It should have been him. Belle was his daughter.

“I'd kill Johannas if he weren't
already dead. That's two he took from us.” Bill continued, angry.

“He can't hurt anyone ever again.”
Peter said quietly. Bill sighed.

“I know.” He looked up at the
roof. “Thanks Dad.”

–

Daryl Jones was having a rotten day.

Those idiots at work had torn shreds
off him for doing what they considered a “sub-standard job”.
Given that if it wasn't for his father they wouldn't even HAVE a job,
Daryl thought that was a bit rich.

The really annoying bit was that he no
longer had his former victims to take his frustrations out on.
Belle, Charlie and Sunny were now backed up by their stupid group of
friends, and sheer weight of numbers meant that going after them was
pointless.

Daryl flopped down onto his bed and
sighed. Looking out of the window, he could see Sunny comforting
that dumb boyfriend of hers. He smirked. He thought Sunny was
brilliant for stealing Charlie out from under Belles nose. It was
the sort of thing she used to do back when she was cool.

From what Daryl had heard, Belle had
gotten very ill at the news of her grand-fathers death at the hands
of Johannas. Daryl wasn't completely heartless, and did feel bad for
the loss of Joe Masters.

He sighed, and continued to watch the
young couple.

Charlie felt insanely guilty. He knew
he could have saved Joe if he hadn't been so stubborn. He could have
helped stop Johannas, and perhaps even saved him.

“Stop beating yourself up Charlie, it
wasn't your fault.” Sunny tried to talk him out of it.

“If I had headed out with Belle in
the first place then I could have grabbed the detonator. Johannas
wouldn't have dared go near me with the Arm Scythes.” Charlie
sobbed. “Joe would still be alive.”

“Johannas could have just as easily
have seen you and blown himself and everyone else up anyway.” Sunny
pointed out.

“The detonator had been knocked out
of his hands.” Charlie tried to argue.

“Charlie!” Sunny groaned. She
hugged him tightly. “It's not your fault.”

Charlie said nothing, but looked grey,
drawn and sad. He slumped a little further down in the old sofa,
fresh tears rolling down his cheeks. Sunny kissed him, smothering
him with kisses, trying to stop the flow of guilt.

Upstairs, Belle was starting to stir.
Peter quickly grabbed her hand while Bill called Charlie.

“Pa?” Belle slowly woke up.

Peter swallowed hard. She'd have to
know eventually.

“Hey Beauty.” He stroked her hair
as she turned to face him.

“Hey Daddy.” Belle smiled weakly.
“Where's Pa?”

Peters lip began to quiver and the
tears welled in his eyes.

“Pa is gone.” He sobbed. The pair
clutched each other and cried over their loss.

–

“Belle?”

“Go away.”

“Belle, I'm really sorry about what
happened.”

“That's nice.”

“I can understand if you're mad at
me-,”

“You accused me of not having your
back, and then you left me to die.”

“I came eventually and I got you out
of there! Johannas would have killed you if it wasn't for me!”

“If you'd been there from the
beginning, Johannas would never have had the chance.”

“You're blaming me for your
grand-fathers death?”

“No, I'm pissed off at you for coming
in here trying to be all apologetic after your hypocrisy.”

“Belle-,”

“Go away Charlie.”

“Belle!”

“GO.”

Charlie looked shell shocked. His
shoulders slumped and he turned and left the room.

–

He had NO idea why his sister decided
hanging around the tip was a good idea. The place stank and it was
messy.

Daryl Jones was looking for Sunny. His
laundry needed doing and his parents were out on a business trip.
His coworkers had again been stern with him about his work ethic, and
he was getting quite annoyed about it.

“SUNNY!” He yelled. If she wasn't
here he was going to hit the roof (figuratively of course). What a
mess.

He came across what looked like a
cubbyhouse made out of garbage. He'd seen several of these around
the place, he guessed they were made by those stupid friends of hers.
He had a quick look around it, but found nothing.

He sighed, and was about to move on
when something caught his eye. It was bright red and small.

The Ruby Suit.

“Ruby Giggles must've left it here!”
Daryl grabbed it. It had been badly stretched by Peter and Charlie
when they'd forced it off Belle, but it was still in one piece.
Making sure he was alone, Daryl pulled off his own clothes and
struggled to get the Ruby Suit on.

It tore a little, but the Ruby Ooze
soon moved out over the tears and healed them up so the Suit fit
perfectly.

Daryl grinned. The mask hid his face
just as well as it hid Belles, and it still functioned beautifully.
Daryl soon got a hang of flying and forming the Ruby Weapons.

“This is most excellent.” He
laughed. “Those morons at work don't stand a chance against Ruby!”

He flew off in the direction of the
offices, ready to take out whomever he found there.

–

“Where's the Ruby Suit? I want to
wash it before Belle packs it.” Bill asked Peter and Belle, who
were sitting in front of the TV eating popcorn and looking bored.

“Dumped it.” Peter deadpanned.

“Dumped it where?” Bill asked.

“Dump.” Belle deadpanned.

“So you're not taking it to
Brisvegas?” Bill asked.

“Nope.” Deadpan.

Bill sighed, and continued to do the
washing. Then a thought struck him.

“You dumped it? At the dump?” He
asked the other two.

“Yup.”

“Where at the dump?”

“Just dumped it.”

“Where anyone could get it?”

“Doubtful.”

Suddenly the TV changed to a news
bulletin.

“NEWS JUST IN! Someone has stolen
Giggles Ruby Suit and is now holding up the Pleasantville Investment
Centre!”

“You ever get the feeling things
happen way to conveniently sometimes?” Peter turned to Belle.

“It's not my problem anymore. I'm
moving to Brisvegas soon.” Was the sullen reply.

“Beauty-,”

“I lost the Suit, I lost the Lucky
Seven Gun, and my friends hate me. I'm not fighting anymore.”
Belle got up and tried to storm up the stairs, but she was still too
weak. Bill grabbed her to stop her from collapsing.

“I just want to go away.” She
whispered as her uncle hugged her.

“I know. In two weeks you'll be
outta here.” He kissed her forehead.

–

“I hope you didn't get hurt by that
Ruby creature.” Mrs. Jones scooped another healthy serving of
pasta bake onto Daryls plate three weeks later.

“Nah, I was fine. I hid.” Daryl
tucked into the delicious meal.

“Sunny, you look a little sick.
Maybe you should head off to bed after dinner?” Mrs. Jones then
turned to her daughter.

“I'm fine.” Sunny mumbled.
Thankfully her mother hadn't noticed the bruises all over her body
from where Ruby had belted her black and blue, much like the other
Knights of the Last Order. Neither Chuckles nor Giggles had shown
up.

Belle she could understand, still being
weakened from the whole Suit incident, but she was furious with
Charlie. The pair had broken up very angrily afterwards, which left
Sunny feeling completely miserable.

Who was Ruby? Where did they come
from? How did they find the Ruby Suit, which had been pretty well
hidden?

Sunny didn't like the situation at all.

And she knew it would get a whole lot
worse before it would get better.