Ok, in this chapter you learn a little more about what happened when the castle sank.
Disclaimer: once again, all I own is the sunken castle.
"Do you mean to tell me that all them people who died are gonna jump outa the shadows an' tear our heads off!" Barret yelled, pointing his gun all over the place.
"Not right now, but eventually we might have to face this whole castle." Seto seemed disturbed, and Vincent thought he knew why. Seto had known most of these people before they died, and probably had fond memories with most of them. Now that he realized he had to kill them, he was probably having second thoughts about going further into the castle.
"I've gotta report this to the king!" Cait Sith seemed excited about having something to report finally.
"You don't have to go on, Seto. If you want to go back and not have to kill them, no one will blame you." Vincent actually had an emotion in his voice, and it was one no one would have expected. It was sympathy.
"I…" Seto shook his head. "I don't know. I'll keep going for now, but I'm not sure if I can bring myself to kill some of them."
"Don' worry about that, we'll take care of everyone you can't. Right Vincent?" Barret looked over at him.
'Of course. Why pass up the opportunity to kill someone? Wait, how are you blocking me?' Chaos had obviously been trying to say that out loud, but Vincent had learned how to stop him.
"I definitely won't hesitate to kill certain people." Vincent had returned to his normal voice, but Seto knew what he was talking about. After all, he was the one who found Vincent sleeping in a coffin that dated back to before the castle had been overrun.
"Ok, I told the king." Cait Sith seemed proud that he had finally done something useful.
"And?" Vincent asked expectantly.
"He said to keep going, because none of them could have made those marks in the ground." Cait Sith seemed about as happy with this answer as everybody else, but he knew that there was no way the others were quitting now.
They walked on in silence after that, each lost in his own thoughts. The hall seemed to go on forever, and it all looked the same. There was no change in the pattern of the columns, no change in the floor, no change at all. If it weren't for the fact that they never passed the body of the king again, Vincent would have sworn they were going in a circle.
Then Vincent saw something that caught his eye. It was just a small side door, but it seemed to be somehow important. He began to walk closer, the others not noticing since he was not in the light. The door seemed to be calling to him, telling him to open it. He began reaching for the handle, not even drawing his gun.
'Vincent, what are you doing! Draw your gun!' Hellmasker, instead of enjoying Vincent not thinking something through, was now terrified about what he was about to do.
Vincent barely heard him, and didn't even register that Chaos made him draw his gun. All he cared about now was opening that door.
"Yo, Vincent, where are ya?" Barret seemed to have noticed that Vincent was missing, but his voice sounded far away to Vincent.
Vincent finally made it to the door, and grasped the handle. He couldn't feel it, could barely think about what he was doing. The four demons were trying desperately to take control, to stop him from opening that door. He turned the handle, and opened the door. Beyond it was… a smaller hall.
Vincent came back to his senses when he opened the door. He shook his head and asked the demons what happened.
'You went into a kind of trance.' Galian Beast's voice was the first to answer.
'Then you started walking over here, and we couldn't stop you.' Death Gigas was the next to answer, and he couldn't hide the fear in his voice as well as Galian Beast could.
'Why did you try to stop me?' Vincent was becoming suspicious about this door.
'Because, numskull, you weren't even drawing your gun!' Hellmasker was extremely annoyed that Vincent couldn't even remember what had happened.
'That wasn't my reason. I felt something forcing you to do that, and it was stronger than I was.' The other four, including Vincent, were stunned. Something stronger than Chaos? It seemed impossible. But then there little conversation was interrupted when Barret found Vincent.
"Yo, what the hell were you thinking? Just leaving like that without any warning and then not even answering when we called?" Barret was really mad, probably because he had just been scared out of his mind.
"I'm sure Vincent has his reasons. Besides, if he were in trouble, he would have shot at whatever it was, right?" Cait Sith had more faith in Vincent than he was comfortable with, but he did appreciate that.
"Right. Well anyway, I think we should go this way." Vincent motioned to the door.
"Good idea, this hall just goes in circles, if I remember correctly." Seto began to walk through the door. He was followed by Vincent, then by the other two.
They continued in the formation they had had before. Vincent in the lead, Barret and Cait Sith in the middle, and Seto covering the rear. The demons were having an argument over what they should do if Vincent was taken over again, and Vincent was lost in his own thoughts.
'I still say that we try and take over Vincent's body and turn into one of us if it happens again.' Hellmasker obviously thought his was the best idea.
'And I still say that your idea won't work.' Chaos was getting mad at Hellmasker now. 'Vincent can block all four of us when he is expecting it, so all we have to do is search for this thing and warn Vincent when it's about to take him over again. If he can't fight it off, then we help him.'
'Alright, we'll go with your plan. But if that doesn't work, then we go with my plan.' Hellmasker was determined not to let his plan just be forgotten.
'No, we won't do your plan. If Chaos's plan doesn't work, than nothing will.' Vincent did not want Hellmasker's plan to be approved of by the other demons, especially with whatever this thing was trying to take him over.
After that, the demons started searching for the "other demon" as Hellmasker called it. Vincent began to look for another door, because this hall seemed to be as long as the other one.
He was just getting the feeling that they had been through this part of the hall already when Seto called him and the other two over.
"Look." Seto said, nodding to the wall. Vincent bent over and looked closer. He realized that there was writing on the wall. It said:
This castle does not have much time. I have decided that it will be my next target, and nothing can stop me. So listen well, all you foolish humans. You can either surrender now and be my slaves, or you can all be killed. It is your choice, and that choice will be what decides your fate. Choose wisely.
Vincent's eyes widened when he realized how it was written. Instead of it being scratched into the wall, it was written in blood. He looked over at Seto.
"The night before this was discovered, the castle's head scientist, Professor Gast, was found murdered in his lab. That morning, this was discovered and Professor Gast's body was nowhere to be found. The king decided not to surrender, and everyone agreed with him. My father told me to get away from the castle until I heard that it was safe." Seto seemed far away, talking more to himself than anyone else. "That night, there was a huge earthquake. I ran back, against my father's orders, and watched as this castle sank into the ground. It almost killed me." He looked down, trying to hide the tears that came to his eyes.
"So they didn't come unexpectedly." Vincent said, looking at Seto, who shook his head. "Do you have any idea what caused the earthquake?"
"No, unfortunately. All I know is that it was somehow linked to whoever wrote this." Seto's voice seemed almost monotone now.
"Well, I guess we'd, uh, better get goin'." Barret said nervously.
"Yeah, let's go." Vincent was beginning to suspect that whatever wrote this was the same thing that had taken over him.
They resumed formation, and began to walk again. The hall began to change now, but not for the better. There began to be gargoyles that watched their progress. There were ugly carvings on the wall. The darkness began to become thicker, the radius of light that Barret and Cait Sith walked in began to shrink.
'Vincent!' Death Gigas' voice rang through his head.
Vincent prepared his defenses, and just in time. He felt the presence trying to get in, trying to take over. Then he sensed it realize that he was blocking it, and changed from subtlety to force. Vincent let out a cry as he felt it hit him. The others came running over and found him writhing on the ground.
"Vincent! Vincent, what's wrong?" Seto ran to his side, but Vincent pushed him away.
'Come on, let's help him!' The four demons lent him their strength, but the other mind was still more powerful. It looked like they were going to lose, when it left as suddenly as it came.
Vincent got up and shook his head. He hurt, but seemed to be ok.
"Yo, what the hell happened? You yelled and suddenly you were on the ground writhin' like a snake!" Barret, despite pretending not to care, really was concerned.
"Something attacked my mind. Something powerful." Vincent replied as he tried to clear his mind. But then he saw something he hadn't noticed before. There was a hidden door in the wall. "Seto, where does that door lead?"
"It leads to… Professor Gast's lab. I guess that's as good a place as any to start looking for clues as to what we're up against." Seto began to move towards it.
Vincent walked over to it. He got ready to open it, and looked at Barret. He nodded, and Vincent flung open the door once again. He pointed his gun into the room, and the others watched in horror as a tentacle came out and dragged Vincent in.
Here you go. For any of you Vincent fans who are wondering why the demons are helping vincent, they believe that the only ones who areallowed to take him over are them. And they'll take you over if you don't review!