Betrayal.

"Very good Karl. You're learning very quickly." The red-haired girl complemented, sounding thoroughly impressed. "Thank you Rachel." The statue responded with a smile, lowering the violin he was holding. "I'm surprised I've learned this quickly…After all, you did say it was one of the hardest instruments to learn how to play." Karl said, looking the violin over with a curious expression before directing his gaze to his instructor. The woman laughed a bit at this, as if it were a joke.

"Well, you're obviously more adept at playing the violin than a human is." She said, making eye contact with Karl. The statue blinked and looked away in a shy way. "It's only because I have you as a teacher. Without you I never would have been able to learn." Karl said, looking back at Rachel with a smile. "You're also what drives me to get better." He added, receiving a look of surprise from the girl.

She look away quickly, Karl catching a glimpse of the look in her eyes. They looked…Ashamed somehow. Was it  indeed shame? Or perhaps it was…No…What would she be…?

"Rachel?" He said questioningly, seeming concerned. "What's wrong?" He added quickly, frowning. She looked back at him, a pained look in her eyes. Karl didn't understand what was going on within the girl's head… It scared him for some reason.

"Karl…I…I have to stop seeing you." She said, her voice burdened with regret and sorrow. The statue stared at her, as if she had just done something incredibly strange. Then, slowly, he started laughing a bit. "T-this is a joke, right? A bad one, but still. It's not true…Right?" Karl asked once his laughter died down, desperation seeping into his last word.

Slowly, the girl closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, Karl…I wish it was, I really do." Rachel said, opening her eyes but not looking at him. The statue felt oddly indifferent about seeing her eyes glisten with tears…Something that would have caused him to show the utmost concern before today. However now, all he felt was a coldness.

He had never felt such a cold, but somehow didn't care. "Why?" The statue asked, the girl finally looking at him. "Why can't you see me anymore? Do you hate me now or something?" He questioned, surprised by how oddly cruel his voice sounded. Rachel seemed to have noticed the change in tone, for her expression was confused and hurt.

"No Karl, oh Heavens no! That's not why I swear!" She cried, tears beginning to slide down her face. "I could never hate you Karl, never." She said quietly, her tone miserable. "Then why?! Why?!" The statue questioned harshly, his tone causing the girl to flinch. "Because…" She trailed off, looking as if she were about to collapse and start sobbing.

Karl made no move to go comfort her, even though a part of him wanted to. A larger part of him told him to stay put and feel no pity. He tore his gaze away from the weeping woman to direct his attention at a sudden newcomer to the theater. Karl noted the man look confused, angry…Wearing an orange coat… He stopped at the face.

Suddenly, he felt angry for reasons he did not understand. "Who are you?" He asked, his tone conveying his unexplained rage. The man looked from Karl to Rachel, and immediately went to her. He looked up at the statue with a hatred that made him flinch.

"I'm Rachel's fiancé. And you're the freak I told her not to hang around anymore." The man said, venom dripping from every word. At that, something in Karl's mind just simply shattered. He gained a blank expression, his sight on Rachel. She seemed distraught, as if she had been dreading this very moment.

'She knew…She knew he'd come and say what he was going to say.' Karl thought suddenly, wishing he'd never met this girl to begin with. "Why Rachel…Why would you…The things you say….And the kiss next to Ferris wheel…Why? What was it for?" He asked in a dejected tone, his voice breaking. Rachel's eyes widened in horror as the man's hand strayed inside his coat. "You son of a bitch." He growled, withdrawing a gun.

A combination of noises struck the air within the next moment. A solitary gun shot, the sound of resin and wood being broken, and a woman's single scream of protest. Then, silence. Complete silence, the air saturated with despair and anger.

There Karl stood with a blank expression, his lower arm in pieces on the floor alongside pieces of the violin he'd been holding. He blinked a few times, then looked at the man, as if just realizing he was there. Anger sparked into the statue's expression then, narrowing his eyes at the man. Without a single word, he went forward with purpose.

Before anyone could do anything, Karl had grabbed the man by the head. The man panicked and tried to shoot the statue, but he failed. With a cry of unmistakable rage, Karl proceeded to slam the man into the wall by the head. He didn't even flinch at the tortured screams, in fact he seemed to like them.

He went on slamming until the screams stopped, and even for a bit afterwards. Breathing hard as if physically exerted, he finally released his grip on what remained of the man's head, eyes unfocused. The sound of sobbing caught his attention, bringing him back to what was going on around him. He looked away from the body to Rachel, who looked absolutely terrified.

Karl turned towards her fully and walked toward her. She let out a quiet cry of terror, backing away and pleading for her life. She stumbled and fell on her backside, too shaky from fear to even attempt to stand again. "Please, Karl, don't…Remember everything we did!  And…" Karl blocked her voice out; Her words meant nothing to him anymore.

'She was with him…Even then…And she still…' His thoughts trailed off. "You betrayed me." The statue said coldly, interrupting her frantic pleas. "I…I'm sorry Karl. I'm so sorry." Rachel sobbed, looking up at him with a sincere look. Her expression went back to one of fear when Karl started laughing; the laugh sent chills down her spine.

"You think apologizing will make everything better?" He questioned, an odd smile coming onto his face. Rachel couldn't bring herself to respond immediately. "N-no, I just-" Karl cut her off quickly. "Then why bother saying it? There's no point if it doesn't fix everything." He said, before laughing a bit.

She shrank away at it, feeling absolutely terrified. Somehow the look of horror on her face brought Karl joy. He nearly laughed as he realized before today, he would have tried to console her. He went forward and grabbed her arm, causing Rachel to give a shriek of terror.

"The color of blood looks good on you…It'd be better if the blood belonged to you though." The statue said, seeing the crimson liquid he had got on her sleeve. "No, Karl please! Please don't!" She pleaded, her voice panicked. The statue merely laughed, before hurling her into the same wall he'd killed the man on. He watched as she slid down into the pool of her former fiancé's blood, a sadistic smile on his face.

He walked over, pleased to see the girl was still conscious. The statue kneeled down and lifted her head up gently, looking down into her clouding eyes. "Rachel…I want you to know…I'm sorry." He said, his tone heartrending. He closed his eyes and gained a solemn expression.

Rachel didn't have the strength to respond in any way besides her eyes. There are no words to describe just how scared they looked as Karl opened his eyes again, the sadistic smile coming back to his face. "I'm sorry I won't get the chance to torture you efficiently. Please do say hello to that man for me when you see him in Hell, won't you?" He said, before laughing. He then took her head in a rough grasp and slammed it into the floor, sickening crunching noises filling the air.

Karl then let go, pulling his dripping hand away. He looked at it in an odd wonder as he saw how much blood was on it. Suddenly, his body was seized by shakes and he dropped to his knees, with his remaining hand covering his face. The unmistakable sound of sobbing split the silence, but there were no tears.

'Humans get to cry…But not me. Because I'm not one of them…They never thought we may want to cry at some point.' Karl thought, the tearless sobbing continuing. He stayed like that for around maybe 3 to 4 minutes, overcome by an indescribable misery. When he uncovered his face, it was now with crimson smeared on it like paint. He looked down at Rachel's corpse, thankful for the fact that her eyes were closed.

"I'm sorry Rachel…I didn't…I didn't want to kill you but…" The statue trailed off, seeming frustrated. "Once I killed him, your fate was sealed." He said in a cold voice, looking at the man's corpse. "Because you would have told someone who cared enough to destroy me for it, I'm sure." Karl muttered darkly, glaring at Rachel's face. Once he had regained his composure, he stood and went to leave, but then stopped, turning to look at the man's corpse.

Still silent, he went forward and took the coat off the corpse carefully. He then held it up and inspected it, scoffing as he saw how much blood was on the article of clothing. "I'll have to ask that cloth-guy if he knows anything about…No, better ask Jackie. Cloth-guy doesn't know what the sky is, let alone how to operate a washer and dryer." He said with a laugh, putting the coat over his shoulder. He then went over and gathered the pieces of his hand and wrist, deciding to use the coat as a bag of sorts for the pieces; He decided to leave the violin pieces behind.

Once he had done so, Karl walked out of the theater, not even looking at the corpses. He was glad the park was deserted, otherwise he was sure anyone who saw him would be fairly alarmed. 'The park closed a while ago… Rachel only kept coming to teach me how to play.' He thought, shaking his hand a bit to get the blood off. He looked up from the blood splats as he heard a gasp, looking up to see a familiar face.

"Oh, hi Cloth-guy." Karl greeted, as if nothing had happened. "I-its Climber." The mannequin protested shakily, gripping his pick axe nervously.  "What happened? What's that stuff on you? Where's that girl?" He asked, looking concerned. "Oh, you mean Rachel? She's in there." He said, looking back at the theater's slightly open door.

"You shouldn't go in there though. I know much you like humans." Karl said with a quick frown. Climber looked at the statue, his expression one of pure confusion. "What did you do to her? You didn't…You didn't break her did you?" He asked, his tone unidentifiable. "If 'break' means 'kill', then the answer is yes. I didn't mean to at first, but the guy provoked me and…Things just went from there." Karl said, smiling at the look of horror on the mannequin's face.

"B-but…Wasn't she your friend? Why would you do that?!" He yelled, holding his pick axe in a threatening manner. "She betrayed me Cloth-guy. She lied to me." Karl answered, his gaze becoming unfocused. "T-that doesn't mean-!" The statue held up a hand to silence the angry mannequin. "Sorry Cloth-guy, but I'm not in any sort of mood for a lecture. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an arm to get fixed and a coat to wash." He said, giving Climber a smile.

Karl then went and walked past the mannequin, nearly laughing as he heard Climber's footsteps fade into the theater. A startled yell caused him to burst into a fit of hysterical laughter, as he heard the panicked mutterings of the mannequin. "I told him not to go in, didn't I?" He said, as if asking the sky for an answer. He shook his head and walked on, still laughing occasionally.

Once he arrived at his designated area of the park, Karl frowned as he looked at the bundle of broken pieces he held. He went to the storage room, in hopes that there might be something to fix and reattach his arm with.  He wasn't going to ask anyone else to do it, not right now. "Climber will tell Jackie, Jackie'll tell the Castle of Nations… Not that they'll do anything about it of course." He said with a shake of his head, as he set the bundle down to dig through a box.

His hand ran across something sharp, causing him to blink. Curious, he took hold of the object and pulled it free from the box. He was surprised to see the item was a black crow, made out of cement judging by the weight. He was about to set the crow aside when it moved.

He watched it, standing perfectly still. To his further amazement, the crow gained red eyes, as if an invisible painter had used his brush to give the piece a final touch. It looked up at him and tilted it's head, hopping a bit closer to the center of his palm. Karl looked at the cement bird in slight confusion, then smiled.

"So, they locked you away?" He asked, feeling slightly foolish for talking to the bird. He nearly jumped as he received an answer : "Yes, they did". Karl stood in stunned silence, watching the crow. "I can fix your arm" the voice offered; the statue identified the voice as that of a female's.

"You can?" He asked, sounding skeptical. The bird spread her wings and flew down to the bundle, pecking at it. The statue went forward and opened the bundle, then the bird hopped forward as if to examine the pieces. The crow then did something Karl didn't expect; Globs of cement seemed to melt from the bird as she went about putting the pieces back together.

He watched as the crow finished, the cement acting like hot glue. His hand and wrist were now gray like a sidewalk, but at least it was all in one piece. The crow then hovered above the hand and grabbed it, before flying over and putting it to the place it was to be reattached at. The bird acted fast, using the same technique she had used on the pieces.

Once the bird had finished, she flew up and landed on Karl's shoulder, as if waiting for approval. The statue tried to move his fingers and smiled when they moved accordingly. "Impressive! Very impressive!" He said with a laugh. "Might I ask for your name?" He questioned, smiling at the bird.

"Arma" she replied. "Well then Arma, how'd you like to stay with me? Instead of that cramped box? He asked, still smiling. "I would like that. Anything's better than that box. May I ask what your name is?" Arma asked, the bird tilting her head. "Karl." The statue answered, remembering the last time he had introduced himself.

'That was when I first met Rachel…Oh well. I won't think about her anymore.' He decided, directing his attention back at Arma. "How did you break your hand off?" The crow asked,  blinking.  "I'd be happy to tell you. But first, I need to do something." Karl responded, holding his hand up near Arma. The bird hopped onto his hand and he placed her on a shelf.  

The statue reached up to feel his left eye, the one painted over in black in an effort to make it seem like he had an eye patch. "I'm not a pirate." He muttered defiantly, before beginning to scrape at the paint. The paint came off easier than he expected, but he hadn't expected the damage to be so extensive. A mirror that was facing up in the box Arma had been in revealed the scars from his actions.

He felt weight on his shoulder as the crow landed on it. "I think you look better this way. That eye patch looked silly anyway." Arma said, blinking. "I'm glad someone agrees." Karl said with a slight smile. "Now then, let's go outside. It's a nice day." He said, looking at the crow for a moment.

"I'd like that. I haven't seen the outside for such a long time." Arma said, spreading her wings a bit. "I'll tell you how my hand came off once we're out. And perhaps I can play the violin for you, if I can find one." The statue promised, seeming a bit depressed at the mention of having to find a violin. "You can play one?" The crow asked, as if surprised. "Yes, someone taught me how, a while ago." Karl said, his expression unreadable.