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Raz was almost nauseous at the thought of going back into Lili's Nightmare Village. It was just plain creepy, and he wasn't sure what kind of memories he'd find. He was almost afraid to think about it. But Lili's sanity was on the line here. So he just took a deep breath and went back in.
This time, a little baby nightmare started chasing Raz around, and when he picked it up, it screamed. He dropped it and ran, but it chased him still. Finally, it's mother picked it up and bowed to Raz, then promptly oozed off. He almost laughed at the disappointed expression on the little guy's face. It gave this angelic little look that said 'I didn't do it'! Raz was reminded of all the weird things he'd done as a little kid and chuckled. Aww, short little dude. Then he remembered it was a nightmare, scolded himself for thinking about it that way, and chased after a memory vault that a full-grown nightmare was holding onto. The vault was panicking and running around, trying to shake the nightmare, who – Raz had to give the thing some credit – was just barely managing to hang on even as the vault rolled over on top of it and bucked wildly. Finally, the nightmare fell off and landed on Raz.
He could have screamed. The contact burned his skin, and the nightmare itself began to smoke as it screamed loudly. They broke apart, the nightmare shuddering and Raz barely able to think straight. Raz took off like a shoot to the memory vault, and the nightmare flew off in the opposite direction. For a moment Raz nearly forgot who he was. Taking a deep breath, he walked forward and punched the vault.
'Merdilazi Rialia na che(1)' was the title. Raz felt sick, but looked at it anyway, because it could help him help Lili.
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Begin the Flashback/Memory
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"Yashnier,(2)" Rialia questioned Sasha as they crept, dressed in discreet colors, along the frozen ice of Lake Oblongata to get to Thorney Towers Home for the Disturbed. "Why did we have to come here in winter? Is eerie! Makes Siberia look like Heaven."
Rialia was fifteen now, wearing a long black coat trimmed in fur. Her gloves were the thick Russian kind, designed to withstand below zero temperatures. A fur cap covered her head, in which she had cleverly tucked her light colored hair so it didn't draw attention from anyone watching. Sasha was limping slightly on his left leg, dressed in a coat nearly identical to Rialia's –he'd borrowed it from her – and his eyes, minus their oh-so-cool sunglasses because they obscured his vision when it was so dark, were pure black in color. Sasha looked like a ghost as he walked cautiously along the ice, carefully testing out each step. Behind them, Lili was wearing what appeared to be four or five layers of sweaters and was crawling on all fours behind them.
"Because Truman doesn't expect anyone to come here when it's 30 below, as most psychics have a low tolerence for such weather. However, you are Russian, I am not totally human, and Miss Zanotto is young enough to adapt. So we have to come here, now. It could be our only chance to see if my guess about Lili and Gloria's minds is correct."
"I still don't understand how I forged a connection between them," Rialia sighed. "But I think it has something to do with how I'm Lili's half sister and Gloria's daughter."
"It's a good theory," Sasha affirmed, "But we should be quiet now. And Miss Zanotto has the right idea – get down on all fours."
"What about you?" Lili asked quietly, sounding dead to the world.
"I'll go invisible."
They crept quietly across the lake, crunching the powdery snow sometimes, sliding radically at others. Rialia's hand slid through a place where the ice had thawed and refrozen once, which cut her, but she ignored it and moved on, crawling on one hand through the snow. Raz felt a deep respect for how she paused to hug Lili with her good arm. Lili's own parents may have been assholes, but at least Lili had some support from her sister. Sasha paused every few minutes to check on them as well.
They reached the island-like structure after a half hour. Rialia swayed when she stood up, then collapsed onto Sasha, who held her like a daughter.
"Ri, are you alright?" he asked, placing a hand on her forehead. "You've got a fever."
"Jutt tiu watsi(3)," she replied, and smiled. I've a got a fever because a hot German man has his hand on my butt."
Sasha let out a screech and pulled back from her, turning red and white and pink and stammering. Lili laughed along with Rialia, who had to lean against the rocky side wall for balance, she was laughing so hard. Tears flowed down her cheeks as Sasha's embarrassment turned to outrage.
"We are on a mission, Rialia Dimitrix Vinyala! Please-" he was cut off by Rialia wrapping an arm around his neck (bringing his head down by about ten inches because of the height difference).
She smiled and pointed at Lili. "Do you see what I see, yashnier?"
Quietly he whispered, "It's the first time she's laughed since Truman burned your house down and her parents divorced." Then he quickly kissed her on the cheek. "I don't know how the two of us would survive without you."
Rialia struggled up the ladder as Sasha carried Lili via levitation to the top. Boyd was nowhere to be seen, and the gates were open. Gloria was acting out a giant play, and decided to randomly point at Lili and say, "You have the makings of a star, one day!" Rialia used this insanity to encourage Lili gently that 'even insane people can see you're cool'. They carefully got into the elevator, flicking the switch for the top lab/dome. The whole place was pitch black, and Rialia held a small white ball of light out for them to see by. Carefully Sasha and Rialia investigated what would one day be a lab while the five year old Lili 'guarded the elevator'. The dome was coated in thick, glossy red stains that were similar to human blood, but not quite. Rialia exited when Sasha began using clairvoyance on the stuff. It wasn't stupid. It was smart. Sasha could work better when he had total silence. Lili quietly followed Rialia as the Russian girl padded catlike up the slanted dome to the top room.
For two or three seconds, Rialia was out of sight.
Then a scream of pure agony was heard, low pitched and clearly her voice.
Lili took off at maximum speed, yelling out, "SASHA! RIALIA!" Once she entered the room, she turned pale. Two huge, elongated orange eyes, the small pupils vibrating as they stared at Rialia's now dying body. Suffocated breathing sounded, along with the smell of rotted flesh. The creature was shaking, standing hunched on six legs far too skinny and bony to support its body. Its four arms were thin and were currently scraping boredly at Rialia's ribcage. Its skin was molted grey, scaly, and it's think body contrasted to its huge head that bobbed back and forth on a long, twisted neck. It had a long, thin tail with a huge sickle-like claw attached. Essentially, it was just like Zaberial in monster form, only with more arms and legs and a pair of black bat wings extending out from its back. With a snarl it threw Rialia across the room and lunged at Lili, who – somehow – managed to psi-blast it. With a hiss it drew back into the shadows.
Lili rushed over to her half-sister. "Ri, come on, say something…"
"Vodka les gi(4)?" Rialia muttered uncomprehendingly.
The creature then prepared itself to jump at Lili, but Sasha set it on fire. It howled once; a sound that could have frozen fire, then jumped out of the dome and flew away. Sasha rushed over to Rialia's side, saying simply, "Non… no… ni… Ri, please, hold on."
It was useless. Her body from the ribcage down was a mess of blood. Her brown eyes were struggling to stay open as she weakly lifted her hands. The right rested on Lili's head. The left was placed firmly on Sasha's chest, right above his heart.
"I love you… Other people do, too." she said simply. She clearly wanted to say more, but she began choking on her own blood. Rialia was in no pain. She could not feel anything anymore. Sasha was crying. Lili was shaking uncontrollably. They wanted to find some last words, something to say to their dearest friend who was like family. But they were tongue-tied in horror. Lili was kneeling in blood, as was Sasha. Sasha tenderly wrapped an arm around Rialia, holding her delicately. It must have smelled the blood on her hand, he thought despairingly, if only I had told her to go back, this wouldn't have happened. Lili couldn't think. She couldn't cry. All she could do was stare in horror as Rialia breathed her last breath, and died.
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It was almost midnight by the time Sasha and Lili reached the camp. Sasha was holding Lili in his arms, because she was in too much shock to move. He was still crying, and he didn't seem to care at all that he never showed that much emotion in public. Every step he took was slow, almost like trance walking. Milla caught sight of them, covered in blood and she flew – literally – over to them.
"Darlings! What – LILI! – Oh Sasha baby, tell me what happened! Where's Rialia? Are you hurt?" Milla was in a frenzy of worry.
Sasha pointed numbly to the shadow of Thorney Towers. "Ri. There. Dead. Buried her in her favorite place in the asylum. Lili's in shock. I need sleep. She needs sleep."
Milla stared him, then whispered, "Oh dear God."
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After Lili and Sasha had both showered and changed, Lili opted to sleep in Sasha's lab. Sasha couldn't sleep, even when he drained a bottle of sleeping medicine. So Milla guided him into the cafeteria, where Chef Ford gave him a burger. Milla carefully rubbed his shoulders, trying to get that horrible, pained expression off of his face. He just nibbled at his food weakly.
"It was all my fault," he said suddenly. "If I had just told Ri to go home, she wouldn't be… she wouldn't be… This is my total error as a commander and an Agent. What was I thinking? I deserve to die."
Milla just sniffled and got up. "Darling, I don't know what to say. I certainly don't think it's your fault. I have to go call Morry, he's handled these things before. But remember, Ri wasn't the only one who cared about you. Don't kill yourself or anything."
Lili crept quietly in from the side door and jumped up to the rafters, hoping to catch the grown-ups conversation. She wanted a memorial and a parade in Rialia's name, if nothing else. And she wanted to see if Sasha was okay. And how Milla was taking it. Lili couldn't sleep, because she kept seeing pools of blood when she closed her eyes.
When Milla came back, she said something to Sasha in broken German – maybe because he was too shaken up to listen to English – and he jumped up, slamming a fist on the table.
"This is all Lili's fault! If she hadn't illegally switched Rialia over to the American Branch, Ri would still be in Russia and alive and there wouldn't be night-demons flying around our facilities! I hate Lili!" Sasha screamed in a moment of absolute agony. He didn't mean a word of that, of course. But when someone is in pain, they'll say anything to relieve it.
Lili had no way of knowing as she sat there, numb, until Milla wrapped an arm around Sasha and they left together. Then she ran back to Sasha's lab, curled up under her makeshift bed, and started to cry.
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End of Flashback/Memory
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Raz had always wondered if it was possible to vomit in the Mental World. At that moment, he found out he could. Feeling rather numb himself, he put the memory back behind its door and turned to try and find the next one. A strange sense of pride was developing in him. Lili was strong. Stronger than he'd ever realized. Together, they could win this, couldn't they? The mental image of Lili kneeling over Rialia's dying body played through his head. God, how did Lili get up every morning? How did she sleep at night?
For the rest of the memories, he didn't look at them. Raz didn't think his heart could handle it. Except for the last one: 'Sasha's Theory' it was titled.
They say curiosity killed the psychic.
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Begin Flashback/Memory
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"This isn't good, Miss Zanotto," Sasha said with a frown. "Transferring all your negative psychic energy to someone who is already insane will ensure that the creatures hide themselves out of fear, true, but there is no telling if that will make other psychics go insane who venture into Gloria's mind."
"Please," Lili said, rolling her eyes. She looked about eight. "If anybody went into her mind for that long, he'd have to be smart enough to close the door behind him. This isn't rocket science!"
"You are basing your assumption on the idea that the one in million circumstances needed for something to go wrong is impossible. In our line of work, possible does not exist." Sasha sighed. "Never have I met anyone so stubborn on this subject."
"My mind is fine," Lili insisted, rolling her eyes. "Trust me, okay?"
Sasha gave her a look that implied he didn't trust her very much. So he just went back to his Brain Tumbler simulations, looking grim. "Miss Zanotto, this goes both ways. Either the poor soul will go mad, or you will be sent into shock. There are so many things that could go horribly wrong, and all it would take is one little slip up by some idiot…" Sasha paused, then placed a hand awkwardly on Lili's shoulder. "I know you're angry at me still. You should be. But don't let that cloud your judgment."
"Look, I took care of it, ok?" Lili snapped at him, then strolled off.
Sasha couldn't see that as walked, she was shaking and blushing – Lying, in other words.
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End Flashback/Memory
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End chap.
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Wow, that was a weird chapter.
(1) Literally 'Rialia's Final Hour'.
(2) 'My brother'.
(3) I'm fine.
(4) Where's the vodka?
Hehe, this was fun to write on so many levels!
Review, my Review Goons! I love you all, for ye smell like lobsters!