Levy groaned, feeling as though she had been hit by a truck, slowly opening her eyes with another whimper. "Ugh…what…" She mumbled while trying to blink away the pain, and reached up to touch her hairline. She felt something warm stick to her fingers. She then felt something on top of her, and with some effort pushed it off with a loud sound. One of the kennels. Looking around the dark area, she saw her flashlight in the middle of the floor, and remembered where she was. Panic struck along with the realization, and she searched for her friends or the beast but saw nothing.
The girl crawled towards her flashlight, gripping it with white knuckles, and looked around her. Nothing but debris. She shakily pointed the beam around the room to see it in a much worse state than before. Cages ripped out of the floor, kennels scattered, and broken equipment. She swallowed hard, until she heard something coming down the stairs. Something big. Levy gasped and headed back towards the cages, looking for a way out. Nothing but a wall. She quickly cupped her hand over the light, trying to stifle her heavy breathing.
The blunette froze as the creature entered the room, and in the soft light seeping from her fingertips she could barely see it–him look around with a fanged snarl. He knew she was here. He walked to the middle of the room and looked at the blood on the ground, curiosity fading into his expression. The muscular creature bent down and touched the red liquid with his finger, and examined it after with a distracted huff.
Levy watched, taking in the details she could in the dark after her eyes adjusted. He was at definitely over six feet tall, significantly muscular. There was also the pretty glaring fact that he looked like he was made of metal, but…that couldn't be possible right? But even in the limited light, she would make out dark scales all over his body. What looked like a large, spiky mane extended down his back, and hung partially in his face; the dark color of it almost made it look like it was melting into the darkness around him. He wore little more than some tattered, brown shorts that were probably once pants and a large brown jacket.
Levy felt a wave of pain and whimpered inadvertently before she slapped a hand over her mouth; too little, too late. She had caught the beast's attention as he whirled and looked right at her. Those eyes were a radiant red, glowing in the dark and fiery with rage. She backed against the wall while her hand dropped from the front of the flashlight, realizing her mistake and the fact she had nowhere to go. Her chest heaved with quick, heavy breaths and blood trickled down the side of her face from small gash in her head.
The girl could only watch in horror as the angry creature stalked towards her, effortlessly pushing away cages and debris like they were toys to him. He stopped directly in front of her, arms held to the side in tight fists. She could not move, paralyzed with fear as the flashlight shook in her hands. He absolutely dwarfed her, and she had to crane her neck almost painfully to make eye contact.
He stood a moment, before he puffed his chest and growled, "Get ouuuut." In as intimidating a tone as possible. But Levy was rooted, absolutely astonished that he, whatever he was, could speak. Her lack of compliance brought another growl ripping violently from his chest as he lurched forward and slammed a fist into the wall above her. "NOW!"
The second his fist hit, she scrambled to her feet and took off down the wall, clutching her light like a lifeline. She heard the beast roar behind her and give chase, herding her along the walls and barely slowed by anything in his way. Levy had thought that weaving through all the junk would help her, but she could hear him slam through all of it and his heavy footsteps gain on her. Tears started to stream down her face as her desperation took over.
She was running out of places to go, and while looking over her shoulder to see where he was, she tripped over something and fell hard to the cold floor, sliding until she hit something else. Levy groaned, pushing herself up and looking around with her flashlight until she comprehended where she was. To her horror, she had slid right into one of those huge cages that were rooted to the floor. She now had nowhere to go, and could do nothing but helplessly watch as he came to the front of the cage. Levy pushed herself as far back against the wall as she could, shaking like a leaf.
He stopped and his lips curled into a snarl, glowing red eyes staring inside. There was a moment of silence, before a noise of frustration escaped him. This wasn't supposed to happen, stupid girl cornered herself the hell am I supposed to do now.
"I-I didn't mean to—" She was cut off by a harsh snarl as he bent forward, crouching down to put his face uncomfortably close to hers. She swallowed hard and leaned back a little more, wincing from another wave of pain. "Ow…" She muttered.
The beast's eyes wandered up to her forehead, oblivious to his disregard for personal space. Ah shit, now I've done it. They weren't supposed to get hurt. He could barely remember where he had lost control of himself, and now he had hurt someone. He may as well have been begging for more attention.
The drawn out silence caused Levy to shift uncomfortably, her eyes moving longingly to the exit behind him. When he let out a long sigh and leaned back, she looked back to him. The previous rage seething through his features had faded away, replaced by frustrated concentration.
"I-I'm sorry to bother you." Levy squeaked, immediately beating herself internally. What was that?! I didn't trespass on the neighbor's lawn. I found a MONSTER in an abandoned LABORATORY.
The male rolled back on his heels and cocked his head backwards, lifting his brows in what looked like surprise. He had expected more screaming, the "last ditch fighting for your life" routine, or at the very least the "sobbing resignation to death" spiel. But instead this pocket-sized creature had found the breath to apologize for bothering him. He had rehearsed responses for all of the aforementioned reactions. He did his thing, threw some shit around, they ran screaming, he chased a little, and they never came back. And then they told scary stories that kept others from coming back. That's how it was supposed to go. But none of this was happening how it was supposed to.
Levy, meanwhile, had felt the palpable shift in the air, and appreciated the increase in personal space he had given her. She knew he could speak some, but how much was another question. He seemed like he could understand her, albeit was taken off guard by it. I guess that makes sense, it's not like people are likely to talk to him. The thought actually brought a small pang of pity that surprised her. He had her trapped, perfectly, but this fact had seemed to deter him rather than prove advantageous and there had to be a reason for that.
This gave her the time to think about what this place actually was. There was a reason it was shut down and abandoned, and clearly there was a something that fueled all the urban legends swirling around this place. Having seen what it looked like inside, it was considerably more ominous than she had expected it to be. It put a terrible feeling in her gut that went beyond the fact that she had some kind of metal monster staring her down. Something went on in this building…something that clearly involved him. "They did something to you. Bad things, right?" The words left her before she had realized that she was thinking out loud, and she tensed waiting for the response.
Instead, he straightened up and narrowed his eyes, but he seemed like he was trying to make a decision rather than express malcontent. After a moment, he looked to the side and nodded slowly, eyes narrowed
He can understand me! She thought, eyes wide. Levy's thought must have been all over her face, because a low, warning growl rumbled in the man's chest. She flinched, but leaned forward, trying to look up at him. "Who are you?" She finally found the courage to ask. She was met with silence again.
Who… The one word stuck out to him. Not 'what.' She had very specifically said 'who.' He quickly caught himself on the road his thoughts were going down and he abruptly crossed his arms and leaned forward, reclaiming the uncomfortable closeness of before. Narrowed, red eyes scrutinized her. "That ain't none of your business, shrimp." He snarled.
Levy blinked in shock, absolutely beside herself that her tormentor, in this situation, at this time, made fun of her height. Of all things. She would have understood it better if he had reached out and tried to throttle her. And she could not help the instinctive puffing of her cheeks and expulsion of words from her mouth that flew out faster than she could stop them, "Excuse me?!"
The blunette realized immediately after what she had done and slapped a hand over her mouth, staring at him with bated breath. But he merely stared, slack-jawed and brows raised. As if the situation couldn't have gotten stranger, this, again, was the last thing he expected. He cracked a smirk, amused, and opened his mouth to say something in retort…but he stopped himself again and snapped it shut.
The anticipation for a response was suffocating, but a sudden sting on her scalp made Levy wince, and she raised a hand to wipe at the tickling sensation on her face. She looked down at her hand, and mumbled a quiet "Oh.." Her hand was covered in the fresh liquid, and her attention was brought back to the sharp throbbing on her scalp.
His eyes followed hers to the red on her hand and frowned. He weighed his thoughts and slicked his teeth. Before, finally, "Does…does that hurt…?" Levy's eyes shot up at the sound of his voice, rough but hushed, with a noticeably softer gaze focused on her. Speaking still felt strange for him, foreign even. And to be entirely honest he didn't know why he had asked her. He had no reason to. What he should have been doing was chasing her out of here.
Levy nodded slowly and pitifully, looking again to the exit past him. She felt anxious to leave, or to at least not be backed up against the back wall of a cage anymore. The iron creature shifted his weight, then took a few steps back to get out of her way. Levy watched him warily, before slowly hauling herself to her feet and tentatively walking out of the cage. Her foot caught on something on the floor and she stumbled, but a strong, solid, and cold hand caught her under the arm, steadying her. She looked up to the man, and he abruptly released her to take an additional step back away from her. He lifted a hand and pointed across the room, "It's that way."
The exit, right. Levy smiled lightly, "Thank you…" What else was she supposed to say? Not fifteen minutes ago she thought she was going to die, and now he was showing her the way out. A thank you was the very least she could offer.
Proceeding carefully though the dark, she could see the stairs across the room, practically calling her name and they may as well have had a heavenly glow. She paused and looked over her shoulder, seeing that he had been following her, arms crossed and gaze to the side. Well I don't blame him for making sure I actually leave. Levy thought. In the most basic of terms, she had certainly overstayed her welcome.
An intense wave of relief washed over her when she came to the base of the staircase, followed by a discouraged sigh. They were in far worse shape than before, courtesy of the violent encounter earlier. This is going to be a lot harder to climb up. Especially since they seemed to be spinning and the light of her flashlight looked like it was slowly dying out…starting at the corner of her vision…
"Ohhh…" She swayed, humming in confusion, before a wave of dizziness drowned her and she closed her eyes, falling backwards. Before the small woman hit the ground, a solid grip caught her under her arms.
God damnit, how can someone this small be this much fucking trouble. He just wanted to be rid of her. With the best of luck she would get some kind of amnesia when she woke and forget all about this place. Wishful. He thought.
He just wanted to be left alone, especially when he was like this… Why would someone like you come here. Why would a tiny creature like you willingly come someplace so dangerous. Because he was. Dangerous, that is. His temper worked well enough to scare people like her friends out but if he didn't keep a handle on it then it was so easy, so painfully easy to hurt people.
The man sighed, hoisting her up and slinging her carefully over his shoulder. He grumbled, voicing his protest to the air, and made his way up the noisy steps to the floor above. On his way to the exit he glanced back at his cargo ever so often, just to make sure she was still breathing. A dead girl was the absolute lastthing he needed.
Once outside, he noticed the sky was beginning to brighten with the approaching morning, casting hues of pinks and oranges across the sky and shining on his iron flesh. Dawn already?
He glanced to the hole in the perimeter fence, taking a moment to think. An idea struck him, and he moved through and just past the broken barrier. He set her down gently on her side at the base of a tree, all while making sure she was well enough in the open. He reached up and gripped a low, dead branch and tore it down then kneeled down beside her.
Trying not to think much of it, he reached to her face to try and wipe away some of her blood. But something stopped him, and he took the time to study her gentle face–he could swear it was glowing–in the warmer light. Those blue curls and waves were distracting, and he could swear that this was the first time he was seeing such a color. He felt something strange stir in his chest. But a quick, aggravated huff and a violent head shake dashed it away just as quickly as it had manifested itself.
Quickly, he swiped some crimson liquid from her face, smeared it on the branch, and dropped it by her head. He took a final chance to make sure she was still alive, leaning down incredibly close to put his cheek in front of her mouth. The soft, warm breath on his cheek made his eyes flutter, and he took in a deep breath. Lavender….
"Tch!" He recoiled, practically stumbling to his feet, and all but ran back into his ruins. The hell was that?!