Chapter 1: The Lamb
Voices, were the first thing I heard. Around me there were voices crying, screaming, shouting... In the darkness I felt lost, trying to find a direction, trying to make sense where I was in the chaos. There was no origin to the din, it was everywhere, overwhelming, closing in-
Suddenly, someone grabbed my hand, and I looked up to see a blonde woman with a blind eye.
The only thing she said to me was:
"Run!"
-0-0-
With another huff, a girl of 21 sighed, hunching over her laptop as she tried to recall the rest of the dream she had the previous night, having stumbled out of bed right away to draw the people she had met along the way. A cup of forgotten coffee sat beside her, barely luke warm until she bumped it with her hand and clutched it, taking a gulp of the sugar saturated liquid.
Lately she couldn't remember her dreams- well no one could really, she knew only SOME Dreams could be remembered but these had been reoccurring...
Heaving a heavy sigh, she looked aimlessly at her desk. There wasn't anything particularly interesting, a clutter of art supplies, paper, and bits of pieces of eraser poop. Unfinished sketches and drawings lay scattered about and to complete the look were figurines from the Collectors Editions of games and a sewing tomato.
Pushing herself from her desk she spun out of her office chair to go rinse her cup out.
"Maybe some tea will work better..." she muttered to herself outloud. Rinsing her mug out and rubbing away the coffee rings, she looked up in alarm at the sound of her pencil cup being knocked over and the rustle of paper. She lived by herself in a 2 bedroom condo since she had started her new job.
Okay no. No calm down. It's okay. Maybe it was the cat...
When she ran that through her head she smiled and nodded before her face dead panned in realization as she set my mug on the counter with a THUNK.
"I DON'T HAVE A CAT..." she whispered to herself, appalled before she reached for the salt shaker.
Salt repelled ghosts after all.
Scurrying around the corner where her office was she slowly made her way around the corner. Peeking in, a pencil had rolled off the edge, onto the floor.
Going in (But not before throwing a handful of salt into the room to make sure there wasn't any vengeful spirits inside) she looked at her desk where there was a sketch of a woman.
The woman had long hair, a leather jacket and was posed ready for battle. However what caught the girls eye was the womans face. Her right eye was blind, not having been shaded, and on the corner when Kiako moved a page aside in bright red pen read:
RUN
"Oh HELL NO." the girl gaped at the page and started to fling salt around her, "NO. NO I AM NOT DEALING WITH THIS. THIS IS GHOST BULLSHIT I do NOT have the energy to deal with GHOSTS..."
"YOU HAVE RECEIVED A NEW TEXT MESSAGE."
The girl jumped when her phone went off to GLaDoS' voice from Portal and she snatched it up, staring at it with a ragged wheeze.
"Kiako hurry up you're going to be late for your-SHIT…." Her panel, the convention. SHE COULDN'T BE LATE TO HER OWN PANELS TWO YEARS IN A ROW SHE JUST COULDN'T. She grabbed her leather bag, shoving her Galaxy Note tablet and charger inside of it along with various snacks, a tea thermos and her wallet. She turned and shook her can of salt accusingly, "I'M GOING OUT GHOST. YOU BETTER BE GONE WHEN I GET BACK." she yelled into her condo before she locked the door to run out, a trail of salt following her down the hall.
-0-0-
The girl had run all the way from her apartment building to the nearest train station, wheezing and coughing when she had gotten up the platform. She took a puff of her inhaler before looking around.
The station in Edmonton wasn't exactly SPECTACULAR but it was clean at least for the most part. She was still clutching the salt shaker in her hand as she waited for the train, a voice over the intercom announcing its arrival.
The doors opened and she headed steadily to the doors before there was a loud yelling behind her. Pausing to turn around she grunted and yelped as she was slammed head on and shoved into the train.
Hitting the floor head first she swore she saw stars and white light pass over her.
"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry!" Was what she heard above her- oh how far away that voice sounded...
She felt someone sit her upright and she had to blink a few times and readjust her glasses before being face to face with a woman. Her eyes were blue, her hair brown and tied back in a ribbon with a waist high teal skirt.
"Are you okay...?" Dazed, the girl asked. The other woman held her firmly as if to prevent her from falling over.
"I should be asking you that!"
When she rubbed her head and the initial shock had passed she squinted at the girl, "... Annnnnaaa...?" she wasn't sure why Anna was the first name she thought of when she saw her face.
The woman made a bit of a face, bordering on confused and irritated.
"My name's Elizabeth actually…" Elizabeth! An Elizabeth cosplayer! Named Elizabeth! Most likely going to the same convention as she was, Troy Baker was making an appearance there a BioShock Infinite Cosplayer wasn't out of the norm. It made the girl make a face of realization with a frantic nod and a rather creepy-
"I know."
"Excuse me…?" the Elizabeth gave the girl a suspicious look before helping her up, "Here, can you stand?"
"I think so- oh...!" The girl backed up putting a hand over her face when blood dripped from her nose, "Oh god this is embarrassing..."
"Here." when Elizabeth handed her a handkerchief she arched a brow, refusing it. Who carried those anymore anyways? "Oh don't worry we can always wash it."
"Oh..." the girl took it mostly to wipe her face of the blood that pooled in her hand, "Thanks."
"No worries-? What's your name?"
"Ah- Kiako." She nodded and looked at the bloody cloth in her hand, "are you headed to the convention? We can wash this off there."
"If you don't mind being my guide." Elizabeth smiled before looking down and around, "so this is a train..."
"You never been on a train?" Kiako asked as she went to sit on a blue bench, beckoning Elizabeth to sit beside her.
"Oh I'm from out of town you could say, I don't go on them often."
"Where you from?"
"Columbia." She said but was distracted by the sight of the city flashing past the window. Kiako didn't know a friggin thing about Columbia, for all she knew there wasn't alot of trains.
"...it's not a really big city or anything even though its the capital." Kiako explained and watched Elizabeth gasp a little as they passed out of a tunnel onto a bridge over the north Saskatchewan river, seeing the entire city skyline.
Elizabeth looked over to her and smiled, "Its wonderful."
kiako blinked at that, shed never heard anyone describe her city as wonderful, like there was Vancouver and Ontario, those were wonderful cities. Edmonton? Wonderful?
Still it made her smile and looked out as well, "yeah, I guess it is kinda wonderful."
-0-0-
When they got to the university where the convention was held Elizabeth was looking around with wide eyes and kiako was trying to keep up, a map of the campus in front of her.
"OK where's the room..." she muttered before looking up to see Elizabeth zipping back behind her.
"Why is everyone dressed up? Why do they keep wanting pictures if me?" She asked and Kiako blinked at her.
Maybe she was a shy Cosplayer?
"First time at a con?" Kiako asked and Elizabeth nodded, "well, they like your outfit, and it looks like you worked really hard on it so might as well show it off a little right?"
"I suppose so." Elizabeth replied and after posing for a fee photos they continued inside, "why are you not dressed in costume?"
"Oh I had no time to make anything haha..." more like she procrastinated insanely. Walking inside the building was packed with people in costume or just walking around to enjoy themselves.
Kiako and Elizabeth were making their way through the crowd and the people wanting a picture of Elizabeth before the made it to the upper level.
Elizabeth lightly sighed, "these photos are tiring..."
"Ah yeah they can be." Kiako said and handed Elizabeth a bottle of water from her bag, which the woman took gratefully. When they got to the room for the panel Kiako made a noise as she tried to push past, "dammit I can't believe late for my own panel again..."
At one point Elizabeth found herself getting swallowed by the crowd and she looked around for her short guide. Volunteers dressed in Shingeki no Kyojin uniforms were trying to make the crowd go back into line, and someone grabbed Elizabeth's hand.
"Ah?!"
Kiako blinked up at Elizabeth, holding her hand, "don't worry, we're almost there." she smiled and carefully pushed through the crowd before they made it to the front of the line. At first people were protesting that they were cutting until a staff member shushed them.
"She's kind of the panel host." she reassured and looked to Kiako, "You're late for your own panel you know."
"Yea tell me about it." Kiako rolled her eyes a bit as her friend put a hand on her hip, also dressed in an SNK uniform.
"You should probably get in there."
"Yeah yeah…." When she started to head in, she paused and turned to grin at her friend, "Hey, Zea!"
When Zea turned around, Kiako had her left hand behind her back, and her right fist over the left side of her chest. Vee just laughed, giving her head a shake before she copied the salute-And was promptly bombarded by fans for a picture.
Elizabeth followed Kiako down the stairs of the lecture hall that served as the panel room, finally having a moment of quiet and looked to her.
"What was that gesture you did?"
Kiako let out a huff, letting her bag fall into a nearby chair as she dug out her tablet and such to hook it up to the projector.
"It's the Attack On Titan salute."
"Oh! I've heard of other places having difference salutes and such, all of them with meaning." Elizabeth noted with a finger on her cheek, then glanced to Kiako, "What does your salute mean?"
"Well…. In the show it means that the soldiers are willing to give their hearts to the preservation and the- well you know the resurrection of humanity and stuff like that. " she explained as she demonstrated the salute again, "It's very iconic."
"I could imagine…" Elizabeth nodded and she sat down to smooth her skirt out, "What's happening to Humanity for them to have to give their hearts like that?"
Kiako gave Elizabeth a dead panned face, "Giant man babies called Titans eat them."
At that Elizabeth's face drained and she glanced away.
"O-Oh…"
"Oh hey relax! It's just a show!" Kiako waved her hands, "Like, it's a really SAD Show but it's a really well written show! You might end up liking it- That or it'll crush your spirit…"
When Elizabeth just gave Kiako a quizzical look Kiako just gave a nervous laugh and cleared her throat turning around.
"IIIII'm gonna go tell the volunteers they can left people inside now…" she muttered. As the room filled up, Elizabeth sitting in the front behind a desk off to the side, she looked at all the people filing in, cosplayers and non-cosplayers alike.
"What exactly is a Panel?" she asked.
Kiako fixed her hair a little and adjusted her glasses, "It'll be easier to show you I think compared to… Well yeah haha…" she smiled before she began the panel.
Elizabeth wasn't quite sure what this all was about… But when she saw how the crowd responded to Kiako working them up, she smiled.
Maybe it wasn't so bad here?
-0-0-
While the panel had it's awkward moments of silence it went rather smoothly and Kiako cleaned up quickly, they were in the bathroom washing off Elizabeth's handkerchief.
"Ugggh the soap here sucks…" she muttered, scrubbing it and examining it she handed the damp cloth to the woman, "Yeah sorry I can't get it any cleaner…"
"Don't worry, I'm sure it'll come out after a few more washes." Elizabeth nodded, tucking it away, "So what else is there to explore around here?"
"Well… there's the artist alley, and then there's the guests panels…" Kia perked up, "Are you here to see Troy Baker?"
"Troy...Baker? Who's that?"
The asian girl arched a brow, "Troy Baker? He does Booker Dewitt's voice in Bioshock?"
At the name Booker Elizabeth seemed to go wide eyed as they left the bathroom, "You know Booker- AH!"
"Aie ya!" Both girls were nearly pushed over when a rush of people began to head towards one direction, slowly congesting the hallways, "What the hell…? Where's everyone going?"
There were volunteers ushering people through the halls before a fire alarm started to blare. Nearly more than half of the crowd jumped and screamed before they began to run and charge down the halls towards the nearest exits.
When some of the volunteers began to get swallowed by the crowd there was an "Oh My God." from Kiako as she glanced back at Elizabeth and pushed her way through to grab the smallest one and heave her back to her feet so she wouldn't get trampled.
"What's going on?" she asked before a staff member grabbed her shoulder, "Jenny what's going on?!"
Jenny-Ironically dressed as Officer Jenny was reorganizing the volunteers to follow the crowd and leave.
"There's someone in the building, somehow they snuck past weapons check and-" Jenny glanced around quickly before giving both Kiako and Elizabeth a push, "Go outside with everyone else I still have to find security to clear the next building!"
Before she could run off Kiako grabbed her arm, "I'll let you know if your sisters are okay, alright?" jenny nodded with a worried face before she ran down the hall barefoot, most likely having kicked off her heels. Kiako looked for Elizabeth and taking her hand made her grab the strap of her bag
"Don't let go, everything will be okay, okay?" She wasn't sure if she was reassuring Elizabeth more so than herself. Elizabeth took Kiakos trembling hands and smiled, calm in this madness.
"Everything will be OK." She said and Kia felt herself relax a bit, "the exit is that way right? We should hurry." Turning on her heel the two of them hurriedly followed the crowd down the stairs to the main level.
The main floor was flooded with people both panicking or loudly complaining about having to leave early. There was more complaining than anything else and Kiako felt her temper flare before she surveyed quickly where the other staff members were.
"Okay... almost everyone is out." Kiako almost let out a sigh of relief until she heard a scream, followed by a loud slamming noise making her jump, "jesus-! Where'd that come from?!"
The ground shook and a BOOM! Made the girls grab each other for balance.
"No..." Kia felt Elizabeth freeze.
"What's wrong?"
Elizabeth's eyes were wide and frightful, "He followed me...!" She whispered, letting go of Kia's hand, to which Kiako looked around frantically for the source of screaming.
"Who?! Who-" she was silenced when a giant hand gripped the side of the wall, heavy breathing and a loud heart beat could be heard.
A giant mechanical man stepped from around the corner, holding a limp girl in his hand that was also dressed as Elizabeth, another cosplayer. The creaking of metal and hissing of steam was intimidating enough, but the sight of the heart beating in a glass dome made Kiako's stomach turn.
The giant dropped the girl in his hand, a weak noise coming from her assured the two that she was still alive as the man stalked towards them.
Elizabeth and Kiako started to back away slowly, Elizabeth moving in front of Kiako with her hand out.
"Don't move, don't scream..." she whispered as she let go, strafing to the side, "It's me you want right? Let these people go and I'll come with you."
The giant gave a skeptical look, "I went through four of you... you're not real are you?"
The young woman glared, a hand over her chest, "I am real!" she proclaimed, taking a deep breath, "I am Elizabeth Comstock and I AM the Lamb of Columbia."
Kiako stared at her, a million thoughts running through her head in the instant it took her to grab Elizabeths' hand, and pull her out of the way of the giant mechanical hand going to grab her.
"Run!" she wasn't sure if she was telling herself to make herself move or telling Elizabeth as she turned and dragged Elizabeth down the hall and up the stairs, though Elizabeth being in much better shape picked up quickly and ran ahead of her to drag her instead.
"What are you doing?!"
"I have no idea!" Kiako shouted back, running towards the library of the university, "What's a Handy Man doing here?!"
"Can't you tell? It's here for me!" The creak and snap of metal was heard as the Handy man tried to squeeze up the narrow staircase after them. Elizabeth dug her heels in and tried to pull her wrist out of Kiako's grip, "Let me go!"
"Don't be stupid! If he gets you then he's going to take you back and you're going to end up back at the-" Suddenly Kiako let out a wheeze, letting go to clutch her throat and chest before coughing and hunching over, gasping. Elizabeth took the chance to make a break for it before stopping, looking back, and pulling Kiako aside behind some book cases.
When they had hunched down Kiako swallowed harshly and breathed heavily, her hand digging in her bag and taking a puff of her inhaler.
"How do you know what it's going to do…?" Elizabeth whispered, listening for the heavy foot steps of the Handy Man. Kiako quickly caught her breath and quieted down once her medication had began to work and she kept an eye out as well.
"It's in game, how do YOU Not know this?" she whispered back, though it was more of a whisper shout, "Did you even play the game?!"
"What game?!"
"the Bioshock Infinite game! The one you're cosplaying fro-" Kiako stopped herself mid sentence. Elizabeth genuinely looked confused, and when she looked over at the thimble over her pinky finger Kiako frowned, wide eyed, "Oh shit."
BOOM!
The bookcase they were hiding behind was ripped up from the floor, text books and literature raining over them.
"OH SHIT!" Kiako repeated herself before the Handy Man grabbed her, and winded back his arm. The only direction she saw herself going was out the giant windows from the second floor, through the giant clock and she tried to hold on before she was thrown head first into the window.
"KIAKO!"
AN: Man I have not flippin written in FOREVER 8I