Path to the Mad Man

Robin headbutted him.

The impact knocked Byron's head back but he was chuckling all the same. "Okay, I deserved that," Byron chuckled as he wipes the tears and blood from his face with his free hand. Byron slowly stood up, holding Robin back up to her feet as he did so.

"Twinkle, twinkle,
Little Bat..."

The sound of monotone singing was suddenly heard from nowhere.

"How I wonder where you're at...
Up above the world you fly...
Like a teatray in the sky...

Twinkle, Twinkle
Little Bat...
How I wonder where you're at..."

"S-Son?" Father Time stammered as he looked up at Harekles who pointed the short point of his cane at Father Time.

"That was Dormir's favorite song," Harekles murmured blankly as he pulled the trigger. Three gun shots rang in succession. The first pierced the head and two were shot at the chest,the executioner's cross used to make sure the target dies.

"You... You killed the don!" a mobster exclaimed.

"No I didn't," Harekles said bluntly, lowering his walking stick. "I killed my father... The Don... is me... cabeesh?" Harekles glared at the mobster as if daring him to speak up. His response was absolute silence.

"What?" Harekles asked TEAM AMBR as he knelt down and picked up Father Time's top hat, shaking the filth off it. He placed it on his head, the clock adorning it ticking loudly. "Didn't you know? Hares are master at playing dead."

Harekles shifted his gaze over at David for a moment. "Think you're funny kid? Let me show you a real magic trick. Check your pocket."

When David would check his pockets, he's find a hand grenade stuffed into one with the pin out. It must have been there for a long time but never went off. It must have been a dud and Harekles was making one dangerous point.

"Your insane." Robin said bluntly.

"I can't say that I am much surprised," said Axel. He looked down at Father Time's lifeless body, whose eyes were frozen in a look of bewilderment now that its eyelids were missing. Axel had seen such successions all too often before. "I suppose congratulations are in order for the new Don, then" he continued, looking back at Heracles.

Davy pulled the grenade out and laughed. "Well what a nice gift. Thank you vary much." He said as he kicked the dud over at mobster. He looked down at his watch and smiled. "Well Axel. I carried you out. Looks like you'll have to do the same for goody two shoes." He said as stepped away from everyone. Soon he was engulfed by a shroud of black aura. It then dispersed in a big boom. David now stood there looking rather tired. He looked up at Harekles and blinked. His eye soon widen as he realized he had was standing in front of the man who tried to kill him. "Oh dear....he didn't do anything to bad.....did he?" He asked nervously.

"This was my favorite hat," Harekles muttered, throwing the ruins top hat to the side, "But for now, just be thankful I'm not in the mood to order a whacking."

The mobsters exchanged uncertain glances. Events have moved too suddenly. Harekles had announced himself the new don and they were all obligated to follow him. If he gave the word, everybody there was dead.

Harekles casually lit a cigarette, acting ignorant of the tense atmosphere in the room. "I knew you'd finally be the one to do it," Harekles said, glancing at Byron. "Father Time is a master at psychological warfare and the only way to get pass that semblance of his was to fight fire with fire. He was causing more harm to this business than good. We've had to off too many people. He had to be taken out before it went too far. It's almost ironic. The most nefarious mad man in town being a master at psychological tactics, but in the end that wild madness was what took Father Time down. I had no doubt that our mad hatter would kill time."

Byron remained silent. Harekles took a long, drawn out inhale of his cigarette before speaking again.

"And yet you didn't kill time," Harekles muttered. "Now that was a surprise. Sure you rendered the man virtually helpless but you never finished the job. In fact, you never spilled blood yourself once. That is very unlike you. Why is that?"

Byron was silent for a while but then started lightly chuckling. "It's because someone once told me, that if I killed another man, she would put me down herself."

It was Harekles's turn to stare at Byron silently, sucking at his cigarette in thought. "Why did Dormir come here by herself," Harekles asked stiffly.

Byron remained silent, staring at the ground, the brim of his hat shadowing the look in his eyes. He simply turned around and silently walked towards Dormir's body. She picked up the little girl in his arms, cradling her cold, pale body, his back turned to Harekles. "Don't you think it would have been so much fun?" Byron asked cryptically. "It would have been so fun if Dormir had come with me and lived with us in Vale. We could have had tea everyday and ate sweets constantly."

The hare stared at the hatter blankly, silent for some time. "You've changed," Harekles said, "Never would I have thought you to run away from even the syndicate. That public execution was a message to you you know. I set it up myself behind my father's back. 'Come after us' I was telling you. Never would I think you to run away from that."

Byron started walking, his back still turned to Marchello and the rest of the group.

"Byron," Harekles said, raising his voice slightly, making the hatter stop in place. "When we were kids, and the three of us would have our little tea parties... I was happy."

"..." Byron continued walking, not even uttering a single reply to Harekles's statement.

"I guess... there's no more room," Harekles muttered, "For me... at that mad tea party... anymore..."

~~~~~~

Everyone left the Marchello mansion in silence. Byron took the wheel of his hearse, wrapping Dormir in a blanket and laid her on top of Thanatos in the back. Byron drove everyone back to the Maus Dorms and went to the basement alone, carrying Dormir with him. For a while the team would hear the sounds of saws, hammering, and power tools. Byron would not emerge for another two hours. When he did, he was carrying a finely crafted coffin in his arms, much smaller than most. It did not take long for everyone to realize what was inside the closed casket.

Byron went to the back, into the inn's courtyard, and went to a spot under a large evergreen tree. He couldn't find a shovel so Byron started digging with his bare hands. It was long, arduous work. The hatter remained silent as he gradually dug six feet into the ground. When he had dug deep enough and pulled himself out, he was ragged and dirty, his usually well kept and clean clothes covered in dirt. He lowered the coffin into the ground and began to fill the grave himself in silence.

After a while, the hatter was standing over the grave, using a wooden grave post he most likely carved himself along with the coffin to mark it. The hatter had not utter a word or sound the entire time. He was standing in front of the grave just staring at it for what must have been another hour before going back into the dorms. He told everyone that they may as well stayed there for the night. He announced this with a smile on his face but it wasn't hard to see he was just not in the mood to drive.

Everyone went to a randomly picked room on the same floor. The inn's registers showed no one has checked in.

Byron sat alone in Dormir's room. He had changed into a white dress shirt and black pants, his dirty tail coat slung over a chair. He sat on the bed and look out the window with a cup of tea in his hands. The tea had long gone cold, not even touched once. He stared out at the broken moonlit night, the sky adorned with countless stars.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat...
How I wonder what you're at...
Up above the world you fly...
Like a tea tray in the sky...
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat...
How I wonder what you're at...."

Byron sung the strange song in monotone, sitting alone in that room that had once belonged to the little girl he had buried.

(Mass Effect 3 OST: Dream)

It wasn't before Robin stepped into the room, and looked at the sole occupant. Letting out a deep sigh, she looked around and twiddled her fingers, letting her presence linger there for a moment.

"...."

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, despite her somewhat hesitant. Instead, she merely approached Byron, placed a hand on his shoulder, and sat down next to him. Not looking at him directly, she gently rubbed his shoulder.

Gathering her courage, she spoke:"For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"I've known her since she was born," Byron murmured, "... You know... I can't even.... bring myself to cry..."

Byron turned his head to face Robin. He had put on a new eyepatch and washed his face of the blood, but the strangest thing noted was the smile that remained forever there on his face. No matter what had happened, no matter how it may have changed in the small details, in the end, Byron was always smiling. That was the curse this mad man has bared, always smiling, always laughing, never once able to show his true feelings.

"My family used to always smile," Byron said, "We would be happy every single day... Six o'clock was my favorite time. It was tea time. And when the clock strikes six well..."

Byron's eyes looked sadden as he looked down at the ground, still smiling sadly despite everything. "Remember when we first met and you asked me about my past..." Byron continued, "Well... now you know. I may not have told you much at the time but you surely know everything now..."

Byron smiled brightly, looking at Robin with a cheery grin despite the tired and sadden look in his eyes, the same look in his eyes that he would have so randomly despite the smile on his face.

"No you know how truly mad I am," Byron stated, "And now you know how much of a monster I am...." His hand reached up and touched the eye patch for a moment before lowering his hand back to his lap as he looked down. "You probably don't want a thing to do with me now," Byron said casually as if he was talking about the weather. "No one in their right mind could love someone like me... So it's alright if you want to break things off now..."

Byron spoke cheerfully and nonchalantly with such a natural smile on his face, yet his eye gave away his true emotions. He wasn't a smiling, carefree man. Anyone who can truly look at his eyes could see that. He was a broken man, a tormented man, who has forgotten what it meant to love and be loved. He was a mad man cursed to smile no matter what, forced to be forever haunted by his past at the strike of six where he becomes both his strongest and his weakest.

Robin sighed, "Byron. Have I ever told you about Lycus? He was Axel's partner in our initiation. It was when I first met David, before I knew about his condition. He...didn't make it. The Grimm we were fighting against pinned him against the wall and crushed his body. We got him to a hospital, but he died on life support."

She gave him a grim smile, "I still have nightmares about it. I keep seeing his face in my dreams. I keep asking myself: "Should I have done something different?" And each time, I can't come up with an answer. Maybe it's because I know I can't turn back the past, or it's because I'm not very good at being depressed.But, then I got you, and Axel and David were right behind me, But what I'm trying to say is, your not alone, you never were. Not with Dormir, and not with me. Not with us. You still have us, we're team AMBR after all. We stick together and support each other. No matter what goes on in our heads."

Standing up, the Sword Dancer stood in front of Byron and extended a hand to him, "So come on, you may be Mad, but your our hatter. And my boyfriend."Oh god I have a boyfriend."Alyss told me that you were strongest when you were at your weakest. Well, here and now I'm calling BS on that. You're at your best when you are with us, and with me. So come on, Dormir wouldn't want you to mope about like some kind of angsty teen in a bad romance book about sparkly vampires, nor would Axel, or David. Or me, for that matter. So come on, you ready to face tomorrow? Are you ready to face the world outside of the tea-party? Are you ready, to live?"

Byron stared at Robin under the moonlight. Even though she was but a girl, she looked so tall and confident, shining with strength and nobility.

"Pfft~" Byron looked off to the side and chuckled despite the motivational speech. He looked up at Robin, but this time his expression had changed. He was smiling yes, but for once his smile looked truly genuine. He reached out and took her hand in his and stood up in front of the sword dancer, smiling down at her. "Maybe it is you who is truly mad," Byron said, "for how else could you put up with a madman like me?"

Suddenly Byron started leaning downward slowly and gradually. He moved at a mock turtle's pace and his grip on Robin's hand was loose. He was testing Robin. He was testing her by giving her a choice. He allowed her to decide if it was truly alright to allow this madman to stand by her.

Robin blinked.

Then gently kissed him again, taking his palms into her own. She held the kiss for a few seconds before breaking off.

"There. Now, let's go see how the others are doing. We really need to talk about how it's not a good idea to take human lives." She said, then winced slightly, "Oh, that reminds me. I should send cards to the guys I shot. I hope their cheeks get better."

Byron smiled and gave Robin a peck on the cheek before saying, "Well I certainly didn't hear them complaining about it."

And so the team went back to Vale come morning, establishing a strong bond and a greater relationship then ever before. And if one was observant enough, one could tell that Byron had started smiling a lot more... naturally...

Thou art I... I am thou...
Thou hast established a new bond,
It brings thee closer to the heart
Thou shall have our blessing when interacting with this Arcana...: