damned_institute | Night 70: Underground Lake

The transition was jarring as always, but what was even stranger was when Anise looked around to try and get her bearings, and she realized this wasn’t where they usually teleported to. A short distance ahead was the dark mouth of the tunnel she’d been staring down just last night.

But in the end, that was good. They didn’t have to deal with tolls, or crossing the creepy lake. They just needed to go forward.

“Well, there’s only one way to go from here!” she said, trying to muster up a cheerful, optimistic tone. “Now we can find out where this leads.” Even though she was worried this could be another trap, part of Anise was excited. There had to be an end to all those stupid trials, and maybe this was it.

With how easy it was to doubt the ferryman, Claude was relieved to find that the uncomfortable transition to the caverns didn't bring any nasty surprises. Letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, Claude straightened up and turned his light onto the mysterious entrance (or exit?) waiting for them.

"Yep," Claude agreed with Anise. "Guess we'd better get a move on, huh." The longer they hung around, the easier they probably made it for Landel to throw something unpleasant at them.

Since there was nothing left to stall him or his friends, he began to walk toward the path in front of them. As Claude moved, he glanced down at the uneven terrain underneath his feet. "It looks like an abandoned train track or something," he observed.

Since they were all ready (or at least as ready as they could be), Guy followed after Claude, making sure that he kept his flashlight pointed forward. It was dark down here, and while he saw a few lights flickering in the distance, they were still far off.

He wanted to have Anise take up the rear, since she was carrying quite a bit for her small frame and because she didn't have her preferred weapon on hand, whereas Guy and Claude did. So he made sure to work his way ahead of her, figuring that she'd hang back if only not to trigger his phobia.

At Claude's comment, Guy observed the deep grooves in the dirt. They seemed to fit the pattern of some kind of vehicle, but Guy didn't see any sign of an actual train anywhere. Then again, if there had actually been one functioning down here, they probably would have noticed before now, right?

"So this definitely leads somewhere." The question was where.

Anise was left with the rear, which she wasn’t about to complain about. If they came across enemies on their path, the others were better at close-range combat. As they walked, though, she occasionally pointed her flashlight at the path behind them, making sure they weren’t being followed.

When Claude brought their attention to something on the ground, Anise looked down, too. “Do you think they were running mine carts through here?” It reminded her of some of the mine tunnels she and her friends had been through on their travels. Maybe the tunnel led to a mining site, a port, or a town or something. Whatever it was, it had to be better than the institute.

Yeah, it would kind of suck if they reached the end of the tunnel and only found a dead end. Granted, there was no guarantee that Landel or someone hadn't just detonated the tunnel at some point. But as long as there was a path ahead, Claude was willing to walk through it until they reached the other side.

"Maybe," Claude said in response to Anise. "I mean, it's not such a stretch to think they might have had to transport supplies at some point. Keeping their carts underground was probably the best way to keep their cargo secret."

And if that was true, there was a chance they would run into trouble sooner rather than later. "Let's keep an eye out for traps," he added, his expression growing more serious. That probably went without saying, but it never hurt to hear a reminder.

From what Guy can tell, these tracks seem too large to have held mine carts. It seems like whatever was being transported, it was something larger. Maybe it would make sense when they got to the end of wherever the tracks led, but for now all they could do was keep following them.

It was quiet down here -- not surprising, since they were deep underground, but Guy would have expected there to be some monsters posted here to get in their way. It was possible that they'd earned an easier trip after getting through all those trials, but Guy couldn't shake the feeling that they might just be jumping through Landel's hoops down here.

"Traps? Yeah, I guess you're right..." There were no monsters, but there could easily be something else set up to offer an obstacle. Guy moved his flashlight beam all around the tunnel, but nothing really stood out to him.

Traps, huh… Anise thought it was kind of weird that they hadn’t been ambushed yet, but it was worth keeping an eye out for stationary traps, too. “Getting tripped up by some cheap trick after coming this far would just suck,” she griped in agreement, giving another sweep with her flashlight to the space behind them. Other than the faint glint of the tracks on the ground, there didn’t seem to be anything noteworthy.

“I wonder how long this goes on…” she mumbled, mostly to herself, as she knew the others wouldn’t have an answer. The area all around the institute was mostly empty, save for the forest and that ruined town. In order to get to anywhere of note, there was a chance that they’d be walking for hours, maybe days, with no idea how close they were to an exit… assuming there was one.

Anise still had plenty of energy left, though, and it was too early to call for a break. All they could do was keep walking forward.

By now, the underground lake was a decent ways behind them. With three pairs of eyes keeping a lookout, Claude was confident that they could avoid anything truly nasty before it got out of control. "We'll be fine as long we're careful," he assured Anise.

As soon as he spoke, though, Claude thought it looked like the distant light up ahead was starting to move toward them -- and at a much more rapid pace than they were walking. Was his mind playing tricks on him? After rubbing his eyes, he squinted into the dark.

"Uhh, is it just me, or is that light at the end of the tunnel...getting closer?"

His question was punctuated by an approaching roar that became louder the closer the light came. Suddenly, Claude felt like he'd swallowed a bucket of ice cubes.

Guy had no idea how much longer they would be walking, but he was prepared for it to be a long journey. For them to actually get outside of the institute's influence and away from Landel, they would probably have to keep walking for a while. Hopefully the others would be able to keep their energy up even as their feet and legs started to get tired. Guy wasn't worried, though. He and Anise had gone on long journeys together, and he imagined that Claude had as well, before coming here.

While he did what he could to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, there wasn't really much to see.

Not until a light appeared in the distance, anyway. Guy figured that it was just some kind of lighting fixture at first, but when Claude brought up that it seemed to be moving closer, and at a rate too fast to match with their walking speed, Guy halted in his tracks.

"It's not just you," he said with a shake of his head. "What do you think it is?" Whatever it was, it couldn't be good, and Guy automatically tensed in response to the threat. Even if it didn't know what it was.

A light at the end of the tunnel? Anise looked up, hopeful, but what she saw was anything but reassuring. With its rapid movement and that loud noise... What could it be? A runaway mine cart?

"G-get off the tracks!" Anise cried, backing up against the tunnel wall. "They might try to run us over!" Whatever it was, it was moving fast. They wouldn't get off easily if it slammed into them.

An ominous horn cut through the tunnel, loud enough to shake anyone to their bones. That alone was enough to throw Claude into high alert. "It's a train!" he shouted, doing his best to keep the swelling panic from ebbing into his voice. Thankfully, Anise had the right idea. "Hug the wall as tightly as you can! Hurry!"

There was no way they'd be able to outrun that thing, and throwing themselves flat on the tracks would be suicide. Heart pounding against his rib cage, he struggled to breathe as he practically shoved his back into the wall, trying to follow his own advice.

It was that horn echoing through the tunnel, a sound so loud it hurt Guy's ears, that set him into action. Not that he hadn't been ready to make some kind of move even before that, but it did send a spike of panic through him as he realized there might not be any way to avoid this.

He followed the lead of the others, running to Claude's side and pushing himself up against the dirt wall, no consideration given to how dirty he might be at the end of it. He wouldn't care, so long as he came out of it alive.

It looked like he'd been right about the tracks being for something larger than a mine cart. Guy kept his gaze on the approaching light and before long the shape of the train started to form, even in the relative darkness. Guy sucked in a breath and then closed his eyes, both to shield his vision from the light and because he knew that now the only option was to wait for it to pass...

Anise wasn't entirely sure what the thing coming at them was, but it was immediately clear that it was bad, and that she was right to move away from the tracks. As the others joined her along the wall, she heeded Claude's advice and pressed back harder, squishing Tokunaga against the wall behind her.

As it drew closer, the light was practically blinding, and Anise squeezed her eyes shut to block it out, silently praying that they had enough space for it to pass without hurting them.

As the oncoming train raced closer, the ground rumbled beneath their feet. Is this it? Claude hopelessly wondered. Had they really come this far just to get mowed down like this? But what else could they have done differently?

There was no time for regrets now, unfortunately. Claude, too, squeezed his eyes shut and turned his face away from the bright light. When the horn sounded from right next to them, rattling his eardrums, he half expected to get crushed or pulled underneath the train. Instead, a harsh rush of wind whipped his hair against his neck and cheeks, freezing him in place as he heard the carts swiftly clatter along the tracks.

The ground shaking under his feet made Guy cling hard to the wall. He didn't want to be thrown off his feet by the momentum of the train, though he realized that was probably the best case scenario at this point. All he could do was hold his breath and wait for the inevitable --

While the sensation of it passing was definitely strong, almost enough to send him off balance, nothing collided into him. And as soon as it had been there, both the light and the sound of the train were gone.

Guy blinked his eyes open and then took in a breath, and that was when he realized that something had changed. He suddenly felt a burst of power within him. It was exactly like when he'd had his full strength returned to him in the coliseum, or that night when everyone's abilities had come back.

He stepped away from the wall and dusted himself off, looking back and forth between Claude and Anise. "Do you feel that? I can sense fonons in the air again."

Anise dug her toes into the dirt beneath her, pushing herself hard against the wall as the vehicle came, making her hair whip around wildly as it stormed through the tunnel, and at last, passed them completely. Once she was sure it was gone, Anise let out a sigh of relief and pushed her hair back to where it ought to be.

“That was scary…” she breathed, looking over at the rapidly fading light. “Where is it even going? … The lake?” There wasn’t a whole lot there, so it seemed strange.

But that wasn’t the only strange thing to consider, as Guy’s words made Anise pause to feel the air for herself. Sure enough, there was that faint feeling of energy in the atmosphere. Normally, she never thought much of it, but being without it for so long, it was an almost foreign feeling. Kind of like a big weight was lifted from her chest. “Hey… you’re right! Wait, this means…”

Anise gave the tunnel another glance in both directions to make sure it was safe, then took a big step into the center, where she’d have more room. She pulled Tokunaga off her back, brushed the dirt off of it, and held it before her as she began to focus.

The doll’s limbs began to stretch out, growing longer and thicker as its head and torso swelled up to several times their original size. It grew so large that Anise, who had been holding it by pinching the back of its head, was lifted up off the ground, supported by the now enormous doll. It hunched over a bit, allowing Anise to lean over the top of its head to face her friends.

“It worked! Look! Tokunaga’s back!” She wrapped her arms around its head, squeezing it affectionately before looking back the others with a puzzled expression. “But… why?”

When the danger had passed, Claude felt like his legs were about to give out. Thankfully, he caught his balance before he made a spectacle of himself, and he let out a heavy breath as he stepped away from the wall.

"Maybe it was an illusion," he said in response to Anise's question. "To scare us off or something?" It wouldn't have been the first time Landel had used similar tactics.

Well, regardless, it was out of sight which hopefully meant they could keep it out of mind. Besides, there were other things to draw their attention away from that near-death experience. Like the way Anise's doll suddenly grew to a beastly size.

"W-woah..." Startled, he took a step back. This wasn't the first time he'd seen Tokunaga in all its glory, but Claude still hadn't expected the abrupt change. "There are enough fonons here for you to do that?"

Pausing long enough to stare down the way they'd came, his mouth opened as if he'd been struck by a sudden thought. "Does that mean we're basically out of the Institute's range now?"

It sounded too good to be true.

Edited 2013-06-06 01:48 (UTC)

With the speed that train had been going, Guy imagined that if it had actually been there it would have run itself off the tracks and gone crashing into the lake, possibly scattering the bones of that ferryman in the process. No, chances were that Claude was right and it was just a very vivid illusion.

When Anise expanded Tokunaga into its full form, Guy couldn't help smiling. Anise just looked so much at home on top of that doll, and it was something he was used to seeing, something familiar and comforting in a strange way. He didn't really blame Claude for being surprised by it, though. It took some getting used to.

"Well, now you don't have to worry about your legs getting tired," Guy teased Anise. It was definitely a relief to be back at full strength, especially since they had no idea where they'd end up next.

Guy did have to wonder if they were really out of Landel's clutches at this point -- and more than that, why the Head Doctor would allow such a thing. "Could be," he said in response to Claude. "I wonder if that means that we won't end up back in our beds come morning, either." It was just as they'd suspected, but it was different now that it actually seemed to be happening. Guy could barely believe it.

At least they'd brought some supplies with them. Guy didn't know how long they would last, but it was better than nothing. He stared down the length of the tunnel that was still ahead of them and then nodded to both his friends. "Either way, we'd better keep moving."

Claude looked impressed, which made Anise even happier. “Eheh… well, it doesn’t take that much for me to use Tokunaga. Once we get out of this tunnel, I’d like to give my big artes a try!” It was going to be hard to be patient when she was so eager to see if she was at full power, but it would be hard to see an arte’s full effects in a narrow area… and there were also the dangers of people getting caught in the arte, or the tunnel collapsing…

Yeah, she could wait a little longer.

Guy’s comment was met with a wide grin. “If you get tired, maybe I can carry you,” she teased back at him.

The idea that they were out of the institute’s sphere of influence was an encouraging one, but Anise wasn’t sure she could believe it just yet. This could still be an elaborate setup for a trap. But despite her skepticism, she had to admit… after all those weeks of being helpless, it felt really, really good to have so much power at her disposal again.

For now, it looked like they were going back to walking. Anise used the straps of her shopping bag to tie it to Tokunaga’s neck, letting the doll carry all the weight of her supplies. Now she could just sit back and make herself comfortable for the rest of the trek.

[From Here]

The new area was the opposite of the tunnel. It was large and open and definitely made up of the lake they'd been hearing. From what he could make out, it seemed they were in the middle of the lake and two shores lined opposite end s of the cavern. It was too dark to really make out much detail or even discern a clue as to which shore they needed, but he could tell they were a fair distance from where they were now.

Locke went as close to the water's edge as he could and crouched down in an attempt to see the water better. Who knew what was in it, but maybe they'd be able to swim their way over to one of the shores before anything could get them. Experimentally, he stuck his finger into the water and instantly pulled it back. He would have yelped if he could have, the water was just that cold, so he settled for glaring at it instead. Maybe they could swim it if it wasn't as far as it looked, they were both in good shape after all...but that temperature would prove to be a problem. Even if they made it, they'd be freezing by the end of it.

He hadn't fully been paying attention to the water, but as he came out of his thoughts and focused on the surface again, he started to think he could see something. It almost looked like...-! The treasure hunter scrambled back from the water's edge and stared in horror at it. That wasn't real, right? He was hallucinating, or maybe it was another institute trick. Yeah, that was what he was going to tell himself.

Where were they?

Edited 2013-05-24 08:21 (UTC)

Sora had been right about what he'd heard. Not a river, since that would have made a whole lot more noise, but a lake... and it was huge! It looked like they were some kind of cave, but Sora had no idea how this connected to the rest of the institute. More than that, there wasn't any way for them to even get to one of the other shores unless they tried to swim.

Since Sora was a pretty strong swimmer, having grown up on a chain of islands, he wasn't against that idea. But when Locke stepped forward and touched at the water, only to jerk back suddenly, Sora realized that there had to be something wrong. He was about to ask, but then Locke backpedaled even further.

Sora went to stand at Locke's side, taking in the horrified look on his face. "What is it?" he asked, only a whisper, before he stared out over the lake again. And that was when he spotted it, too: there was something in the water. Not just something, but multiple things. First he saw the eyes, then the flowing hair and grabbing hands. Sora tensed in place. Suddenly he was reminded of the Underworld at Olympus and he felt a chill go down his spine.

"No, those... who are they? What happened to them?" Sora knew that Locke wouldn't have any answers for him, but he couldn't help voicing those questions anyway. There was no way they could swim across if it was like this...

He wished he could answer Sora because having an answer might bring a little peace of mind, if only a little, but he was just as clueless.

What were they supposed to do? They didn't have any magic, nor did they have a boat. Although...he thought he could make out on both shores in the torchlight, so surely that meant there was a boat of some kind, right? He couldn't see one, though.

Maybe swimming across really was their only option. It wouldn't really surprise him, knowing this place, but what if those things grabbed them and drowned them? They wouldn't get very far. Maybe they were all for show and a little disturbance would...scare them off like fish or something. It was the only idea he had.

Locke took the rock he'd picked up earlier in his right hand and tossed it into the water nearby. It made a disheartening thunk telling him that, even that close to their island, it was deep; he could only imagine further out. Worse, it did nothing to make the faces in the water dissipate.

Now what? He was fresh out of ideas. Well...save one. He took the notepad out and wrote 'I'm going to try swimming across.' and hoped Sora would be able to read it. No, it wasn't the smartest idea, but it was the last one he had and he had to try something.

When Locke threw the rock, Sora moved just a little closer to the edge of the water, going up on his tiptoes to see if he could get an idea of what the stone did when it hit the water. But it just dropped straight down and didn't do much to disperse the ghastly images under the surface. Yeah, there was no way it was going to be that easy, was it? They were basically stranded, and Sora let out a small groan of frustration. If only he could glide, he could make it to one of those shores with no problem.

The sound of Locke scribbling drew Sora out of his thoughts, and he wandered over to look at what he'd written. It was kind of hard to see, but after some squinting he made the words out.

"What?" Sora gasped. "No, Locke, you can't do that. They'll drag you down under the water, you'll drown!" There was no way that trying to swim through a lake like this could end well. Without thinking, Sora grabbed for Locke's arm, intending to hold him back by force if he needed to, but right as his fingers brushed against Locke, there came another electric shock which sent Sora stumbling back against the cave wall.

"There has to be another way," Sora said as he fought to catch his breath, the vibrations from that shock making him slightly dizzy.

As if on cue, a strange gravelly sound echoed across the lake. To most people it likely sounded like rocks dropping down the side of a mountain. But if someone listed carefully enough, they would realize that the noise was supposed to be a hum -- of some kind of tune, even.

The source soon became apparent as a boat glided across the water, sending smooth ripples across the horrifying surface. Gripping onto the paddle was a skeleton, its hollow eyes locking on his two new guests.

"You could let him try!" the ferryman called, mercifully breaking away from his song. "'Course, I don't recommend it if you wanna make it out of here in one piece, heheh." With that ominous chuckle, the edge of the boat bumped against the docking area.

[Jansen.]

When he first heard the sound, Locke did think of rocks and he looked around as if expecting the cave they'd just come from to show signs of collapsing. There didn't seem to be anything like that and his attention was yanked away by the arrival of a skeleton on a boat coming up to them.

Locke took a step back from the shore again, distrust clear on his face. Where he came from, the only skeleton things were monsters and he had no reason to think this thing was any different; Well, except for the fact that it was talking.

None of the monsters had ever talked except Atma Weapon. More than anything Locke wanted to go for his daggers, but they didn't have any weapons between them and he was left with just his feeling of caution and distrust. After all, if it was part of the institute, there was no good to be had from it.

The sound also worried Sora and he gave a few sharp glances around the area before he noticed something cutting through the water. He saw the boat first, but the person ferrying it -- or rather, the skeleton ferrying it -- came into view soon enough. Unsurprisingly, the first thing that Sora thought of was his friend, Jack Skellington, but the moment that the strange figure spoke up, it was clear that he wasn't the same person.

Or skeleton. Whatever.

Locke couldn't say anything, obviously, but it was clear that he was already on edge. Sora didn't blame him, since a set of bones showing up to find them out of nowhere seemed pretty coincidental. On the other hand, that boat was big enough to hold all of them so it might be their only chance to get across the lake.

Besides, his fondness for Jack made Sora a bit quicker to trust the stranger than he might have been otherwise. He stepped forward and looked the ferryman over before speaking up. "Hello there, Mister. I'm Sora and this is Locke. He can speak right now, it's a long story, but... will you be able to take us across? Otherwise we're kind of stuck here."

"Ohhhh, cat got his tongue, eh?" The ferryman stared at the man with hollow eyes. "That's too bad. Stuff like that can be useful out here."

The kid's question wasn't so unreasonable, and he got bonus point for actually asking instead of regarding him with outright hostility. Sheesh, some people didn't have any manners.

"I guess I could," he answered with a low chuckle, "since I have a boat and everything. Not much else for me to do down here, you know. The spiders are poor sports, so they're awful at charades."

Looking at the boy with an eternal grin, he continued. "This ain't a charity, though, so I'm gonna want something in return. Nothing too steep. Gold or money doesn't mean much to a dead guy like me. More than anything, I want to experience what it's like to live again. So I'll accept someone's sense of hearing, sense of sight, sense of smell, sense of touch, or maybe even their voice."

Leaning against his paddle, the ferryman gave a brief shrug. "Since I'm such a nice guy, let me tell you something -- your sense of smell is practically a freebie. But you can only use that once, got it?"

Oh yes, such a nice guy, like that was convincing. Still, Sora didn't seem as bothered by him...it as Locke was, so there was that. Besides, the skeleton did have a point, he was the only one with a boat.

Really, what was there to lose by giving this a shot? Either they swam across and potentially died thanks to the dead things in the water or the the temperature, or they trusted this guy and risked him turning on them. The latter was the lesser of two evils.

Locke dropped his caution a little bit and moved to stand by Sora, offering another hastily written note of 'I'll do it if you're not comfortable with it, who knows, not being able to smell things might be better in a place like this.' Of course, they didn't know how long that price would be in effect or if it was even a permanent thing.

But, then again, did it really matter if it got them to where they were going in the end?

This skeleton was quite the character. Did he really mean that about the spiders, or was this all just one big joke to him? Sora tilted his head to the side in confusion, but it wasn't long before he got a more direct explanation.

So they were going to have to give up one of their senses to get across. That actually seemed like a pretty high price, especially since the ferryman was making it sound like they would need to do that each time they wanted to cross. Seeing how they were eventually going to want to get back to Farwell, Sora had to keep that in mind.

It was true that giving up your sense of smell wasn't such a big deal, though. Sora was thinking it over when Locke came over and showed him a note. Seeing that offer, Sora was quick to shake his head. "No! You already don't have your voice, so it wouldn't be fair."

Besides, there was something Sora wanted to ask first. He turned his attention back to the skeleton and crossed his arms over his chest. "So... if we give up a sense, does that mean it's gone forever?" he asked. "Or will it be back by morning, like with most of the stuff here?" He wanted to be clear on that before he agreed to anything.

There was always someone who wanted to take the bullet first. Not that it particularly mattered to Charon. As someone who was already dead, he didn't find the toll to be all that unreasonable. If they wanted to squabble over who got to first, so be it.

Scratching his chin out of habit, Charon considered the boy's question. "Depends on if the guy in charge feels like giving it back," he answered after a moment. "Heheh, not that I'd mind keeping it safe for you."

Night 70: Underground Lake

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