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quietsideways June 14 2007, 03:46:19 UTC
Madeline was only not breathing for so long, and that matters, that affects the time you go out. These are things she remembers.

Things she knows are that she's tired. If she was wanting anything, which she isn't because she's not thinking, she'd be wanting to stay just she is.

But she's not built for that, and there's something about this door, this place, that...feels different, it's a nameless thrum across a set of nerve endings that have been screaming for contact, and the sudden, soothing hush of space is like a gentle tap on her shoulder - and then her name, and what comes flooding in isn't gentle at all.

Madeline doesn't remember she really isn't naked, that really it's just another shifting little trick, and that makes her gasp more than the rush of pain back into her conscious mind - her throat's the worst, now, raw and swollen. She's naked and she doesn't know where she is and someone's touching her ( ... )

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howitshouldgo June 14 2007, 04:00:43 UTC
He drops her immediately, not really expecting this and not strong enough to hold her anyway. He sits heavily next to her and waits for her to stop coughing. "I got us out of the chapel," he states meekly, and then he moves on because he doesn't want to even think about the chapel again. "There's a new door."

He's not going to ask what happened or if she's okay. The first one is irrelevant right now, and the second one is obvious.

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quietsideways June 14 2007, 04:09:46 UTC
Madeline shrinks away from him when he sits next to her, even if her head is still a scrambled, cloudy blur of pain and dizziness and blank spots - some lessons are too well learned.

It takes her a long time to stop coughing, curled up with her arms between her legs and head resting on her knees - her clothes are on, she remembers better, it still feels like it's her bare skin goosebumping on the floor but that's - it's not anyone touching her.

She brings a shaking hand to her throat and gingerly runs her fingers over the bruises, making a quiet, wordless sound of distress, and then swallows, which triggers another, shorter fit of coughing. She thinks about trying to talk, but then thinks better of it, and just turns her head and nods, trembling all over. She knows she looks scared; she's sorry that she does.

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howitshouldgo June 14 2007, 04:41:07 UTC
"We should go. Get this over with." Hopefully. Somehow he has a feeling they're near the end of this whole great machine. When this thing pretending to be a hospital closes its mouth over them for the final time. They have to find a way through this. Gabriel's so tired, though, and so weak...he'll be lucky if he doesn't just drop on his own.

He stands, slowly, then offers Madeline a hand. He'll open the door once they're both up.

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quietsideways June 14 2007, 04:49:04 UTC
She takes his hand and pulls herself up, and she doesn't let go, even while she keeps her distance and an arm over her chest. She locks their fingers together, purposefully, and nods again, just barely.

She taps her throat, and then her mouth, twice, and then shakes her head. She hopes he'll understand - she doesn't have anything to write with. She wants to lean on him but she can't, and everything...everything just hurts and twists and curls up on itself but she...

- show us the way. For they have come to show us the way.

...feels different. She can stand, maybe, walk, a little. She'll go where he takes her.

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howitshouldgo June 14 2007, 05:08:53 UTC
He understands what she's trying to say- he merely nods at her and turns the handle.

There's screaming again, but this time its just one person. A woman, on an operating table. Doctors are hard at work, sawing through bone and cutting through muscle, getting through to her heart while she struggles and screams. They cut around it, pulling it out, and Gabriel is transfixed by the sight. How can she still be alive while they do this?

He steps forward, trying to get a better look at the operation. The doctors are mostly in the way, but he can see little bits- the heart still pumping as they work to cut the aorta, the legs kicking as the woman moves from struggling to involuntary twitches. Gabriel stares, taking in all of it.

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quietsideways June 14 2007, 05:30:10 UTC
Madeline stills, briefly, in the doorway, and her eyes are wide for reasons that have nothing to do with Gabriel's.

She knows it's stupid even as she starts to move, she knows it won't work, she knows that the woman is already dead, she knows that all it'll get her is maybe dead too - she punches one of the doctors in the back of his neck with her bad arm, God, she hasn't hit anyone in years did it hurt this much then too?

He lifts his head and turns, and Madeline stumbles back into Gabriel. The woman's not screaming, anymore. She's whimpering, even though the doctors across the table are putting her heart onto a tray, producing a thick, black body bag that she's being shoved into - Madeline not sure how she's not falling down and throwing up, but she isn't. She's going forward, grabbing one of the doctor's elbows, and frantically tugging on it, but he doesn't even seem to notice, let alone move.

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howitshouldgo June 14 2007, 05:47:54 UTC
How is she still alive? The heart's out, but- he wonders how long she'll be whimpering in that body bag, when she'll finally still and shut off. Gabriel had been surprised when Madeline rushed forward, but they didn't seem to react much. They merely looked and went back to work, and Gabriel had gone back to watching.

Now they're leaving, picking up their tools and their lights and stands. Gabriel would like to follow them. He wants to open the body bag up again, see if the woman still lives, find out if it's just this place or if there's another mechanism.

He turns, thinking he might do just that, but something flickers in the corner of his eye. It's a screen- when he looks straight-on it's just a wall. But no, that's not right, either. The whole wall is a screen. On the desk in front of it are two disks, and there appears to be a slot for them in the screen itself. Gabriel stares a the disks passively: one is labeled 'the insignificant', the other is labeled 'the whore'. It's not difficult to guess which one Gabriel ( ... )

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quietsideways June 14 2007, 05:59:52 UTC
Madeline keens, softly, as they go - it's the closest thing she has a scream. They just batted her hands away like she was nothing, and she's gripping the edge of the table because she can't walk without falling down unless she's careful.

She tells herself it wasn't real. (Can't even save anyone else how can you save yourself?) As much as she can, but there was - there's blood under her fingers, just a few drops, but she jerks her hands away and rubs them on her bare (covered) legs, leaning her back against the table instead.

The crying barely even registers, anymore, except as a slight chill when she shifts to look at Gabriel, which sends her head spinning in a whole lot of interesting ways before her eyes clear.

She grits her teeth and forces a small, questioning noise.

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howitshouldgo June 14 2007, 06:39:24 UTC
"The disks..." he says, answering her little noise as best he can. He doesn't notice that she's chilled- so far this room has been much better than the last. How long is that going to be the case, though? "They'll go into the wall. I think that's what we're supposed to do next." He points at the both of them, hand lingering over 'the whore'.

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quietsideways June 14 2007, 06:48:57 UTC
She edges off of the table, slowly, touching her tongue to the corner of her mouth and only glancing over her shoulder at where the doctors disappeared to - no door, but why would there be?

The small, shifting sense of...not something, but not nothing either, which shouldn't work, but she lets it help her stay up anyway.

She puts her palms flat on the desk, squinting at the disks to read them - 'the insignificant' and 'the -

Madeline picks up 'the insignificant'.

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howitshouldgo June 14 2007, 07:26:46 UTC
Well, fine. They can put that one in. He takes the disk from her and puts it into the slot. There's a whirring, and Gabriel can feel everything sliding into place. It's all set in motion now. His breath catches.

Words start to appear on the large wall monitor.
hero, important, save - all the best, take all the firsts. then take a breath - for luck.

important is rightly so, use it again. this time, the last.

special and broken are means to the same end. take both their ends in twos.

the last is insignificant, and you don't want to be. for the last time take the last.

the whole is what you must give up.A chill runs up and down his spine as the last sentence scrolls across the screen, then a cursor pops up, asking for a passcode. The feeling of things sliding clarifies, and he can tell- there are two mechanisms somewhere nearby, waiting on their input. They both open a door somewhere. He doesn't like this at all ( ... )

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quietsideways June 14 2007, 13:52:42 UTC
Perversely, the computer comforts Madeline, just a little. She knows that where they are means it's not to be trusted, that the puzzle on the screen - she thinks of it as Gabriel's puzzle without questioning how, this place has known how to wound them too well for it to be anything else. (The other disk is hers; she has it trapped under one hand, she won't wonder what's on it ( ... )

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howitshouldgo June 14 2007, 16:25:24 UTC
When Madeline answers the puzzle, Gabriel takes a step back, shaking his head wide-eyed at the screen. No, he can't. This thing wants to take the one thing he has, the one thing that makes him more than completely useless person? No. No no no.

If he were a little more aware, he'd notice that he's not looking for some mysterious 'extra' power he hasn't found yet. He knows it would take his ability to see how things work. But he's a little distracted at the moment.

He takes the keyboard from Madeline, but his fingers freeze over the keyboard. What if he can't take this back? What if it automatically chooses the other device?

It doesn't matter. There's no way he could say yes. He types 'NO' and holds his breath. He doesn't relax until the screen clicks off and the disk ejects, and that's the only thing that happens.

His voice is flat when he speaks to Madeline. "We should see what's on the other disk first."

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quietsideways June 14 2007, 23:05:46 UTC
Oh. So that's what talent meant.

Of course it'd want to take that from him. She should've understood right away. Madeline squeezes his arm and slides the disk out, replacing it with the one she'd held under her palm. She almost tugs it back when the machine catches it, but instead she lets it go and presses her arm down on her chest, needing the comfort more than dignity.

Words roll onto the screen, and she half-expects something worse than what she gets. On the surface, at least.

the first three of hero will make you one

o is for ordinary - cut it out

a special man exists in a space apart from others, so you need one here

take the start of fix, but just the first

the last three of nothing are what comes next

finish with power, the last two

the whole is what you lose

She tilts her head, slightly, trying not to think about losing, about all the things she doesn't want taken (if it asks for Gabriel -).

She leans over the keyboard after a moment, and types 'her'. The first three letters of hero, one word.

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howitshouldgo June 15 2007, 00:14:52 UTC
Gabriel is quiet for a long time. He figured it out while the text was rolling, and wonders if she did, too.

He takes the keyboard from the table and finishes the passcode, typing the word "finger" into it. Hitting enter gives them what he expects. "RUN PROGRAM? YES NO"

He types "NO" again, and presses enter. The disk ejects. He takes it and picks up the second disk as well.

He should put his disk back in. He should set it to affect him but it's just a finger isn't it? Just one finger and she'll still be there. If he can't fix things, he might as well die. It's all he's good for. She'd be okay, wouldn't she? She'd be all right. And maybe they could keep it, reattach it later. Maybe he could get around this. He can't let it take away his ability. He can't let it hurt Madeline anymore than it already has. She's already been choked near to death because of his sins.

He stares down at the disks, breathing quickly and not saying a word.

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