A/N: Phew, this one is long! Thanks to all those who read and review, as always.
When her vision returned to normal, Yue looked down at her stomach. The pain seemed to be slowly subsiding.
Where there was once a wound gushing blood, a twisted, ugly scar about an inch long sat in its place. Yue ran her hand over it, and flinched.
I guess it didn't fully work.
She buttoned her blouse back up and turned to Castle, who lay face up on the ground, panting.
"Holy hell…what was that?!"
"A home-grown healing spell from yours truly, with a little help from the inventor of medicine...Phew, that was really tiring. I guess the stronger the spirit, the more of a toll it takes," Castle said as he came to his feet.
He helped Yue stand up and began to look around.
"How do you feel?"
"For getting stabbed just a few minutes ago, not too bad."
Castle let out a sigh.
"Good. You know, now that I can finally think about it, where are we?"
Yue felt slightly flustered. She couldn't think of much to say to him.
"Castle…you saved my life. I…I don't know how I could ever-"
"Agh! Just stop apologizing for once, dammit!" Castle interrupted. "I'm your partner, whether you like it or not. And making sure my partner is safe is what I do. Seriously, I thought that was understood."
Yue looked away in embarrassment. Castle sighed and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll work on it, okay?"
Yue slowly nodded, took a deep breath, and began moving towards the stairs. Pain slowly burned in her left side.
I need a vacation.
The Hotel Lobby upstairs
Yue squinted as she stumbled into a dimly lit circular room. The floor was covered in decorated marble, and in the center on a long mahogany table a floral bouquet stood perfectly still, as if nothing had happened. A grand staircase ran to the right of a front desk, behind which cowered a very confused and very frightened concierge.
"Were…were we in a hotel? This whole time?" Yue asked.
Castle looked around with astonishment.
"The power's out…and woah! Not just any hotel, but the Four Seasons! So the Black Hand recruits and mages have been hiding under here the whole time?!"
"Wait, did you say the Four Seasons?"
"Yeah, what of it?"
Yue turned to Castle, eyes deep in thought.
"If I am right, then Chisame is in this building, somewhere!"
"Huh? How do you-"
Before Castle could finish, Yue ran out the front entrance and onto the street.
Damn, she's fast.
Yue burst through the glass doors at the front of the lavish hotel, and turned around to look up at the building.
The disc Vitellio gave me started playing the Four Seasons at twelve minutes and forty-one seconds, right? This hotel has at least thirty floors, so maybe Chisame is on the twelfth floor…
Yue quickly counted up twelve floors.
...and in room 1241. I don't have time to count precisely, I'll just have to guess. And seriously, that was unnecessarily cryptic. He could have just told me where she is.
Yue summoned her broom as Castle fumbled through the doors, yelling "Wait!"
"Castle, I can't. If she's here, I have to go now."
Castle skidded to a stop a few feet away from Yue.
"If your friend is being held there, and their wounded are being held in the basement, there is a good chance that this is their headquarters. If this is their headquarters, then you have no idea who you could run into."
"That's a risk I'll have to take. But in the event I do meet Zeigler…"
Yue took out her lump of chalk and drew up a magic circle, surrounded with arcane runes and scripts.
"…then I'll have this ready. That make you feel better?"
"No, some random chalk on the ground does not in any way-"
"Well, it will have to do," Yue interrupted.
She gripped her broom tightly and launched off the ground, flying headlong towards a window on the twelfth story. She lowered her shoulder, closed her eyes, and braced for impact.
The glass was more brittle than she imagined. With a hideous screech, the window shattered and exploded into the room. Yue tumbled in with more speed than she had hoped for, and rolled on the ground for a few yards before hitting the opposite wall of the room.
Yue lay there, dazed for a moment, before sitting up and observing her surroundings.
This is a hotel room!?
To her left were two king sized beds, covered with silk sheets, and in between them was a mahogany side table Yue imagined was worth more than most of her once intact furniture combined. To her right a collection of paintings adorned a white marble wall. The carpet floor was a rich red, and Yue felt sleepy just sitting on it.
A flash of movement behind the far bed next to the shattered window caught her eye.
Yue reflexively drew her staff and large curved sword and shouted.
"Hey! Drop your weapon and stand up!"
She heard the scratching sound of carpet being moved about. The bed creaked as someone crawled under it.
"Okay, we'll do this the hard way then!"
Yue channeled energy into her right arm and stuck her hand under the bed. She held her staff out in her left.
With a heave, she lifted the bed and pointed the staff down at the person inside.
Instead of a potential assailant, however, underneath the bed was a young girl. Her hair was in pigtails, but it was disheveled and sticky. Specks of red dotted her face and clothes, which consisted of butterfly wings and a baby-blue princess dress. Upon seeing Yue, she immediately began to wail.
Oh great.
"Hey, um, shush now? Come, on, stop crying already!"
The girl began to scream and cry even louder. Something caught Yue's attention, however.
Wait…the carpet here is…white? Why was it red over there?
Yue then put the red on the girls dress together with the strange carpet. In horror, she slowly turned to the wall she had initially landed against.
The entire wall to the left of her was smeared with blood. The stench of a rotting corpse suddenly attacked her, and she began to feel sick. On the other bed she saw a strange mass laying on the sheets. Yue squinted in the darkness to get a better look.
She immediately regretted it.
Yue could make out the individual fingers on a pair of dismembered hands, both blue and swollen and in a pool of blood. One hand had a diamond ring and watch still on it.
Yue brought her hand to her mouth to avoid screaming. She turned back to the little girl, who had grown strangely silent, and her gaze softened. She couldn't imagine what this girl in a princess dress had seen.
Yue tried to put on a smile.
"Hi there, princess! This bed is getting real heavy, so can you crawl out please? I promise I won't hurt you. In fact, I think I can help you! But you have to help me first. So come on, crawl to your left and we'll both get out of this nasty place!"
The little girl slowly crawled out from under the bed and sat quietly in the gap between the bed and the window Yue crashed through, sniffling and trying to wipe away the tears on her face.
"All right, good! Now let's just…" Yue leaned in to pick up the girl in an attempt to run out of the room as quickly as possible. Her stomach was churning and nausea began to set in.
Yue jumped back when the girl began to cry loudly.
"Hey, hey, shhh! Quiet down, there might still be people around here!"
Upon hearing that, the girl began to cry louder.
I hate kids.
Inspiration struck the mage. Yue acted disappointed.
"Hmmm, I guess you're not a princess after all."
The little girl stopped crying and tried to look angry.
"I AM a princess!"
"Well, the king of all the lands himself sent me to rescue his princess, but it can't be you. I don't know any princesses that cry."
"I'm not crying! Who are you anyway?"
Playing the part, Yue pointed to herself with a confused expression.
"Me? Why, I am the head witch of the king's witch brigade, of course! Who are you? What is your name?"
The little girl puffed up her chest and exclaimed "I am Princess Samantha!"
Yue feigned shock.
"You're Princess Samantha! Well then, my lady, I've been sent here to rescue you! Come now, let's get out of here!"
The little girl shook her head.
"You're a witch, huh? Then prove it."
Yue sighed and fished out her magic ring. She put it on her finger and held her palm out.
"Practi Bigi Nar, Ardescat!"
A small flame appeared in her open hand.
"Woooaaahh, you ARE a witch!" the little girl said excitedly.
"That's right! Now, let's get out of here. But first, I have to pick up a friend."
Street Level, in front of the Four Seasons hotel
Castle idly looked around, having been left on the ground by his partner.
Now what?
Castle felt a tingling heat on the back of his neck, and instinctively jumped to the ground.
The heat surged in intensity tenfold, as an enormous stream of fire lit up the dark night.
That was close!
When he felt the heat dissipate, Castle scrambled to his feet and turned around.
In front of him stood his old enemy, a mage clad in black robes and hood, holding a ball of fire.
Castle smirked.
"What's up, you crazy pyromaniacal freak? Want another round of this!?" Castle shouted, gesturing at himself.
The mage replied, his voice scratchy and deep.
"That bitch isn't here to save you this time! You're going to enjoy my flames, and it will be the last thing you do!"
"Hmmm….nah, four out of ten on that threat. It's not bad itself, but your execution is awful. Your voice is clichéd and boring, too."
"I want to watch your eyeballs boil and your skin peel off as you scream for mercy!"
Castle was taken aback.
"Wow, that was much better, almost eight out of ten! You know, with the proper training, you could almost make for a real villain!"
The mage raised his hand, the fire in it burning brighter as he prepared to throw it.
"In fact, you might be so good a villain that you're guaranteed to lose to the good guys! Guys like ME!"
Castle flipped open his book and grabbed his golden quill.
"I call upon Edgar Allan Poe, Master of Fear!"
Chills ran through Castle's body as he summoned the spirit that invented the concept of horror. For the first time, he was not surrounded in a golden glow, but rather he was surrounded with a black fog instead.
Damn, this is guy doesn't mess around! He's…he's taking over!?
Pain shot through Castle's entire body, and he clutched his head as it exploded with agony. He felt his own soul drop into depression and sadness.
LEARN WHAT PAIN IS!
Is…is that Poe!?
FEEL MY PAIN, AND TRULY UNDERSTAND FEAR!
Shit…he's got control!
Castle began to speak, but it was not his voice that came out. His hands came down from his face and he stared directly at the mage in black, who stood rooted to the spot, unable to move. Castle's eyes were bloodshot, his hair in disarray, and his voice was much deeper and echoed when he spoke.
"You think you're frightening? You're just a lunatic who probably didn't get what he wanted, so he thought he could use force. You've never seen something so completely out of your league that it's very presence terrified you to your very core, have you? That's fine, but do not complain when the crows feast upon the intestines you ripped out of yourself just to try and escape the true fear that stands before you. Don't cry when your insignificant existence is forgotten and your life means nothing."
The mage still stood there, silent, the flames in his hands gone.
Castle stomped his foot, and the mage jumped and fled.
Do not call on me for such trifles again.
And like that, the black fog around Castle dissipated and Poe's spirit left his body. Castle could feel himself regaining control of his limbs.
Yeah, that guy has problems.
Castle heard a boom coming from the hotel building.
Yeah, I'm not going in there.
He noticed a building to the left of the hotel, which stood at a similar height, and looked down at his card.
I guess I could provide Yue with some information on what's going on in the hotel and on the roof with the Pactio card…
Castle headed to the building and began the long trek up the stairs to the roof.