A/N: Ooooh we're nearing the end of the story; nearly time for the grand finale yay! Let me know what you think of this chapter! :D
As a pre-warning, this chapter has a bit of gore thanks to Six's Hunger.
Chapter 13:
Seven
Seven saw the Lady's face.
She was standing before a tall mirror with her back to the young boy. Her posture was hunched, with a grief-stricken desperation in her movements. She ran a trembling hand over her bare face, looking as if she was close to tears.
Seven inched closer. It was the first time he had seen the Lady at all, but he knew to be wary of her after all the other monsters he'd encountered on the Maw. He didn't know who she was, or even what her role on the Maw was, but all he knew was that he'd have to sneak past the anguished woman.
Keeping low to the floorboards, Seven moved forwards slowly so as not to alert her. He had his own problems - he needed to cross the room and continue his escape; find Eight and escape the Maw. Despite focusing solely on his mission, he could almost feel the waves of emotion radiating from the woman - a hopelessness, and a tense anger ready to explode.
And then he saw why. After one more step forward, Seven had a clear view of the woman's reflection - horrific enough to make him stop in his tracks. Luckily, he managed to catch the gasp in his throat before it escaped his lips. He put one hand over his mouth and tried to make himself as small as possible as he gazed upon the monster in the mirror. The woman's face was aged beyond comprehension, puffed and drooping with a grey tinge to the flesh. What struck Seven the most was that she looked like the Granny.
Keep going, keep going… With her back turned, Seven knew he had a chance at making it out of the woman's sight and across the room. Less than ten steps. Only about ten steps and she wouldn't be able to see him even if she turned around. Come on… He willed his legs to stop shaking and began to take the next steps forward, crouching low, hardly daring to breathe.
One step...two steps...thr-
A floorboard groaned under his weight. Seven barely had time to register the sound before the Lady caught sight of him in the mirror. A screech filled his ears - unhuman, earsplitting, rageful - before the mirror shattered and the lights flickered and Seven was plunged into darkness.
The Lady had vanished. Seven ran, ran for the room's exit as fast as he could. The only thing he could think to do was escape. He made it to the doorway and continued along a labyrinthine series of corridors. He didn't know which way to go; all he knew was that he wanted to put as much distance between himself and the gruesome woman as possible.
He turned sharply left and right, bare feet skidding on the floorboards as he rushed to find a way out. He thought he heard the woman again - screaming from somewhere in the distance once or twice, or rattling mannequins, but he wasn't sure if it actually her or simply a trick of his terrorised mind.
The darkness ahead of him revealed not an exit, but a wall. Seven slammed his hands against it as he came to an abrupt halt, and then made to turn back the way he had come. Was there no way out of this place? Perhaps there was, but Seven realised he was doomed to never find it.
The Lady had materialised from the shadows, now wearing a stark white mask to cover her hideous face. She glided towards Seven, hands outstretched, and he felt himself lift away from the floor to be suspended in midair as tendrils of shadow snaked around him.
He tried to wriggle free and drop back to the floor to run away, but it was useless. The masked woman knew this too.
"There's no point in struggling, little rat," she hissed. Her voice wasn't like the otherworldly shriek she'd made before, but was instead cold and dignified. Even so, there was a rage that roiled just below the surface.
"P-please let me go!" Seven cried.
"I sensed you before," the Lady continued, ignoring Seven's plea. "I knew you would come this way eventually. What a shame you had to see my true face. You'll die here because of that, just like every other little flea that made it this far."
"Let me go!" Seven repeated, his voice much stronger now. He conjured the last of his bravery and looked directly into her masked face, where her drooping eyes were hidden.
"You have a lot of fight in you," his captor continued, almost teasingly. "Such a shame that it will be extinguished."
Extinguished? Seven froze. What did she mean? Was he going to be killed?
"You can't kill me!" Seven yelled defiantly, struggling against her magic despite knowing his fate. Anything to stall for time, anything to prolong his life.
The Lady laughed. It was a refined, almost elegant sound, but one that sent shivers down Seven's spine.
"I can indeed," she said lightly. "I can do many other things, too." She flicked her fingers and the darkness began to rear and swirl around him. "Watch, little rat, little flea…"
Seven was engulfed. The darkness blocked everything, including the Lady's polished white mask, from view. His body contorted painfully as the blackness whipped into a tornado around him. Streams of it pulled away from the mass and streaked towards him, permeating through his skin and leaving his body cold, cold. Oh so cold. Seven screamed - not so much in pain but out of sheer terror at the unnatural feeling.
Eight heard that scream.
From her perch up on a shelf not far away, she was crouched with hands over her mouth and eyes wide, streaming with tears. She couldn't risk crying out or the Lady would surely capture her too. She had to hide...had to flee before the Lady sensed her, but she was frozen to the spot.
As she watched, Seven's screams very quickly weakened and subsided altogether... and so did the curls of darkness. As the Lady's magic swarmed back to her and faded, Eight glimpsed nothing but a pile of child-sized clothes on the floor.
Seven was gone. Her eyes shifted around the space, trying to locate the little boy. Her friend, the little brother she'd sworn to protect...he was gone. D...dead.
Eight squeaked in her throat and tore her eyes away from the scene, her hands still plastered over her mouth to stop her from screaming. I have to go, I have to go, I have to go! It was all she was capable of thinking at that moment. The Lady would find her and kill her too if she did not hurry and find a place to hide.
She climbed frantically back down from her perch, limbs like rubber, and reached the floor. She stumbled blindly, running away to somewhere - anywhere - that was safe.
Her eyes locked onto a crack in a wall and she followed it through, finding herself in a small space with smashed mirrors, cobwebbed mannequins and crates holding folds of dusty cloth. Ignoring the glass shards that littered the floor, Eight huddled between a pair of crates and pulled the edge of a cloth over her, absently wringing it in her hands, trying to escape the reality she'd just witnessed.
Seven was dead. A brave little boy, gone just like that. The events with him and the Lady replayed over and over in Eight's mind, fresh as an opened wound. She could still hear the echo of his screams and pleas, still see the image of the Lady's white mask burned into her brain.
What now? What could she do? Seven was dead, Six had abandoned her without a trace, and the Lady was still somewhere closeby, melting into the shadows. It was hopeless. All of this was enormously hopeless.
No, come on, Eight. A little voice in the back of her mind, the flame that drove her. You've made it this far, you can survive even on your own!
No… Eight answered weakly. She'd failed. She'd failed Seven. He was dead, and even reuniting with Six again was basically impossible. The tears flowed fresh, dripping off Eight's quivering chin.
You can still be free. Try or die trying. Eight thought of the ocean, of the sun warming her back, of the white bird she had seen arcing through the soft blue sky. You can have that again - but only if you don't give up!
"Giving up is easier," Eight whispered aloud. She was so tired - so tired of fighting and failing and setbacks. She just wanted a break. Just a little break so she could deal with everything and have time to rest. She couldn't even cry freely - she had to make sure the Lady didn't hear her. Everything was so hard, such a paramount effort.
I just want a break… Eight thought. She was so numb. I just have to wait for the Lady to leave...then I'll keep going...I will...soon…
The flame wavered as Eight began to retreat inside herself.
...oOo…
Six
Six's stomach growled painfully, demanding its next meal of live flesh. She'd made it to the end of the Guest Area, causing some chaos along the way, and now her body was demanding payment for getting her through the throng of disgusting, mindlessly gluttonous guests.
At the end of the hallway she was in, Six glimpsed movement. Something small - perhaps another rat snuffling at forgotten crumbs, or even a Nome. Her mouth watered at that thought, but then she clutched her stomach in an effort to stop it.
No...I can't...I can't eat a Nome...the rat was bad enough!
Why not? A familiar voice taunted. They might be delicious. Juicy and dripping, full of flavour...the best thing you've ever eaten!
Six lifted her eyes, vision blurring, and saw a shadowy figure standing at the edge of the hallway. I'm not doing it, she told Shadow Six.
Shadow Six grinned from beneath her black hood. She was identical to Six herself, apart from the fact that her body was made up of what looked like a solid mass of darkness. She appeared each and every time Six ate, egging her on...encouraging her to sink her teeth into a living being to absorb even more essence, more power.
Don't you want to get stronger? Shadow Six teased, moving playfully as Six was starving. Strong enough to save everyone? You have the ability to gain more power, so why not take it? You won't have to abandon anyone anymore. You'll finally become the hero that you want to be. You'll finally - actually - be the legend that everyone talks about. Isn't that what you want?
Six found herself at the end of the hallway, seeing double as the Hunger gouged at her insides and reduced her mind to hazy static. A Nome wavered in her vision, standing in the centre of the next room.
Isn't that what you want?
Six wasn't aware of the drool that slid down her chin and onto her raincoat. Her arms reached out of their own accord, not to hug the Nome - but to take it, bite it, kill it, devour it.
That's it...looks delicious, doesn't it?
Six was panting on the spot, her legs weaker than they had ever been. She wondered why she was just standing there, agonising herself, when she could be feeling tangy blood explode in her mouth, feel the warm flesh slide down her throat...submit blissfully to her Hunger. It was as if she was trying to resist something, but she wasn't sure what.
She staggered towards the Nome; Shadow Six perked up slightly to take in the scene, smiling maliciously. With her last scrap of energy, Six leapt.
Yes! Yes, Six! Shadow Six's praise drowned out the Nome's squeaks of terror, but even if she could've registered the Nome's struggling, Six wouldn't have let it go at any cost. Her fingernails bit into the Nome's skin as she used her teeth to tear her way through its neck to reach the sweet flesh and blood inside.
So sweet, so good...Six had never tasted anything so good in her life.
That's the way...feel yourself getting stronger?
She was boring into a Nome with her teeth and tongue, devouring the best thing she had ever tasted. Gulping its meat, feeling blood smear across her lips.
Keep going...listen to your Hunger...very good...
It was very good. Better than good - a euphoric sensation. Eating this Nome, absorbing everything that was a part of it. Nomes were delicious, Nomes were -
Passive. Friends. Six jumped away from the Nome as if she'd been electrocuted, stumbling backwards and falling on the floor. She whipped her head left and right, looking for Shadow Six - but she had vanished without a trace. The only things around her were the lights sparking from above, and the ripped remains of the Nome slowly oozing blood.
Six would have screamed if her mouth wasn't full of blood. She spat the remaining mouthful out onto the floor and feverishly tried to wipe all traces of blood and gore from her skin and coat. Her reality blurred until the red was the brightest thing she could see - the bright red stains smattering her being, the dark pool leaking from the Nome's corpse -
She didn't want to look. Breathing heavily, she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and sat hunched in the corner. With her eyes closed, a flood of sensations flowed through her body and mind: intense waves of fear, despair - a burst of bravery. A vision, a memory, of a woman with a horrific face, suspending her in a swirling storm of black particles. The sensation of shrinking, transforming, changing from child to Nome.
Six rocked on the spot until the memories and emotions had passed. She focused on her breathing...in...out...in...out. She trembled as she opened her eyes, slowly letting reality seep back to her. The meaning of this was crystal clear. The Lady had the ability to transform children into Nomes, and Six had eaten one such child.
Oh, god - had it been Eight? No...because Six would have known. The essence didn't feel like it belonged to Eight, but someone else instead. Fear rose in the back of her mind - maybe it was that boy that Eight talked about, named Seven. She pushed the thought away.
Don't think of who or why or what or anything else, Six ordered herself. What's done is done. I have to keep going.
For Six had realised something vital. From the Nome's essence, she had discovered the Lady's fatal flaw, the very way to defeat her.
It was vanity. Vanity was the Lady's greatest weakness, and living with her perceived ugliness for so many years had pushed her to the edge. Six had to take advantage of that to defeat her, to save the Maw and all the innocent beings on it.
She remembered the small, lone mirror that she had seen through the carved Eye in the Wax Bellman's office, sitting dusty and forgotten. It would be her weapon as well as her shield.
Six knew what she had to do.
- End of chapter -
