Midnight Garden
by Kye
Chapter Six
It hurts to be lost in your own head. Pretty damn scary, too, especially when someone you don't know is floating around with you. Especially when you can hardly think over the noise of...everything, and they're perfectly all right. Especially when you can't block the voices, and they can.
[who are you?] I asked, scrabbling in the dark for a foothold in my very confused mind. Hundreds of people chattered in the background like a flock of birds. I tried to push it away so that I could hear any answer to my question. And then, not because of me, all of the voices stopped. For the first time in a long time, there was silence. Silence. I almost didn't understand what I was hearing, that it was nothing, plain and simple. I realized and I listened to it. It felt to me as though there would never be sound again-- until the blessed silence was broken by the being who was sharing my mind. There was laughter, so loud and powerful I thought my whole existence would be shattered.
[I? I Am A Hunter.] said a voice. It was only slightly more bearable than the laughter.
[yeah, okay, so you're a hunter. what the fuck are you doing in my head?] I clung to some steady thought, hoping it wouldn't slide away and leave me drifting like a dead fish in a pond. I nearly slipped, but somehow kept my hold. My ears rang at both the unaccustomed silence and the horrible sound of The Voice.
[What Do You Think?] said The Voice. I wondered when I had asked a question. I was losing time. [I Am Hunting You.]
[me? why bother?] I asked almost sincerely.
[Do You Want To Know?] I didn't dignify the question with an answer.
[Well, If You Wish.] The Voice said. I flinched, and the world changed.
Switzerland? There were mountains. The Swiss Alps, I thought. Bright, bright snow, as painful as The Voice after the darkness of my mind. There was a building here, tucked unaestheticly onto a flattened piece of mountain. A long, low roof. A wide porch, tiled, bordered by ineffectual- looking fencing. A long table, at which sat three ugly old people. Well, they weren't that ugly, or wouldn't have been, if I hadn't known who they were.
Eszett. Damned Eszett. Determined to make Schwarz their precious little lapdogs until the day they died. Who thought that the only good suit was a white suit. Little old people who looked perfectly nice and cuddly until they ripped your throat out for the sake of some stupid mystic cult.
I hated Eszett.
The laugh came back, and I remembered where I was. Or wasn't. Whatever.
[That's The Point.] said The Voice. [That You Hate Eszett Is The Point. Look.] I looked. Usually the Elderly Eszetts were as docile as a pack of drugged dairy cows. Today, though, they seemed almost annoyed; they sipped their tea as ferociously as you can sip tea, and their facial hair quivered with aggravation. I wondered what had their old-person panties in a twist. Maybe one of them had dropped their communal dentures down the garbage disposal.
"So he has failed," said one of the old ones, furrowing his brow. His pinky finger tapped distractedly at his teacup.
Nope, not the dentures, I thought.
"I guess he wasn't as strong as we thought," said another, the woman. She shifted in her seat, leaning her cheek against her loose fist.
"Then shall we send in a replacement?" asked the third. "Perhaps he will perform more commendably than his predecessors."
"Yes," said the old woman. "I know who we should send." She took a sip of her tea and smiled. "I know just who we should send instead."
And what the hell was all that supposed to mean?
A second later, I squeezed my mental eyes shut, trying to get some sort of balance. They had disappeared too quickly for me to register, and it left me dizzy and out of sorts.
[what the hell was all that supposed to mean?] I asked groggily.
[They Were Speaking Of Their Agents In Japan. Specifically One Reiji Takatori.]
[yeah, he did screw up, didn't he. so, what, you're his replacement?] I almost heard The Voice smile.
[Yes, Me. And They Weren't Just Talking About Takatori, You Know.]
[you mean they're pissed at us, too?]
[Very.]
[what the fuck? we didn't screw up. he did.]
[They Don't See It That Way.] said the voice.
[so you're going to kill schwarz?]
[Oh, Yes, Of Course.] It said matter-of-factly. [Eventually, That Is.]
[what do you mean, eventually?] I asked. My head had started to hurt when The Voice showed me Eszett, and it was beginning to peak at excruciating.
[Wouldn't You Like To Know.] said The Voice, and slipped out of my mind. For a moment following extreme irritation at the abrupt exit, there was pure, blissful silence. And then The Voice let the voices of everyone else climb back between my thoughts. It was sudden. It was too much.
[let me out, let me out, let me out!] I begged into my mind, and of course it didn't help, because it was me I was yelling at. Too much at once. Too much at all. I dug through the voices, searching for anything that would let me out. Crowded, loud, horrible, terrible, never-ending people. All of them, all of them so painful or so joyful. So, so strong... I couldn't block them from inside. [LET ME OUT!] I screamed it, pounding on the walls of my mind. The Voice had left, but It had left Its power behind. I was trapped, and I was going crazy. I didn't like going crazy, I never liked going crazy. I'd already lost it once that night.
I shuddered, my mind shuddered, as it fought against itself. My mental knuckles bled. I wouldn't have been surprised if my real knuckles were bleeding, too, out in the world. In the shittiest telepathic situations, what the mind believes, reality produces.
[YOU SON OF A BITCH, LET ME OUT!!] I felt the walls of my mind shake. I hoped I wouldn't cause my own brain death. I shoved into one las effort. [LET...ME...OUT!]A quake ran through me and my mind that knocked me over. There was a mental shrug of the person-not-me, and I dropped into conciousness.
-------------------------------------
AN. Sorry it took so long for so little. I had serious writer's block on this one. I had a totally different idea for this, but I wrote that plot four times and it always sucked, so I changed over to this, which I also wrote several times. Forgive my lazy brain. -_- See ya next time!
Marc: that wasn't angsty enough.
Akemi: That wasn't anything enough! You suck!
kye: ;_;
Eki: Um, Ake-chan, that was kinda my chapter.
Akemi: Oh. Scratch that, then. It was the best chapter ever!!
Kye: -_-;; ...later, minna-san.
by Kye
Chapter Six
It hurts to be lost in your own head. Pretty damn scary, too, especially when someone you don't know is floating around with you. Especially when you can hardly think over the noise of...everything, and they're perfectly all right. Especially when you can't block the voices, and they can.
[who are you?] I asked, scrabbling in the dark for a foothold in my very confused mind. Hundreds of people chattered in the background like a flock of birds. I tried to push it away so that I could hear any answer to my question. And then, not because of me, all of the voices stopped. For the first time in a long time, there was silence. Silence. I almost didn't understand what I was hearing, that it was nothing, plain and simple. I realized and I listened to it. It felt to me as though there would never be sound again-- until the blessed silence was broken by the being who was sharing my mind. There was laughter, so loud and powerful I thought my whole existence would be shattered.
[I? I Am A Hunter.] said a voice. It was only slightly more bearable than the laughter.
[yeah, okay, so you're a hunter. what the fuck are you doing in my head?] I clung to some steady thought, hoping it wouldn't slide away and leave me drifting like a dead fish in a pond. I nearly slipped, but somehow kept my hold. My ears rang at both the unaccustomed silence and the horrible sound of The Voice.
[What Do You Think?] said The Voice. I wondered when I had asked a question. I was losing time. [I Am Hunting You.]
[me? why bother?] I asked almost sincerely.
[Do You Want To Know?] I didn't dignify the question with an answer.
[Well, If You Wish.] The Voice said. I flinched, and the world changed.
Switzerland? There were mountains. The Swiss Alps, I thought. Bright, bright snow, as painful as The Voice after the darkness of my mind. There was a building here, tucked unaestheticly onto a flattened piece of mountain. A long, low roof. A wide porch, tiled, bordered by ineffectual- looking fencing. A long table, at which sat three ugly old people. Well, they weren't that ugly, or wouldn't have been, if I hadn't known who they were.
Eszett. Damned Eszett. Determined to make Schwarz their precious little lapdogs until the day they died. Who thought that the only good suit was a white suit. Little old people who looked perfectly nice and cuddly until they ripped your throat out for the sake of some stupid mystic cult.
I hated Eszett.
The laugh came back, and I remembered where I was. Or wasn't. Whatever.
[That's The Point.] said The Voice. [That You Hate Eszett Is The Point. Look.] I looked. Usually the Elderly Eszetts were as docile as a pack of drugged dairy cows. Today, though, they seemed almost annoyed; they sipped their tea as ferociously as you can sip tea, and their facial hair quivered with aggravation. I wondered what had their old-person panties in a twist. Maybe one of them had dropped their communal dentures down the garbage disposal.
"So he has failed," said one of the old ones, furrowing his brow. His pinky finger tapped distractedly at his teacup.
Nope, not the dentures, I thought.
"I guess he wasn't as strong as we thought," said another, the woman. She shifted in her seat, leaning her cheek against her loose fist.
"Then shall we send in a replacement?" asked the third. "Perhaps he will perform more commendably than his predecessors."
"Yes," said the old woman. "I know who we should send." She took a sip of her tea and smiled. "I know just who we should send instead."
And what the hell was all that supposed to mean?
A second later, I squeezed my mental eyes shut, trying to get some sort of balance. They had disappeared too quickly for me to register, and it left me dizzy and out of sorts.
[what the hell was all that supposed to mean?] I asked groggily.
[They Were Speaking Of Their Agents In Japan. Specifically One Reiji Takatori.]
[yeah, he did screw up, didn't he. so, what, you're his replacement?] I almost heard The Voice smile.
[Yes, Me. And They Weren't Just Talking About Takatori, You Know.]
[you mean they're pissed at us, too?]
[Very.]
[what the fuck? we didn't screw up. he did.]
[They Don't See It That Way.] said the voice.
[so you're going to kill schwarz?]
[Oh, Yes, Of Course.] It said matter-of-factly. [Eventually, That Is.]
[what do you mean, eventually?] I asked. My head had started to hurt when The Voice showed me Eszett, and it was beginning to peak at excruciating.
[Wouldn't You Like To Know.] said The Voice, and slipped out of my mind. For a moment following extreme irritation at the abrupt exit, there was pure, blissful silence. And then The Voice let the voices of everyone else climb back between my thoughts. It was sudden. It was too much.
[let me out, let me out, let me out!] I begged into my mind, and of course it didn't help, because it was me I was yelling at. Too much at once. Too much at all. I dug through the voices, searching for anything that would let me out. Crowded, loud, horrible, terrible, never-ending people. All of them, all of them so painful or so joyful. So, so strong... I couldn't block them from inside. [LET ME OUT!] I screamed it, pounding on the walls of my mind. The Voice had left, but It had left Its power behind. I was trapped, and I was going crazy. I didn't like going crazy, I never liked going crazy. I'd already lost it once that night.
I shuddered, my mind shuddered, as it fought against itself. My mental knuckles bled. I wouldn't have been surprised if my real knuckles were bleeding, too, out in the world. In the shittiest telepathic situations, what the mind believes, reality produces.
[YOU SON OF A BITCH, LET ME OUT!!] I felt the walls of my mind shake. I hoped I wouldn't cause my own brain death. I shoved into one las effort. [LET...ME...OUT!]A quake ran through me and my mind that knocked me over. There was a mental shrug of the person-not-me, and I dropped into conciousness.
-------------------------------------
AN. Sorry it took so long for so little. I had serious writer's block on this one. I had a totally different idea for this, but I wrote that plot four times and it always sucked, so I changed over to this, which I also wrote several times. Forgive my lazy brain. -_- See ya next time!
Marc: that wasn't angsty enough.
Akemi: That wasn't anything enough! You suck!
kye: ;_;
Eki: Um, Ake-chan, that was kinda my chapter.
Akemi: Oh. Scratch that, then. It was the best chapter ever!!
Kye: -_-;; ...later, minna-san.