Disclaimer: Gundam Seed and all its characters are copyright their respected owners 'n whatnot.
A/N - Ever so slight AU just for crossover reasons.
Ch-04 -Daniel-
"Let me guess." Talia sighed, growing more annoyed with this place the longer they stayed here. "You can't remember a thing?"
Arthur shied away embarrassed. "No ma'am, all I remember was the crash, then this hotel." He scratched at his head trying to come up with a better explanation for his captain, and then it hit him. "Wait how did you manage to open the door? I locked it from inside."
Talia turned her head and pointed to her companion. "She had a key." Her eyes stayed fixed on Murrue's, both of them clearly thinking the same thing. Of all the rooms in this building, why would the key lead to this one in particular? And of all the odds just happens to be the one Talia's second in command has been hiding in all this time.
Arthur wasn't thinking that in the least, he was just glad to the powers that be that someone had found him. He examined whom his captain had pointed to, and quickly recognized the pretty woman he had met in the Orb Docks. An unpleasant memory came back to him, and his hand unconsciously went to his arm where is captain had pinched him rather hard for… staring. "Wait… aren't you?"
"Yes this is Captain Ramius." Talia confirmed his suspicions. "But forget about protocol right now Trine, lets just find out what the heck is going on."
Murrue nodded at that then stepped forward. "I agree, so for the time being…" She held out her hand politely. "Hello, I'm Captain Murrue Ramius of the Archangel."
Trine looked to his captain first before accepting her hand. Even if he didn't understand what was going on he didn't exactly want to get into any more trouble by socializing with the enemy. "Arthur Trine, second in command to Captain Gladys here. Um… you wouldn't happen to know the way out of here would you? I've been trapped in this place since I woke up."
"Well, your Captain here grizzly bear'd the front entrance… why didn't you just do the same?" Murrue said as she looked to the strange green haired man in front of her. He may not have been a prime male specimen, he was definitely no Mwu, but he did at least look capable.
"What? But I've tried! I've even resorted to smashing chairs against the windows but it wouldn't even leave a scratch!" He wrapped his arms around himself as a cold feeling fell over him. "It was like something was trying to keep me here. I-I couldn't get out."
Both women fell silent and looked to each other. Perhaps coming here wasn't the best idea after all.
"I did find this though maybe you have a use for it." Arthur dug around in his pockets and procured a long chain. On closer inspection it was a soldiers dog tags, but they were covered in a hard white, almost cement-like substance that the owners name and rank were unreadable. There was also another key looped along with the tags; it had no markings on it however. "I thought I heard Lunamaria's voice, but instead…" He shook his head unable to continue for a moment. " I ended up knocking over an urn when I ran from…" Again he paused and visibly shivered as he tried to explain. "Something terrible. This was inside it."
Talia assumed that 'something terrible' was another creature like the ones they've encountered. She tried not to think about it, taking the tags from Arthur and inspecting them before handing them to Murrue. "They're not Zaft tags."
Murrue brought them into the little light her pocket radio was emitting. "Hmm, well, the key isn't marked and I don't exactly want to check every single door in this hotel." She pocketed them and then decided it was time to move on. "We probably should just try to find the Archangel, or even the Minerva and try to contact anyone. Maybe we'll find more crewmates along the way." Murrue then motioned for the door. "Lets get out of here first, this place gives me the creeps."
"Uh… you mean… out there?" Arthur's face paled suddenly. He squeaked when Talia grabbed his arm tightly and nearly tossed him out into the dark hall, she then followed behind Captain Ramius.
Arthur immediately ran into the little halo of light Murrue's pocket flashlight was giving off and stayed there. His eyes darted around in the dark as if looking for something specific. Murrue noticed this, and while carefully keeping him in the light, approached him.
"You said you saw something terrible?" After the creature in the police station she knew she was going to regret asking this. "What exactly did you see?"
Arthur looked at her for a moment, his eyes in the light suddenly looking terrified as he recalled his experience. "It was… I don't know it was big, had this strange thing on its head like a helmet, it was also dragging something large behind it. I-I didn't stay around to see anymore I just ran."
He looked to the ground ashamed at how he was acting, unable to control his own trembling. Very unlike a proud Zaft officer at all, he thought. "I'm sorry I know I'm not exactly making the best impression right now…"
"It's alright." She put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. "You should have seen what your Captain and I ran into… hours later and I was still shaking." She left out the part where Talia axed the thing in the back, not exactly wanting to bruise his ego any more then it was already. "Don't worry, we just have to pass through this room and hit some stairs and we'll be out of here." She pointed to the dance studio, holding back a laugh when Arthur quickly forgot about the light and headed right towards it.
"See. He can be brave." Talia said as she came up next to Murrue and then added flatly. "When he wants to be." She placed a hand on her friends shoulder as Murrue laughed, quickly withdrawing it as a sharp pain hit her.
"Ouch" Talia said quietly, shaking her hand in the air by her side.
"Something wrong?" Murrue asked noticing the way the other captain was trying to conceal it, now concerned her axe-wielding friend may have been hiding an injury.
Talia chuckled. "No, but you've got a solid right fist."
"Sorry…"
A groan escaped from Lunamaria's throat as the world came back to her. She felt strange, she could barely move and her head felt like it was about to explode any minute. She opened her eyes and immediately regretted doing so. The room was dark and damp; she could hear the sound of water dripping from somewhere. There was also the sound of something moving, or rather something slimy slithering around.
Her fogged senses cleared somewhat, and she realized the throbbing in her skull was the result of being upside down, she tried to move her arms but they were stuck tight against her sides. She craned her neck as far as her constraints would allow, she looked up – or down – depending on the perspective, to see that she was cocooned in a fleshy like substance that was currently hanging from the ceiling.
"What… the hell happened?"
She remembered waking up on the Minerva alone and scared, no one anywhere. She went to Shinn and Rey's room to see if there was any sign of them, but all she saw was… dark. "That dark stairwell in their room, and then something grabbed me? Oh ew what is this!"
She struggled against the strong yet slightly stretchy substance, only causing her entire body to swing. The more strength she put into her efforts the stronger the organic growth seemed to get.
"Luna, don't struggle."
A familiar voice caused her to stop trying to free herself, one she's heard a thousand times when she was around her Zaku Warrior. "Vino? Is that you?" Lunamaria twisted herself as best she could, trying to face where the voice had come from.
"Yes but please don't struggle, you'll only get its attention." The young tech said from his spot.
Luna ignored him somewhat, turning more gently to get a view of the Minerva's young tech wiz. She managed to get a good look around in the process, they were in a large basement of sorts, but there was the same disgusting fleshy growths spreading across the walls and floor as well. Finally she spotted him, barely, only part of his face and his fiery red and orange hair could be seen from behind the organic substance holding him to the wall.
"Get what's attention? What is this stuff?" She asked.
"I don't know. Rey was in here as well when I got pulled in. We tried to make our escape when… I don't know what it was. But something grabbed him and pulled him away. It sounded big."
"Have you seen Shinn, or even the captain?"
"No, just Rey and you. I thought I heard Shinn's voice but… I... I just don't know." The young man sounded scared, and with good reason. "The more you struggle, the faster your going end up covered like me, just… sit tight."
"Sit tight? That's easy for you to say I can't just hang here forever! There's got to be something we can do." Luna protested, not exactly enjoying her position or this entire mess she somehow got sucked into.
"We wait…" Vino whispered just loud enough for her to hear. "And hope someone finds us soon."
Arthur was waiting by 211, not wanting to go any further alone. Murrue was the one to open the door and enter first into the mirrored room. The layout to the studio was the same, but now the wall texture had a different look to it. It wasn't metal and blood thankfully, but it was as if someone came through here and spattered mud and dirt all over the walls.
"What the hell, this wasn't like this when we first came through right?" she said to those supposedly behind her, but received no answer.
Murrue quickly turned around, the door was closed and she didn't remember doing so. "Hey, guys?" She grabbed the door handle but it would not budge, the door had somehow sealed shut behind her and was now locked tight. She swore under her breath as she pulled against it to no avail, she didn't like the look of this at all. "Hey, can you two hear me out there?!"
Again no answer, seeing as how this was getting her nowhere she turned back to the room, intent on checking the exit from the other side. Instead she got a good look into the mirrors, and froze dead in her spot.
She saw herself, reflecting in the large pane of glass as any other mirror would do. But along with her stood the Minerva Captain, staring straight at her with pale eyes, the familiar axe cradled in both hands.
Murrue scanned the room behind her over and over. There was no one else in here with her yet in the mirror were two very visible reflections. Talia's double tore its gaze away from the rival captain, slowly turning its head towards Murrue's reflection instead. The cold eyes turned back to the real Murrue, followed by a spine tingling eerie smirk as it took a step, leisurely, towards the other woman in the mirror, raising the axe at the same time.
Murrue couldn't fathom what was going on, but as Talia's doppelganger swung its weapon at her reflection the Archangel captain reacted on instinct. Leaping back just in time, she felt a swift gust of wind against her abdomen, looking down she noticed a long gash had been torn into her uniform.
She gasped aloud, her hand going to her stomach to make sure she had not been gutted. Whatever was happening in that mirror was happening to her! Yet there was nothing standing in front of her at all! How could this be happening?!
Talia's reflection swung again, faster this time that Murrue was unable to completely avoid it. The axe grazed her upper left arm, cutting through the layers of her uniform and slicing deep into skin. Murrue cried out as her warm blood quickly stained her sleeve. She managed to keep her focus on the mirror, watching the double's movements while clutching her arm to stem the flow of blood.
Murrue tried to back away, keeping keen eyes on her mirror self just in time to see Talia readying the axe once again. She acted this time, bringing her handgun up and opening fire directly in front of her where her attacker – relative to the mirror - should be. To her horror the bullets hit the door and wall harmlessly, not even fazing her aggressor in the mirror one bit. The cold expression on Talia's face cracked as a grin widened, amused at Murrue's attempt to save herself.
Panic struck the Archangel captain as her back hit the wall; all the while Talia's doppelganger pressed its assault, bringing the axe down again. Murrue, thinking she was trapped, closed her eyes and turned her head only to hear the loud thud of something hitting hard into wood. When she opened them again she saw a large chunk missing from the wall, just centimetres from her neck.
Looking back into the mirror the other woman looked like she was struggling, the weapon had dug too deep into the burnished wood and was now stuck tight. Murrue slipped away and used this opportunity to put some distance between… whatever invisible force was in here with her.
Murrue pulled out her gun again and aimed in front of her, towards the gash in the wall. Her eyes shifted between the mirror and the empty room in front of her while she aimed, watching as the Minerva captain look-a-like strained to free the fireaxe. Murrue's hands began to tremble as her mind took in this nightmare, how could a mirror physically attack her? How can she defend herself from something that she couldn't even see!
'Wait a minute…'
Realization hit her. 'I can see it!'
Murrue looked back to the mirror, really looking this time. The double in the mirror had yet to even look at her again since this whole thing started. "It's not really attacking me, it's going after my own reflection!" It was so simple now, how did she not think of it sooner? At any rate, she didn't need to think on it anymore, the doppelganger had freed its weapon and was coming at her again and fast. The Archangel Captain changed her aim from the empty room in front of her to the deranged entity, and opened fire on the mirror image before it could bring the axe down once more.
There was a horrendous inhumanly high-pitched scream as the glass shattered into dust. Talia – the real Talia, fell out from behind it, crumpling to the floor and gasping for air. The door behind Murrue simultaneously shot open, revealing a distraught Arthur Trine as he nearly stumbled over the now kneeling Murrue.
"Don't ever leave me alone like that again, please!" He pleaded, and then noticed the Archangel captain's terrified look and wounded arm. "What… what's going on?" He asked as he saw her gun still raised, the arm shaking violently. Arthur then saw his captain huddled on the floor shivering. He cried out her named as he rushed towards her, ignoring the shaking Murrue who still had her gun trained where the mirrors once stood.
Talia shook on the floor where she lay half frozen. Arthur saw she was covered in a light frost, condensation escaping her mouth as if she had just been somewhere very cold.
Murrue accepting that this wasn't some creature from the mirror, finally released a breath she did not realize she had been holding. "What the hell just happened?!" She exclaimed as she approached the two of them.
Talia simply tried to get to her feet, mumbling something about the dark and the cold. Both Arthur and Murrue helped her up, wiping off bits of frost and ice from her crisp near frozen uniform.
Talia swore many a slurred profanity through chattering teeth. The cold chill ran straight to her bones and made it hard to even move. "I was right behind you when everything went black… it was so cold… so cold…" Talia looked up, and saw the blood stained arm of her companion. "W-what the hell happened to you?" She looked down at the crunch of glass under her feet. "What the hell happened in here?"
Murrue grabbed her wounded arm, hoping the cut wasn't too deep. "Honestly, I think you're better off not knowing." She placed her weapon back into her jacket, and shakily got to her feet. "I just want out."
The two of them helped the Minerva Captain to her feet and made a dash for the hallway. Talia was the first to swear this time, as even in her half frozen state could tell that something was definitely wrong with the building. "Not again…"
"What… what's wrong?" Arthur worried at his captain's outburst, unaware of the changes to the hallway. The degradation had spread from the mirror room.
Murrue ran on ahead, a feeling in her gut telling her that was the least of her troubles. She rushed down to the end of the hallway where they had came in, and leaned her hands against a bare wall. There was no door leading to the stairs, just a plane wall. The way they came in was now gone.
"We're not in the same hotel anymore." She said, leaning her head against the wall in exhaustion as a familiar sound started to sing out.
"What... is that?" Arthur whispered as the siren sang its song, he then clung closer to his captain as the world began to change around him. Wood turned to metal grating, metal turned to rust, what little light there was vanished until they could barely see in front of them. Small pockets from the windows only caused the shadows to move about like living things scurrying in the dark.
Arthur clung even tighter to his superior as he witnessed the change. "What's going on? Where did we go if this isn't the same hotel?"
Murrue simply turned around, facing the man as she leaned against the wall. She ignored the bloody tinge that grew out from behind her, placing her hand into her coat and bringing out her pistol once more.
"No where."
Luna was panicking now, the creeping flesh was starting to work its way up her cheeks going ever so closer to smother her mouth and nose. The sound of that siren didn't help at all, and the growing darkness only caused shapes to dance around in the dark places of her mind.
Her struggling, against Vino's warnings, paid off. Her hands somehow managed to reach her jacket pockets, where she was able to pull out her small utility knife. A bit of careful maneuvering and the blade was out, and ever so slowly cutting into the fleshy substance that held her in place.
She took her time, terrified that she may drop the knife should she grow impatient. Every puncture into the substance drew blood, or what felt like blood at least. It was warm and sticky and had a foul smell to it, an almost sickly sweet scent that made Luna gag more then once. Finally, enough had been cut away that gravity did the rest. Luna's weight caused the growth to tear open and she fell to the covered ground.
"Don't move I'll get you out of here." She said, as she started closer to the mechanic, not noticing that he had gone strangely quiet, or that he wouldn't make eye contact with her. She knelt down, preparing to cut away and free her friend when something grabbed her leg. She looked down to see that fleshy-corded vine again, slithering up her leg and seconds later pulled her away.
She screamed as nails dug into the floor as she was pulled across the room, she rolled onto her back to see where it was taking her, all she saw before hitting the wall were a pair of huge mechanical green eyes.
Everything had gone quiet again, just the way the room liked it to be. Vino turned his head following the path were she vanished, and let out a sigh. "I tried to warn you… don't struggle I said, but you didn't listen. You only made it mad. Its your own fault, you get to play with the boogieman now Luna." Vino began to laugh as the last of his features disappeared under the organic growth, silencing him forever.
"What do you mean NoWhere?" Arthur was visibly shaking now. "I thought you said this was the way out!"
"Arthur calm down." Talia tried to get him to snap out of this panic he was starting to get into, but he pulled away sharply looking at the two of them like they were trying to kill him.
"No, this is all your fault!" He pointed at Captain Ramius with a trembling hand. "I was safe in my room, why would you bring me out here!"
Talia was quickly losing her patience with him. This was not how her second in command acted around her at all. "Commander Trine! Enough!" She bellowed in her captain's voice. It seemed to work, as Arthur stopped his ranting and looked to his superior. He stared at her, his eyes that were wide with fright looked like they were beginning to calm, but then something else filled the silence.
A great moan so very deep rumbled in the dark. It echoed through the hallways seeming to come from every direction at once. Arthur froze in place as he listened; he had heard this before, and did not ever hope to hear it again. His head fell into his hands, fingers pulling at his green strands of hair. "That's it! It's coming back, it's coming back for me!" He began to panic suddenly, irrationally, as if some other force was causing him to become terrified.
Talia had never seen him like this, yes Arthur could be a spaz sometimes, but he had never lost control like this. "Trine get a hold of yourself!"
He wasn't listening, or couldn't hear her. He shook his head left and right, closing his eyes and covering his ears trying to block out the sound. "No, it's coming for me! I wont… I WON'T LET IT!" He shouted before pushing his captain aside and running off back where they had come from.
"No! Come back!" They both shouted after him. They were about to chase after him when he rounded the corner, leaving behind only a scream. Both women stopped for a moment, then, ever so slowly followed his path. They carefully followed where he had gone, only to see nothing but an empty hallway leading to a dead end. Murrue used her small flashlight to look around in the dark; there were no doors or windows he could have gone through.
Arthur had vanished.
"Where did he…" Talia whispered as she stared at the empty hall. Arthur may have been her subordinate, but he was also her close friend. How could he just disappear like that… what caused him to scream?
The great moan echoed again, closer this time. Both of them backed away from the hallway Trine had vanished from and continued on. As much as Talia wanted to search for her friend, there wasn't really anywhere to look. The man had simply vanished from existence it seemed.
They turned down a hall that led to a bigger area, an intersection of two hallways. They could see the emergency stairs on one end but there was no way they would get to it, again a barrier of debris blocked them. It was only waist high, but the floor around it was rotted away to the point you could see below, well enough to sway an idea of climbing over.
The deep sound rumbled again, closer, it was coming down the connecting hall on the other side of the blockage. Murrue's radio began crackling madly signalling that the one making the deep sound was coming down as well, its footsteps shaking the entire hallway as it got closer.
There was nowhere to run, their escape had been blocked, and the previous way out had disappeared all together. All they could do was hide. Talia pulled Murrue down behind a toppled dresser and out of sight as something passed by on the other side of the barrier. Both stared as the room began to shake with every step they heard. Then they saw it, a monster, not human, something demonic.
It was huge, tall and thick lean muscle that ran down its arms. The rest of its body that was visible was the same, and despite the powerful physique it had a female shape to it. The upper body covered by a blood-soaked shirt of some type, one of the arms was torn and shredded at the shoulder. It lumbered along with each heavy step, legs hidden by a torn and ripped skirt-like fabric that dragged behind. The most notable thing about it though was its head, or rather the huge metallic rust colored helmet. It was shaped almost pyramid like, with one end stretched forward into a long point.
Murrue couldn't help it; she broke cover and stared as the thing walked by, trying to understand what it was. Despite the demented nature of everything about it, there was something oddly familiar radiating from it. "What is this feeling? I've never seen anything like this before! But…" She continued to stare as it came ever closer into view, now she could see finer details. The horrible blood tainted skin, the rough texture of the metal helmet, and what caused her to gasp aloud, were the distinct markings of an earth alliance uniform.
There was no doubt about it, from the shredded red collar that disappeared under that bizarre mask, the black epaulets that stood out amongst the stained white of the rest of the uniform.
It stopped suddenly, almost robotically. Its head then began to turn ever so slowly, the point of that helmet locking in Murrue's direction. The captain's blood froze, there were no eyeholes in that pyramid-like mask but it felt like this thing was looking right at her, through her. Strangely enough it didn't seem to care about the two hiding just across the barrier of debris. The head turned back to the direction it was going, and the thing continued on its way.
That's when they saw what it was carrying. In one hand something indescribable. Resembling more like a bloodied clump of butchered meat, it left a bloodstained trail as it dragged across the ground. Talia let out a sharp gasp as she saw familiar shreds of red fabric trailing in that disgusting trail.
In its other hand dragged a massively long butcher knife, a sword would be a more appropriate description but it was so overly gigantic that even the monstrous thing wielding it could only drag it slowly from the handle.
Both of them exhaled as it disappeared from view, glad that... THING... decided they weren't worth the trouble.
"You saw that … right? Because it looked right at you!" Talia said hysterically as this place tried to drive her ever closer to madness.
"Yeah. I wish I hadn't…"
Both nearly jumped from their skin as a rusted door just behind them slammed open by some unseen force. Talia looked to Murrue, who in turn nodded for her to check it out. Axe ever ready she cautiously walked closer then looked into the room. She nearly dropped her weapon as her eyes fixed on the person standing in the dark.
She took a step forward, the monster and the strange degraded hotel around her suddenly forgotten. "Daniel? How… what are you doing here?" She asked as she took a step towards the small boy standing deep inside. She was so engrossed with the sight of him that she didn't even notice the strange bug-like creatures that skittered around her boots and out into the hallway.
"Daniel… Danny. Don't move I'll come get you." Talia said as she inched forward.
Daniel? This is Daniel? Murrue thought, as she looked the small boy over. Matching blond hair, grey-blue eyes. Why didn't she tell me?
Talia gently placed her weapon on the floor, trying to coerce the young boy towards her. "Come on it's not safe, I'll get you out of here." Talia continued to inch forward, the boy only ignoring her pleas and her outstretched hands.
The floor under began to creak in protest. She stopped at the sound and watched as dust began to rise around her boots. Before she even had a chance to react the floor beneath her crumbled away, a massive hole growing outwards stopping just at the edge of the room and directly in front the boy. With a last second leap she managed to grab hold of the edge. Above her was Daniel, who simply stared down at Talia with a blank expression. Below her was nothing, just darkness.
"Hang on Talia!" Murrue shouted from the other side, unable to do anything but watch.
Talia struggled to hold on; every time she tried to pull herself up what was left of the brittle floor would crack away. She looked up to the boy inches from her, and held out her hand. "Danny… please. Don't let me fall."
But the boy did not even register that she had spoken to him, he just stood there and watched until the wood under Talia's grip tore away, sending her down into the blackness.
The boy, looked away from the gaping hole across to the Archangel Captain with the same unchanged expression. "The boogieman wants to speak with you" he said quietly, and then tossed something across the gap. Murrue still in shock at the loss of her friend, just barely caught it. It was a stone wrapped in parchment, opening it revealed an address. "What is this?" She said, looking back up to the boy only to see that he was gone as well.
"Daniel has the key…" she said as she read over the address, what little good it did her trapped in this place. "What do I do now?"
A/N
She's not dead. Haven't decided about the others though _
They never did reveal Talia's son's name right?
*sigh* I've lost my muse. I hope this is at least partially legible.
This is pretty much for Kookith who insists I keep on writing this silliness :P
I hope you like the Pyramid monster, I'm pretty sure you can figure it out.
Oh yeah this is in the crossover section now. It's a bit confusing in here. O_o