A/N; Happy Halloween ! So as part of my Quadruple Update (Quadate anyone ?), I got shit loads of candy so yes, life has been going very well for me. :) Enjoy my latest story... or else.
Saras felt a twinge of nervousness as he entered the mansion. He knew it had once belonged to the Daisui's, a wealthy enough family that had fallen into dissaray and currently onl had one male descendant and they were on the run from the law. The mansion had then fallen into the paws of some very shady people who Aang had somehow befriended. They had now been missing for several days and Aang ahd of course sent him to see what was wrong.
Well he wasn't technically supposed to be there but he had decided that he was much better at getting his head bruised from some attacker than at getting his butt sore in council meetings. Besides he really needed to think so,mme things over, and there were some things one could only really think while ducking under a bllow to your head. The bat in charge of the squadron was a flying fox, who seemed better equuipped at giving out orders than doing anything productive himself.
The ground floor was silent, except for the creaking of every single floorboard he placed foot on. In fact it was too quiet, a blind man could see that somethiing was wrong, either that or there was some really creepy surprise party in the works here. Saras sniffed at the air, breaking the silence for a moment, but detecting no strange or out of place scents in the air. The doors were all shut, only one stood agape, ominously on the second floor, the light trickling into the old mansion like a set of worms. Somehow this made the fox shiver.
They ascended the staircase, drawing weapons as they went up. Saras chose a knife and puled it from his belt, gulping as a sudden squeak silenced them all. The door didn't even exist. It was just there, a massive black hole of pitch dark that stood swallowing the light. Saras gulped again, his heart beginning to race, his forehead receiving a small short trickle of sweat. Something was definetly wrong here. He crept forwards, careful not to tread on anything that looked like it couldn't carry his weight. He heard a crack underneath him and soon found himself falling with a yelp.
The room was pitch black. But here something else was at work. Saras placed a paw to his nose, the other still clutching the knife. The smell near knocked him out, as if the fall wasn't enough.
"You down there ! Do you see anything ?"
2No he managed to cough out. But it stinks over here".
"What does it smell of"?
"Death", Saras choked out the word, as he stood on his feet, and walked forwards, carefully. Unfortunately he felt his feet sink into something soft and fleshy. He gagged, knowing what a corpse felt like. He struggled forwards. There had been windows on the outside, surely there had to be a curtain somewhere. The paw with the knife tapped a piece of cloth, and sop he pulled at it. He nearly puked again, when he saw what he had done. He heard retching from upstairs, clearly the bats could see the devastation too.
The corpses were beyond recognizability, all were a pale grey in colour, with bits of fur falling off and other pieces falling off in clumps. Their mouths stood agape, their teeth grey and not looked after. The only upside Saras could think of was that no worms or flies crawled over the deceased bodies. This was not Aang's friend however, he could see that much. He felt his paw touch metal and turned to it. It was a copper key. Placing the knife back in it's case he picked it up with his free paw, the other one was still wrapped around his nose, blocking out as best it could the foul air that plagued the house.
He slid it into the keyhole and turned it once. "Hey, I've got a key"! He called out to the bats above, but no voice decided to answer him. "Okay, suit yourselves", he muttered as he pushed open the door which slid open with a squeak that seemed to batter his ears.
He slid the door close, eager to put the corpses behind him. He wondered whether the key worked on all the doors in the mansion. Turning to the next door he placed the key inside and turned it.
The room was covered in dust, and statues crowded the place like some sort of ghost town. On one end of the room he noted a wardrobe. Suddenly something sliced at his back, and pushed him back into the room, pulling the door shut behind him. If this is some sort of joke. Deciding that he had received a mere scratch Saras approached the wardrobe. He pulled the doors open, and stared long and hard into the mirror he saw there. He saw his face, his bright red fur, his ears, his light brown eyes, and the marble paw that was coming his way. He turned just in time to catch the blow. It stopped just before it hit his face. He blinked and felt the full force of the paw slam into his snout, knocking him onto his back.
His assailant was a great bear statue, all grey and black. He blinked testily,and when he opened his eyes next the bear's jaw stood wide open in front of him. Forcing his eyes not to shut he teleported behind the statue. Shifting into a hummingbird he flapped up to the ceiling, hovering for a moment he suddenly flew into the roof. He crashed right through the wood, and landed with a sore head on a bed in yet another room, this one on the second floor no doubt.
"Hullo"! Called someone as they knocked on the door.
"I'm here"! Saras replied, shifting into a fox and barging into the door. He merely bounced off the wood, and lay sprawled on the ground as the bats forced it open.
"This is no time to be lying around"!
"What happened to you"?
Half off the bat's facial skin was peeled right off, and the other seven weren't looking much better.
"We were attacked", the leader beckoned with his wing. "We need to leave. This house is just getting weirder and weirder, and I really don't think I need anything supernatural to happen to me again ! Now let's move"!
Saras raced along, confused, with the bats. "What happened"?
"Oh yeah, well when you left yeah, dem tings started coming for us yeah, they snatched one pair and the rest of us barely got out, then some other ting said that 'there is no escape', or somewhat like that". The nearest bat explained.
Suddenly a long purple tentacle coated in slime crashed through the wall, wrapped itself around the same bat and dragged the helpless mammal with a girlish shriek.
"Every man for himself"! Someone cried and then it was havoc. They all ran for the door, but stopped, just as a skinless bat dropped down from the ceiling, hanging from his own stopped in his tracks. As did everyone else, suddenly two more bats dropped down, similarly disfigured.
There is no escape. I know I tried. Do not resist and the end will come sweeter. The voice said.
Saras twitched. He couldn't move, the fear was crashing into his chest like a lead weight. I need something, I need to focus. His claw raked the tip of his paw, a thin trickle of blood appeared just as the tentacle came in again, taking two more shrieking bats to a horribly painful death. Suddenly he found he could move.
Before he could do anything however a tall, crimson cloaked figure strolled into the room. Saras found himself staring up into eyes as dark as death. He gulped, and with a shaking paw withdrew a knife.
"W-w-what are you"?
"Now wouldn't you like to now", the figure sneered.
Suddenly the tentacle wrapped itself around the vulpine's chest and hauled him through the air. Shaking uncontrollably he stared sliced pitifully at the tentacle, his knife scraped the jelly-like substance, yet failed to do anything.
The tentacle belonged to an eye, one that was made out of the exact same jelly-like substance as the tentacles. Saras squirmed desperately, his face was burning, his eyes were beyond his control, staring into the purple eye as if it was a thing of it's own. He snapped his eyelids down, but his face still burnt. He teleported, but received a sudden jolt as his own chi coursed through him like lightning. He tried and failed to shape shift, but received only sparks of green to erupt around him.
No chi, no knife, no claws.
He opened his eyes again, looking for anything he could use.
Then he found it. Under the eye stood a short square body, to which the tentacles were connected. It shone metalically. And it was just in reach of his Talon Claws. His feet snapped forwards, snapping shut on the metal body, and slicing open two holes, where his blades had struck. Suddenly he was on the ground, covered in the purple slime that burnt as hot as wax, compared to the burning from before, it felt strangely pleasant.
He kicked open the door of the room he had killed the eye in and raced back down to the staircase. From the second floor landing he could see the crimson-cloaked figure sink fangs into a bat, as the blood seeped and joined his cloak. Saras charged forwards, down the stairs, knife in paw. The figure turned swiftly to the sound of running behind him. He was unable to do anything however, as the knife slid in under his hood, sinking into the soft jelly of an eyeball.
The figure in crimson shrieked and backed away, but Saras was on to him. Teleporting behind the figure he sliced open the crimson cloak from behind, as blood flew from the wound, he brought down his other paw, his claws raking the back of the figure's head.
"ENOUGH"! The figure suddenly yelled, throwing the fox into a wall. Ripping off his cloak he revealed himself to be a wolf, his fur a deep crimson colour. "You will pay for every minuscule little cut you have done to me."
"Really ? That's interesting", Saras replied, as he teleported away from the knife of blood that crashed into the spot he had been.
The wolf turned round. Only two bats remained, watching wide-eyes in fear. He summoned a ball of blood and was about to shoot it at them when he heard an ominous squeak. Slowly the wolf turned to look upwards, just as a chandelier came crashing down upon him, the tip of it piercing right through his throat. Drawing his spiked knife Saras brought the blade down heavily between the lupine's eyes.
As soon as the wolf was dead, the bats regained their ability to move, but still stood gaping wordlessly.
"We should go", Saras said, this had not gone as planned, he hadn't even had time to think. Maybe I'm not really cut out for this kind of thing. Pushing away his gloomy thoughts he recollected himself and kicked open the front door. He had had quite enough of the Daisui's mansion for a long while.
Just as he stepped out the front door, the bats hobbling in front of him, the mansion erupted into flames, the shock wave sent him flying forwards. He lay on the ground watching blood seep from his thumb, as the flames roared nearer. This is the Finals all over again. Then the world went black.
Footnote: And I'm back to writing the Stories of Saras' main arc line, while working back to back on a story I have yet to decide whether it is fanonically correct (in my AU anyways) . So what can you expect to see here ?
Well the usual storytelling all OC fic, this time however there is no 'Submit your OC' thing, I think I've done enough of that for a long time. This story takes place after House of Tamod, and this chapter starts right after The Set Up ends, for those of you that didn't know The Set Up is yet another one of my Halloween fics.
Anyways, update soon... or else...