"Takahashi . . . Takahashi!" They were coming from the building. He could hear them. He stared down at the steps, watching the way they descended straight down into the blackness just like the spider caves. He imagined the tendrils waiting down there to grab him and drag him down if he took a single step down there.

He couldn't look away. Something at the bottom was holding his gaze and fixating his mind. Something - no, a lot of voices - were down there and they were calling to him. Begging him to investigate.

Voices. Were they . . . people?

"Takahashi. Taka . . . Take . . . Takeda."

They knew his name.

"Takahashi Takeda. Taka . . . shi . . . keda . . . Takahashi . . . Kenshi!"

Kenshi!

"Dad?" he yelled out. "Dad? Are you down there?" He scanned the blackness for any sign of his father, but as soon as his open mind touched whatever people were down there, it was like a floodgate burst. Thousands of faces and voices were unleashed in his mind at once. His senses shut down completely, images and memories that belonged to the throng attacked him, coming and going at a hundred a minute. So fast his eyes couldn't focus on any of them. They flickered and dizzied him, their speeches and thoughts whirled just as fast in his ears.

Shrine.

A pond.

A face.

Sword.

Slitting someone's throat.

A bowl.

Champaign cork.

Sweep a storefront.

"Do you think she'll . . . "

"Never in my whole life-"

"Aaargh!"

"I'm dying, my son . . . "

"Mortal Kombat tournament!"

"FINISH HIM-"

"I'm driving this truck off this bridge."

It was too much. He stopped breathing, too worried about stopping the onslaught. He tried to shut it down, to put a block around his mind, but there were too many at once.

"Takeda!" Somebody said his name. It sounded far away. "Takeda! Are you alright?" Grabbed his arm. Somebody in the real world. Shook him. The real world . . . he latched on to it as best he could. "Takeda!" they said again, and he focused on that only. His name. His name from that voice. He slowly phased out all the other concepts. Until her voice was the only thing ringing in his head. "Takeda."

Silence.

He opened his eyes, sucking in a huge breath. He looked around and saw her standing over him. The picture unmoving. The snow falling. He was back, though it didn't look real. The image looked too crisp to be real.

"Are you alright?" Jacqui asked.

No. Yes? He was too bewildered to feel anything other than shock. "U-uh . . . There are souls down there," he said. His tongue felt thick and slow. He swallowed thickly. "Lots of souls. I didn't know, and opened my mind to them. They all started pouring in at once."

"Let me help you up." She hooked his arm in hers, and he realized he was on the ground. "You looked like you were having a seizure or something." She led him back, away from the stairs.

"It felt like one," he admitted quietly. He could still feel the thousands of souls down there. He could still feel their tug on his mind to investigate the mausoleum, but he didn't look back. He was afraid it would start again if he did. Cassie didn't seem to be affected by it, he noted, as she passed them. She grabbed the glow stick and tottered a few steps down. Her eyes flicked back and forth for a few seconds, then widened. She gasped, hopping back. "Ew! There aren't just soul down there. There are faces down there!"

"What?" Jin said. He stormed behind her and peered in over her shoulder. "By the gods . . . "

"Are they . . . moving? Those faces are moving for you guys, too, right?" Cassie asked.

"Gods, that's creepy," Jin muttered, shuddering violently.

"What do you mean, faces?" Takeda asked.

"Like . . . a wall. Of faces."

"What?" Jacqui asked.

Takeda's arm was still hooked into Jacqui's, and before he could pull away she had gathered around to look at them as well. Takeda chanced a glance. That was why it kept fading in and out to him before they locked on to him, Takeda realized. They were writhing on top of each other, cheek-to-cheek, pushing themselves to the front to scream their silent screams, to tell him what they wanted to tell him.

"They're souls at least, I think," he said. "Human souls. I can read them. My dad told me I can read souls too, if they're that loud. Like residual energies, yurei, banshees, wraiths, phantoms, and stuff. We just never tried it in my training." Amidst the swirling masses, a single face floated to the front. Takeda focused on that face, and that face alone, and reached out to it. "They kept talking to me. They said my name, and Kenshi's. Maybe they're down there?" he offered. He tried to project a thought to the face, but he couldn't keep a watch on it before it faded back into the mass. He even tried to read past them, closing his mind tight against any other incoming messages, to see if there were any presences in the mausoleum itself. But at the faces, all he met was the feeling of blackness. Of a wall. He tried to push his mind through and see beyond them, but everywhere he directed his energy they quickly tangled and knotted themselves together, blocking him. "Rrgh," he growled in frustration. "Something's wrong. They won't let me through."

"Okay, like, just a sec," Cassie said. "I've only been wreaking havoc on this planet for 22 years. I'd like to say I've seen some shit. I'd like to say I've done some shit. But there are faces. Rolling around in there. And your first thought is, 'Oh! Hey! Yeah, let's just take a good ol' stroll THROUGH them!' What the hell?"

"It's as though . . . I don't know. For some reason they don't want me to go through there."

"Takahashi . . . Kenshi . . . Takeda . . . Sento . . . Sento . . . Sento . . . Bloodline . . . "

"Sento?" Takeda asked the faces. "Sento is my family's talisman. It is passed through my bloodline. My father, Kenshi, commands Sento now. Do you know him? Has he passed through here?"

"Sento . . . Sento . . . Sento . . . The Ancient Sword . . . of Warrior . . . ancestral . . . "

"Do I . . . need Sento?" Yeah. Even saying the words made sense to him. Either Sento was the only talisman strong enough that he could force his way through, or they would only let him through if he had Sento. Either way, he could tell just from their energy shifting that he needed it. "Well, I don't have it. It's with Takahashi Kenshi, my father. I am his blood," he reiterated, hoping to prove his point.

"Kenshi . . . Takahashi . . . Sento . . . Warrior Ancestors . . . "

"If it's Sento you need, then I have the right to pass! As a direct descendent of the Warrior Kings, and Kenshi's blood, I am worthy to wield the blade!" A certain pride that came with his heritage boosted his confidence. Of course he could get through. "You will let me pass!" he yelled to them.

They didn't take kindly to his order. With his sudden fervor, they changed their phrases. "Turn back, turn back . . . retreat, retreat, retreat . . . turn back, turn back, retreat, retreat, retreat."

"I won't turn back."

"I don't know, Takeda," Jacqui said. "They seemed to affect you pretty strongly. I wouldn't try to power through them."

"I feel like I can make it, though. They keep calling my name and talking to me, and then they don't let me in?" He suddenly squared his shoulders to the wall and stood up a little straighter. He closed his eyes, gently brushing two fingers against his temple as he tried to speak to the souls. "Shit. Now they keep saying, 'Turn back, turn back, retreat, retreat, retreat.' Just like that. Two turn backs, three retreats."

Cassie sighed. "So now what?" she huffed, throwing out her arms.

"We get through," he said matter-of-factly. He had the urge to do it. Suddenly he bellowed out, "I am Takahashi Takeda. I am a direct descendent of the Warrior Kings. Son of Takahashi Kenshi, the master and wielder of Sento! Let us pass!"

All at once, the voices quieted down. Every one of the faces shut their mouths in an eerie display, floating in silence.

Nothing.

"Damn." Takeda's shoulders slumped. His lips pursed as he thought of what to do next. "Uuuuum. . . Those runes are Japanese . . . " Suddenly, he perked up again. He repeated his message but in Japanese, hoping weakly they'd respond to their native language. "If that's even their native language," he thought sullenly to himself.

"What'd you say?" Jacqui demanded.

He shrugged. "The same thing. Just in Japanese. 'I am Takahashi Takeda. Sento's commander is my father. He is Takahashi Kenshi. Grant our passing.'" He took a cautionary step towards the wall, staring warily at the frozen screams of agony and despair. Repeated the phrase over and over in Japanese. "I am Takahashi Takeda. My father, Takahashi Kenshi, commands the sword Sento. Grant our passing! Grant our passing . . . Grant our passing . . . " He muttered the last sentence over and over again like a mantra.

"Did they say anything back?" Cassie asked. Jacqui quickly hushed her, staring wide-eyed at Takeda.

He edged closer and closer to the barrier, to the faces, finger still touched to his temple, scanning for any kind of reaction. He closed his eyes in concentration then threw out his hand, palm to the door in a sudden burst of mental power. Trying to force himself through. The faces all contorted as if in pain, then all at once their eyes and mouths opened wide, their faces clenched as if physically attacked. They repelled him with a force he never felt before. Like a weight dropped on his mind, they threw his attack right back at him. It felt like they threw his brain around inside his head, and all of a sudden all of them, every single one, started screaming at him.

"YOU DARE-"

"LEADERS OF THE-"

"GET OUT! GET OUT!"

"GODS CONDEMN-"

"BY MY ANCESTORS-"

"PAY! YOU WILL PAY! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT-"

It ached in his ears. It vibrated inside his head with their volume. Takeda cried out. He felt the cry leave his throat but he couldn't hear himself. He screamed, throwing his hands up to grasp at his temples. His back arched, he dropped like dead weight, hitting the snow hard.

"THE SWORD! THE SWORD! THE SWORD!"

"Stopstopstopstop - okay!" he pled with the souls. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry! Gomennasai, gomennasai!" It seemed to placate the souls. They retreated from Takeda's mind, and he clamored away, kicking and slipping on the snow until he crashed into Jacqui's shins. "We need Sento. They refuse to allow us entry unless we bring it to them."

"Well where is it?" Jin asked.

"Fuck- I don't KNOW!" he scoffed at Jin. Shooting him a sneer, he climbed to his feet. They were still whispering at him. Hissing their dissent. It was hard to concentrate.

"Intruderssssss . . . Sento! Impudencccccceeeee . . . "

"So, what do we do?"

"We find it!" Jacqui said. "Obviously! What if they're holed up in there or something?"

"How did Kenshi get in there, and Sento's out here?" Jin argued. "What if he's not even down there? Or what if Sento's not even somewhere up here? I don't know about you, but I'm really not keen on going back down into those spider caves-"

"Who says he's down there?" Takeda challenged him. "Or that Sento's down there?" Jin rolled his eyes.

"You know it's a possibility. Don't be stupid!"

"He could also be somewhere in the graveyard, too! So we explore the graveyard!" Takeda said, gesturing wildly to their surroundings. "SHUT. UP!" He yelled at the souls.

They didn't listen.

"And if we do that when he's not up here, we waste time. Which means he dies, if he isn't dead already."

"Shut UP, Jin!"

"So pick your poison, I guess-"

"Okay, okay, enough!" Cassie yelled. "Enough! Both of you shut up!"

Takeda wasn't done. "Why do you have to be so dismissive of all this?!" he asked Jin. "So, what, we don't know where Sento is, so we just give up on the mausoleum and don't even look for it and for Kenshi? Is that what you're saying?"

"I'm not saying anything. Except that if anyone's in the mausoleum, it's going to be hard to find Kenshi, and therefore Sento, because we don't know where either is! Also, what if they're separated? What if Sento busted? What if Kenshi lost Sento or something?"

"That's impossible. He can call it wherever it is. It's telepathically connected to him-"

"Yeah, and? This place has some weird-ass rules. Like the technology, and the clocks or whatever. What if Kenshi can't use his powers here?"

"Jin, you're scaring me-" Jacqui said, in an attempt to end the argument.

"Oh, come on! You guys can't tell me you haven't thought about all these risks already!"

"Okay, then what about Lao, hm?" Takeda said, stepping closer to Jin. "Kung Lao and Liu Kang are both here! What if Liu Kang can't call his fire? What if Kung Lao's hat doesn't come back like a fuckin' boomerang? We GET it, Jin! Okay? We GET it! Excuse us for trying to think positively about the fact that our fathers, and Master Hanzo, are trapped in this hellhole!" He ended it himself, storming past Jin and past the mausoleum. Past stones shaped like the skeletons, and past new above-ground tombs. He was too angry to care if anyone was following him. He didn't want to look at Jin. "I'll find Kenshi, and Sento myself!" he yelled back. "Come along if you want! I really don't care! You can let Lao and Liu Kang die here if you want while I look."

"Yeah, fuck you, too!" Jin yelled to his back.

Takeda stormed through the path created by the stone fence, leading him down another narrow hallway. He turned a left, went straight, hung a right. He heard steps running behind him to keep up. Probably Jacqui. "Takeda, wait up!" Yup. It was Jacqui. "Please!" Made a right, and an immediate left, still fenced in the hallway. As he walked, he could feel the souls' presence in his mind growing weaker and weaker. And with each step, it was like another weight was lifted off of his heart. His eyebrow un-furrowed, it became easier to breathe. And by the time the white light faded to a dim yellow, he could barely remember why he was angry.

"I guess they do affect me," he muttered, once the last voice faded. Ugh, that was strange. He felt . . . oddly violated. Like for a second he had thought he was in control of himself and his anger, and was aware of everything. But they were inside of him, working their magic from the inside of him out. Before he could help himself he shuddered, pausing next to a stone archway arching above him - a carved stone archway, not a natural formation of the mountains around them. The broken, jagged, and falling-in bricks of the hallway suddenly smoothed out into two stone pillars. On the pillars were Mortal Kombat dragon reliefs, and the tops of the pillars were carved into turrets, reminiscent of a castle. The arch above it had simple flower-looking designs on it, but it was too dark to see. The torches inside were cemented into pillars of their own that jutted out into the walk-way, making it extremely narrow. Takeda waited for the others to catch up. It looked both threatening and welcoming at the same time. Like it was pretty and inviting and much nicer compared to the rest of the graveyard, but something sinister lay beyond it. He felt like there was something on the other side, and he wanted the others to be there with him to back him up in case there was.

Jacqui caught up and stood next to him, placing her hands on her hips. "Phew!" she said, eyeing up the archway. "Look at this! It's kinda nice!"

"Yeah," he said, "But it kinda weirds me out."

"This whole place weirds me out, so I can't say this does anything for me," Jacqui admitted. It took Jin and Cassie a few more seconds to catch up, and when they did, Takeda turned and faced them.

"Hey, Jin, I'm sorry," he said. "I know you don't mean you want to abandon Kenshi and Jax. And I don't want Kung Lao or Liu Kang to die, either. Sorry I said that. Those souls kinda made me irritable, I think."

Jin gave a single nod of ascent. "It's cool. Thanks for apologizing." His gaze traveled away from Takeda's face and up at the archway. "This is new."

"You think there's anything special about it?" Cassie asked. She craned her neck all around it, perhaps trying to find something off about it. A trap or something, Takeda thought.

"Nah, think it's just an archway," Jin said. "Why are we stopped?"

"I was just waiting for you guys." Takeda turned sideways to avoid being burned by the torches, and the four of them shimmied their way through the archway. He heard a deep breath, and when he turned around, he saw Jin holding his breath to make himself narrower in order to fit between the torches. Once on the other side, he let it out in a whoosh.

The hallway turned another right, and then a left. Another pair of torches marked the entranceway to a new section of graveyard, but a tree caught Takeda's attention. The tree was a gnarled mess of stunted limbs and charred dead bark, planted right in the corner. Something kept glinting in the flicker of the torchlight. Something metal. There was a thick patch of grass directly in front of the tree and soft, deep brown dirt, and a large knot on the tree that jutted grotesquely out at them.

"What is that?" Takeda asked to the air. He walked towards the tree, but when he hit the grass, it didn't rustle under his foot. It squished. He picked his foot up, and the mud dripped off his sandal back into the -

No. Not mud.

Blood. A puddle of blood.

So deep, it instantly coated his already wet socks and gummed thickly between his toes. A noise of disgust escaped him. He withdrew in horror, barreling straight into Jacqui right behind him.

"What? What?!" she prompted, grabbing his shoulder.

Cassie looked at the footprint he left in the snow. "Is that blood?"

All he could manage was a low "Uh-huh." She pulled her pistols from the holster on her back and cocked each one, slinking against the wall. She crept until she reached the turn, and she peeked around the corner, scoping out their surroundings for any enemies.

A few seconds of tense silence passed before she relaxed. "Well, nothing here." She walked up to the tree, choosing her steps carefully to avoid the puddle. "Gross!" she yelled. "Someone's head is pinned to this tree!"

A/N: This story is one of my more popular ones! I can't thank all of you enough for following and favoriting this spur-of-the-moment, slow-to-update, description-heavy fic! Unlike all of my other fics, I actually have this plot planned out BEFORE I write the chapter, which makes it a lot easier!

Anyway, I need your help with something: I need to know how I'm doing on the description aspects of this fic. How well am I setting the scene? How well am I capturing and describing emotions? How well am I doing it without coming out and saying it? When I come out and say it, how succinct am I? Things like that. If you have the time, I'd REALLY appreciate a quick comment about what you LIKE in regards to my descriptions, and what you DISLIKE.

Thanks in advance!

-Keyblader