Chapter Three

For a moment it seemed why the Second Shinee Medical Hospital was a lot bigger than the First Shinee Medical Hospital. There were many more flights of stairs in the second one than in the first. Fifteen minutes have passed by, and Fayt, Kokoro, Cliff, Cierra, and Mirage are still going down the stairs. Cliff seems to be getting rather impatient.

"Damn! Can there be any more stairs in this hell hole?" he asked.

"I have no clue. How long have we been going down?" Cierra asked.

"At least fifteen minutes I assume. Something just doesn't seem right though," Mirage said.

"Why's that?" Cliff asked.

"It didn't take this long to get to Fayt's room, remember? There were only a few flights we had to climb. Wasn't there also an elevator?" Mirage asked.

"Yeah, but it was out of order," Kokoro said.

"Oh yeah...but it still didn't take this long, did it?" Cierra asked.

"No it didn't. Oh look! A rubber duckie!" Kokoro pointed out.

"Kokoro, we passed that duck three times already!" Fayt shouted.

"Fayt, are you saying we're going around in circles?" Cierra asked.

"We must be. Why else would we see the same duck three times? Oh look! A knife! Why's it just lying around in the middle of a hospital?" Fayt wondered.

"Surgeon must've got mad and threw it in the hallway?" Cliff suggested.

"Must be. Anyway, we gotta keep going if we wanna get to my house in one piece," Mirage said.

The five moved along the seemingly endless stairwell of the hospital. They saw the same duck and the same knife at least five more times. Finally, Fayt fell to his knees and cried out,

"I can't take this anymore! This is the tenth time we've seen that fuckin' duck! We've gotta be going around in circles or something!" God!"

"Hee hee hee hee..." a strange voice rang out.

"What was that?" Cierra asked in a panic.

"Well whatever it is, it's gonna get its ass kicked!" Mirage shouted.

"Hee hee! Can't find me!" the voice said.

"Who the HELL are you?" Cliff screamed. The voice had no reply. "I said, who the HELL are you?" Cliff asked a second time. Still no answer. After a long, awkward silence, the voice appeared to have vanished.

"Is he gone?" Kokoro asked.

"I don't know, but be on the lookout. You never know what in the world he might do," Mirage said cautiously.

They passed the duck again. It appeared to have a strange black aura around it. Cierra asked,

"Hey, I wonder if the duck and the knife are supposed to mean something?"

"Hmmm...you may be right Cierra!" Cliff said as Cierra picked up the duck and looked at it closely. Nothing strange seemed to happen.

They continued on their merry way, pausing every now and then to try and pinpoint the whereabouts of the strange voice. They passed the knife yet again. It had the same black aura the duck had. Fayt picked up the knife and looked at it closely. The blade appeared to be very sharp, almost as if it could serve as a weapon. Then suddenly,

"Hee hee!" the strange voice said.

"Getting very angry, Fayt threw the knife in the direction of the voice. When his hand released its grip and the knife flew, it wound up between the teeth of the man with the eerie voice. His figure was hard to make out in the dark hallway, but they could see that he had the glowing red eyes of a demon.

"Holy shit, he caught it with his teeth!" Kokoro said in shock.

"Hee hee! Aww, you found me! And I thought our little game was going so well too...but that's okay! You'll find out soon enough you're missing something important to you! Hee hee! Hee hee!" The strange man said. He snapped his fingers and vanished into thin air.

"...Okay...? That guy was insane..." Mirage said.

They all kept going down the stairs, seeing there was nothing else better to do.

"You know what?" Kokoro said.

"What?" Cliff and Mirage answered.

"I can't help but feel this empty feeling at the bottom of my heart," Kokoro said.

"You know what? Me too. I feel like a part of me is missing somehow. A part of me that's been with me for what feels like forever. A part of me that I care a lot about," Cliff said.

"Look! It's an exit!" Mirage pointed out.

"Oh my god, you're right! Now let's get the hell up outta here!" Kokoro said.

"Right. Let's go," Cliff said. For once, the comic relief guy of the group seemed to have a hint of sadness in his voice, and everyone could notice it. They finally found Cliff's car and got inside.

"So where are we off to again?" Kokoro asked.

"My house, remember?" Mirage replied.

"Oh, right." said Kokoro.

They got on the road after what seemed like forever. Believe it or not, it was while they were actually on the road that they realized what they were really missing...

Fayt woke up with a start. All he could see for miles and miles was pure black darkness. The kind of darkness where the creepiest monsters alive dwell. He also saw iron bars. Lots of them. He also saw iron tables all around him. On those tables were many things, from knives, to beakers, to volcanic rocks. Cierra happened to be strapped to the table beside him. He himself realized he was also strapped to a table.

"Where am I?" He asked himself. "Kokoro? Cliff? Mirage? Where are you?"

It was then when he realized he was trapped in an enormous cage, and Cierra was trapped with him. He also noticed his right arm was covered by what looked like a brown pillowcase.

"Now how did I get this?" He wondered. "Oh yeah...it must have been from the accident."

Fayt heard a faint moan coming from the table next to him. Cierra herself had awakened."

"Ugh, where am I? Cliff? Kokoro? Fayt? Mirage? Where are you?"

"Cierra, I'm right here," Fayt said.

"Fayt! Oh my god I'm so glad you're here! Do you have any clue where we are?" she asked as she looked around.

"No, sorry. I'm just about as lost as you are," he said.

"Why are we strapped to tables?" Cierra asked.

"I don't know that either, I'm afraid. I just woke up a few minutes ago, and I realized we were here," Fayt said.

"Wait a second...Fayt, weren't we just going down the stairs in the hospital?" Cierra asked.

"Yeah, so how did we...of course..."

"What?"

"Cierra, I think we just got ourselves kidnapped," Fayt said.

"You're right. I have no clue how we ended up here! I wanna go home!!" Cierra screamed.

"Me too Cierra, me too," Fayt said sympathetically.

All of a sudden, an orange ship showed up by the cage door. A tall man with grayish skin color and a blue and gray skin-tight uniform walked slowly out of the ship's entrance. He unlocked the cage door and walked inside. He made his way to Cierra's table and undid the straps pinning her down. He said to her,

"Cierra Dragonheart, our leader wishes to see you."