A New Fear: The Next Chapter Part 8
"Okay, I've got only one question, how in God's name did you do all those cool stunts back there?" Duncan asked, wanting to know how she did those cool moves so that he might be able to do them one day.
***
Tommy looked at his lap as Gavin quickly walked out of the room. It was only him and Dierdre in the room now, even Thanos had left to see what the commotion outside was. Tommy tried to stand up, but a sharp pain filled his body, and he fell to the floor with a dull thump. Tommy groaned, "Damion, you bastard...you could've taken me with you." Tommy was now determined to get out of the room, before a certain 'someone' came over and make sure he was okay...then again, would she? 'She'd have to, I mean, she has to care that much...right?' Tommy thought, laying there in thought, praying that Dierdre would at least come over to check up on him.
*-*
Huh? She peeked from behind Damion’s arm, looking at Duncan as though he were insane. Then, she remembered. She remembered the sword, and the darkness at her back. The feeling of power and freedom. The strength.
I...don't know how I did that.
Thank god. She looked up at Damion, fully intent on glaring. But she only ended up grinning madly. It was nice to be awake, again.
***
You gonna even attempt to get yourself up, again? She watched him for a moment, before standing up and crossing her arms. She stood there, waiting for him to either move or yell at her. One of two things was going to happen. She didn’t feel like dealing with the second one.
Duncan! She looked out the door, You wanna get in here and-
Damion walked into the room, pulling Tommy off the floor and walking back out. Sorry your highness. Didn’t realize I had to watch the princess twenty-four seven. He grinned, even as Lin looked confused, and Dierdre sighed, holding her head in her hands.
She looked up. Uh, Duncan...where's your little girlfriend? Dierdre was, of course, talking about Ai.
*-*
The shivers were clearing, which was good, because any more, and it could possibly have been precursor to a seizure. And it was around this time that Gavin heard Ai had disappeared.
"Wh-where did we last see her?" he said, trying to compose himself. It was working.
For now.
*-*
"Uh...I have no clue...She still has the map doesn't she..." Duncan replied, wondering where the hell she could've gone, or how far she might have gone, before she realized he wasn't there. "Calm down, she has to be somewhere nearby! I'll go look for her." Duncan added, quickly running down the corridor moments after his little statement.
***
'She...she didn't even care. She even tried to make Duncan pick me up...Duncan for Christ's sake!' Tommy thought, not even moving when Damion picked him up. '...So this is why Silent hill wouldn't let me die...so that I'd have to go through all of this and end up with nothing.' Tommy guessed, not even making the slightest bit of gesture towards Damion calling him a 'princess'. Tommy sighed, 'What happened...it's only been two years, yet you've changed so drastically...' Tommy was once again deep in thought, wanting to find some thing that would give him even the tiniest hint that Dierdre actually cared about him.
*-*
Yeah, she does. Tommy was pretty much a vegetable in his arms again. He wasn’t sure if that was insulting or just worrisome. He decided to go with worrisome.
Now go find your girlfriend.
***
She had been in this room for a while. Funny thing was, it was actually some sort of sick room. Or it had been a bedroom of one of the people who worked...wherever this was.
Or else Silent Hill just decided that it should be here.
Ai didn’t care. She was bored of waiting. Shed only sat down on the bed because that was nearest thing, but she had lain down sometime within the midst of her thoughts.
She knew it wasn’t wise to fall asleep in Silent Hill. But she was no different than one of Silent Hill's twisted creatures.
No past. As far as she knew, she had no real future, either. What business does a creation have with a future, anyway?
But she could laugh, she could talk, she could do anything a human could do. Even cry. She could feel pain. She could be sad.
And she could sleep.
Her eyelids were heavy; boredom, coupled with a soft resting place had caught her up in its embrace. Her eyes slid shut, the map still loosely in her grasp.
She was asleep before her grip relaxed.
*-*
The halls were silent as Duncan hurried down it, the only sounds were made by Duncan's feet, which seemed to echo through the halls due to the silence. Duncan ignored this, as he searched room after room for Ai, who seemed to be a real queen of hide and seek. Duncan eventually came to a room that looked like a hospital room, with beds and cabinets for holding medication. Duncan noticed a teen standing over one of the beds. He was a boy, and looked like Duncan's age, but he was shorter, but only by a centimeter. Duncan approached the boy, wanting to know if he might have seen Ai. The boy noticed Duncan's approach, and held up a compact baton, the kind that are usually used by cops.
"W-who are you!" The boy asked, his voice shaky and scared. Duncan noticed the boy's eyes change direction. Duncan followed the boy’s eyes and was looking at his wing. Moments later, Duncan could feel something collide with his shoulder. Duncan staggered, jumping out of the boys distance. That boy had given Duncan a good hit to his left shoulder.
"What was that for?!" Duncan asked, the boy twitching as if Duncan's voice could kill.
"Just-just stay away from me!" The boy cried, quickly leaving the room, dropping something on the floor. Duncan noticed this and walked over to it. It was a locket, but when Duncan tried to open it he would hurt his fingers. He sighed, pocketing the locket and exiting the room, knowing that if Ai was in that room, she probably would've gotten a baton to the face.
***
The boy ran, he ran as fast as he could. Last time he trusted a guy with wings, his sister...
'No, I can't think about that now, I have to find someone, anyone.' The boy thought, as he continued to run down the hall where Duncan had just come from. The boy eventually slowed down, fatigued from running. He looked down the hall and saw someone, a girl...no wait, two girls. The boy smiled and sighed with relief. 'Maybe they'll know what's going on.' The boy thought, quickly rushing over to the two. "Hey, you two! What's going on here?!" He asked, noticing that one of the two had platinum hair with black streaks. 'That’s a weird hair color...'
*-*
Hey, you two! What’s going on here!?
She turned to see a boy. He was holding something similar to a police-issued baton, and he looked like he’d just run a long distance. Huh? If you mean the town, I don’t-
Who’s the kid?
She looked over her shoulder; Damion had put Tommy down against the wall so he could check the hall behind them, just in case Ai had found a round-about way to circle around.
Dunno. He just came up to us a second ago. She noticed the boy was looking at her strangely. What? Never seen a girl, before? That would be an interesting thing if he really hadn’t.
That’d just be sad. Damion was leaning on the wall next to Tommy, arms crossed as he looked at the boy curiously. He just came out of nowhere; Lin guessed he had a right to be a bit suspicious.
*-*
"Wha-Oh, sorry about that. It's not very often that you see girl with a hairstyle like that." The boy replied, not wanting to tell her what he really thought about her hair. "No, I don't want to know about the town, I want to know what the hell's up with this place." The boy explained, making a gesture towards the surrounding area. "I was just walking along the road, then all of a sudden, I end up here." The boy stated, using his free hand to pull his black bangs away of his eyes. "Oh, by the way, my name's Sean."
"Okay Sean, what kind of weapons do you have, have you seen anything strange at all, and what comes to mind when you hear the word "Samael"?" Tommy asked, wanting to make sure that this kid wasn't like Lira, then again, she did give them new equipment, of course, Tommy couldn't carry any of it, seeing as how he had left it in the room where Thanos came out of his back.
"All I have is this baton, what the hell are you talking about, and are you high?" Sean asked, giving Tommy a look that showed how confused he was.
"Oh yeah, he's a noob..." Tommy stated, smiling a little at Sean's clueless face.
"Hey! I'm not a noob!" Sean replied, obviously agitated by what Tommy had just said.
Tommy noticed that Sean had met them by running down the same path Duncan had walked down about 10 minutes ago. Tommy was starting to worry a little, Duncan had been gone for too long, but no one probably wanted to go look for him. He had to ask, just to get it out of his system, "Should we go look for Duncan? He's been gone for a while now."
*-*
The kid probably killed him. That was a pretty sad thought, actually. For Duncan to be killed by someone with a baton. He had a sword; if he were beaten to death, Damion would admit that he’d officially heard everything, then.
No, he’s not high. You’re just stupid. Lin threw a glare over her shoulder, That’s not nice. Now he was being talked down by someone shorter than him, not to mention two years younger.
This place was just getting weirder and weirder.
***
Fine, Ill go look for him.
Dierdre had been quiet for a few minutes now, and shed finally gotten fed up with standing around. Slinging the shotgun shed looted from Lira over her shoulder, Dierdre walked down the hall, off in the direction Duncan had gone, and the direction that Sean had come from.
*-*
"Thank you." Tommy said, not wanting her to think that he hated her, he wanted her to feel the opposite actually. When she was out of sight, Tommy was on the verge of tears for some reason, and quickly wiped the tears away from his eyes with his shirt.
'But, she doesn't even care about you.' Thanos said to Tommy telepathically, floating eggs could do that apparently. He was concerned about Tommy, at this rate, Tommy would end up in a state of depression that would eventually lead to the death of both of them.
'I don't care, being like this...I can't take it.' Tommy thought, trying to hold back the tears that streamed down his eyes. 'I...I'm going after her.'
'Are you crazy?! You'll kill yourself!' Thanos protested, fully against his master killing himself. He only watched as Tommy got up slowly, his shirt growing a deeper shade of red. Tommy didn't fall, in fact, he didn't even waver as he stood.
'I...I have to do this...Dierdre...I'm coming.' Tommy thought, sprinting down the hall, tears falling from his face as he ran. He ignored the pain as he continued his little journey, seeing Dierdre at the end of the hall.
"Dierdre! Wait up!" Tommy called, his back hurting more and more as he ran. Tommy stumbled, falling to the floor. 'No, get up! Get up!' Tommy thought, trying to get to his feet, even though he knew he couldn't. 'Damn it...' He thought, his vision becoming blurry.
"Dierdre...I...I..." Tommy muttered, his vision making a foggy black circle around Dierdre's face. 'I'm going to tell her...no going back now.'
"Dierdre...I love you." Tommy stated, falling to the floor and passing out seconds afterwards.
*-*
Shit. He just had to run after her. Why were kids these days so stupid? Well, they were probably just as stupid two years ago, but still.
***
The fun never ends. Lin sighed heavily, torn between following after them, and staying here. She didn’t want to start a chain reaction of everyone going on ahead, but it didn’t do her any good to just stand here. She was itching to go somewhere, or do something. But she could do nothing, right now.
She was so confused. Everything was going mad, once again. This place was insane, but everything was just getting out of control as fast as it seemed that it would be somewhat easy for a while.
And that darkness inside was still festering below the surface. She could feel it itching to break free again. She wanted to just let it happen; let the freedom of power course through her chilled veins and let herself fall into autopilot for a while.
But shed just gotten back to the real world. She didn’t want to leave, again. It was so dull just lying in that darkness. But it was terrify, just the same.
For the first time, she truly understood what it was like for Damion. Whenever he closed his eyes, that must have been the kind of darkness that awaited him.
An arm wrapped loosely around her, and she leaned heavily against the body behind her. Tired?
Yeah. And confused.
Aren’t we all?
***
Dierdre...I love you.
The sound of her shoes echoing along the stone corridor faded as she halted. She must be insane. No, her mind didn’t sound that that. Her minds voice didn’t sound like that at all.
I don’t need this now, of all times. Why now? Why now, of all times? Why not after she found Duncan? Why not after they left Silent Hill? Why now?
But it was something shed known was going to happen. One day, she knew it was going to be said. But she just hadn’t wanted it to be today.
I know.
*-*
Tommy lay there on the floor, oblivious to the world around him. A puddle of blood slowly began to form from his back. He had a peaceful expression on his tear streaked face.
***
"Dude, that guy was bleeding pretty badly, shouldn't you go help him? You are his friends, right?" Sean asked, looking down the hall he had ran down earlier. Tommy had left a little trail of blood that traveled in a neat line down the hallway. Sure, Sean didn't know the guy, and so far, that guy seemed like a jackass...but that didn't mean you shouldn't help someone.
'That's my conscience for ya.' Sean thought, keeping an eye on the end of the hall, just in case that guy came back.
***
Duncan was just about ready to quit looking for Ai. So far, he had searched most of the rooms on this side of the building, and unless she could turn invisible, he hadn't seen any sign of her even being here. Duncan stopped at the last closed door, wondering if he should even look in this room.
'Not like I've got anything to lose.' Duncan thought, silently opening the door, instantly seeing a pair of legs laying on one of the beds. Duncan walked over slowly, not wanting to get caught off guard if the legs were just fakes. He walked up, and saw Ai, sleeping on the bed, the map still laying in her hand. Duncan slowly crept up to the side of the bed and pulled the map out of Ai's hands, which made her stir a bit.
'This is gonna be so much fun!' Duncan thought with a sly smirk on his face. He walked away from the bed, standing in front of the foot of the bed.
He breathed in deeply, then shouted as loud as he could, "WAKE UP CALL!!!"
*-*
I killed him--cant really say if were friends or not. Maybe he shouldn’t have told him that. But who really cares? If he stuck around, he’d just find out, eventually.
Lin continued to lean back against him, hands fidgeting with the material on the sleeve of his coat. She seemed bored; bored and tired. And as shed said earlier, confused.
What’s up?
This is totally off topic, but...Whatever happened to your wings?
Come to think of it...what did happen to them? He’d never really figured that out, really. It felt weird without them. I don’t know. Id have to ask Shadow.
Lin looked up, eyes wandering the hallway, taking in the sparse decorations that hung from the cold walls. Then her eyes fell on that new kid, Sean. He seemed kinda tense. What, you think its weird that he has wings?
***
WAKE UP CALL!!!
Ai shot up, woken by the loud, obnoxious, and quite rude awakening. She threw the pillow shed been laying on at Duncan, hitting him square in the face. You’re a big meanie-head!
She stood up on the bed, turning around to face Duncan. She put her hands on her hips, glowering at him. How dare he wake her up! She hadn’t slept for a while.
*-*
"Oh, if you're mad now, look what I've got." Duncan replied, holding the map out in front of him. "Say it, I'm a bloody ninja!" Duncan added, grinning madly (in fact, he was quite mad by this point) at his comment.
***
'Wings...Shadow...that name sounds familiar...' Sean thought, not fully paying attention to what they had said. The guy used to have wings, but he looked normal now, and...he must have killed that other guy metaphorically.
"After seeing a few guys with wings around here, its not that surprising." Sean said jokingly, scratching the back of his head as he spoke. "Hey, I still don't know your names, would you mind telling me?" Sean asked, not wanting to refer to these people as 'that guy' anymore.
*-*
I’m Lin, and this is Damion.
Sean seemed to be contemplating something. Damion’s earlier comment, perhaps? Think well get out of here soon and find him? Sean's expression changed from contemplative to disturbed. What, do you know Shadow?
It was amazing how so many people tied back to Damion and Shadow. Then again, it wasn’t all that hard to imagine at the same time.
Seems strange that he’d know someone besides me and everyone in our little family.
***
You will be bloody when I’m through with you! Shed punch his lights out! That’ll teach him to wake her up. Shed hit him so hard that he wouldn’t wake up for hours!
Now, she just needed to find something to beat him with…
*-*
"Never heard of him, it's just...it sounds familiar, that’s all. But I highly doubt your talking about the same person." Sean replied, telling Lin and Damion only a little bit of the truth. Sure, he didn't know they Shadow they were talking about, but he did know the name. How could he forget it. He then noticed something run past him, the only detail he could see clearly was that the person had one single wing attached to his back.
"HELP!! She's gone insane!" Duncan screamed, running away from Ai, who had found a scalpel on a tray next to her bed (God knows why there would be one in a church.).
"C'mon, all I did was wake you up! What did I do to deserve this?!" Duncan asked himself aloud as he continued to run from Ai, who was unrelenting as she continued to chase Duncan.
*-*
You’re a big, mean meanie-man! Ai screeched as she chased Duncan down the hall, murder in her eyes. That meanie had to wake her up! And she was having the nicest dream, too
***
Should we help him?
Damion watched Duncan as he continued to scream and run for his life, then chuckled. No, leave them. This is funny. It was always funny whenever Duncan got in trouble like this.
Why is my darling pet chasing him?
Damion looked up. Shadow was leaning against the wall behind him. He looked better; he wasn’t limping around, anymore. He was standing up straight.
He only looked a little tired.
Where’s Lira? Shadow had been with that bitch when everyone else had jumped down the hole.
Shadow grinned; he seemed rather pleased with himself. I left her there. So, he left her, unconscious, lying in the street where any creature could come along and rip her apart?
Yep, that was definitely Shadow.
*-*
Run Forest, Run!!"
"Say wha-Oof!" Duncan asked, running into someone that wore a long, black jacket. But Duncan didn't just run into that person, he smacked her...you know.
"YOU PERVERT!" The girl in black screamed, grabbing Duncan's shoulder and taking a tazer to his stomach. Duncan shook for a few seconds before falling onto his back, now lying on the floor stunned. The girls face was finally revealed to be Lira, whose voice was higher pitched than before. When Lira saw Ai running at her with a scalpel, she screamed and ducked, covering her head as if her arms were shields.
"Uh...what just happened?" Sean asked, looking over to Lin and Damion. They were giving that woman peculiar looks, which made Sean a little curious.
"Do you know her?" He asked, now noticing the scalpel in Ai's hands. 'Holy crap! She was going to kill him?!'
*-*
Yeah, she’s a bitch.
Lin and Damion both looked at Shadow. But neither of them disagreed. They just looked at him, then back at Lira. It was as if there was a silent affirmation from both of them.
What the hell do you want? Damion hissed, starting toward her. Most likely to murder her in front of everyone. But Lin grabbed the sleeve of his coat and dug her heels into the floor. He looked back at her, a low growl emitting from his throat. But she only stared hard back at him, glaring, challenging him to do something.
He looked back at Lira, You’re lucky. But Ill fucking get you. Just wait. He jerked his arm, dislodging Lin’s grip on his sleeve forcefully. He went to the office door, opened it, then slammed it shut behind him.
Lin looked from the door to Lira, then back at Lira. She seemed torn between going to the office, and staying and confronting Lira. Or at least finding out why she was here.
Why are you here, you traitorous bitch? Shadow snarled, eyes burning with a quiet rage. But that rage could explode at any time. Not enough to see Damion 'killed' once? You gonna try it, this time?
He stalked toward her, and backed her into a wall. Slamming both hands on either side of her head, he leaned down, face inches from hers. You listen and you listen good. I will tear you apart if you ever try to kill him.
*-*
"W-what are you t-talking about?!" Lira asked, so scared that she was on the verge of tears. She kept her eyes closed, face turned away from Shadow's. "I-I didn't do anything! Please, don't kill me!" She pleaded, trying to flatten herself against the wall.
"Hey! Get off her man!" Sean stated, pulling Shadow away from Lira, who ran into a room that was very close to the office.
"What the hell?! You nearly scared that woman to death!" Sean stated angrily, not realizing the extent of Shadow's power.
***
Lira slammed the door behind her, locking it, and was now slowly backing away from it, only stopping when she felt the wall against her back.
'What the hell is going on?! I was stuck in a prison cell, but now I'm here...what's happening to me?' Lira asked herself, getting in the fetal position, only her hands were covering her head as she curled herself into a ball.
*-*
Its none of your business. Don’t interfere. She shoved Sean against the wall, glaring darkly. I don’t want any unnecessary violence. But the grin on his face said otherwise. Id like nothing more.
He walked away from Sean, throwing a withering look back at him. Shadow went to the wall opposite the office door, arms crossed, head down.
She fucking deserves it. Everyone does.
***
You listen and you listen good. I will tear you apart if you ever try to kill him.
Oh god His back was pressed against the door, chest heaving as rage coursed through him. That Lira girl seemed to be a pretty good actress. Either that, or something was up. He didn’t even want to think about it, though. It only made him angry.
Pushing away from the door, Damion walked over to the couch and sat down, resting his head in his hands. Everything was going to hell, again. Why couldn’t it just be simple for a while? Why couldn’t they have a remotely normal five minutes? Silent Hill was a cruel mistress.
And he was an unwittingly obedient executioner.
The door opened slightly, and he glanced up before looking back down. Soft footsteps came across the stone floor, briefly interrupted as the papers scattered on the floor were underfoot.
Hi. The words were soft, barely a whisper. So soft and hesitant. Great. Hey.
Lin looked at the couch, then back at him, silently requesting that she be allowed to sit down. He nodded absently, even though it was her own right to sit down if she wanted.
The room was silent for a while, the sound of breathing and a steady heartbeat. There was a hand on his arm, and he looked at the person sitting beside him. She smiled softly, sadly
And she gasped in surprise when she was pulled tightly against him. Damion buried his face in her shoulder, grip on the material of her tank top impossibly tight. Her arms came hesitantly around his neck, and she hugged herself closer.
Closer. Not pushing away. Closer.
***
She opened her mouth, intending to ask what was wrong. There had to be a reason for this behavior. But her words died and only a small breath came out when something dripped onto her shoulder.
*-*
"Yeah, right." Sean replied, knowing that this man could've been the guy that took his sister. Then again, Sean was just angry at him, he needed evidence that this guy took his sister, and until he could get that, all he could do was hang around with this group of psychos...
"Hey, would you know anyone named Anne? She's got short, brown hair, about 18 or 19 years old?" Sean asked, hating the fact that his sister was 3 or 4 years older than him.