damned_institute | Nightshift 43: Chapel

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Nightshift 43: Chapel

[ from here ]

If it wasn't for the fact that this night was growing gradually more absurd by the minute, Rolo would have been mildly surprised to find that the room he just entered looked like a chapel or church of some sort. He also should have been surprised to find what sounded like a fountain all the way in the front of the room, situated where an altar would be. Normally, Rolo would have questioned the strangeness of this room, but he already accepted that everything in this place was strange and it was just better to just proceed with caution instead of wondering about it. If this was really a 'trial' or 'test' of sorts, part of the strategy was probably trying to confuse them and Rolo wasn't going to fall for that.

Overall, Rolo's quick glance of the room turned up nothing interesting aside from the fountain, but he wasn't going to leave the room so quickly when there was a creature lurking outside that they just avoided. For the time being, he supposed there was no harm in examining the room a little more thoroughly.

"Interesting place," he commented dryly. But was it safe? He would leave that assessment to Teresa, since her senses were clearly more developed than his.

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The tall warrior came to a halt inside the room as her eyes fell upon the fountain. It certainly made the room more interesting than it had been during the day, but that did not mean the change was for the better.

"That was not in here this morning," she stated. Tilting her head back, she drew in a deep breath. "The air holds the scent of blood."

Rolo had already started to walk forward, looking around the room and trying to see if there was anything hiding in the shadows, but Teresa's attention was focused on the most obvious object in the room.

"You were here before?" Then why did she follow him here if she already saw this place? It wasn't a total loss though, since she pointed out the room had changed since then. When she mentioned blood, Rolo became aware of that faint metallic stench in the air. So, that's what it was... When he moved towards the fountain, the scent became stronger.

Putting two and two together, Rolo continued to make his way to the fountain. Even at a distance, his flashlight beam soon revealed that the liquid in the fountain was thick and red. If it weren't for the fact Rolo was used to the smell of blood, the stench might have nauseating.

"You're right. The fountain has blood in it," He commented, trying to get a better look at it. There was a plaque with some things written on it, but Rolo couldn't find a special purpose for this being here, other than to be unsettling.

"My handler brought me here this morning, for whatever need humans have to worship beings that care nothing for them anymore," Teresa replied, moving toward the fountain. "There were several others here, many engaged in praying or something to that effect. I was curious as to what was behind the alter or if the god that this chamber was dedicated to had a name." Though it seems the alter was no longer in existence, so she might not ever find out.

Stopping next to the fountain, Teresa looked down into the red waters after reading the plaque, before she dipped two fingertips into the blood and held them up to look at. She rubbed the liquid between her fingers a moment before briefly tasting it.

"Human blood."

Teresa's opinion on religion seemed to hit the mark with Rolo, who nodded as she went on to describe what the room was like in the morning. It seemed like the fountain was the only new addition to the room since then, and it was a bit of a mystery how it was installed and already pumping ... blood so quickly.

Of course, none of those questions were worth answering and Rolo no longer paid any mind to it. Teresa, on the other hand, still seemed interested in it and Rolo quirked an eyebrow when she dipped her hand in the thick redness and tasted to verify.

"Really?" What other kind could it be? was what Rolo wanted to ask, but he reminded himself that he was traveling with a self-professed demon killer.

"If that's all, we should ..." Move on, but Rolo cast a wary glance at the door, not sure if the coast was clear or not.

[ sorry for the lateness klsks. ]

The hybrid's gaze remained on the fountain as she slowly circled it, still rubbing the bloodied tips over her fingers together.

"Do you know how much blood a human body contains, Rolo?"

"6 quarts, or about 5 liters," Rolo replied almost immediately. Of course, he would know that fact, but it took him awhile to connect any possible point that Teresa was trying to make with that question.

Obviously, if the fountain could hold about several gallons or so of blood, the amount of people that had to die to fill this fountain up would have been shocking to most people. But Rolo just looked at the fountain impassively, as that number would mean nothing to him.

"They probably collected it from people who died in this place," He pointed out. It was the logical conclusion, and Rolo had no sympathy for people who couldn't protect themselves.

Good boy.

That answer told Teresa more about the boy than he probably wanted her to know.

"Is that so? I wonder... This fountain is not here during the day."

Like many liquids, even when circulated like this, blood would start to congeal and curdle. Like goat's milk, a film would form on the surface and collect in the corners. Dipping her fingers back in, she felt along the edge of the fountain where the blood level was. She found no evidence of that phenomena. Perhaps it was fresh every night as a sacrifice to whatever god this place represented in the cover of darkness.

Another mystery was pointed out, about how this fountain even appeared during the night. Rolo, of course, didn't think much about it, nor did he seemed concerned that he might have let on a little too much about himself. Instead, he just looked at the fountain once more. Unlike Teresa, Rolo didn't notice anything strange about the blood; after all, he never stayed around long enough to check what blood looked like after it spilled out of a human's body.

Of course, when Teresa revisited the question of how this fountain could appear at night and not during the day, Rolo finally realized something a little off with the phrasing of her statement.

"... You mean, every day, the fountain isn't here?" Now things were getting even more confusing; Rolo had assumed the fountain was merely not set up when Teresa had last visited this place, but it was difficult to believe a fountain this size could be skillfully taken down and set up each night.

Having been here for one night and one day already, Teresa had observed the changes between the light and the dark. Most of them were subtle, though some like this were not. Kneeling down next to the fountain, she ran the fingers of her unbloodied hand along the ground. Nothing. No scrapes, no gouges, no chips, no shavings - nothing.

"It seems so," she replied. "That is unless it is present during the day and an entire room of people failed to notice it." Which was absurd. Despite the fact that there had been an alter in this location during the day, the scent of blood like this was not something that could go undetected.

Following Teresa's lead, Rolo started to inspect the edges of the fountain himself. There had to be some trick behind this, some telltale signs of construction, but like Teresa, he came up empty-handed. Of course, Rolo didn't like to spend his time investigating the mysteries of the fountain, but it might have been a clue about how this place worked. It wasn't as important as finding his brother, Rolo sourly noted, but until they couldn't leave this place until that creature had passed either.

Still, Rolo should have known this route would lead to a dead end, so he was paying for his carelessness in a way. So, to distract him from that, he played along with Teresa.

"That's impossible," He frowned, still finding nothing. "They must carry it in here every night or something. It doesn't seem connected to the ground." That made sense, but Rolo wasn't exactly sure how much manpower was needed to carry this fountain in and take it out every day and night. More than what it was worth, he guessed.

"Why would they bother? This hold no purpose other than to make humans uneasy," Teresa replied as she got to her feet, the bottom of the metal piece across her back scraping audibly across the floor.

"I can respect that sentiment," she said, drawing her lips back into a smug smile, "but there are much more practical ways to do that." Most of them were subtle and far more satisfying than overt displays.

The screech from Teresa's "weapon" did startle Rolo slightly, a look of unease on his face until he realized what it was. Rolo quickly relearned to suspect every suspicious sound and sight in this place, but it seemed like this place really was devoid of ... anything remotely useful.

"... I guess," Rolo initially thought that too, but something bothered him. Perhaps he was reading too far into it, but now that he considered how much work went into placing and maintaining this fountain, he wondered if it held some other purpose. But that purpose, if there was one, would have to wait for another day.

Now that Teresa seemed satisfied with her inspection of the fountain, Rolo started to walk back towards the chapel doors, intent on checking if that creature on the ceiling had passed by already.

A low chuckle drifted from the hybrid across the room, but she didn't say anything. Casting one more look back at the fountain, Teresa followed after the boy making a point to walk over the mark on the floor that also hadn't been there.

Nothing. If it served any purpose, Teresa clearly did not meet its requirements. Pity.

For the first time tonight, the slightest of smiles crossed Rolo's lips when he looked up at the ceiling from the chapel doors and saw that the singing black blob was no longer there. Finally, they could get out and go back to searching.

"Coast's clear," He said, assuming Teresa was behind him as usual and Rolo started to make his way out, this time heading to the left.

[ to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/708752.html) ]

[From here]

She looked over her shoulder "Why, are you seeing something else?" she asked before turning forward to get an overview of what the room looked like. Everything seemed the same as it was during the day, save for one obvious addition - a very strange statue of a monster sitting just behind the altar. She couldn't quite see all of it quite yet in the dark, but she could hear some kind of flowing liquid coming from the statue's direction as well.

"My wife," he answered dryly as he stepped through the doorway. "I often see her when I close my eyes. This place is making her appear before me when they're open." I know she's not real, but it's hard not to trust what I see before me. It's hard to know the truth. At least her death is something I know. Something burned into my mind.

He moved his flashlight across the pews, feeling out the room. "Seems like a strange place for a church," he remarked. And what is that noise? "Is there a fountain in here?"

"Really? You're seeing people now?" That worried Utena even more than the moaning and the intercom problems. This was dipping back into the thing that had made her so angry earlier - playing on the emotions of patients by throwing twisted versions of their loved ones in front of them.

She made a frustrated sound as they moved forward, thinking of Landel (or whoever) all snug and secure up on the third floor, laughing at them. "It's just a trick. He just wants to get to you," Utena told Leonard very firmly as they moved forward. She swept her flashlight beam across the pews, looking for anything that might be in hiding.

As they got closer to the statue, the subtance pouring out of the fountain became easy to identify. "Blood . . ." Utena bristled visibly as her light crept over the liquid spewing from the statue's mouth, turning it from shadow dark to crimson. "I wasn't here this morning, but I'm willing to bet this thing wasn't here before."

Leonard's light hit the statue and the blood pouring from its mouth. "Shit, is that blood?" he asked, taking a closer look. He felt a chill run down his spine. This is fucked up. What the fuck kind of-

His thoughts were interrupted as an immense sound (http://community.livejournal.com/damned_lounge/1923608.html) rang through the building, accompanied by the whole room shaking. "What the fuck is that?" Leonard asked loudly, knowing what it sounded like. "An explosion? What the fuck is going on here?"

Utena tensed and instinctively dropped into a ready stance, one arm up in front of Leonard and ready to cover him in case anything fell in or came flying at them. "Whatever it was, it sounded like it came from above!"

Another series of short shockwaves followed the first. Not seeing anything else that looked safer to take shelter under, Utena lead Leonard to a row of pews. "Get down and stay down until this stops!" she told him, letting him go in first. She didn't have long to stay on her own feet after that, however. The final shockwave dwarfed all the ones before it, rocking the room and sending Utena falling to the ground between the pews. She could hear windows cracking around them, but thankfully, the walls and ceiling remained intact.

Leonard gathered himself from the floor between the pews after the shockwaves had ended, brushing pieces of glass and plaster from his hair. He could tell from the dim light of his flashlight that the majority of the windows had shattered- the ones that remained intact were missing pieces of glass. The ceiling, while it had held, was marred with cracks from the explosions.

What the hell was that? Is this place under some sort of an attack? He moved his flashlight along the center aisle, then to the fountain in the front of the room. A crack in the side allowed blood to trickle from the pool onto the floor. What the fuck kind of a place is this? Some sort of Satanic church? A better question would be what I am doing here.

"You okay?" he asked, shining a light down to the girl and offering her a hand. "What the hell just happened?"

Utena brushed herself off when the movement ceased, taking Leonard's hand and rising to her feet, thankfully with ease. "I don't know. Nothing like that's ever happened before," she answered, on edge and ready for something else to happen.

Her eyes were drawn back to the statue. Utena could feel her insides twisting at the sight of the blood dripping onto the floor. She had to bite down on her tongue to keep from making a gagging noise. As well, the cacophony of screaming voices seemed to get louder and harder to deal with just from looking at the stuff. She again heard that eerily familiar scream behind the others, along with the sounds of metal scraping and squeaking against metal. The ghostly sounds clawed at the back of her mind fiercly, wanting to be remembered, but the were ultimately still unidentifiable to her.

Utena swallowed dryly, closing her eyes tightly for a moment and then opening them again. "Why do you think it's here?" she asked, forcing herself to move closer to the fountain. Something out of place like this might have been a clue.

"Looks like something straight out of a horror film," he said. He made his way out of the pew and toward the fountain, stepping over shards of glass that blocked the flowing liquid from the fountain from spreading across the floor. The blood found its away around the pieces, painting the ground a dark red.

Leonard looked into the fountain, shining his flashlight carefully. He stepped backward quickly, running a hand through his hair and shaking his head. "This is messed up! Fuck, where is it all coming from? What is this, demon worship or something?"

The intercom hissed, its sounds more disturbing than before. He could hear the muffled sounds of his wife in the bathroom, her cries held back by a man attacking her. He spun wildly, looking for the speaker on the walls- the sound was unmistakable.

This time, only Leonard heard a change in the intercom; Utena continued to hear disturbing noises, but they were the same disturbing noises as before. She wasn't ready when the man suddenly spun around with eyes darting wildly for something that wasn't there. "You see something again? Where is it?" she asked, raising up her poker and watching the shadows for any sudden movements.

[Sorry, I think we'll have to finish this up quickly. You probably noticed, but I haven't really been all here consistently with my characters as of late, so it's probably best to avoid backthreading for long if possible. :( ]

[No worries! :D Leonard is about to have a total meltdown as it is.]

"Don't you hear that?" he asked incredulously, still looking for the source of the sound. Leonard's grip tightened on his makeshift weapon as he looked around, the intercom screeching louder. He could her her last breaths as clear as if she were on the other side. Fuck! Is it a recording? How the fuck could they have a fucking tape of that?

His hand went to the side of his head, the side where he'd been injured that night. It hurt just as badly as if he'd been rammed into the mirror again. He could feel the blood trickling between his fingers, his vision dazed for a moment as he stumbled. He moved his hand into the light of his flashlight- I'm... not bleeding? What the fuck is this?

The sounds continued- he could hear himself fighting with one of the intruders, his wife still trying to breath as she struggled from under the plastic shower curtain. The recording got louder as he heard the sound of shattering glass through the speaker.

"Where the hell did you get that!?" he shouted in the empty chapel, his blood boiling. "Who the fuck are you!?"

"Leonard, it's got to be another trick! I don't hear anything!" Utena tried to tell the man, grabbing for his shoulder and trying her best to block out the sounds of scraping metal and ghostly screams so that she could focus on helping her companion. She hoped that a firm grab and shake would snap the man out of whatever vision he was having. If not, she was going to drag him out of the Chapel by force.

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/708752.html?thread=58805648#t58805648).]

As soon as Chihaya was in the chapel, he pushed himself against the back wall and sank to the ground, hugging his knees. He tried to mutter his prayers out loud, but still couldn't breathe. In his head, words went over and over again, too quick to catch, all pleading for forgiveness.

Wally crouched down by Chihaya as she sank down onto the floor and curled in on herself. She didn't look that much better in here than she had outside, and he was starting to get more than a little worried. The hallway had been really weird and disturbing, and the intercom didn't help much there, but this seemed a little much to be just from that.

"Ch-Chihaya?" Wally asked, managing the name with only a little difficulty. He hoped that was right anyway. "Are you okay?"

Chihaya looked up with a pained smile and patted the floor.

He understood now. He was paying paying for all of his sins. He was being separated from Kagetsuya and trapped in this place, forbidden to discuss the reality with his adoptive father... and now he was dying the way Janice had, because he hadn't saved her.

"It's okay," he gasped. "Everything's... okay." He winced as he failed to breathe in more air. It hurt like hell. How had they just stood by and watched Janice.... Was it so bad to get involved, really?

"Thank you - for being my...friend." He could only wheeze now, pulling Wally closer to comfort him. He shouldn't have to worry.

This was frightening, but he was with a nice person at least.

It was okay to die now. It'd be a relief if anything. He'd wanted to see his friends but... well, it was okay. And there was no telling if he'd have seen Kagetsuya again. Maybe in death.

[:| Emo!Angel was depressed before he got here so... Yeah. Jeez. XD He'll be perkier tomorrow? XD]

And that sent Wally from being vaguely worried to hitting all of his panic buttons at once. People didn't talk like that unless there was something really, badly wrong with them. Like, 'help I'm dying' wrong. And with how Chihaya was gasping for breath...

"Hey! Don't talk like that!" he insisted, scooting closer and rapidly checking that she wasn't hurt or anything as best he could. "You're fine, it was probably just something in the hallway back there. It smelt pretty nasty, but it's not toxic or anything." Otherwise he'd have been showing signs way before she had. Hypermetabolisms were killers like that.

"Just relax. Panicking is just going to make things worse."

Chihaya would have laughed if he could, so he just smiled and shook his head.

"M'relaxed," he assured Wally, stroking his cheek. Wally couldn't hear her panic, couldn't hear her slowly dying, not knowing why. She'd been prepared to die, but it was different when it was happening. She still had things to live for.

Had she fainted before she really died? They'd been too far away. But he'd never forget her limp body just drifting there, completely alone.

Chihaya automatically tried to inhale, but it hurt. Maybe he panicked a little then because his shoulders suddenly ached. He could feel them tearing slowly before two black wings suddenly sprouted. He contorted and cried out noiselessly.

His wings weren't supposed to hurt, but it didn't matter! They were back. That was a good sign. Was this forgiveness? He collapsed against Wally, barely conscious, but smiling. For a minute he wondered if it really was Wally still...

No, nonono. This was definitely not good. In fact, this was almost the pinnacle of Not Good, because apparently Chihaya was suddenly dying and Wally didn't have the faintest clue why.

"Just-- hold on. I'm going to--" Going to what? What did you do exactly when someone went from being fine to dying for no reason?

He didn't have much time to think, because then Chihaya jerked and contorted oddly, not making a sound but still clearly in great pain. And then two wings split out of her shoulders in a tearing way that really didn't look good at all.

For a moment, Wally hoped that maybe that was the whole problem, and that Chihaya would be fine now and he could ask her if she was actually Thanagarian or something and that would be that.

But then she collapsed against him, still barely breathing, and his heart plunged down to his ankles nearly.

"No..." He had to do something. He couldn't live with himself if he didn't. The clinic he'd tried to get Tony to last time they'd been up here was his best bet. But to get her there in time, he'd have to use his superspeed...

Wally swallowed hard, the wave of uncertainty that came into play whenever he'd thought about his speed these last couple of nights returning in force. What if his superspeed didn't work? Or worse, did what it had that night on the experimental table? What if it was the two of them in pain and dying then?

He looked down at Chihaya again, and his heart clenched at how pale and still she was.

He made his choice.

Gathering Chihaya into his arms was more difficult with the wings, but he'd had experience from the few times he'd had to carry Shayera, so Wally could manage well enough. Once she was settled, he paused only long enough to take a deep breath and fling out a vague prayer to anyone that might happen to be listening, then he reached out for that subtle feeling of speed and started to move...

He'd expected convulsions, or his powers simply not being there, but instead the familiar crackle and hum of power surged through him, as sweet and unchanged as though that night had never happened. And despite the night so far, despite Chihaya in his arms and his reasons for running now, Wally couldn't help but laugh in pure relief. He had his powers back, he could get Chihaya to the clinic and everything would be fine. He could feel it.

[skipping to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/707046.html?thread=58863334#t58863334)]

Edited 2009-09-18 04:18 (UTC)

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Nightshift 43: Chapel

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