"We've been waiting for ages to get out!" they said at once.
.
The shadowplay made them look like monsters against a black, void backdrop; and it made her eyes gleam in an otherworldly way that made him shiver.
'Don't worry about me,' her meek voice drifted towards him, 'But go back before the exit closes.'
He looked behind him. The front part of the bus was a shimmering source of light in the distance, that seemed to draw farther and farther with each breath he took. He couldn't chase after it, not even if he'd wanted to.
The two men-turned-something-else shifted behind him and stirred the thick darkness. Their voices in unison sounded hollow and distorted, and beckoned to him- 'It won't be twice the same, we promise…,' they said, 'This time, you'll fall. This time, eternity will wait for us', they said.
Not one thing they said made any sense to him, and he sought reassurance from the girl, but her face was impassive, betraying nothing.
'I don't know what you're talking about', he snapped, and a little voice in the back of his mind disagreed.
You do know, if you only cared to remember. Remember, Seto…? 5000 years ago…?
He didn't remember anything, and he had no logical reason to trust a scaredy voice in his head. What he did was see vague images flash before his eyes- dungeons, chains, monsters.
Death and a white light.
But that meant nothing to him. Images were not memories, not as far as he gave a damn.
'Seto,' she whispered, quietly, and he saw her struggle to get out of their grasp that was like the grasp of a spider and the grasp of a colossus. He took a step forward, instinctively. As if, should they drop her, she'd fall into an abyss wherefrom she'd be irretrievable.
Again.
He didn't question why he cared.
'Woman, we'll do as we please with you,' they said, as if they were repeating something they'd said before. But they weren't.
In the darkness, his skin seemed much darker than it was.
The beacon of light behind him had been stitched up with fine tendrils of black dimness, and, in the umbrageous shadows, faint wisps of violet smoke rose from the faded ground.
Her voice trembled.
'I've been here before,' she said.
'We've all been here before,' the two replied, their voices one.
'Let her go,' he commanded, for the last time. His voice rang final- it sounded like the voice of a monarch.
They grinned.
He lounged forward, putting years of martial-arts training to their best use so far, knocking them down easily. He grabbed the girl by her wrist, pulled her to his chest.
'Are you okay, Kisara?'
'I am- but that's not my name.'
The two men stood up. They no longer were human, but twisted creatures of the shadows: one like a spidery being, the other one like a wretched titan. Both towered above Seto and the girl, grabbed at them- but they were already running… fast, incredibly fast- unaware of when they had started running.
They might have even been running all their lives.
Run, run, run, ghastly voices behind them slurred, No one can ever leave the realm of shadows.
The girl that wasn't Kisara was so pale that she seemed to gleam faintly, making the shadows retreat, angrily. The whole of the darkness seemed to be singing now: No one leaves, no one can ever leave the Realm of the Shadows.
He didn't have a plan, for the first time in a long time. He felt neither tired nor scared, but slightly unworthy of being dragging her along. The quivering tinge of energy that seeped from her skin through his fingertips stirred the thought in him, that she should be dragging him instead.
He stopped. She stopped. He let go of her hand.
'Why are you letting me drag you around?' he snapped, thinly annoyed.
'They'll catch up with us,' she replied, evenly.
Her answer didn't please him. 'You obviously know more than you're letting on, so get us out of here or let me fend for myself. Your passiveness is idle,' he sentenced, much in the tone he reserved specially for his brother.
She nodded- not one reaction she'd had so far made any sense to him. She took his wrist (her hands were cold).
'Do you trust me?' she asked.
'I guess I wouldn't have a choice.'
She seemed to take his annoyance as though it was kindly meant.
Their exchange had lasted but a couple of seconds, and they broke into a run again, under the looming shadows of the two gruesome creatures chasing them- from the darkness, and into the darkness.
.
.
.
Author's Note:
I want to dedicate this chapter to Erik's Champion, whose support moved me to update :)
I hope you've liked it, even if it's short.
A question, guys: do you think they're in-character so far?