Chapter 10: The Darkness at the Heart.

'... So I heard that Whateley's off sick..' Alex stated to Kara as they proceeded down the school halls, not looking forwards to another day of being taught by alien Gods, especially since winter had long since gone by, and now the summer was starting to draw in. 'I heard he left when he started sprouting tentacles from his stomach! Spent the rest of the time locked in the boys toilets!'
'Yeah, he did. I think his father's furious though, we haven't heard the end of this.' Alex replied.
'So... What do you think King will make us do today?'
No response.
'Alex?'
'Kara...' Alex's voice was a whisper. The student stopped and turned back, seeing Alex staring at a locked door, unblinking.
'What is it?' she wondered. Alex did not take his eyes off the door.
'There's someone on the other side...'
Kara felt the door and leapt back immediatly. 'Crap, that's cold!' she turned to look at him. 'Can you tell what it is?'
Alex shook his head slowly.

'Your class is not in the basement, Ms Wilton.' The student shut her eyes in passive anger at that smug git's voice. 'I suggest you move on.'
She gently shook Alex, but stared unflinchingly at the locked door. She did not want to leave him to his monster, but his trance was deep. As she walked on, she glanced back to see Mr Tepp placing an arm on Alex's shoulder and whispering quietly in his opposite ear. Whatever it was that he said woke Alex from his trance and the science teacher ushered him on quietly. The Crawling Chaos stared quietly at the door, feeling the chill that enimated it; A feeling of utter evil. He had just located the Thoughtform.

'You left you book behind, again. This is becoming a nasty habit, Mr Gale.'
'May I ask you something?' Alex wondered, checking no-one could eavesdrop on them.

'Hm?'
'Why are you here? You, Azathoth, all of them. Why are you here?'

'Ahhh...' Dark eyes turned gold again as he smirked. 'A botched summoning.'
'The teachers were cultists?'
'Oh, yes.' he nodded. '...And that much energy forced on us dragged us all in.'
'The original teachers?'
'Unprotected exposure to our energies; lots of charred skeletons.' Nyarlathotep chuckled. 'What else could it be?'

'So you just unashamedly slipped into their shoes?' Alex wondered, regarding him with a cold eye.
'Our energies were dissipated, powers all but gone.'
'What's this?' Alex laughed. 'You're stuck as a human?' His laughter was cut off as Nyarlathotep glared at him, glowing eyes burning into him. 'OK... Answer me this: Why the random mood swings? Perfectly fine during the day, monster by night?'
'Hmmm...' The Crawling Chaos did not reply, he seemed to be considering something. 'I do not expect you to understand me, Alexander, nor do I have to explain myself to you.' he waved him off. 'Be gone.'

'Mr Gale, go to your class, please.' Ms Shrub encountered Alexander in the corridor, once again staring at the basement door. Alex did not reply.
'There's something here...' he breathed.
'We really must do something about this, Shub.' The Crawling Chaos had joined her now and was scratching the back of his neck as he looked at Alex.
'What is he picking up?' she wondered.

'Whatever it is that has taken up residence in the basement.' he replied before taking Alex by the shoulders and gently guiding him away from the door. 'Come now, Alex. You just have to block it out.' he whispered to him.
'Mmm...' Alex replied, resting the majority of his weight against said creature.
'Alex, I am not a psychic crutch, stand on your own or I will drop you in the corridor.'
'You won't...' Alex muttered. 'Empathy says so...'
Damn Yithians... Nyarlathotep thought in a growl.

Shub Niggaruth continued to stare at the locked door, for sure, there was something on the other side, something dark and utterly evil. Evil enough to make Nyarlathotep look like a fluffy toy, and that took some doing... She rattled the doorknob. Locked. Where was the key for this door? The janitors office? She had to find it...

'Ugh...' Alex groaned, turning in the twists of his unconcious mind. Trapped within the binds of a vision, muttering in his sleep as he did so. '... Nyarly... Going through the door... Utter darkness... Kara! KARA! In... In the science labs... Something on the desk... So.. So dark...' Alex sat up suddenly in a start. 'Mr Gale...' he looked around, Ms Shrub was dressed in typical school nurse attire and was checking over a computer screen. Kara and Ceaser stood by him, evidently having just heard everything that had just been spoken.

Under Ms Shrub's orders, Alex was to rest in the medical office for a while longer. Kara and Ceaser, meanwhile, were desperate to decode Alex's prophetic rantings. This took place over lunch. 'We know there's something in the basement. We know whatever it's about to draw in Fake Teppy.' Kara muttered quietly.
'Alex also said that he left something on the labratory desk.' Ceaser stated.
'Well, there goes Tepp now...' Kara leant back in her chair slightly so she could catch sight of the science teacher vanishing out of the dining hall, a key glinting in his hand.

'What the hell is this thing...?' Kara wondered, examining the strange weapon that had been left on the table: a note was attached to it.

"Nyarly! I managed to fix the damn thing, but I can't get it to stop creating a overcharge and feedback loop! Once you've released a full burst, you either drop the thing from a reflex or get fried from the electrical backfire! Maybe you can have a crack at it?

Yog."

'It's a gun...' Kara realised.
'Yeah. I want it.' Ceaser reached for it, but Kara knocked his hands away.
'Hey! He said it wasn't safe!'
'Yeah, but it's a big fucking gun and Alex led us here for a reason.' Ceaser replied with a smirk, grunting as he hauled the thing off the desk. 'Damn it! This is heavy! How can Mr Lanky Arms lift this?'
'Let's assume he's super strong, too.' Kara shrugged. 'C'mon, we should go and pester Alex for more information.'

'How could you lose him?'
'I... How dare you speak to a member of staff like that!' Ms Shrub demanded as she glanced at the empty bed. 'I don't know. I turned my back on him for one second and then he was gone.'
'Agh! The Crawling Chaos! Alex's sympathy's going to be the death of him!' Kara realised. Now they had to go to the basement; the one place that seemed to hold all of the answers.

'Ready Ceaser...?' Beyond the door was utter darkness, stairs descending into... nothing.
'I've got a gun, I'm stoked.' he replied. Kara took that as a "yes" and they both marched down the stairs, no student tried to stop them.

That familliar dark chill crept into their bones as they felt the eyes of something without a soul upon them. 'Alex?' The basement was large, but Kara's voice did not echo at all. It was as though the darkness was a solid smog, preventing all chances of calling for help. No-one could hear you scream. A dark groan from nearby. Kara's flashlight fell on a dark suited figure, barely concious, golden eyes focused on them weakly. Nyarlathotep was a mess, face covered in cuts and gouges, dark blood trickling down his forehead. 'I'll... live...' he managed.
'Ahh! So it is that others finally walk into my den!' An exact copy of his voice called out from the darkness. She did not have to wait long until Kara saw him appear: those empty soulless eye sockets staring out at her. 'I did enjoy meeting you, but know that our meeting would've been much shorter and far. More. Fatal. Had this... Fallen God.' he nudged the Crawling Chaos with his boot. 'Not come howling out of the darkness and coming to your aid.'

Kara and Ceaser looked to Nyarlathotep who gave a small smirk in reply. 'You were trying to save us?'
'Tch...' came his reply. 'I am not going to be upstaged by a pile of negative emotions.'
'Oh, yes... Creature born of mind of man have but a short time to live! But... Ooo... All those naughty little things you did over your life. Such a tasty morsel you were...' He turned to face each of them in turn. 'Each of you contributed something to me. All those dark little thoughts, you felt you could keep a secret? They fed me.'
'What are you?' Kara demanded. 'Where's Alex?'
'The little creature you speak of could not stand to be near me it seems...' the evil Thoughtform gestured to where Alex lay on the floor not far away, twitching feebly as he stared unblinkingly ahead. 'I expect that he will be nothing more than a ambition-less, emotion-less shell soon. Perhaps he will be of use to me? A vessel to temporarily carry my essence elsewhere...'
'Bastard...' Ceaser revved the massive gun, lightning crackling at the edges of the barrels. 'I'll rip you to shreds!'

The Malice Thoughtform chuckled at Ceaser's threat before calmly approaching him and knocking him aside before he could fire. 'Idiot child. I am the shadow of all in this school! Their power and hatred is my own! There is nothing you can do to stop me!'
'I... I've got it!' Kara groaned as she picked the gun up, goodness this was heavy! Somehow she managed to take aim at The Malice, before it could realise what she was doing. Kara fired the gun. A blast of lightning rippled across the air as the rail gun fired, electrically boosted bullets formed from pure energy hit The Malice square in the face. It stumbled backwards from the impact, spraying inky blackness through the air. Kara meanwhile was forced backwards onto her rear end, releasing the gun from an impulse as the backfiring discharge hit her.

She scrabbled around in the darkness, feeling for the energy gun. The Malice had recovered meanwhile and took utter pleasure in torturing and infuriating her. 'Alex is dying, Kara!' he mocked in Ceaser's voice.
Hang on, Alex... Kara felt tears in her eyes as she saw him staring at her, her hands closed around the energy cannon, sensing the Malice behind her, she spun on her back and fired again.

The Thoughtform's scream as it died was horrifying to hear, Kara dropped the gun to the floor so she could cover her ears. It shifted and changed into a countless number of forms, most of them students. The changes became more rapid before it became a formless blob of dark energy: then it was gone. The supernatural chill faded from the air, allowing it to become warm once again.
They had done it: aside from the usual eldritch darkness created by Outer Gods trapped in human skins, everything was fine.