Night 44: Main Hall, 2-West

[should-be-dead.livejournal.com]

[To here]

After reaching the top of the stairs, Tenzen slipped into the next hallway. This time, the hallway consisted out of a normal floor, ceiling and walls, as opposed to the pulsing flesh from last night.

Sliding his hand along the wall, the ninja kept his flashlight switched off as he headed East.

[To here]

Comments

[raisedbyharos.livejournal.com]

Whatever was happening to Setsuna just seemed to keep getting worse - and Feldt had absolutely no idea how to handle the situation. This was nothing like anything she had previously experienced, and it was definitely far worse than the bats the previous night. She wasn't sure what to do - although she knew that she wanted to try to help Setsuna out as best as she could. She'd remained in fairly good shape because of Setsuna's protection.

And whatever this was, she wasn't going to let it hurt her family that easily. She didn't have anything to fight with though - at least, nothing that would be of use. Setsuna was the only one with any sort of weapon here. She was worried about him, though, and reached out to grab the glass shard that Setsuna had in his hand, trying to be as careful as possible as she took the sharp object from his grip. She didn't want him to hurt himself while trying to take care of the monster - the monster was clearly already hurting him enough - and she wanted to do her best to protect him.

So she was going to try to do just that. She slashed at the monster like Setsuna had done as well, although it was a fairly cautious swing. She didn't want to hurt Setsuna on accident.

[gundamned.livejournal.com]

He didn't even know if he had managed to wound whatever it was—considering that the pain was still a constant, it was likely he did not.

And then came the object rising from his throat. His throat muscles automatically constricted around whatever it was, and he bent forward as he tried to gasp for air but barely managed fill his lungs as he felt something press against his tongue and attempt to crawl out of him. An automatic cry of pain attempted to escape from him, but he only managed a choke instead as the object reached further into his mouth.

He could sense Feldt grabbing the shard from his hand. He wanted to protest but he suddenly choked a second time, one hand rising to clutch his neck and the other pressing against the floor. The taste of blood was in his mouth and he grew dizzy from the lack of air, and as he forced himself to stay conscious an emotion he never thought he could feel again suddenly emerged—the combination of uncertainty, horror, lack of control, in a place that was so unfamiliar and a situation greatly unknown... he was scared.

Tears began to stream down his cheeks, but even then, even in the bleakness of the situation and utter helplessness he felt, he was still fighting for his life. He cannot afford to leave a still twisted world behind. He needed to live, to live until the world changed. That was his purpose.

And because of that, he was not going to die.

[deathrattling.livejournal.com]

Motivation was good. Probably -- because here he might have been better served by simply allowing himself to pass out from oxygen deprivation. The hand in his mouth had grabbed onto his jaw, now, and was using it to tug the rest of the limb out of his throat. One excruciating inch, then another jerked forward, and then with what seemed like a burst of strength an arm tore forward to the elbow. It dangled for just a second, then reached up and grabbed onto the hair at the top of his head.

Where it commenced pulling, just like the other arm, as if trying to pull something out -- and even as it jerked and twitched as if succeeding, no visible damage could be seen on Setsuna's body. When Feldt slashed out she caught another patch of dead flesh, caused another minute ooze of rotted blood, but the intruder didn't stop.

And slowly, slowly but surely, something was emerging, close to where the first hand had appeared -- a dark substance that soon became clear was hair sprouted out from amongst Setsuna's, slithering outwards like some grotesque fountain. With a jerk, another fall of it appeared, and then the top of something, twitching a little as if in exertion. Both hands continued pulling, tugging, and another quick convulsion of movement revealed the top of a head: just enough to see a pair of eyes peering out amongst hair.

A blank stare, unknowing and uncaring for anything but murder. The death-rattle filled the air again.