Okay, I've had this story in reserve long enough! And I think I need a little pick-me-up, so I'm getting back to my roots with a Yu Yu Hakusho fic that I've actually finished! Well, alright, so almost finished, but I've got it written out to chapter thirty something, so I feel safe in putting this up, even if it doesn't have an actual ending yet.
Now I hope there's still enough YYH watchers out there reading fanfics - cuz I know it's been awhile - because I'm hoping for some nice reviews! Or at least some honest ones. I really like those too...n_n Oh! Note: the first line of German you come to (and there's only two, so relax, you don't have to be multi-lingual to read/enjoy this) means, 'But my little sister'. And for future reference, 'meine Schwester' means my sister. Just FYI you know, since I think it pops up later on a couple times.
Bonus points go to whoever can tell me where my ladies' names came from! ;)
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Rule #1: Never Stop Running
Chapter One: Escape
My life has three main rules.
1. Never stop running.
2. Don't fall asleep when you feel sick.
3. And always – I mean no matter what – stay out of the Nursery at all costs.
For the last ten years, those rules have kept me alive. And right then, I was trying very, very hard to follow the first one.
My lungs ached, my legs felt like they were burning, and the world sat at a crazy angle that could probably be explained by the syringe the crazy doctor I had just escaped from had stuck into my arm moments before. But I didn't stop. My pursuers would do much worse then kill me if I stopped.
Horrible images flashed through my panic driven mind as I raced passed new, yet familiar corridors. Everything looked the same here. Metal walls regularly interspersed with thick white doors with tiny strips of windows. And that horrible smell! It was like that sterilized smell you find in hospitals except there was more than a splash of coppery blood filling the air.
I didn't bother trying any of the doors. I knew security had locked them all when I had accidentally tripped the alarm system. There wasn't a way out to find and I knew it. There was nowhere to hide; nowhere they wouldn't be able to find me. And the hunters were right behind me, hollering after my scrawny hide.
I choked back a frightened whimper. "They're going to kill me," I thought not for the first time that hour, "They're going to kill me. They're going to-"
"SH-SHUT UP AND RUN!" I screamed at myself. Don't look back, don't stop, and whatever you do, don't trip. That would be just what I needed right now. A trip that sent me sprawling across the floor. The hunters would probably trample me flat before they realized I was splayed out on the floor.
"There she is!" A hoarse, male voice yelled behind me. I resisted the urge to look and see how far away they were. That would be about as helpful as falling flat on my face. Besides, I already knew the odds were against me. Instead I pressed my aching legs faster as more adrenaline surged into my already crowded blood stream.
New noises followed me now. Horrible noises that told me the hunt was on. Booted feet thumped against the stainless steel floor. Low voices coordinating my capture. Hunters enjoying the chase as they closed in on their panicked prey.
I sobbed again. This was it. I might as well stop running and give up. Maybe then they would just shoot me instead of giving me back to the "doctors" I had just escaped from.
But there was little chance of that, I realized. Even if they were only security and therefore the lowest paid bunch in the Academy, these hunter creeps worked for the Three so even if they weren't getting paid a hefty sum to follow their orders, the smart ones would be too afraid to disobey the hags higher ups, and rightly so. I would just have to stick to good ol' rule number one. It had kept me breathing so far.
I dashed forward, flashing red alarms going off all around me as the automated doors that cut the hallways into closed sections dropped shut and locked. Most of the personnel would be evacuated now whether they liked it or not. I caught a glance of some very startled people in white lab coats banging on their office doors as they tried to figure out how to get out. Somehow I managed to laugh. "I guess some of them just aren't that lucky." I thought.
At the end of the hall there was another dropping steel wall and like all the others it was closing rapidly. Despite my limited pop culture experience – being kidnapped and locked away in an underground experiment bunker filled with mutants and all – I still thought it looked like something you'd see in those science fiction movies when the space alien finally manages to break into the hero's base and then to keep the aliens from the clearly marked self destruct button that would end what was left of humanity, the heroes would go into lock down mode and all those giant slabs of metal would slide down from above, cutting the halls into sections, trapping the alien and saving the human race.
Yeah, I just slid under that, trapping the evil genius' henchmen behind me. I grinned, it would take them a little while to find another way around unless they just wanted to open all the doors again, making it easier for me to escape. I pelted onward looking for any kind of light that didn't come from the ever present fluorescent bulbs, glad the next steel door was several hundred feet away from me. It gave me more room to work with.
I just started thinking about blowing up a part of the wall so I could get the heck out of here when a sudden mental pull had me backpedaling and looking around wildly for an ambush. They couldn't have made it through the alien doors already right?
I was alone. The Hunters were still trapped behind me. So what was pulling at me?
Despite my fear and panic I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I reached out with what my sister and I half jokingly called my sixth sense. Most likely it was just the by-product of one lab test or another, but I couldn't be sure. I could barely remember my name, and only the first one at that, much less all the painful experiments the doctors had dragged me through over the years I had been here.
I listened intently to the pull with something other then my ears. It might be better to say I was trying to feel which way the pull was coming from rather then listening for it, but that's still not quite right. I've never been able to explain the sensation properly but oh well.
The pull pulsed stronger for a moment, somehow glowing in my mind's eye, before fading again. It was brief, barely a second, but it was enough. I bolted forward and to my left where yet another numbered door stood locked against me. I gathered my sixth sense into my right hand, feeling the warmth as it pulled together into a powerful destructive force. I hit the door with it, not waiting for the debris to settle before dashing through towards whatever was calling me.
The pull grew stronger the farther I went. I ran passed locked doors feeling the pull tugging at my insides like a hooked fish being reeled into shore.
Ha! Hooked fish. Get it? Cuz' I'm related to a mermaid. That's funny.
"Andrina! Over here!" My sixth sense called out rather loudly.
Oh no wait, that was Arista, calling out for real.
I wind-milled my arms, trying to keep from falling over as I stopped like I had just run into an invisible wall. My sister, Arista, was stuck inside one of the never ending featureless rooms. She was banging on the tiny, glass window as sulfurous looking gas began to curl up and around through her mouth and nose.
"Get me out of here!" She pleaded through the glass, beginning to cough. "They're gassing the room. I think they're trying to kill me this time!"
I gathered as much energy as I dared into my hand again. "Get away from the door!" I yelled at her. I waited until she dragged her slowing body out of harm's way before I smacked the door, sending metal shards into the room.
Foul smelling gas exploded out and I started hacking. The world started swinging like I was on a tilt-a-whirl going at full speed. I quickly backed away, covering my nose and mouth but I started to cough anyway.
Arista stumbled out looking like she had been stuck on that same tilt-a-whirl for hours. I pulled her arm over my shoulder to help her walk in a straight line and led the way back down the hall, my sixth sense telling me to avoid the other way.
"Andrina?" Arista's lovely, siren voice sounded wispy and sick, like she had a cold. "Andrina my feet won't work. And the world won't stop moving." She mumbled, her head lolling back and forth as we hurried around the corner and continued up the corridor I had left when my sixth sense started nagging me.
"Yeah I know nesan." I told her, trying to hurry without losing Arista. "We just need some fresh air."
Arista giggled. "Aber meine kleine Schwester, you know I'm a salt water fish."
Even though we were running, well alright hobbling, for our lives and drugged on some scary gas (or maybe it was just because we were drugged) I started giggling with her. Her puny joke was hysterical, and pretty soon, we were laughing and stumbling along like a couple of people who had just spent way too much time in a bar.
Eventually I calmed myself enough to remember that we were far from safety. I peeked around corners as well as I could while supporting Arista. So far the place was deserted, but I had a feeling that that wouldn't last long.
We hobbled along in relative silence for a few minutes. Arista remained loose and floppy, sometimes giggling at nothing. I was beginning to get the monster of all headaches. If this was a side effect of the gas, I did not envy Arista the hangover she would have when her head finally cleared.
"Hey look," I nearly jumped out of my skin when Arista spoke, still sounding giddy, and pointed to a set of double doors off to our right.
A glowing set of double doors, I might add.
A hazy feeling, like the pull that had led me to Arista but weirder, started growing in my stomach, making me feel slightly queasy. "We should-" I started to say, but before I could finish, Arista slipped forward and wobbled towards the doors.
"Look," she said peeking through the door windows, "daylight!"
I rushed after my loopy sister, the queasiness growing worse as I got closer to the bright white light. "This will not end well." I said under my breath. But then again, what ever did for us?
I reached Arista and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her away. "But look meine Schwester," She said pointing with a shaky finger at the window. "Es ist so shöne."
I found myself shaking my head as I joined her by the door. "Now is not the time to go all German on me nesan." I told her before I went against my better judgment and looked through the window.
My jaw dropped.
"It's so beautiful." Arista translated for me.
Inside, nearly hidden by the white light it was emitting, was, and don't laugh, what looked like a rip in space. Like someone had just decided to take a giant knife and cut through whatever it was that kept us from kingdom come.
Despite my profound belief in Rule #1, I found myself gawking at the impossible thing, astounded by its strangeness and its sheer beauty. I felt a deep pull in my chest as if a strong cord had just snapped out and tied me to the light rip, or possibly something on the other side of its intense white maw. I swallowed hard against the feeling of destiny that settled deeper into my stomach the longer I looked at that impossible portal.
"Merry little mermaids!" A shrill voice suddenly crowed out. "Where did you get to, my merry little mermaids?" The harsh voice and the cackling laughter that followed it snapped me back to reality. The Harpies had caught up to us. And I had thought that the Hunters were bad.
"Where did you swim to my little mermaids?" A different voice – this one deeper but just as piercing as the first – called out from the opposite direction. I latched onto my sister and dragged her away from the door.
Through way of my oh-so-sophisticated, and sometimes extremely scary, sixth sense, I busted down one of the doors with one well placed kick. The door splintered under the power of my almost glowing foot. I ushered Arista through in front of me. I held up my arm in front of my eyes to keep myself from being blinded by the light as I followed her. The light was even fiercer without glass in the way.
"There's got to be a way out." I said looking around wildly for any kind of door or a window maybe. By now I would settle for a gopher hole if it got me out of this Hell-hole.
The cord tightened around my chest making it harder to breathe as I traveled closer to the rip to see if a door was hiding behind its brilliance. I gasped for breath as I felt myself being drawn towards the beautiful but dangerous light, despite the fact that the Harpies were right behind us, ready to grab us in their dirty little talons and drag us back to the Three for punishment. Then it would be back to the doctors, for experiments and drug tests. And not the kind of drug tests where you had to pee in a cup either.
"Here you are my pretty little mermaids." A voice like grating metal taunted from beyond the shattered door. "What are you doing outside your tank now?"
Arista shook next to me, but she kept her voice firm and strong. "I don't know Celaeno, what are you doing outside your cage?"
Celaeno, one of the three female harpies, stepped into the empty door frame. Her sister, Thuella, and the other girl, Aella, stood behind her as well as the twin males, Podarce and Podarge. I casually tried to search the few shadows that still survived the harsh light to see where the other three males might have gotten to. They might still be out in the hall, but then again they might not.
Celaeno cackled harshly to herself at Arista's brave front. "Ooo look, the mermaid has got some spirit left in her after all. Here I thought we'd ground that out of you already. Maybe it will take another demonstration before you're properly broken. What do you think Aellopus? Nicothoe? Shall we take this other pretty to meet young Ariel?" She said looking at me now.
Arista went dead white at the mention of our third and littlest sister. I, on the other hand, turned red with rage. How dare they torment Arista like this? Even the doctors hadn't been so cruel. They had only hurt her body; these rats with wings hurt her heart over and over and over again.
I was so mad I wasn't even surprised when Aellopus and Nicothoe dropped down from the ceiling with loud thumps.
"Really Celaeno? You can't be more creative then taking young Andrina to the Nursery? How dull." Aellopus asked with what would have been a charming smile on anyone else's face. On Aellopus 'leering' or 'creepy' would have described him better. "I can think of better things to do with her."
"Touch me and I'll rip your pinions out Harpy." I snarled at him.
They all cackled mercilessly.
Then they stepped forward as one. "Let's get on with this." Celaeno said with a triumphant smirk. "Podarge, Podarce, block the door. Nicothoe and Aellopus, keep 'em in place. Ladies, cover me." She snapped out orders. I wasn't sure where Aello, their usual ringleader was, or why he had left Celaeno in charge, but she was just soaking in the privilege and power that came with the position.
The others however, weren't so happy about it. "Why do you get to grab her?" Aello's younger sister, Aella snapped. She was smart like her brother and, I had thought, his second in command. Still, I wasn't complaining that Celaeno, who was stupid in her cruelty, had stepped over Aella's claim. I'd take a stupid enemy over a brilliant one any day.
"Yeah," Thuella, Celaeno's own sister, cried sounding just as happy as Aella. "You bungled your chance to grab them last time. You don't get another one."
Celaeno snarled at the two girls. "Who says huh? The Three left me in charge while they talk with Aello. That means I get to make the decisions around here and if I say I get to nab the fish, then I get to nab the fish!"
"Really Celaeno?" Thuella asked, her high voice rising to a shriek. "And if you fail like before? Do you think the Three will be as easy on you this time?"
Celaeno bridled at her words. I could see the dirty feathers on the backs of her arms rising in agitation. This could quickly turn into a throw down.
But they had made one mistake already. Celaeno had turned her back to us and the boys were all watching the girls closely. Podarge and Podarce looked like they were wondering if they should step in now to avoid any blood shed while Aellopus just watched smugly, eager for any kind of fight. It was impossible to tell what Nicothoe was thinking, but either way about it, he wasn't thinking about us.
I eased back, pulling Arista with me. Her shaking had only gotten worse. Thuella had gone too far with her talk about Ariel. By now, Arista's mind was far, far away trying to find our youngest sister.
"And she lived happily ever after." I heard her mumbling to herself. "Happily ever after. She's safe and happy. Please let her be safe and happy." She begged though I don't know who she expected to hear her. In her anguish, she didn't even notice that we were moving closer to the bright white hole.
Unfortunately, Podarce did. "Hey! They're getting away nitwits!" He yelled pointing accusingly at Arista and me.
"Well here goes plan B." I thought.
I shoved Arista towards the rip. She gave a startled screech and then…she was just gone.
I took a literal second to feel shocked that my sister had just vanished into a patch of light before Aellopus was on me.
His grin was nothing less then feral. "Leaving so soon Andrina?" He asked, showing teeth in a predator's smile.
"Yes." I answered shoving him off and punching him in the nose where I heard a satisfying CRACK!
I smirked at the idiot. I hadn't even needed my sixth sense for that.
But I didn't have time to gloat. I pulled my sixth sense down into my hands until they glowed almost as bright as the rip behind me. When Nicothoe came at me next, my punch threw him ten feet back into the wall so hard that dust came down from the ceiling.
Thuella screeched, a loud, high pitched, terrible noise that had me wanting to cover my ears and scream back at her. She only screeched louder, the sound of her voice beginning to paralyze my legs with its power.
Aella, Celaeno, Podarge, and Podarce were coming for me now. Even Nicothoe was getting to his feet. So instead of doing something smart like just turning around before Thuella's horrible noise froze my muscles motionless and high tailing it after Arista into that rip, I did something marginally stupid.
I held out my hands and released my sixth sense into the air in front of me.
The explosion was twenty times more powerful then when I had blasted open the door to free Arista. The Harpies flew back, crashing into the wall, the splintered door, and each other. I would be very surprised if any of them remained conscious after that.
Of course the explosion sent me flying too, right into the rip.
It felt as weirdly beautiful as it looked, although it was as impossible to describe as my sixth sense. All I could see was this soft, golden white light and my skin tingled wherever it touched me. On some level I wondered if this was what falling though thick soda felt like, except less sticky. Or maybe this was what Alice had felt like when she fell into Wonderland. Like falling through dream stuff…
Whatever it felt like, it lasted only a brief moment before I crash landed back into reality.
I landed on my back with a painful thud. I remember a searing pain in my head and then I went out like a broken lightbulb, oblivious to the world.