WTUD chapter 3: Endless Optimism

Silence… just uncomfortable silence. That's all Petals heard when she walks through the empty city… She gripped onto her sister's hand tightly, afraid that if she lets go, she’ll disappear.
Petals: I’m… starting to have second thoughts…
Rose: What? We can’t head back now! We don’t even remember where we were earlier!
Petals: That's true…
Rose: And besides, you heard dad! He was using suppressed power! All we have to do is rush him at full power and then we’ll win!
Petals looks down… is her “full power” even enough to be considered power at all? Rose looks at her and smiles.
Rose: I’m sure you’ll do great. You’re the genius after all!
Petals smile from that little complement. She usually just says it as a way to cope with her lesser ability, but Rose genuinely seems to pride her over this. The two continue walking for hours upon hours, trying to find Mars and put a stop to this madness, until they finally make it. They see the red god laughing and talking to himself in front of a broken window, with a manic glee in his eyes.
Mars: Aren’t you excited, Eren? You get to watch my descent all over again!
Suddenly the sound of falling over catches his attention. He turns around and sees Petals picking up Rose, who tripped on a rock
Mars: Oh it’s you two…
He says unamused
Mars: I should’ve known this was going to happen. Leave some kids alive and they think they’ll rise up and defeat me. Sorry to crush your spirits.
Petals is a bit intimidated, but Rose stands up.
Rose: Don’t underestimate us! We may be kids, but we’re Kingsman! We carry that surname with pride, and for the sake of our dad, we will defeat you!
Mars: …Kingsman… that's a name I haven’t heard in a long time. I’m assuming that “Clone” is your father?
He laughs as he glances to the side.
Mars: Here that, Eren? I told you I could find a way… Anyways your corpses will be great for bait when your father is here…
Rose: Alright… let's show 'em, Cherry!
Petals: Right!

Rose takes out Thorn and rushes at Mars with Petals close behind. Rose starts to slash at him, causing him to take a defensive stance. In the distance, Petal takes out a dodgeball like invention and tosses it at Mars, making Rose jump away as the ball blows up in his face.
Rose: Great job, Petals!
Petals scratches the back of her head smiling but then they realize Mars wasn’t even fazed by the attacks.
Mars: Look at that, Eren. They tried their best and they still couldn’t even make me feel pain.
Petals: Okay… why are you talking to aunt Eren? She isn’t even there!
Mars shakes his head and looks at Petals before smiling.
Mars: of course she is. Her spirit is linked to me.
Petals: Wait.. Spirit…? What happened to Aunt Eren?
Rose: Petals I don’t think we want to figure out-
Mars: No no… I’ll give you permission to know my story. I’m such a nice guy after all.
He says smiling and starts to explain what happened.
“It all started after the incident that made me the vessel of Ares. That knife that had slit my throat all those years ago… I was merely a 6 year old at that time, and I just got home. That night, I heard him speak to me. A promise of true power, so I could never feel vulnerable again… However I needed to do something for him. I needed to prove that I was able to sacrifice everything for him… And the thing I treasured most at that time was my relationship with Eren. I knew if I wanted to be just as strong, or maybe even stronger than Ares, I needed to take that bond away… and so I thought of a plan. I would come to her house in order to apologize to her and go to her room in private. Fox would be long asleep by the time the murder took place, which is what I thought. I always thought Eren would stare death in the eye with a smile, however all she did was scream like a little bitch. I chased her down the stairs and cornered her in a closet. And, guess what? She cried! She was actually crying!”
Mars started laughing half way through his explanation, to the shock of Rose and Petals, who were heavily disturbed.

“‘Oh please don’t hurt me Matt!’ ‘why are you doing this, Matt?!’ It was hilarious… But I knew the fun had to end before her dad woke up. And so, I grabbed her by the hair and bashed her head on the shelf, knocking her unconscious. I then cut off every individual finger from her body, and then her toes… her arms… her legs… until I finally ended it with her head. But then, I heard Fox open the door to the closet, and for the first time I’ve seen, his tired deminor finally broke to reveal a face full of shock! He was trying to reason with me, trying to ask why I would do this… but I didn’t answer and just smiled. He was about to call the cops, which would have been the end of me, if Ares didn’t let me have access at that moment! I then punched him out of the way with my newfound power and made my way out of the house and into an abandoned house… where I trained myself in order to become the strongest there is! However, every time I’m alone, a spirit of Eren appears to my side and asks me, ‘Do you regret anything you’ve done?’ And I bet you know what I answered with…”
Mars tries to hold back his laughter as he hits himself on the back of the head, causing it to bleed. Petals thinks to herself, this isn’t her dad, this is NOTHING like her dad! He would never do this to Eren… But Rose was thinking about something else.
Rose: How nice…
Mars’s laughter stops
Mars: What?
Rose: even in death and even after you killed her, she still decided to stay by your side. That's a relationship I want to have with someone…
Rose pauses to think about a cute boy she met at school but then snaps back into the current moment as the ground begins to break around them.
Mars: You think you can just reinterpret her haunting as her wanting to be here?!
His voice is full of malice in rage as he prepares to dash for Rose but… to her shock, he hits Petals.
Mars: Fine! If you want someone to be there for you after they die, let's see what happens to your sister, shall we?
Petals: Sis-
She’s interrupted by a punch to the pace as she gets sent flying… she grabs her hammer to try and propel herself back down, but turns around and gets kicked by Mars, sending her crashing…
Mars: Hey scientist. You want to know a little thing?
He says stomping on her head, putting more and more pressure on it.
Mars: A child’s skull is easier to break than a normal adult… let me show you.

He’s about to do one final push but he gets distracted by a hand on his shoulder. He turns around and sees Rose, her eyes no longer filled with warm happiness, but now just unyielding rage. The aura of Mania sparks around her as she speaks in a cold monotone voice.
Rose: That's my sister.
In an instant, a punch was delivered onto his face as Mars gets sent back, and then an attack from above with her katana, slashing without any mercy… Mars is confused… he’s actually getting hurt?
Mars: What the… you couldn’t even do anything to me earlier how-
“YOU WANT TO KNOW TRUE POWER?!”
She yells out tossing him in the air.
“TRUE POWER COMES FROM EXPERIENCE AND PAIN! YOU THINK YOU CAN DO WHAT OUR DAD DOES BETTER? WELL YOUR WRONG!”
She says as she dashes in the air and starts to slash at him franticly
“EVERY HIT HE TOOK, EVERY PUNCH HE MISSED, EVEN WHEN HE DIDN’T HAVE CONTROL OVER HIMSELF, HE KEPT GETTING BACK UP! BUT YOU? YOU NEVER EXPERIENCE PAIN LIKE HE DOES! COMPARED TO HIM, YOU’RE NOTHING! HE’S NOT JUST POWERFUL, HE’S STRONG!”
She slams him into the ground and lands safely, turning away from him as she takes out the sheath of the sword and puts part of her katana in.
“But you wouldn’t know the difference, would you?”
With the click of the katana being sheathed, Mars felt every single slash dealt by Rose at once and fell to the ground, defeated. Rose falls out of her mania state and to Petals, who was trying to get up.
Rose: Petals! Are you alright?
Petals: Yeah… My head really hurts though…
Rose: It’s okay… you don’t have to fight anymore… we can just yell for help so Aunt Persephone can bring us back…
Petals: Mhm…
She says looking down… they won but… why does she feel so empty? Maybe it was because she hasn’t grown at all from this experience, she was just a dummy to be toyed with by Mars and the catalyst of Rose’s Mania… She hasn’t developed on her own… But Rose smiles at her, and that was all she needed to smile back.
Rose: Alright… let's go tell Dad our grand adventure…
The two got up but then they heard a voice that shook them to their core.
Mars: Hold it.
R&P turn around and see Mars getting up with a malicious smile. He seems… more powerful than before… but only slightly…
Mars: That's odd… I should be overflowing with power after that beatdown… guess I really did hit a wall… I should be mad, but all I feel is gratitude…
He says walking up to them, who, in response, step back in fear.

Mars: You were right, Child. But you forgot one key thing. One last important thing that leads to power.
“Rage”
He says as his aura bursts, destroying everything around them. Rose is having flashbacks to a similar time… one where she had to actually fight her dad… one where she died… but this time is different… she was stronger, and she had Petals by her side! This was going to be a cake walk but… Mars kept going.
Mars: Rage… Rage at being beaten by a child, rage for not killing you sooner, and rage at myself for not killing your father earlier…
Rose: Don’t talk about my dad like tha-
But she was immediately backhanded by Mars into a building. He turns to Petals, who is shaking in fear.
Mars: I trust you don’t have any explosive powers like she does? Well I guess it’s only fair if you get to watch your sister's demise now… Enjoy.
He dashes to the direction of Rose as Petals runs after them. She couldn’t believe this… Her first real fight that she could actually die in, so she can prove that she’s strong, and all she did was get in the way?! What is wrong with her?! Eventually, she collapsed, out of breath on the broken sidewalk, forced to watch as Rose got beaten in front of her… What was she going to do…? She was scared, scared of what would happen if she actually used her inventions again… But her sister… And so… She begged.
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the tension's just as crazy as always

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Chapter 2

Holy shit