Chapter 9: A Mind Invaded
Disclaimer: See chapter 1
As she stood in the basement of the trembling spirit house, two very strong emotions coursed through Noodle's blood.
One of these emotions was fear. It was partially due to the shrill creaking of the unstable slum which threatened to collapse upon her and crush her under layers of splintering debris. There was also the demon to consider, the one who held her in his glowing red gaze and smiled with bared teeth as if he were a wolf cornering a rabbit. However, most of Noodle's fear wasn't for her own safety.
Gone, the demon had said. Noodle searched the being's face desperately, hoping to find some trace of her best friend behind the contorted features. Come on, 2D, show me you're still in there! She looked into his eyes, the windows to the soul, but failed to find even the faintest glimmer of terror, regret, or kindness, anything that could reassure her of her friend's presence. She felt her panic rise; bile stung the back of her throat. He can't just be gone… No…
Despite the strength of her fear, Noodle could feel the second emotion bubbling within her. It grew as she looked into the demon's eyes, springing up from within the depths of her soul and raging through her veins. Her fingers curled into fists; fingernails dug into her palms. She could feel the emotion steadily smothering her fear, giving her the courage to meet those scarlet eyes until she too was seeing red.
It was anger.
Noodle took a step towards her possessed friend. Her lips were curled into a snarl which matched the dark intensity of the demon's sneer. "What have you done to 2D?"
The demon smiled with cruel satisfaction. "I'm afraid you won't be seeing too much of your friend anymore. His body is mine now." The demon took a deep breath, seeming to savor the musty basement air as it filled his new set of lungs, puffing out his stolen chest. "Oh, it's good to be back on this side of the Spirit Border. I was beginning to worry I'd be stuck in that piano forever. I really must thank you and your friends for visiting Saturnz Barz; the large man… Russel, you call him… has been of great assistance to my servants in solving our little energy crisis. And this idiot…" The demon surveyed his new body with a smirk. "He's had his uses too. Poor fool, so trusting. Took him forever to figure out that the voice in his head wasn't there to help."
Noodles fists clenched. She could feel heat spreading across her skin, her blood boiling with hatred. The angry part of her wanted to rip the demon's head off. The scared part of her held her back, knowing that to destroy this body was to lose 2D permanently.
That is, if he isn't already lost permanently…
Noodle shook her head jerkily, willing the dark, fearful thought to go away. Her eyes narrowing into slits, Noodle growled at the demon, "Leave his body, now. Or I'll make you. I've killed demons before, and I can do it again."
"What, and risk harming your friend?" The demon simpered. "Not likely." He tilted his head, as if in thought. "However, I can see in the boy's memories that you've met an old enemy of mine, the sleeping powder woman. I'll have to make sure I eliminate her after I kill you."
Noodle's body tensed, her stomach dropping as the demon's words registered in her mind. So he wants to kill me, she thought. Very well, I've fought demons before; I can fight him. But behind her brave thoughts, Noodle's heart was breaking, wondering what exactly she would have to do to her friend's body to protect herself. Her gut twisted as she imagined herself holding a decapitated head, grasping it by its silky blue locks and raising it to study the eyes as their red luster faded into empty, achingly familiar blackness. Noodle's stomach lurched; she swallowed quickly and banished the image from her mind before it could make her heave.
Fortunately, she was distracted from her squirming insides by a frustrated growl. She looked up to see the demon deep in thought, a stormy look raging in his eyes. "Idiot! It figures… The stupid fool doesn't remember her address!"
Noodle smirked. She never thought she'd be proud of 2D for being forgetful.
There was a sudden flash of movement. Before Noodle had time to do so much as gasp, her back had been slammed into the wall; a pale hand was fisted around the collar of her shirt and lifting her off the ground. The guitarist's breathing hitched as the demon leaned towards her, his burning gaze demanding her attention.
"Where is she?" The demon hissed.
In spite of the demon's attempts to scare her and the aching in her spine, Noodle felt a dark smile cross her features. The demon needed information, and he wasn't about to get it. Noodle tilted her head and put on an expression of mock confusion. "'She?' Who's 'she?' I have no idea who you're talking about."
The demon brought Noodle forward then slammed her back into the wall, eliciting a sharp gasp of pain from the guitarist. "DON'T TAUNT ME! Where is the woman who makes sleeping powder?"
Tilting her head to meet the demon's gaze, Noodle narrowed her eyes defiantly. "I don't remember."
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" The demon screamed. His breath was searing hot; Noodle closed her eyes and tried to turn away, but it wasn't very easy with the demon holding her against a wall.
For a few moments, an eerie silence filled the air. Confused, Noodle tentatively opened an eye, turning back to face the demon.
The moment she met the demon's gaze, the room disappeared around her.
. . .
Noodle gasped, glancing from side to side. She was at one end of a dimly lit corridor. On the other end, about twenty meters away, she saw a door. The door's blue paint and black doorknob triggered a spark of familiarity in the back of the guitarist's mind, but the strange red mist which leaked from the crack beneath the door filled her with a chilling sense of foreboding.
Taking a step back, Noodle felt something small and round press into her lower back. She turned to see another door, this one white with brightly painted oriental flowers dancing across the wood and a golden doorknob stationed just above the height of her waist. As she watched the door, Noodle felt a soothing sense of calm wash over her. This door felt even more familiar than the other, and a reassuring warmth seemed to radiate from the wood. Noodle smiled peacefully, running her fingertips over the likeness of a red poppy flower. This was her door.
A creaking noise startled her out of the peaceful reverie. She turned to look down the hallway.
The blue door had opened, and red mist was pouring out of it, sloshing against the walls and flowing over the carpet. The guitarist stood rigid and unblinking; she could feel the blood pounding in her ears as a dark, humanoid figure appeared in the open doorway. It stepped into the hallway, red mist pooling around its ankles and tumbling out of its mouth. Aside from the mouth and a set of glowing red eyes, the being was completely featureless, like a tall, walking shadow.
It began treading down the hallway, towards Noodle.
I can't let it reach my door, Noodle thought, sensing the evil leaking out from the dark figure. She considered backing against the door, protecting the doorknob with her body, but she could see the shadow shifting as it made its way towards her and realized that its arms could probably contort, lengthen, twist, and slide around her to get to the doorknob. I must not let it get close enough to do that. Noodle leaned forward and crouched into a sprinting stance. I'll have to fight it.
"HEEAAAAAH!" Noodle screamed, tearing down the hallway towards the shadowy figure. It paused, its fingers twitching as the guitarist grew closer. Arriving in front of the shadow, Noodle leaped into the air, leaning back and throwing her heel towards the figure's chest. She felt a rush of satisfaction as she hit the figure with bone-breaking force, causing it to stumble backwards. A moment later, her blood ran cold as that figure wrapped its hands around her ankle and used the momentum of its fall to throw her down the hallway towards the blue door.
Both fighters found themselves with their backs on the carpet, but Noodle, as she stared dazedly at the ceiling, felt a stab of panic. The figure was between her and her door. Wincing through her pain, Noodle leaped to her feet as quickly as possible and charged the figure once more as it rose to its feet. She leaped upon the figure's shoulders, wrapping an arm around its neck in a secure headlock. Tightening her grip, she wondered if she could pull the head off the figure. The figure raised its arms, wrapping its hands around Noodle's arm, trying to pull her off. Noodle grinned, thinking she had the upper hand.
Then the figure began to melt beneath her.
Noodle's eyes widened in shock as the head softened into a puddle of goo, spilling all over her arm. Thick black fluid covered her chest, her legs, and her whole body as she felt herself falling through the ooze and hitting the floor.
Noodle groaned; her back and tailbone were aching severely after the numerous recent falls and impacts they had sustained. At least the shadow is dead, Noodle thought as she attempted to lift herself out from the puddle of goo.
Instead, she found that she couldn't move.
Noodle pulled at her arm, her heartrate increasing as the goo solidified around her, sticking her to the carpet. As Noodle struggled to lift her head, she saw something that nearly made her heart stop. At the end of the puddle just past her feet, the goo was rising. A tall, thin column of goo rose towards the ceiling until, once more, Noodle found herself staring at a humanoid figure of darkness. One of the figure's legs was connected to the congealed puddle holding Noodle to the floor. This leg extended forward, slithering in a snakelike manner as the other leg walked normally, carrying the figure towards Noodle's door.
NO! Noodle thought, thrashing wildly in a desperate attempt to free herself. As the figure stepped closer to the door, Noodle felt an awful sense of pressure at the front of her mind; her breath came in gasps as the blood rushed in her ears. The shadow was limping with agonizing, steady slowness; it was only five meters away from her door now… four… three…
Noodle heard a scream. An angry scream.
It was coming from the direction of the open blue door. Noodle couldn't turn her head to look at it, but she could hear it growing nearer. She soon heard running footsteps as well, pounding against the carpet, sending vibrations through the corridor. Something- someone- leaped over her, running towards the dark figure; his arms were held behind his back by a set of dark ropes which seemed to be trying futilely to pull him back towards the blue door; he was pale, with spiky blue hair…
"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" 2D screamed, tackling the dark figure to the floor. Noodle craned her neck upwards painfully, watching the struggle. Somehow, 2D had managed to wrap the dark bonds on his wrists around the figure; the two fighters were tied together, and the figure seemed unable to change its shape when touching the strange ropes. In fact, the ropes seemed to be forcing the figure back into a humanoid shape; the puddle around Noodle was being sucked back into the figure's leg, and the guitarist soon found herself free.
Noodle rose shakily to her feet, ignoring the pain shooting through her protesting limbs. 2D and the dark figure were tangled together, writhing on the floor. As Noodle stared openmouthed at the pair, the dark ropes went taught. They began to drag 2D and the figure away from her door, back down the hallway.
Noodle stumbled towards the pair, her unsteady limbs threatening to collapse beneath her. Pausing about two steps away from them, Noodle opened her mouth only to realize that she was at a loss for words. The ropes continued to pull the pair towards the blue door; Noodle watched as they were dragged past her. Then, seeming to snap out of a haze, she rushed towards them. 2D's in trouble! I need to get him out of those ropes! She reached out; her fingers were just about to wrap around an inky black cord when 2D's panicked cry pierced her ears.
"Don't touch the ropes!"
The guitarist met 2D's gaze. Feeling her eyes water, Noodle realized how quickly she had come to miss those deep black eyes, how much she had longed to see them unpolluted by the demon's angry scarlet glow. She couldn't lose those eyes again.
"I can't let the demon take you, Toochie!" she responded with a cracking voice. "I want to free you!"
"The ropes are the only thing that can hold it back! If you free me, you'll free it too, and then the bad voice will be controlling both of our heads!" 2D said, looking up at Noodle with shining, wet eyes. "You have to let me go, and you have to get out of here! I don't want it to take you too!"
Noodle's hands were shaking as she followed the tangled pair at a safe distance. In a few more meters, they would be through the blue door, 2D's door, and it would be too late to help him. Noodle wanted nothing more than to throw herself onto the ropes, to pull at them and tear them away from her friend. But she knew 2D was right. She could sense the enchantment of the dark ropes, and it was clear to see that they were the only thing preventing the figure from using its power to escape its enemies and open Noodle's door. She looked at 2D's face. His expression was full of such a cocktail of emotions that, if Murdoc were here, he might have expressed surprise that the singer could fit all of those feelings into his head at once. His eyes shone with fear, sorrow, and something else, some sort of passionate emotion that kept Noodle riveted to his gaze. She could see tears in his eyes. There were tears in hers too.
"2D… I'm going to find a way to get the demon out of you, okay? Just hold on once you get back into your own head! Don't let it get rid of you completely!"
2D offered her a weak smile as a tear fell down his cheek. "Th-thanks, Noodle… But… If… If you c-can't save me… D-don't let it slow you down in life, I don't want you to be s-sad over me- "
"Hush, 2D! I will find a way!" Noodle felt a tear roll down her own cheek.
2D sniffled. The red mist was swirling around him as the open doorway loomed over him. "N-noodle, you have to close the door b-behind me. Then it'll let you out of this place."
Noodle nodded tensely, her hands curling into fists. "I will come back for you, 2D. I promise"
The ropes pulled 2D and the struggling figure through the threshold of the door as the singer choked out a few final words. "P-please be c-careful, Noodle! And… And I… I want you t-to know, I… I lo- "
Just then, the dark figure twisted around and secured its hands over 2D's throat. The last Noodle saw of 2D were his wide, scared black eyes and his open mouth gagging and struggling to breathe before he disappeared into the swirling red mist.
"2D!" Noodle cried, rushing forward. When she tried to follow him through the doorway, she felt an invisible force pushing her back. He was gone.
Shaking slightly, Noodle stepped back from the doorway. She raised a trembling hand to touch the blue door. Taking a deep breath, she spared one last glance into the red mist before pushing the door back into its frame. Instantly, the corridor disappeared.
Yaaay, new chapter! Hope it was worth the wait! I know it's not my longest, but at least there was a fight scene!
Coming up next, will Noodle be able to keep her promise to 2D, or will sacrifices have to be made to protect the city from the possessed singer?
Feel free to review!