Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

Despite being fairly early, the venue was already packed, leaving Ben just a little worried about the fact he was showing up without a ticket, even if he’d been told to do as much by the show’s producer himself.

It looked like Greed had done well for himself, with a line formed of people from all over, each of them talking excitedly about the performance that had taken the world by storm as Ben tried his best to not let his personal history with what was about to go on taint his expression as he worked his way to the front, finding a couple of ushers waiting for the time to let the crowd in.

“Excuse me, I was told as long as I showed my card there’d be someone here to help me,” Ben said to the closer of the workers, the man at first coming across as disinterested until he caught a look at the revealed name, showing exactly who he was and why he was there.

“Of course sir, right this way!”

The instant boost in mood from the employee made it apparent he knew who Ben was and the part he’d play in the coming show, but as Ben and Thera followed him they weren’t taken to any seats, but instead to the back, where a far larger group of performers than Ben had been expecting were preparing before they found themselves in front of a familiar crab.

“Legs!” Greed cheered the second he saw them. “You really showed! I was beginning to think you never would.”

“Ha, I guess I put it off a bit longer than I should have but I was always going to come eventually. It’s good seeing you again buddy, wish you didn’t slip off the last time.”

“Ah, well that’s a whole other thing, I’ll tell you about it over dinner if the two of you are free when this is all done?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Great, we’ll have to save the rest of the chatting for then if you don’t mind, gotta finish up the prep here but I’ll have you led to your seats. Oh, but when the show’s done and the curtain closes, stay there for me, would ya?”

“Sure, will do.”

With their brief greeting done, the two were led to their seats before the doors would be opened for the rest of the crowd, leaving the two in the front row of an empty theater, the curtains closed in preparation for what was to come.

Thera was practically buzzing with excitement beside him, all of the talk they’d heard about it combined with the few bards and performers they’d seen singing those same songs across the world raising expectations through the roof.

Despite any feelings she had about how much trouble the crab seemed to get himself into thanks to his love life, Greed was still a person with an awakened music skill, that made anything he might produce a thrill to see.

That very same enthusiasm made Ben all the more sure he wouldn’t be able to handle whatever was about to come, only having the small mercy that at least the show wasn’t actually that long and did his best to hold onto it as the doors finally opened and people began streaming in to fill every seat as the ushers tried to bring people to a hush for the performance everyone was there for.

It was only when things had quieted down enough and everyone was settled that it looked like the show was about to begin, not with the curtain rising but instead with Greed’s bodyguard carrying him out with a stool to be placed on, front and center of it all, with the speaker Ben had once made him set up as well, letting the crab greet the audience.

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“Welcome, one and all!” He began, setting the scene of what was to come. “To all of you fine folks here tonight, what you’re about to witness is a tale that’s unbelievably true, one of struggle and triumph as myself and a companion were tossed into hell, given no choice but to take on an impossible challenge, only to overcome in the end. This is no tragedy, but instead the story of us taking on the power of a dead god and coming out on top!”

He paused there, leaving room for cheers to go up as the crowd's excitement soared, with only Ben’s plummeting as the crab went on.

“And ladies and gents, it pleases me to no end to let you all know that you’re in for an even more special viewing of the show than usual thanks to who’s in the audience with you. The man I went through hell with and saved my life, the trial breaker, the trial defier, the craftsman that worships the cube and the apostle himself! All of you give it up for my friend Ben! Ben, why don’t you stand on up and give the crowd a wave?”

An introduction like that made him want to do the very opposite, but he held back on the urge to sink into his seat, instead rising and giving the audience a wave as they cheered, all while seeing Thera laughing through it all after that grandiose introduction.

This time it took far longer for the crowd to quiet down but Greed was content to wait, having expected as much and gave them a few minutes before speaking again.

“Alright, now with all of that fun stuff out of the way, let’s get the show going!”

The curtains finally rose on those words as the show began, with the entire thing making Ben aware of two things.

One was the unique format of it, one he’d never seen on Earth at the very least. Greed still stood front and center as he began, singing and clicking his claws to make the music for it all as he told their tale, but as he was doing that performers were silently acting in the background, conveying how the two had been tossed into the trial and what they’d had to deal with on and between each floor.

The uniqueness of it made it an interesting enough performance for him despite having to see an actor play out his role in it all, but the harder thing to deal with was the second discovery. The time.

Any time in the past when Ben had accidentally come across someone singing songs from Greed’s show, he hadn’t realized they’d been singing an abridged version, even if he should have been able to expect as much. The fifteen minutes he’d heard on the streets obviously wasn’t going to be enough for a big performance like that, not if he wanted the crowd to get their money’s worth, but that meant Ben was fully unprepared for the two hours of music he had to face, every line about his supposed heroism chipping away at his sanity until it finally came to a close, with no encore of any more of his exploits to thrill the crowd.

Not that they needed any. The applause was thunderous, filling the theater and reaching beyond it as the performers came out and bowed, with Ben finally turning to his girlfriend to see what she thought of it all, only to find her quietly blushing at the side.

“You good?”

“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting to be talked about so much in it too.”

“Ha, well now you can know my pain. Just be grateful that you didn’t have a performer pretending to be you too then.”

While she hadn’t had a big role in it, there was no doubt that Ben and Greed were the stars, the beginning had hit on Ben’s desire to tell Thera how he’d felt before he was tossed in the trial and the show had ended with him doing just that, along with one song in the middle about if he’d ever see her again. It wasn’t surprising to him at least since he’d lived through the experience and his mind skills let him remember it all with perfect clarity, but she had only heard about some of those bits secondhand, letting her taste just some of the embarrassment Ben was going through.

Still, neither of them could deny it was a good show and both were able to get some enjoyment out of it despite any awkwardness, with both talking about it as the audience slowly streamed out until the doors were closed, leaving them as the last two in the theater.

From there, they expected Greed to come down from around back to meet them so they could go to dinner, but that wasn’t what happened. Instead, the curtain rose again as Greed was brought out back on stage.

“Now, I hope you both remember that I have a promise to keep here in the form of a private show for the two of you, and would you look at that? We have a whole empty theater to do it in! So before we eat, sit back and relax for a bit and enjoy some of the slightly less popular musical stylings of the one and only Greed!”

That surprise announcement led into a whole other show for them, this one much easier to enjoy as the time passed by.

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