= Jemusu =
12:40 PM
As Jemusu went up the staircase in the infirmary and arrived at the third floor, he took glances around his surroundings while the flame in his palm was still alit and the ax still in his right hand.
To his left, there was a hallway, and to his right, there was another hallway.
"Okay..." Jemusu sighed as he muttered to himself, "Just follow the numbers…"
Upon seeing which room numbers were set in order, seeing that the numbers rooms and their numbers were in a zig-zag, he went to the right hallway to try and find infirmary room '312'.
He walked down the dark hallway, his light keeping his way forward illuminated...
When he went around a corner, he kept going a couple of more feet, until he found the room to the left side of the hall.
Reading the plaque beside the door, Jemusu mumbled, "Okay...let's see what's in this room."
He opened the door(which wasn't locked, thankfully) and entered the small room...
His flame lit up the space...
...It was just an ordinary infirmary room.
Frowning at this, Jemusu looked around the area to see if there was anything that struck out as odd in here...
He looked down to his right and saw something on the infirmary bed, the only thing that looks like it doesn't belong in this room.
...A red pillow. Right on the headrest...
Not only that, but it was...clean...not a stain was on it.
Jemusu stared at the red pillow for a moment in slight confusion, wondering what something this...out of place was doing in a rundown and filthy infirmary...
Putting down his ax near the room's wall, he went to the pillow on the bed and picked it up. Looking at it, he observed it, turning it over and around it to see if anything looked peculiar...
Huh...it really looks clean...
Turning it over around one more time to see if he's missing something, a sudden thought clicked in his mind.
Wait...this...this pillow looks a lot like...
...Jemusu blinked.
...Wait a minute...this looks like...one of our pillows from our...home...?
...But that's...not possible.
Sure, they have red pillows back at their home at the Fire Nation, but...that could be anyone's pillow...
...Right?
Shaking his head upon thinking something so trivial, he was about to place the pillow back on the bed...when he saw something was underneath it.
...A key.
Surprised upon seeing that, he placed the pillow in the middle of the bed and grabbed the key. Observing it closely, he read something on the handle of the key.
Room 320.
...Another room? But...why do I have to go to another...
Jemusu squinted at the key, questions going through his mind.
...Is someone here playing a game with us?
...He didn't like this.
Taking one last look around the room, just in case he didn't miss anything, he pocketed the key, and picked up his ax before exiting the room.
Now in the hallway again, Jemusu glanced to his left at the darkened hallway that goes further down.
"...Hm. It should be up there..." he said to himself, upon seeing the numbers count upward down the hall.
Deciding to walk down the hall even further, he ventured through it...
Passing doors upon doors of patient rooms, Jemusu kept on walking, the flame lighting up his way as he had the ax still gripped in his right hand...
...He walking...
...and walking...
...and kept walking still...
...He didn't like this feeling of calm.
I feel like any moment now, something's about to happen…
When Jemusu felt like he was walking in a straight line forever, he then saw something...out in the distance.
...It was something...red...
It was a red glow.
He paused in his trek, eyes widened in shock at the sudden light in the distance.
"...H-Hello?" Jemusu called out to the light.
...The light just stood there.
...Jemusu continued walking to the glow in morbid curiosity...
When he finally came up to the source of the light...
He stopped again, but this time in front of it, the red light radiating off more from the flame in his hand.
Eyes widened once again, this time in surprise and...maybe a little bit in fear and wonder? Either way, Jemusu just stood there and stared at this...
Creature?
Spirit?
...Person?
Whatever it was, a barred gate was separating Jemusu and this thing...
The person/thing in question had a body of a man...a man who looked dangerously buffed, his chest chiseled and his arms bulked, his legs well-toned and muscled as well. He was wearing nothing but a long loincloth from the front and back and is barefooted...
...But the very odd thing about this man, was that he was wearing a red metal pyramid-looking helmet that was covering up his whole entire head.
Jemusu looked at this man thing...and the thing stood there, silently 'looking' at him...at least he thinks...
The man just stood there still...almost menacingly.
"...Uh..." Jemusu began to say, but no words could come out of his mouth.
The Pyramid Head thing(he decided to call him that, he supposed) kept standing...until he lifted up his left hand to point something next to Jemusu's right side.
Jemusu cautiously looked to where Pyramid Head was pointing...
...on his right, there was a door.
And the plaque says '320'.
"...Oh," Jemusu blinked at the door. He turned his attention to Pyramid Head, who just still stood there. "Um...thank you?"
...Pyramid Head just kept his left arm raised to his side.
"...O...kay then..." Jemusu then just turned to the door and went up to it. Putting the ax down, and getting the key out, he inserted the lock in the keyhole of the door.
Click!
Jemusu opened the door, got his ax, and went inside the patient room, with his left hand still lighting the darkness around him.
...Putting the ax down near the wall, he closed the door, not knowing if that Pyramid Head was friend or foe.
All he could see from the light that was emitting from his hand was...red…
"...Hmm..." Jemusu decided to light up the room even further as best as he can.
So, with concentrated chi in his arm and hand, he let it burn even brighter as he closed his eyes and took deep calming breaths.
He breathed in...and breathed out...breathed in...breathed out...breathed in...breathed out...
Feeling the immense heat getting stronger, Jemusu opened his eyes.
...His eyes widened in shock as they adjusted to what he was seeing...
The walls of the whole room...were padded.
But the small patient room was padded in red...
Blood red.
Jemusu looked down to his right and saw the patient room's bed...
It was...It was draped with a blood-red cloth.
The cloth looked as if it covered the whole entire room. The walls, the ceiling, the bed, even the pillow that accompanied the bed...
It all looked…bizarre...odd...strange even...
...It was all abnormal...
Then…he heard something.
...
...
...
...Breathing?
...He hears it...
...It didn't sound like his breathing, either...
The breathing was barely audible. He could hear it go up for a moment, only for it to go down...
And it only got louder as the breathing continued.
...Feeling a little freaked out by this, but also feeling like he was here for a reason, he bravely spoke out, "Hello?"
...The breathing continued.
"...Is...Is anyone in here?" he asked, a little creeped out.
...The breathing commenced...
...Until it starts to fade away...
...It went silent...
...Jemusu slowly looked around the room one last time to see if anything was out of the ordinary...
...
...
...
...Jemusu.
Gasping, Jemusu turned to the left, the source of the loud whisper.
...In the light of his flame, he sees on the left padded wall...a tear...
A tear in the fabric...
...Jemusu stared at the tear for a moment...
...He cautiously began to raise his right hand toward the tear, his fingers almost brushing against the fabric...
His hand paused, wondering what would happen if he let his hand inspect this tear in the wall...
"...Well, I'm in here for a reason..." Jemusu muttered to himself.
He let his hand get closer to the tear, letting his fingers grip the side of it, and letting his hand slide inside the tear.
Inside the tear of the wall, it all felt...wet.
Wet and thick.
But in the process of getting his hand further in there(and trying not to think about how gross it felt, having a hand in what could be described as a metaphorical wound), he touched something...something hard and metallic.
Blinking at that, he maneuvered his hand further into the wall, and soon, grasped onto the object. He pulled his arm out, which looked like it was...slightly drenched in dark liquid...
It looked...red...like the color of...blood...
Jemusu looked at what was in his right hand first and foremost, careful not to feel queasy, frightful, and disgusted. What he saw in his hand left him...intrigued.
In his hand, was...another key.
Another...key?
Letting the flame in his hand get closer to the key so he can properly view it, he observed the details of the metal apparatus.
It looked like any other key...except it said one word on the stem of it.
BASEMENT-BASEMENT
"...Basement...basement?" Jemusu read inquisitively, "Uh...so...I have to go down again?"
But...I just got up here...what's this person's game?
Scowling at this turn of events, he sighed and turned around to face the door.
What is going on here? ...Maybe that Pyramid Head guy could help me again? I mean, he seems like he's communicable.
Deciding to do that, he went forward towards the door and opened it...
In his left peripheral vision, Jemusu noticed...
...That there was a barred gate next to him and the room he's in.
On the left side, instead of the right.
His eyes widened in surprise and shock. Feeling alarmed, Jemusu exited the room to see where he could be, making sure that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him...
...But it looked like it wasn't...
The gate was on the left side of the hallway, looking like a mirrored version of the side he was once in...
Now he's on the side of the hallway where the Pyramid Head guy was.
Speaking of which, he wasn't anywhere to be found.
...Jemusu went back inside the room to get his ax. Picking it up, he went back out of the room and stood in the hallway, staring down at the dark abyss in the distance...
"...H-Hello?" he decided to call out.
...Nothing...
...Until...
...He heard it.
...Footsteps.
Eyes widened at the sound, Jemusu gripped the ax tightly in his hand.
"H-...Hello?" he called out again.
...The pitter-patter of footsteps came closer...
...Then, the figure came into the light.
Jemusu looked on in shock and horror, his face twisting in disgust.
What appeared in front of him was...a woman...at least, he thinks it is?
It was some sort of monstrosity, honestly. This woman...monster looked like it was wrapped in some form of flesh, nude with no clothing on, the only thing that looked like clothes being the fleshy outfit that it has wrapped around her top thighs, as well as covering up the breasts that that looked like it was showing cleavage. The only thing that didn't contrast the flesh outfit, was the long stringy hair that was on her head…
Speaking of her head, the most horrifying thing about this woman monster was her whole face...
...As there wasn't one.
It was all wrapped up in fleshy cloth, never once having a facial feature. The woman's face looked blank even.
The woman was dragging their feet on the ground, and her head was...disturbingly enough, bobbing around.
All in all, the woman looked...very...sexualized...
...And she was carrying something in her hand...a knife.
Before Jemusu could get into an attacking position, the woman monster then...screamed. But her scream was muffled, which made Jemusu have a shiver run down his spine.
"St-Stay back..." Jemusu warned the woman.
She appeared she wasn't listening, as she raised her knife arm over her head.
Deciding that now would be the time to strike, Jemusu swung his ax horizontally at the monster woman.
FA-WHACK!
The woman screamed in agony as she felt the ax blade sinks into her side. Jemusu ignored the horrible cry and got his ax out of the creature, swinging it again, this time at her rapidly bobbing neck.
SHA-WUNK!
The woman monster's(he might just call them Bobble Heads) head flew off!
The scream was cut off as well as the body dropped to the floor, dead. Blood was gushing out of the neck wound, while the head landed on the floor with a thunk!
Jemusu looked down at the body and its head, the blood pooling underneath the dead monster woman. Taking deep breaths to calm himself, he snapped out of his shock and maneuvered away from the growing pool of blood, as well as the dead body.
However, he couldn't but...admire how the monster looked…
Blinking at that in shock, Jemusu shook his head, clearing away those thoughts.
Then, he heard another muffled scream in the distance.
He glanced at the source of the sound...
...Another Bobble-Head came into the scene.
...Shit...
This time, she was holding a club with a nail on it...and she was coming towards Jemusu to use it on him!
Lifting the club in her left hand, she kept it lifted until she was close enough to Jemusu to swing it.
Jemusu, however, used both of his hands to lift the ax over his head and bring it down on the monster.
But, it seemed the Bobble-Head woman swung the club horizontally just in time for when Jemusu was bringing it down.
WHA-CRACK!
The handle of the ax then broke out of his hands, along with the monster's club.
Jemusu looked at what was left of the ax, now a broken-off wooden stick. The club the monster was holding also broke off from the force. Not knowing that, however, the Bobble-Head kept swinging what was left of the club at him.
Quickly backing away from the Bobble-Head, Jemusu then decided that using his firebending was all that he had left...so with that, once the monster made another swipe, he went in and stabbed the Bobble-Head with the sharp point of the broken stick in the neck.
Gargled screams of pain emitted from the woman monster, and her head then bobbed a bit, letting the blood from her wound fling around as she herself was flailing around. Jemusu hastily backed away from the monster's frantic movements and then fired a shot of his firebending at the Bobble-Head.
Once the fire made contact with the monster, her flesh was burning up like a candle on a wick. Her screams of agony were made known as she kept burning, while the stab wound worsened as the fire intensified the pain as the embers engulfed it.
Soon, after a couple of seconds, the Bobble-Head monster woman fell onto the floor, twitching her limbs a bit, as the flames consumed her life. After that, the monster was now laying there unmoving, the flames continuing to burn her body.
Letting out a relieved breath, Jemusu just kept going, passing by the burning body. As he continued running down the hall, he made another flame, this time with his right palm to see his way through.
He kept running, at often times looking back to see if the body that he burned would still stay there. Upon seeing that the body wouldn't get up at anything time at all, Jemusu kept going...
...Until there were two Bobble-Head's staggering towards him!
Skidding to a stop in time, Jemusu cursed his luck. The two monsters were carrying weapons as well. One of them was carrying a big knife, while the other was carrying a metal pipe.
Shit! Seriously!?
Deciding to just shoot fire at these things, Jemusu then shot a fire blast at one of the Bobble-Heads, the left one that was coming further up with a metal pipe. It screamed in agony, the fire burning its flesh as it kept swinging the pipe around blindly at anything, which it soon hit the other Bobble-Head by accident. The other Bobble-Head to Jemusu's right apparently got angry from being struck by the other one, and swung her knife at the burning human torch. Once the burning woman thing got sliced, she staggered and then with all her might while still burning, swung the pipe at the other monster. Making contact with the creature's head, it also staggered by the blow, and then it started to swing wildly at wherever it thought it was swinging at.
It then all looked like a drunken fight, the two assailants trying to hit whatever.
This continued on, with Jemusu just looking at the fight in surprise and intrigue. But right now, he has to pass these Bobble-Heads to wherever he has to go. So, when he found an opening, he sped through it, passing the two woman monsters.
But just in case, he shot the other monster with a fire blast, just so it would be distracted from being burned by the flames surrounding it. He continued to run forward as both screams of agony were far away from his hearing range.
As soon as he conjured up a flame in his palm, he kept running...
Until he started to realize something.
...There weren't any doors on each side...
It was just one long hallway.
Jemusu stopped running for a moment to see this oddity.
Huh? What is...how long is this hallway? And should there be any rooms on each side? …How big is this infirmary, actually?
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he kept going down the hall...
…and going...
...until the light in his hand lit up a door that was at the end of the hall.
Blinking at that, he paused.
The door...looked like it had a lock and chain on the handle of it.
A lock? Then...that must mean...?
Jemusu got the key out of his pocket and observed it.
...But this key says it unlocks the way to the basement...and I'm on the third floor...
Looking up at the door as he carried the key in his fingers, he went up to it to investigate it. When his eyes were on the lock and chain, he grabbed the lock and inspected it.
"..." Jemusu, out of curiosity, decided to use the key on this lock.
So, he used the key and inserted it in the keyhole...and turned it.
Click!
...And the chain fell out of the lock and handle, letting it drop to the floor.
With the lock in his hand, Jemusu stared at it as he stood there baffled.
It...worked?
...Jemusu then looked up at the now unlocked door.
"...This...This is the basement?" he asked himself in confusion.
As he dropped the lock on the floor, he reached out his hand to grip the handle of the door...
...Not wanting to stand there and wonder too much about all of this, he finally slid the door open.
...In front of him, there were stairs...that go down.
"...What kind of infirmary is this?" Jemusu asked himself, puzzled.
He gazed at the row of stairs that went all the way down. The end of the stairs looked as pitch dark as the night...
Wherever this leads, Jemusu is sure that trouble will follow...
"..." Jemusu sighed, "...Well...I might as well move forward..."
And so, Jemusu moved forward, down the stairs...
Where they'll lead him...he doesn't know.
He just hopes Katara will be okay by herself for a while...
= Katara =
12:53 PM
Katara was appalled.
What was she looking at?
What came through the door was, of course, a monster, but...the monster looked like a woman.
This woman looked brown-skinned, just like her own skin, but she looked...nude? But nothing explicit was shown. She had breasts, but they didn't have nipples on them and her crotch area wasn't detailed. Although, her stomach looked poked out a little, almost like she was...pregnant? She also has long dark hair on her head that looked like hers as it drooped over her face and shoulders, moving her head like she was intoxicated.
However, there were more disturbing features on this woman-like monster, that being...the woman has no face. Just a mouth, no facial features...
And...there were three tumor-like lumps on this thing. Two lumps were attached to its right side, where her torso is, one on its right arm, and another lump was attached to its left leg.
What was odd and disturbing about these lumps though, was that they seemed to be...pulsating...
Each lump also looked like they have...two pairs of eyes on them.
The pair of eyes on each of these two lumps were placed in abnormal and different ways. The eyes were on the lump that was on the monster's torso, each of them lined up like average horizontal eyes. The other one on the left leg of the monster has eyes that were lined up in a vertical way, the top eye and the bottom eye being in the middle of the lump. The last lump has a pair of eyes, but they were situated in the middle of the tumor, making them look horizontal if the monster lowered its arm down. These pair of eyes were both orange-colored and have black irises in them...and they were looking at Katara.
The lumps almost look like they have a humanoid appearance to them...in fact, they look to have...tiny arms?
They almost look like...some form of a child...?
...Are those lumps...babies? Babies organically fused to the monster like they're clinging onto their mother?
"AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGHH!" the monster yelled out as it staggered forward, the creature walking up to her in a sluggish manner. It looked to be having difficulty as if its body was dragging a pound of metal. It could be mostly because of the lump babies that are attached to its skin.
Either way, Katara has never seen any creature like this…
This...This has to be a Spirit, right? Right!?
Katara has no water with her and is only equipped with a metal pole, some medical scissors, some alcohol bottles, and some rusty scalpels...
She can't believe she's asking herself this, but...what would Sokka do? ...Actually, she probably should be asking what would Suki do?
The monster continued to stagger towards Katara, reaching out to her desperately. Backing away from the monstrosity, the waterbender lifted her metal pipe just in case it might lunge at her.
It seemed all it could do is swing its arms around blindly as it screamed out at times. Although unsettling, Katara can't help but feel like she might just have to dodge this thing, seeing as its arms were unpredictable with where it swings.
Quickly deciding on that, she bravely dashes around the monster to its right...
...until the monster grabbed the top of the metal pole Katara was holding!
"AAH!" Katara yelped in surprise, trying to pull her metal weapon away from the creature. However, it was hard doing so, as she had her candle in her left hand and didn't obtain any physical strength.
The monster then used its other hand to grip the metal pole in its grasp, and just when things couldn't get any worse...
"AUUUUUUUUUGHHH!" the monster woman yelled out in front of Katara, which it took all of her will and bravery to not flinch at the scream it emitted. However, when it did release that scream, the monster...crushed the metal pipe with its bare hands! It soon ripped the metal pipe with both of its hands, like it was paper.
Eyes widened in shock, Katara staggered back as what she has left of the pole was just a short stick with a jagged end at the top.
Crap!
Katara glanced at her destroyed metal pipe and looked up at the monster, who was beginning to reach out to her, intending to grab her. But she ducked under the arm and ran out of the nursery, but not until she threw the leftover pole at the creature. It hit one of the lump babies, the one that was on the monster's torso, which made a disturbing reaction...
It cried...it sounded like a baby crying in pain when the discarded pole hit it...
And suddenly, the monster stopped. Its head 'looked' around, as if it was trying to find the source of the crying.
Really bothered by how the lump was crying like a baby, Katara took this time to run out of the nursery. She ran through the hall, the fire on the wick of the candle miraculously still aflame as she held onto the holder. At this point, she needs to find out what this key will open. Instantly, she wonders if the map somehow changed again while she was gone...
She can only check to see.
While running, she can hear the monster's yells and screams behind her, the sound fading away for a while in the distance. Shivering at that experience, she briefly wondered what that thing was...
Soon, she reached the map.
And sure enough, it changed...but...it changed drastically.
Instead of a map of the infirmary, there was...a message on it. As well as some unique instructions on it this time around.
GO, CHILD. GO AND FACE WHAT'S INSIDE. YOU SHALL FIND A LOCKED BOX IN THE OPERATION ROOM. USE THE KEY AND OPEN IT.
USE IT ON THE MURAL.
Katara's eyes widened in shock at the dramatic change that was being displayed on the map. Also, she was beginning to wonder who this person(if it even is a person) was, and how was it even doing all of this?
"What?" Katara said breathlessly, her adrenaline running as her heart kept beating.
"...UUUUUGGH!"
The waterbender glanced in the direction where the yell came from.
"Oh shit, come on," Katara cursed in trepidation and annoyance.
So she went in the direction of where the operation room is on the first floor. As soon as she opened the door and entered the room, she closed it and looked around quickly to see where this box is...
...That was until she noticed something. From the light of the candle, the infirmary bed where she once looked in on her right that was once closed off with curtains...now was closed off again.
Rushing over there, she made her way to the curtains and pulled them open...
...To find a box.
It was a moderate-sized metal box with two chains wrapped around it with a lock holding them together.
She briefly wondered why a locked box was now there when she last looked at this spot last time, but alas, she didn't have time to be baffled by it.
"...UUUUUGGGHHH!"
The yells were getting louder and closer.
Deciding not to dwell on anything further, she hastily placed the candle holder on the bed next to the box and dug into her pockets as she got the key out. She inserted the key into the lock, and then turned it, unlocking it. The chains fell off as well as the lock as she opened the box quickly.
In it she found...
"...A...scraper?" Katara said to herself in question. She picked up the scraper and observed it a bit.
The scraper's tip was metal, of course, and the handle was wooden...
...That's it.
"...What the...What am I supposed to do with this?" Katara asked herself, a little annoyed right now, "Is it supposed to be a weapon, or-"
BAM! BAM! BAM!
"AAAAAUUUUGGGHH!"
Jumping at the sounds, Katara turned around to face the door. The monster was trying to get in like last time, and now that Katara doesn't have anything to hit it with, she needs to find something to do so...
Upon looking at the scraper, she frowned.
"...Damn it."
Well, there's also the scissors and the scalpels...I could try to stab it when it gets…close…
...She wonders if she could stab the lumps in the ey-
Oh Spirits, no! I-...I don't think I can-
Then, the door slid open, and the monster(Katara, strangely enough, decided, to call it the monster Mother-May-Eye) came staggering in.
"AAAAAUUUUUGHHH!"
Katara didn't have time to dwindle. She readied the scraper and got a pair of scissors out of her pocket. She left the candle on the bed so she can light up the place in one spot without carrying it around.
Mother-May-Eye seemed to have 'spotted' Katara and dragged itself to her. The waterbender prepared herself by getting in a stance, similar to what Suki does when preparing to fight...
…She hopes she's doing it right.
Mother-May-Eye lifted an arm and swung it downward at Katara when it got close to her. The young woman dodged it by jumping back away from its arm range. Mother-May-Eye trudged toward a couple of feet, when all of a sudden, it reared its back and neck sent it forward to scream at Katara.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHH!"
"AAACK!" Katara puts her wrists to her ears, not using her hands because she was carrying sharp objects in them. This scream was louder than the rest, her ears ringing from the intense volume it emitted.
Then, the monster lunged forward and grabbed Katara's left arm!
"AAH!" Katara exclaimed as she tried to pull her arm away from the monster, but its grip was too strong.
Mother-May-Eye kept pulling onto the waterbender's arm as Katara struggled to pull it away from it, the effort looking futile as the monster was firmly rooted on the ground while it kept using its strength to try to pull her to it. Using what adrenaline she has, Katara kept going in the opposite direction away from the monster, but it proved the abomination was stronger. Once it used its other arm to try and grab her, Katara decided at the last second to stab the creature's arm that was grabbing her.
She raised her right hand that has a scalpel in it and threw it down on its arm!
STAB!
...Without even knowing it, Katara stabbed one of the eyes of the lump babies.
And it let out a loud wail.
"WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
The sound of a baby wailing in pain was forever burned into Katara's brain.
Mother-May-Eye let go of Katara's arm as it also screamed out in pain. Now free, the waterbender backed away, briefly observing the damage she made to the monster.
With the scalpel still in the lump baby's eye, it wailed out in agony, while Mother-May-Eye flailed its arms around, apparently feeling the pain as well. Soon, the lump baby cries died down, the wail sounding like it was taking its last breath. The arm of the monster that the lump baby was attached to suddenly went limp, and Mother-May-Eye only had its left arm working. Its legs were also still working, as it trudged toward her, trying to grab Katara as it was moving forward.
Its arm turned limp when I stabbed that lump?
Katara quickly pieced together that the eyes could be the weak points of this monster.
She readied the pair of scissors in her other hand as the monster advanced toward her. Katara acted in haste as she ran toward Mother-May-Eye and ducked under its left arm, circling around it as she got an advantage for an opening on the lump baby on its left leg. With the scissors in her left hand, she dived in and swung the scissors at the lump baby, this time just stabbing its flesh.
STAB!
The baby's pained wail came out of the lump.
Leaving the scissors into the tumor thing, Katara rolled back as the monster screamed out in pain also. Mother-May-Eye's left leg then fell limp as it almost collapsed, its right knee supporting itself.
The waterbender got up on her feet and quickly searched inside her pockets to get another scalpel, which she fortunately has. As soon as she got it out, she gazed at the monster, which was also supporting itself with its left hand on the edge of an infirmary bed. The last lump baby was on the right side of the Mother-May-Eye's torso...
She couldn't help but feel almost sorry for doing this as the monster struggled to get up.
Katara took a deep breath and went forward to try and stab the last lump baby...
Katara...
She skidded to a stop.
"Wha-...What?" Katara blinked in confusion and surprise.
The voice sounded like…
"...M-...Mom?" Katara softly uttered as she looked around quickly before her attention went back to the monster.
Katara...
"Mom!?" Katara called out in realization. That is Mom!
But where...
The Mother-May-Eye lifted its head so it was in Katara's view...
She gasped in horror.
"...Wh-What?" Katara said weakly as her eyes widened in shock.
The 'face' of the monster...was the face of...
Her mother.
Katara-dear…
The monster's face was now the face of her mother...
Katara just looked on, terrified at what she was seeing. Her mother was…the monster!?
...It was then...the feeling of shock and horror faded away and it was soon replaced but...the feeling of rage.
How...How DARE this thing use my mother's face! This...This thing has no right!
Teeth gritting, her eyes burning with hate, she gripped the scalpel in her hand. Swiftly, she raised the scalpel and brought it down on its torso where the lump baby is located.
STAB!
The lump baby cried out in agony...
The Mother-May-Eye also cried out in agony...
But the face of her mother...cried out in agony as well.
Katara backed away, watching the thing bleed...she barely even noticed the blood pouring out of the monster as it dripped and splattered onto the floor. How some of the blood was on Katara's hands, with specks of them on her outfit...
The monster took its last breath as its scream died down...
But not before the head of this monster lift it up weakly and 'looked' up at Katara...its facial features reflecting her mother's face. It was scrunched up in pain, almost looking like it was...hurt. Not only physically, but emotionally...like it was...betrayed.
"Ka-...Katara..."
Katara's heart stopped. Her breath hitched as she made a small gasp. Her eyes widened in dread as she felt like she made a horrible mistake...
"...M-...Mom?" she said to the monster, afraid that this...thing could be her mother.
And then...Mother-May-Eye collapsed onto the floor in a heap, lying in a pool of its own blood...
...Katara felt sick all of a sudden...
The bile rose up in her stomach and she wretched. Holding her mouth with her hand, she ran over to the infirmary bed where the candle holder was, grabbed the edge of the bed, and leaned over to vomit.
BLAAAUGGH!
She emptied the contents out of her stomach, the feeling of shock and grief overwhelming her being. Once she finished, she shakily held onto the bed and breathed evenly to make sure she doesn't throw up again. Picking herself up feebly, she got up and turned her head slowly to the dead monster.
...That…
Katara gulped back down the rising bile that was coming up.
...That wasn't Mother...
But if it wasn't...then, what was it?
Reaching over the bed to get her candle holder, she lit her way as she went over to the body...
Looking down at it, she gazed at the creature...she grimaced, not wanting to dwell on this thing as it lay there...expiring...
...I...I honestly killed something...
Shaking her head to get rid of that dark thought, she realized now that she had to go around this corpse to get to her destination...
The mural...
Okay, so I killed something...just…move on...you and Jemusu have to get out of here...
Seeing if she still got the scraper, she got it out of her pocket and climbed over some infirmary beds to not step on the pool of blood that the body was in. Once she passed the corpse, she landed on her feet after getting off a bed and went up to the mural.
She looked at it and looked down at the scraper...
...Wait...does this...'person' want me to use the scraper on the mural?
Looking back at the painted portion of the wall, she gazed at it for a moment.
Observing it, she brought the candle up to the mural to see if there were any clues as to it what the painting could be hiding.
...She sees...a groove or something on the right side of the mural...
Blinking at that, she curiously glanced at the scraper.
...Well, only one way to find out.
So she began to use it, putting the sharp metal tip and brushing it up and down, peeling the paint off as she does so...
She kept doing this until she notice something...
The paint was...very brittle...
It also...was exposing wood behind the paint…
Getting more curious, Katara kept scraping the mural...
She did this until she reached around the right where the groove was...
She hit it a couple of times...until she realized...
Wait a minute...the is a door handle!
Feeling like she was getting somewhere, Katara, with renewed vigor, started to scrap the mural with more purpose.
She scraped...and scraped...and scraped...
...Until it slowly started to reveal itself.
...It was, in fact, a door.
Now knowing what it is she's scraping, Katara back away for a moment to see her handiwork.
...The mother was partially gone. Only a part of the baby was still left in the image.
Katara took a deep breath and sighed, "Okay then...so, does this mean what I need to find is...in there?"
She dropped the scraper on the floor, approached the door, and reached for the door handle. She opened it, to reveal...
...A corridor of stairs...going down.
...Frowning at this, she muttered, "Oh great..."
The end of the stairs going down looked pitch dark...
"..." She sighed, feeling uneasy, "...Okay...I guess...I'm doing this..."
So she took a step on the first step of the stairs...and she went down...
Down and down the stairs she went, with nothing but a candle lighting her way...
Wherever she was going, she can only hope that she'll find what she was looking for around here...as of now, though, she was headed into the unknown.
Down...down...down she goes...
It was a long trek down...
About three minutes in, Katara was starting to feel a little uncertain about all of this…
What kind of infirmary is this? Is this like...Is this a basement? A very long and deep basement?
She kept going down though, nonetheless...although, she was starting to feel a little claustrophobic as of now.
After a few more seconds, however, she was finally at the bottom of the stairs...
...And in front of her was a metal door.
Staring at it in unease, Katara begins to wonder what she's getting herself into...
"..." Katara reached for the door handle and slid it open...
...In the candlelight, as she entered through the doorway, she looked around the area.
...It was a dark hallway with metal padding, metal ceiling, and a metal floor.
"...Well, this isn't creepy," Katara murmured sardonically.
Never less, she continued down the dark hall...
...After a minute of walking through the hall, Katara decided to pick up her pace as she jogs...
...Another minute passed...
...Seeing that this is taking longer than she was expecting, she slowed her jog down to a walk again...
...She then stopped...
"...This isn't normal," Katara muttered to herself, "Just what is this? Why would an infirmary have something like this in the first place?"
...Then, she heard footsteps...from behind her.
Her heart stopped.
Turning around quickly, she expected someone walking up to her...
...But her candlelight showed that no one was there...except that she still heard those footsteps...
"...H-Hello?" Katara called out meekly.
...The footsteps stopped.
...Then they commenced again.
However, it sounded like they were going a little faster...
Fear coursing through her with a cold sweat, Katara backed away slightly.
...Then, Katara could see someone in the light of her candle.
Her eyes widened as she gasped in shock.
What came up to her...was a person. A female, from the look of its figure.
But this person...was wrapped in black leather straps, all over her body. All over and around her body. Making her look like a mummy...
However, what stood out the most about this wrapped woman, was not only that her left arm and hand were wrapped up as well, letting her use it freely to reach out to her victim, but on her right arm...there was no hand...it was just...
...A metal whip.
The female was dragging her right arm/whip as if she was struggling, muffled grunts and moans coming out of her, the sounds disturbing to the young woman...
The figure also had her left hand out, looking as if she was trying to find who she was looking for.
Katara already knows that this person was bad news...
So without a second thought, she ran.
Turning around away from the person, she ran down the hall, not caring if the candle was flittering from the wind of her running.
She ran, letting whoever was in the hall with her be a great distance behind her.
She ran...and ran...and ran...
Oh please Spirits, let there be something besides a dead-end at the end of this tunnel!
A few seconds later...there was another door that came into view.
She skidded to a stop in front of it, a little bewildered to see that another door was at the end of the hallway.
"Wha..." she shook her head, "Whatever, just please let this be a way out!"
She opened the door, and inside...was a moderate room with two doors from her left and right side.
"...What the?" Katara blinked dumbly, confused beyond all recognition.
But then, the left door opened, startling the waterbender.
"ACK!"
"WHOA!" exclaimed...Jemusu?
"Wha-Jemusu!?" Katara exclaimed as well in shock.
"K-Katara?" Jemusu said in confusion with his fire still in his hand, "What are you doing down here?"
"I...I'm wondering the same thing myself, honestly!" Katara told him, absolutely stumped.
Jemusu blinked at that, but soon he turned around behind him and back at her, "Did you come through that door?"
"Yeah, I did. But don't go back there, someone is trying to get me! Besides, it's a long way back."
Jemusu cursed, thinking quickly. He sees the door in front of him and said to Katara, "Follow me!"
Katara and Jemusu went for the door. Jemusu opened it, and they went inside whatever room that was waiting for them...
...What was waiting for them, however, was not what they expected.
The two skidded to a stop, both of their eyes widening in horror as they encountered something...provocative.
The person that Jemusu saw, the Pyramid Head that was on the third floor, was in the room...
But what was transpiring...was that Pyramid Head was...doing something...
Something to...one of those monsters that Katara and Jemusu encountered on the first floor?
Pyramid Head was letting the monster lean over and...
They could hear moans from the monster...
...It occurred to them that this Pyramid Head was letting the monster perform...oral sex.
"What in Spirits names?" Katara blanched with a horrified expression on her face.
Jemusu then put an arm out to back away Katara from the disgusting sight. He looked on in shock as he was trying to make sense of this...
Pyramid Head then let go of the monster, letting it fall limp on its back as it lay there, unmoving.
Apparently, Pyramid Head heard them come in and bent at his knees to get something...which was a giant knife that was on the ground. He picked it up, got up, and slowly walked towards them, the knife(sword?) dragging behind him as he carried it.
Their shock was gone once he started to approach them. Katara looked back at the door that they went into, shining the candlelight onto it...
...She saw that it wasn't there.
"What?" Katara breathlessly said.
"Katara, try to find a route around this room," Jemusu told her quickly.
"Wha-What? Wh-What about that guy?" Katara asked, motioning to Pyramid Head.
"Don't worry, I'll hold him off. Just look around for anything that can help us get out," Jemusu said with determined eyes on Pyramid Head.
"O-Okay!" Katara looked at Pyramid Head as he came trudging closer. Summoning up her courage, she ran to her right and away from Jemusu and Pyramid Head's bout.
She could feel the heat from Jemusu's firebending as he shot a fireball at Pyramid Head. Looking back, she sees that the pyramid helmet-wearing juggernaut wasn't the least bit fazed as the fire hits his helmet. Pyramid Head just kept going though, amazingly enough, as he lifted up his knife over his head and swing it down on Jemusu. He leaped out of the way in time as the knife clattered onto the ground.
Remembering her objective, Katara fervently searched around for anything that could be a way out of this place.
As she looked around the area with what little candlelight she has left, she did find something. In fact, her foot just hit it.
CLANG-CLANG!
"Huh?" she glanced down and saw in the light...a key.
As she glanced at the object, she looked ahead of it, and saw the (hopefully) dead body of the monster that Pyramid Head…molested? It was next to the key as it lay there motionless.
Not having a second thought, she picked up the key and observed it a bit.
She can make out the words on the key, which it said...SAFE.
Safe? What...What could that mean? Is it saying it's a key to somewhere safe, or-
"KATARA! LOOK OUT!" shouted Jemusu.
Katara instantly looked to where Jemusu was shouting...
And in the light of her candle, she sees the strong physique of Pyramid Head, dragging his knife-sword. He then began to lift his weapon with great strength, about to bring down the blade on Katara.
She froze for a second, but regain her bearings when he was about to attack. She ran to her right again, dodging the downward swing of Pyramid Head's sword/knife. She also pocketed the key in her left pocket.
"Jemusu!?" Katara called out to him.
"I'm here, Katara!" said Jemusu as he conjured up a flame in his hand.
Seeing each of their flames, they ran up to wherever they think up is going forward. It was then, luckily enough, they found another door when their lights were close to it. It was closed and there was a lock on it, indicating they have to open it to continue onward.
This must be what this key is used for!
Katara was about to reach for the lock on the door handle, when-
Something cold and metal wrapped around her ankle!
"AH!" Katara was jerked to her right where the whip came from, falling on her left side. She let go of her candleholder, with the candle still burning on the wick.
"Katara!" Jemusu said as he noticed that she fell.
Katara was seeing stars as she landed. When she was on her back, she saw that her ankle was wrapped by a metal-like whip...
She gasped, looking up...
...In the light, she sees the wrapped-up leather-bounded mummy, with her hand outstretched at Katara.
Trying to get up, as well as getting the whip off of her ankle, Katara struggled to get the appendage off her, until a hand was on her throat.
"A-Ack!" Katara yelped as she was choked.
The figure lifted her up by the neck, the whip off of her ankle, and held her up. Struggling to get the woman's hand off of her neck, Katara kicked in the air as she tried to escape from this person's grasp.
And then…she felt something around her neck. Something...cold.
It became colder by the second. It became so cold, that her throat and vocal cords were becoming frozen...
"Ac-Ack, ugh, uck, auck!" Katara choked out, wondering what is happening...and how she can somehow stop this! Her throat was feeling weaker, like it was being frozen as it felt like it was being crushed like fragile ice in its grip...
No! No, no, no, Spirits, no! This can't end like this!
As she hung there by the neck from the monster woman's literal cold and deathly grasp, Katara desperately dug her hand into her pockets to see if she can get anything to defend herself with...and lo and behold, she got another pair of scissors out of one!
She didn't waste any time and swung the scissors-blade on the woman's hand.
The monster woman dropped Katara as her muffled yells of pain came out of her covered mouth. The waterbender fell on her rear, coughing as she tried to get her windpipe some air in as best as she can. The monster(Katara decided to call her the Cold Mistress), not having a right hand, couldn't get the scissors off her left hand, so she waved it around to get it off.
After getting her bearings, Katara quickly got up, although she felt woozy doing so.
Coughing, Katara called out, "Jemusu!? Hack! Jemusu!? Cough! Where are you!?"
It was then, that she saw firebending in the distance as it was Jemusu fighting the Pyramid Head thing.
"Katara!? I'm here! I'm fighting this freak of nature!" Jemusu exclaimed, "Just go! I'll catch up with you, okay!? Just be careful!"
"No! You need help!" Katara called out.
"Katara! Just go! Don't let whatever attacked you get to you!" Jemusu called out as well, as he fired fire blasts in the dark at wherever Pyramid Head is.
She can hear the footsteps behind her and she cursed. She wished she had water to bend.
I guess I have no choice.
"Just follow me when I open the door, okay!?" Katara exclaimed as she ran to the other light source that was on the ground, which was her candle that came off the candleholder.
As she went to the candle, picked it up, and went to the locked door. Digging in her pocket, she got the key out, and without freaking out, she inserted the key and twisted the lock.
CLICK!
The lock dropped to the ground and Katara opened the door. She called out to Jemusu, "Okay! I opened the door! Come on-"
WHICK-WACK!
She saw movement coming from her left vision and moved slightly to her right just in time for the whip to miss her head.
"AH!" Katara didn't waste any time and ran inside whatever room was coming up.
She ran through another corridor, but this time, it sounded like she was running on wooden floors.
She kept running and running...
Katara really hoped that Jemusu is okay...and that he was behind her.
As the candlelight lit up the way, she kept on running...until she went to another door.
Growling at the ridiculousness of it all, she rammed the door by using her body. She got it opened by breaking it...
...And slammed into a wall afterward.
"Oof!" Katara slammed the front of herself on the wall as she got out, falling back down on her rear again. She quickly got up and looked around the area she was in...
...It...It was the hallway of the infirmary...
But this time...there seemed to be actual light in the building...
In fact...everything looked...different...there were lights streaming inside the windows from outside...
Katara just blinked in confusion.
What?
She looked at where she came out of, the door broken as she barged out of it.
There was a plaque on the left side of the door as well...
Getting close to it, she tried to read it with her candle...
…But she realized that there was no fire on the wick now.
Surprised by this, she looked at the candle for a second. Honestly, she didn't need the candle, as she can actually read the plaque from where she was standing. So she did...
It read CLOSET.
"...Wh-What?" Katara then turned her attention to the busted door, and looked inside it...
From where she was, the light illuminated partially inside...which the room really was just a closet room. She could even see the back wall from here.
"...N-No...that's..." Katara looked frantically around the area she was in, trying to make sense of this, "I-I...I went...I went down..."
Right? I mean...what...what is going on?
Katara stood there, the area feeling as empty as her answers.
"...I...definitely went down," she said. Trying to see if she can recognize this area of the infirmary, she walked down the hall a little bit, until she made a left...
The waterbender gasped in absolute shock, her eyes wide.
Right there, was the same large sliding door...but there were no chains on it!
"...H-How?" Katara said in a frightful whisper.
She walked up to the door...she looked down at the handle of the door...
"...I...am I...was I...did I..." she looked around the area one more time, to see if her eyes and mind aren't playing tricks on her.
...Katara looked at the handle of the door…
She reached for it...grasped it...and pulled it open.
1:00 PM
…There was light.
Warm...light...
...There was also fog...
"...I'm...outside..."
...Katara was indeed outside.
She walked out of the infirmary and onto the street of the town, where there were other businesses around the area, them being medical…
And the fog was thick...
...It wasn't even night anymore...
...Did everything she went through...was it even real?
No, it...it had to be...there...there was Jemusu...he was there…was he?
Katara looked at the ground as she tried to process all of this...
Jemusu...was real...right? Everything I held in my hand, it was real...right? And...the monsters I fought were...real…
...Right?
"...I...I don't understand what's going on," Katara said to herself in dismay.
"You okay, little miss?" said a voice to her right
"AH!" Katara jumped and turned to where the voice is.
"Whoa there! Don't freak out now!" said the voice...which sounded like an elderly man.
Katara, now realizing she has water with her now thanks to the fog, gathered some mist and made water out of it to get it ready. She had never felt so glad to have her element again.
"Who's there!? Show yourself!" Katara said as she readied her water to strike anyone with it.
"Oh my...people seem to be getting hostile nowadays," said the voice.
Then, in the fog, there was a figure...it came into view to reveal...
...A mailman?
Katara blinked at the sight of an older man carrying mail on his back. Not only that, but...his skin...he looked like he was from the Water Tribe.
"Hello, little miss," the man smiled kindly and waved.
"...Are...Are you from the Water Tribe?" Katara couldn't help but ask.
"Hm?" the mailman raised his eyebrows. He chuckled as he said, "Well, I'm half and half, little lady."
"Half and...half? Like, you're not fully Water Tribe?"
"Nope. Come from a Fire Nation Momma and a Water Tribe Daddy," the man said with a smile and nod with a tip of his hat, "The names Zhong, by the way. What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"
"...Uh, Katara..." Katara said as she looked at him in bafflement.
A Fire Nation mom and a Water Tribe dad?
"Ah, okay. Well, Katara, you're about the third interesting character I've seen around here." Zhong told her.
"Third?" Katara questioned, "What do you mean?"
"Well, there was this bald kid with a tattoo on his head, and a young man with a burnt scar on the left side of his face."
Her eyes widened as she gasped, "That's...those are my friends! Aang and Zuko!"
"Oh! Well, that's a good coincidence!" Zhong smiled, "I think they were looking for their friends as well!" he put his hand on his chin in thought, however, "Although, that Zuko fellow was looking for his mother as well."
Hearing that, Katara frowned. She lowered her waterbending stance as she bent the water into her thermos, and once she did, she said, "Yeah. He's also looking for his mother...which, um, is why we're here in this town."
Don't want to give away the real reason why we're here.
"Ah, okay," Zhong nodded, "Well, I'm just a mailman passing through. In fact, I need to get to mailing some more letters. So, I wish I could chat, but I need to get going."
Zhong then turned around and began to walk away from Katara, until the latter called out to him.
"W-Wait! Zh-Zhong? I-I have, maybe, um, I guess, uh, three questions to ask! I-I'm seriously lost here!"
The mailman stopped and turned to her, "Hm? Well...okay then. But please do make it quick."
"Okay, um..." Katara thought quickly for the words to come out of her mouth, "You said you're half Water Tribe, right?"
"Mm-hmm. I sure am."
"Well...what are you doing in a Fire Nation town? On a Fire Nation Island even?"
Zhong chuckled, "Really, the shorter version for that, is that my folks love each other very much, but they had to part ways. My Momma kept me throughout my childhood...it was when I was ten years old that my Daddy had to leave..." he shook his head solemnly, "Those were some rough times..."
"Oh..." Katara frowned at that, "I'm...I'm sorry."
"Hm. It's quite alright. No worries," Zhong shrugged, "I only remember him through my memories of him...and from what my Momma told me of him while growing up."
"...Well...um, th-the second question I wanted to ask is...well, what's...what is wrong with this town? I...I saw some things that...that I couldn't explain. Like I thought it was nighttime for a moment, and now...it isn't. And I met someone in there," she pointed at the infirmary, "His name was Jemusu and..." she shook her head, "I mean, is this town like...a part of the Spirit World or something, or...?"
...Zhong blinked as he tilted his head, "Um...I'm sorry, Katara, but I don't know if I can answer that."
Now Katara blinked in puzzlement, "You can't? Why?"
"Well, there's always something happening here...well, it used to, when it was a resort town...but those days are over." Zhong shook his head in pity, "I've lived in this town for as long as I remembered. Never had any problems with it, honestly...I think..." he thought about that as he contemplated for a moment. "...Hm. Don't remember. Mind is a haze nowadays," he shook his head, "Growing older sure does take a number on ya."
"Uh..." Katara was a little confused by the answer she got from Zhong, but she just decided to ask the third and final question and get it over with. "O-Okay, um...why are you...sending out mail if this town is abandoned?"
"Oh, well, there's still people around this town. They're just a little scattered," Zhong said with a smile.
"Okay...who are they?"
Zhong shrugged, "I don't know."
...Katara looked at him dumbfoundedly.
Keeping his smile, Zhong waved at Katara, "Well, I need to head on off now! I hope you'll find your friends! Just be careful out there, okay, Katara?"
"Um...r-right," Katara said, feeling even more confused.
But instead of turning around and leaving, he stood there for a moment...
"...Um," Katara shrunk at the man's gaze, "Are you...going to go?"
"...Actually, can I ask you a question?"
"Oh, um...sure?"
"...You're Water Tribe, aren't ya?"
"Uh...yes, I am."
"...And you're a waterbender?"
"...Yes."
"...Hmm..." Zhong stroked his white beard, "...Which Tribe?"
"Um, I'm from the South Pole."
"Ah..." Zhong nodded a little soberly, "...Don't ever forget your heritage."
Eyes widened at that advice, Katara said, "I...I won't."
"Hmm..." Zhong then smiled again, "Well, I'm off! You be good now, you hear?"
"Uh...s-sure."
Zhong tipped his hat and turned around to walk off, deep into the fog...until he wasn't seen anymore.
Katara stood there in the middle of the street, wondering what just happened...she even forgot to ask Zhong where Zuko and Aang are, but considering she hasn't been here before, she wouldn't know where to look.
...Still, she couldn't help but wonder what happened to Jemusu...
She looked back at the infirmary and its entrance...she felt lost, not knowing what to do.
Can she go back and save Jemusu, or can she now just find her friends?
"...I..."
It's...It's selfish, but I want to find my friends...and I don't know if I can go back there and find him. I mean, I don't even know if he's real! ...But...who was he then? Was he really a prisoner? If so, then...I mean...
Shaking her head, she felt conflicted...
...Katara.
Katara's head shot up.
"M-Mom?"
...Katara.
"Mom!?"
It sounded like...her mother was calling out to her.
"Mom? A-Are you there?" she called out.
...Katara...please follow my voice.
"O-Okay! I-I will! I'm coming!" Katara called out to her in desperation. She walked forward to try and track her voice down.
Katara...
Katara-Dear...
Katara...
"I'm...I'm coming, Mom..." Katara said to the voice as she ventured onward.
She may not know what's happening or what's going on...but she knows one thing...
That voice is her mother's.
Maybe...this whole place is sacred and special...
This island...
Could this place be a bridge to the Spirit World? Can she also be here? There are so many questions...
Just what is this place?
Either way, perhaps...she could find her here...
...She could find her mother.
End of Chapter 14
Okay! So, you know the drill, tell me how I did and stuff. Honestly, I hope the ending wasn't too rushed. ^^;
Next chapter...well, I'll have to think about it! LOL, I need to pick either Azula, Sokka, or even Suki! Or maybe even pick Aang, Toph, and Iroh! :O But know this, I got all of it planned, so no worries! ;)
Until then, please leave me a review, follow, and a fave! Thank you all for reading, and keep on rocking everybody! :D
-TSP