Numbers 13:31-33
A/N: Okay wow, were did all the time go? How did it take me six months to write this chapter? To anyone whose interest has managed to sustain this long and unfair break, I'm terribly sorry. I've just been so busy I haven't had time to do really anything but work.
Now I hope you enjoy this chapter. Honestly its not my best, still I hope your still get some enjoyment out of it (especially considering how long I kept you waiting for). I've tried to approach all the ideas, with a level of depth and consequence, but their is a chance I got it horribly wrong and this is just melodrama if that's the case. Still I'm sure your all tell me.
PS: To any fellow Shamy Shippers out there in the audience, simply yay they are finally back together.
Anyway please enjoy:
Chapter Nineteen: …But Fear Itself
For several moments no one spoke. They were all trying to take in what had just happened. As they did Sheldon just stared at the carved words, as he did a tear trickled down his face, and then another. And then another.
Silently he cried, the others didn't even notice. Then finally Leonard spoke "What are we doing standing here? We have to go find them."
"How?" Howard asked,
"Well…We could…okay I don't just yet. But we still have to, come on we've done this before, haven't we?"
"We remember," Bernadette muttered, gently rubbing at the faintest remains of the bruises on her chest.
"So what are we waiting for, come on. So Sheldon tell us about this…Sheldon?" It was only then he realised that Sheldon was gone.
"Sheldon?" Leonard said in surprise. For a moment his mind wandered, had this Ecke grabbed him to? No that was impossible; demons couldn't walk on holy ground. It was then that Leonard noticed the church door was now not as open as it had been when they walked out. Confused, he slowly advanced and pushed the door open.
Sitting in the corner, beneath a stained glass window was Sheldon. "Sheldon? What are you doing?" Leonard murmured, slowly he walked in. Howard and Bernadette took one look inside, before realising that this was a matter best left between them and stepped back. Together they turned and walked off back towards the hospital, if there was another demon on the loose, they would need to protection. Fortunately they had had the sense to stash a few things in the new truck.
It was only as Leonard got closer, he saw that Sheldon was crying. "Sheldon? What's the matter?"
"They're gone." Sheldon replied, he did not even dare to look up.
"Gone?" Leonard said in disbelief.
"Gone!"
"Well yes there gone, but that's the point we have to get them back. We can't waste time crying over it."
This was enough to for Sheldon to look up. For a moment he stopped crying, looking up at Leonard he almost cocked a defeated smile "haven't you figured it out yet Leonard? We're not going to get them back. There is no trail to follow yet. He won't lay one, not until he's already either killed or broken them. The girls are gone."
"And that's why we must go find them. Sheldon we have to rescue them. "Leonard stared, had the effects somehow gotten to Sheldon's brain? What was wrong with his friend?
"We can't rescue them." Sheldon said solemnly.
"What? Why not? We've done it before. You rescued us not four days ago. And that was against Azazel, this is just a minor lieutenant…right?"
Sheldon nodded.
"Then what's the problem?"
"Problem?" Sheldon practically whispered, and then suddenly he went mad. Almost snarling he jumped to his feet, Leonard jumped backwards in alarm, "Problem?" Sheldon repeated still fuming Sheldon grasped a lone leftover chair and hurled it into the wall shattering to splinters, "Problem!" Sheldon screamed.
He turned back towards Leonard and angrily advanced. Startled and trying to make sense of what was going on Leonard backed away. He reached the opposite wall faster than he expected. Sheldon stood there looking down at him he was still boiling with anger. "How stupid are you Leonard? What the heck do you think the problem is? Do I have to spell it out to you? I'm mortal now, I'm useless. We can't get them back, cause…"
Sheldon suddenly stopped, the anger drained from his face, and suddenly he crumbled "…we can't get them back because…because…because of me. I failed. I'm useless. I can't do anything now." And with that Sheldon slumped back down to the floor, he looked like was about to cry again.
Leonard couldn't believe what he was hearing. He just stared in disbelief. "So that's it?" Leonard almost mummed, "the moment the road gets difficult, you want to throw in the towel and give up?" Standing there Leonard felt his pulse getting faster and his fists clenching.
"Damn it Sheldon this isn't so video game level difficulty spike we're not prepared for. These are real people, no strike that there are our friends, they are our lovers. They are the people who mean the most to us in the entire world and they need us! We can't abandon them!"
Regaining a little of his former anger, Sheldon quickly spat back "You think I want to? You think I don't care? Of course I want to save them Leonard. But what can we do? How can we beat a demon of this calibre?"
"We've beaten demons before."
"Not like this, trust me Ecke's different."
"Is he worse than Asmodeus? Or Azazel?"
"Well no…"
"Then what's the problem?"
"The problem is, we never beat Asmodeus or Azazel. I…" Sheldon paused, letting the tension stress upon the first word, "…I barely survived tangling with them. And now I can't even do that. Confronting Ecke would be suicide."
"So what? We just give up and let him kill them? Let him kill Penny? Let him kill Amy?"
As said their names, Leonard saw Sheldon shudder. Sensing a crack he decided to push on. "Oh but wait, he isn't going to kill them. I mean not yet, no no he's going to break them first isn't he? What did you call him? The bringer of fear? I'm going to guess that's just a fancy way of saying torturer."
With every single point in Leoanrd's speech Sheldon's expression twitched.
"And we've already seen what regular demons do for fun; god sadism doesn't even begin to describe it. Can imagine what he'll do. That is I'm assuming he's as fearsome as you're making him out to be.
Slowly Sheldon's head looked up, he was now glaring at Leonard. Leonard could see it in his eyes, this was working.
So that's what there in for huh? Hours upon hours, days upon days, weeks maybe? All of it constant assaults: Torture, humiliation, beatings, burnings, cutting, chopping and stabbing and slashing. Oh yes I can see it now, their bodies hanging from meat hooks while this monster chips away at their flesh with a barbwire coated whip, and him laughing the entire time.
Sheldon's expression was practically screaming for Leonard to stop, and honestly Leonard was beginning to scare himself. As his mind turned to more and more gruesome possible torments, he felt his courage beginning to fade. But he knew he couldn't give up, this was their best chance.
"And you want me to tell you the ending of this horrible tale? Well you see eventually after they have screamed to the point there vocal cords have popped, and cried to dehydration, it will stop. It will stop with the last thoughts entering the minds, of these poor broken women, just after they accept that we failed them and it's all are fault, do you know what it will be? It will be Thank you."
"They will be thanking him for giving them the mercy of a slow painful death. Mark my words Sheldon, that's what's going to happen. Believe me I've read enough Vertigo to know how these sessions end. And you know something Sheldon, your right this is all your fault! That's the fate you're forcing on them Sheldon. This is all you. You will have their blood on your hands."
Almost snarling again, Sheldon suddenly shot forwards, his hand clasping against Leonard's neck. Effortlessly he pinned against the wall "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" he shouted.
Leonard gasped for breath; he felt Sheldon's warm hand crushing his wind pipe. He tried to make himself struggle, but he just froze. All he could do was stare into Sheldon's big blue eyes.
But in an instant the anger disappeared and Sheldon let go. Slowly he slumped against the wall next to Leonard. "You're right." He finally said, "this is my fault. If it wasn't for me none of this would have happened. I brought the demons down upon you, and now I can't even protect you from them. I can't even protect myself."
Leonard gasped for breath slightly, clearly that hadn't worked as he had planned, but it was something. But now the situation required a different tact. "Maybe, or maybe not. Come on, Sheldon. We can't just simply give up. So the odds are against us, so what? We've beat the odds before."
"Not like this we haven't," Sheldon replied, "I'm sorry Leonard, but I can't."
His fear for Penny beginning to overwhelm his concern for his friend, Leonard couldn't help himself "I never put you down for a coward."
Sheldon snorted, "Is that meant to be joke? I've always been a coward. I've spent my life running and backing down. I've run from everyone my entire life. I am the very definition of a coward."
Stepping forward, Leonard turned so he was now directly facing his friend; he put his hands on his shoulders. Sheldon shuddered slightly, physical contact still bugged him, but at this point Leonard couldn't care less.
"Okay, may your right. Maybe you are a coward. But hey maybe you're not? After all is it wrong to be cautious when faced with odds you cannot beat? Or maybe you really are a coward. So? It's not exactly your only flaw, I mean you're a jerk; you're arrogant, selfish, intellectual elitist and many other things. But you want to know one thing you're not?
"What's that?" Sheldon asked disparagingly.
"Disloyal," Leonard replied, "you can hide it as deep as you like, but I know how much you care for the others who important to you. And maybe we don't stand any chance of saving Penny and Amy. But I seem to remember there was another genius who didn't stand a chance of living past their twenties, yet they managed to make it well into their seventies and they are still going as strong as they can, being a professor at Cambridge is nothing to be sniffed at after all. Not to mention them gaining and holding the respect of even you."
Leonard paused briefly to allow the effect of his words to sink in. "Sometimes the impossible can be done; I grant you I would never have dreamed it would be us. But hey, I would never have dreamed half the stuff that happened. I mean look at us were just a bunch of nerds who made it to Illinoi on the run from the forcers of hell. I mean I'm a physics researcher who's seen things that defy the laws I dedicated my life to studying. My best friend flew me across the country, while holding me with one hand. Impossible has become our lives Sheldon."
Sheldon looked up at Leonard, "but…" he began, however Leonard wasn't finished yet "Yeah I know, it's all words not facts. But you know what is a fact? That you do care. You're a good man Sheldon, a hard to live with arrogant, immature and selfish man sure, but still at heart a good one. And I know your make the right choice. You're afraid, I get it, I'm afraid. But you know something? I think that the compassion in you is stronger than the fear. For too much of our lives have we run and hid, now we don't have that luxury anymore. It's up to us, there is no one else. It is only us."
And with that, Leonard got up and left his friend sitting under the stained glass window. Slowly Sheldon looked up and watched him leave. Then slowly he turned around and cranked his neck up, the Archangel looked down upon him. And in the flickering light, with tears still streaming down his face, for just a second Sheldon felt sure he saw him nod.
Leonard stood outside the door; he huddled to get out of the rain. Looking back he wasn't sure what to think? Could he truly blame his friend? He had just been barbecued and completely depowered, and now he had to face one of the most terrifying beings in existence? At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little angry at him. After all they had been through, this was the straw that broke the camel's back? Right when Penny needed him the most?
Regardless of his friend, Leonard new what he had to do. He would save Penny or die trying. Leonard shuddered; he had heard the line repeated by everyone of his favourite heroes and action figures since he was six years old. Yet it was only now the true effect of the words hit him. For the first time he understood what it truly meant to have something you were to risk your life over, and honestly, it terrified him.
"Leonard," Howard called. He and Bernadette ran up to their friend.
"So what do we have?" Leonard asked, guessing the nature of their venture.
"Not much." Bernadette admitted. "Just a few things we grabbed for defence when I took Howard to the Hospital. Just one dagger, two bottles of holy water, a handful of rock salt, and of course my cross."
"Give me the dagger." Leonard said, Bernadette handed it over to him. Slipping it into his belt Leonard paused. "Okay we don't have much time. There must be a way to find this Ecke. Come one, we're all genius's let's think?"
"What about Campus security that might have seen something?" Howard suggested.
"How are we going to access that?" Leonard replied.
"Well presumably there is no one watching them right now, or someone would have raised the alarm when Sheldon broke into the chapel." Bernadette chimed in.
"Yeah, but we've got no idea where it is. And we can't just wander around the entire campus. Most of it will be locked at this hour. If we try and break in, we might set off the alarm. And we can't save Penny and Amy if we're taken away by the police."
"Okay does anyone else have any suggestions?"
"I might have one," a voiced called from behind them. Leonard spun on the spot, Sheldon stood before him. His eyes were red, but he had brushed away his tears.
"Sheldon…" Leonard began. But he was cut off, by just three words.
"You were right."
A silence fell; the group looked up at Sheldon. He looked exactly, as he was. Thin, scrawny and afraid. But in his still red eyes was a new flicker of determination. And then Howard spoke. "You said you have an idea, what is it?"
Sheldon turned to Bernadette "I linked you and Amy's souls under a week ago. Are you still connected to each other?"
Bernadette sadly shook her head, "No, I'm afraid the connection is almost gone."
"Almost?" Sheldon asked,
Bernadette nodded, "It worked a little about an hour or so ago, I could feel Amy's sadness, but it was merely a blip on the radar. I can't presently feel anything of her. I'm sorry I can't help."
Sheldon starred at her, "are you sure. This is probably are only chance of finding them."
"I'm sorry, but it's just not here anymore." Bernadette replied.
Sheldon paused. His expression betrayed that complex workings were going on in his mind. Then his face fell, as if he had reached an answer he wasn't happy with. He then took a step closer to Bernadette.
"Bernadette, I just want to tell you that you are one my closest friends. And I'm terribly sorry for what I'm about to do."
Bernadette stared in confusion "Wait what are you…"
Before she could finish, Sheldon suddenly grasped her left arm, and twisted it backwards with surprising fury. Bernadette let out an ear piercing scream.
"What the Hell?" Howard screamed. He dived forward trying to pull Sheldon off his wife. Leonard momentarily froze in horror, before deciding he must have gone mad joined Howard. Together they prised Sheldon's grip off Bernadette. Snarling Howard slammed into Sheldon it knocked him backwards but truly seemed to hurt Howard more than his target.
Bernadette clutched her arm in pain; it felt like it had been dislocated. "What the hell was that for?" she screamed.
Sheldon looked at her sadly but determined. "I'm sorry," he said, "but did it work?"
"Work?" she screamed, "What worked?"
"The link between you allowed the sharing of strong stimuluses, be they mental, emotional or…"
"…Physical." Bernadette murmured. She paused, as the method to his madness became clear, she suddenly realised there was a feeling in her a mind a sort of…echo maybe? It was small and it was weak. But still something was present.
"Bernadette?" Howard asked confused. But Leonard shushed him.
The three of them watched her, as she stood there. It looked like she was clearly trying to take in something that she couldn't quite make out. And then suddenly it must have hit her, as she ran out from under the cover, away from the safety of the chapel into the night.
"Bernadette," Howard called running after his wife, Leonard and Sheldon followed after the pair. Bernadette ran along the campus, down a flight of steps, and away from the main buildings. The rain had lessened by this point, and seemed close to stopping now. But the ground was still wet.
The others had to slow down when they got to the stairs, for fear of falling. Arriving at the bottom, they carried on the chase, down the road and then a left turn. They found Bernadette having stopped in front of a reasonably large building on the very edge of the campus.
She stood their staring, "it's gone." She panted.
"Gone?" Sheldon gasped for breath.
Bernadette nodded, "I'm sorry, but that's it. I've got nothing else left." She paused, "and if you try and hurt me again, I'll make sure you regret it to the day you die."
Sheldon took a quick step back. However Howard had noticed something, "hey look, the door's open."
Four pairs of eyes turned to each other in rapid succession. "They must be inside." Leonard said.
"Okay," Sheldon said, "now with any luck Ecke won't expect us, as he has yet to lay any trail that could lead us here. So we might just be able to sneak inside, grab Amy and Penny and leg it before he notices."
He paused, "can you pass me some of the holy water?" Bernadette handed him a vial.
Slowly the four of them crept through the door, Leonard led the way he also drew the dagger. Sheldon stood right behind him. Bernadette kept hold of her cross necklace while keeping her damaged left arm close to her side, while Howard stayed at the back. His eyes constantly twitched around the room. The fact he was temporarily left handed was made all the more apparent with every step.
The building was apparently for multiple purposes. According to the sign the psychology classes were upstairs, while the archelogy labs were on this floor. It was old in style, and silent. Not to mention dark. Even for night it was surprisingly dark. Apart from Leonard's flashlight and the glowing exit sign there was no light.
Gently the crept on, thankfully Leonard still had his flashlight. "Now remember," Sheldon said, "Ecke is the bringer of fear, he can create incredibly realistic hallucinations. You might see your worst fears, but remember they are only in your mind. As long as you ignore them, they can't hurt you."
"What?" Howard said, "You didn't mention that earlier."
"I meant to." Sheldon replied.
"Okay, we've all seen enough horror films to know the rules." Leonard said, "Under no circumstances do we separate. No investigating strange noises or anything. If you hear anything out of the ordinary, make sure the rest of us know before you go off." He paused, "Sheldon can Ecke create other hallucinations or just fears?"
"I think its only fears," Sheldon replied, "he's a storm demon. Not a Demon of madness."
"Wait. Demons of madness exist?" Bernadette cried.
Sheldon looked at her, almost worried. "Remind me never to tell you about the Japanese demons." he replied.
Suddenly there was a loud scuffling noise. The group spun around. Leonard fumbled with the flashlight.
There was nothing there. "Probably just rats." Leonard muttered.
Howard rolled his eyes "when is it ever just rats?"
"Well I know what I just said, but this isn't a horror film."
"Really cause it feels like one."
"Enough, both of you." Bernadette snapped, "We don't have time for this. Come on let's find Amy and Penny."
Carefully the group made their way over to the staircase, quietly Leonard and Sheldon crept up the stairs. Leonard held his dagger tight, in the darkness the long blade was just visible in the brief seconds when the light of his flashlight struck the blade.
Sheldon stood close by, his eyes twitching. In his present state he felt practically blind and deaf. Something which truly scared him, still the thought of Amy carried along. Howard and Bernadette waited a few moments, before ascending the stairs. There was something about the scuttling sound that had left them both on edge.
Then everyone froze. For a moment they looked at each other hoping they imagined it. But no they were right, they had all heard it. It sounded like, footprints? Slowly Leonard and Sheldon turned and began to descend back down the stairs. Howard and Bernadette didn't move.
"That must be Ecke." Howard whispered.
"Where is it?" Bernadette asked.
The footprints were faint, yet at the same time clear. They seemed to be on the same floor as they were, but the direction they couldn't place. By this point Leonard and Sheldon had made back to them.
"What should we do?" Howard asked.
"We follow it." Leonard replied.
"NO," Sheldon said a lot louder than he expected. He was practically buried in the others three's attempts to silence him. Taking the hint he carried on, "We don't want to find it." He whispered.
"Yes but Ecke might lead us to the girls."
"But if it sees us, we won't be any position where we can help them."
The four of them exchanged awkward glances, "we have risk it. It might be are only chance."
"I know I don't normally say this, but I'm with Sheldon on this one." Howard said. "We don't want the demon of fear to catch us to."
"Bringer of fear," Sheldon snapped.
Howard stared at him "you know, you make it really hard for people to agree with you."
"Boys!" Bernadette snapped, "And anyway I agree with Leonard. This might be are only chance. We have to take it. This thing's only had the girls for about ten minutes; hopefully it won't have had long enough to start hurting them yet."
"But what if spots us?" Sheldon said.
"We just have to hope are luck doesn't run out." Leonard replied, gripping his dagger even tighter than he did before "it hasn't so far."
Sheldon gave a look that sort of said it all, but being him he had to add "well if this is good luck. I would hate to see the bad."
Slowly the four of them crept towards the footsteps. They made a somewhat funny sound, quite soft as if what ever made them was light on their feet. Yet at the same time they were curiously audible. They only got slightly louder as the group approached their source.
Leonard led the way, Sheldon stood beside him, his eyes constantly twitching. Looking at him, Leonard couldn't help but think he seemed strangely more normal (well his version of normal that is) since he lost his wings. It was far too soon to make such conclusions but nevertheless Leonard couldn't help but wonder if accessing his angel side so much was what was behind the recent alterations to his personality.
Sheldon tightly clutched the vial of holy water that Bernadette had given him. The sound of the footsteps carried on leading them down a dark passage until they came to a staircase; one that must lead down to the basement. Suddenly a loud creaking sound started at the bottom. All eyes turned to each other, before the four of them scrambled backwards to cover of the closest corner.
Frantically, with their backs against the wall, none of them even dared breath. Ecke was coming back up the stairs. As the sounds of the creaks and the footsteps got louder, all four of them began to shiver. It was like Ecke mere presence was sucking the heat out of the air. Then the footsteps stopped.
Silence fell, and the group just stood there. None of them could hold their breath very long, but you would have to give them credit for trying. The footsteps were at its loudest now. Ecke must have been either at or very near the top of the stairs.
And then they suddenly stopped. And listening out all that the group could hear was the soft sound of each other's hushed breathing. No one dared look. No one dared speak. Why had Ecke stopped? Could he sense them? But if he could, then why not attack? What was going on?
Then suddenly the footsteps started up again. Still the four of them didn't dare move until they had disappeared into the distance. Slowly Leonard stuck his head around the corner. "It's clear, come on." Together they crept round the corner and then down the stairs.
The basement was large, and it was dark. Standing there none of them could hear anything, "Where are they?" Leonard said trying to shine his flashlight around every single corn, slowly illuminating the room one piece at a time. The room must have been some sort of boiler room. There were copper pipes running along the brick walls. It twisted and turned like some sort of maze.
"They must be somewhere down here." Sheldon replied his eyes frantically following Leonard's flashlight beam.
"This place is huge. I say we split up," Howard suggested, "Half of us check one half of the room, and the rest check the other half."
Sheldon and Leonard gave him a look, "Seriously? You're suggesting that we split up? Weren't you paying attention to what Leonard said earlier? Haven't you ever seen a horror movie? When does splitting up ever go well?" Sheldon snapped.
"Look this a big place, and we've got a limited amount of time, if we want to find them before that beast comes back. I think splitting up is the best course of action."
Leonard gulped, "It goes against my better judgement, but he's right."
"Okay, you go with Leonard, I'll go with Sheldon." Bernadette replied.
Begrudgingly Sheldon walked over to Bernadette, Howard quickly shuffled towards Leonard. Suddenly without warning Leonard's eyes opened wide and his skin turned pale. "Penny!" he screamed, and suddenly ran down one corner.
The thoughts shot through Sheldon's mind faster than a supercomputer, and the answer turned his already pale skin ghostly white. "No! Leonard! Wait! Stop!" Sheldon shouted after him, being the closest Howard started the chase first. Sheldon ran after them, Bernadette confused hesitated before following after the three.
Leonard ran round the corridor, his dagger still outstretched and a furious determination in his eyes "I'm coming," he shouted out to seemingly no one.
He turned the corner a final time and stopped dead. Catching up with him Howard panted for breath, "She's…she's not here!" Leonard stared in disbelief, "But that's not possible, I heard her. I heard her scream!"
"Who?" Howard gasped,
"Who do you think?" Leonard snapped, "Penny!"
"Leonard, no one screamed."
"But…But I heard her?" Leonard paused and stared in disbelief, "I did. I know I did."
"Leonard!" Sheldon shouted after him, his delay in following and the fact that Leonard had the only flashlight, leaving the others struggling to navigate in the dim light, had allowed a reasonably large gap to form between them. "Leonard! Where are you?"
"Here, we're over here." Howard called.
"Howie?" Bernadette shouted out.
In the dim light, it had been easily to lose their friends. This basement had clearly needed to be built with multiple walls and pillars to hold the rest of the building up, giving it an almost maze like feel, with several dead ends.
"But I know I heard her!" Leonard said, frantically he started running his hands over the wall, searching for some secret he felt he must have missed. Howard watched in confusion, had the stress gotten to him or something?
Still trying to run after them in the dim room, Sheldon instead collided with the wall. Groaning he held his head, but forced himself to carry on; he had to find them he had. Bernadette had managed to catch up with Sheldon but now she rushed ahead of him. "Howie!" she shouted "Howie, where are you?"
"Here! Here!" Howard shouted, "We're over here!" Turning the corner Bernadette saw her husband; in relief she slowed to a walk, and made her way towards him.
"Leonard," Sheldon yelled, "Leonard you've got to get out of there." Turning the final corner, he saw his friends in front of him. With what little strength he had left, he forced himself to run towards them. "It's a trap!"
The words barely had time to reach the air when suddenly a great rumbling started. The celling shattered dropping tons of rock and plaster down upon them. Frantically Howard slammed into Leonard pushing them both straight against the far wall. He screamed in agony as his broken arm was knocked.
Bernadette froze in shock, standing there in the middle of the corridor in front of the falling debris. As she tried to think a further cracking sound came from above, and suddenly a huge chunk of plaster fell straight down towards her. Bernadette barely had time to scream. She kneeled down; her eyes firmly shut waiting for the impact. Only for none to come.
Opening her eyes, she was greeted to the sound of Sheldon standing above her, straining he managed to hold the plaster above the two of them. If she hadn't been crouching and he hadn't been sixteen inches taller than her, it would have crushed her. Sheldon's knees were already buckling under the strain. Through gritted teeth he just managed "Move!"
Bernadette dived backwards; Sheldon practically dropped the plaster in front of them, before almost falling backwards himself. The two helplessly watched from the floor, at the growing wall of rubble before them. After what seemed like an eternity the rumbling stopped.
Frantically Bernadette and Sheldon scrambled to the wall, crying out at the top of their lungs "Leonard!" "Howard!" and then together "Are you okay?"
On the other side Howard let go of Leonard and slumped to the floor in pain. Coughing Leonard stepped forward so that he was now no longer pressed against the wall. He couldn't go any further forward though. Hearing his friend's cries, he tried to respond. "Sheldon! Bernadette!"
"Leonard," Sheldon called, "are you alright?"
"We're fine," Leonard gasped, "but we're trapped, the debris is blocking us in." Sure enough, the fallen plaster and brick and concrete, had blocked up the entire passage, leaving them only around four foot of space. It carried on all the way to the celling.
"What the hell even happened?" Howard choked from the floor.
"It was a trap," Sheldon called back, "don't you see Ecke must have rigged this, either it would crush us or it would trap us and until he's ready to deal with us. Fortunately he didn't bank on us all not being together."
"But…but I heard Penny." Leonard said in disbelief "I heard her screaming."
"It was merely a hallucination. That noise didn't exist anywhere, except in the pattern of your brain hence why only you heard it."
"Well this is nice and good," Howard butted in, "but if you lot haven't noticed, we'll still trapped."
"Standby," Sheldon called, "we'll get you out."
Pausing he looked at the wall, then he grasped hold of a giant chunk of plaster. Straining he just manged to lift it up, before letting out a great gasp he dropped it. Panting he tried again, but again he simply dropped the plaster. Seeing this was getting him nowhere, Sheldon tried to pull out a smaller chunk, but it wouldn't budge it was buried under too much other debris. Straining he pulled, only for his fingers to give way. He fell backwards onto the floor.
Getting to his feet, he let out a snarl and brought his fist into the wall. Some of the plaster shattered, but he immediately pulled back letting out a yell of pain. He shook his throbbing fist, before trying again with his other fist. Again he was forced to rear back in pain. He managed to strike the make shift wall a few more times before the pain finally became too much.
Slumping backwards he held up his bruised hands, before sucking on each on in turn, hoping it would alleviate the pain. Pausing for a moment he straightened up then ran shoulder first into the wall. He pulled back holding his shoulder, before stepping half way back down the corridor and charged again. This time the force knocked him to ground. But again he rose up, and holding his shoulder with his now bright red hand walked all the way to the end of the corridor. With some great fury he changed at the wall as fast as he could.
Colliding with it they was a loud cracking noise, the wall shook slightly and parts of it fell down, but still it stood. Groaning in pain Sheldon rose up to try again, but this time Bernadette intervened. "Stop it; please you're only going to hurt yourself."
"I have to; we have to get them out." Sheldon yelled.
Bernadette was taken aback by this violent reaction, but she held her ground. "You could keep this up till you were bloody, and we still wouldn't get them out. You can't honestly expect to knock down that great mass of debris. We need to go and get help."
"Help?" Sheldon snapped, "help? We don't have any?"
"Well we have to go find someone. We'll never be able to shift all that. Not with only the two of us."
Sheldon stared at the wall in sorrow, "back when I had my wings I could have torn through that like it was tissue paper."
Bernadette wasn't sure how to respond to that, "Sheldon I know you were strong, but that's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it?"
"Not by much," Sheldon replied. "While in Canada myself and Amy did a lot of tests on what I could and couldn't do, one of which involved us trying to gage how much I could lift. We managed to get to five thousand pounds or so."
Bernadette didn't reply, she wasn't sure what interested her more. That he could lift so much, or what they had been up to in Canada. Really the details of their little adventure were still mysterious, all she knew was he and Amy had been alone together for a whole month. "Look, Sheldon come on we have to get help."
Sheldon slowly nodded, "okay," he said. His voiced sounded defeated.
"Howard, Leonard." Bernadette called, "we'll going to get you some help. We'll be back as soon as we can."
"Okay but hurry, I'm not sure how much air we have back here." Leonard replied.
"At least no one said stay put." Howard groaned.
Bernadette and Sheldon left the basement as fast as they could. However due to the dim light it took them a while to find their way out. But eventually they got to the stairs, they managed to make their way top and navigate back to the front door. Only to find it closed.
Bernadette was about to try it, when Sheldon stopped her. He pointed at the ground; several dead moths were lying next to the door. "They weren't here when entered, and who closed the door?"
"Sheldon, it's just a couple of dead insects."
"Maybe, but what killed them?"
Bernadette paused, and then she caught his drift. "You think the door's booby trapped?"
As if to answer, another moth fluttered past them and rested on the handle. There was a slight cracking sound, a burning smell and it to fall onto the floor with the others. Sheldon and Bernadette turned to face each other.
"Why are there so many moths in a university building?" Bernadette finally said.
Sheldon rolled his eyes, "The only exit out of here has been electrified. Were trapped in a building with a the bringer of fear itself. Leonard and Howard are trapped underground and Penny and Amy are still missing. Is that really the best question for now?"
"Probably not, still it seems odd. Come on let's go and see if we can find another exit." The two were about to walk off, only for Bernadette to pause, "Sheldon,"
"Yes."
"Do think this means Ecke knows we're in here, or have we just arrived early while he's setting up his tricks? Is the door meant to keep us out or keep us in?"
"I honestly have no idea, but somehow I doubt it missed the sound of us setting off its little underground trap." Sheldon replied. In the dim light, he clutched the tiny bottle of holy water tighter.
Amy groaned, and slowly she opened her eyes. Her arms were sticking up into the air. She tried to move them, only to hit something hard. Looking up she realised someone had chained them up above her head. Startled Amy tried to struggle, causing the rusty chains to shake but that's all she was capable of. Where was she? The room was dark, but it was big. It was then she realised she was standing on some sort of stage. Multiple rows of seats stretched out before her.
How had she gotten here? Then it all flashed before her eyes, the church, the rain, the rats then the two strong arms that had grabbed her. And that low cold chuckle she had heard, the one that had turned her blood to ice.
Then her eyes suddenly fixed on something else, lying on a table in front of her was a familiar blonde figure. "Penny!" she called. However Penny didn't move. She just continued to lay there facing up at the sky.
"Penny? Penny?" Amy called out, "Penny what's wrong? Can't you hear me?"
"Oh she can hear you fine," a deep voice called. Frantically Amy spun her head as far as she could, but she couldn't see the source. "Wh...who…who's there?"
A low cold chuckle echoed through the room. Amy shivered; it felt like the room had dropped at least ten degree's or so. And then out of the shadows like some sort of a phantom it slipped, its long grey cloak dragging across the floor. It was tall, very tall, maybe just less than seven feet and it was thin, pencil thin. Draped over its tall skeletal frame was a long grey cloak.
It was also wearing a large hat with a tipped rim, so that its face was covered in shadow, meaning almost no features were possible to make out. Despite this Amy found herself fixed upon its eyes, they were an inhuman bright yellow in colour. Timidly, Amy tried to back away, pressing herself as close to the wall as she was able to.
The creature standing before her laughed, "Feel free to struggle little girl. It will do you no good. Even if you were free you couldn't out run me, the bringer of fear is much too fast."
"What did you do to Penny?"
Ecke laughed, "oh nothing really. She merely thinks she has insects crawling around and all over her face. She's convinced that if she moves head she'll crash directly into the swarm and if opens her eyes or her mouth, they will climb inside her skull. I like to start my victims off small, build up to the truly horrible stuff later. It's more fun that way."
Amy gulped, but tried to hold her ground. She had almost been raped by a much more powerful demon than this one and she comes out of that with only a few more nightmares. "Sheldon will come for me."
Ecke laughed again, "you poor fool. Of course he will. Why do you think I took you it's not like I could enter that chapel and drag him, now could I? Once I'm finished here, I'll make sure there are plenty of breadcrumbs for him to follow. But in the meantime we have plenty of time to kill first."
Amy let out a gulp. But she tried to stay strong. "Okay bringer of fear, I haven't had an easy life. Which traumatic memory are you going to make me relieve? When the entire cheerleader team beat me up and left me tied to a tree? When my mother made me stand in the cupboard for sixteen hours for repeating the word 'damn' of TV? Go ahead; I have enough nightmares about them that I can spell it out to you."
Ecke smiled coldly, "oh Amy, sweet naïve Amy. I don't need to make you experience everything. Your torture is right in front of you. For after all, aren't you already living your greatest fear."
"To be kidnapped, by a sick twisted, unholy sociopathic abomination?"
Ecke shook his head and chuckled slightly, then without warning he slapped her across the face. Amy let out a yelp, as she felt the white hot pain spread through her now throbbing cheek. "I like a girl with a sense of humour, but no come one, you and I both know what it is that you fear."
"I fear a lot of things," Amy replied, "I fear death, I fear failure, I fear certain spices on the grounds of mutually comical and tragic deaths that befell my extended family. None of which I think apply here now."
"Don't evasive; you know what I'm talking about. There is only one thing that you're truly afraid of, and you and I both know it's true."
Amy tried to look away; it felt like Ecke's bright yellow eyes were chiselling away her soul. This merely caused the demon to walk closer. "What are you talking about?" Amy yelled.
Ecke rolled its eyes, "come on don't be stupid smart girl. Do I have to spell it out to you? You're most afraid of something that we both know to be true. That your little winged, oh sorry that should be formerly winged knight in shining armour doesn't truly care about you. You've been worry about that for so long know haven't you? Ever since you realised that you cared about him. It's been what you worry about, day and night for so long now, hasn't it?"
Amy didn't reply, she carried on struggling to look away. Ecke leaned in closer, so now he was only a few inches away from her face. And then with a single finger began gently stroking her right cheek. His skin was course and scratched against her. "Well my dear, I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but I'll let you in on a little secret. He doesn't care about you."
"That's not true," Amy screamed, "it's not."
"Wow, testy." Ecke chuckled leaning back. "But let's not kid are selves here, it's not healthy to live in denial after all. You and I both know he doesn't."
"Yes he does. If…if he didn't why would he come rescue me. You yourself said he was coming. Why rescue someone he doesn't care for?"
Ecke shrugged, "so he doesn't want you die. He's not a monster after all, believe me I know monsters. And yeah sure he values your intelligence; he probably even enjoys your company. But that's all you are to him. An amusement, one that he'll soon enough get bored of and leave. You and I both know this is true, please don't deny it."
"You're lying!" Amy screamed. "You're a lying liar."
Ecke chuckled smugly "Easy now little girl, no need for name calling."
"He does care about me." Amy said desperately, "he does!"
"Does he? Tell me Amy if he cares about you so much why didn't acknowledge you back at the chapel? He didn't even notice you had left."
Amy froze, "He…he was just distracted."
Ecke licked his lips, "Yeah I'm sure he was. Okay what about back when you got back to Texas, he blamed you for everything that went wrong. Would you say that is the behaviour of someone who truly cares about you?"
"Um…well…"
"And what about he did to you; he risked your life to save Bernadette. Without even asking your permission. He could have killed you. Doesn't sound very caring to me"
"He just didn't have time…"
"What about all that important training you put him through, that allowed him to get so far. Did he ever once even thank you for that?"
"It's not like that, he's…"
"Come now Amy think. Does he really care about you? Has he confided in you? Has he shared with you? Has he been willing to trust you? Has he once displayed anything other than shallow compassion towards you?"
Amy frantically tried to think, but there was something about Ecke's presence that made her mind feel fuzzy, she couldn't think straight. She couldn't look away from Ecke's gaze. She could do nothing but carry on listening to the demons words.
"He has even ever told you that he loves you? That he cares about you? That wants you in his life? Has he ever done anything like that for you?"
Amy tried to speak, but again her mind felt wrong. All over her brain felt sluggish.
"Face up to the facts Amy, he doesn't care about you. Heck I bet you he won't even come for you after all. He'll come for Penny sure, but your only an add on. If it came down to you or someone else, he would throw you out of the lifeboat every time. You know this to be true, don't deny it you do."
Tears began to fall down Amy's face.
"That's it, cry. Cry little girl. Keep on crying. Don't struggle, don't whine. Just cry. Cry till your eyes run dry. It's all you've got left isn't it? Yes it is. Well I'll leave you to reflect, I have a few more traps to set up. But don't worry, we have all the time in the world."
And with that Ecke vanished. From her table, Penny didn't even dare shudder. The feel of so many little feet running over made her stomach turn. Penny could hear Amy crying, and she longed to talk to her, to comfort her. But every time she tried to build up the courage, she felt something particularly big and nasty crawl over her lips. Where was Leonard?
Leonard slumped against the wall, Howard was still sitting down. His flashlight was working, so they had plenty of light. But it was starting to get hot in this trapped up corridor. "Hear Howard." Leonard began.
"Yes?"
"Look mate, I'm sorry. If I had thought about what I heard then we wouldn't be in this mess, it's all my…"
"Save it, I get it. If it had been Bernadette I would have done the same thing. Look it doesn't matter whose fault it is, let's just conserve oxygen. Bernadette and Sheldon will be back soon, and their get us out of here."
"Yeah, oh Howard thanks for saving my life."
Howard smugly smiled, "well now Sheldon's been plucked someone has to step up after all."
Leonard nodded sadly, "I'm worried about him. He's always been emotionally unstable. But losing his wings and most of his powers have clearly hit him so hard. If too much else goes wrong, I'm worried it might be too much for him."
"Yeah, that tall wackado has always reminded me a bit of a game of jenga. Still I'm sure he'll be fine. I mean he spent most of his life never using his wings, how much can losing them hit him?"
"I don't know," Leonard sighed, "but I imagine to him it would be the equivalent of losing his arms."
Sighing Howard laid down, "best stay low," he murmured, "the air's cleaner down here." Trying to support his arm, Howard shifted over again. And then began fidgeting, trying to get comfortable. Letting out a sigh he began shifting back and forth down the thin passage he had available, eventually he tried to scrunch up in the right corner only to suddenly stop dead.
"Leonard…"
"Yes?"
"I can feel a breeze."
"What, what do you mean?"
"How many other ways do you want me to say it, airs getting in over here by my head."
Confused, stepping over Leonard bent down and waved his hands over Howards head, sure enough he was right. There was a faint cool draft.
"Here shine your flashlight over this way." Howard said.
Leonard complied, reaching over with his good arm Howard began knocking against the wall, the familiar tap tap carried on, until he tried it on the far section and instead it made a noticeable clunk.
"What they…" Leonard said, reaching over he also tapped the wall, it was hallow. Leonard helped Howard to his feet, then taking a loose piece of brick; he slammed it into the wall. The plaster split. Drawing back, Leonard hit again, this time it shattered.
Together the two began to pull away at the pieces; behind it was a noticeable large, metallic hole.
"What the hell?" Howard asked.
"It's a ventilation system," Leonard mummed shining his flashlight down it. "It must have been here since they first built the building, somewhere along the lines they stopped using it, so they simply plastered over it."
Slowly he got down on his hands and knees. "Wait what you doing?"
Leonard looked up back at Howard "Going in, this is our way out."
"Are you crazy? Don't you remember the last time we tried this tactic; we ended up finding a landmine in there. Besides you said it yourself, its old and all the exits are probably blocked off."
"Not all of them," Leonard replied, "otherwise where is the fresh air coming from?"
"It's still dangerous, what if we get struck?"
"We'll already stuck," Leonard snapped back. "This is our best chance come on."
Grumbling Howard followed Leonard into the dark old vent, due to his right arm being in a sling, he had to be extra careful.
Bernadette and Sheldon had just finished searching the ground floor, there were two other exits, both fire escapes and both were likewise coursing with electricity. They could find no power source to this or justifiable reason, so they had been forced to put it down to simply being the magic of the storm demon. As much as Sheldon insisted this wasn't magic, Bernadette was honestly getting less convinced the more she saw. How could any of this run in accordance with the laws of physics?
However there was something else running through her mind. "Sheldon," she finally asked. "I've been thinking back to when you saved me from that falling piece of plaster."
"You're welcome," Sheldon replied, not taking his eyes of the corridor.
"No not that, I mean I appreciate it, but it's not specifically that, I was wondering how you did it?"
Sheldon paused and turned to look at her. Bernadette continued "I mean how did you lift it?"
"With the greatest difficulty." Sheldon replied and then proceeded to continue walking down the corridor. Bernadette went to speak, but Sheldon continued "As I said earlier, I am pretty much mortal now. I still have a few after effects of my former abilities, my strength and durability still exceeds what it should. But it is still greatly diminished. I would not rate my chances highly in a fight with a demon. Likewise given time, this too will presumably fade. And unfortunately there is no way to get them back up."
Sheldon stopped dead. "Up?" he murmured, "Up, of course. We've been going about this all wrong." And with that he turned around and walked back the way he came.
"Wait what? Sheldon where are you going?"
"Think about it," Sheldon said, "when did we first hear Ecke."
"When we were about to go upstairs,"
"But why did we hear them? Why would something that can teleport from place to place, walk around?"
Bernadette paused, "maybe it just likes to?"
"Maybe," Sheldon replied, "or maybe we heard the footsteps cause were supposed to. After all that trap was pretty specific, it would have to know we would not only go into the boiler room, but to that specific part of the boiler room. Now demons can't predict the future, so how would it know?"
"Sheldon, what are you saying?" Bernadette asked.
"That we right the first time, we need to go upstairs. That's where he's keeping Amy and Penny." Emerging back in the entrance hall, Sheldon headed up the stairs,
"Wait what about Howard and Leonard?"
Sheldon paused, "they've got a few hours at the very least. Amy and Penny are in Ecke's person hands. He's had them for nearly half an hour now. There is no telling what horrors he might do to them."
Seeing his point, Bernadette joined Sheldon in rushing up the stairs. The second floor of the building was a bit different to the first it was a lot more straightforward. There were multiple doors, on both sides, stretching off into the distance. Quietly the two of them began to check each one.
The first one was simply an empty classroom, the second was a storage room and the third was another empty classroom. Sheldon was about to pull open the forth door when he heard something. Although compared to what he was used to he felt practically deaf, his ears were still sharp and through the air wafted the unmistakable sound of a woman crying.
Ignoring all the other doors Sheldon made his way up to the final one on the hall, and very cautiously opened the door, fearing this might be just another illusion. He found himself staring at a mini-auditorium. A small stage stood to the left of him, with rows upon rows of seats to the right. There was a door to the far left of the stage, probably leading to a broom closet or something.
And there on the stage was Amy, wrapped in chains she was crying. Not even pausing to consider if this was real of not Sheldon ran forward and jumped up on to the stage. "Amy!" he yelled.
Looking up from her tears, Amy saw Sheldon standing before her, "Sheldon?" she whimpered, "you…you came."
Sheldon didn't reply, reaching forward he grabbed her chains and began to tug. However all he managed to do was hurt his arm. Pulling back he tried to fish for his lock pick, only to remember he was no longer wearing his clothes. "Don't worry; I'll get you out of here."
"Will you really?" A voice called out. Suddenly the door slammed shut. Bernadette who was still outside tried to push it open again, but the door wouldn't budge. Frantically Sheldon spun around on the spot, he still clutched the vial of holy water he was holding.
"What's the matter Cooper, afraid?" the icy deep voiced called out.
"Ecke," Sheldon whispered, slowly he stepped away from Amy. His eyes darting all over the stands, trying to pick him out. Silently he cursed his now much weaker eyes, he could barely see anything. "You know I'm a bit disappointed that you ran and hid." The voice went on.
"Considering your growing reputation I expected you to stand and fight. But then a little birdy told me, you can't fly any more now can you?"
Sheldon spun around, his eyes darting everywhere. Where was Ecke? Outside Bernadette banged on the door she had to get in, she had to help him.
"Yes yes, you try and hide it, but I can see it in your mind, as clear as the still surface of a pond. I can see it all. Man you really are afraid, you're afraid cause you no longer think you can stop me. You're afraid you're going to lose. Your afraid someone will use you to hurt innocent people. My my, so much fear."
Panicking, Sheldon made his way backwards, so he was standing against the wall. His eyes frantically darting from one shadow to the next, searching for the demon.
"You keep saying I'm afraid," Sheldon yelled, "yet you're the one hiding."
Ecke let out a long cold laugh "Hiding? I not hiding I'm enjoying the show."
Sheldon shivered, the room seemed to be getting colder every second he was in here. His eyes constantly darting around, he still couldn't see anything.
Amy watched, too afraid to say anything. Penny knew Sheldon was there having heard his voice, but still fearing the insects upon her face, didn't dare say anything or even move a muscle.
Suddenly out of the floor boards, raised a great thin figure. Frantically Sheldon hurled the vial of holy water at it, only for the glass to harmlessly pass through it. Sheldon's eyes opened wide as the illusion faded. But before he could speak a thin pair of arms grasped him by the shoulders and threw him across the room.
Hitting the floor Sheldon looked up groaning, in front of him stood Ecke. His yellow eyes gleaming like an inferno. "Boo," he said before bringing his great foot down at Sheldon.
"Come on, just a bit further," groaning Leonard pulled himself upwards. Then turning back, with both arms he just managed to pull Howard up the shaft. Panting for breath the two of them nearly collapsed. It was ten minutes before they were able to move again. Somehow between a combination of climbing and relying on the other they had made it up.
How high they had no idea, likewise they had no idea where they were. "Here look," Leonard panted, there is a light over there, slowly the two of them crawled over and made their was over to the end. They had come to a vent, the room on the other side was dark, but there was a large window letting the moonlight in.
Taking his dagger, Leonard managed to prise the vent open. The two of them crawled out and stretched, their backs ached. Their muscles were in agony, and truthfully if they hadn't recently lost so much weight, they would have probably dropped each other while climbing.
"Where do you think we are?" Howard began,
"Must be on the second floor now," Leonard panted.
Howard went to speak again only for a loud crash to get their attention.
Leonard's eyes opened wide, "Sheldon." He whispered.
Snarling Ecke lunged at Sheldon. Sheldon managed to dive to the side in time, but only just. The demon rose up again and swung at him. Sheldon ducked under and ran into him knocking Ecke back. Only for Ecke to uppercut him sending Sheldon flying backwards. Groaning he managed to force himself to his feet, just in time as Ecke came charging at him. Sheldon dived to the left, and the demon collided with the wall.
Plaster and brick flew through the air momentarily disrupting the demon. Taking advantage of this, Sheldon struck Ecke straight in the face. The blow caused the demon to sway, but regaining his balance, he swung at Sheldon. Sheldon tried to block, but the force hit him too hard and he was again knocked backwards.
Jumping forward Ecke grasped Sheldon and hoisted him into the air, before slamming him into the wall and throwing him down on the floor. Ecke lunged at him, but Sheldon kicked Ecke with both legs. The combined force was just enough to cause Ecke to stagger backwards. Struggling Sheldon pushed himself to his feet and tried to confront the demon. Quickly he swung at Ecke. Only for Ecke to catch his fist in mid-air.
Sheldon struggle and strained but he couldn't pull himself free. Smiling, Ecke used his free arm to grasp Sheldon by the shoulder. The sudden burst of pain caused him to loose his focus. In a second Ecke had grasped both his shoulders and with that hurled him backwards through the air. Sheldon smashed into the front line of seats. Groaning he tried to force himself up, but the pain was too much.
Amy couldn't bring herself to watch. This wasn't a fight, it was a slaughter. Sheldon couldn't beat him, he wasn't strong enough. Not now, instead she forced her eyes to the side. Only to notice the side door slowly open, her eyes opened wide as she saw Howard and Leonard stick their heads out of it.
Lying there in the stands, Sheldon looked up. Ecke slowly walked across the stage towards him, it had a long sick smile, one that complimented its yellow eyes perfectly. "It's over Cooper, I would like to say you put up a good fight, but we both know I would be lying."
Sheldon tried to force himself up, only for his eyes to catch a glint. Embed between the seats, was his vial of holy water. By some miracle it had landed here and not broken. Ecke continued to advance, "yes, yes that's it don't struggle. You know when defeat has consumed you, after all how could you hope to defeat the Bringer of fear?"
Subtly Sheldon moved his hand and grasped hold of the vial. Ecke was now only a few feet away, he walked slowly, dragging his feet like some sort of insect. "This is how it ends Cooper; my boss is going to pay me handsomely for handing you in to him. I'm sure he won't mind if I get a few screams out of you first."
Ecke paused, standing on the stage, letting his long black shadow fall over Sheldon. Sheldon gripped the vial tighter; he had one chance he couldn't miss this time. "You've failed Sheldon. And here you fall, alone. No hope, no luck, no courage, no friends or allies, no God, no one. You have nothing."
"No!" another voice shouted out "he still has me!" Leonard's iron dagger plunged straight through Ecke's thin chest. The demon howled in agony, violently swaying it knocked Leonard down. Catapulting from the ground, Sheldon jumped up on stage and stuffed the vial of holy water down the demons throat.
Ecke's yellow eyes practically exploded as the liquid reacted with his inside of him. He began violently coughing a sickly red foam, before doubling forward. On the table, Penny suddenly felt the creatures on her face evaporate. The door clicked open letting Bernadette. Ecke continued to simultaneously howl and choke, swaying violently forwards and backwards.
Snarling Sheldon grasped it by the throat and hoisting it above his head, smashed it downwards onto the stage floor. Hoisting it up again he repeated the process again, and then again, and then again until well after the floorboards shattered.
Panting for breath he let go of the mangled single twitching demon, and collapsed besides Leonard, his sore hands holding bruised face.
"Howie," "Leonard," it was impossible to tell which of the cries came first. Regardless both women rushed over and embraced their lover.
Bernadette however pulled back, "wait how did you get up here?"
"We'll tell you later," Leonard gasped, "Bernadette would you please exorcize this demon I think Sheldon's spent." He turned to Penny, "Penny is you okay? He didn't hurt you did he?"
Penny shuddered, "just a few more nightmares. Really I think you'll have to kill the spiders from now on."
A sudden cough got their attention, all eyes turned to Amy still chained on the stage. Frantically Leonard fricked Ecke's body and found the keys in his left pocket. Meanwhile Bernadette began"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus piritusomnis …"
He and Penny let Amy out of the cuffs. "Amy are you okay?" Penny asked.
"I'll be fine," Amy replied, rubbing the tears from her eyes.
"What did he say to you?"
"Couldn't you hear?" Amy said with a noticeable tone of surprise.
"No, I kept hearing insects swarming in my ears. I could just make out the voices, but I couldn't tell what anyone said."
"Oh it was nothing."
"Are you sure."
"Yes, just…nothing."
Bernadette completed her chant, and Ecke vanished into the earth, leaving only Leonard's dagger behind. Sheldon had risen up by now, honestly he looked terrible. But calmly he handed the dagger back to Leonard.
He gently stepped forward closer to Amy, however he didn't say anything. At this point Howard simply shrugged, "how about we get the hell out of here?"
Following a slightly long search and a quick errand to erase the security footage, the group left the university campus. Then following making it back to their new truck, made a quick stop back to the warehouse to pick up their stuff, and then onto the open road.
They drove on into the dawn, no one really spoke, most of them just tried to get some sleep. Leonard and Penny took it in turns driving. Bernadette cuddled up to Howard. Sheldon sat by Amy, but Amy didn't say anything to him the whole journey.
Eventually dusk came, and deciding everyone needed some actual sleep, the group pulled into a motel and got themselves some rooms.
Leonard lay their looking up at the celling. Penny snored beside him, groaning Leonard clambered out of bed and for perhaps the fiftieth time that night walked over to the window. He paused and looked back across the room at the dagger that he still had placed upon his bedside table. And then down at his beautiful sleeping Penny. She looked so good, Leonard wondered what she was dreaming. Hopefully something more cheerful than what was happening to them.
Sighing Leonard gazed out of the window, only for a flicker to catch his attention. "No way," he murmured. Walking over, Leonard grasped his dagger, then quietly put on his shoes and exited the room.
Sheldon sat there on the roof top gazing up at the stars. The sound of clambering grasped his attention; he spun around to see Leonard making his way up the same ladder he had used to join him.
"Hey buddy," Leonard said, "you can't sleep either?"
Sheldon didn't turn around, "it hurts when I lie down." He replied, "the wounds are still sore."
Leonard sat beside him, "so stargazing then?"
"What else do I have to do?"
"Fair point," Leonard paused. But then Sheldon spoke.
"Thank you Leonard,"
"Thank you?"
Sheldon turned to face Leonard, "For saving my life. I couldn't have beaten Ecke, I'm simply not strong enough now."
"Just like you said you weren't."
Hearing this Sheldon pretty much slumped down, "what have I done," he solemnly asked "I almost condemned two of the people I care most for in the world to death, all because I am a coward."
"Don't say that," Leonard replied, "your aren't a coward. You had just been through a horrifically traumatic experience, and were facing an opponent you had no hope of beating in a straight up fight. Caring your life isn't cowardliness, any more than throwing it away is bravery."
"Maybe, but I still feel pretty cowardly." Sheldon let out a short chuckle, "my whole life I've run and hid. I've left others behind to save myself, and here I am for the first time in my life, truly feeling like I'm yellow."
"What's important is you didn't, you faced your fears and we won."
"We almost died,"
"We've almost died dozens of times."
"You say that like it's a good thing. Are lives have become one long line of tragedy, that we barely make it through and emerge beaten, battered and traumatised. How long do you think we can keep this up Leonard. We we're made for this lifestyle."
"No one is," Leonard replied, "No one is accountable for existing at all. We are not the result of a special design, a will, a purpose. It is absurd to want to hand over his nature to some purpose or other. We invented the concept."
"'…in reality purpose is lacking.' It's a bit late for Nietzsche isn't it? Any way you missed out several parts."
"Maybe, but it sets my point so nicely. No one goes into life looking for adventures, they stumble onto them."
"But how many more adventures can we take?"
"I don't know. But look how far we've come. I mean in a mere two months we've gone from a bunch of nerds who love fantasy, to living fantasy. I mean before all this I was to terrified to even think about facing my own demons. In the last few months I've fought actual demons Sheldon, and I've won. Before this point the only fight I ever one in my life was online, and even then it was close. Look how far we've come, look how far you've come. We've taken the worst, and we've carried on. Sure there has been a price to pay, but we took it."
"Maybe, but I can't believe I made this are lives." Sheldon replied.
"Look," Leonard said "I get it, I don't want this either. But we have to focus on what really matters. You're still alive, I'm still alive, the others are still alive and right now we're safe. For how much longer we'll be safe, who knows. But right now we are."
"And I get it, you feel awful now your mortal too. You feel weak and helpless, well let's face it with are lives we've lived through that before. And we've come out of it better than ever. Maybe it doesn't seem like it today. But things will get better, they simply have to."
"You really believe that?"
"Not really, but it's a nice idea. Look what matters is, we're still standing. We're running sure, but we're still alive. We can carry on, and as long as we can carry on. We have a chance. Enjoy tonight for tonight we're safe. Its tomorrow you have to worry about."
Leonard got to his feet and was about to begin the climb down, only for Sheldon to stop him. "Leonard, if we're safe tonight, would you join me in a little stargazing for a while longer?"
Leonard smiled, before returning to his spot by his best friend. Together they sat in silence, watching the night's sky.
Okay I hope you enjoyed at least some of that, I'm sorry their were so few pauses. And sorry that its a bit contrived, never the less I hope it introduced a few of the themes of the next part of the story in reasonably well. Now I'll try my hardest to get the next chapter done as soon as possible, I can't be sure when it will be done. But hopefully it won't be six months again.
And as always, please review.