Bus Number 6-Part 5
When Avery returns, she's a bit pale, but otherwise, she looks fine. Belle was worried she would throw up but it seems her empathy value isn't very high. He waits until she says the passenger's last regret before speaking up.
"How was it in there?" He questions.
"It was different…like before I could clearly tell it wasn't me or my body, but this time it felt more real," Avery explains.
"Well, we only have five more passengers to go. I can probably do it once more, and you can probably do it twice. That leaves two passengers we might have to fight," Belle muses.
"That's fine, we can take them," Avery smirks.
"Oho, so confident." Belle teases.
"I was good enough that I was sent out on a solo mission tonight, you chumps just need to stay out of my way." She shoots back.
"Okay, then when it comes down to it each of us take one person, unless the bus driver doesn't attack and then we'll double up," Belle tells the other two.
"Right." The other two easily agree. They make it to the next bus stop and the next passenger soon arrives. Belle uses the ability again and is barely able to make it through. The pain is blinding, much worse than before, and way worse than any injuries he's ever gotten before. When he makes it out he's forced to throw up out the window.
After that, Avery handles the next two passengers, and after the second one, she ends up in much the same state. This leaves them with three people left on the bus, including themselves: a young man with burn marks on half his body, an old woman holding her head in her lap, and the bus driver.
"Should we at least try to guess what their last regret was?" Leslie asks as they stare down the man with burn marks.
"Wouldn't hurt to try." Belle shrugs.
"Hnnn, your last regret was not being able to say goodbye to your children." Avery tries. The burned man's face scrunches up in confusion.
"That doesn't sound right." He says. For the next few minutes, they try whatever they can think of until the man starts to get angry.
"Ugh, this is impossible, does anyone else have any ideas?" Leslie questions.
"Nope." Avery sighs.
"I guess we should prepare," Belle groans. They only have about five minutes left before all hell breaks loose. Belle grabs out his axe and hands the cleaver to Leslie, glancing at Avery he suddenly has a great idea.
"Hey, do you think you can use these?" He asks her, throwing her the kusarigama.
"What?" She questions, turning them over in her hands. She tosses them around for a bit, playing with them, until she hesitantly nods her head.
"I think I could figure it out." She replies. When the five minutes are up, everything suddenly stops. The bus isn't moving and the lights turn an eerie red. The bus driver and two passengers are staring straight at them.
"They said you would help us…but they lied." The old woman growls.
"Now you must pay the price." The burned man threatens.
"Leslie, you take the old woman, I'll take the bus driver and Avery, you take the burned man." At his words, the other two nod, and then chaos unfolds. The burned man flies toward them as Avery quickly intercepts, Belle and Leslie rush past her as a burst of flames suddenly appears behind them. Before they even have a chance to look the old woman's head is flying at them and Leslie smacks it out of the air.
Belle rushes past him to intercept the bus driver whose bloated body is preparing to body slam Leslie. Belle ducks under him and slices at his leg, but it doesn't cut all the way through, only going about halfway.
"Shit." He curses, letting go of the axe to dodge the hand that was about to slap his head off. He summons the axe back from the system and notices the charge is filled up. The bus driver's body is coated in miasma, most likely for defense.
Belle dodges again as the bus driver aims another slap at his head, and when he turns around he strikes at the bus driver's arm, the axe gets stuck again but Belle releases the charge and sends a blast of miasma cutting through his arm.
"Argh!" The bus driver groans in pain and turns back toward Belle with an enraged expression. The bus driver attacks again, but he's faster this time and his slap catches him in the stomach, sending him flying toward the front of the bus.
"Urgh." He makes a noise as all the wind is blown out of him. When he notices the bus driver attacking again he quickly uses his ability and paralyzes the bus driver. Catching his breath for two seconds he leaps out of the way right as the paralysis is undone and the bus driver crashes into where he was just sitting.
Belle slices at his other arm, this time he puts more pressure into it and cuts it so only a tiny slab of the flesh is still there, he's able to easily pull the axe out and returns for another swing when he's kicked in the side suddenly. He goes flying again, his other side doubling over on one of the seats.
The bus driver is approaching him again, his foot is raised over Belle's head ready to smack down. Belle quickly uses his other ability to enter the ghost world and everything turns slow. He painfully rolls out of the way and uses his last two seconds to take a breath before everything returns to normal. The bus driver's foot goes straight through the seat.
Belle raises his axe and cuts off his other arm while he's stuck, but that just enrages the bus driver even more and he rips his foot out of the seat and goes barreling toward him. Belle hurriedly flies out of the way but the bus driver suddenly stops, something that shouldn't be possible with his speed and size, and turns around to kick Belle again. His head cracks against the window and he fades out of consciousness.