Jesse was lying on the ground again.
To be more specific, they were lying facedown on the floor, trying to soothe their throbbing head.
PAMA would periodically ask questions, perhaps bored (could dolls be bored?). Jesse's head was pounding so much that it was a bit hard to remember all of them, let alone the answers they ended up giving, but a few of the ones that stuck better included:
"Do humans eat meat too?"
"Some don't, but humans can eat meat, yes."
"Why?"
"... protein?"
This spiraled off into a conversation about what PAMA ate, which was apparently air.
Which was to say nothing.
"Humans can't eat poison? Why is that?"
"We'll die."
"But why?"
"I dunno, human bodies can't handle poison, I guess."
"But why?"
This went in circles for quite a bit.
And, to top it all off:
"Do humans eat rotting flesh?"
"No, we look down upon eating other people... or anything rotting, honestly..."
"Why?"
"Since murder isn't socially acceptable, nor is grave robbing."
"What a strange world you live in."
There were a lot of questions about food, now that Jesse thought about it.
Jesse was in the middle of attempting to explain that lords weren't really a thing anymore, unless it was just a superficial title, when PAMA abruptly fell silent.
Footsteps echoed in the dark tunnels. Jesse quickly stopped talking as well, blinking hard.
Abrecan emerged from the darkness. Jesse took the two-second opportunity to fix their eyes in his general direction but not straight into his eyes.
So they ended up focusing on a random strand of greasy black hair dripping into his face.
"You'll be happy to know the end of your life is upon you," Abrecan practically purred, looking like a cat that had eaten a very plump canary.
"Hooray," Jesse replied drily.
"The final key that I needed- which needed to be shuttled all the way from Narvid, ugh-" Abrecan punctuated his statement with an overdramatic roll of the eyes. It was frankly a wonder that he didn't somehow send them careening out of his skull. "- is here."
Narvid... Romeo.
Was Romeo okay?
"Of course, my lord does need a little... morsel to break the secondary seal."
Secondary seal?
Jesse's concussed face must've revealed some confusion, because Abrecan chuckled. "Of course, you humans are stupid, aren't you? I suppose I can give you an explanation while we bring you to the gates. Really, it's an honor to be the sustenance for our lord."
PAMA said nothing, heaving Jesse up onto their feet.
It was only partially successful, considering Jesse's feet slid around a little on the cool stone beneath them, head pounding away; Abrecan was apparently satisfied enough with this, since he began to walk, feet clicking in the hallway and making a very annoying musical accompaniment to Jesse's pounding head.
"The older lords really wanted our true master to stay locked away, so their corruption could spread."
Jesse said nothing. They attempted to craft their features into the most bored expression they could muster up.
They had no idea if they were actually succeeding, but it was better than pure unbridled terror, so they went with it.
"So, they also secretly incorporated a secondary seal. Of course, my master can still reach through, which is how you'll be fed to them-"
Wonderful.
"- but the seal prevents anything that isn't a pure soul from getting through, or at least some semblance of energy. My master, of course, is dark energy, but there is still some mass to it- so without some strength, there's no way my master can fully break out of the realm they're trapped in."
Jesse wanted to yawn, but unfortunately the sensation was just out of reach for Jesse, so they just settled for their attempt at an unimpressed look.
It might've looked more like pain, honestly, but Jesse tried to maintain the expression anyway.
The gates loomed above them, but this time, there were multiple locks undone. The final key lay on the table in the chamber.
Abrecan chuckled. "Drop our little sacrifice down in front of the gates please, PAMA."
PAMA did so, but instead of a full drop they levered Jesse into something like a sitting position.
Which Jesse was grateful for, as they did not want to make their current concussion even worse.
Abrecan plucked up the key, twirling it, before sliding it into the final, bottommost lock.
There was a solid sound, deep and resonating through the ground, before the interlocking snakes began to draw back, the chains melting away as if they'd never really been there, retreating over the pearlescent doors.
Jesse watched, almost spellbound, as the last of the glow from the chains melted away. There was a startlingly anticlimactic click, before the gates swung open silently.
It was easy to see the translucent but iridescent barrier over the doors, shimmering, yet so faint and almost pathetic looking faced against what looked like the void.
Then something seemed to emerge from the void.
Jesse blankly stared as a single, dark blob thing shaped vaguely like a hand came reaching through the iridescence.
And then another.
And suddenly Jesse was being dragged towards the open mouth of the void.
Jesse gave a small squeak, but the screams that threatened to burst from their mouth were too loud for their concussed and fuzzy brain at the moment, so despite the jolt of adrenaline and terror that had Jesse's head and heart suddenly pounding away like a drum, Jesse made almost absolutely no sound whatsoever.
Their back slammed into the iridescent barrier- though it didn't really feel solid, but Jesse's body wasn't budging all of a sudden despite the fierce tug backwards into the void.
Jesse couldn't really pinpoint the sensation that was currently vibrating through their bones and skin and every muscle in their body.
Maybe it was similar to thousands of tiny hands grasping through a cloth, clawing desperately at the little human. Maybe it was more like a hundred tiny needles prickling over skin, piercing something deep inside Jesse and dragging it out of their body.
Whatever it was, it was dragging Jesse through the gate, swallowing up the light.
Sort of.
It was dragging something of Jesse's through- their consciousness, their mind, their soul- but their body wasn't exactly coming through with them.
Jesse caught one glimpse of PAMA as they were dragged into nothing, their body crumpling to the ground like a piece of discarded cloth.
There was a flicker of something on PAMA's face as its eyes flickered from Jesse's body to Jesse (Jesse's soul?).
Had Jesse not known any better, had Jesse not known that dolls didn't have souls or emotions or any real feelings to speak of, had Jesse not been told they were nothing but empty shells...
Jesse would've said the expression was fear.
And then Jesse could see nothing more, because they were surrounded with nothing but darkness.
A/N: ehm. oops.
I inadvertently chose a great chapter to leave off on a cliffhanger, because now according to our deal, Toni has to update Movie Mode before I write any more of this fhdksa;
Responses to reviews!
jessicanightmarewolf: Hehe / Thank you!
Happygoluckymegami: Heeeee / It wasn't intentional; he didn't realize he was going to die so soon haha
ariariariaria: It was really fun haha / Crown Mesa is a very small city in Hizelk (think somewhere between Narvid, Champion City, and the End), so they probably do have a few members in the Storm. / Bob 2.
Pretzel Pocket: Hee hee, your turn. / Ye! I don't think anyone exactly planned for it to be that way, but it worked in Abrecan's favor lol. / Yeaaaah lolol
That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!
x.X. A.L. X.x.