Darkest Before Dawn
Chapter 7
Tail's POV
The institute looked like a jail. It was made of those simple bricks that make the place have a prison type feeling and bars lined each of the windows above. A barbwire fence housed the building inside. If I wouldn't have known where we were going, I would have thought this place was abandoned years ago or I was going to be put to death.
They located the house for the mental on a hill overlooking the great kingdom of Hatsu so the "normal" people would not have to pass it each waking day.
Guards saluted us and opened the only gate to the inside area of the mental establishment. When I saw what awaited me, I felt even more disgusted about the place. There was no grass. There were no trees. Only gray mud…
'No wonder these people are nuts,' I told myself, 'this place makes me wanna go nuts too!'
No, the voice answered, you want to go mad because of ME!
I gulped and set my sights on the front iron doors that led into the place so I could get my mind off the voice. I caught the Princess at the corner of my eye. She was looking at me with a concerned expression. Did she know?
The iron doors were opened for us and the disgusted and terrified King was greeted in by the head doctor this hell hole.
"Welcome, my liege," the doctor bowed. "Sorry to have to call you like this so suddenly. But what we have here might help us on our search for the Queen."
The King nodded, "How many live ones did you find?"
"Most of the camp was already dead." The doctor told us as he started to lead us down the cold, merciless hall. "We found three, but sadly one died on your way over here."
"Died?" The King asked. "How?"
"Probably killed himself," the Captain answered.
The doctor nodded, "Exactly."
"Do you know any of their names?" The Princess suddenly asked him.
The doctor just now noticed her, "Uh, yes. One is named Kage and the other one seems to have forgotten his."
Joruri smiled. "Very good."
The man stopped us at a door with many locks on it. He began to unlock them all, "Now, he is definitely the worst of the two. I don't know if he'll give us any information or not."
"Let us in," the Captain ordered.
"As you wish."
He opened the door to reveal a small room separated into two pieces by a large window. On our side of the room was simply a couple of chairs. The other side held a bed, a desk, and a three legged chair. In the corner behind the desk was a small shadow which was hugging itself.
Joruri and I were about to enter with the King and Captain Little, but he stopped us and said, "I don't want you two in here." He closed the door, but we opened a small crack so we could see inside.
"Finally I see this for myself," Joruri muttered.
"It isn't that pleasant," I warned her.
She nodded solemnly, "I know."
Inside the room the doctor softly tapped the glass to get the shadow's attention. "Come out. I want to have a word with you."
There was silence.
"It's all right, we won't hurt you."
There was no answer.
The King sighed, but the Captain was still expecting something.
Suddenly a cup hit the window and cracked it. The cup dropped to the ground and shattered everywhere. A white rabbit slowly showed itself from the shadows. It was bleeding everywhere and each step it took left a trail of blood. Scratches that looked like it was caused from itself covered its body. Its eyes were bloodshot and had a mad, insane kind of look to them. It was twitching and laughing coldly under its breath.
The King stepped back in shock.
I felt wan. He looked worse than Peterson and Eggman…. The Princess nearly coughed on her own air. She must have not thought it was that bad.
"What have you done to yourself?" The doctor asked the bleeding rabbit sternly.
"I," the rabbit quivered madly, "am simply setting an example…"
"An example?" The King asked. "An example for what?"
The rabbit reached down and picked up a shattered piece of glass with his bare hand. He began to examine it carefully. "You all…. Are like shattered glass." He stuck the glass through his hand. "You all are covered with blood, all a disgrace to the world. Master Shikyo shall change this though."
The white bunny started laughing manically as he picked up each and every piece of glass, "Master can think for YOU! Master can think for EVERYONE!" He chucked the glass pieces at us, but kept a large piece in his hand. "… Master shall get rid of you all… KILL! KILL!" He threw his head up and his laugh filled our ears and the hall behind us.
No one could speak. They just stared in horror.
"No one! NO ONE can stop Master! YOU WILL ALL DIE! AHAHA! OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" He sunk to the ground snickering. "Master Shikyo can think for everyone!"
The King moved back behind the Captain for protection even though there was no way the bunny could have gotten through the glass.
"Take this to heart!" The rabbit cried. "It is DARKEST BEFORE DAWN!" He stuck the large glass piece into his stomach and fell over dead with a mad expression on his face.
Joruri shrieked and covered her mouth in total shock.
"I guess another has died at the wrath of Shikyo," Captain sighed.
"How many is that now?" The doctor asked.
Captain Little thought for a moment and then answered, "308. 308 have died not counting our Queen."
The King hung his head. "… Let's… go see the other one."
The doctor nodded, "Yes. I want you to meet Kage."
He led us out into the hallway and down it, but this time we were all in silence.
"Here's Kage's room," The doctor informed us. He grabbed the door handle and slowly gave it a twist. He opened the door and welcomed us into the room. We all went in this time.
The first thing I noticed was there was no glass.
"There's nothing to protect us?" The King asked.
"No."
"But I don't want to walk among the mad people!" The King protested.
Suddenly a figure came out of the abyss of the room. "Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here."
It was the black kitsune from my dream.
…. Hi there! Please don't mind the bunny. He'll have a… um… nice funeral. Anyway, thanks for being patient. Please review. Thanks!
