"I had strings, but now I'm free...there are no strings on me..."
The way in which her voice echoed in the dorms caused a chill to run up the youngling's backs. Carol was frightening enough on her own, but for her to so easily have them shiver just at the sound of her voice; a clear indication of who she was couldn't be much clearer. She was a sociopath, or at least played the part extremely well. From the way Jordan both glared and shook in the mere presence of the witch, to the fact that the ghouling She held on to refused to even look at Carol, what she did here, to them; the devil itself would admire her work. Maggie stood closely behind Lincoln, as did Nikki, though only the latter seemed eager for a fight. Her tail rattled, earning an almost innocent giggle from the witch herself.
Watching the little ones huddle together, seeing the defects cower behind the only successful subject was, in a way, fitting, in Carol's eyes. The weak always did hide behind the strong. Though, whether or not Lincoln could face off against the Zodiacs, the Melodies, or the other sociopathic ghouls out West was entirely up to him now. With what she'd learned, with the instruments the humans so generously left for her down here, Carol could've easily augmented him, make him stronger without all the hassle. But, this wasn't simply over creating the best faster, Lincoln was to be her magnum opus, or, at the very least, the beginning of what would be the next generation of ghouls. Her ghouls.
She tapped the metal railings rhythmically, humming the same song over and over. She'd done it on many occasions; the tests, the surgeries, augmentations...the feedings. Hearing this tune echoing in these halls, it was the equivalent of a child's lullaby in an abandoned hospital. Only in here, the creatures meant to create nightmares were subject to their own terror in the form of a sadistic teenage girl.
As much as she enjoyed seeing them shiver, she needed them, or rather; she needed Lincoln to understand what it was he'd be dealing with. The others were more or less cannon fodder, their abilities would come in handy, maybe, but defects were of little concern to her.
"Zodiacs..." Carol cut her song, glancing downwards at the ghoulings. At her Ghouls. "...when Constellation formed, its intention was to be a beacon for our kind. A home for those without, a family when humans eventually rejected us." She paced back and forth, her eyes staring ever-forward. There was a moment of shock for the ghouls below, as they saw, for the first time and perhaps the last; Carol was stoic. "And the Zodiacs, the strongest of the Ghouls...they were meant to be the vision; the future. We were meant to fight the battles our weaker kin couldn't, guide the younglings..." her voice trailed, her head lowered as a faint chuckled escaped her lips. "Younglings..." Carol stayed on that particular word, her smiled seemingly returned as she turned her gaze back to the little ones below. "Did you know, if I were to infect ten random humans, the average odds of a successful infection are three out of ten, four with any luck?" Her head lowered again as she leaned against the railing. "What am I saying, of course you don't? How could you know? Still, that's an uncomfortably low statistic. Especially when you take into account that out of that percentage, only one out of ten die. The rest become feral." The weight of her words came down on the young ones, more so hearing that out of every ten infected, they were one of the lucky three that survived. But that also left them with the unnerving truth; all the ferals down here were ghouls that never regained their sanity. And they could still so easily become like them. "Lincoln..." the ashen haired boy's head had never sprung up so fast. His eyes were locked with Carol's as she smiled at him, almost as if entranced by him. Odd, ordinarily it probably would've been the other way around. "As of today, this little lot will be in your hands. Take care of them now, it's hard for mommy to make more so don't break them so quickly." She purred, her claw dragging along the rail, producing a faint eerie metallic cry. "But I'll let you all know now; the reason all of you are here, all of this is happening because of this." Her claw held high showcased a small vial with nearly blackened liquid. Small, it was, but alive it appeared. For her hand was still, but the liquid was ever moving. "This...is the primordial's blood." Lincoln's interest was caught, though, the girl's appeared confused. "Whatever his title, or his little cult claims, he wasn't the first Ghoul. But, he is the closest to a pure-blooded Ghoul." She remarked with glee, her fingers played with the vial, the liquid inside shifted. An uneasy feeling was shared amongst the ghoulings the more they watched the blood move about. "There is only one other like the primordial, and you five are going to lure her to me. That is your assignment." She retrieved a remote from...somewhere, with a few audible clicks, the room darkened and a projected to their left laminated a screen to the right. The image of a group of ghouls appeared, almost like a physical photograph, cut out from a much larger piece. "Conveniently, her and her ilk were in the same shot so explaining your mission will be all the more easier." Another click of the button and a close up of one of the ghouls came up, this one had long white hair, similar features to that of the primordial, but in addition to her appearance, the ghoulings took notice of left eye being pitch black, whilst her right was with a milky white pupil. "Dearies, allow me to introduce; Corduroy, the leader of Fantasia...and the primordial's older sister." The look of shock was evident in Lincoln's face, Taurus had told him of Constellation's leader, but never that he had an older sibling. Being the leader, and as the name suggested, he assumed there was none before the primordial. His eyes were fixed on this woman, this Ghoul now proclaimed to have come before the primordial. More and more questions began piling up, none in favor of Constellation. Lincoln wasn't an idiot; he knew there were somethings Taurus would not share, some secrets that were better left for a select few to only know.
The screen changed, this time to the other ghouls with her, five in total. "And these are her followers; the Melodies. All of them loyal, even to their dying breath." She remembered fondly, dissecting one, and dismembering another. The latter was her favorite; she took her sweet time with each piece she cut off. "Only three are currently active." The image changed again, with two of the ghoul's face marked out with an X for each face. The three remaining were expected to be divulged upon, however Carol chose instead to move on. "And that's where you kiddies come in. Corduroy won't ignore that fact that a new Ghoul has appeared in Royal Woods. No doubt she'll send a scout to search for little Linky." The ashen haired boy glanced off to the side, predicting what it was that he and the other ghouls here would be doing. It didn't take a genius to guess, and Carol made no attempts to come off subtle with her intentions. "Your first job is simple; locate and capture the scout. That'll draw her out; she won't let one of her own be held captive."
A hand was raised, prompting a mild grin from Carol. "Why should we do this? What do WE gain from this?" Lincoln asked, he and Nikki being the only two to stand against the sadistic witch. Her smile never faded, especially with the little bombshell she was about to drop on them.
"Because there's a chance I can make you human again." And like that, with the fear subsiding, the little ones looked to Carol with eyes of longing; the feeling of being human again, to finally be rid of these cravings and hideous forms was a shared goal. Though, for Lincoln, he was still as human in terms of appearance, but the cravings and voice in his head were things he could live without.
Seeing the now eager look in their eyes, Carol's grin widened. "I'm counting on you." And with that, she turned to leave, but just as she was to exit, she turned her head back for one last word. "Get some sleep Linky, I'm sending you back up top soon, pick one of the defects to take with you. And whoever he takes, you'd best protect my Linky. Or else~" Her voice echoed as she disappeared back into the darkness.
"I had strings but now I'm free, there are no strings on me~" that song, the girl's hated it. Whenever Carol sung it, it indicated one of two things; she was in a good mood, or she needed an outlet. Of course, it could've been both. They remained still as her voice grew faint; quickly easing their uneasiness was the closing of the blast doors, cutting off the echoing chant.
While thankful that they could no longer hear the chilling song echo in the dorms, it seemed that now that their first assignment was handed to them, and having now been introduced after being kept in solitary for quite some time, the ghoulings opted to retreat to a nice quiet slumber. The dorms held a plethora of rooms, with only one large enough to house the five in one room. With what was left behind the younglings gathered a hefty amount of blankets and pillows, the majority going to Jordan. Beside her was the six armed girl, already fast asleep.
Nikki settled near a corner, coiled in her tail was the snake-girl as she nestled in the small blankets that barely managed to cover her. Her eyes fixated on Lincoln and the walking corpse, as she so vaguely out it. The two had been conversing for what seemed like hours, something about a birthday and mimes. They'd admitted to have met a couple times before, but never having spent too much time due to their own interests. In a way, their interests aligned now; the pursuit to be human again. But how would that work? Their bodies were twisted and reshaped into something akin to abominations, how the witch would exactly undo what she'd done was a question that plagued, not only Nikki, but the others as well. They knew very well this promise might be an empty one, but considering what Carol could do, there was still a spark of hope. Though, the small group was unsure whether the woman would deliver on her promises should they be real. But then, where else would they go? These other factions wouldn't take them in, judging from the slides they all held up human forms to blend in with society. The ghoulings didn't know how. They'd only be burdens to these factions.
"So that's pretty much it. I told my folks I was spending the night at a friend's...next thing I know, I'm down here, chained up. Grouped up with a bunch of other lab rats, and one by one, they all went nuts and died...I was the only survivor..." Maggie lamented, remembering her initial arrival. "Twenty-eight people...and I'm the only Ghoul that didn't break..." she'd crossed her arms, her head hung low at the remembering of her fellow captives, one by one, falling to feralism. Few retained conscious, even fewer survived Carol's experiments. "And even after all that, she still calls us defects." There was a faint hint of jealousy in her tone, overshadowed by her hatred towards the witch.
"She keeps using that word, but it might mean something else for her than it does to us." Lincoln commented, lying against Maggie's stomach as she lay comfortably in a small bed of pillows.
In reality, nearly the entirety of the room's floor was covered in pillows, allowing the ghouls well-stocked mounds for each to lay and rest. Of course, the larger mounds were reserved for Jordan and Nikki. The room itself wasn't large, small enough that they could hear one another speak, even in whispers. Both Nikki and Jordan's attentions turned to Lincoln as he made his observation known.
"What makes you say that?" Nikki asked.
Lincoln's head remained on Maggie, his eyes locked unto the ceiling. "Call it a guess at this point, but I can't really see why she'd call you four defects, from what I've seen; you fit the mold of Ghoul pretty well. If anything, I'm the defect. I can't even revert to my Ghoul form, let alone use my own powers." He added.
Speaking of all of it as if it were common knowledge.
"But, don't all ghouls start out in their combat form?" Jordan chimed in, though; her usage of the Ghoul form as 'combat form' was new to Lincoln, perhaps something Carol came up with herself.
"According to the witch, that's only through the infection state. Once we regain consciousness, we return to our human forms...but..." Maggie halted; the glaring truth was that she and the other three did not revert to their human forms after the infection state. "Guess that's one reason we're called defects."
The room had fallen into an awkward silence as the gathering of ghoulings had nothing much else to say to one another. Or rather, neither knew what else to say in this situation. They could discuss this further, discuss what was it that made them defects in the eyes of the witch, and even if they were, why would she keep them? A defect wasn't exactly considered useful, was it? Regardless. The four remained silent for a moment more before Lincoln's curiosity peeked. "By the way, what are your abilities?" His eyes glanced around the room to the three girls.
They were hesitant before Nikki stood up first. Without warning her body had shifted in color before eventually blending in with her surroundings. The sound of her slithering body gave way to the fact that even while moving she'd remain camouflaged. And solely for the fact that she was careful and slick enough to not disturb the pillows around her gave room for awe. Only reappearing when her tail was revealed to be wrapped around Lincoln as she pulled him into her coil. "Hey." She casually greeted the ashen-haired boy. With a somewhat embarrassed grin he waved back.
"Impressive." Maggie commented, sarcastically. "Snake-girl can play peek-a-boo like a champ. Now give him back." Although Maggie was the eldest, Nikki was defiant, if nothing else. Particularly when she hissed at the goth for attempting to take the ashen haired boy away. In the hopes of avoiding a brawl between these two and awaking the slumbering Ghoul, Jordan went next.
Slings of silk-like web were slung across the room and caught hold of both Maggie and Nikki's mouths, preventing any sound from escaping. An obvious ability considering her appearance. Essentially, the two were muzzled, and the substance stuck tightly as their attempts to remove the web were in vain. "Mine is pretty self-explanatory." Jordan whispered. Carefully, she rose up and walked over to the two ghoulings, using her claws to gently cut the webs, allowing them to speak freely. Though, she emphasized greatly the need to keep their tones low.
As the attention was now focused on Maggie, the goth shifted nervously before reaching towards her milky white eye, and slowly ripping it from its socket. The act alone, while not as messy as one would think, still left quite the impression on those watching.
An uneasy snapping and twisting of skin was what became of the wound as it, on its own, seemingly healed at a hastened rate. Under just a few seconds, her lid opened, and a new milky white eye took its place in the empty socket. "I'm able to regenerate any limb and organ, any piece of me, much faster than any Ghoul should be. And...Carol took advantage of that...it's kinda why my face and arm are like this." She gestured to her aforementioned burnt skin, the scars stretching to her neck to her shoulder. The ghoulings showed no surprise, but there was sympathy. Nikki and Jordan had seen their fellow prisoners be ripped apart, worse those who went insane from isolation. But, no matter the tests or torture Carol inflicted, their bodies healed. Their minds never would, but their bodies would always heal. And yet, the witch seemingly pushed this girl's abilities to the point that her scars wouldn't heal anymore.
There was a solemn moment of silence, allowing Maggie's story to settle in. Nikki and Jordan were vaguely affected; having lived through most of the witch's sadistic experimentations had that effect. Though, only Lincoln was the one with widened eyes. This goth girl, who just showed she could pull out her own eye, regenerate it in a span of seconds, was tortured to the point that a portion of her face was forever scarred. Taking a moment to think on it, it made sense why Carol did what she did, and it wasn't the obvious experimenting and data collecting she pursued. Putting it simply; Carol was making her mark. At least, that was Lincoln's theory, considering the four ghouls here; Maggie was the only one who appeared to be allowed to retain her human form. Which meant; should the goth find a way to escape, she could easily disappear. However, Carol made sure those ideas were squandered; nearly permanently. Even if she could escape and attempt to blend in, Maggie's scars, while not uncommon, still made her stand out.
But then…
A thought came to Lincoln as he glanced towards the goth girl. "Wait, Carol called you a defect, right?"
Maggie nodded.
"And she calls you that because you didn't revert to your human forms?"
"I don't think that's the sole reason." She clarified. "There exists the possibility that we might be able to revert to human forms. We just don't know how." She then gestured to herself. "Carol reverted my body back to that of a human's for her testing…but when my scars didn't heal she said she had no use for me anymore. She left me like this…" and there again was another awkward silence. Adding to the silence was a shared feeling of anger aimed towards the witch.
"So..." Nikki's voice brought Lincoln back to reality as his attention was now on the snake girl, whilst he suddenly found himself on Maggie's arms again. "You really can't use your ability?" The attentions of those awake were now focused on the ashen-haired boy.
Sheepishly, Lincoln rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, I don't even know what my abilities are." This earned faint surprised looks from the girls. "But, Taurus said finding out what my abilities were depended on what I 'experienced' during my transformation."
"Taurus?" Jordan asked, her eyebrow rose at the unknown name.
"Another Ghoul, from a different faction."
"You've met the other factions?" Nikki's tone indicated a faint sense of enthusiasm.
"Just Constellation, made friends with three of their members. Never met their leader. I was supposed to, but...didn't get the chance." Lincoln began remembering what led to Carol's little visit. His encounter with Leni suddenly took precedent as fear had now taken hold in his heart. Was his family safe? Was Lynn ok? Haiku made sure to tend to the jock's wounds, but he began fearing what the primordial would decide on, considering it would be rather difficult to contain the information with the Loud household.
Still, he couldn't deny one thing, being away from them, even for so little time, made him miss his family. Especially Leni, perhaps the only sibling to consistently be at his door in the middle of the night with the intention of seeking to mend the rift between them.
'Why...?'
His eyes snapped open, widely. That voice again. "oh no..." He whispered to himself.
'Why do you miss them?' It spoke for far longer than it did before, earning a chilling crawl tingling his spine. 'They treat you like dirt...they hurt you...they abuse you...let me take over...I'm willing…to kill…everyone-' the voice seemed to be fighting for control, with each pause it seemingly rasped for air as it attempted to gain ground.
"Lincoln!?" The boy felt himself being shaken back and forth, his eyes settled on the culprit; Maggie had shaken him quite a bit, although, when he looked to the others, both Nikki and Jordan were equally frightened by something. Given what came after that voice spoke to him, he could only imagine what scared these ghoulings. Glancing to Maggie, he noticed she still held on to his shoulders firmly. And for this one moment, he saw his reflection in her eyes; his left sclera had been tinted black, his pupil's shade radiated an amber tone. What scared him most of all, was when he stared at his eye, it felt as if it was staring back. In one millisecond, it narrowed, glaring at him.
He recoiled, threw himself backwards with a sudden yelp. Nikki reached out with her tail and caught him before he hit the ground. The three crowded around him, their expressions were now a collection of worry as they gazed at the receding tint of black in his eyes, leaving Lincoln control of the left half of his face again.
"Lincoln, you ok?" Jordan asked, lowering to his level as he sat up.
"I…I don't know." He responded.
"What was that just now?" Nikki spoke up, asking what perhaps what was a shared question the three had. But again, Lincoln's response was the same. He didn't know.
Without so much as a warning, Lincoln arose and walked out, the others would've followed had the doors not locked upon shutting from the ashen boy's exit. Though, he didn't seem to notice or care, his attention was focused on finding out what that voice was? He only ever heard it when thinking of his family and the statement it just made had him fearing for his mental state because…that was how he felt.
Deep down, he felt at ease with the thought of simply slaughtering all who caused him pain. But, there was guilt that stayed his hand. Morality still had a hold on him, and his love for his family was still lingering…however, those feelings were quickly being overshadowed in the small moments the voice decided to make itself known. The bloodlust, the rage, the hatred; it all felt so right when he heard her voice.
He blinked.
Stopping in his tracks, he wondered why it was he referred to the voice as 'she'. Its tone was feminine, but at times he could've sworn he heard his own voice echoing with hers. As his mind raced with questions and fears, his nose twitched at the arrival of an unwanted individual. He threw a glare at Carol as she emerged from the darkened hallway. Her sickening grin was ever present.
"Well, well. There's more to you than I thought." she paced slowly to him, almost cautiously, if he didn't know better. All the while he remained still, his right eye twitching at the mere sight of her. A brew of fear and malice stirred within him. An odd combination, but one such he was living through. His anger aimed towards this particular who claimed ownership of him whilst his fear kept him from doing anything stupid. Lost in thought, he failed to notice how close Carol had gotten to him. When he did, he found her mere inches away from his face. "Boo." She booped his nose just before he recoiled backwards, stumbling unto the cold hard floor.
As he winced at the pain of falling on the cold hard floor, Carol kneeled to his level, her eyes focused solely on his. Lincoln's eyes drifted anywhere else but at her.
"What's wrong, Lincoln?" god did she sound genuinely concerned, almost convincingly. But he remained firm, his eyes focused elsewhere. "Look at me, Lincy." His eyes snapped wide open; he turned to face the witch, only to come face to face with his older sister, Leni. She smiled at him with that same old grin she gave to the world. Fear and longing took root in his mind. "Good, I finally got your attention." Came Carol's voice, though her body remained as it was, earning a scowl from the boy. An expression that quickly vanished once he felt a tightening grip on his throat, squeezing tightly as to restrict any air flow. Again, without warning she tossed his body to the side, embedding him roughly into the side of the wall. "I changed my mind Lincy…" Carol hummed, taking her sweet time as each step she took echoed. Once stopping directly in front of the boy, she grabbed a handful of his hair, forcing his head to jerk up whilst she giggled at the blood beginning to flood from his head wound. "You're not leaving this place until I think you've displayed your powers to me." She released his head, the sounds of flesh reshaping drowned his ears as he faintly glanced up, catching a glimpse of Carol as a ghoul. Her grin widened further than any thought physically possible. "But before that, let's see if we can find out what, if any, powers you possess."
Hey guys, I just wanted to say thanks for waiting, and I know some of you wanna read about Lincoln's powers. I guarantee a portion will be revealed next chapter, but the extent will be explored over time. There'll be a buildup before he eventually conjures them. In any case, I hope you enjoyed, and if you're waiting for the Lincoln x Haiku moments, they'll come, soon.
If this chapter feels uneventful…consider it filler or lore-based. The next will have the fighting and lighter moments. Until then, Ciao~