Night 47: Disciplinary Therapy Corridor

[sixth-attack.livejournal.com]

[From here.]

Pulling his flashlight back out, Sechs was relieved to find that it hadn't failed to work for him again. Ahead was another hallway with a dozen more doors. Sechs took a few steps ahead and froze. Something about the place deeply...deeply bothered him. He didn't think he had ever been in this place before, but his natural instincts violently bristled inside him, like his whole physical being remembered the horrible place. Worst of all, the dark being that had taken residence inside Sechs' spine and mind knew all too well what this hall was for...

Another step towards the nearest door, and the Replica halted again, this time he grunted with shock and instinctively wrapped his arms around his torso. He looked like someone who just had a bucket of ice cold water dumped right over their head, and he sure as hell felt like it! "Sh-shit!" For the second time since he suffered the experiment, the chill in his back dropped to illogical levels. He would have thought he had just entered a real intense cold spot if it weren't for how the temperature was originating from inside him.

Cold or not, the Replica was going to persevere until he got the revenge he came for. Shivering almost uncontrollably, Sechs fought to straighten his composure as he glanced behind to see if Fai and Kibitoshin were safe and close by.

Meanwhile the nasty laughter and whispering grew stronger; along with a shadow that was beginning to take form in front of one door in particular that was farther down the hall to the right...

Comments

[not-rly-fai.livejournal.com]

Luckily for them both, despite whatever strange things might be going on with Sechs, he was still himself enough to let Kibitoshin pull his strings and break open the door. While the hallway held no pleasant memories for Yuuhi, they were even less happy for Sechs. He seems suddenly cold, with his arms around his chest and... was he shivering? Whatever was going on, it wasn't good.

Once again he found himself wishing there was something he could do, but as ever, he was no healer, and no amount of study or hoping would change that. He glanced over at Kibitoshin, but the man was likely as much at a loss as he was.

"Sechsy," he tried, forcing his voice to sound light and playful as he reached over to touch the man's shoulder, "are you cold? You can borrow my coat if you want. Oh! Or maybe it would be more fun if we shared it."

[bitpartgod.livejournal.com]

At first it had felt like tugging on a stiff marrionette, but after a moment or two Sechs seemed to come back down to reality and start to move- slowly at first, hands shaking (?!) then dropping down to his sides. He hadn't protested, either. Kibitoshin tried not to left that worry him as much as it did.

Soon enough though the man seemed back to normal, hacking and swinging away at the door with vigour enough to make the Kaioshin wince, looking over to Fai instead with a weak smile as chips of wood flew through the air and scattered around them. One final kick seemed to do the trick- the door collapsed inwards, thoroughly defeated (he certainly knew that feeling) and Sechs strode on, triumphant, into the hallway.

Or, at least, that's what he'd thought at first. He'd barely stepped into the hallway before he froze up again like he'd seen a ghost, so tense that Kibitoshin almost imagined he could see the veins in his neck standing out, even in the heavy dark. Whatever it was that had caught him before was back with a vengeance, and soon enough, Sechs wasn't the only one shivering. First Franziska, now Sechs... maybe I'm the one jinxing their nights.

Fai, it seemed, was slightly more in control of his thoughts. He spoke before Kibitoshin could arrange his thoughts, and he tried to keep that wobbly little smile on his own face. Hah. That was sweet of him. Very brave, but sweet. "That's a great idea!" he tried. "Then you'll definitely warm up!"

[sixth-attack.livejournal.com]

Sechs flinched slightly at the touch and glared over his shoulder at Fai. "Who said I was cold?!" he snapped, obviously agitated to have his weakness pointed out like that. Not to mention the whole idea of sharing a coat like that would be downright embarrassing! Who did Fai think he was? Sechs could see Elf and Zwölf huddling pathetically under a coat, but not him!

He was supposed to be the warrior here, the one leading his own personal mission! Yet already it seemed like Kibitoshin and Fai were getting concerned about him; like it was him who needed to be watched over, not the other way around! Sechs nearly cursed at the robed blond but at the last millisecond he stopped himself. It was Landel and the doctor's fault that Sechs was going through these side-effects! Fai and Kibitoshin were just trying to help, but his wounded pride refused to accept their support -- or at least most of it. A little bit of help couldn't hurt...

With his flashlight held back up in one hand to pierce the darkness ahead and the axe tightly gripped by the other, Sechs took a few steps and spoke in lower tone, "I'm fine, alright? Don't worry 'bout me." His shoulders slumped forward. "I don't think a coat will help anyways..." he quietly added under his breath.

He stomped to the nearest door to the left to test the knob, but not before shooting an annoyed look at Fai, "And stop calling me that!"

When the door he tested would not open, Sechs paused to scan the corridor with his light. Crap, there were a lot of doors here, and all of them were built with stronger materials than the one he just hacked down with his axe. Could this hall be where all the doctor's offices are? The place was giving him completely different vibes though. The stern metal doors looked more like they were for cruel cells in a prison, not casual offices for medical staff.

"You two got any ideas on what this place is for?" Sechs asked as he slowly gazed towards the other end of the corridor. "We gotta find that doctor soon..."

Sechs paused when his flashlight crossed over the living shadow shaped as his original cyborg form. Standing before the fourth door on the hall's right side, his doppelganger shot him a nasty grin. "Sorry, but you have to book an appointment to see your doctor!" the shadow taunted him from across the corridor, "This ain't no walk-in clinic!"

The Replica stiffened on the spot and quietly growled under his breath. Staring at the fourth door ahead, the only movement Sechs made was his body's trembling reaction to the cold. So far the others couldn't see the effects the drug caused for Sechs, and he wasn't sure how to fight back the dark being, so what the hell was he supposed to do now?!

[not-rly-fai.livejournal.com]

He'd been ready to duck a sudden blow, just on the off chance that Sechs' temper was anything like Aiden's, but the man just snapped at him, flinching away from the touch. But it was kind of amusing how quickly Kibitoshin jumped at the idea too. Sechs, however, had different plans, but at least acknowledged the worry his friend had for him. Yuuhi shrugged innocently for letting the nickname slip again, but said nothing of it.

As for answering his question of what this hallway was for, that was a little bit harder. He knew, sure enough, but saying so would just lead to a lot of questions he didn't want to answer. It was a lot easier to explain away how he knew how to get there than how he knew what the place was for. He left the question to Kibitoshin instead, giving the jumpy man a curious look before glancing back to Sechs who was now... growling at a door. The behavior seemed to get stranger and stranger with each passing moment.

"I'm not sure," he tried, "but there's an awful lot of doors."

He followed Sechs' intense gaze toward one of the doors, but saw nothing but that. A door. He could sense no magic, no ill-intent, just a door. Yuuhi gathered his strength and walked toward it, coat trailing behind him. His hand went for the doorknob, and no surprise, it was locked. He doubted Sechs would have a problem with trying to break it down though, should it be the right direction for them to go.

"Locked. I wonder if they're all like that."

[bitpartgod.livejournal.com]

Ah-hah! Right on cue, that same old flare of pride lit up Sechs' voice the second the two of them mentioned helping him out. Kibitoshin tried hard to fight the urge to laugh (part amused, part bewildered, part affectionate) but ultimately he couldn't stop a little smile crossing his face at Fai's innocence little shrug: if it wasn't for the eyepatch he'd have made a perfect angel.

Anyway, Sechs seemed okay. He was still shaking, but embarrassed anger was vastly preferable to blind, paralysing fear. Especially from Sechs. Right now, he had to focus on bolstering him up as much as possible- that, and staying alive, of course. The corridor was small, oddly cramped after the open space of the hallways, yet somehow Kibitoshin could feel chill ripples traveling across the bare skin of his arms: it was the kind of feeling that came with being watched.

Then again, as far as he could see, the only one doing any watching here was Sechs. Intently. And not only that, while he'd been distracted with the heebie-jeebies, he'd tensed up again. What was going on here!? Had last night affected him that badly, or-

- or maybe this was part of last night. The after effects. Kibitoshin swallowed. If that was it, then being here wasn't going to help. "They probably are," he said airily, waving a hand in what turned out to be an extremely forced display of nonchalance. "I bet there's no point in trying them or anything. We should probably, you know, head back. Right now."

[sixth-attack.livejournal.com]

Seeing Fai approach the door guarded by the dusky figure, the wary Replica took a step forward and mumbled a hesitant warning, "Wait-- Don't you see it--" But it was too late.

Fai walked right through the creature with seemingly no harm or effect. Instead, like someone passing through a thick curtain, the shadow's form swept in front of Fai, completely hiding him out of sight. The mimicry kept its sinister stance before the door and began releasing more of its murky form into the hall. The spreading darkness thickened around Sechs as though it had grown heavier than the air he and the others breathed. As the light weakened, so did the voices of Fai and Kibitoshin become muffled and incoherent. Before long, nearly the entire corridor was swallowed up by the pitch blackness, leaving only Sechs, his shadow and the space between them lit up, like a pair of spot lights were suddenly focused on the two contenders.

With Fai and Kibitoshin seemingly out of the way, the creature flexed its neck with a disgusting crackle. "So... Tell me, why do you want to kill your dear doctor so badly?" it asked through a crooked grin, "You should be thanking him! He's the one who lifted the wool from your eyes so you can see the truth! Isn't that what you've always wanted, to find the truth in this world?"

Sechs' gruff breaths grew steadily heavier and bestial. "What truth?!" he snarled at the shadow, blinded by his rage as much as the darkness surrounding him.

"Well, for starters..." There was another crack from its neck. "You've been running and hiding from the fact that scum like you don't have a place in this world! You were made for one purpose only, but you went against it and ran off thinking you were some hotshot warrior! Since then you've failed to prove your imaginary worth and have gone far past your expiry date! You're nothing but a waste of space!"

Those last words were more than the delirious Replica could bear. "SHUT UP!!" Sechs roared, charging towards his tormentor with his axe aiming for its head, unaware that Fai was likely still hidden behind its thick shroud...

[not-rly-fai.livejournal.com]

While it was kind of amusing to see how flustered Kibitoshin was becoming, it was true that Sechs' behavior was growing steadily worse and being in this place hardly seemed to be helping. Though Kibitoshin was trying to be helpful, it appeared that Sechs heard less and less of it or at least seemed to be pushing them aside in lieu of whatever he was experiencing.

He was certainly seeing something that the others couldn't, but what it was or why it upset him so much, Yuuhi had no idea. Whatever it was, Sechs was yelling right at him though he'd said nothing about truths.

"Sechsy? What're you-" he tried, taking a step back toward the man only to hear him growl back and roar at him to shut up. Not good. There was no hesitation as Sechs dashed toward him, axe at the ready and aimed straight for his neck. Luckily, the movement was obvious enough that he could duck under it, missing the blade by mere inches. But the sudden movement combined with his dizziness was enough to make him lose his balance, turning the dodge into more of a fall backward.

The magician gave a short and only slightly nervous laugh, as he tried to get back to his feet and out of Sechs' way, "that was a little close! If you thought I needed a haircut you could've just said so." He wasn't sure if Sechs could even still hear him or if he was caught up in whatever he was seeing, but if this kept up, things could get really dangerous, really fast.

[bitpartgod.livejournal.com]

Don't you see it? Truth?

The hand that had been frantically fanning at the air ground to a halt in mid-wave as Kibitoshin stopped to stare at Sechs, eyes wider than ever. This wasn't just a bad case of goosebumps, or a flashback, or anything harmless like that. He was actually hallucinating. And right now, watching the android become gradually more and more agitated before him, he could think of nothing in the world more dangerous to be doing here. Even Fai had stopped smiling.

Kibitoshin cleared his throat awkwardly. "S-Sechs, come on, I think we should-"

There was a sweep of movement in the darkness, a sudden glint of metal, and the next thing he knew Fai was sprawling on the floor. It was only when he let his eyes travel up the head of the weapon to the wielder that he allowed himself to accept what he was seeing. S-Sechs-! Only, in a way, it wasn't; something in those golden eyes was almost entirely blind, looking beyond the two of them at something they could only dream of seeing.

Something had to be done. He was their friend, and that meant they had to help him before- before he did something he regretted. "I-I'm sorry, Sechs," he said firmly, quickly darting to Fai's side and offering him a hand, "but if you do that again, I'll have to hit you." And he meant it.

[sixth-attack.livejournal.com]

Sechs heard and saw nothing of his allies; the only thing allowed within his tunnel vision was the cackling shadow of himself. He swung the axe with all his might and rage, but the dark mass easily shifted around it with the grace and fluidity of a cephalopod. The blade sliced through the air and slammed into the metal door with a resounding thud. Sechs' attack caught nothing and his blade heavily bounced off the metal door, leaving only a dim dent into its surface.

As Sechs recovered from the ineffective attack, the shadow's laughter went nearly hysterical. "Is that all you got?!" it jeered between its cackles as it shifted to Sechs' side with little ease, "You're pathetic!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

The blade went flying again but caught nothing but air as the Doppelganger swiftly dodged it. "Hey! Whaddya know? Looks like you've found the same room where you had your special little appointment!" The creature cocked its head towards the door behind Sechs. "Close but no cigar! You're not gonna find your doctor there tonight!"

"What?!" Eyes widening with shock, Sechs risked a quick glance at the door he just dented. This hallway.... was this the same place he... No way... Now he knew why his instincts were on edge so badly in this corridor! That realization nearly made the Replica retch! He could just barely remember the corridor now; it was where he was lead out to by ZEX and Donna when they managed to help him out of that damned chair... He had been so drained and haunted at the time that it was no wonder he barely remembered what happened then.

With the trauma caused by the experiment shooting more adrenaline into his system, the Replica recklessly pounced forward with his blade firing off in every angle he could get at the dark being. Every strike he mustered came with all the intention in the world to end his torment now. But the shadow hovered down the hallway as its body took on unnatural curves and turns to avoid the axe. "Look at you! You're an idiot!" it barked, "Just because you can swing some big axe doesn't make you a warrior!"

With that the shadow circled the hall and glided back towards where Kibitoshin and Fai were. Chuckling, the Doppelganger's black shape halted at the same spot where the Kaioshin stood and he gestured for the Replica to attack. "C'mon!" it taunted, "Try and hit me!"

The Replica gave out a beastly holler and dove in for the kill. He was so caught up in the illusion that he failed to wander why the shadow was gibing him to attack it in that part of the hallway. Sechs surged forward towards his target, axe posed to hit more than just air again.