A/N: So I am three weeks behind on this update, super sorry about that!
Uh, long story short, went through some really weird shit, got in a fight with my boss and quit my job. It was a long time coming and I knew it was inevitable- it just happened a lot sooner than I thought it would. And a lot sooner than I would've liked. But it was a pretty toxic environment and he was a shitty guy and in the end, I'm the one who matters most to me.
Anyways, things were a little stressful there, so I apologize if this chapter isn't quite up to par- although somehow it still managed to turn out longer than I would've liked it to be.
Thanks for sticking around and hopefully I can get things up and running smoothly again soon!
The two of them were halfway to being soaked by the time the five minutes had passed- give or take at least.
The rain must've been coming down a lot harder than Joseph thought it was.
He and Kidman should've taken advantage of the dry standing room the front door canopy provided, but the idea of it never really crossed his mind. Given how bad the weather in Krimson City always was, the two of them had just gotten used to standing in the rain; hell, Joseph himself had just stopped noticing it all together by now. And at this point, they had dealt with plenty of cases that had required them to be outside in the rain, getting soaking wet, while they just stood around being miserable- watching as all of their evidence washed away.
So this really wasn't much different compared to what they were already used to.
At the same time, Joseph had been too focused on just trying to clear his head and trying to forget about the scenario that they would soon have to continue forward on. The same scenario that was driving him further and further into madness it felt like, offering him no chance to breathe between hauntings.
Given the matching silence from Kidman, he could only presume that she must've been trying to do the same.
Trying to forget about the matters that had harmed them.
And trying to focus on the up-coming matters that would no doubt only hurt them further.
The quiet stillness between them was both fitting yet awkward.
It felt like there were things that needed to be said, things that should've been pushed for further discussion, for further debate between them but... Joseph knew that he didn't exactly have the mentality to deal with those things right now.
And given the silence and the odd serenity around them, it didn't feel like this was the place to do it either.
It didn't help that every time Joseph looked over at Kidman for too long, all he could see was that nightmare playing itself over and over again in his head. It didn't help that he could still feel the curve of her throat against his palm; that he could still feel the raking of her fingers against his face.
And maybe it was his own paranoia, but Joseph swore the few times he caught Kidman looking back at him, it was like she seemed to understand what he had told her about before; it was like she seemed to understand what he was seeing even now. And every now and again, there almost seemed to be this catch of fear in her eyes just before she blinked and looked away.
It was crazy and part of him was still convinced that it was all still real, but...
No.
Joseph would take Kidman's word on what she had said; he wouldn't doubt anything that she had assured him of.
She had no reason to lie to him- especially over something this serious.
So he had no reason to not believe her.
"Come on, we should head back inside," Joseph finally spoke, breaking the even silence between them. He didn't want to keep Sebastian waiting for them, especially since it seemed like the other man wouldn't be joining them outside. Joseph wouldn't doubt it if Sebastian just wanted some time to himself for a little while- Lord knows the man needed some breathing room. But at the same time, being separated from the Lead Detective was making him almost nervous.
So far nothing good had ever happened while they were separated.
And for some reason, they kept willingly separating themselves anyways.
It was almost like they wanted to put themselves and each other in danger.
Joseph started to head back inside, wanting to get out of the rain, but he stopped when he felt Kidman grab his arm. The woman hadn't budged from where she was standing, which implied she didn't want him to move from where he had been either.
"You feeling better?" she asked, oddly quiet at that.
It was almost like she had been wanting to break the silence with the question but just couldn't bring herself to do it. Or maybe she had just been as preoccupied with her own thoughts and he had simply snapped her out of them- evidently prompting the question out of sparked concern instead.
"Hard to say," Joseph admitted, unsure of what other answer he could give her. "I still feel the same, but it's difficult to tell if it's good or bad at this point. And if it's good, I don't necessarily know just how long it's going to remain as such."
"Well, I can tell you that you seem to be acting more like yourself now," Kidman assured, or at least started to, "- considering that it's still hard to get a straight answer out of you."
While the remark was enough to get a short laugh out of him, Joseph wasn't looking to encourage the pointed jab- although even he had to admit that she wasn't without making a point. "Alright, alright, I feel... better, considering the obstacles," he spoke before adding himself, "- but I would feel better if we were inside."
Kidman seemed satisfied with his answer for now and followed his motion to head back in.
The stagnant air inside of the mansion was almost comforting now against his wet skin- and given how stuffy the air was, it wouldn't take long for the two of them to dry out either. But Joseph knew that it wouldn't be too long before the stagnant warmth wore out its welcome. Before the three of them were trying to ignore the heat and the beads of sweat on the backs of their necks.
Joseph watched as Kidman ran a hand through her hair and shook some of the rain water out of it; she then loosely brushed the same hand over the front of her shirt to smooth it out. If the woman cared at all about the mild-transparency of her shirt, she didn't show it. Then again, Kidman didn't really care much about it even after the water tank trap.
Of course, there had been more important things to worry about at that time.
(There was always something more important to worry about in this place.)
"You two done getting soaked outside?" Sebastian questioned, as the man pushed himself up from where he had been seated on one of the staircases. There was no doubt that Sebastian was still trying to wrap his head around everything they had just gone through in the past two hours.
"We're fine," Joseph replied, watching as the Lead Detective dropped his half-finished cigarette to the floor and crushed it underfoot.
Again, Joseph couldn't help but remember that they were walking on thin ice around here enough as it was to begin with- and that was before they had somehow managed to piss off this Ruvik guy. He really didn't want to go around pushing his luck with doing anything else out of line. At least, nothing more so than what they were already doing.
And going through Ruvik's personal home seemed to be enough of a death wish on its own.
Looking past Sebastian, Joseph looked once more to the single remaining capsule on the door before them, taking a longer look at it this time. On one hand, it was a relief to know that they were finally making progress in this nightmare world; it was a relief to know that they only had one brain puzzle left to do before they could finally leave this part of the mansion behind them.
And yet, on the other hand, it was frustrating to know that there was only one capsule standing in their way. It was frustrating to know that there weren't that many rooms left, or any at all that they hadn't already checked over before.
And even then, once they had all the puzzles done and all the capsules filled... they had no idea what would be behind that iron door.
They had no idea about what could be waiting for them on the other side.
"Alright, well do we have any other leads from here?" Joseph asked, although he was certain that he already knew the answer.
"Nothing that we haven't already figured out," Sebastian answered, before he gestured to the door behind him. "It looks like the remaining cable runs into the right wing, but we checked it earlier and it was a dead end. That's not to say that we didn't miss something along the way, which wouldn't surprise me; it wasn't like we knew what the hell we were supposed to be doing when we got here."
"Sounds like we're going to have to backtrack then," Kidman remarked, looking less than thrilled about the implication. "And considering that the second brain thing was found inside of a fireplace, I'm not exactly liking our odds of just how deep we'll have to look this place over again."
At least knowing that they were obviously missing something was something that they could all agree on.
But like Sebastian had mentioned, their earlier investigation of this place didn't have them looking for anything specific. It had taken them awhile to figure out that there were pipes connected to the capsules to begin with- especially given that they had stumbled across the first brain puzzle by pure accident. And even then, with the second capsule, Joseph recalled the pipe only leading through the library before it disappeared.
So even with the given hints and clues in front of them, the answers weren't exactly straight forward.
Thankfully, in their line of work, answers very rarely were- which meant they were prepared regardless.
"Wait, there was one of those brain things in a fireplace?" Joseph questioned.
"It was a hidden tunnel designed to look like a fireplace," Sebastian explained.
"How'd you figure that out?"
"That's not important, let's just focus on what's ahead of us."
Some questions were best left unanswered, but given the subtle chuckle Kidman gave in response to the cut answer, Joseph would've loved to hear Sebastian's train of deduction in finding the hidden tunnel. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, after all the man had managed to find the second piece of this fucked up cerebral puzzle.
"Alright, well let's start with following that pipe again; we've had to have overlooked something," Joseph spoke.
As often as he was the one who usually suggested it, Joseph hated the idea of having to backtrack; he preferred that they'd keep moving forward at all costs. But in a situation like this, it was unfortunately necessary. And in a way, backtracking would be pushing them forward- at least, Joseph had to keep telling himself that. If doing this would help them find the final piece to this agonizing puzzle and get them out of this mansion, than so be it.
Maybe there really was something that they had missed before.
Wordlessly, the three of them headed through the door to their right, the one settled just behind the staircase.
The room on the other side had to have been fashioned as some sort of lounge room, maybe an entertainment room given the open space and furniture in it. There were plenty of well-preserved, antique chairs to go around; hell, they almost filled up the room just on their own. But with the chairs came the surrounding of expensive-looking decor that filled every available corner and nook. There were massive, gold-plated vases that nearly matched his own height- almost shadowing Joseph in the dim light of the room.
Given how empty the rest of the mansion looked, especially the domestic wing, it was sort of odd that this room seemed to have been left largely untouched.
As though whoever had gone through and gutted this place had somehow managed to overlook it.
There was one visible doorway in the far back corner of the room and a hallway next to it that only lead back to a smaller, more secluded area. Joseph already knew that the corner door only opened to another, abet smaller room- one that had yielded one of those Haunted creatures in it earlier. Other than the creature however, there was little else in there but old damaged furniture that had been stored away, potentially as garbage.
"Maybe it's under one of the couches," Kidman remarked next to him.
And her tone was a mix of sarcasm and exhaustion.
A hint that this bullshit was tiring for everyone.
"Knock yourself out then, Kidman," Sebastian replied.
"There's another fireplace you can search while you're waiting, Detective."
Joseph felt compelled to ignore the ongoing conversation, choosing to not get involved should the two decide they didn't like the shared sarcasm between them. Instead, he crossed the room and started down the hallway; his eyes were following the visible pipe as it ran along the wall above him. They had tracked it before but given the dead-end of the room, they didn't put much thought into it; they had been more concerned with clearing and securing the area before doing any proper investigation.
And considering the dead silence of the mansion now, it was as clear and secure as it was going to get.
The back room was furnished only with the abandoned strings of a decent-looking cello and with the ruins of a former grand piano- which was another odd expense that seemed to have been left untouched by scavengers.
On the far wall in front of him was a massive painting Joseph recalled seeing twice already now; the only difference this time was that the painting was now in one complete piece. It was a portrait of some kind of guillotine scene with a crowd of faceless men above overlooking the execution. The same painting had been in the main room just above the staircases, but that one had had the upper half of it ripped off- showing only the victim at the bottom. It had also been in the library on the second floor; with that one, the lower half had been removed, showing only the judges above it.
Each half portion of the picture had come with an accompanying dial, which had offered them no answer as to where the dials actually went. They definitely went to some sort of combination lock, but they had yet to come across anything like that in here.
Joseph wished that seeing the painting in one piece would make all of it make sense to him but... it didn't.
The execution portrayal only made his neck itch instead.
It made him question further just what kind of people had lived in this mansion before all of this occurred.
Who in their right mind would want a painting like that hanging up in three separate places?
Other than the instruments and the odd execution portrait, there was little else that stuck out to him. The room was littered with trash, debris, and with plenty of discarded picture frames; whoever's or whatever's portraits that had once been in them were now gone.
So where did that leave them?
What did that leave them with?
Unless there was some kind of hidden room or hidden compartment somewhere in here that was triggered by playing a melody on the piano, they were once more fresh out of luck.
(No one here had the skills or experience to play a piano correctly.)
It didn't help that half of the ivory keys appeared to have been broken in some way or another, so using them would be useless to try and do anyways.
It didn't leave them with much else.
The broken windows around the hanging portrait let in the white hue of the moonlight outside, casting thin streaks of light across the walls and floorboards- as if the room wasn't feeling ominous enough. And yet, as fitting as the mood it set was, the light only made Joseph question just what time of day it was in here. It had been early afternoon at the church and overcast when they had initially landed at the mansion- and yet now, it was pitch dark out through the windows.
But he and Kidman were just outside and it had only been dim because of overcast.
Were there day and night cycles to this place then?
And were they stuck somewhere in-between the two?
The white pool of light on the floorboards caught the glimmer of red sunken into the damaged wood. And it was enough to catch his eye, enough to catch his attention as he slowly followed the red trail to the odd, blood-stained portrait positioned on the wall in the far corner of the room.
... Joseph couldn't recall that being there before.
Maybe they had missed it during their initial investigation, but he didn't think so.
They definitely would've noticed something like that.
Joseph slowly moved towards the bloodied portrait, weary of the blood that still appeared to be trickling down from underneath its frame. It trickled down and pooled against the floorboards, spilling out into a puddle of red. It must've been bleeding for awhile now given how the floorboards creaked and bowed underfoot; there was some hesitation in questioning whether or not the flooring could still support his weight.
The portrait itself looked to have once been a sort of Victorian-era painting, much like how the rest of the portraits in this mansion were.
The only exception was that this one was missing its head, which was instead replaced with the face of a safe.
A safe that all too closely resembled that box-headed creature in the catacombs.
The blood alone was making him uneasy, not to mention the smell that came with it, but the memories of that impenetrable creature only made this whole experience feel worse.
And that was when Joseph noticed something carved on the wall space next to it. It looked like someone had taken a knife to the wall, cutting lines and shapes into the wallpaper, cutting down to the sheet rock. But when he ran his fingers over the mess, he confirmed that each cut wasn't just a random slice; each one was intentional, almost as though it was spelling something.
So it wasn't like someone had come to this mansion before them and had tried to pry the safe out of the wall, or had attacked the wall out of frustration. It seemed like they had left a message behind- maybe a clue to this whole thing.
The only issue with the carvings was that he couldn't read them.
It felt like his eyes were still trying to adjust; they still ached even with the faint light coming in through the window.
The carvings came to him as blurred, muddled shapes- and he wasn't exactly up on his braille.
Great.
This was the perfect time for his failing eyesight to make itself apparent.
"You alright back here?"
Joseph glanced up at the call and watched as Kidman emerged from the hallway, no doubt coming to see where he had gone off to. And he supposed he should've announced where he was going in the first place. It was this lack of communication that was going to get them hurt or killed.
"Yeah, just trying to figure something out," Joseph assured, watching as Kidman moved towards the piano and carefully ran her fingers over the exposed keys. The woman wiped them off on her jeans a few seconds later however. "Hey, can you see if you can read this? I think... someone scratched something into the wall over here."
"Think so?" Kidman replied, as she started towards him- only to slow down slightly as soon as she caught sight of what exactly he was looking at. And Joseph figured that she saw the safe and had made the same connection to that creature in the catacombs as he had. "Was this thing always here?" she questioned, as she moved in next to him.
Alright, so he wasn't the only one who hadn't noticed it.
"I guess," he offered with a partial shrug. "I didn't see it when we came through here before."
Kidman didn't seem to like the answer but she turned her attention to the carvings he pointed out to her instead. She reached forward and ran her fingers over the carved words. "'Two worlds, separated by a jagged chasm. Above, faceless spectators, mocking the tragedy. Below, helpless victims, losing everything.'"
That was... not something Joseph was expecting.
He was hoping maybe it was something a little more straightforward.
Like an actual code or something and not just another riddle.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Kidman whispered, mirroring his sentiments exactly. "And why is there one of these safes here? I thought we left those things behind us."
Yeah, Joseph thought they had.
It was one thing to see the safes just simply scattered around in the catacombs but...
It had been another thing to see them acting as a head on a body.
"There was that document we found in the catacombs that said Ruvik had started the habit of locking his research away in these safes, right?" Joseph started, as he reached out and touched the front of the exposed safe. Under his fingers, he felt where there were two indentations, implying that something was missing. And it didn't take a genius to figure out that every safe needed combination dials. "I don't know where he was conducting his research, but I think we can safely assume that there must be something he locked behind here."
Not that he was all that encouraged to find out what it might be.
But even if there was something locked behind this safe, it wouldn't be what they were looking for.
The dimensions of the safe were too small to fit the last of the brain things they were after.
And that was the only thing that they needed right now.
More than likely, there would just be some kind of key behind the safe- which would only put them on another wild chase.
Joseph reached into his vest pocket and fished out the dial he had gotten from the library, glad now that he had decided to take it after all. Aligning it correctly, he placed it into the top indentation and watched as it slipped right in.
Maybe their luck hadn't completely run out just yet.
Although something told him that this was just the easy part of it.
"Hey Sebastian," Joseph called, stepping away from the safe to see where the man had gone off to. Once more, he hadn't been aware that the Lead Detective wasn't even with them- not that they were far off from each other. And Sebastian was usually quiet anyways, so Joseph had just assumed that the man had followed up behind Kidman when she came through. Regardless, he didn't have to wait long before Sebastian emerged from the hallway. "Do you still have that other dial we found earlier?"
"Yeah, why? You find a place for it?" Sebastian questioned, as he pulled the other dial from his pocket and tossed it without further prompt.
Luckily, Joseph managed to catch it- otherwise he would've had to fish it out of the blood pool at his feet. Turning back to the safe, he inserted the second dial into the remaining indentation and watched as it snapped in perfectly.
Okay, first part down, they had the dials in place.
Now they just needed a combination.
"We got the numbers for this thing?" Kidman questioned.
"Uh, not exactly," Joseph admitted. "This is as far as I thought off the top of my head- and I feel like we got pretty lucky with it as is." He stepped away and turned back towards the painting once more. "The combination has to have something to do with this painting though. We've found each dial with a corresponding piece of it nearby. What was it that that message said? 'Above, faceless spectators; below, helpless victims?'"
"I hate this place."
"Eleven executioners, two victims," Sebastian spoke, ignoring Kidman's remark, as he stepped up to the painting- although he looked less than interested in it. "Try that."
Eleven and two.
Sounded easy enough.
Joseph carefully set each dial to the respective numbers; eleven for the top dial, two for the bottom one. There was this feeling in his gut that had him instinctively moving away from the safe as soon as he set the dial to two. He had no idea what was going to be unveiled when the safe opened, but something told him to be prepared for anything regardless of the safe's size.
No sooner had Joseph heard the successful click of the safe unlocking, the door of it burst open in a violent spewing of blood and chucks- all of which he just barely managed to avoid by side-stepping away from it.
And again, it reminded him of the creature in the catacombs.
It reminded him of the disgusting crackling of its neck as the creature twisted its own head again and again until it broke and fell away- only to allow it to teleport to the next safe. Only to allow the box-headed thing to regenerate itself again and again and again.
(Joseph half-expected to see the same kaleidoscope effect flash in front of his eyes.)
There was a subtle pop followed by a low creak as the portion of the wall that the safe was connected to broke away and slowly swung inward- revealing a pitch-black passage on the other side.
Just the sight of it made his hair stand on end and Joseph felt himself reflexively grab Kidman by the arm, as though to assure himself that he wasn't alone, that the world itself hadn't shifted around him.
He felt Kidman return the gesture.
"Well this keeps getting better and better," Sebastian remarked as he stepped forward, one hand tugging loose the lantern at his hip. "Doesn't look like it goes too far down."
"Did you know this thing was here?" Kidman asked.
"Yeah, saw it earlier when we came through- didn't really think anything of it," he answered. "It's not exactly the strangest thing-"
Sebastian was cut off as the sound of the door in the other room being kicked open echoed down the hallway to them. The three of them froze in place, unsure exactly of what they had heard; they decided to wait and bid their time. It didn't take long before they heard the all too familiar sound of incoherent grunts and shouts coming from the next room however.
Christ, how many more of those creatures were in this place?
Before Joseph could completely comprehend what was going on, or what they were going to do about it, he felt Sebastian push the lantern into his hands.
"You two figure this out, I'll take care of them," Sebastian spoke, before he slowly made his way across the room towards the narrow hallway.
As much as they were trying to avoid combat at this point, there was little place for them to run and hide in this area. And despite how quiet they could try to be, it wouldn't be long before the Haunted came down here to investigate- and that wasn't to say that the creatures didn't already know about their presence here to begin with.
In which case, they would want someone to serve as a buffer.
Still, Joseph didn't like it when combat forced them apart.
"Alright, I'll stay posted here then," Kidman remarked, and then added, "- as your back-up."
Joseph was pretty certain that she was just being sarcastic again but decided to play it safe. "Thanks," he replied, as he carefully switched the lantern on and slowly raised it as he stepped towards the dark hallway. Despite, or perhaps because of everything they had gone through before this point, he really didn't want to be the one going in first.
The corridor was tight and it felt like it was just barely wide enough for him to squeeze through- not without touching the walls anyways. The light of the lantern caught specks of red on the walls and when Joseph moved forward to investigate, he found more of the same bloodied portraits lined down the hallway. Each one armed with the same safe as the one he had just opened.
There were six safes in total- seven counting the one they had just solved.
Which only made Joseph question just how many times had this secret wall been opened before.
And by who exactly.
And why.
Leading with the lantern, Joseph caught the shadow of a familiar pattern in front of him. "There's a door at the end of this," he called back to Kidman, as he stepped cautiously through the blood-soaked corridor. Each of the portraits had bled out apparently, pooling blood that was now old yet still sticky through the tight hallway. Once more, he heard the creaking and felt the bowing of the floorboards underneath him with each step, which did little to assure him that he actually wanted to see what was behind this door.
It didn't help that holding the lantern in one hand made it too difficult for him to carry his gun.
He could've risked doing so for his own safety, but he wasn't exactly the best at one-handed shots; he preferred the stability and accuracy of a two-hand hold. And while technically it was better than nothing, Joseph preferred safety over all else. Shooting wildly in this tight space would only heighten the risk of the bullet hitting him instead.
And he'd really prefer to avoid getting shot at all costs.
As tight as the hallway felt, and even with the sticky blood underfoot, he felt more confident with the idea of running rather than fighting.
Holding his breath, both out of anticipation and because of the overwhelming smell of rancid blood, Joseph approached the door and carefully moved one hand forward to push it open. His fingers barely grazed the door before he heard the familiar popping of gunshots lost somewhere behind him.
Right. Sebastian was taking care of their Haunted problem.
The gunshots sounded different but Joseph blamed it on the odd echo this hallway was catching.
Pushing against the door, Joseph felt it almost swing open on its own- leading him to believe that it had been open this entire time. Or perhaps that something was on the other side pulling it open for him.
As soon as the door was opened, a florescent light bled out into the dark hallway, flooding the small space and blinding him almost immediately. Joseph turned away, using his free arm to shield his face as pain seared through his eyes at the same time.
Always with the fucking light.
It wasn't like before though.
The pain only lingered for a few seconds before it died off, before it felt like his eyes weren't melting back into his sockets.
Joseph was able to recover quick enough, but the subtle ache behind his eyes continued to linger on.
Blinking a few times to ease the blurriness out of his vision, Joseph turned back to see what exactly had been revealed by the door.
And he found himself staring at the back of an exposed brain.
The third and final piece to the puzzle.
Joseph took a second to focus on what he was seeing, feeling a mix of relief and disgust at looking at it. Going around looking for exposed brains wasn't exactly something he ever saw himself having to do, but right now this brain was the one thing they were looking for. It was the one thing they were actually hoping to find, as fucked up as it sounded.
He reluctantly stepped into the room, knowing that he had to ensure that this was the last piece they needed. He had to ensure that this wasn't some kind of trap, that the brain wasn't some kind of decoy of some sorts- which was something that would not surprise him in the least bit. He wouldn't be surprised if Ruvik kept a collection of brains in this place, more than just the three they had found.
Joseph just barely passed the threshold before he caught sight of something white, of something transparent flickering into view just inches in front of him. He barely got a chance to register what he was seeing before the thing moved towards him, before it passed straight through him like it was some kind of ghost- like some kind of apparition maybe.
And almost immediately, Joseph felt his blood go cold in his veins before a hot pain spilled itself from his abdomen.
The room around him went completely still and he was overcome with this odd, sort of out of body feeling; he retained all of his senses but he couldn't move- in fact, it was almost like his entire body was numb. Joseph couldn't feel the weight of the lantern in his hand anymore, but there was enough control, enough fluid consciousness remaining to not drop it.
All he could do was stand there and listen to how the dead silence of the room was punctured by the distant sound of screaming.
And it didn't take long for him to recognize it as his own.
It sounded like it was behind him but all he could do was look forward.
Joseph knew he wasn't screaming, not as himself, but it didn't make the sound get any quieter- in fact it just got louder and louder, echoing down the hallway behind him now, getting to the point that it almost sounded distorted.
And as it grew louder, the pain in his stomach grew with it.
He watched as lights and colors flickered in front of his eyes, morphing the room around him until there were images playing out in front of him. It felt like he was back in that nightmare world, that auditorium, hearing the projector click on, hearing the whirring of a film was it came to life- projecting itself onto the flat wall against the back of the room.
And Joseph could see, he could feel cold steel slicing him down the middle- cutting him from sternum to stomach.
His blood was red; it was hot as it pushed up through the cleanly split skin and spilled out, flooding and pooling out against the flat surface underneath him. He didn't know where he was, the flickering images in front of him showed nothing; but Joseph could feel the cold against his skin, he could smell something that burned in his throat and bloodied the inside of his lungs.
(It only made the screaming feel worse.)
The steel cut deeper, penetrating down through muscle, slicing through the protective membrane wall guarding his intestines.
And it didn't take long before his entrails spilled out in response, pushing up and through the broken skin- unrolling and unraveling all around him.
The blood was still fresh, still warm; there was steam practically coming off of it, providing the only sense of heat against the cold.
...
In an instant, it was over.
It wasn't a conscious decision; it wasn't over because he wanted it to be, because he needed it to be.
It was the persistent ache behind his eyes, the twitching of his eyelids as they desperately needed to, and eventually did, blink. The partial second of darkness was almost a relief, a comfort to have, before his eyes opened again.
And this time it was just him.
It was just him, still in this hidden room, with only an exposed brain for company.
But the echoing pain in his gut persisted.
The stinging cold still crawled over his skin, the blood still bubbled in his lungs.
Joseph didn't even realize that he had dropped the lantern as he stumbled back out of the room, desperate to escape the images before they found him again. He turned and ran out of the short hallway- just barely pushing by Kidman as he did so. He barely made it a few extra steps out before he felt the pain in his stomach trigger an all too familiar sensation, and he felt himself vomit in the back corner of the room.
His head was ringing all over again as the burning acidic taste of bile remained stuck in his mouth.
"Jesus, are you okay?" he heard Kidman question somewhere behind him.
Taking a few staggered breaths to calm himself, to get his breath back, Joseph tried to straighten himself up- trying to ignore the lingering ache that was splitting his stomach apart. It felt like he had been stabbed, like he had actually been gutted like an autopsy patient. The images were stuck in his head, completely vivid and crystal clear. It played over and over again, like some kind of fucked up old-time medical documentary.
And that was kind of how it looked, how it played.
Flickering images on a reel, stuttering through the pictures like a makeshift video.
Joseph never actually saw himself but somehow he knew; he knew he was the one getting cut open.
And he knew he was completely conscious, fully awake and alert while it was happening.
It wasn't an autopsy, but a vivisection.
Christ, what the fuck was wrong with him?
Why did he keep seeing this shit?
"Joseph..."
The sound of Kidman's quiet voice pulled him back, breaking him out of what felt like the start of either a mental or emotional breakdown. He had to pull himself together, he had to keep himself together. This wasn't just about him; they were all stuck here, they were all going through the same shit. A team was only as strong as its weaker member, and he couldn't let himself bring them down.
"I'm fine," Joseph whispered, hearing his own hoarse response echo in his head. "I just- Christ, I don't know what came over me."
He ran the back of his hand across his mouth, evading the question of why the acidic burn on his tongue now tasted metallic. And he tried to ignore the painful pulling in his wrist, in his fingers- the irritating wriggling of veins underneath his skin.
(It was getting worse.)
"... Did you just puke up blood?"
By the time the question came up, Joseph had already caught sight of the blood smeared on his hand- the second time in the same hour now. And as much as he wanted to deny it, to avoid it, he could see the mess of blood splattered on the floorboards below. And it wasn't watery and thin like blood should be; it was thick, almost like a gel, almost like a thin paste.
He could understand why there was a metallic taste in his mouth now.
But why?
It didn't make sense.
Why would he suddenly vomit blood?
He hadn't suffered any internal damages in that explosion; it had been too small and it had lacked the power to actually do anything. And even if, by sheer chance of bad luck, it had ruptured something internally, it would've shown up sooner than now. There would've been more clues, more evidence that something had been ruptured, or bruised, or that something had burst open inside of him.
But that vision, those images he had seen- the pain he had experienced.
A psychological effect maybe...
Which seemed all the more fitting for this place.
"I'm fine," Joseph repeated, unsure of what else to say. "It's just... it's a side effect."
He didn't go into an explanation and given Kidman's silence, she didn't ask for one- or perhaps just didn't want one. At this point, he wasn't certain if he was lying to her or not. He had no logical reason for the blood or its relation to his Haunted psyche... but there was a strong possibility that it was true. His constant feelings of dread, his constant feelings of despair would easily be enough to make it worse.
He had coughed up blood back in the church courtyards before so puking up blood didn't seem all that farfetched.
Joseph felt the touch of Kidman's hand against his back and he hated the fact that he was putting her in this position.
"You two alright?" Sebastian's voice called out to them, interrupting the moment.
It occurred to Joseph then that he hadn't heard any other gunshots asides from the initial one. He knew Sebastian was a good shot, but sometimes even a good shot wasn't enough to take one of those creatures down.
"Yeah, we're good," Joseph interjected before Kidman could, although he wasn't certain if she would say anything. Better safe though. "It's uh, it's the third brain, believe it or not," he continued. "I don't know why it's back there of all places but be careful. I don't know how long it's been back there or what's being used to keep it alive, but it's basically been fermenting."
"Great."
Straightening himself up once more, Joseph watched as the Lead Detective moved towards the corridor and stopped at the threshold of it. And it was all too easy to see the quick look of disgust on his face.
"Christ, I can smell it from here."
"I warned you," Joseph offered.
"Did you take care of those Haunted?" Kidman asked. "Sounded like a lot of gunfire."
Sebastian took a step away from the door, clearly needing the fresh air before he would inevitably go through to the end room. "Yeah, they're dead, but one of them had a gun- so that's going to be something we'll need to look out for. Had a few of them shoot at me back at that village but they were pretty shit shots. The one back there though got pretty close, so we'll have to make sure not to underestimate them- especially in close quarters."
Even if they were a shit shot, in close quarters a bad shot could still hit.
"Alright, well let's get this over with."
"Here, since I missed the last puzzle, I'll help with this one," Joseph offered, as he started to follow after Sebastian who had already started down the short hallway. He noticed Kidman follow after him and thought nothing of it- up until he felt her stop him at the previously-hidden doorway.
"Are you sure..." Kidman started and she didn't need to finish the thought for him to understand.
"It'll pass," he assured. "This will be a quick in, quick out sort of deal- hopefully anyways."
"Yeah, hopefully," she seemed to note, sarcastically at that; a quick recovery. "Mind the head."
Joseph chuckled at the subtle jab before he continued after Sebastian, noting that the man was in the process of re-hooking the lantern at his hip once more. He would be lying if he didn't admit that he was holding his breath the entire short walk- more out of anxiety rather than smell. He tried to convince himself that so far nothing in this place had a habit of repeating itself. Everything traumatic had happened once and then it seemingly hoped that they would learn their lesson enough off of that.
And maybe he should've taken heed.
Maybe he should've taken the easy way out and let Kidman assist Sebastian with the puzzle instead.
But Joseph already felt like a burden on the team as it was; he needed to start pulling his own weight again.
The room at the end was just barely big enough to fit the two of them, which lead to questions of how Ruvik could have gotten this brain device back here in the first place. The two managed to make the tight space work though, which was just another thing they had gotten used to back at the office; the evidence room was like the smallest room in the department and yet everyone always needed to be in there.
Joseph barely listened to the audio tape, which sounded almost amplified now in the small room. He tried to ignore the pitied screaming in the background; he tried to ignore the calm voice that casually spoke over it. All he needed to do was just listen to the tape long enough to hear what they needed to hear.
C-4 Hope.
And just like with the first puzzle, there was an accompanying hand-drawn diagram amongst the mess scattered across the desk.
And Hope was highlighted in the yellow-stained portion on the map of the human brain.
Sebastian pulled the needle loose and moved it with an awkward sort of hand coordination. It was clear that the man still didn't enjoy this part of the puzzle and really never would- and honestly, who would asides from Ruvik? But this was the last piece, the last brain, and that was all that mattered to Sebastian at the moment. This was the last thing they needed and then they'd be free of this place.
The diagram wasn't exact in terms of specific details, but Joseph could pick out enough scribbled-in curves and shapes to pinpoint where the area was. He couldn't guarantee that it was a hundred percent accurate but he didn't think it would guarantee a punishment either.
He watched as the needle went in and held his breath, anticipating the searing pain in his head again.
But the needle set in without a hitch.
And there was almost a sense of sick relief in watching as the needle slid in and began draining the red fluid from the machine- pumping it out to the remaining capsule on the door.
The last lock that they needed.
"What did the second brain need?" Joseph questioned, absentmindedly. He wasn't sure why he wanted to know or what good the knowledge would do for him but for some reason the question was sticking to him. Each of these brains had been put out with only one part of them serving any purpose. Even Ruvik himself stated in each audio tape that the lobes had been handpicked for research, for experimentation. And while the thought alone was disturbing, it wasn't like they could wash their hands of their own involvement.
"Fear," Sebastian answered, as he stepped back from the machine, looking more than relieved to be done with this mess. "Which, there's plenty of it to go around."
Each capsule, each lock had needed a specific key, and specific point on the human brain.
Consent.
Fear.
Hope.
With their luck and their lives on the line, hopefully those targeted areas were only there to serve as keys for a door. Hopefully there would be no connection between them as a team and those specific attributes.
Joseph stepped back and turned to exit out the hallway, hearing Sebastian follow up behind him. Despite not knowing what would lie ahead of them, he was just glad to have this ordeal over with. It would take something incredibly fucked up to pass the insanity of having to hunt down three exposed brains. Not that he wanted to jinx them- after all, he wouldn't be surprised if something further down the road did manage to one-up this ordeal.
For now, he was just glad to be out of the hallway, to be away from that blood.
(The memories persisted though.)
"Well I didn't feel any pain this time, so are you guys done?" Kidman questioned at the doorway outside.
"Let it go, Kidman."
"We're finished here for now," Joseph interjected, hoping to cut their sarcastic banter for the time being. He found himself wiping his hands off on his pants; despite not physically touching the brain himself it still felt like his gloves were slimy nonetheless. "I guess now we can finally see what we're getting ourselves into with this place. I don't have high hopes that that door is going to lead us anywhere safe."
That much was a given.
But on the other side of the coin, Dr. Jimenez must've known what lied beyond the other side- otherwise he wouldn't have rushed to it. That wasn't a concrete guarantee though. But if the door did lead somewhere, and if that somewhere was even a fraction as dangerous as this mansion was, why would he pull Leslie into it? Joseph didn't exactly hold the man in high regards in terms of being a doctor- not that he really knew who the man was to begin with. But if Dr. Jimenez had gone out of his way to keep Leslie with him this whole time, rather than leaving him behind as dead weight, than the doctor had to feel some kind of responsibility to his patient.
That was how it was supposed to work, right?
"So we're just getting started here, is that what you're saying?" Kidman remarked.
And it was difficult to tell if it was spoken out of annoyance or sarcasm.
The two seemed to be one in the same as of late.
Then again, it was a sentiment that they were all sharing.
At least in the catacombs it physically felt like they were constantly moving forward.
But here, they had been stuck in the same place for hours.
"Yeah," Sebastian non-nonchalantly replied, much to Kidman's amusement it seemed. "Let's just go make sure that that door actually opened and that there's not some hidden fourth piece that goes along with it."
Joseph hadn't considered that option but now that the thought was out there, he was was dreading the possibility. They had found one brain in a fireplace and another locked behind a hidden wall; they were out of options for where a fourth one would be. Or at least, out of sane options. The only other option would be to go room by room and physically tear the whole mansion apart.
"Good idea," Joseph offered, before the three of them made their way back towards the front lobby. If they could just keep moving forward, he could keep leaving some of these memories, some of these experiences behind them. It was the easiest way to forget what was happening to him- the easiest way to forget all the shit he had and was still going through.
They made it down the corridor and into the entertaining room, which was now decorated with the discarded bodies of two Haunted. And true to Sebastian's word, one of the Haunted had a rusted looking pistol in hand. Joseph didn't get a good look at it, and he didn't really want to, but the gun didn't appear to be of any brand he recognized.
So just where had the Haunted found the gun to begin with?
Although he guessed he shouldn't be surprised- apparently there were weapons scattered sporadically around this place. Either having been brought in with someone or maybe having been left here or made here in some way. It was hard to figure out.
And some of the weapons weren't exactly up to modern specs.
Given the crossbow that Sebastian liked to keep strung across his back.
They barely made it to the door leading out into the lobby before Joseph heard it.
The high-pitched ringing sound again.
A/N: A secret note to That One Dude, who kept saying 'Kiss, Kiss, Kiss' there actually was originally a kissing scene between Joseph and Kidman in the last chapter, but I cut it out because it felt forced. Believe me, I really wanted it but when you find yourself trying to force something, sometimes you gotta step back and call yourself out on it.
But don't worry, a proper one will be sure to follow soon enough ;3c.