Nightshift 45: Greenhouse Yard

[byname_bynature]

( From here.Pulling Chris through the door, Sean nearly slipped on the grass as he ran barefoot across the yard outside the greenhouse. It was quiet--a strange and eerie silence that made Sean's skin crawl. He had a bad feeling about being outside. Like eyes were watching him run across the grass. Like he shouldn't be out here without something

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[byname_bynature]

Sean felt like his arm was going to come out of his socket, Chris was pulling him away so hard. If he tripped, Chris might be able to drag him across the yard. Fortunately, he only stumbled a little before regaining his feet and fleeing as fast as his legs would allow towards the door.

He saw Schuldig go past them, and it took a moment for his mind to process what was happening. Schuldig wasn't running--he was protecting him and Chris. Which denoted two things: one, Schuldig was used to seeing creatures like the one Sean had seen; and two, Schuldig had been trying to protect them the whole time.

"Wait!" Sean cried, tugging on Chris' iron hand to stop them. "We can't just leave him!"

He turned back when he heard the thing snort and spread its wings. Sean shrunk in fear, wondering what was going to happen now. Was it going to breathe fire and kill them all? Would it bear razor-sharp fangs and eat them all whole? He looked back to Artemis, who was staring up open-mouthed at the thing.

And suddenly, everything was black--and gone. He looked back at Chris and found him there, but Artemis and Schuldig and the monster...

"Schuldig!" he called again, gripping Chris' wrist in terror. "Where did they go?!"

[faithful_frost]

Nothing. He was used to nothing. It was his own place, where he went when things got bad. Chris was breathing hard, trying to think. "Hush," he hissed when Sean called out again. "We need to... to calm down."

He moved closer to Sean, so that he could protect the other boy if he had to. If the red-headed madman wanted to fight the thing, fine. "It... it needs or wants something from us. I think. Otherwise, it would have k-killed us." He brought a hand to his chest, trying to slow his breathing and his heart.

"We... we can't fight it head on though. We don't e-e-even know where it is."

[k4t4str0ph4l]

One moment, Schuldig had been facing down a monster - ugly, dangerous, quite likely deadly, but not actually alarming because such things didn't actually alarm him. Be they people or monsters, there was nothing alive that Schuldig would allow to cow him, and next to none had access to anything that could frighten him.

Because there were things Schuldig feared; Crawford could call him a devil, and Schwarzz could talk about eradicating the human race as though it was something separate from them, but the fact remained that Schuldig was still human, and even the most evolved, most bold humans were built around a pure, primal core - equal parts lust, fury, and primordial terror. Schuldig had the good - and manufactured - fortune of all of his fears being abstract, not things any human or monster could truly embody or, in most cases, have the power to threaten him with.

He hadn't even entertained the idea that this crazy quilt monster might be the exception to the rule, which made the shock of being thrown into the dark that much worse.

There was nothing.

Only that wasn't entirely accurate; there was Schuldig, and he was alone. There were no thoughts to hear, the soundtrack in his mind abruptly and terrifyingly silent. There was no light, and nothing to see; no sound, and nothing to hear except his own shallow breathing. But the memories...those were there. Of Rosenkreuz, and small, dark rooms with only his screams to keep him company. This was how they'd tortured him, broken him to their yoke(or so they'd thought, at the time). Hours, sometimes days, where they'd deafened his very mind - something he'd occasionally wanted, but a lifetime of noise had never prepared him for.

He'd heard stories of psychics being left to die in the sensory deprivation chambers - helpless, alone, going mad long before dehydration took them if they didn't find a way to kill themselves first. Perhaps Rosenkreuz had invented the stories as an intimidation tactic, and it was entirely effective; the only thing more horrific than going into the chamber had been spending the time within wondering if he'd ever come out again. The prospect of death had been far less frightening than the thought he might be left to the silence.

And now...he was a child again, locked in that small, dark room, his mind blindly reaching for some anchor and finding nothingness. If he'd been able to find his breath, he would have screamed; instead, he sank to his knees, the hatchet dangling unheeded from his fingers - though he didn't let it drop. It was something tangible, and for that alone he would cling to it.

[damned_monsters]

There was raw terror, a base instinctual reaction to a situation and a creature designed to instill fear in those who saw it. That was intriguing enough to the creature, satisfying enough to have focused its attention on the ones supplying it, and it relished the taste inasmuch as it could enjoy anything. As the nightmare hybrid brought the illusion to life around its prey, though, it found itself abruptly focused on a surprising source.

The red-haired man had startled it before and did so again now, with the emotions evoked by the illusion around him. This was fear with a depth that was far more satisfying than transitory terror, far more interesting and satisfying to a creature that fed off the emotion. Unseen in the midst of the shadows it cast the creature's wings lifted higher, sparks flickering about the tarnished feathers, gradually growing in strength until an arc ran from wingtip to wingtip.

Its wings stroked forward, then, casting the miniature lightning toward the man kneeling on ground he couldn't even see. The first bolt was testing only, not enough to incapacitate, not yet. For now it was a sharp, painful sting, the only thing that could be felt in a world gone empty.

[byname_bynature]

Sean sat in the dark silent expanse, clinging to Chris and breathing heavily. His eyes darted around, trying to see if the monster was coming at them, trying to attack him and Chris. Though part of him knew that while he and Chris were two kids, they were two people--Schuldig was one. If Artemis were there, he would tell Sean that lions separated an animal from the herd for a reason.

"We might not be able to see it," Sean said, pulling Chris up with him. "But Schuldig probably can't see it either. And we can't find our way back to the door, not when we can't see that either. Our best bet is to regroup and fight together."

Sean looked forward, trying to remember where it was that he last saw Schuldig. God he had no head for this--if only Artemis were there, he would know.

"Let's... walk this way," he said, pointing forward. "Don't let go."

[faithful_frost]

Chris frowned, not liking this, but he wasn't about to abandon Sean to this nightmare.

"A-alright." He kept hold of Sean, trying to be on his guard.

[k4t4str0ph4l]

There was very little actual recourse Schuldig could possibly take with all his senses shut down; that was, of course, one of the terrors of sensory deprivation. True helplessness was a sensation no human in the history of the world, as far as he knew, had ever enjoyed, and he was no exception. There was nothing he could do, no escape. All he could do was cling to sanity by his fingernails and pray that either someone else would save him(Crawford had been good for that, once, but the institute was forcibly reshaping everything he knew about who he could rely on), or an end would come on its own.

The flash of agony - a sudden arc that seemed to snap its way through his entire body - wasn't exactly a relief, but it was sure as hell a distraction. It actually didn't hurt that badly, compared to some of the injuries he'd already taken in the institute - though it wasn't pleasant by any stretch of the imagination - but the sheer unexpectedness of it was enough to jolt the breath from his lungs in a cry of shock and pain.

[damned_monsters]

The two boys, original targets though they might have been, were by now almost completely forgotten. Instead the hybrid creature was focused entirely on Schuldig, on him and the fear and pain emanating off of him in steady waves. Though unseen by its targets, its lips curled back from yellowed fangs, as though it were drinking in the emotions with delight.

The lightning playing over its dull feathers slowly grew in strength and brightness, then its wings flapped once more, directing a far stronger bolt at the man. If the weaker arc had provided such delectable sustenance, a stronger one could only increase that; at the moment all it could think of was its desire to increase the agony, give it more to feed upon. Never mind the effect it might have upon the man...

[byname_bynature]

It was slow-going, but Sean was determined. Groping in the dark for Schuldig or some way out of this situation, Sean continued forward, trying not to think about what would happen if he were veering slightly off-course. There was no way to tell, really. Artemis would have known which way to go. Schuldig was right, no one would miss him if he left; Artemis was so much smarter and interesting and wise--

No! He couldn't think like that, not now! Now it was him--now was Sean. Artemis was out of reach, so he had to keep going. For Chris and Schuldig's sake.

"I got you both into this," he said, sounding both frustrated and regretful. Sean tightened his grip on Chris' hand. "I'm sure as hell going to get us out!"

He thrust out an arm into what he thought was where Schuldig's back should be. What actually happened was quite the opposite, however. Whatever his hand had met with, it was not cloth--it felt more like... a pelt.

Sean slowly looked up, transfixed in somewhat bemused terror. His palm was on the foreleg of the animal.

[faithful_frost]

When Sean froze, Chris tensed up and readied himself for the classic 'fight or flight' senario. Either they were about to die here, or ... well, they wouldn't. That was simple. All Chris had to do was to push away all his fear and confront the threat. He could almost hear his m... uncle in his mind.

fear is weakness. I don't need weakness around me He clasped Sean's hand tightly and slipped his free hand into his pocket, hands closing on cool, sharp metal.

[k4t4str0ph4l]

Something abruptly changed as the pain died away, though Schuldig only had a split second to process it. Sensation, light, thought flooded back so suddenly it was as if they'd never been gone, and with it a profound sense of relief...though he wasn't exactly given time to revel in it. There was an intense flash of light -

It blasted the consciousness from Schuldig almost instantaneously, sparing him from feeling the pain of the much stronger bolt lancing through him. It actually threw him backwards a few feet, his body arching as muscles involuntarily convulsed before even those movements died and he lay still.

[damned_monsters]

So much of the leftover's attention had been focused on Schuldig that it hadn't even realized the two boys were creeping closer. But then in its eagerness to increase the man's agony it only overwhelmed him, cutting off the emotions feeding it. And then, amidst its vague confusion and disappointment - someone touched it.

Someone touched it, a hand resting against its leg because the boys had somehow managed to get close enough to touch without it even noticing. The illusion abruptly vanished as the nightmare hybrid gave an angry shriek, rearing back to kick that hand away from it as its wings flapped, driving the reek of sulfur and ozone toward the two boys. Small sparks of lighting played over its feathers, not strong enough to arc, but likely more than enough to warn.

[byname_bynature]

Sean stared up at the monster, wide-mouthed, as both he and it seemed to pause in disbelief. Suddenly, the illusion lifted and Sean saw something bright and white streak across the yard--and strike Schuldig.

He screamed in shock as the redhaired man flew across the grass, writhing. That was all he saw, though, as the monster suddenly reared up and kicked out with enough force to land Sean on his back.

The wind nearly knocked completely out of him, Sean looked up at the creature (which was now sparking at the wings--no doubt that was the source of Schuldig's lightning bolt to the chest), then back to Schuldig. He was still, not writhing anymore.

What if... Sean had gotten him killed?

The idea was too awful to think about, but he found himself thinking anyway. It was his fault. If he hadn't run from Schuldig, if he hadn't run outside, this wouldn't be happening. Schuldig wouldn't be lying motionless in the grass, possibly dead. An electric shock that massive might have stopped his heart cold.

Sean tried to scramble to his feet, rolling over onto his stomach and pushing up onto his hands. Looking over at Schuldig once more, he saw Artemis running to him--shaking him, getting no response. He'd killed Schuldig. Oh God, how had this happened?

[faithful_frost]

Chris spun when Sean was thrown back by the monster. It was difficult, but he allowed his hand to be torn from the other boy's grasp as he pulled out the scalpel from his coat pocket. With the monster rearing up, he couldn't get in a good strike, so he danced back away from the flailing hooves and did something really, really stupid.

He made himself a target.

Bleeding and slower than usual, he was already 'good eats' for just about any sort of creature. He just had to wait for his opening.

"Oh god!" He was going to die...

[damned_monsters]

The leftover dropped heavily to all four feet once more, its head lowering slightly to examine the boy now standing in front of it. Was he frightened or no? Yes and no, from the feel of it; the creature's ears swiveled forward, then toward the other boy, and it finally snorted out a breath that steamed vapor in the cold air.

With a swish of its oddly bushy tail it started to move, trotting around and past that boy and toward the other one, the one giving off such tempting terror and despair. Its wings spread as it moved, the sparks dancing over their surface growing brighter and stronger.

[byname_bynature]

With Chris making himself a distraction, Sean reasoned that he'd be able to run over to Schuldig and carry him back towards the door. He didn't like the idea of Chris getting zapped as well, but they had to do something! He got to his feet and looked back over his shoulder at the horse-thing.

...which was coming right at him.

It made no sense! Chris was the one who was injured and an obvious target, why was it coming after him still?! Sean backed away, making a nervous noise that could have been a word, but came out more like 'Uah...!' It wasn't moving with any sense of urgency, it seemed--it looked like it was just coming after him as though Sean was holding a carrot. If you ignored the sparking wings, of course.

He backed away and around to Schuldig, stopping just in front of him. He didn't want to turn his back on the monster in order to pick up Schuldig, though.

"How is he?"

'I don't know...'

He looked over to Chris for help. If he wasn't careful, he'd be cornered soon.