Rose POV
"Rose don't do this!" I turned to see Eddie. He had followed me. I glared at him and he put up his hands in a calming gesture, to no avail. Within seconds I had him pinned against the side of the warehouse by his throat.
"Who else is with you?" I demanded. He put his hands up again.
"Just me, I swear!" I sighed and let go. Starring at the ground with a clenched jaw I eventually managed out,
"I'm sorry Eddie. My intention wasn't to hurt you. Now, go. I mean it, too. Leave!" he made no movement to leave, "Eddie, I'm not going to let you risk your life for me. Go before it's too late," I told him. He shook his head.
"I already lost Mason Rose, I'm not going to loose you too. Your my best friend. After...after Mason, I promised myself not to let anything happen to you. We're best friends till the end and we're in this together. I'm not letting you go in this alone. Your my sister," his voice was slightly sad, yet it was also confident and set. He wasn't going to leave. I smiled at him.
"I guess we're in this together."
"Together." he agreed. The air was thick with anticipation.
"Are you ready to possibly walk into our deaths?" I asked. He let out a breath.
"As ready as I've ever been. You know, this feels kind of like Spokane all over again," he said with a sigh. I put my hand on his shoulder, he brought his face up to meet my eyes. I gave him a sad smile. Spokane was and always will be a hard subject for us. We lost a good friend that day, one that will never be replaced. I let out a deep breath I've been holding. I slid out a silver sword- efficient for both Strigoi and other races.
"Let's go!" we walked into the warehouse. The door was open and when we walked in, we were brought into a small, blank area. Just two walls, the big entryway door, and a huge black curtain. What caught my eye was the big red letters- resembling blood- sprayed across the curtain.
I'm up for a few carnival games. How about you?
Suddenly there was a loud screeching noise, like feedback from a microphone, and we were surrounded by the sound of slight background music and talking. I sent Eddie a cautious glance.
(this song's called "The Greatest Show Unearthed)
Ladies and gentlemen,
Boys and ghouls,
Step right up!
Behind this curtain lies a ghastly concoction
Of delight, horror, fantasy and terror!
Your every wish is our command,
Your every whimsical desire brought to life.
But I'm warning you, there's always a price.
WELCOME TO THE GREATEST SHOW UNEARTHED!
I rolled my eyes at the stupidity of this then suddenly, the open doors behind us slammed shut and we were thrust through the curtain by some unknown force.
La lala lala lala lalalalala la la la la la la la la la la la!
The room we were in was set up like a maze. There were bright flashing colors of red and black. The maze edges were made of pure metal and the light bounce off everything. There were random screams bouncing off the walls of the room. It was very over whelming.
The dark carnival is in town,
At the mention of dark carnival the entire room went dark for a split second, lightning bouncing off edges of the room. Like a flick of a switch the over whelming colors were back- momentarily blinding me.
You'd better be ready:
Just follow the parade
Of dancing skeletons;
I heard diabolical laughter behind me. I gulped hoping- nope it wasn't Eddie. Four Strigoi were behind us. In a split second my sword was connected with one of them, and I was in and intense fight. I was able to finish it off and turned to see Eddie had done the same to his own. The other two ran off, we began to follow them.
Full of ghoulish delights
Around every corner -
"I lost them Rose," Eddie whispered, breathing hard. I nodded.
"Me too," we heard two sets of laughter in different directions. We shared a glance, nodded, and split up. I rounded a corner and screamed. Right there resting on the wall of a dead end, was a life sized spider. I quickly sent my sword through it out of impulse...and startlement.
Don't tell your parents you're here,
They will soon be mourners
Welcome to the lower birth,
The greatest show unearthed:
We appear without a sound,
The darkest show around,
the lights went out again and I could see through the reflection of the wall that Strigoi were right behind me. Not just one- five. Out of no where!
We will leave you in a daze -
I turned, my sword readied for fight, only nothing. I turned back to the wall and saw the Strigoi, turned back and gone! I felt a tap on my shoulder and I spun around. The Strigoi were all lined up, facing me with mocking faces plastered on.
Madness, murder, dismay!
We will disappear at night,
the lights went out and they were gone! I growled in frustration and rounded another corner- only to slip on some sleek liquid on the concrete floor.
With blood on the concrete
I pulled myself up. Increasingly frustrated. I couldn't believe a song was beating me! A song!
La lala lala lala lalalalala la la la la la la la la la la la!
I took one more turn and found myself coming out of that section of the maze. It led up to a tongue sticking out of a giant clowns mouth. Now, this clown was creepy! It had blood falling from its eyes and mouth. It's eyebrows were turned down in anger and his mouth up in a diabolical smirk. It had an "I'm going to murder you" look in his eyes. Don't worry though, cause it was just a building. I climbed up the tongue and stared at the maze ahead. This section of the maze was what only could be described as a house of mirrors.
I will be your ticket taker -
Come inside, it's a dream!
Sensing what was coming, I ducked as a giant ticket came down and almost smacked me in the face. I got up and brushed myself off- only to be hit by the giant ticket as it came back. I was pushed through the door in the clown section and into the mirror maze. I caught some edge and landed in a somersault.
Enter the fun house of mirrors,
No one can hear you scream.
Hearing the lyrics I expected something to pop out, but nothing happened. I relaxed but then remembered the ticket and figured that's what they wanted me to do. Then I thought that maybe they wanted me to be on edge like this- so unsure. This thought forced me to relax. I turned a corner and saw Dimitri. My eyes widened and I ran forward but not before a Strigoi came up behind him. I gave a terrified scream. The the whole maze turned and Dimitri was no longer in my vision. I sighed. Just an illusion Rose, just an illusion.
We can supply anything
That your heart desires,
I probably shouldn't have, but I looked into one of the mirrors. What I saw shocked me to no end. Mason was standing behind me. He had a sad, far off look in his eyes. When he noticed me his eyes lit up.
"You look beautiful Rose," it sounded like it was coming from behind me and I whirled around. Damn it! They had found out my weakness.
But the consequences
Will surely be dire.
I scowled at nothing in particular- the song I guess. Mason was just part of the whole trick.
Welcome to the lower birth,
The greatest show unearthed:
We appear without a sound,
The darkest show around,
The lights flashed again; I turned expecting Strigoi. Only it wasn't, it was Lissa. A bunch of Lissa's. Only these Lissa's didn't really look like Lissa. They looked more like Lissa's corpse.
"Why didn't you save me Rose? Why did you let them take me? They tortured me, but I refused to give them what they wanted. So they killed me, slowly, agonizingly. This is your fault Rose. I had come here to get you and you just let them take me? What kind of sick guardian are you? Now I'm going let you leave like I did," they spoke all at once in a monotone evil voice. Their voices surrounded me and I wanted to just curl up in a corner and plug my ears. They lunged at me and I quickly stepped back. The Lissa's retreated from their attack, flickered slightly, then vanished. I rubbed my eyes in confusion, blinked, and reopened them. What I saw confused me further.
"Adrian?" I asked. He gave me his signature Adrian grin, as if we weren't in the middle of all this chaos.
"Hey there Little Dhapmir!" he replied. I blinked in huge confusion. Then he was gone. I groaned realizing I had fallen for another trick.
We will leave you in a daze -
Madness, murder, dismay!
You got that right.
We will disappear at night,
With blood on the concrete
I checked the floor for blood before I continued walking. This time though, I was on extreme caution. I looked up and was splattered in the face by blood. I screeched out of anger and frustration. My god, it's like these people knew exactly what I was going to do before I did! I tried to shake the blood off, but nothing worked. This stuff was sticky.
Come inside
For the ride,
Your deepest darkest fears
I sighed, even though it was right. It had shown me so many of my fears. So far I had witnessed, multiple friends getting killed, Dimitri getting killed, giant spiders (hate those),and Lissa getting killed and blaming it on me. And I continually hear what sounds like Eddies screams. I turned and saw Dimitri standing behind me, starting at me with love in his gaze. I sighed, expecting him to be killed some way. Instead he came up, grabbed my face, and kissed me hard and passionately. Then Lissa appeared, her face happy.
"Rose!" she squealed, "Rose we did it! The entire Strigoi race is gone! We can finally live a normal life!" she squealed. They both vanished and I was standing next to Dimitri.
"You may now kiss the bride!" the priest said. They vanished and I saw two kids run by, Dimitri chasing after them. He turned to me and asked, "Don't you love our kids?" in and exasperated voice and ran after them down the maze. I stared after them with a dazed confusion. What the hell just happened? The best night
Of your life,
You're never leaving here
Oh, I just witnessed all my hopes and dreams. I shook my head and kept running through the maze. I came across a strange human who was stuck in a cage. What was strange about him was his sharp teeth, the tail sticking out, his dorsal fin, oh and his rabbit ears! I passed a few more cages all containing odd mixtures. Every single one of them had something sticking out; trying to get my attention.
"Help me!" they rasped. I shook my head and picked up the pace.
The unknown,
The unseen,
Is what you're gonna find
That's horrible! They did that to those people to creep me out? How terrible! I turned a corner and ran into a giant piece of paper, with a face? Snakes with arms and legs, chickens with scales instead of feathers, dinosaurs, GIANT FLOATING BABY HEADS!(haha Phinease and Ferb refrence there!) What the fuck was this place? Witness this,
Witness that,
Until you lose your mind!
Oh. Damn it! I let them get to me- again!
"Rose!" I braced myself for whatever was calling my name and turned around slowly. I breathed a sigh of relief when it was just Eddie. He was breathing hard, much like me, even though we both know it wasn't from running. He looked behind him, "Did you see those-"
"Yeah, I did."
Welcome to the lower birth,
The greatest show unearthed:
I clutched Eddie's arm.
"Be ready for whatever we're about to witness," I whispered. He replied with a nod.
We appear without a sound,
The darkest show around,
The lights flickered and...nothing. I didn't put my guard down though.
We will leave you in a daze -
Madness, murder, dismay!
We will disappear at night,
With blood on the concrete
I scanned the area ahead of me, again, nothing. I could tell that was the end of the song and now the background noises like the various "la's" were dying down. Eddie and I ran forward, coming to the end of the maze. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"We finished the first part! I'm going to be scarred the rest of my life- but we did it!" he smiled and nodded in agreement. We entered the next room- a circular room with white walls that looked splattered with blood. It was a nasty reddish brown color. I prepared myself for what's next. But nothing, nothing, could prepare me for what happened next. I felt my breath hitch in my throat, and the only thing I managed to force out of my mouth was in a horsed whisper.
"This isn't possible."
3rd person POV
(Not something I do often, but I'm giving it a try)
Lissa stared into darkness, willing her already enhanced eyes to make out the slightest figure. Nothing. She felt useless and scared. She knew that despite her efforts Rose was going to come after her, and fall into their trap. She had no idea who they were. The strigoi had knocked her out, and then she woke up in darkness. She once again tried to move her arms, to no satisfaction. They were restrained, most likely strapped to something along with her legs and torso. In fact, she couldn't move anything. The most she could make out of where she was was a chair- probably bolted to the floor or wall or both. She whimpered at the sting from her arms as she struggled against her restraints. Tears were flowing down her cheeks. She knew Rose would save her, it was her mantra. Just how Rose had they come first Lissa had Rose will save me. It was comforting to her, and that's why she was so repulsed in herself. She was counting on Rose like she was invincible. Lissa had no doubt that Rose was amazing but she wasn't invincible. Yet, Lissa let Rose constantly save her life like Lissa's mattered more. She counted on Rose to save her but when Rose was in a similar situation she counted on her survival skills to save her not Lissa. So the feeling wasn't mutual. Lissa was just a burden to Rose. Constantly getting in trouble and Rose has to come save her. She felt bad for Rose. Lissa felt weak. She felt like a Moroi who didn't value the life of a Dhapmir. Wallowing in self-disgust, Lissa didn't hear the footsteps approaching. Suddenly bright lights flashed and Lissa had to blink several times before her eyes could adjust.
"Well, if it isn't my favorite royal. Miss me?" said a mocking tone. Lissa looked up at the familiar figure.
"YOU!" (I bet you thought I was gonna tell you. Well I thought about it, then decided you didn't give me enough reviews. MWAHAHHAHAH!")
"ME!" he mocked. Lissa stared at him with pure hatred.
"What do you want with me?" she demanded.
"It's not just you. It's you and your slutty little friend who ruined my life. Do you have any idea what I went through after the academy?" (HINT)
"I didn't care enough to find out," Lissa snapped back.
"Well you're gonna care now. Everything I do to you and your bff is going to affect how much I hate you!" he snarled, "and boy is Rose in for a ride when she comes to save your sorry little undeserving ass. Tell me Vasalissa, what have you done for her besides get her in trouble?" Lissa didn't respond, she couldn't think of anything. His face lit up like Christmas morning, realizing he struck a nerve. Another set of footsteps sounded and the guys head whipped around.
"Who's that?" Lissa asked warily.
"Oh I invited an old friend of yours" was all he said as he walked out.
"Hello Dragomir Bitch!" greeted a female voice that Lissa instantly recognized.
"Avery!" she gasped, "But, how? Your brain was fried! You were sent to an asylum!"
"someones in denial. Isn't it funny how things just don't turn out how their supposed to. That's happening a lot to you, isn't it? You and your perfect little bitch of a friend. You see, as soon as I healed I was contacted from the outside. From another one of your 'close friends'- you guys are good at making those- and broken out of the 'institute' there I was given a plan, the plan of how the rest of your sad miserable life will go. The spoiled Dragomir brat's life will never be the same again-" Avery took a breath and Lissa interjected.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
"And they all lived Miserably never after," she finished approaching Lissa. She grabbed Lissa's chin and jerked it to meet her eyes.
"I'm so glad I was the one who got to do this. I have wanted to do this to you for so long!" she said evilly, sliding her hand toward a knife.