damned_institute | Night 73: Underground Lake

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Night 73: Underground Lake

It had been a long, tiring trip back.

Honestly, Guy still felt apprehensive about the fact that they had decided to give up the relative freedom that they'd found in Farwell to come right back into the institute, but this device that the rebels had trusted them with was important. If the only way to stop Landel was by taking him down from the inside, then that's what they would do.

That didn't make Guy feel any better as he stepped off of the train tracks and onto the dirt ground that eventually led out of the tunnels and into the underground lake. He'd been hoping they would never have to come back here, but he'd known it would eventually be necessary, seeing how they needed to collect Luke and all of their other friends.

Having trusted Claude to hold onto the device, Guy glanced over his shoulder at him as he reached the mouth of the tunnel. At least they were all in one piece. That was what he had to keep telling himself. Of course, now that they were back in the institute, that was bound to change.

"Guess we'd better call for that ferryman."

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If there was one downside to leaving Landel's, Claude thought it would be the fact that he didn't feel nearly as rested after waking up. Of course, when compared to everything else about their freedom, that kind of thing was just a triviality, but Claude still couldn't hold back his yawn as they made their way toward the edge of the lake.

When Guy mentioned the ferryman, Claude frowned and squinted into the darkness. "You think he'd even come for us?" He wasn't exactly the most charitable type, but the skeleton always struck Claude as someone who didn't like to be bothered too much.

Scratching his chin, he glanced toward Anise. "Then again, he seems to like you the best, Anise, so maybe you should call him."

It was a long walk back, but Tokunaga had made the trip bearable for Anise. Given that the others didn’t have that option, she didn’t have much room to complain about the distance. She just hoped it would all be worth it. Part of her still feared that the rebels could be deceiving them, that they’d activate the device only to have Landel laugh in their faces and lock them back up in their rooms.

Anise wasn't sure whether to be happy about being the ferryman's favorite, but it was probably better than being on his bad side. She was wondering the same thing as Claude, though. Didn't the ferryman usually hang out on the other side of the lake? He could be too far away to even hear them.

Still, there was no harm in trying. Anise walked up to the edge of the water, cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Heyyyy! Mister Ferryman! Are you out there?" Her voice echoed off the cavern walls, continuing for several seconds after she'd stopped shouting.

All they could do now was wait for a response. Digging the toe of her boot in the sand, Anise muttered, "He better show up. There’s no way we’re swimming back there."

"I don't know if we can swim back there," Guy pointed out, drawing closer to the edge of the lake. He could see those waterlogged corpses peering up at them from under the surface, and when he got a particularly clear look at one, its face rotted and bloated, he took a step back. They'd probably be dragged under and drowned if they tried to swim.

Which meant they were at the mercy of the ferryman. He would probably arrive on his own time, when he wanted to, and after having some semblance of freedom, it was frustrating to realize that they were already being constrained by the rules of the institute.

The fonons were all choked off again, for instance. Guy hadn't had much reason to use any Artes while they'd been out in Farwell, which was almost frustrating in retrospect.

"Yeah, knowing this place, you could wind up stuck in the water somehow," Claude added with a grimace. The fact Landel had put a ferryman down here in the first place suggested that they would probably have to rely on him if they wanted to get back into the building proper.

As he squinted in an attempt to peer through the mist, a dark shape emerged from the distance. Then, the all-too-familiar, gravelly hum echoed off of the cavern walls. Claude blanked

"Oh, hold on, is that--?"

As the shape grew closer, the humming turned into distinct lyrics.

Glo'ster girls they have no combs,
Heave away, heave away!
They comb their hair with codfish boooones...

And, sure enough, after a few moments, the shape of the ferryman came into view. He emerged from the mist and languidly paddled toward the dock. "Oh, hey, yer not dead, heheh!" he said in way of greeting. "Hope I didn't keep you waitin' too long. Well, mostly Cutie there! I really don't care as much about you blondies there, sorry."

Anise certainly wasn't suggesting that swimming was an option. That was just crazy! But they were seriously stuck, with swimming not being impossible, and the ferryman being a long shot - wait. He was actually coming!?

She sure didn't know anyone else who could sing like that in a dreary place like this. Sure enough, a tall, thin figure began to drift towards them from the distance.

Anise made sure to wipe her look of surprise away as the ferryman drew near. Once he arrived, she went straight into schmoozing mode. "No, you're just in time! I'm so happy you came for us! We actually kinda need to get back to the institute. You'll take us, won't you? Oh, pretty please?" Maybe if she laid on enough cuteness, he'd forget all about the toll.

So he actually showed.

Guy looked impressed for a moment, one hand on his hip while the other held tight onto his sword. He knew that there was probably no way they were getting across for free, but at least the effect would have worn off by morning.

"Guess it's been a few days," he murmured, not really taking the skeleton's comment to heart. It was already clear that Anise was his favorite, and since she didn't have any problem with using that to their advantage, Guy was content to let her. Just so long as the ferryman didn't get handsy, anyway.

"But yeah, just back to the shore where you normally pick us up from." Once they got that far, they'd at least have a guarantee to be back in their beds when morning came.

Claude knew he probably should have been glad that the skeleton wasn't all that interested in him, but he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed for some reason. Of course, it wasn't like he had anything to complain about. The guy hadn't left the three of them to rot out here (yet), so that was something.

Rocking back on the balls of his feet, he glanced over his shoulder and at the tunnel they had just come from. It was hard to believe they were coming back here on their own accord, but Claude had to once again remind himself that there wasn't much for them out there, either. At the end of the day, they weren't going to be satisfied with anything short of getting themselves and their friends back home.

Hopefully the ferryman wouldn't play any games with them tonight.

"Like I could ever say no to you, Cutie," Charon cackled. Of course, a job was a job, and it wasn't like the ferryman was going to ignore his duty. Well...unless the spiders were having another party. Or he needed a nap. Or he felt like dumping people in the middle of the lake.

Whatever!

"To be honest, I didn't expect to see you again," the skeleton added with that unnerving, eternal grin of his. "Thought you'd either ran away or gotten your heads ripped off by something nasty -- hell, maybe even both, hah!

"Anyway, the point being, you guys surprised me, and a dead guy like me has kind of seen it all by this point. You dig? So that's why this one's gonna be on the house."

On the house?

Anise was practically beaming with joy. "Really? You'll do that for us? That's sooo nice of you! This is why you're totally my favorite skeleton!" That, and she didn't know any others.

It was possible that there was a more sinister reason for the ferryman's sudden generosity. Maybe it was part of Landel's plan to make it difficult to get away from the institute, and easy to get back in. But, whatever! They were getting a freebie, and that was all that mattered right now.

Anise wasted no time climbing into the boat and seating herself. This was going to be the easy part of the night's journey... probably.

The ferryman really wasn't going to take a toll? That was surprising. They must have really shocked him if he was that taken aback that they'd returned.

Then again, Guy could kind of understand. Anyone else who had gotten out this way probably would have thought it insane to try and come back for more punishment. But Guy wasn't going to turn his back on the things that needed to be done here, and obviously Claude and Anise were in the same boat with him on that.

Speaking of boats, it looked like it was time to board. Guy nodded to the skeleton and offered his thanks, waiting for Claude to step on and act as a buffer between him and Anise. The boat was pretty cramped, after all.

"Has anything happened while we were gone?" he asked the ferryman. "Err, down here, anyway..." Guy was guessing that their bony friend here didn't have much idea of what else was going on in the institute.

Getting a free ride was the last thing Claude expected. Actually, he was almost offended that the skeleton had been that sure that they'd either die or abandon everyone still stuck here. Of course, actually voicing those thoughts out loud didn't seem like the best idea, and Claude wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth anyway.

After climbing in after Anise, Claude settled down on the seat next to her, taking care not to rock the boat too much.

Although he doubted the skeleton would know much about what was happening in the institute, it would be good to hear about any major changes that might have happened in the caverns, at least. So, without piping up with his own commentary, Claude looked at the ferryman and waited for an answer.

"Heheh, no problem, Cutie!" Charon scratched the back of his skull before looking at the three with hollow eyes. "Of course, don't go expecting a freebie every time, got it? A skeleton's gotta make a living somehow."

Once everyone was seated, the ferryman used his paddle to push away from the platform, sending gentle waves across the water's smooth surface. The sight would have been almost serene if it weren't for the more sinister inhabitants of the lake.

As they moved, Charon took a moment to think about the question.

"Hmm, well, one of the spiders thought it would be funny to take my paddle," he said. "Lazy bum must have thought it was food or something, I don't know. I got it back eventually, though, which is good for you three, 'cause otherwise you would've been waiting there for the rest of your lives, hahah!"

A pause. "Oh, yeah, and I guess there were some knuckleheads who came from that tunnel back there. Dunno what that was about. Pretty sure I hadn't seen them before, but I dunno. I just work here."

The ferryman was laughing, but Anise sure didn't find it funny that they could've been stranded. She secretly hoped he'd made the story up just to mess with them.

More importantly, someone else came through the tunnel? Anise glanced back to the beach they'd come from, which was barely visible through the thick mist. "Oh, right. Alana said something about that, didn't she? About how they brought other people to Farwell before we made it there." That would also explain why the ferryman hadn't seen them before.

As reluctant as Anise was to place her trust in the rebels, their story checked out so far. That was a good sign.

And those other people had gone ahead to the institute... Maybe they were already telling everyone about the rebels' plan. Anise and her friends were going to have to find out just what kind of information was floating around when they got back.

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Night 73: Underground Lake

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