Chapter Eight: Confrontation

As the boys entered the stairway, Milo suddenly screamed. He apparently hadn't seen where he was going and bumped into a skull in an alcove. Zach grabbed him by the shoulders and said, "Will you calm down? They're already dead!" "That's what I'm worried about…" Milo muttered as they continued to walk down the skull decorated catacombs. As they got closer to the end, there was a strange blue light coming off from just out of their field of vision. When the steps had finally ended, the source of the blue glow had come into view: The Skullgirl.

The Skullgirl definitely lived up to her name, she was a girl, and there were quite a number of skulls around her. She seemed to be around twelve to thirteen years old and had gray hair with skulls adorning her hair to keep her two ponytails straight and tidy. She seemed to be wearing a maid outfit and had a blue light hanging off of her back. Keeping in with her maid motif, she had a vacuum cleaner made out of bones; however the terror factor of this was slightly diminished by its goofy looking eyes and teeth. Her most prominent features were her eyes; they were blood red, which in its own right was terrifying, but they also had the shape of half of a skull in both pupils.

She glared at all three of them, but the gaze penetrated Zach the most. Kubat broke the silence again, "Okay, I take it back, an evil tween maid armed with a demonic vacuum cleaner is officially what allows me to say that I've seen everything." Zach decided to make a better first impression, "I know you're not going to go quietly, but I need the Skull Heart to bring my mother back to from the dead." The girl spoke in a monotonous tone, "I can understand your plight, but have you not questioned who killed your loved one?" Zach glared daggers at her, "Why should I?" "Would your desire to set things right be sated if I told you it was Black Dahlia of the Medici Mafia?" He froze; he was so close to finding his mother's murderer just a few hours ago, and yet he managed miss her. She continued, "If you let me live, I'll make sure she and everyone involved receives their just desserts."

"Don't listen to her, Zach; she's trying to trick you!" It was Zach mother again, again for all to hear. "Hmmph, it saddens me that you still cannot see that you are being deceived." "What are you getting at?" Zach said through gritted teeth. "I will not ask you again, leave now or I will be forced to kill you." The Skullgirl closed her eyes, while Zach did the same. "Milo, Kubat, I'm grateful for your help, but I need you two to leave now." Zach sighed. "Zach…" Kubat was interrupted by Zach, "NOW." The two complied, leaving Zach alone with the Skullgirl.

"It looks like it's just you and me then…" "Marie." Zach heard several crashes of thunder, and could sense more and more of the blue glowing light even with his eyes closed. When he opened them, his gaze met with Marie's. They were no longer in the catacombs, but on a weird blue plane that looked like it were made of veins. Statues of the Divine Trinity floated about, crumbled and shattered. The full moon was visible from where they stood and skulls littered the ground below.

"Your blind trust towards your ally will be your undoing." Marie was surrounded by giant skulls, some human, and that of some sort of gigantic creatures. Zach charged forth and punched her body in-between where the skulls didn't protect her. "Out of my way." She said as a skull from the barrier glided out and hit Zach in the head. Zach persisted and continued his assault on Marie. "Die." Another skull, only this time the scarf hit it and shattered it. More punches, more skulls, more fragments. "Don't resist." Suddenly one of the giant skulls shot forward, followed by a trail of human skulls. Zach reacted fast enough to shield himself from the attack.

Getting a running start, Zach jumped and shot feet first into Marie. "Why continue to fight?" Marie said as her body lowered to the ground and several blue explosions knocked Zach backwards. Marie now had a vaguely humanoid outline made out of the veins on the ground behind her and the Skull Heart was visible beside her. Cautiously, he stuck a few more blows before observing what she would do next. "Make yourself useful." A skeleton wearing a suit and toting a machine gun appeared and shot several bullets, which Zach was smart enough to reflect back on Marie. "Rise from your grave!" Marie was starting to sound less composed, as if she was worried she was going to lose the battle. Several skeletal arms rose up from underneath Zach and tore at his legs, drawing blood.

"See how weak you are!" She held out her hand and a shadowy figure shot up and slammed into him. Getting up, he charged forward again, and completely missed as she moved behind him. He turned around and continued to punch as hard as he could. "Know your place!" It was the skeleton man again. Ducking under his shots, Zach rolled around him and punched Marie in the face. She started to groan in pain as the explosions around her covered her. Now she was nothing more than a collection of bones surrounding the Skull Heart.

"Serve your new master." The serene tone was back again. A naked skeleton stood between Zach and what remained of Marie's body. Jumping up, Zach grabbed a nearby floating statue and swung over it and kicked Marie. Skulls were flying everywhere, and Zach barely had any time to react to any of them. He proceeded to attack her in the air, and almost got hit by the shadow again. "You will not stop my wish!" A dozen more skulls and creature skulls shot past her and hit Zach. He could barely stand now, but he was so close, and he did not come this far to die now. Defying all logic, he grabbed Marie's skeletal hand and punched the Skull Heart. And punched. And punched, until Marie gave one last scream of pain and her body finally disappeared.

"Finally, I did it, mother!" Zach exclaimed in-between panting like a dog. He took a long look at his reward for the battle: The Skull Heart. "This is…" "… The Skull Heart." Zach's mother finished for him. "Well, what are you waiting for? Make your wish!" Zach said, barely containing his joy. "I wish for Zach's mother to be alive again!" The voice was different, it was no longer the sweet tone of Agatha Gallows, this was far more sinister. "What?" Zach's stopped beating for a couple of seconds. The Skull Heart spoke in response to the wish, "Your wish to bring someone back from the grave is pure, but your intentions and your own hear are not. You will become the Skullgirl." In a flash of light, the silhouette of Zach's mother appeared, and was suddenly twitching erratically, "Heh heh heh, you actually believed me? You really are a fool." These words were not coming from the scarf, but from Agatha's body. She continued to speak in her own voice, not Agatha's. "I have to thank you for the new body, it feels so… ironic." "W-who are you?!" Zach was panicking. "I am Stranghoul, and I am the new SKULLGIRL!" Stranghoul cackled as the power flowed through her new body's previously empty veins.

"What… have I done?!"