Nightshift 35: South Hall [Basement]

[braidless]

((From here.))The darkness here was thick and oppressive. Even with the beam from his glowrod, it was difficult to get a clear idea of what, exactly, was ahead. For a moment, he reached out with his senses, but he was met with murky clouds of aggression, cold air, and something else he couldn't identify. There was a draft, but that wasn't why

Comments

[prevails]

This was different. More... ominous than the other rooms; it was darker, colder, more silent, and overall more dangerous feeling. Where were they really heading? Now he wished he would have asked earlier, it felt a little too late now.

Forcing down the feeling, Goku made his way up to the guy that was first in line. He was wishing he'd brought his flashlight with him now, so much for it being useless. 'least the darkness wasn't that bad, not when other people had flashlights. Using both he could pretty much see what was immediately around them and a ways in front. Sort of like ...

"Is that a door?" Suddenly seeing the "end of the rainbow" (so to speak), Goku jogged a ways ahead of the party. There went the 'stay close' line.

[31st_of_china]

"Goku..." Sanzo's voice came from the darkness, warningly. Of course the runt would completely forget the 'stay close' from just seconds earlier. Common sense said not to run, for fuck's sake, but common sense wasn't something the monkey was known for.

Sanzo came up behind him, coming to stop in front of the immense set of double-doors, made of some black stone. He shown the light more fully on it. Demonic creatures seemed to dance across it, and from the middle, like some obscene plant, sprouted a carving of a serpent's head.

The beam of light went further up, lighting on words carved over it.

'“Only those two who offer their blood will be allowed entrance.”' Sanzo repeated.

[qui_gonjinn]

Qui-Gon fell silent. He didn't like this. Only two of their party would be able to pass through, it seemed. Whoever went in would have to be ready, both in body and mind, he knew, gazing at the door with its grotesque carvings, the serpent's gaping head casting sharp shadows in the flickering light of their glowrods.

"What do you think, Obi-Wan?" he asked, keeping his voice quiet. Obi-Wan was a full-fledged Jedi now. While Qui-Gon's first impulse was to offer his own blood up first, it wouldn't be right to act without first consulting his friend; he'd been known in the past for being impulsive for a Jedi, but somehow it felt right in his core to turn to Obi-Wan first.

There were the others as well to deal with as well.

[braidless]

Obi-Wan read the words etched into doors, saw the disturbing images, and comprehended their implications. Whatever was beyond these doors was going to be difficult, perhaps even deadly. It was even possible that whoever ventured onward would never be seen again, leaving the others to forever wonder what had happened to them. And if that was the case, would they be able to return here again the future and send more people past this door

[qui_gonjinn]

[Getting ported with the rest of the surviving Coliseum group from hereThe Force and the loss of his sight and all feeling closed in

[givemeoblivion]

What, that was it? Now they were back out in this hallway again. How anticlimactic. Dammit! That pompous asshole. He'd hardly even looked at her. Callisto didn't enjoy being ignored (especially now that she couldn't do anything about it). She was going to get an audience with him even if it took more difficult measures.

She attention strayed to Qui-Gon and Goku. It shouldn't have been surprising that their wounds had been healed, but her brows went up all the same. They should be thanking the poor deceased Sanzo for taking the fall for them.

Now that she was out here, though, there was no reason to stick around. Surprisingly, there seemed to be noise coming from up ahead. Others had obviously made it down here same as them. "Well," she smiled as though they'd just finished watching something particularly enjoyable. "I'm off. It's been a real pleasure."

[prevails]

What just happened?

Sanzo... died?

Really died? Really, really died? But, that was wasn't possible, right? Sanzo couldn't die. He wasn't supposed to! There were times before that looked like, maybe, he might but it never happened. Sanzo was supposed to be strong enough to live through that, to be able to survive. If they were supposed to be strong enough, shouldn't Sanzo be? Wouldn't he be? It didn't make sense for him to go now, especially when he'd just gotten the sutra

[braidless]

As soon as Martin Landel had finished with them, they'd been whisked away into the hallway. Although the sense of dread that clung to the air was as strong as ever, Obi-Wan immediately recognized that his powers were once again diminished -- even his robes and lightsaber were missing, replaced with, as if by magic, the bland Institute uniform and the knife "Mr. Radio" had given him.

The Jedi's eyes scanned the area. There was Callisto, who seemed to be on the verge of leaving, and it appeared the boy and Qui-Gon weren't injured anymore. Inwardly sighing with relief, Obi-Wan was glad to not have that burden on his shoulders anymore. But that didn't lessen the crushing weight of what he'd done, and his gaze was inevitably drawn to the body lying on the ground.

He could sense Goku's distress and disbelief at seeing his companion's corpse. If Obi-Wan himself hadn't been the one responsible, he might have given him his distance in order to let him properly grieve. And yet, he'd been the one to strike Sanzo down -- he'd ended a life