"He saw. He ran. He escaped. But now they all must pay. They must learn that they cannot cheat death, and they cannot escape their fates."
~ Final Destination ~
Chapter Four:
The Third Fate
Crazy Hand. The snow white, floating hand that was imprisoned for countless amounts of years. Imprisoned in the depths of the mansion never to be seen by anyone.
"Follow me," Palutena whispers as she creeps through the hallways, Shulk tagging on behind her. "Crazy Hand is locked up below the surface. The only way to get to him is by using that elevator."
"Palutena, what if he kills us?" Shulk asks, his head tilting down to the ground.
"Oh don't be so foolish," she replies. "If he is the one who broke the teleporter and activated the switch, killing Sonic, we will have to put a stop to him immediately."
"And what do you mean by that?"
"Meaning that we should kill him."
The pair approach the steel doors to the elevator glaring around every corner. The elevator was off limits, only to be used if Master Hand allowed you to. Palutena presses the red button propped on the wall and the doors slide open. Inside lies a clean, extravagant space with mirrors hung from the walls encrusted with marble. They step inside quickly and stare at the control pad on the wall. Palutena hits a black button labelled 'U.G- OFF LIMITS.'
The doors slide shut and jolly music begins to play. Shulk wobbles and clutches on to the steel bar ringing around the elevator as it slowly lowers underground.
"Act calm and collected. Otherwise he won't be happy," Palutena advises. "Rumor is that he is as psycothic as his name; Crazy Hand." She moves backwards and gingerly rests her back against the wall, dropping her staff and letting it float in thin air.
"What if he isn't the person causing all of this drama? What if someone else activated the switch?" Shulk asks.
"I doubt it," Palutena says. "He has to be the one who did it. There's no other answer to this other than him."
The elevator comes to a sudden stop and a bell rings. The doors shoot open and they both look out into the darkness. Stepping inside the cold, cave-like structure, shivers shoot down their backs.
Large, thick rocks covered in coats of green slime. Dirt covering the floor. Even one or two bats flying around.
Shulk pulls his Monado out from its sheath and firmly grasps it. They both walk forward side by side, their vision plagued by the pitch dark. Palutena raises her staff upwards and it acts like a torch, a beam of light showing the pathway ahead of them.
Sounds of drops of water tickles their ears as they continue onwards.
"I see something.." Shulk whispers looking on ahead. "I see bars.."
After walking a few feet they come face to face with long, steel bars shooting up from the ground into the rocky roof. Palutena presses her face onto them and stares through the gaps inbetween.
"Oh my god... I see him."
She hops backwards and stands beside Shulk, her legs shivering.
"Crazy Hand, we need to speak to you," she shouts after clearing her throat. No reply. Just the sound of trickling water echoes throughout the cave.
"Crazy Hand, please-"
A raspy, maniacal laugh fills the air and presses against their eardrums. They both step backwards slowly and watch as a white figure floats towards them.
"What do you want?" he asks.
Palutena's mouth drops open and she tries to spill some words out.
"Uh.. You don't know what, uh- happened to Sonic?"
The hand lets out a gut-wrenching laugh again, bigger and bolder than the last.
"How could I do anything if I was trapped down here for centuries?"
Palutena stops for a moment and thinks of a good reply.
"How could I do anything if that Master Hand of yours locked me down here for telling the truth?" he continues. "How could I do anything if I was imprisoned for telling him what I saw?"
"What do you mean?" Shulk asks.
The hand lets out a sigh. "It's complicated. I saw visions, just like you..."
Shulk's jaw drops. "How do you know I saw visions?"
"Maybe because I visioned it... I can see everything. I saw your little blue hedgehog get pounded with dumbbells. I saw you and that Hylian weirdo battle it out in the hallways. I even saw that pathetic galaxy queen get stabbed to death!"
The silence that follows is like a wave, sending ripples across the ocean in the room.
"Rosalina?" Shulk asks.
The hand stretches out it's fingers. "Indeed. It was only minutes ago when her precious Link chased her with a knife. Her own powers that sucked every object in the room towards her came as a disadvantage. All the knives pricked her to death."
Palutena and Shulk turn to stare at each other. Cats got their tongues. Unable to speak until Palutena finally manages to squeeze out a sentence.
"What is going on!?"
Crazy Hand lets out a small giggle. "Monado boy's vision is coming to life. Little boy, I saw your vision too. Everyone who died in that dream will die in real life... You can't escape death!"
"Shulk, who died in your vision?" Palutena asks.
"Sonic, Rosalina and... me."
"Well then, looks like you're the final one. Thank you for visiting me," Crazy Hand says. "Goodbye."
He slowly begins to float into the back of his cell into the darkness.
"Wait!" Shulk and Palutena both shout in union.
"What is it?" the hand asks.
"You need to protect me!" Shulk roars. "Just tell me how I can survive! You need to have a vision! Tell me how I'm going to die so I can avoid it"
"Alright.." the plump, white hand whispers. "I'll tell you everything if you free me from this cell..."
Shulk looks back at Palutena. "We must do it if you want me to live!"
"Fine!" Palutena replies.
Shulk raises his Monado high into the air and shouts "Smash," the circular hole in the middle of the weapon filling in with a red light. He charges forward, leaps into the air and slashes at the steel bars, slicing right through them.
Palutena runs forward and shuts her eyes tight. She groans, letting her staff float in the air as she clenches her fists. Suddenly, white stumps appear on either side of her back and spurt upwards quickly, rapidly growing into a pair of wings. They slam forward against the bars, smashing them into pieces. A vibration rattles the ground beneath them and the roof begins to shake.
The wings draw back and vanish into thin air, Palutena picking up her staff afterwards. Dust and dirt begins to shake from the roof as they all look up in horror. Then a rock falls. Then another. Within seconds the roof is caving in.
"We need to go now!" Shulk shouts, sprinting past Palutena towards the elevator
The white hand begins running over the crushed bars on all of his fingers, but it's too late for him. The roof collapses onto his body and he is squished like a pancake within seconds, streams of his blood squeezing out from the soft glove around his body. Like a strawberry in a blender. Within seconds he turns to mush as his insides ooze out.
Palutena begins chasing after Shulk as the roof pours down behind her. Debris and rubble scatter everywhere just as Shulk makes it to the elevator. He smashes the button as hard as he can and the doors slide open. "Come on!" he shouts to Palutena, stepping inside the cold space.
The Goddess reaches the doors in time just before they shut. Shulk smashes the button labelled 'F1' and the elevator slowly begins to rise. And then the room shakes.
They latch onto the bars firmly as the lights begin to flicker. The mirrors begin to rumble and they fall to the floor, shattering into tiny pieces. Glass covering the floor, the walls vibrating and the floor beneath them shaking, Palutena begins to squeal. The doors spring open and Shulk springs outwards, Palutena following behind. But she's not quick enough.
"No!" Shulk shrieks.
The doors slam shut on her neck and she screams in pain. Shulk rushes over and tugs on the steel doors, but they refuse to open back up. They slowly continue to push against each other as the space between her neck and the doors gets smaller and smaller by the second.
"Help!" Shulk begins to scream. "Someone help!"
His voice bounces off the walls and echoes throughout the mansion, but no one can hear him scream in a maze of walls like this.
Palutena begins to let out horrifying sounds as the doors begin to squeeze Shulk's fingers. Not able to deal with the pain, he lets go of the doors as his fingers turn red and Palutena's head slices off.
It rolls across the ground spreading blood across the floorboards and it comes to a stop when it hits the wall. Mouth wide open. Eyes staring at Shulk with her beady pupils. Her red fluids smeared across her face.
Shulk drops to the floor. Not able to scream. Not able to cry. No emotion. He sits and stares. His limbs turn numb and his head clashes against the floor. Lifeless. Like a fallen puppet on strings. Motionless he lays, his eyes falling shut.
She may not have had a fate to be escaped.
She may not have had death follow her.
But it doesn't matter.
Death will always catch back up,
And if one person survives their fate again,
Death will always find a replacement.
The game is coming to an end.
Author's Note:
Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed Chapter 4! The contest I am entering this story into closes tomorrow so Chapter 5 will be up soon.
What did you all think of this chapter? Leave me your thoughts in a review! I always love reading what you all have to say about my stories. It means a lot to me to hear what you have to think about my work :)
Also, a bit of a random question, but... Did anyone watch the Pretty Little Liars Season Six Summer Finale? Woah that was a mouthful. But anyways, I am a HUGE fan of the show and I have watched all seasons, but that was awful... And it was awful because of the reveal of A... It has kind of inspired me to write my own Pretty Little Liars series with a proper A reveal... Stay tuned ;)
Anyways, I hope you all liked this chapter!
Stay tuned for Chapter 5, the final chapter of this story!
Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeeeee :)
