Title: Hospital of Shadows
Summary: Obsession and self-righteousness. Two very dangerous emotions, especially when combined together. When Lyner and Lazarus awaken to find themselves trapped in a mysterious subworld that takes on the form of an abandoned hospital, they must work together to learn the truth of their new prison. And learn why they were chosen. Will they get out of their new situation unharmed? Or will certain sacrifices need to be made?
Pairings/Characters: No pairings, really. More focused on friendship, especially between Lyner and Lazarus. I just think they're neat. But, hey, if you want to ship those two, I won't stop you. Though, of course, there is the usual Ayatane/Lyner undertones. Those two just can't help themselves.
AN: Yeah, I haven't got anything to say, really. Just testing out a few things XD Hope you enjoy reading, regardless.
Chapter 1:
A terrible headache and a sour taste in the back of his mouth greeted Lyner as he stirred from his sleep. Sluggish, heavy, utterly exhausted. All he wanted was to roll over and go back to sleep. He felt abysmal.
Yet, as he tried to do so, something stopped him. Something physically prevented him from moving.
What the-?
Though it pained him to do so, Lyner forced his eyes to open and he lifted his head up from…whatever his head had been resting on. His eyes immediately snapped shut when a bright light assaulted them and a wave of dizziness caused his head to fall back, onto something soft, thankfully.
Something was clearly very wrong.
And what was that smell? It was the pungent smell of…antiseptic.
He pressed his lips together as he pooled his energy for another attempt to open his eyes. He moved slowly, however, unlike last time. Letting them flutter open in order to grow accustomed to the light.
And the sight that greeted him was not at all welcoming.
A ceiling of white tiles and florescent tube lighting. Sterile and plain. And as Lyner lolled his head to the side, he saw cabinets and benches, all a plain, meaningless white. A simple room, with a single door as the only entry point.
It…looked like a hospital room.
Lyner tried to lift his hand to run over his face, to rub at his eyes in an attempt to rid himself of some of his blurry vision. Only to realise that he could not move his arm. Something was latched around his wrist. Mailable and soft, but unmoving all the same.
That prompted him to lift his head up to look over himself. To say he was surprised was an understatement. He laid on a typical hospital bed, his usual clothing and armour missing, replaced with a simple cotton set of light blue t-shirt and shorts that reached his knees. And leather straps held him upon the bed, at his wrists and ankles.
He fell back onto the bed, his mind blank. He mentally assessed himself for any pain, even the slightest ache. It was a hard assessment to make, however. Everything ached and he felt lightheaded.
What in the world happened?
He…was out in the field. With…a bunch of the guys. Ah…Ayatane, York, Raze, Zelos, Lazarus. Even Troy and Vivi. Just rounding up some provisions. Important, but not life-threatening. When…something happened.
What happened…?
He…he did not have time to think about it. He needed to get up. Find a way to get free.
Right.
He gritted his teeth once more and tested the restraints around his wrists. He had to be smart. He had to do more than just tug at them. They were of the simple belt variety. He had to wiggle the latch a little.
After a few moments of lightly testing the leather restraints, Lyner felt the one holding his left wrist give way. Just a little. He raised his head and focused in on his wrist. He noted that the little metal hook had not been positioned into the metal divot like it was meant to be. Someone or something had not done their job correctly.
Now, if he could just manipulate the leather from its keeper…
It was a slow process. It had to be. Lyner could not afford to rush, or he could make a mistake. But after what felt like several minutes, the end of the leather strap popped free with little fanfare and Lyner jerkily pulled his hand back.
With a sigh, he rested his now free hand against his chest for a moment, surprised by how rapidly his heart was beating in his chest. But he had done it. He had managed to get a hand free. And with that, he could easily remove the rest of his restraints.
Lyner forced himself into a half upright position as he removed the strap on his right wrist. And then into a fully sitting position to remove the leather restraints on his ankles. As soon as they were removed, he pulled his knees to his chest and spent a moment inspecting his surroundings once more.
Yet, there was little to look at. It was clear that it was a hospital room, but there was nothing else to look at. There were no charts, no equipment, other than the cabinets that lined one of the walls and the bed, no other pieces of furniture.
Could…his belongings be shoved into one of those cabinets?
Lyner swung his legs over the side of the bed and placed his feet onto the floor. He pushed himself to his feet but had to stop when he suddenly felt lightheaded and dizzy. Not a comforting feeling, but he stubbornly pushed it aside as he did not have time to deal with that as whoever confined him to that bed could return at any second.
All the cabinets were unlocked, thankfully. Unfortunately, none of them contained what he was looking for. Damn. His clothes and weapon were not located in the room with him. He had a suspicion they would not be. Too convenient. But he had to at least look.
Lyner was about to turn away from the last cabinet when his gaze fell upon the sole thing occupying it. A single folder. Beige in colour.
Odd.
He picked it up and immediately spied the words "TOP SECRET" written on the front in red text. Strange to have a seemingly important document alone in a patient's room. But it was too enticing not to read.
But reading was something Lyner would not be able to do. Inside were several sheets of paper, but nearly every single word had been blanked out in thick, black ink. It was literally impossible to read.
That was pretty ominous. And pointless.
He placed the folder back into the cabinet and turned toward the door. He had lingered far too long in the room already. He needed to get out and see where the hell he was and if the others were in the same state he was. Charging out of the room was not a good idea, though. He needed to sneak out.
There was a small window in the door and that allowed him to look beyond his room.
A hallway. A suspiciously empty one. He was definitely in a hospital of some kind. But from the upturned pieces of medical equipment, the flickering of fluorescent lights, and the peeling paint on the walls, it looked like an abandoned one.
Where in the world was he? Where were Ayatane and the others? Were they ok?
He still could not quite remember what happened. How he came to be strapped down onto that hospital bed.
Lyner tested the doorhandle. Surprisingly, the door opened with ease. Huh. Whoever placed him in this room were confident that the leather restraints were enough to keep him confined.
Better take advantage of the situation.
The door gave a quiet creak as it opened and Lyner could not help but wince. The tiniest of noises seemed to echo in the empty hallway.
It was with more trepidation than he cared to admit that Lyner stepped out in the hallway. It did not help his nerves that the light just outside happened to be flickering. It added to the eerie vibes of the place. He looked left and right before he left the relatively safety of his room.
It was just so…silent. Hospitals were busy places. He should know, his protective nature had seen him visit a few. But there was not another soul to be seen or heard.
There was a room right across from his, with the door wide open, but the light off. He carefully moved forward and peered into the room. But it was empty. The bed shoved haphazardly into the corner, with a few pieces of old, broken medical equipment thrown in there with it.
He was definitely in an abandoned hospital. And yet, his room was not in that bad of a state. How strange.
Lyner placed a hand on the wall next to him and chose a random direction to start walking in. The floor was dirty and unkempt, and he had to move cautiously due to his bare feet. The last thing he wanted was to step onto something sharp.
As he moved forward, a black flicker from the corner of his eye caused him to tense. Skittishly, he whipped his head around and looked down a narrow hallway. Where he caught sight of a lone, shadowy figure. It was humanoid in appearance, yet ghostly. Pitch black in colour, almost as if it was covered in torn robes and threads. And it had no feet. It just…glided across the floor, its shoulders hunched, arms dangled listlessly by its side, and its hooded head focused forward.
Lyner did not know what that was, but he knew he had to hide from it!
He immediately lurched into the open room and ducked behind the upturned bed. He placed a hand over his mouth, hoping that the strange, shadowy entity did not see him. It did not make a sound, so he could not rely on listening to its footsteps. He would have to risk peering over the top of the bed.
In a moment.
That silence did him no good and not being able to see his potential enemy was even worse. He carefully knelt on the floor and peered over the top of the bed. He almost threw himself back again when that same shadowy entity drifted past the door. It did not peer into the room, nor did it drift inside, thankfully. It just…floated past.
It brought a shiver down his spine as it did so, however.
What was that? A former resident?
Something told Lyner that it was not as friendly as the souls he had encountered back in the World of Souls. No, there was something undoubtedly menacing, yet tormented about that entity. It was hard to explain. Something within him just screamed at him to avoid it at all costs.
He had better listen to his instincts.
He waited what felt like a good few minutes before he came out of his makeshift hiding place and crept his way to the door. He placed his hand against the doorframe and peered out into the hallway, quickly looking left and right. There did not appear to be any other shadowy entities. For the time being. He had better be careful.
The search for his companions, for anyone really, resumed. He ensured not to linger too long in the corridor, however, slipping from room to room. He had noticed a couple more of those strange entities in the distance, at the end of branching hallways, which forced him to take cover out of caution once again.
Normally, he would bemoan about not having his weapon, but he was not sure it would be of any use against those strange entities.
After a few more minutes of successfully playing hide and seek, Lyner stumbled across a room where the door was close. Yet, light flooded out from the small glass window. Like the bright light Lyner had awoken to. And unlike the other rooms he had encountered during his journey.
Perhaps…
Lyner pressed his hands against the door, leaned up on his toes, and peered through the small window. His deduction was right. The room was occupied. By Lazarus himself. It brought a sense of relief to find someone familiar, though worry all the same. As the other blond was in a predicament that Lyner himself had been in – on a bed, strapped down with leather restraints. And completely alone.
Were the others in the same situation?
Lazarus was awake, however. May have even awoken at the same time Lyner had. But it seemed his restraints had been properly administered. Lazarus struggled fruitless against his restraints, them not budging an inch. Lyner only managed to wiggle free from his because someone did not do their job properly. He was lucky in that regard.
He quickly looked around at his surroundings, searching for any of those strange shadowy entities, before he placed his hand on the handled and turned it as silently as he could. Hoping not to alert said entities. He did not know what they were, if they were hostile. In his condition, he would rather not chance it.
The door gave a quiet squeak as he pushed it open, prompting Lazarus to immediately jerk his head in his direction and grow tense, likely anticipating someone far less friendly. But once he saw it was him, he immediately relaxed, flopping back onto the bed.
"Lyner, man, where did you come from?" Lazarus asked, relieved, but his voice quiet and cautious, nevertheless.
Lyner quickly but quietly closed and locked the door behind him. "A room a couple doors over," he answered. "Woke up in a predicament much like you."
Lazarus idly tugged at the leather straps. "This is a first for me, I will admit."
You gotta admire the guy's ability to remain joking and carefree.
"For me, too," Lyner said as he reached the bed and made light work of the restraints. "We're in some kind of hospital. But we're not exactly alone. There are these strange shadowy entities roaming about."
"Entities?" Lazarus rubbed his wrists idly as he sat up on the bed and swung his legs over the side.
Lyner pointed toward the door. "You might see them through the window. I obviously haven't engaged them in battle. I haven't a clue where my armour or weapon are."
Lazarus did a quick surveillance of his room. "Yeah, I doubt mine are nearby."
"Take a quick look anyway," Lyner urged. "Even if you don't find your guns, hopefully we'll find something that could tell us what this place really is."
"Wouldn't hurt, I guess."
With Lazarus taking up his suggestion, Lyner turned back to the door, to keep a look out for any possible danger. They were cornered in that room, after all. The last thing he wanted was for the both of them to be caught unawares.
"Hm? A file?"
Lyner turned in time to watch as Lazarus flip through a patient's file. Even from his distance, he could see page after page of black lines baring any information from being revealed. "I found something similar in my room. A file with practically everything hidden behind dark marker."
"It's pretty ominous," Lazarus admitted as he put the file back.
Lyner turned back to the window and instinctively ducked down when an unwelcome sight greeted him. An entity, lurking out in the hall, near the open doorway of an unoccupied room just across from the one they were in.
"Laz, quick," he whispered. "It's one of those entities."
Lazarus immediately crept his way to the door and Lyner stepped to the side, allowing for the other blond to look through the window. He peeked through it from the side and ducked back quickly, a furrow in his brow.
"I see what you mean," he said.
"Seen them before?"
"No, never."
Great. A totally unknown enemy and they were without their weapons. At least they had their elemental attacks, if it came down to it.
"Even with these entities lurking about, we can't stay here," Lyner stated. "The ones responsible for our imprisonment might turn up at any second. And we need to find the others."
Lazarus nodded his head and placed his hand on the doorhandle. "Right. Let's see what this hospital has in store for us."