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I can't find the elevator. [Pause.] This isn't the Scrapyard, is
Hang on. Something's moving i
[A long pause, then, slashing across the page in haphazard strokes as if it's being written while running:]
thing following me
hasnt got a head
how do I get out
( Read more... )
Hang on. Something's moving i
[A long pause, then, slashing across the page in haphazard strokes as if it's being written while running:]
thing following me
hasnt got a head
how do I get out
( Read more... )
It was a baseball bat, pale with dust. Something about it--she wanted to laugh, suddenly, looking at it, and she couldn't remember why.
The feeling vanished instantly as another soft creak sounded off to her left, followed by a dusty scuffling sound and a moist thump. Kurayami took a step back, her senses on such high alert that her own footsteps seemed as loud as slamming doors--]
Aah! [Music twisted up out of the back corners of her mind and blared a set of opening chords that drowned out any hint of other sound. Kurayami cried out, horrified--not the damn song, not now--]
Not now! No! [She staggered back a step, struggling to hear past the words of the singer. Something moved in the shadows, sending a cracked old basketball rolling across the floor, and she raised the bat again, trying to ignore the music only she could hear.]
World turns black and white, pictures in an empty room...
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[She cuts off when she hears the muffled sound of the yell, coming from the direction Kurayami is in. And there's a sudden spike in the Force, a warning of danger, battle.]
Hurry! The creatures are there.
[And she begins running. Another white shape jumps in front of her and she grabs it around what could be called its throat, hurling it into the wall before a horrible feeling takes hold of her--was that a face, a face she knows?!
No time. There's the gymnasium, time to go go go!]
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..It's him!
[Spear's voice sounds strangled, and for a moment, she hesitates, riveted to one spot. But as the white-haired thing moves towards her, her instincts kick in, and she lashes out with her spear in a wide sweep, leaving a bloodless gash on the specter in front of her.]
I'm coming, Handmaiden.
[The firs specter taken care of, she enters the gymnasium, and takes a quick look around, looking for the woman they came to rescue. But her attention is diverted by the sudden appearance of three more white-haired shapes. Again, she lashes out at them with her spear, while continuing to look for Kurayami.]
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[Kurayami gritted her teeth, willing the music to shut up--bad enough that she'd hardly slept in the last three nights, that she felt sick and dizzy every time she heard it, that the words felt like someone knocking on her gravestone--
--and in the shadows of the storage room, something gleamed. A single, eerie light, bobbing at eye level. Kurayami backed away as it shuffled closer, feeling nausea rise in her throat as she stared down that single, unblinking eye.]
Hello?
[Something slithered over her shoulder, and she flinched away, then bit back a yell of pain as its grasp closed on her still-tender wing, wrenching at the brace. She struck out behind her with her elbows and felt them strike and slide off of soft, damp flesh. The grip loosened, and she stumbled forward and turned.
She caught just a glimpse of the shambling thing, its pale, slimy skin and the tattered, plucked wings that twitched behind it. Its mouth gaped in a nightmare of broken teeth, and its glowing eye goggled at her. Kurayami shrieked, instinctively swinging the baseball bat at the thing with all her strength
The rotten wood exploded, in a cloud of musty fragments and splinters.
Startled by the unexpected utter failure of her weapon and blinking the dust out of half-blinded eyes, Kurayami gasped as something grabbed her again from behind and choked. She flung the remains of the bat handle at it and heard a thump, kicked at it and felt the flesh yield, but as soon as it released her another set of hands closed around her arms, and fingers brushed her ankles.]
Let go of me! I said LET GO! [Kicking out, she felt a horrible shock rock her stomach as her legs tangled in the grasping arms and she fell to the floor, hard, struggling and punching blindly--]
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There are five this time. Five female figures in white, faces without form except for their damning blue eyes. They advance on her and for an instant she's paralyzed, dread swamping her before the first strike triggers her reflexes and she ducks, driving her fist into its stomach and extending her quarterstaff.
Lightning, the Force whispers, the dark part, and her fingers itch. But she won't use it. She hurls the Force hard, lifting the central figure up in an invisible whirlwind and toppling the other four like bowling pins. And then Kurayami's panicked scream grabs her attention and she runs towards it.
Again the dark whispers tell her to use lightning. So easy, so quick. End it now and return to safety--there's the thing that is attacking Kurayami, and Handmaiden grabs hold of the Force to leap and shove the end of her staff through its soft, yielding flesh.]
Kurayami! Are you badly hurt?! Spear, look for the elevator!
[The words come out in a yell and the five shapeless women start for her again.]
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[Spear shouts the words in Handmaiden's direction, and then moves off to try and relocate the elevator. But of course, she knows doing so won't be easy, thanks to the enemies that are following her. Taking down one of them was one thing; fighting off three was completely different. Spear found herself reacting instinctively to each attack, mostly using her weapon to slash and stab whenever she could.
While this was going on, she was also doing her best to keep an eye on Handmaiden and Kurayami, in case either of them needed backup. But then when she heard Kurayami's scream, saw Handmaiden leap into action, and heard her hurried order, Spear shifted focus immediately. The three things followed her as she tries to divide her attention between them and searching for the elevator.
She swings out with her spear, leaving another gash on one of the things that are bearing down on her, but like the first one, no blood appears. Still, the other two continue their slow approach, and Spear is forced to move backwards as they close in.
She continues backing up until she bumps into a wall behind her, and realizes with a jolt that she's just walked into a corner. The two remaining things have the advantage, unless she can manage to break through somehow and get away. Just as she's about to attack again, both of the two white haired things cast large flames in Spear's direction. She throws up her arms to try and protect herself but the flames still manage to singe her and her clothes rather badly.
Finding the elevator has just become a rather hard task to accomplish.]
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I'm all right! [She shouted it in response to the questions, feeling a surge of black anger at these things that almost blotted out the pain of her aching wing and the cuts on her shoulder and cheek. How dare they grab her, attack her, scare her, hurt her--
Something plucked at her arm again, and she let out a snarl of frustrated, frightened anger and turned, slamming her elbow into the thing with the unbeautiful, untrained randomness of a brawling punk. It connected properly this time, sending the monster reeling back, which felt good enough that she kept doing it, swinging her outstretched arm as she turned and by sheer luck catching it in the neck with the hard line of the forearm bone; it made a gurgling noise, single eye bulging, and crumpled to the floor, nearly landing on her feet. She kicked at it, once, hard, as it fell--half to push it away and half to make sure it didn't get up.]
I said don't touch me!
[Even as that shout left her mouth, Kurayami faltered, her rage and terror stuttering as the tingles of post-impact spread up her arm and leg. She hesitated, staring in horror at the twitching creature she'd downed...]
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She needs the light side. All around her is dark, dark, dark--its whispers grow louder, plucking at her. It isn't temptation. It simply makes sense to call on it. So efficient, so easy, just waiting for her to reach in and grab it--that's all it would take and they could get out of here now.]
Lies--
[Handmaiden swings her staff at one of the blue-eyed figures, feeling it connect with an unpleasant squish. She tries to ignore the urge to gag as she slams the other half into its head. It falls off.
And she sees the flames, feels the heat. Again she reaches through the Force to yank the things back, hopefully clearing a gap that Spear can escape through.]
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If we're going to escape, we need to get out of this room. The elevator is somewhere outside.
[She opens her mouth to say more, to offer another suggestion, but cuts off as three more of the white-haired things materialize from the shadows and immediately bear down on her.]
Is this never going to end? Handmaiden, Kurayami, we need to try and reach the door.
[She thinks that if they can just get out of the building, and find the elevator, then they stand a good chance of escaping. The specters continue their advance, and Spear continues attacking them when they come too close.]
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There's a door back there--it's how I got in! [It's closer than however they came, at least. Memory lurches in her stomach, and she qualifies the statement.] There might be...something out there, but I think there was only one--
[Something thumps into her from behind, and she's knocked forward onto her knees; desperate and running on adrenaline by now, she slaps off the floor with both hands and manages to push back up to her feet again, staggering forward and away from whatever it was. Hitting them feels--wrong, it reminds her of--she doesn't know, but she doesn't like it, but--glancing back at what grabbed at her, she sees a bobbing, glowing eye, and in the shadows of the room behind it are more, and more, like a flock of approaching fireflies.
They'll be surrounding her again any minute. She turns and runs for the door, pulling at the rusted bar across it and shouting to her rescuers.] Here!
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[There's a tone to her voice that suggests that a meteorite crash would have a hard time changing her mind. And there, across the hall, are the elevator doors. The slick, shining steel stands out quite clearly in the gloom. Handmaiden doesn't question why it's moved into the school, but she isn't going to complain about it.
Her way is barred by the five not-women again. Handmaiden lashes out with the quarterstaff, again feeling queasy and now swamped by guilt as well. She can't--these are not real. That is, they are not whatever her instincts believe them to be. They're certainly real enough to hurt her--as the kick to her back demonstrates.]
There it is! Run!
[She lashes out with the staff again, swallowing the nausea.]
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She's had more than enough of this wilderness, and the things that it's making her see. But getting to the elevator doors is suddenly made difficult, as the three things already coming towards her multiply until there are six facing her.
But giving up is not an option, and so Spear swings out with her spear again, taking down the first of the white spectral beings. She doesn't waste any time, seizing the opportunity to run for the elevator, pursued by the beings from her nightmares.]
Make your escape while you can, Kurayami!
[Spear calls to the other one in between running and attacking. With luck, she and Handmaiden will be able to escape, but there's no point in Kurayami remaining in harm's way as well.]
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Gulping a deep breath, she rushes into the elevator and slams her hand down on the button for the first floor, as far from this place as she can get--
And then she pauses, looking out the closing doors at the roiling maelstrom of battle, and something inside her puts its foot down. Kurayami reaches out and hits the button with the universal symbol for opening doors, and holds it there, watching the doors judder and buck as they try to close and are pushed open again.
She stands with her face set and her teeth gritted, one thumb stubbornly ground onto the button, too aware by now of these things' attraction to loud noises to dare to shout for them to hurry; and she waits for her rescue party to join her.]
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And in the meantime, Spear's troubles are worsening. Handmaiden can see her enemies multiplying, but her five opponents seem unwilling to let her go to the other woman's aid, blocking her and keeping her far too busy. It is all Handmaiden can do, and her fighting devolves--this is a struggle for survival, not victory, and she lashes out in any way she can.
Her months of sparring against Stoneface come back to help her in this fight... outnumbered though she is, Handmaiden knows these women. She has seen this fighting before. And she knows what they will not expect, and does it.
But then the elevator doors begin to open again--Handmaiden lunges for it, the fluorescent light like a beacon now. She slams her arm against the doorway as she uses the Force to blast away a pursuer, unwilling to let it shut until Spear makes it in.]
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But even so, her movements become more desperate and slightly less precise as she grows frantic in her efforts to counter her attackers. Now, however, with the elevator doors beginning to close, and Kurayami hopefully leaving for safer grounds, Spear is beginning to think she has nothing left to lose, as far as her personal safety is concerned. Handmaiden's, on the other hand, is still something to worry about.
And that alone is enough to cause her not to give up fighting. Another swing of her spear, and one of her enemies goes crashing to the ground, leaving five more to contend with. But for the first time since this whole wilderness jaunt started, something happens that is in the favor of Spear and Handmaiden.
The elevator doors open again, and Spear watches as Handmaiden makes a break for it. She lowers her spear, and seizing the moment, dashes hastily for the elevator. The five remaining specters pause in surprise, before pursuing her again. By the time they've come close to reaching her, however, she's made it safely inside the elevator.]
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Somewhere, far off, she hears a low, haunting whistle. Her heart, already in her throat, freezes. Hardly aware of the fact that she's stopped breathing, Kurayami stares out the elevator door, past the rapidly approaching fire-wreathed figures and the pale silhouettes of the women in white, and somewhere, far off, she sees the glimmer of a single furious eye, rushing closer.]
I...
[Entirely unable to move, she stands there with her fingertip resting in numb shock on the elevator button. The doors are closing, thumping and clanging as they do, but all she can hear is the high shriek of that whistle, and running under it a terrible undercurrent of horror and helplessness. Not this, not this, not this--
And the elevator doors slam shut, blocking out the cacophony and flames and madness outside as instantly as flicking off a light switch. Kurayami feels her knees tremble, then give out beneath her, and she slides to the floor of the elevator and sits there, shaking, as the car rumbles upward.]
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