1Hey people. I'm sorry I couldn't update yesterday. Guess what? We got a kitten! He's so cute! Okay, on with this fiction. IF YOU DIDN'T READ THE CHAPTER 'REMINISCE', DON'T READ THIS.
Lettuce is looking at the picture of Melody. The roar of the stream has faded, and the hallway is still.
Pai and Candy are arguing about physics and such, but Lettuce hardly hears them. Instead, she is looking at the picture of Azanthra. The girl looks so much like Melody, the likeness is amazing. Like seeing Melody, captured thirty years ago. Lettuce turns the picture around, and sees something. She looks closer. It is a name. Cali, to be exact.
"HAH!" says Lettuce. Pai and Candy turn and stare. "What?" asks Candy. "I knew this couldn't be Melody!" Lettuce crows. "I was right! It's a girl named Cali!"
Candy gets a weird look on her face. "Uh, Lettuce, hate to break it to you, but Cali was Azanthra's nickname," says Candy slowly, like she is talking to a small child. Lettuce could just cry. "But how did they get Cali from Azanthra?" asks Pai. "Well, the Church found the name Azanthra to be offensive, so they dubbed her Cali. But her real name is and always will be Azanthra." Lettuce sighs. "My daughter was born to me," she says. "She can't be your Azanthra, because she's my daughter." "God may have given her to you," says Candy patiently. "He may have given her a body." Lettuce blinks. "Is that possible?" she asks. Candy nods.
Pai stands awkwardly at Lettuce's side. He isn't good at this comforting thing. "Uh, um, well, maybe there's a mistake," he says. "If your Azanthra is here, well, then Melody can't be her." "Azanthra sent away part of her soul," says Candy. "Her enemies won't kill her if her powers aren't all there." Pai nods. This makes sense. If he were after a powerful being for her powers, he wouldn't kill them and only get a little more power.
They begin to walk again, with Lettuce praying they will find Melody...
Melody is walking down a ruined wasteland. She is dazed, for some reason. Ash stirs up from the desolate earth, and Melody holds out her hand. It comes back covered in black. Melody almost feels like she knows this place. Suddenly, there is a hospital in front of her. The hallways are stark and white, and there is a terrible stench filling the air. Something is in front of her. A hospital bed. Covered in blood.
Melody reels back, and bumps into the wall. She looks into a sterile hospital room to her right. It has one table holding the most horrifying thing Melody could ever imagine to see in a hospital. An eye, floating in a jar. Melody reels backwards. She closes her eyes, and when she opens them again, she is back in the field of ash. This is the hospital.
Melody feels weak. She sits down. Her necklace didn't send her that vision, or it would have glowed. Melody doesn't know where it came from. She breaths evenly, trying to relax. Suddenly, Melody looks up. And there she is. The traitor nurse. Melody doesn't know how she knows who this gaunt figure is, but she does. "Hello," says Melody cautiously. Not all ghosts are friendly. The nurse looks over, and Melody is shocked. Her face is grey, her hair burned and withered. The nurses eyes are pure white, with no pupils or irises. "Oh!" breathes Melody.
The nurse merely nods. "You found the keys. That's why I hid them. You know, I never killed anyone," says the nurse. "But what I did was just as bad. I stood by and let the doctor do as he pleased. He killed them. But I share the guilt." Melody nods, and the nurse seems to see this. "I hid the keys to keep Them from getting you," she says. "Or anyone who finds the keys." Melody understands.
"There is more to be explored," says the nurse. Melody nods and stands. "Thank you," she says. She turns and jogs away, through the ruins of ash, back underground. She finds a staircase, and begins to climb down it. The darkness greets her, but still she moves downwards. As she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she looks around. It is a round, marble tiled room. Melody looks at the blue roses growing up the wall. Each one is so purely blue, Melody can't describe it. She sits, and realizes why the floor is so spectacularly marbled with blue.
There is fresh water under the tiles, which are merely glass. Melody smiles at the aquamarine. She ought to rest here...
But suddenly she notices something in the center of the room. A piece of blue, shaped like a heart. Melody realizes what she has just found. Another key, that's what. She walks across tiles of glass and picks up the heart. It is made of aquamarine. In it's center it the gentle outline of a key. Melody manages to gently pry it out. She sets the heart down, and thanks the nurse and the owner of the heart, wherever they are.
Then, she walks forwards. Surely enough, something glints. beyond the roses, a door made of aquamarine sits. Melody inserts the key. When she turns around, the center of the room's pure water is tainted by the red blood of the heart. Nothing can ever be perfect, it seems, even the amazing things. Even the blue roses were only reflecting the light of the door. They are actually undefiled white. Melody breathes goodbye.
She turns and walks down the hallway, and can't help but notice how oddly-lit it is. There are doors on either side. They are all numbered. Suddenly, Melody comes to a door with the number on it. She feels compelled to reach over and pull the door open. She slams it immediately. Within the room had been a single body, drained of blood, mouth open in horror.
Melody falls to her knees. She knows what this place is now. The place where the goddess-worshipers stored things. She turns away in disgust and begins to walk...