#ede valley

[veryangryhedgehog]

“The Part Where Shit Hits the Fan,” An Ede Valley story by Hedgehog.

The crowd outside the gates of St. Adelaide’s was enormous. They clamored to get closer, and muttered amongst themselves. The police tried desperately to maintain order, but this crowd consisted of parents forcefully separated from their children. Nothing was going to contain this crowd.

By the time Cindy, Niko, Lila, and Servus had walked up the hill, the crowd was already so big that they couldn’t even see the gate. Marcell and Aurum had stayed behind to monitor them, and Cowell had fucked off to who-knew-where, but Tommy had insisted on coming, even if he wouldn’t be able to get inside. He stood directly behind Cindy and the others, watching for trouble.

“It’s gonna be okay,” he whispered, clutching her shoulder.

“I’m pretty sure that you’re more scared than I am,” she chuckled. “It will be okay. Whatever happens happens.”

He shook his head. “If you had any perspective you would be scared. So I have to be terrified for both of us.”

“I might not be scared, but I am worried about Mike,” she frowned. “I don’t think he’s dead. I’m pretty sure we would both feel it if that was the case, but something is very strange about this whole situation.”

Tommy nodded, once “I agree.”

Just then, there was movement towards the front of the crowd. People were backing up as the gate slowly opened. Cindy strained, but she was too short to see anything.

“Here, get on my shoulders,” Tommy instructed.

“Can you carry me?” Cindy asked, incredulous.

He raised a single eyebrow. “I’ve carried more than you before.”

Cindy wondered just what he meant by that as, with a little strain, he managed to lift her over the crowd, and as soon as she got her bearings, Cindy gasped.

“What’s going on up there?” Niko turned to her.

“It’s…” Cindy almost couldn’t describe it. “There’s… six kids, the one with the crazy-colored hair seems to be the leader, but… one of them has some kind of remote control. There’s… I guess drones. They’ve… they’ve got guns.”

“Where the hell did they get those from?” Lila cursed, gripping her sword tighter.

“They’re pointing them at… oh god, the students are hostages.” Cindy gasped. All of the others, even Servus, stared up at her in rapt attention. “Okay, it looks like they’re keeping their word, the students are stepping forward. No, wait.”

Just then a loud voice rang over the hillside, scratchy from what sounded like a megaphone. “People of Ede Valley,” the voice was young, female. “We of St. Adelaide’s have come to parlay with you.

The volume of the crowd increased by another notch. There was nothing on the news about that.

“Who will speak for you?” The girl with the multi-colored hair asked. That must have been Jilli Nakajima, the one the news maintained was responsible for this whole mess.

There was hesitation for a moment. “What’s happening…” Niko reminded as Cindy had fallen silent.

“Oh, sorry,” she blinked. “Um… the police chief’s stepping forward.”

He was a large man with an even larger mustache. “I will,” he offered gruffly.

“We mean your children, and you, no harm. And we will give them back to you. All we want is to live here in peace. So our demands are as follows: No adults will attempt to enter St. Adelaide’s or contact us in any way, no other action will be taken against us, and a supply of food and other necessities will be provided for us once a week.”

Only silence met her for a moment as the police chief considered. “I’ll make sure it happens. Now give us the students.”

“Half of them will go now,” she said, “and the other half will follow after our first supply.”

The crowd’s voices rose, half in rage and half in relief, as a group of the students stepped through the gates and into their parents’ arms, while the other half were held back, the drones flying in front of the gate, the massive machine guns glittering menacingly.

“What about my daughter?” A woman towards the front asked. “I don’t even see her!” she seemed near panicked.

“If she’s not here,” Jilli replied, “then she has elected to remain at this school and is under our protection.”

The noise from the crowd was deafening. They clamored forward as the gates began to close.

“It’s time,” Niko nodded, cupping a hand around his mouth, the same hand upon which Cindy had drawn a sigil made from honey and lemon seeds. “What about Mike Miller?”

The crowd quieted as his voice boomed over the hill, amplified even more than Jilli’s had been.

Cindy watched Jilli turn in her direction, vague recognition on her face. She knew Mike. She knew something.

“Who are you?” she asked. “Step forward.”

Tommy let Cindy down and the crowd parted to let the five of them through. Now that they were closer, Cindy could see the other kids around Jilli more clearly. There were three boys: the one with the remote control, tall and broad-shouldered but extremely awkward; a goth kid with pale skin and a long coat; and a guy with inexplicably mussed, white hair. Between them were two more girls, a small, dark-haired girl with glasses and a blonde girl with a slightly absent look on her face.

“My name is Cindy Miller, and this is Tommy. Mike is our brother.”

The white-haired boy’s eyes widened. “You’re Mike’s sister?”

“Yes!” she said. “Do you know him?”

The boy opened his mouth, but Jilli shot him a look. “Later, Doug.” He closed it again. The other kids looked around nervously, all except the blonde girl, who seemed to be staring at Niko.

“And who are the others with you?” Jilli asked.

Cindy hesitated for a second. “These are our friends: Servus, Lila, and Niko.”

The blonde girl’s eyes widened. “Niko?” she asked. “Nikolai Borozov?”

He tilted his head in recognition. “Sonia?”

“You know her?” Cindy blinked.

“She’s my cousin.”

“The truth about Mike is—” Jilli hesitated, looking at the crowd behind them. “You’d better come in.”

All five began to step forward, but Jilli held up her hand.

“Wait,” she pointed at Tommy. “Not you.”

“What?” Tommy asked. “Why?” Even though he already knew the answer.

“Because you’re clearly an adult,” Jilli said simply. “If we let one adult in, then we risk destroying the peace we’ve created. The rest of you are under eighteen, right?”

They nodded hastily.

“But he’s my brother!”

“I’ve never heard him mention you,” Jilli shrugged. “Sorry.”

Tommy slumped, but of course she was right. Mike had been not much older than a baby when he’d run away. There was no way he’d remember him other than what Cindy or their mother had mentioned in passing. He stepped back as the others hurried through the gate, which nearly closed on them.

“Cindy!” he called. “Be careful!”

She waved. “I will.”

Beyond the gate, the grounds of St. Adelaide’s were pure white from snow, and the buildings seemed to loom out of the fog like old monuments. Cindy shuddered. An air of gloom and paranoia seemed to hang over this place, like it was holding its breath, just waiting.

Niko talked quietly with Sonia near the back, while Cindy followed the others, Servus trailing behind her. She knew that Aurum was no doubt watching her through him, and that Lucius was right next to her. That made her feel a little better.

She had to admit now that she was walking directly behind Jilli Nakajima, she’d expected her to be taller. Not that she was short by any means, she stood a little taller than Cindy herself, though her hair could have made up for that discrepancy. But she seemed so commanding, so larger than life that it was a little disconcerting to not be looking up at her.

After a minute, they came to a large, looming building with the word “Bloch” on a plaque besides the door, and Jilli and the others entered. Niko glanced over to Cindy. She nodded, and they followed them inside.

“We’ll go to the cafeteria,” Jilli said, looking around nervously.

Cindy wondered what all the secrecy was about.

The other girl that Cindy didn’t know approached Jilli. “You’ve got this pretty much in hand, right?”

Immediately, Cindy developed a bad taste in her mouth. There was something about this girl that made her skin crawl. She seemed a little too happy for this situation.

After Jilli nodded, the girl skulked off in another direction. “I’ll be heading back to the library then. Pleasure to meet you all.”

Cindy and the others continued onto the cafeteria. But Servus stopped walking suddenly. No one seemed to notice.

~~ o ~~

Less than a mile away, Marcell and Aurum sat in the library, the atmosphere tense, quiet. Aurum spoke in a clipped, melodic manner, informing Marcell of everything that was happening. “They’re going to the cafeteria now. Wait, one of them’s splitting off, to go to the library.”

“And Cind—”

“For the fifth time, yes Lucius, Cindy is perfectly fine.” There was another moment of silence. But then Aurum suddenly froze, and straightened. Her hand shot out and gripped Marcell’s arm. “Lucius—” Her voice came out strained.

“Wha—?”

“It’s here,” she said simply.

Marcell leaned forward. “Where? What’s happening?”

“I don’t know,” she shook her head. “But I can feel it. Servus, follow the girl with the glasses.”

“One of the students?” Marcell asked. “How do you know she has anything to do with this?”

“A hunch…”

Her voice echoed, and she was still. The only movement was Marcell’s leg bouncing with impatience. Until Aurum opened her mouth again.

“I don’t think she’s going to the library.”

“Well, where is she going?”

“She’s in an office, turning off the lightswit—oh my. There’s… an elevator, behind the bookcase. It’s down there, wherever she’s going, Lucius, I know it!”

“Follow her!”

“You heard him, Servus. Take the next elevator after her.”

More waiting, more silence. This time a good few minutes passed before Aurum spoke again. “What is this?”

“I won’t know until you tell me,” Marcell was at the edge of his seat.

“It’s… this is… there’s been suffering here.”

“What?”

“Cells. All in a line down here. On both sides of the hallway. Most of them look empty. There’s… blood in some. A lot of blood.”

“Where’s the girl?”

“I don’t know—wait. She just left a cell. I think it’s bigger than the others, at the end of the hallway. She didn’t even bother locking the door. How odd. Servus, have a look ins—no.”

For a minute, all she did was shake her head back and forth.

“Aurum?” Marcell asked finally.

“I’ve found him,” she replied.

“Who?”

“The younger Miller. But he’s… oh no… I—”

“Aurum…”

“He’s… broken. So, so broken, Lucius. And empty. What has she done to this child? He’s… he’s staring at me. Oh god there’s… there’s nothing there I—wait. He’s looking past Servus, over his shoulder…”

She nearly screamed.

“What’s going on?” Marcell stood. “Aurum?”

Aurum fell out of her chair onto the floor, shaking.  

….

“It’s here.”

~~ o ~~

The cafeteria of St. Adelaide’s was rather looming, to say the least. Metal girders stretched above their heads, and all of the many tables seemed angled towards the stage on the far end of the room.

Lila looked twitchy and nervous in such a large space, and Cindy and Niko couldn’t help feeling the same. They’d been led into the belly of the beast now. If things went south, escape would prove difficult, maybe even deadly.

“Alright, we’re here,” Niko began.

“So where’s Mike?” Cindy added.

Jilli and the white-haired boy glanced at each other. “Mike is…”

“Mike is missing,” he finished for her.

“Doug!” she hissed. “You don’t know who could be watching.”

“Well, clearly whoever took him knows he’s missing,” he scoffed, rolling his eyes. “It’s not like it’s a big fucking secret.”

“Yes, but we don’t want her to know we’re…” she leaned in, “worried.”

Niko raised an eyebrow. “Her?” he asked.

All of the students looked uneasy, but Jilli nearly jumped at the word. “The Director,” she whispered. “She used to run the school, before we took it over. That’s when Mike went missing, the night we took back control. She got him, I know it. We never found her, you know. Her office was empty. She’s still around here somewhere, watching us. Anyone could be working for her.”

Cindy, Niko, and Lila glanced at each other. Jilli seemed to be a little…

“Jilli…” Doug frowned, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“She’s the one who took Mike, I’m sure of it. Well, it’s the only thing that makes sense, right? I was talking to Abby about this, and clearly if Mike isn’t with you and he isn’t with us, then he’s probably still somewhere in the school.”

Everyone was looking at her, and leaning away. She didn’t seem to notice.  

Niko turned to Sonia. “Is she… okay?”

“I don’t know,” she shook her head. “Ever since she had a session with the Director, she’s been becoming more, um…”

“Unstable?” came a voice from behind them, which turned out belonged to the tall boy with the strange eyes. “Paranoid?”

“I maybe wouldn’t say that, Gil,” she cringed.

“It is, however, the truth.”

Meanwhile, Cindy was getting antsy. “Alright,” she said to Jilli. “If you think he’s somewhere in the school, then why don’t we all go look for him? A fresh set of eyes might be just what you need—”

“No!” Jilli said, a little too quickly. “That’s not a good idea.”

Doug shook his head. “Why not, Jil? She’s right, you know.”

“Because, Doug, we don’t want anyone else to go missing. Abby said—”

“Oh, you and Abigail!” He threw up his hands. “You should really stop talking to her, you know. I think she’s starting to fuck with your head.”

“You only say that because you don’t like her! You’ve never liked her!”

“And you can’t see why that might be? How she’s manipulating you?”

“How do I know you’re not manipulating me?”

Cindy, Niko, and Lila were beginning to back away. What kind of situation had they gotten themselves into? But just then, behind them, the doors to the cafeteria burst victoriously open, and Abigail rushed through, followed by a group of curious students. Behind her, she drug Servus in by the hair. He almost seemed a little dazed.

Cindy and Niko stared at each other in horror. Why had neither of them watched Servus? How had he even gone off on his own? Aurum?

“Guess what, Jilli?” Abigail grinned broadly. “It looks like your hunch was right. I found this one snooping around the Director’s office.”

“Spies,” Jilli’s face twisted in anger. “You’re here to take out freedom, aren’t you?”

“What?” Niko frowned. “Why the hell would we wanna do that?”

But already a muttering mob of students were beginning to form around them. These were not the scared, cowed students waiting by the gate. There were the ones that stayed.

“Alright everyone!” Jilli called to the crowd. “What do you think we should do with the spies?” The two drones that had been humming quietly in the background buzzed over their heads.

“Wait!” someone said, and a second later Sonia pushed her way through the crowd. “This doesn’t make any sense. Why would Niko, or Cindy, come to hurt their own families?”

“Sonia…” Gil asked quietly. “What are you doing?” But was ignored.

“Well…” Jilli said, grasping for an answer. “Maybe they’re… not actually who they say they are!”

Sonia looked up at her in disbelief. She almost seemed to have some sort of halo around her in that moment, and she paused, as if listening to something. “That is most ridiculous excuse!” she said finally. “I know what my own cousin looks like, and do not tell me you cannot see resemblance between Cindy and Mike. And boy from outside, for that matter.”

“That’s…” Jilli blinked, the other students following suit.

But then Abigail cut in. “How do we know you’re not working with them? You could say whatever you like but you could just be lying.”

“Of course!” Jilli’s eyes widened. “A man on the inside. An agent of the Director disguised as one of us. Watching me, reporting back to Her. It makes perfect sense!”

“What?” Sonia exclaimed in disbelief. “Jilli, you can hear yourself, da?”

“Jilli, what are you doing?” Doug asked. Yet even as he put his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him, they could see that there would be no consoling her. She was now shaking violently, and pulled away from him. “A-anyone could be working for her!”

“Now hold on a second, we’re jumping to an awful lot of conclusions here.” Niko held up his hands. “Why don’t we all just calm down and talk this—”

“Don’t tell me to be calm!” Jilli shrieked. “You’re just trying to confuse me!” She looked around at all of them, trying to find a face she could trust. Finally, her gaze fell on Abigail. “Abby, do something!”

The next few seconds happened so suddenly that there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Abigail simply snapped her fingers. “Gil,” she commanded, pointing at the group in the middle, and then, when he hesitated: “Remember our deal. Disable him.”

Lila made to step between them, and Sonia cried out: “Gil, wait!” But before anyone could do anything, Gil seemed to flashstep directly in front of Niko, and put his palm directly against his right eye.

Niko screamed.

He doubled over, clutching his eye. They couldn’t stay here. If they did, they were going to be killed. Or worse. Niko might have been able to plan, but Cindy could react.

Taking care to avoid singeing any of the students, she cast a blast of fire into the air. The students scattered at the sight, and one of the drones that had gotten caught in the flame sparked and fell.

“Run!” Cindy yelled.

With a flash, Lila’s katana was out. “Grab Niko,” she told Sonia, “I’ll cover you.”

The girl did what she was told, hoisting one of Niko’s arms over her shoulders.

“Victor!” Abigail shouted, and with a loud click the air suddenly became filled with buzzing machines of all sorts.

Holding her hands out to threaten another blast, Cindy led the five of them out of the cafeteria. Behind them was the vicious scrape of metal on metal as Lila slashed at the various machines intent on killing them.

They hesitated very briefly in the hallway as it split down three paths . Cindy turned to Sonia, still supporting a groaning Niko. “Is there any way out of here that doesn’t involve us scaling an electric fence?”

“Ahhh…”

“Soon, please.”

“Oh! But is very stinky.”

Lila grunted as a saw blade barely missed her shoulder. “We’re not picky.”

“It’s garbage! This way!” She shot down the hall, nearly dragging Niko behind her, who this whole time had been cursing profusely under his breath. Cindy, Servus, and Lila followed behind.

Every few yards Cindy sent another gout of flame behind them, to prevent the machine army from getting too close. But she knew the amulet, even though made of much better material than the last one, wouldn’t last much longer. The stone was growing hot against her collar.

“Nearly there!” Sonia called, only to turn a corner and be cut off by a converted kitchen mixer, several sharp blades spinning where the mixer part should be with a deafening whirr.

Jumping forward, Lila found the place where the blades had been hastily soldered on and sliced. They flew clean off the base, rendering the contraption useless. They pushed past it, and to a large set of metal doors, barred shut by a metal chain.

Cindy stepped forward, placing her hand against the padlock in the center. She focused all the remaining power from the amulet on the metal and a moment later, the heat melted the metal just enough to disengage the lock. Violently, she kicked the chain away and shoved the doors open.

The five stumbled inside, and slammed the doors shut behind them.

“Servus, hold the door,” Cindy commanded, while Sonia and Lila laid Niko out on a metal table. For a minute, Servus did nothing, just stood there and blinked, almost confused. What was wrong with him? “Servus!” she shouted again, and the automaton blinked and seemed to shake himself before running over to the doors and holding them closed.

The room smelled like rotting food, but they couldn’t be picky. “Garbage shute is there,” Sonia pointed to a small hatch in the wall just barely big enough for a person.

But Lila shook her head. “We won’t get very far with Niko like this.”

He had begun writhing now, nearly off the table, clawing desperately at his eye. The pain seemed to be getting worse.

“Niko…” Lila mumbled, brushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes. “Let me see.” He allowed her to move his hand away, and the three girls gasped. His eye itself was pulsing, bulging out of its socket. Blood poured out of the open veins, dying the whole eye bright red.

“That guy’s gotta have magic of some kind.” Cindy shook her head. “This shouldn’t be possible.”

“I don’t understand why Gil would do this, or how.” Sonia grimaced, her own eyes wet with tears. “It makes no sense.”

“You heard the crazy owl-eye bitch,” Cindy replied immediately. “Clearly she’s got something he wants badly enough to do her dirty work.”

The door rattled then, Servus’ mechanical arms straining. Lila took a deep breath and jumped up on the table, holding Niko in place between her legs. “None of that matters. Cindy, is there any likely cure for this?”

“I don’t even know what it is, let alone a cure.”

Nodding grimly, Lila gripped her katana. Niko glanced up at her, and something silent passed between them. “Do it, Lila,” he coughed out. “Do it or leave me.”

“Wait!” Sonia’s eyes widened. “What are you—?”

But she broke off as, without hesitation, Lila raised the katana above Niko’s head and brought it down directly on his eye with a horrifying squelch. He screamed, and the sound itself nearly caused the sword to slip from Lila’s hand. But she steadied herself and pulled it out again, taking what remained of his eye with it.

“Fuck!” Niko shouted. “Fuuuuccckkk!”

Yet after a second he quieted. The pain seemed to have left with the eye. He gasped and lie back again on the table, face soaked with sweat and blood.

There would be no moment of calm, however, for just then, the door burst off its hinges and an army of cold, shining metal descended upon them with a tremendous buzz.

“Down the chute!” Cindy shouted over the cacophony. She and Sonia grabbed Niko, who was still far too shaky to walk on his own.

Sonia disappeared into the darkness, followed by Servus close behind. But before Cindy could shove Niko down after them, the machines were upon them. Swarming, cutting, Cindy couldn’t see what was in front of her face. And with the remaining power of the amulet gone, she was next to useless. They would never get out like this.

Until with a great sweeping motion Lila momentarily cleared a path with her sword towards them. She screamed, destroying machine limbs and carapaces in a hail of sparks. But there were still too many. They could see where they were trying to go and made to block the entrance. But Lila couldn’t see too well, blood from the gash on her forehead began to trickle into her eyes.

And it was with a sinking feeling, as she saw Cindy attempt to swat the machines away, Niko under one arm, that she realized that there was no way all of them were going to make it out alive. At this rate, none of them were. But if she could draw them away rom the chute, if only for just a moment, then, maybe…

Niko cried out as a saw blade cut through the front of his shirt. “No!” Lila screamed, diving forward. Even if they did somehow get past them, the machines would no doubt just follow them down. “Get him out of here!” she shouted to Cindy over the hum of the machines. “I’ll buy you some time.”

“Lila, no!” Niko’s eye widened.

“Please.”

Cindy hesitated, then nodded solemnly.

Lila ran her hand along Niko’s cheek. “Goodbye young mas—no. Goodbye, Niko.”

“Lila! No, don’t go! Please!”

She turned away. If she looked at him a moment longer it would all be over.

“Lila!!!!!!”

Her sword flashed in the rays of the machines’ blinking lights. Without a word, she jumped into the heart of the swarm, slashing and twisting. The world shrunk to just her and her blade. She needed to last as long as she could. For Niko.

She bit her lip as she mistepped and a drill screwed into her arm. Back and forth, keep moving, keep going. But all the while they were hitting back. Face, arms, legs, the ground ran red. She coughed, and her mouth tasted of iron. Just a little longer, almost there.

She screamed into the mass, a violent, last war cry. And then, finally, she let the swarm consume her.

[penciltipworkshop]

Mike Miller, from Ede Valley, updated character design. 

New yellow lightbulb symbol hoodie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waVcO73fhoc

[veryangryhedgehog]

“The Product of Sacrifice,” an Ede Valley story by Hedgehog.

Buttercup lay on the cot in the cell, pretending to sleep. Though her heart had been nervously thumping in her chest for hours, she tried to remain realistic. What were the real odds of escape, that the Doctor had come up with a viable plan to get her out of here? Next to none. The man was intelligent, but emotional. Clearly, Buttercup reminded him of his daughter.

It was depressing how easy people had become to read, like the world around her had morphed into a bad soap opera. Nothing was hidden from her view. Would it be any better outside? That was the one thing Buttercup couldn’t deduce.

The seconds ticked away as she lay there in the dark, wondering when the Doctor would come, if he would come at all. Then, distantly, she heard it: a heartbeat. Fast, panicked, and coming down the hall towards her cage.

She didn’t dare move a muscle. If they sensed and movement from her, any intention of escape, there would be consequences. Even when he opened the door, she stayed perfectly still.

“I’ve disabled the cameras,” he whispered, and only then did she sit up and snap the chains that held her down on the bed, easy as breaking a toothpick. The Doctor gulped at the sight. “But we have to hurry,” he continued, “They won’t be down for long.”

He threw her a bag, filled with clothes. “P-put these on,” he said, turning his back. “They’re my daughter’s. You’ll be a lot less recognizable with real clothes on.”

It was true that the grey prison shift she had worn for god knew how long stood out quite a bit. Without hesitation, she pulled it over her head and began to dress. The underwear was scratchy—it’d been so long since she’d been allowed to wear any—and the shirt was covered in flowers that hurt the eyes.

The Doctor turned back around, and smiled, bemused at the obvious reaction. “She’s refused to wear that shirt,” he admitted. “Says it’s too ‘kiddish’. I try but I don’t really know what nine-year-old girls want to wear.”

He was the one buying clothes for his daughter. That meant she probably didn’t have a mother to do so instead, Buttercup inferred immediately. She wanted to ask about it, but this wasn’t the moment to pry.

“Oh, your hair.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out two hair ties. She took them, and tied her hair into two small pigtails.

“So the plan is just to walk out of here?”

He nodded.

“That’s surprisingly clever,” she offered. “Though it still probably won’t work.”

“W-what makes you say that?” he seemed concerned.

“Pessimism mostly.”

It was a lie, but it seemed to make him feel better.

“A-are you ready?” he asked. He clearly wasn’t, but she didn’t mention it. Buttercup simply nodded, and allowed him to open the door.

The Doctor nearly froze up, but when no alarms sounded he seemed to calm, and began to walk forward. Buttercup held his hand and together they walked down the bright, sterile white hallway together.

For a minute, everything went according to plan. They walked achingly slow down the hallway, while Buttercup listened for the hum of the closest elevator. It was close, just at the end of the hall, right around the corner. But at the pace they were going, it would take an eternity to reach it.

They were nearly halfway there when a woman in a lab coat turned the corner ahead of them and headed their way.

“Dr. Hodge,” the woman smiled and waved. “Good evening.:

But Buttercup tensed. She knew that voice. It was the woman that spoke to her over the intercom. But if she knew the woman, that meant that the woman also knew her.

Buttercup buried her face in the Doctor’s side, trying to appear childlike with the added bonus of hiding her face.

“Is this your daughter?” the woman asked, far too close for comfort.

“Uh… yes,” the Doctor stuttered. “Her nanny was sick so I had to take her in with me.”

“That’s a shame,” Buttercup could hear the woman shake her head before leaning over to address her. “Abigail, right?” she asked, but Buttercup dare not respond.

The Doctor’s hand had become sweaty. “She’s a little shy…”

But this woman was pushy. “it’s alright, dear,” she said, grabbing Buttercup’s free arm. “I’m a friend of your dad’s…” then, she pulled. Buttercup was trapped. If she resisted, the woman would know she was far too strong for a child her age, but if she saw her face…

Buttercup let herself be pulled, hoping against hope that somehow the woman wouldn’t recognize her. But of course, the instant she saw her face, the woman straightened in surprise.

“You…” she managed.

“Run!” Buttercup commanded, and she and the Doctor took off towards the elevator.

“Security!” The woman screamed, and Buttercup winced. The Doctor was slowing her down. Without him, she would be at the elevator right now. But she couldn’t leave him behind. He was an accomplice now. If they caught him… Buttercup didn’t want to think about what they would do.

Two security guards had already fallen in behind them as they turned the corner. Ahead, there was one more, but he had been sleeping, for he blinked blearily and looked at the incoming cacophony in confusion.

Buttercup briefly let go of the Doctor’s hand. Using the wall as a spring, she flew through the air and landed a roundhouse kick to the man’s jaw before he even knew what was happening. He fell to the ground, the second after the sickening crack reverberated through Buttercup’s leg. Without missing a beat, she grabbed the Doctor’s hand again and they ran into the elevator.

“What are you doing?” The Doctor asked as Buttercup hit the button for the second top floor.

“They’ll be waiting for us at the top,” she explained. “So we’ll go to the second floor and sneak right past—”

But just then the door opened and the words died in her mouth. Because for the first time since becoming a Paragon, Buttercup had made a mistake, the only one she was capable of: she had underestimated the enemy.

Twenty guards stood directly outside the elevator, pistols pointed directly at them. Buttercup raised her hands in surrender, but her heart dropped as she heard the click of twenty safeties removed. They weren’t going to give them a chance.

“No!” she shouted, trying to throw herself in front of the Doctor. But he small body was never going to be an adequate shield.

Even before she hit the ground, her own torso littered with bullets, she knew that he was dead, the absence of his brainwaves was deafening.

~~ o ~~

“I’d like to go over the events of three nights ago again for the record,” the woman in the lab coat sat across the metal table from Buttercup, who couldn’t help noticing the slight redness around her eyes, from tears or lack of sleep she couldn’t place. Possibly both. Why did I scream, I didn’t think they would kill him, this one was particularly easy to read. “Specifically in regards to the involvement of Dr. Aaron Hodge.”

Buttercup took a deep breath. She knew what she had to say. “I used him,” she stated. “As soon as I caught wind of his sympathies towards me, I immediately began work on strengthening them. I reminded him of his daughter, it was child’s play.”

The woman’s face hardened. Yes, that was good. Hate Buttercup. They already did anyway.

“After that, it was an easy task to swipe the keycard from his pocket and escape my cell. I took the Doctor hostage in order to blend in. Unfortunately, the guards called my bluff and killed him.”

A pause. She didn’t want to say this part.

“He was slowing me down anyway.”

The woman narrowed her eyes, a curious expression there. “That will be all,” she said, and stopped the recorder in between them. Then, not wasting a second, she leaned forward and said. “If that’s true, then why did you try to save him?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You could have avoided getting shot easily, taken out all of those guards, and escaped without so much as anyone else hearing a sound. And yet, you jumped in front of Aaron instead. Why?”

Buttercup watched her carefully. “Is it so hard to believe that I still have a modicum of human decency?”

Though she opened her mouth, the woman quickly closed it again. She nodded, just once, and stood, making to leave.

“Tell them what I told you,” Buttercup looked downwards. “Please.”

The woman paused.

“There’s a little girl out there named Abigail who’s now all alone in the world. It would be much better for her to go through the rest of her life believing her father was a hero.”

………..

“I will.”

[veryangryhedgehog]

“The Man Who died Twice,” An Ede Valley story by Hedgehog.

The Man who died Twice

(Just in this one Scene)

Ace didn’t know what he was doing in a suburb like Ede Valley. He was used to the hustle and bustle—and general violence and mayhem—of the city. Back there, he was somebody; he’d started from nothing, built his livelihood, his business. People scattered when they saw him approach.

That was true here as well, but he didn’t get quite the same high from soccer moms trundling little Timmy away from the strange man with the funny sunglasses.

Yep, he certainly missed the city, but he’d be back there soon enough, just as soon as he got this whole “deal” mess sorted out. He didn’t know why he was coming here now of all times. His business was booming, the world was in the palm of his hand. Maybe that was exactly why: he’d done everything he’d set out to do. It was time to reclaim his collateral.

Of course, that hadn’t been the terms of the original agreement, but did Ace look like he gave a flying fuck about the fine print?

Actually, don’t answer that. You don’t even know what Ace looks like. Yet.

See him here now, in his dark suit and omnipresent mirrored sunglasses, sitting at the counter of a smoky, quiet British pub. He could tell that this was a suburb because even here, in the shadiest part of town, people merely snuck glances at him over their pints and muttered to each other.

The bartender, he noticed, was new, a young kid with near-dreads and a frankly ludicrous number of tattoos. Probably one of those new-age hipsters or something. He sincerely hoped the pub hadn’t changed hands. But considering that from the neon sign to the dark interior, it for all intents and purposes appeared that no time had passed since he’d last stepped foot through that door all those years ago, he sincerely doubted that was the case.

“Hey, kid,” he called to the bartender, who was currently taking stock of the fine liquor selection displayed with an unmatched flair behind the bar.

The kid looked up. “Can I get you another?”

He swore, kids these days just had no manners. “That’s ‘can I get you another, sir’ and no. I’m here to speak to your boss. Probably.”

Sighing, the kid didn’t move. “Seems like everyone is. He’s in the back with a… client right now. You’ll have to wait a minute… sir.”

The kid had some spunk, Ace had to admit. It was truly difficult to fit that much sarcasm in one syllable. He made a note to himself to tip the cheeky brat later.

Ace was just about to order another drink while he waited, when with that unnaturally uncanny timing of his, the owner of The Smiling Goat strode through the back curtain, directly after a pale man in a truly fugly sweater vest.

“I’m sorry, Marcell,” Cowell was saying, “but for all your years and power there’s nothing you can do for either of them. Inconvenient as it is, both little miss Sabrina and the scary dragon lady made their deals fair and square.”

The pale man took a deep, clenched breath, briefly revealing unnaturally white teeth. “You know, Cowell, someday you’re gonna get exactly what’s coming to you.”

“And lucky you will no doubt still be around to witness the glorious event first hand.” Cowell grinned as the pale man nearly growled. “Now if you’ll excuse me, unless you’d like to stick around and have a pint, it appears I have other business to attend to.”

He gestured the pale man out onto the street and turned back to the bar. He blinked once, as his owl-like eyes fell on Ace, and shook his head. “Ace, is that you? My god, it must be… bloody years since I’ve seen you last.”

“I’d hoped it was the last,” Ace stood and shook Cowell’s hand. Slimy stick of a man though he was, Cowell had a firm handshake. Ace had to respect that.

“Doesn’t everyone,” Cowell recovered effortlessly. “Now, if you’ll just follow me to my office we can—”

But he didn’t get a chance to finish, for just then the door was kicked open, and the pub went silent. Ace instinctively reached for the gun under his jacket as he saw several vaguely familiar faces enter the dark bar. For a second, however, he thought he must be dreaming, because he never thought in a million years that he would see this assortment of faces together. Half of them were the pinched, Italian faces of the Mirelli’s, and half were the pasty, Russian faces of the Borozovs.

“What in the ever-loving fuck…” Ace began.

“I agree!” Cowell cut in. “Why on earth would anyone kick in that door? I had to pay a specialist to get it to stick like that.”

“N-no, that’s not…” Ace shook his head. “Never mind. This might be my fault. These chucklefucks clearly tailed me.”

The four men stepped through the doorway, and still with the utmost calm, Cowell motioned for the patrons to leave. The men let them go. Clearly they wanted to handle whatever it was they were here for quietly.

“Hands where I can see ‘em,” said the short one, waving a pistol nonchalantly through the air. Cowell and the bartender stuck their hands up, the latter looking slightly on edge, and after gesturing to the tall one to watch them, the short one turned to Ace.

“You really didn’t think we wouldn’t catch onto you playing both of us?” he asked. “We’re not stupid. Once we all realized you’d been uh… consortin’ with our greatest enemy, well, loyalties run deep, so now you’s gotta die.”

Ace rolled his eyes. “Look like it matters to me? Go on, do it. I dare you.”

The short one looked a little unnerved, but thinking he’d called his bluff, straightened up again, and fired. Once, twice—always doubletap—and Ace fell to the floor with a small thump.

All present looked at his corpse for a second, including Ace himself, from over the short one’s shoulder. He would say that he hated dying, but usually he was already gone before the pain really hit. That didn’t mean he wasn’t still absolutely pissed.

“That… was a really nice suit.” All four of the men turned towards him with looks of abject horror on their faces. A gentleman might have given them a few seconds to react, but Ace was no gentleman. He punched the short one right in the face, and all hell broke loose.

Even with his ability to not die backing him up, Ace was no slouch at hand-to-hand combat. The short one was nearly down after that one punch, and the butt of Ace’s gun against his forehead knocked him out of the fight for good.

By then, the three others had recovered from their surprise and had begun to advance on him, guns gleaming in the dim lamplight. But Ace was ready for them.

“What do we do?” the bartender kid turned to Cowell, who merely looked vaguely amused at the scene. Just then, a bullet zinged directly over their heads and hit the old wood crossbeam.

“This, Tommy, is the part where we duck behind the bar to minimize the risk of a bullet ricocheting and hitting us.” When the kid looked about ready to resist, Cowell simply grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him down with him. “You see, I could easily come back from something as simple as a bullet, but you on the other hand,” he made a hissing sound between his teeth,” not so much. And I’d not like to see your rather pretty face marred by blood today.”

The kid blushed slightly, and opened his mouth to comment on this, but was interrupted by a body being dragged across the bar directly over their heads, bits of broken glass from smashed pints rained down on them.

“Ooo, I’m going to have to replace those,” Cowell muttered.

“Sorry about the mess,” Ace shouted over the sound of someone’s jaw breaking. “I’m trying to minimize the damage but you know how these things go.”

“Well, you’re trying your best, and that’s all that matters.”

The last man standing, one of the Russians, ran at Ace with a pool cue he’d found lying around, but Ace shot him clear through the forehead before he ever reached him. He barely even had to look.

When all was said and done, there were six bodies on the ground. Two of them were Ace. After tapping them lightly to make sure none of them were getting up anytime soon, he sat back down at the bar and wrapped on the counter. “Hey kid, how about that drink?”

The kid and Cowell appeared from behind the bar, and after a second of taking in the scene, the kid blinked and mumbled, “Um, yeah, sure.”

Miraculously, the liquor display had not been harmed in the slightest.

“So, why are you really here, Ace?” Cowell leaned against the bar. “I hope it wasn’t just to trash the place.”

“I think you know what I came for,” Ace sighed wearily, and took a hard swig from the bottle of whiskey that the kid had just passed him. “My deal.”

It was clear that Cowell already knew the answer, but he asked anyway. “What about it?”

“You know, all those years ago, I thought I had outfoxed you. Hell, you gave me the ability to not die for nothing in return.” He stared off into nothing for a minute. “But I misunderstood, didn’t I?”

“They always do,” Cowell grinned a little, pleased with himself.

Ace continued as if he hadn’t heard him. “But it wasn’t for free, was it? Cuz while you gave me the ability to not die, that also means… that I can’t die.”

“You’re lucky,” Cowell said. “Most people don’t live long enough to realize what their deals truly mean.” He straightened up abruptly. “So, good for you, well done, a pat on the back, nice to see you.”

“Is that it?” Ace asked. “I was just hopin that since I’d figured it out, you know, learned my lesson and all, that you could…”

“Remove it? No can do, I’m afraid,” Cowell chuckled beginning to turn away.

“You mean you won’t do it?”

“Not won’t, can’t,” Cowell shrugged. “Once a deal is made nothing can be done.”

Frowning, Ace processed this for a second. He gazed down at the bottle in front of him. “Then make a new deal with me.” He gazed, stony-eyed, behind his sunglasses. “I’ll give you my ability to not die, and in exchange, you allow me to die.”

Cowell opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He did it again. Finally he frowned. “That… is a loophole that I had not considered. I sincerely hope no one else finds out about this.” He turned back to Ace. “Normally, I wouldn’t allow it. But I like you, and you’ve provided me with entertainment for the afternoon, so I’ll allow it just this one time.”

They sealed the deal with a firm handshake, and that was that. Ace took one last swig from the bottle, stood, and put a twenty on the counter. “That’s for the kid,” he glared pointedly at Cowell.

The daemon waved pleasantly as Ace made for the now broken door. “See you around.”

“No offence,” Ace paused, “but I certainly hope not.”

He walked out onto the sunny street and blinked for a second, even with the sunglasses. As he started walking, he happened to see a woman across the street, watching him. She had been watching him for years.

“Not yet,” he muttered and kept walking. There were still a few things he needed to take care of first. But once those were done, he’d be ready to step into her cold, loving embrace with open arms.

[veryangryhedgehog]

“Strength” an Ede Valley story by Hedgehog.

The sun was sitting low in the sky by the time Tommy and Cindy made it back to the wagon with Servus in tow, wielding a small video camera. Tommy had to admit that the automaton vaguely weirded him out. He looked for all intents and purposes like a fifteen-year-old boy—albeit one with an incredibly bizarre fashion sense—but he didn’t act, or even stand like it. He stood stock-straight, and stared directly ahead unless directly spoken to. Yet the shape of his eyes almost suggested sadness. Tommy wondered why anyone would design him like that.

But more worrying than that was this whole thing that Cindy had found herself involved in.

“So, let me get this straight,” he began on the walk over. “You let this older guy you’ve only known for a few months drag you into this crazy mess? And that’s not even mentioning the fact that he’s a two-thousand-year-old vampire and the ‘mess’ is this insane, centuries-old quest for ‘The Truth’?”

“Yes,” she said simply, not even pausing. “I know it seems strange, but I trust Lucius. I know things about him that most people don’t. Occasionally I even think I might understand him. And if I’m honest, I think I want to find the Truth just as much as he does, and as Aurum does.”

“Why?” Tommy asked. “You don’t even know what it is. It could be dangerous.”

Cindy just shook her head, laughing. “If it wasn’t dangerous, no one would want it. And you’re one to talk, Mr. ‘Lives-his-Life-in-Dangerous-Situations.’”

“Th-that’s different,” he sputtered.

“How so?”

“Well...”

There was a second’s pause as Tommy thought. Then he sighed.

“That’s what I thought,” Cindy stared off towards the setting sun. By then they had reached the abandoned lot, and the playground across the street seemed almost uncanny in its emptiness.

Servus lifted his video camera towards the wagon.

“Are you recording for Aurum?” Cindy asked, as Tommy leaned against the rounded side of the wagon and started whispering to it. Weirdo.

But she blinked when Servus shook his head. Before she could open her mouth to ask just what he was doing then, he hit the record button, and Cindy jumped as a voice came through the tiny speakers.

“Hello all! Can you hear me?”

“Aurum?”

“Yes, that would be me.”

Cindy grabbed the camera from Servus, looking at it from all angles. It was an old digital camera, there was no way it could transmit anything anywhere. “How are you doing this?”

“I’m seeing through the camera.”

Moving behind her, Tommy looked as well. “Yes, but how?”

“I’m... seeing through the camera,” they could hear her blinking in confusion.

“Okay...” Cindy began, “But—you know, never mind.”

Servus gave her a look, one that explicitly said to not question it that Cindy was surprised. But then he turned towards the wagon, holding out the shot for the camera, and the moment passed just as quickly as it had come. He began to inspect the vehicle, with Aurum chirping instructions through the camera, which Servus followed without question.

“And you have no control over where it takes you?” Aurum asked Tommy.

He shook his head. “Nope. She’s always taken us, uh, me, where she thought I needed to be.”

“Hmm. Fascinating.” They could hear her frown. “You speak as if it has a consciousness.”

“Sometimes I think she does.” Tommy patted the wagon’s side. “She’s always at the right place, at the right time.”

“May we have a look around inside?”

“Sure,” he nodded, leading the way into the dark interior. Cindy waited outside; there certainly wasn’t enough room in there for all of them.

She did have to admit, it was slightly uncanny that the wagon—Mathilda—had brought Tommy home now of all times. The last few months had been some of the strangest of her life. Bask in September, she’d had no friends, nothing to do, just... nothing. Now she was with her former history teacher, who was older than her by about two-thousand years, her long-gone brother was resurrected right before her eyes, and she had enough friends to count on one hand. Shut up, that was quite an achievement for her! Niko and Lila, Aurum, and maybe even Servus. They were a strange assortment to be sure, but they were her strange assortment. Now if Mike would just come home more often, her life would be damn near perfect.

The world was a strange place. Just as soon as she had given up on the worth of her own life, she’d been endowed with a purpose, and people to share it with.

Tommy emerged from Mathilda’s back door a second later. “They looked like they needed some space,” he grunted.

“I never told you why, did I?” Cindy spoke suddenly.

“Why what?”

“Why I’m searching for the Truth.”

Tommy looked at her expectantly, and she sighed, smiling.

“Because my friends want it. I can see it in their eyes. They’re all desperate for answers. And they helped me find mine, so I figured I could return the favor. Being a witch might actually be useful for once.”

“How... did you become a witch?” Tommy asked. “You never told me.”

Oh boy. She was going to need to sit down for this. Mathilda’s step looked inviting. “I killed someone. Obviously. It’s sort of the rule. You commit the ultimate sin, you get the ultimate powers. It was my chemistry teacher,” she blurted. “Accidentally. Kind of.”

“You what?”

“I had a C- and I had been too prideful to ask for help the whole semester. He wouldn’t let me do any extra credit so I just lost it and... smashed a vial of acid over his head.”

Tommy frowned. “That doesn’t sound like you at all.”

“You didn’t know me back then,” she smiled sadly. “I was about to panic, when a daemon appeared and offered me a deal: he’d give me the power to save myself, in exchange for my perspective. I agreed, he gave me a book, and vanished.”

“Wait a second,” Tommy interrupted. He paused, and Cindy could see him putting the pieces together. “Back at the pub, you knew Cowell. He wasn’t...” The words died as he looked over to Cindy.

“That son of a bitch.”

“It’s not that bad, really.”

“He took advantage of a terrified girl! I’ll get it back for you,” he promised. “I know where he keeps the things he takes.”

But Cindy shook her head. “Don’t bother,” she said. “I’ve gotten used to it. And besides, if I had my perspective, I wouldn’t be here with the people around me.”

“He’s still a sick bastard.”

“You’re getting really worked up over him,” Cindy noticed. “But honestly, I don’t think he is.”

“How can you say that?” Tommy’s fingernails dug into his palms as his fists clenched.

Cindy looked strange as she stared back at him. It was that same expression she’d had when she’d handed him his good-luck charm, all those years ago. “I think he knew.”

“Knew?”

“I think he took my perspective on purpose, so I could see what was really important.”

Tommy looked at his sister. After everything she’d been through, she looked strong. He was almost jealous. He wished he could be strong like that.

“And I think there’s another reason we’ve all been brought together like this: you and me, Lucius and Aurum, Niko and Lila.”

Tommy felt a sudden chill in the air.

“I think something’s going to happen. Any day now, I can feel it.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t. But whatever it is, I think we need to be ready.”

They didn’t know how right she was.

Somewhere close by, a broken girl was waiting for her revenge, a broken boy and all of her associates by her side. It was time. It was time.

Time for the world to come crumbling down.

[veryangryhedgehog]

“A Long Time Ago, In a Far Away Place”, an Ede Valley story by Hedgehog.

Gil was not Gil Trenton, though that was the mask he wore. He found it was easier that way. But he never lied to anyone, they just automatically thought that he was eccentric, or mad. It was probably for the best. It made it easier for him to do what he had to do. Better the loony bastard who thinks he’s a wizard than the weapon of mass-destruction that needs to be locked up.

And not, he’s not mad. That’s just what he wants you to think.

Gil Trenton was a fairly ordinary boy as far as boys are concerned. He liked to play and get dirty, his mum always fussed about taking a bath. He had an active imagination, always coming up with stories about wizards going on fantastic adventures and the like.

And then he died.

Well, maybe died wasn’t the right word exactly, subsumed was more accurate. It was painless, swift. The lad didn’t even know what was happening. He was still there somewhere, at least, little bits and pieces of him, in the back of Gil’s mind.

It had happened seven years ago. Gil Trenton’s father was an archaeologist, and with a team made up of five doctors from all different countries, he had unearthed something hitherto unheard of in antiquity. In fact, it was still unheard of because the archaeologists had sworn each other to secrecy until they could be sure of exactly “it” was.

That, of course, didn’t stop them from celebrating the find. They had commissioned a yacht on the coast near Blackpool for them and their families. And so, Gil’s mother and father and Gil had packed a bag each for the weekend and headed down to the coast.

They wouldn’t depart from the docks until sunset, and so the families were left to mingle for most of the day. Gil liked the family from Africa. They were very nice and smiled easily. But the Russians scared him. Or at least, the extended family. There seemed to be a large contingency of stern men in black suits. One of the children, a blond, smarmy-looking kid with a pinched face saw Gil staring and stuck out his tongue.

“Nikolai!” called a stern voice then, and the blond boy frowned and turned away.

“Don’t mind him,” came a heavily-accented voice from behind him. “Niko is pain in pants.”

Gil Trenton turned, and blinked once or twice. The girl before him looked like a fairy princess. She had long, blonde hair that flowed in the breeze, with blue eyes that mirrored the ocean in their depth.

“He is cousin,” she explained in broken english as Gil Trenton kept staring at her like a loon. “I am Sonia.”

“Sonia?” he repeated lamely.

“Da!” she nodded. “Sonia Borozovna. Father is arc... ar...”

“Archaeologist?” he finished for her. She nodded, and they both turned towards the Russians. In the middle, Gil Trenton’s father was laughing with a short, thin man with glasses.

Sonia turned back to him. “Your father?”

“Da, uh yes.”

“Is boring, the talking,” she pouted. Then, her eyes lit up. “Go looking?” Sonia pointed down the coast.

“You want yo-you want t-to-to go.... exploring? W-with me?”

She looked confused. “Ex... plore?”

“Um...” he tried to think of how to explain. “Um, fi-find-finding things, looking ar-looking around... uh, I g-guess.”

“Ex...plor...ing,” Sonia played with the word. “Da! We go!”

She took off down the docks, heading for the sandy beach that hugged the shore. “Wait!” Gil called, and had to run to keep up with her. He could barely string two words together he was so tongue-tied. Not that he could usually string two words together anyway.

After a minute he caught up with her, wheezing slightly, and pulled his inhaler out of his pocket. He sighed, taking a breath through it. Well, if Sonia had any doubt that he was a total dork, that would be thrown right out the window.

“Trouble breathing?” she asked, pantomime wheezing, to which he flushed and nodded. “Is bad,” she made a face.

“Sometimes.” He shrugged. “The s-s-sand doesn’t re-doesn’t really help.”

“We keep going?” she seemed concerned.

“Yeah,” he said. “I-I-I’m alright.”

They walked down the bank for a while in silence. It was peaceful here. The sand felt warm on his sandaled feet, and the waves rolled onto the beach lethargically. After a minute, Gil Trenton turned and saw that the people on the dock were now little more than specks on the horizon.

“M-maybe we sh-we should h-head back,” he managed to spit out.

“Soon,” she said. “Look first.” She smiled at him with that sun-shiny glow, then pointed a little ahead of them to a cave cut into the cliff-face. “We go in?”

He wanted to say that they should go back instead. There could be anything in that cave. It could be flooded, or collapse, or any number of things. But as he glanced at her face, Gil Trenton knew that he would not be able to say no. She seemed so excited and curious, and he didn’t want to see that glow leave her face.

“A-al... alright,” he sighed. “L-let’s g-let’s go s-see.”

Sonia laughed and ran a little ahead, before waiting for him to catch up. The mouth of the cave sat in front of them, smug like some beast who knows a mean is about to walk right in its mouth. Gil Trenton hesitated for a second. He had this strange feeling that he couldn’t quite place his finger on, like walking over his own grave.

But he followed Sonia into the cool and dark, and jumped at the plops of water from the ceiling. Sonia walked a little ways ahead of him, into the dark.

“W-wait!” he said. “We don-ww-we don’t have an-any light.”

“Light is ahead,” Sonia said. “Hurry up, silly.”

He hurried, finally catching up with her. Bus just as he did, there was a rumble above him. Gil Trenton nearly squeaked, and grabbed Sonia’s arm. “We sho-should, we should g-gggo back.”

“Oh, we will be okay,” Sonia waved him off.

“No-no really,” Gil said. “This cou-could be, this could be da-dangerous.”

At that moment, the whole cave began to rumble; small rocks fell on their heads. In a panic, Sonia ran one way, and Gil Trenton ran the other. He was knocked to the ground as a huge wall of stone fell between.

He couldn’t breathe. He wheezed, scrambling for his inhaler. After a puff or two he was able to sit up and call. “S-S-Sonia? Are you-are you alright?”

There was a brief moment of silence in which Gil Trenton feared the worst, but then there was a cough. “Am okay. You... you are stuck though.”

Looking around, it was true. Sonia was on the side that they had come, and he was where they had been going. Surprisingly enough, he felt calm. Eerily calm. “You said the-there was, there was light up a-ahead?”

“Da!”

“Stay there!” he called. “I-I’m gonna see if I-if I can find the-the-the way out.”

“You be okay?” she asked.

“I-I-I’ll be fine, I, uh, I think.”

He took another puff from the inhaler, and began walking. The cave seemed a lot bigger now that he was alone. But as he squinted in the darkness, he realized that Sonia was right, there was light up ahead. He began to run, despite his slight wheezing.

Then he entered a wide chamber and realized that the light was simply a hole in the ceiling, far too high to ever reach. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he almost turned around. But then his eyes fell to the middle of the chamber, and there, lodged firmly in the rock on the floor, was a sword.

Maybe it was his active imagination, maybe it was sheer curiosity. Whatever it was, Gil Trenton found himself pulled to that sword. He approached it warily, wondering just how it’d gotten there. It was large, and oddly black, it didn’t even shine in the light. His hand hovered an inch away, but he pulled it back as he heard something. Whispering. Was someone else here? He glanced back and forth, but there was no one there.

Yet he could only hesitate for a split second, because then his hand was drawn to the hilt of that blade like a magnet. Gil Trenton struggled with himself for a moment, only a moment, before his hand made contact.

There was a bright, blue light, and Gil was blown almost clear across the chamber.

He lay there, wheezing. His mind moved at a million miles a minute. He remembered. He remembered the darkness, the never-ending oblivion, there in the pitch black with Muirne and it. He remembered walking through a cave with a blonde girl. His sister begged him not to kill her, he reached for his inhaler.

Who was he?

Gil. 

Trenton?

The All-Knowing?

He clawed at the burning in his right eye as his mind nearly exploded.

And then, Gil Trenton dissolved. Gilveidan was stronger by far. There were still little bits of him left. Memories and thoughts crackles across the edge of him mind, leftover static. He shook his head, trying to clear it. It helped a little, but not entirely. Maybe it would never completely go away.

Gilveidan sat up, a little too quickly. What had happened? He’d been there, in the darkness, fighting for his sanity against the ultimate madness of the Truth, for so, so long. And then he’d seen something, a boy reaching out his hand, and he’d teared through the blackness, grabbed the hand and pulled.

And now he was here. He looked down at his hands. Those were not his hands. They were small, and young. The boy’s hands. Gil Trenton, his name had been Gil Trenton.

But wait a moment. He stood up, wheezing a little. This body was weak, so fragile. That didn’t matter. Where was Muirne? If he had escaped, then she should be here as well.

“Gil?” asked a voice from behind him. “What was noise?” That’s right, the Russian girl, Sonia. He was surprised to find himself aware of what a Russian was, though he’d never heard of such a thing before.

As if in response to her voice, a bluish mist began to rise from the sword. Muirne. Gilveidan nodded. As this boy, this Gil Trenton could act as a vessel in which he could reside, so too was that girl for Muirne. He needed to get to her, and quickly, for behind the blue mist something darker was rising, something was coming.

Gilveidan began to run back down the tunnel, hoping to lead Muirne back to the girl before the Truth overtook him. But this body was sickly, and small. Given time, he could probably cure the deficiency in its lungs, but time was a thing he didn’t currently possess. One question remained that could make or break his escape: could this body use magic?

He closed his eyes, focusing on the fallen wall of rock that was fast approaching in his mind, staring through it to the other side.

Move.

Sonia gasped as he appeared beside her, and grabbed her hand. Above them the blue mist had seeped through the cracks in the rock, but something was wrong. It hovered around the girl’s head, yet it couldn’t seem to find a way in.

Looking confused, Sonia didn’t seem to notice it. She was too busy staring at him. “I do not understand. You suddenly... uh.... poof? And your eye...”

It was true, his right eye was pounding, as if he'd just been punched. But that didn’t matter right now. The Truth was snaking through the rocks directly above their heads.

“We need to run,” he pulled on her hand, and together they ran, scrambling over rocks and edges. It was difficult to adjust to this body. Its legs were too short, its muscles weak. But he kept running. There, up ahead: light, the end of the cave. Maybe it would just keep chasing them, but maybe... just maybe...

They burst from the mouth of the cave, and ran a short way down the beach. Gil turned, calling fire to his hand. But the Truth did not follow. It tentatively stretched towards the light and squeaked, shrinking away. It too had been weakened by its imprisonment.

“Wha—” Sonia began, staring into the darkened maw. For a second she blinked, not quite able to believe what she was seeing, before she turned back to Gil and nearly screamed. “Fire! Fire!”

“Oh,” he put out the flames. “My apologies for frightening you.”

She didn’t say anything for a minute, just stared at him oddly. “Who are you?” she asked.

“What are you talking about?” Gil tried to keep his face impassive.

“You are... different.” It wasn’t a question. “Eye is yellow,” she pointed to his right eye. “Um...” she narrowed her eyes, trying to think of the word, then gestured instead by straightening her back.

“My posture?” he asked, and she nodded.

“And no, uh, -n-n-no, n-“

“Stuttering?”

“Da! What happened?”

“In the cave?”

She nodded. “What was black, uh, poof?”

How could he possibly explain all this to a ten-year-old girl, one with limited knowledge of english to boot? To be fair, he had Gil Trenton’s dissolving conscious to thank for that particular language, for otherwise he’d be even more lost than she was. “I... I don’t know.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. He had no idea how he’d come to possess the body of a sickly British boy.

Sonia clearly didn’t believe him, but Gil didn’t really care, because he couldn’t help but notice at that moment the small, pale blue cloud that now swirled around her, as if trying to find a way in. It was Muirne. He could hear her. This girl was meant to be a vessel for her, but for some reason, she couldn’t get in as he had.

“What?” Sonia asked, noticing that he was staring at her. Clearly she didn’t know what had happened.

Gil opened his mouth to address Muirne, in case she could hear him, but the two children then glanced down the beach as two adults called to them in both English and Russian.

“Gil!” Gil Trenton’s mother called. “We’re about to set off!”

Sonia looked concerned, but they ran back along the beach towards the dock, upon which a large yacht waited, bobbing slightly in the waves. Gil pushed a piece of hair over his right eye, hoping it would cover the yellow. The two were briefly separated by their parental units as the whole group prepared to embark, but Gil still looked over to Sonia, and the blue glow that surrounded her, the one that it seemed no one else could see.

“Were you playing with that little Russian girl?” Gil Trenton’s mother asked. Uh oh, this wasn’t good. Through the shattered thoughts still surfacing in his mind, he understood how Gil Trenton had talked. To what extent he could replicate it though, he wasn’t sure.

All he could do was talk as little as possible and try to muddle through. So he nodded.

“She’s cute.”

“M-mum!” he tried at a word, and she didn’t seem to see anything amiss, just laughed and hugged him. If he was stuck here, in this body, for the foreseeable future, he’d have to figure something out. For now though, all he focused on was getting through the night.

After the party had been herded onto the yacht, the engine came to life with a gentle purr, and they glided off into the water. It was terribly noisy, with lots of itty-bits of bite-sized hors d’oeuvres and a near endless supply of champagne to keep the adults talking. Gil didn’t like it. Noise had always overwhelmed him.

So he tried to focus on the sunset dipping over the water instead, and thought. Why was he here? At this time, at this place? Others had touched the sword since their souls had been sealed inside it, so why had this particular boy been able to free him?

And this brought a terrible thought to his mind. If he as free, then the Truth was as well. It might be stuck in that cave for now, but sooner or later someone was going to come along and let it out, worst case scenario: on purpose.

But he couldn’t stand against the Truth on his own. He was too akin to it, he needed a light to keep it from spreading. He needed Muirne. There was no way they would be able to return to the sword in one piece, not with the bodies of children anyway, now without an immense amount of power. But he had never heard of something like this before, ever. He didn’t know the rules. He needed to do research. But here he was on a yacht in the ocean.

Gil, for the first time in his life, was at an utter loss of what to do.

“Ocean is pretty, da?” Sonia poked him on the shoulder, and Gil jumped.

“Ah, yes,” he nodded, then opened and closed his mouth several times as he tried to figure out what to say. “Sonia,” he began finally. “Back there, in the cave, did you feel anything... strange?”

She tilted her head. “Strange? Hmm...”

Gil waited with baited breath.

“For just one second,” she said, “something was in corner of eye. Something blue.”

Heart jumping, Gil’s eyes widened. “Something blue? Like a mist? Or a shape?”

“Was probably just imagination.”

“No, no, I don’t think it—” But he stopped as Sonia’s eyes widened and she pointed out to the ocean. There was something in her eyes then. Something that reminded him so drastically of her.

By now the sun had dipped below the water, which until a second ago had stretched black and empty forever. But now, as he followed her gaze, Gil saw light under the surface, green and blue, and purple. They were unmistakable: the lights of Atlantis.

So it had sank, the while continent was gone. All the knowledge, all the magic, gone. No wonder his power felt weak. They had done this, it wasn’t narcissism, he was just somehow sure. It was all gone. All that was left was himself, and Muirne.

He would get her back, no matter how long it took, no matter if he killed himself in the attempt. He needed her to seal the Truth, but not just that, he realized with a start, glancing over at Sonia. He needed her.

He loved her.

[veryangryhedgehog]

Battle Plans,” an Ede Valley story by Hedgehog.

Doug laughed, shaking his head. Then he looked down at Jilli, her arms wrapped around him as they lay on his bed, and frowned. “Wait, you’re serious?”

“Yes. We’re going to take over the school. Abby and Victor and I. Maybe Gil and Sonia too, but I haven’t talked to them yet.” Though the words emerging from her mouth sounded utterly insane, the tone with which she said them was no harsher than if she was commenting on the weather.

“You know this sounds crazy, right?” Doug sat up. “You can’t just ‘take over a school’. Even in normal circumstances it wouldn’t make any sense, let alone here.”

Jilli faced him, her slim waist glowing in the afternoon light. “Do you want things to stay as they are?”

“No...” he admitted, looking down. “But if you try to change anything, she’ll kill you.” There was silence. Jilli didn’t need to ask who “she” was.

“The way I see it, what I’m doing right now isn’t living anyway.”

She made to stand, but Doug grabbed her hand. After struggling weakly for a second, she let him pull her back to him. He gripped her tight there to his chest. He knew it was stupid, but he was afraid that if he let go for just one second, that she would just disappear.

“This isn’t going to change my mind,” she said.

“I know,” he mumbled into her hair. “And before you say, I know this won’t either.”

Doug nudged her face upwards, towards his, and kissed her. They had kissed before, of course, small, stolen things in the heat of the moment, but never before like this. It was soft, at first, both a little unsure of the feeling of their lips pressed together, then it became harder, more desperate.

He pressed her to him, his hand firmly on the small of her back. Jilli ran her fingers through his hair, his scalp tingling at her touch, and Doug felt his heart beating very fast. She was real, and warm.

It was an eternity before they finally pulled apart. Jilli stared at him for a moment, the look on her face impossible to place.

“I... I don’t...” she shook her head. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, and then they were kissing again, feeling their breath on each other’s faces, entangled together.

“Help me,” she breathed as he kissed her neck. “Help me free us all. Please.”

He pulled away, looked down at her pleading face. She was scared. He could see it in her eyes. “If you kiss me like that again I’d do anything. But no can do, I’m afraid,” he glanced down to the metal band around his wrist. “I never told you what this does, did I?”

Jilli shook her head.

“If I take one step out of line, or I’m off campus for too long, then bzzt,” he gestured, and laughed as Jilli twitched. “I get a nasty little shock.”

It took her a moment of staring at the glowing metal before she seemed to understand. “This is why,” she touched it gingerly, “this is why she needs to die. What she’s done to you? What she’s done to all of us? It’s unforgivable.”

“Sure it is,” he shrugged.” But do you really think you can do something about it?”

She peered into his eyes with her icy blue ones. Doug felt himself freeze at the sight of them. He simply couldn’t help staring.

“I’m going to try,” she said simply.

Sighing, Doug shook his head. This whole thing was insanity. Then again, he could say the same thing about his life in general, so really, this wasn’t anything new. The world was almost becoming predictable in its lunacy.

“Alright,” he said finally. “I don’t know what I could possibly contribute, but I’m with you.”

Not even a second went by before her arms were around him, and his bare chest was wet with her tears. “Thank you, thank you so much,” she breathed. “I don’t think I could do this without you.

“I need you.”

~~ o ~~

The world was falling apart. Everything was falling to pieces and no one would tell Mike anything. Okay, maybe the world wasn’t really ending; he might have been feeling that way because he’d only gotten a total of about three hours of sleep in the last four days.

But he couldn’t sleep. There was a ticking clock now. He had to figure out who the Director was and what she—if she really was a she—was doing to Jilli before she did something crazy. But there was nothing. Nothing. Every book jumped over the subject like clockwork, every leaked article was heavily expunged.

He skipped his classes, chugged Red Bull—which he’d previously written off as disgusting, until he’d found that it truly did give you caffeinated wings—and practically lived in the library. The only person who was there more than he was was Abigail.

Said student librarian seemed increasingly concerned about his well-being. “I think that’s enough studying for one night,” she said one evening, well past midnight, as she rather forcefully pushed him out of the table his butt had practically molded itself to. “My, that must be some project.”

“But—” he protested. “I need... I need—”

“What you need is to get some sleep. This would be the worst time to catch a cold.”

“Five more minutes,” he begged. “Please.”

She sighed, sitting next to him. “I know this isn’t for some school project,” she said. “Literally every amateur detective has used that excuse. Why are you really here?” He opened his mouth, but she answered her own question. “Is it because of Jilli?”

“Did you know she had a session the other day?” Mike leaned forward.

“What?” Abigail blinked. “That can’t be right. Jilli’s one of the sanest people at St. Adelaide’s.”

“I think the Director did something to her, that why she’s... saying crazy things.”

There was a second’s pause as Abigail processed this information. “If that’s true... why, I can’t even imagine. And that must be why you’re researching St. Adelaide’s, to find out who the Director is.”

“Wait, how did you know that?” Mike asked.

“I’m the librarian,” she smirked. “I keep track of my books. And I’m sure by now you know as well as I do that there’s not even a single line about the Director in any of those books.”

His head fell to the table in defeat. He was so tired. “Of course.”

“Did you ever think that maybe you’ve been looking in the wrong places?” Abigail tilted her head.

“The... wrong places?”

Shrugging, Abigail pushed her round glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I mean, you don’t need to just stick to books when her office is right down the hall.”

Mike sat back up. “Are you suggesting breaking into the Director’s office?”

“Well, if Jilli has anything to say about it, the Director will be deposed in a matter of days. So, does it really matter? Of course Jilli will want to see what’s in there.”

“But then it will be too late!”

“Will it?” Abigail leaned on her arm. “Honestly, I’m a little curious what happens if she does succeed.”

“You want me to use Jilli...” Mike began slowly, “to save her?”

“Sure, that’s one way to put it,” Abigail smiled. “Now I think it’s time for both of us to go to bed.” She grabbed his arm and guided him to the door. “I have a feeling that the next week might be the longest of our lives...”

~~ o ~~

Gil was also studying, but unlike Mike, he knew what he was looking for. Back in Atlantis he’s had a grimoire with all of the spells that he knew. Some had been inherent to him, of course, his space-hopping and control over the elements, but a lot of the most finely-tuned spells needed time and ingredients. He’d never bothered to memorize these, partially due to his own narcissism in his own abilities. But now he was discovering that without the grimoire, he was essentially crippled. So he’d had to start completely from scratch.

Spending the last several years reconstructing his grimoire had been tedious, time-consuming work, but it had given him something to do as this new body grew and became stronger. He had to be prepared, for just as he was gaining strength, the Truth would be as well.

The other thing that had occupied the last few years of his life was tracking down the blasted thing. He’d gone back to the cave on the coast several months after he’d been freed, but the abomination had disappeared. Either it had gotten out by itself, or much more likely, someone had helped it. And if someone was under the Truth’s sway, the world was in trouble. Whoever it was, they had managed to retain their individuality thus far, seeing as the world still hadn’t ended, but they wouldn’t hold out forever.

Which was why he needed to find it as quickly as possible. He’d found a surprising ally in the form of the internet. At first, it had seemed such an alien host of eldritch complexity that he avoided it like the plague. But then in the sixth grade english class the education overlords had deemed paramount to his further growth, a project had required him to do research for a laughable essay about “you favorite animal,” and he’d discovered that it had its uses. Eventually, with the help of some rather strange characters he’d met on a forum, one of whom insisted she was a dragon, he’d managed to track the Truth to an American suburb called Ede Valley. From there, it was only a matter of acting strange enough to get himself sent to the school there. For Gil, that hardly proved a challenge.

And now he was here, and something was coming; he could feel it. Gil was running out of time. He needed Muirne. But regardless of how many books he read, how many forums he inquired upon, he couldn’t find any usable information on his and Sonia’s condition. According to one witch—who he was mostly positive was legitimate—it was unprecedented, even.

He’d never told Sonia about it. He didn’t want to scare her. Truth be told, she more often scared him. She told him of dreams and ghostly appearances. It was Muirne. She was trying to get in, just as he had. But he didn’t know how to help her.. And there was that small part of himself, the one he told himself wasn’t there at all, that didn’t want to watch Sonia go. All he could do was watch the struggle.

He was close to giving up.

~~ o ~~

Victor glanced around his dorm room, filled from wall to wall with gizmos and gadgets. Jilli had filled him in on his part of the plan, and now he was digging through the bits and pieces of his past constructions, trying to distinguish what would actually be useful.

He had his older stuff in the far corner of the room, at least, the things his parents had deemed safe enough for him to take. These were mostly bits and bobs off of much bigger machines, Rube Goldberg-esce inventions. As a kid he’d dreamed of having machines to do everything for him, so he could sit and play video games all day. Of course, he’d eventually grown out of that phase, and he’d scraped several of his past attempts for parts. This stuff was mostly useless.

Progressively towards the other wall, the machines began to evolve into more robotic machinations. At first they were more helpful—over there on top of his dresser was a drone he’d modified to whisk eggs—but more and more they became more... well, deadly. He didn’t really know why that’s where his mind always went. His mother claimed his “degeneration” was caused by violent video games, but no one else he knew had put down Call of Battlefield 4000 and proceeded to make a death chamber in the basement.

Not that he ever intended to make use of it. He just wanted to see if he could get it to work.

Of course his parents had flipped. That was the first time he’d been taken in for an exorcism. Victor shuddered to himself. He didn’t like to think about that afternoon.

In fact, now that his mind had gone down that road, he found that this whole side of the room was making him queasy. He’d found some good stuff that he could install quickly; that would be good enough for now. Besides, he needed to go down to the shop to modify a few things. He might as well spend some time on his ongoing project.

It was that first exorcism that had gotten him thinking about life and the creation thereof. Again, he wasn’t insane, or unstable, just curious. He wanted to see if it was possible. Could something so crazy really exist?

He didn’t feel quite normal again until he was down in the shop with his lab coat on. Victor took a calming breath, and reached down to pull back the sheet which covered his project...

Until he heard the door open with a metallic cha-chuck, and let the plastic fall again.

“Victor?” came an unmistakable voice, and Victor relaxed, even smiled a little.

“Hi Abby.”

She peeked her owl-like visage around the door, and seeing that he was alone, slunk inside. “How’s the preparations?” she asked, grabbing his arm.

Oh god. She was touching him. She had done this before, of course, but every time his heart did the same esoteric series of leaps in his chest. And now he was going to start stuttering, or his voice was going to crack, or something even more embarrassing was going to happen.

“It’s g-g,” he cleared his throat. “Going well. I’ve got almost everything I need. Just a few modifications, a-and I’ll install most of it tonight, after the teachers have left for the day.”

“What about those creepy psychiatrists, though?” Abigail blinked up at him.

She was worried about him. Victor was pretty sure he was going to start floating off the ground soon.

“Gil’s offered to ‘give me some cover.’ Though I’ve got no idea what that actually means.”

“Good,” Abigail smiled. Then, she reached up to touch his cheek, and he downright froze. “That means you have a free minute then.”

Only one thought ran through Victor’s mind as she pressed herself against him:

Oh shit.

~~ o ~~

They were all assembled in Jilli’s dorm room. It was a bit cramped, Abigail was literally sitting in Victor’s lap, but they had all managed to squeeze in somehow. Jilli glanced around the room, taking stock of what she had to work with. Gil and Sonia: distractions. She didn’t know exactly what they had planned, but she had to admit that together they were rather distracting. Victor: incapacitation. His job would be to dispose of the psychiatrists that worked as the Director’s hands. Abigail: look out. She’d keep everyone updated on the operation’s progress. Doug: emotional support and sounding board.

And then there was Jilli. While all of this was going on, Jilli was going to find that bitch the Director and take her down.

Jilli opened her mouth to lay all of this out, when there was a knock at the door. Everyone froze. They couldn’t have been found out. There was no way. No one said a thing for the longest time.

“I know you’re in there,” said a voice from outside. “Come on, let me in please.”

Relaxing, Jilli let out the breath she’d been holding. It was only Mike. She stepped over Gil and Sonia—who were sitting on the floor—and opened the door a crack.

He began speaking before she could even open her mouth. “I want to help.”

Oh no. She had been afraid of this. Though Mike was that much younger than the rest of them, Jilli couldn’t help thinking of him as much more... well, innocent. Maybe it was because he wasn’t absolutely fucked up like the rest of them. He still had a chance to get out of this unscathed.

“Mike,” she began. “I don’t know...”

“Come on, please,” he begged. “If you keep me out of the loop I think I’ll go insane. If you all might die tonight, or worse, I wanna at least go down with you all. You’re my friends.”

Jilli looked back a Doug, who had stood, and was only a step behind her. He paused, and then, finally, looking exhausted, he simply shrugged.

“Alright,” she said. “Come on in.”

“Thank you,” he smiled, but it wasn’t until she opened the door fully that she was how rough he looked. His skin was pale and sallow, which made the large bags under his eyes stand out even more. His eyes themselves were red and bloodshot, and his hair was tangled and stood up at odd angles, like he’d ran his hand through it for days straight.

Doug sat back down, and made space for Mike on the bed. Jilli readied herself to speak again. She was so nervous. This was ridiculous, she’d sang in front of hundreds of people before, so why was it so hard to lay out her plan for school domination to a few of her friends?

Okay Jilli, she told herself. Here you go.

“Alright everyone,” she said. “Here’s what we’re going to do...”

[veryangryhedgehog]

“Rabbit Heart Part IV” an Ede Valley story by Hedgehog.

Part IV

Around them, the ground had begun to harden, and the trees had ceased to droop so violently. Yet Murine was not pleased. It wasn’t that she wasn’t grateful for the respite from slogging through inches of mud, but now the wind had begun to blow through the trees, shaking the leaves, and freezing her already wet skin.

That night wasn’t much better, nor the morning after. The wind blew harder and harder, so hard that occasionally Muirne thought she could hear voices among them. The name “Forest of Whispers” was beginning to make more and more sense. Worst of all was that they increasingly seemed to be walking in circles, Muirne was sure she recognized the knots on some of those trees.

“So,” she finally began about mid-afternoon on the second day, after realizing that she might not get a better opportunity. They were taking a break from the endless walking on a moss-covered log, trying to not get blown away. Muirne didn’t want to push Gilveidan, but now she really wanted to know his tale.

He sighed. “I promised you a story, didn’t I?” to which Muirne nodded vigorously. “Where do I begin?” he paused, glancing off into the distance. “I had a sister, Viola was her name. We’ve lived in the wilds for years since our parents died. A monastery took us in, taught us how to use our powers. You think I’m skilled? I’m nothing compared to Viola. She could have destroyed the world, had she had an evil bone in her body.

“I suppose that’s why it found her. Her power.”

“Found her?” Muirne frowned. “What do you mean?”

The wind almost seemed to pick up more around them, and Muirne clutched her thin blanket around her.

“The monastery was built on top of some ruins, it was long forgotten what they were originally for, in the center of the continent.”

“The center of the—” Muirne’s eyes widened.

Gilveidan cut her off with a nod and a grave stare. “This ‘evil’ you’re so eager to defeat? It found her, whispered to her. It corrupted her mind, and she destroyed the monastery. Had it latched onto her further, she and It might have ended the world. So I...” his voice caught. “I killed her before that could happen.”

Muirne opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

“I’ve been wandering the wilds ever since,” he looked down at the ground. “And now you think I’m a monster.”

“No,” she said quickly. “No, I don’t. From what it sounds like, your sister was already gone. And you might have saved the world. It is horrible, so much so that I can hardly bear to think about it. But... you did what you had to do.”

He looked up at her, slightly surprised.

“I’m just sorry that it had to be you.”

“Thank... you,” he muttered, not quite sure how to respond.

“Here,” Muirne reached into her pack and pulled out the drawstring bag of nuts that Eimheer had given her. “These won’t be good for much longer. We might as well share them.”

She grabbed out a handful of nuts and made to hand them to him, but before he could take them, a particularly strong wind blew them from her palm, away into the dark trees. Muirne sighed, but just as she reached into the bag again, the wind stopped. Not slowed or quieted, but just stopped mid-rattle.

Muirne and Gilveidan stared at each other. The wind had been blowing for the last day straight. For it to suddenly stop... it seemed so quiet. They waited for what seemed like hours, though it was probably only seconds.

Then, with an ancient creak, the branches on the trees to her left began to part, forming a tunnel. At the end, a grey light shone through the leaves. The two glanced at each other, then stood and started walking.

Outside the edge of the trees they could see the beginnings of some marble-white ruins, and Muirne was so focused on getting out of the woods that Gilveidan had to grab her arm to stop her from passing directly over a message.

“What?” she asked, and he pointed down to the roots that she had nearly just stepped on. Against all odds, they seemed to be spelling out words.

“Ahead:” the roots seemed to read, “3 doors. You seek the 3rd.”

“That’s... strange,” Muirne said. “Think it means anything?”

Gilveidan started walking. “After everything we’ve seen, I’d be surprised if it didn’t mean anything.”

Muirne ran to catch up with him.

“I don’t supposed those were all the nuts you had?” Gilveidan asked. “They looked good, and I feel cheated.”

She rolled her eyes and handed him a few nuts just as the sky came into view beyond the trees. “You better not eat them all,” she grumbled. “If your cant of doom comes to fruition, I’ll never get any more.”

“All the more reason to eat them while you can.”

Yet try as they might, they couldn't keep up the witty banter as the ruins began to rise around them. At first, there were just a few buildings here and there, bits of rubble or stone foundation, but as they continued walking, the ruins grew into monolithic structures, piles of marble like bones reaching desperately towards the sky.

“Your monastery was here, right?” Muirne whispered.

But Gilveidan shook his head. “We certainly didn’t take up the whole ruins,” he said. “The main building was on the other side. I doubt we’ll see it.”

They wandered on, not knowing quite where they were going. Now that they were here at the center of the continent, they had no idea where they were meant to go.

Until Muirne saw an open doorway. By all means it should have just led to the crumbled foundation behind it. But instead, the interior was black, as if its destination was somewhere else entirely. Muirne almost passed it by, before freezing abruptly.

“What’s the matter?” Gilveidan asked.

But she wasn’t listening to him.

“Muirne!” called the figure behind the doorway, getting closer every second. A boy, a human boy, almost grown and healthy and proud.

“Ceallach...” she barely managed to whisper.

He smiled at her, and waved, a real wave, and a real smile. “Muirne!” he said again, his voice echoing oddly in the space beyond. He reached out to her, but he was so far away that the distance seemed insurmountable. Unless she went through the door.

“Muirne...” Gilveidan frowned, his breath on her cheek. “What are you seeing? Is it... your brother?”

But Muirne couldn’t quite hear him. He was fuzzy and transparent, and Ceallach was growing closer and more real with every second. She took a step forward, reaching out a hand. “I’m coming, Ceallach...:

“This is a trap,” Gilveidan warned, and grabbed her arm.

She pulled against him. “No, let me go!” she screamed, kicking and punching at him. “I need to get to him! I won’t lose him again!”

“It’s not real,” Gilveidan grunted through clenched teeth. “Listen to me: listen to my voice. I am here.”

“Muirne...” Ceallach was growing fainter, fading away.

“Let me go. Let me go...” she cried in frustration, grabbing at Gilveidan’s arm weakly.

“Look at me,” he said quietly, then louder as she shook her head. “Look at me!”

He touched her cheek gently and pulled her face away from the door. “There’s nothing there. It’s just an empty doorway.”

After staring into his eyes for a moment, the world seemed to clear. Muirne briefly glanced back at the door, only to see that he was right. It was just an empty frame. She found herself shaking, and took a deep breath to calm herself.

“Why Gilveidan,” she smiled slyly as she realized how close they still were. “If you wanted to touch me you could have just asked.”

Blushing bright red, Gilveidan stepped back. “It seemed to me that tactile stimulation would be the most effective method of getting you to focus on reality, ehem, as it were.”

She laughed. “I’m joking, you know.”

Ah, yes. Of course.” He cleared his throat. “Regardless, it seems we are to follow the forest’s advice. That door was not the correct aperture. One more false door awaits us.”

He turned away from her rather quickly and started walking, while Muirne laughed and followed behind.

As she truly looked at them, Muirne found the ruins oddly fascinating. She imagined all the people who had lived here in this city, and wondered just what had happened to them. As her eyes traced the entwining vines and greenery, she thought about Atlantis, and how someday the great city would also be so much stone and silence.

So lost in thought was she that she didn’t realize that Gilveidan had stopped until she ran into him. “Gil...?” she asked. “Are you...?”

She followed his gaze to an empty doorway. This must have been the second door.

“Vi...” he shook his head. “You’re... you’re not real. You’re dead. I know that.”

Yet, seemingly out of his own control, he took a step forward. “I... I’m sorry.”

And then stopped and Muirne wrapped her arms around him. “I’m here,” she said. “You’re right. She’s not real.” It felt like he might struggle, and Muirne wasn’t sure she was strong enough to prevent him from breaking her grip, but she gripped tighter anyway. “I’m not going to let go. You want to be forgiven? Help me end this thing that really killed her.”

“I...” he struggled, unable to look away from the door.

“It’s time to let her go,” Muirne whispered. “Believe me, I’m more of a hypocrite than you can possibly imagine saying that, but if we make it out of this alive, I’m going to let Ceallach go too.”

Gil sighed, slowly closed his eyes, and slowly turned away. “Goodbye, Viola,” he muttered, and then, locking eyes with Muirne. “Thank you. Let’s get away from here.”

And they did, very quickly. It wasn’t until they had wandered out of sight of the door and onto a weed-choked plaza that Gil began to breathe again. He gripped Muirne’s hand so tightly that it was almost going numb.

Once, this plaza had probably been a peaceful garden, a piece of the sky amidst a bustling city. Now the flora was overgrown, creeping over each other and up and round, ever upwards, until it had become a knot of vegetation, around which the dilapidated walls barely contained it.

There was only one place where the plant-life had avoiding growing at all costs: an actual door, still intact, the plants creating an unnatural arch around it. Though the building behind it was mostly destroyed, the crack under and round the door made it seem as if it was dark inside.

"It appears we've reached out destination," Gil said as they both stopped.

“Ai.” The word came calm, but inside Muirne was a ball of fear. There was something on the other side of that door, something powerful. It felt as if Muirne’s skin was trying to get up and crawl away.

Gil glanced over to her. “Are you ready?”

“No,” she replied. “But I don’t think I’ll ever be.” They nearly leaned on each other for support. “Well, it won’t do us any good waiting here. Let’s go.”

They went. And as they approached, the door opened quite on its own accord. It was waiting for them. They didn’t even stop, lest their nerve fail them. They just kept walking, into the darkness beyond.

And they found themselves somewhere else. The door did not lead to the crumbling building beyond, but to some other place entirely. Gil produced a ball of light, but there was nothing to shine it on except Muirne’s face. Around them was pure, pitch blackness. The only thing that they could be sure of was that they were going downwards.

It was utterly silent around them, and out of fear, Muirne drew her sword Brandubh. It almost seemed to be... glowing. She could hear the roar of blood thumping through her ears, and Gil’s breath beside her, and that was all.

They both stopped as they saw something ahead of them. A small point of... something, distinct from the inky blackness.

“What is that?” Muirne asked, but Gil didn’t have time to answer, for the point quickly expanded into a ball, growing bigger and bigger until it nearly consumed the darkness around them.

And then Muirne’s head exploded.

It was everything all at once. Every birth, every life coursing through her body. Every first love, every birthday, every laugh, every smile.

Every heartbreak Every fear Every pain Every lonely moment

We are so ALONE

Until we            (die)

Everything            (ends)(dies)(stops breathing)

She was in a bed, coughing and wheezing just wishing the pain would go away please take me away I don’t want to be here anymore I’m going to explode.

She was staring into the empty face of her creation, a perfect replica of the boy who was taken too soon, but it wasn’t him it wasn’t him it could never be and out the window the cold stone rushing past can’t take life without my sweet smiling boy.

And she was trembling as her older brother stared down at her, the blood of so many turning his cheeks rosy as the Truth whispered in her ear they all must die there’s nothing here it all ends in silence don’t kill me brother please I’m scared make it go away.

It all It all ends It all ends in It all ends in silence 

Silence

S

 I

   L

     E

        N

           C

              E

..................

.................

M

Muir

Muirne

“Muirne!”

Tears were running down her face. Tears were running down her face and someone was calling her. “Muirne, the sword!” Gilveidan was shouting. “Use the sword!”

“There’s no point,” she whispered. The Truth was bare before her, the nihilism of the universe closing in. “Nothing matters.”

“It does!” A light bloomed in the darkness. There was Gil’s face, his weak ball of light pushing the Truth away. “Yes, everything ends, everything dies. But the point is that right now, you’re living. You and everyone else on this earth! Take my hand!”

Through the darkness, through the pain and crushing loneliness, there was his hand.

And she took it.

“Don’t look at it, look at me,” he said. “I have good news and bad news.”

“Good news first,” she nearly had to gasp out.

“This whole place,” he began, “Is a small pocket. Small as a pinpoint. You strike it, and we can seal it away in your sword.”

“And the bad news?” she asked.

He paused. “It isn’t just the Truth that will be sealed away. Everything in this pocket will go with it.”

Muirne’s heart fell. “We’re not getting out of this place, are we?”

After a moment, Gilveidan shook his head. “Unless someone breaks the seal, we’ll be here with it forever.”

“Alright,” Muirne nodded. “As long as you’re with me, I think I’ll be alright.”

The ball of light in Gil’s hand grew stronger. “I’ll only be able to hold it off for a moment. Go!”

Muirne turned, Gil’s light burning the Truth as it shrank away, its unearthly call vibrating her bones.

Fear, loneliness You are alone

No, Muirne wouldn’t hear it. She screamed, running towards the Truth, and struck.

The world shattered while the Truth shrieked. But Muirne would not let go, she would not yield. For Atlantis, for her family. She would give her life for there’s. Her tiny rabbit’s heart beat wildly.

And they all fell away, into darkness.