Earlier…
"C'mon, we're almost to the exit." Waylon said as he held out his hand to Cyrus, the two of them standing on a ledge overlooking a roof, preparing to jump.
"I...I don't know if we can make that." Cyrus said.
"Well, there's no other way to get to the exit." Waylon pointed out. "This place is gonna be swarming with Murkoff's people come morning, and they're not going to be the search and rescue type. So, unless you want to be target practice, I suggest you and I take a leap of faith."
"O-Okay…" Cyrus said nervously.
"Good. Okay...one...two...three!" Waylon said as the two jumped...just short, narrowly grabbing onto the edge of the roof. "Whew...okay, that was bad, but at least we can climb-"
*creak*
"-f***." Waylon cursed as the board serving as their hold broke, sending them both plummeting down.
"Ugh…" Waylon groaned as he regained consciousness. "What...what the hell? Cyrus, what-?"
"I...I think we were too heavy." Cyrus croaked out as Park witnessed the officer's leg broken, then resetting itself.
"You know, that talent of yours is pretty useful." Waylon remarked. "You sure you don't remember getting it?"
"N-No. I really don't know how I got it." the informant said. "S-Sorry…"
"Eh, whatever, we need to get out of here." Waylon waved off. "There's gotta be a way-"
"Don't need any sisters. Maybe she - she could be a-"
"You aint old enough to be worryin' about it."
"Grow some hair on your pecker, Timmy. Then, we can talk about girls."
The two froze as they heard a voice, each sentence sounding silently different than the last.
"I apologize, but I already have a boyfriend."
Now that was a different voice. Sounded young, like a girl.
"They have a hostage…" Cyrus whispered. "We should try to-"
"Don't get sidetracked." Waylon said. "We should scout it out: if we can get to her, great, if not...we go on ahead."
The two crept forwards, the floorboards under them creaking with each step.
"Ya hear that, Timmy? The girl has a man already."
"I hear, I hear…"
"Everybody, just quiet the f*** down for a spell. I hear somethin' creakin'."
The two stopped in place, silently panicking before they ducked behind a support beam.
"What're ya blabberin' about, old man, I don't hear nothin'."
"Maybe if y'all kept yer pieholes shut fer five damned minutes, y'all could hear it."
"What'd ya say, old coot?!"
"Sammy, don't insult yer elders."
"But Pa-"
"Shut up, all y'all! We have interlopers."
Waylon peaked out from behind the beam, seeing a man armed with a cleaver, his face scarred.
"What'll we do with 'em, Pa?"
"We'll do with 'em what we'll do with the girl: they'll be our goats."
"You wanna give them to Gluskin?"
"That's the idea. We feed him a goat and leave him alone."
"But...she's so small, Pa. The Groom'll hurt her if he tries somethin'."
"Don't you start goin' soft on us, boy. This here's about survival. Y'all know that."
"I-I know, Pa, but-"
"Don't you talk back, Timmy! We give 'em all to the Groom."
"There's reason here."
"Let 'em come to us. We'll corner the lot of 'em soon enough."
The man then stalked off, allowing the duo to get out of hiding.
"Alright, rescue is now officially out of the question." Waylon said. "Let's just get out of here."
"M-Maybe we'll find her on the way. Then we can at least let her free." Cyrus suggested.
"...Fine. Come on."
The two then continued on their way, sneaking through the cramped spaces as they tried to stay silent. Eventually, they made their way to a thin walkway between two shelves.
"I'll go first. You stay behind me." Waylon told Cyrus as he started shimming his way through the space, until…
"Quiet!"
Waylon stopped in his tracks, coming face to face with a Variant, which shushed him.
"If they ca… If they catch us, they'll give us to him. The man downstairs. The man… Very bad. Very, very bad...god… Oh god…" he whispered before he slipped away.
"...Okay then." was the only thing Waylon could say before he started moving again, allowing the two to come out into a space behind a wall. "Well, looks like we're behind a wall…"
"Wait...look." Cyrus whispered, starting out behind openings in the walls. The two saw the man from before, staring down at a young-looking girl tied up in a chair.
"Yer actin' real upright, aintcha lil' lady? Ya won't have it fer long; not when the Groom's done with ya."
"I don't think that's going to happen." The girl replied calmly. "I'd rather not be married off to a man I don't know. My heart is with someone else."
"Y'all can tell that to Gluskin. He don't take rejection well."
"So that's the prisoner, huh? She can't be any older than 11." Waylon noted. "And this f*** wants to give her to some groom...urgh…" he shuddered.
"Should we do something? Try and find a way to help her?" Cyrus inquired.
"No, not with the 'family' in there." Waylon said. "We need to be quiet, try and find a way out of-"
"They're here! Inside the walls! Kill 'em!"
"Rats in the walls! Kill the rats!"
The two nearly jumped out of their skin when the man chopped through a board in the wall with his cleaver. Breaking off into a run, the duo went deeper into the walls, the family of one trying to get to them.
"They… they g-got away! The Groom'll have us!"
"Shut up!"
We'll find a way around. We know this ground and we don't mind huntin'." the man said before he rounded on the girl. "You stay there, lil' lady. We'll be back for ya."
The Variant then left out a door in the little room, leaving the girl known as Kotoko Iwanaga alone.
"Where's the goddamn exit…" Waylon muttered as he and Cyrus made their way through the winding halls.
"Waylon, I can't hear that guy anywhere. What if we run into him?" Cyrus asked nervously.
"Then we run." Waylon said. "It's the only thing we can do. Shame about that girl, but if we can't find an opening…"
"But… I mean… We can't just-"
"We can and we will. You wanna get out of here or not? Look, that kid seemed calm, so maybe she's got her own plan to escape. Right now, we need to focus on us."
"...Well, if you think she's gonna find her own way…" Cyrus murmured.
"C'mon, I think we're almost out." Waylon said, as the two rounded a corner…
"There they are! What do you think?"
"Oh, they'll do."
"For once, we agree!"
...and straight into the madman.
"GAH!" Waylon called out as he narrowly avoided a chop from the Variant's cleaver, before grabbing Cyrus' arm and taking off with his partner in tow.
"Y'all can't escape here." the man said, marching after them. "We gotta make you an offering."
And so, the chase was on.
Meanwhile, Kotoko was struggling to undo the tape binds that were keeping her trapped.
"Come on...almost… There!" Kotoko said as the binds finally became loose enough for her to slip out of them. "Ah, finally, my arms were starting to fall asleep. Now, where is my cane?"
As if answering this question, a long, narrow sheet of cloth with small arms and yellow eyes flew into the room through a hole in the ceiling, holding a red cane with the top shaped like a cat.
"Ah, thank you." Kotoko said as she took the cane back. "I appreciate it. Now, if only I could figure out how and why I ended up here, and where I am… Hmm...perhaps those two that man is after will have some answers."
With that, Kotoko dusted herself off, and left to go find her two potential guides.
"WHY IS THIS PLACE A F***ING MAZE?!" Waylon yelled in frustration as he and Cyrus continued to run from the family of one. "I swear, if we run into a dead end, I'm gonna slam that f***ing Variant's face right into it!"
Forutentaly for the Variant's face, the next turn the duo took brought a door into their sight. Acting fast, Miles and Cyrus ran up to the door, only to realize it was locked.
"Are you god damn kidding me?!" Miles wailed as he tried in vain to get the door open. "Damn it, I'm not dying here!"
"No you ain't. Y'all're dyin' downstairs."
"Oh, Gluskin's gonna have fun with you, boys."
"A gift for the Groom."
Waylon then turned around to see the Variant approaching, cleaver in hand. Frozen in place for several seconds, Waylon then curled his hand into a fist, his expression darkening.
"Alright, you inbreed f***." Waylon seethed. "You want me? Fine! Come and get me, asshole! I'm right here! Try and kill me, I dare you!" he said, raising his fists up, his arms shaking from a combination of fear and exhaustion. "I am not going to die here… I won't…" he trailed off, trying to stay defiant.
"Hold up a sec', boys." the Variant said, stopping. "Naw… naw, I just got me a better idea."
"Huh? What're ya sayin' now, old man?"
"Shut yer trap, Sammy, and let me talk!" the Variant snapped at himself before turning to the two. "Y'all wanna leave, do ya? How 'bout a deal then? We let y'all go… and you make sure Gluskin can't get us neither."
"...What?" Waylon asked. "After all that, you're going to let us go?"
"Well, we'd be sendin' you boys down anyway. Way I sees it, either y'all die, and we live longer, or y'all somehow kill the Groom, and my boys and I can leave. Either way, we win."
"(Gluskin...why does that name sound familiar?)" Waylon thought to himself before he focused back on the Variant. "Alright, considering you're the one with the cleaver, I guess I can't really decline, right?"
"Well, ain't you a smart little man?" the Variant chuckled. "If only my boys were as smart as you, we could actually do it ourselves."
"Hey, listen ya-"
"I SAID SHUT YER TRAP, SAMMY! Anyways, what do ya say, stranger?"
Waylon was silent for several moments before he sighed. "Fine. We'll...see what we can do."
"There, now don't it feel nice to help out yer fellow man? Here," the Variant said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a key, "use this to unlock that there door. If y'all do that bastard in...tell 'em Dennis and the boys say hi."
With that, the Variant walked off, conversing with himself all the while.
"O...kay." Cyrus said, still looking a bit worried. "W-Who's...Gluskin?"
"I...I think I've heard that name but...I don't…"
"Help me! Don't let them do this! Don't let them! You! I know you can stop this! You have to help me! You have to…"
"...Oh. Oh no."
"W-What? What do you mean, 'Oh no'?" Cyrus asked.
"...The Groom. A serial killer who went almost exclusively after women… I saw him, before I got committed." Waylon realized. "Eddie Gluskin… oh God, what did the engine do to him?"
"Hmm…" Kotoko hummed as she dropped down into a dark room, the faint moonlight from the windows only providing a faint outline of the various tables and sewing machines around the room. "Well, those two must still be upstairs, so I suppose I'll just wait for them. Although… this groom that man was talking about might be here. I'll need to stay alert."
Kotoko started to explore the room, taking note of a record playing a song that echoed around the room.
"Ah, I wish Kuro-san was here." Kotoko said. "In a room this dark, maybe I could get away with a few things. Well, my imagination will have to do, I suppose."
Sighing at the images she made up, The Goddess of Wisdom then came upon a double door. When she attempted to open it, she found that it was locked.
"Ah, locked then. Perhaps I missed an opening back where I came in. I'll just-"
The plan Kotoko was making vanished immediately when she turned around, coming face to face with a middle aged man with red blisters all over his face, his skin peeling in some places, and his eyes hemorrhaging. His outfit, old-timey gentleman clothing crudely sewn together into a dirty dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up slightly, a dark blue bow tie and matching waistcoat, as well as black fingerless gloves, matching work boots, belt, cargo pants and armbands, somehow made him look downright terrifying. The man stared down at Kotoko, smiled, and said in a voice that was equally chilled bones and blood:
"Darling!"