#i have like 8.8k words i think this is the longest thing i've ever written lol | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bookwyrminspiration · 3 years ago

Text

Shattered Upside Down

A kotlc wings au: masterpost here

Chapter 13: The Abandoned

word count: 8.8k

chapter summary: Confused, Sophie searches for answers to the mysteries of her friends, but what she finds may be more than she can handle.

warnings: brief descriptions hinting at a place with a bad past, caves and darkness, mention of a rotting skeleton (like one sentence), panicking, swearing, intentional misuse of grammar for dramatic effect, and I think that's everything!

taglist: I’ll reblog with it. let me know if you want to be added or removed

This is one of the longest chapters I've ever written help--but also, enjoy!! It feels like so much happens and yet nothing at all, but I had a lot of fun with this one

ao3 link here or read below the cut

A million little slivers of starlight burned beneath Marella’s skin, marking her position in the sky. Had she not known better, Sophie would’ve thought she was burning alive from the inside out, tumbling through the sky like that.

Brrr, it whispered, rubbing against her leg.

Dumbstruck, she didn’t even register the sensation.

“Where on Earth is she going,” she marveled, watching Marella’s form move further and further away, intention and dedication mirroring her every move.

It was only that crystal clear eyesight that enabled her to pick out the details. Black leggings and a black long-sleeved shirt adorned her body, clearly intending to hide. Yet the dark fabric couldn’t hide the stark shine of her wings against the night, lighting her up like a beacon.

Thudding its head against her leg, the little creature finally got through to her. “Wait, how did you know about this,” she hissed down at it, eyes still tracking Marella.

It didn’t respond.

Hesitating for only a moment, she groaned. “Well, I have to make sure, she’s okay, right?” Her logic fell flat, the all-consuming curiosity and faint betrayal urging her forward. This was justified. She needed to follow her, to be there in case something happened. She couldn’t just go wandering off like that, she reasoned.

Yeah! She was just being a concerned friend, worried what Marella was getting herself into. Nothing more. It was unusual behavior, so Marella couldn’t get mad at her for being worried.

Never mind that she’d done the exact same thing and hadn’t faced the consequences.

“Are you coming, too?” She asked, as if the thing would respond. It just shook itself off, padding beside her as she moved along the platform, looking for a better spot to take off from.

There. Up ahead a bridge lay with open sky above it, free from the dense trees dominating this area. She’d even bet that’s where Marella herself had taken off from. Secluded, away from the rest of them all, easy to disappear; she’d thought this through, Sophie realized.

The clothing, the location--all those questions from before. Something wasn’t adding up.

Taking no more than a few seconds to tie her hair back with a spare elastic on her wrist, Sophie took off at a sprint, pushing off into the night.

Wind rushed past her ears, drowning out several of her thoughts as she ducked low, sticking close to the canopy of trees populating the forest. Marella’s wings kept her from maneuvering as easily down here, so if Sophie stayed low, perhaps she’d be harder to notice.

The thought nearly stopped her short--why was she trying to hide from a friend?

Well, she started hiding things, first, she reasoned, pushing past the guilt and doubts marring her vision, infecting her resolve in her own justification. She never answered the question.

A flickering shadow shivered through her peripherals, the little echo gaining traction ahead of her as it moved through the tops of the trees, silent, like the woods knew it and accommodated its every whim.

Marella stayed clearly visible up ahead, but the further they flew from the village, the more confident she seemed to become in her movements, more determined. Her pace increased, and Sophie nearly crashed into a few particularly crooked branches sticking out as she matched speed. At this rate, she felt as though she could teleport, that’s how quickly the two of them were moving, a chill spreading through her body as lost clothing did nothing against the rush of the sky against her skin, horrid and pulling and unforgiving.

And still Marella appeared none the wiser to her presence.

Trees became fewer and farther between, rocks and tumbling landscape taking over the area in their stead; Sophie ducked even lower to avoid notice--while her wings wouldn’t give her away by sight, the light grey of her shirt might, especially alongside those thick white bandages wrapped around what felt like her entire body; Elwin hadn’t taken them off yet.

Elwin. A flurry of guilt bombarded her, stealing the very air from her lungs. She was digging her own grave with each minute she let him stay, let him learn, let him in. She’d have to take him back eventually, and the world would come crashing down when she did.

What a risky game she loved to play.

Marella’s trajectory shifted without warning, dipping downwards exponentially, ground rushing up to meet her. Far enough away, there was no sound as she made contact with the ground.

Sophie slowed, drifting to the blanketed ground, the buzz behind her fading in the wind as her feet met rock. There was practically nothing out here, just flat expanses of stone and rich moss, the vegetation creeping underground rather than growing upwards like she was used to.

Except for the boulders.

Scattered throughout the place were boulders of deep grey rock, slightly taller than her in height. But it was their unnatural roundness that unsettled her, nearly perfectly spherical in shape.

Marella moved, and with a start Sophie dropped to the ground. Shit. Flat expanses. One wrong move and anyone--Marella--could see her. It’d been so much easier to hide when she’d been along the trees, the foliage, part of a crowd.

Mistakes tumbled into landslides within her mind, cascading down down down as she realized the severity of the hole she’d dug herself into. Not even a ruminating, hesitating thought had passed through her mind before she’d leapt into the sky after Marella, who was currently hastily making her way through the field of rocks, heading for something unseen up ahead.

Scrambling, she darted to a crouch behind one of the nearest boulders in; Sophie tried to think for once in her life.

She had no clue where they were, why Marella was out here, or what she’d find if she carried on, but she knew one thing for certain. She wouldn’t leave Marella alone. Even as she sat there, the rustle of the woods behind her frothed with unnatural sounds, claws tapping against trees, the rough thump of heavy-set footsteps on an Earth not built to bear them.

Holding her breath, Sophie peered around the boulder only to find Marella nearly vanished from view, moving steadily downwards, jutting rock and overgrown foliage blocking her line of sight. But the sound of her moving remained, barely audible over the wind.

Shifting, she leaned her weight forward, intending to press herself up, to maneuver around some of the obstacles atop this otherwise flat expanse, her only defense against discovery.

Losing her footing, her shoulder--still not fully healed--knocked into the boulder with enough force to shift it, a deep grating sound rumbling from the ground as it scratched against rough terrain.

A few pebbles loosened, just enough to unsettle the thing, and with dawning horror Sophie realized it was going to tumble away from her, completely giving her away. Rocks didn’t just move on their own.

Acting on instinct, Sophie dug her fingers in, as though she could somehow keep several thousand pounds of rock still, as though she could hold it back.

It worked.

The noise quieted as she strained, not wanting to breathe but not daring to hold it, a steady in and out as her muscles pulled taught. Eyes wide as they could go, she froze.

Marella’s footsteps had paused up ahead [mention them earlier], now sounding closer and closer with each step. She was coming back.

Sophie didn’t notice. Her attention was focused on her hands, the one’s grasping that boulder like her life depending on it, holding it steady.

She’d clawed gouge marks into its surface.

Each place her fingertips met, an indent caved in, the sheer force of her grasp tearing it apart. She hadn’t even meant to, had just wanted to keep it still, keep it quiet.

It was quiet, too quiet.

A hand clapped over her mouth from behind.

“Don’t move,” they hissed, nails digging into the skin of Sophie’s cheek as she started to struggle. Everything within her fizzled out, replaced by a numb, hollow echo of that panic.

Biana? She asked, reaching her mind out behind her. That voice, she’d know that voice anywhere, the cherry blossom aroma that clung to her skin, now pressed to her face

Her mouth would’ve fallen open were it not held closed as she tried to look around, instead catching a glance at her hands on the rock surface. Or rather, at where they should have been. Nothing occupied the space, as though she weren’t even there.

Biana had vanished the both of them.

“Come to visit, huh?” Marella called out, footsteps growing louder amongst the quiet moss.

Eyes wide, both of their heads snapped to the side, the source of the sound. Could she see them? How?

Only...Marella wasn’t there.

Brrr, the echo mumbled, crawling around from atop the boulder, jumping to the ground. Frozen, she tried not to breathe. Maybe Marella hadn’t noticed the two of them at all.

“You’re going to help me,” she stated, and with a start she realized Marella was coming around the boulder, directly towards them.

Biana shifted behind her, leaning back slightly as she pulled Sophie along, hands pressed so tight against her face she was worried her blood flow would never recover.

Brrr, it said again, rubbing its face against an edge of the boulder as Marella came into view, mere feet away. Biana was shaking against her skin, anxious yet unforgiving with her grip.

Her legs ached something fierce, but Sophie refused to give herself even a moment of reprieve. Any movement could alert Marella to her presence, and she couldn’t figure out the right way to explain this if they were caught.

Marella reached down, and Sophie nearly stopped breathing. A touch of space separated their arms, so precarious she could’ve sworn she felt the shift of the wind with it. Her heart had gotten itself lodged in her throat, the press of Biana’s skin against her own the only thing keeping her lips from quivering.

Exhaling, Marella picked up the creature, hoisting it into her arms, and it went along with it, just sitting there.

Brrr, it postulated, looking very much like a cat with the way it folded in on itself and turned into a liquid as she held it.

Not seeming to bother with anything else, she turned, her face becoming more visible, and Sophie cringed away, frightened by something she didn’t entirely understand.

A feverish light had taken hold behind Marella’s vacant eyes, burning with something that wasn’t quite her. Eyes too wide, smile too flat, limbs too loose, her blood-red wings readjusted themselves a few times as she stood, stirring the air as she began to walk away.

What-- Biana started in her mind, knocked out of some stupor as she tried to understand the friend before her.

Quiet, Sophie hissed back, mental shields reinforcing themselves on instinct. Her focus had slipped more than once recently. With the mindbubble and the proximity, it'd be her luck that her thoughts would be broadcast to everyone when she was specifically doing something she wasn’t supposed to, feet away from someone she was spying on.

Neither of them moved as they listened to the sound of those retreating footsteps, not until they’d been gone for several minutes did Biana’s grip on her face loosen, retreating back a few steps as she stumbled to the ground, sitting with her legs splayed out in front of her.

With precision and more than a little chagrin, Sophie carefully peeled her fingers away from the surface of the boulder, the little craters she’d left behind to decorate it, ensuring it wouldn’t shift the moment she let go.

That was too close, Biana whispered, hands braced on the back of her neck, looking off into the distance. They breathed for a moment, letting the adrenaline calm from their systems, but not to the point of complacency.

Every so slowly, Sophie turned to face Biana. Adorned in what looked like pajamas, soft maroon pants paired with a button up in the same shade, she looked entirely out of place in this rocky landscape. But of course, it was the wings that drew her attention, like always; colorful and splayed wide behind her, their scaled sunset pattern on full display, yet she somehow managed to keep from being dwarfed beneath them. A simple braid kept her hair out of her face, dark with moisture, like she’d just gotten out of a shower.

Entirely out of place was more than a correct description. What are you doing here?

What are you doing here, she countered crossing her arms with contempt from her position on the ground, looking up at her.

Sophie flushed, gritting her teeth, utterly caught. I was concerned for Marella.

And I was concerned for you. Still am, but Marella’s deal seems a little weirder right now, so I’m focusing more on that. Biana leaned forward, starting to get up, wings flapping slightly behind her, flickering in and out of view in time with her body.

How did...how did you find…she trailed off, not even sure what she was trying to say. They didn’t have time for this.

Biana dusted herself off, shaking some of the pollen from Sophie’s skin out of her dirtied pajamas. Sneaking around is my thing, Foster. Can you blame me for being curious when you started moving around the place at odd hours? I mean, you walked right past my house.

Had she? She hadn’t paid very close attention, just trying to puzzle out what the creature was doing--the creature.

Yes, I can. But that’s not important right now. Do you know what’s going on with Marella? she asked, already turning away, hurrying around the boulder and out into whatever lay beyond. The footsteps had faded away, so she’d need to move a little quicker to catch back up, figure out what was going on.

That conversation from earlier today just...didn’t sit right, a ship caught in a whirlpool within her stomach, tumbling down and down and down the hollow waves, dangerously close to capsizing. The questions, the avoidance...the guilt.

Is something wrong? Biana countered, reaching out to lock her fingers around Sophie’s wrists. Enhance me, it’ll be easier. The last part was added on as an afterthought.

Nodding in agreement, she plucked at the strings of her enhancing to release it, an electric hum shivering through her body, traveling into Biana’s skin, the two of them vanishing as one.

I...don’t know. I wanted to check, but I didn’t know how to ask. I tried, earlier today I mean, but it didn’t go well. I pried.

Something indescribable flickered in the forefront of Biana’s mind, but she said nothing as Sophie began pulling her along, impatient and fueled by nerves frying themselves to shreds.

Can you track her? Biana asked, quiet, almost hesitant.

Blinking, she stopped in her tracks. Oh. Yeah. That’s a thing I know how to do.

Closing her eyes to block out all the sensory information she could, she raised both hands to her temples, more a habit than a necessity at this point. Biana’s hand slid from her wrist down her arm, coming to rest on her shoulder, never breaking contact.

Pushing out her mind, she focused on the quiet rage, the pain Marella’s presence always brought, the glimmer of something more always out of sight, but there. Broadcasting her search in pulsating waves, she aimed them towards the direction she knew Marella had gone, the maze of tortured moss and rock, vast and unknowable.

Presences flickered all around her and she shuddered. So many thoughtless, hollow creatures, wandering the Earth yet dead in all the ways that mattered. It was cruel, whoever put them out into the world, to look at something so full of life and choose to unmake it into something of your own.

Faintly, she could feel Biana running her fingers through her hair, untangling a few of the knots she’d acquired over the flight. With each passing second she grew more and more restless, desperate for the feeling of Marella to light up her mind.

Anything yet? Biana asked, sounding a little preoccupied, like she was trying to work her way through a flurry of obstacles to voice the thought.

Frustrated, Sophie gritted her teeth, sending out a stronger push. I can’t--

Heat blossomed in her mind, a few of Marella’s disjointed thoughts exploding into color in the distance.

I got it! she exclaimed, bouncing slightly on her feet, feeling the grin splicing her face spread wider. Wait. Where...where is that.

The exuberance trickled out of them, the momentary victory not enough to explain what she’d found. Marella was...underground. At least, that’s what her mind was telling her, the origin of those echoing thoughts distinctly lower than ground level, and moving further downwards with each passing second.

Well, what are we waiting for? Biana countered, slipping her hand across her skin to interlace her fingers with Sophie, the more powerful energy transfer in her palms making them both jump a little. Here, I’ll help lead the way, just like in Nightfall.

Sophie’s eyes remained closed as Biana took control of Sophie’s physical well-being, helping lead her through various labyrinths of moss and rocks and dead twigs so she wouldn’t trip over them as she went, leaves blown from the forest behind them scattered throughout, only detectable by the crunching beneath their feet.

It feels wetter here, Sophie mumbled into Biana’s mind, a chill lighting her skin, yet up ahead the pulse of Marella’s mind remained constant. Stagnant, she realized, remained the air against her skin. Wait. What’s blocking the wind?

They’d come to a stop, slowing down as Biana pulled back on her wrist, fingers tightening.

Biana hesitated a moment before replying, as though uneasily looking around. I...think you should open your eyes, Sophie.

What? she replied, startled, though her eyes were already opening at the first inclination she should. Oh.

This is…

What am I...what am I even looking at? Sophie asked, utterly bemused.

Before them, a deep depression began, cutting through the land. Rock coated in moisture and dying moss tumbled down the terrain--stairs, she realized. Carved into the form of the area in such a way it took a moment to find, but those were deliberately placed. Reaching down without a rail--unsafe, if anyone asked her--those steps and chaotic rock formations descending downwards, steeper than any she’d ever seen before in her life, leading down down down into the Earth.

A cave. You’re looking at a cave, Biana told her, mental voice a little shaky.

She was right, the vast, looming space beckoning her forward looked like a cave, but--

Why would Marella sneak away to a cave? she asked, because down those precarious steps, into that jagged, leering mouth, was that ever-burning presence moving down down down into its depths.

Biana took a breath before responding. Let’s find out.

Sophie didn’t trust her body to take her down those steps with her eyes closed, so she kept them open for this part of the journey. Biana also let go of her, and she blinked as her body came back into view. Marella was far enough ahead that neither of them were worried about being seen anymore, but they liked to have the option open. Who knew what else was out here and relied on sight to hunt.

Her fingertips grew slick and moist from the moss covering those barely stairs, heart thundering into her ribs as she nearly turned the stairway into a slide, losing her balance badly enough she knew she would have coasted all the way to the bottom and crashed just a few weeks before.

But not now. Now, her wings steadied her, held her aloft with a hum as she regained her footing and continued on, Biana a few moments behind.

I’m ruining these pajamas, she commented, sounding more amused than annoyed.

That’s what you’re thinking about right now? Sophie questioned, bewildered as she turned back to make a face at her. It kept her mind off the way the air became stale. There was something else to it, something more than just stagnation that haunted the scent. It was...metallic.

Biana nodded solemnly, fingering the cuffs of her shirt, which were now dark with water. We should’ve flown. Her wings fluttered slightly behind her to emphasize the point.

I’ll keep that in mind next time we walk down a hidden path into a cave in the middle of the night.

Holding up her hands in faux surrender, like she was giving in just this once to keep her happy, Biana grinned at her. Then flinched. They both did.

It was difficult not to when the steps dropped off so suddenly, a gaping ledge at the edge of the entrance

Just another step and they’d enter the cave properly, not just the depression it was sunken into.

We’re really doing this, Biana whispered, awed.

Sophie just nodded, stealing herself for only a moment, then pressed forward, jumping off the edge into the open air.

The hum as they opened and caught her echoed throughout the space, leering back at her in a mocking imitation of herself. But she didn’t care. Not as she hovered there, back muscles straining as she turned around to look back at Biana, to encourage her to take the leap.

But Biana was already in the air, gaining height and momentum as she soared over Sophie, spinning about in a pretty loop before coming back down to meet her in the air.

Sophie thought she was smiling, but it was difficult to see her in the dark and night vision had never been a strength of hers. See. I told you we should’ve been flying.

Yeah, sure. She rolled her eyes affectionately, but it couldn’t ease the anxiety the dark brought. All the jokes, all the teasing with each other, all it could do was distract from the burning curiosity at the back of her throat, the reckless abandon with which she’d thrown herself into this situation.

Marella had walked into this cave alone, so they could do it together.

They’d put this off too long.

A faint bit of light still shone through from the gaping entrance, the moonlight bidding them one final farewell before they found something they’d never be able to undiscover.

Marella was down here somewhere, she realized with a start. Marella was down here somewhere, all alone.

Sophie cast her mind up ahead to regain that sense of direction she’d lost when opening her eyes, to figure out where the hell in these gaping caverns she’d gone. Her human family had gone to Carlsbad once on a vacation, but that had been a controlled cave with paths and railings, not at all like this uneven, natural cacophony of rock.

That burning spark had moved further and further away, but Sophie had enough of a latch on it now that she was confident they could trail Marella.

That was until her mind vanished entirely, extinguishing like a doused torch.

It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. A few minutes of bumbling their way through the dark, trying their damnedest not to make a noise.

If they could hear the dripping of the water off to their side, ringing through caverns and echoing through the air, then surely the sound of them moving--well, Sophie moving--could be heard up ahead. And with Marella’s mind vanishing, she was taking absolutely no chances.

Go go go go go. It was all she could think to say, desperation pushing her forward. Marella had to be okay. She had to be. There was simply no other option, no other ending Sophie would accept.

She didn’t want to think about why minds went silent.

Sophie--down there, Biana called out, though her sense of urgency was much less panicked and more determined. A fire had been lit behind her eyes, her mind entrenched in lighter fluid catching quick. There was no hesitation in her voice as she angled sharply down, towards the cave floor.

No, not the floor--there was something there.

Right before she slammed into the ground, Biana pulled back up, coming to rest on a small expanse of flat, stable ground half-hidden behind a myriad of other shapes and shadows. Her wings flapped anxiously behind her, at least that’s what Sophie thought.

Sophie followed, coming to a less dramatic landing, but she still nearly lost her footing, unable to see what she’d stepped on in the dark. Catching herself, nearly hitting Biana in the process of regaining what little sense of balance she had.

Frowning, she reached down, feeling along the ground to try and find the thing she’d stepped on, because it certainly hadn’t been rock. No, it had shifted and moved, unconnected to the ground. There, her fingers made contact, and she scooped it into a hand.

What’s that? Biana asked, reaching out blindly in the dark until her fingertips met Sophie’s, pulling the two of them closer together.

Running her hand up and down to try and get a feel for it in the dark, she fumbled about for an explanation. It’s like some kind of...stick. But-- her palms rubbed against something rough adorning the top, and she stopped short.

But what?

Sophie rubbed her fingers together, now oily and slick, the scent emanating from them familiar in an unsettling way. But she didn’t know where she would’ve seen something like this before aside from brief mentions of advancements in her human history classes.

It's...a torch. She mumbled, disbelief coloring the words. Like a rudimentary human torch.

Because those were flammable oils coating her fingers, soaking through the rope crudely tied around the top of the stick. Why would Marella need a torch? Was this Marella’s?

Turning to Biana, she held it out tentatively. Was this what you saw down here?

No, she replied, the faint sound of moving air accompanying her shifting wings. That was.

Frowning, Sophie took a breath. She’d need to work on her night vision in order to get through the next few minutes. Concentrating, she started off into the darkness, letting the little flickers and the knowledge that there was light somewhere in this cave guide her, her eyesight shifting just enough that everything became just a tad bit clearer. No longer was the world made of shadows, it was only haunted with them.

Blinking, she saw Biana’s arm extended, pointing to something, heart thundering in her chest and seeming to echo through the cavern.

Sophie turned.

And her heart stopped dead in her chest, stuttering through the next few beats as the burst of adrenaline hit her system.

They needed to find Marella and they needed to find her now.

Because her mind had found just enough light to discern the details in the cave wall, the claw marks gouged into the side, the spacing belonging to something much larger than she’d ever seen before.

But it was what she saw above it that gave her such pause, breath catching in her throat.

There was a symbol carved into a solid metal door, sitting agape in the shadows.

An eye, the same one that had been haunting her all those years ago and come back with such vengeance when her back was turned.

And a chain, intertwined throughout.

Sophie was through the door before she’d even decided to open it, Biana pressing in right behind her. It was left ajar; whoever had last passed through here hadn’t the time or the care to shut it. And for that she was grateful, because as she wrapped her fingers around it to push it open she realized it was several inches thick, complete with a complex latching system that had just been abandoned to the elements.

Stepping forward, several balefire sconces leapt to life along the walls, but their placement was scattered, as though multiple were missing or broken. Retreating, they winked out, only the vague shapes she could pick out on her own accompanying her. Testing, she inched forward, letting those lights ignite once again, illuminating the next few dozen feet.

The walls were solid cold stone, matte rock curving into carved pillars reaching off towards the ceiling alongside the length of the hall. It was all deep slate with a perfectly smooth finish.

Except for the claw marks gouged into the stone. Every few feet, another set could be seen, same as those outside.

Something terrible had once roamed this place, maybe still did.

Biana slipped her fingers between Sophie’s, squeezing tight as she exhaled in one big breath beside her, rhythmic, as though she were counting.

Ugh, what is she doing, Biana groaned with faux annoyance, but it couldn’t hide the tremor upsetting her mind. Sophie didn’t have time to be anxious, each passing second her heartbeat growing louder.

Questions later, she deadpanned, squeezing Biana’s hand back as she started off down the hallway. A rush of something unsettling devoured her skin, and in the flickering cast of those balefire sconces she realized could no longer see herself.

Drifting around them as they moved, the air had an...unnerving quality that she couldn’t put her finger on. It wasn’t stagnant, but it tasted almost...sterile. Too clean, artificial in a way that brought back childhood memories she’d rather forget.

As they picked up speed, fires kept igniting in front of them, more and more sconces reaching infinitely ahead, the patterns repeating themselves again and again. Pausing, she looked around, trying to see if there was anything in this hall. It couldn’t just continue like this, right?

Looking over her shoulder, only pitch black space met her. Apparently, the lights went out once you got far enough away.

Sophie Foster and Biana Vacker stood in a puddle of light in the middle of an eternal hallway, unseeing of anything on either side.

Look--the claw marks, Biana noted, her hand materializing in midair just long enough to gesture to the walls.

Tilting her head to the side, Sophie stepped a little closer, trying to see what Biana was noticing. Five deep scratches had been carved into the wall, but they weren’t humanoid in any way.

Materializing again for a brief second, her disembodied hand pointed off to their left.

Another scratch in the walls, the same five tears into that stone finish. Sophie didn’t need any direction to note the third instance, this one off to the right. Like Clockwork, every few sections of wall separated by those pillars were gouged out and cracked, having been torn through by something much bigger than the two of them.

But what does it mean, she asked herself, reaching her free hand out to finger the marks. Her fingertips were still slick with that oil, and she left glistening fingerprints on the walls every crack she touched.

The wall gave beneath her caress, something clicking in a way that would’ve been silent to anyone except her and that new hearing.

Biana pulled her back with a start, fingers tightening as her other hand came up to rest on Sophie’s chest, protective. But it was too late.

Moving on silent mechanics, the wall began to depress, sliding back and folding in on itself, curving around like some scene from Labyrinth to make an opening in the wall.

A doorway.

The hall wasn’t just infinite off into eternity--they’d been passing by doors the entire goddamned time.

Ecstasy lit her up inside like a switchboard, the stark relief that there was something something something and they were making progress.

Poking in her head, just to take a brief look around, she felt Biana pulling slightly ahead, moving into the room in its entirety. Sophie chose to stay closer to the door, just in case it started to close behind them. And maybe she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of just walking into a room underground without a backup plan to escape.

A few scattered flames flickered into existence, triggered by something they didn’t understand just like all the others. The light cast the room into uncertain shadows, but it was enough to see by. Tables, long a slender, wrapped around one half of the room, the other--

Her heart stumbled in her chest, a deep, instinctual fear telling her to run run run to get out while she still could.

It hit her then, what childhood memory this place reminded her of. The smell.

A hospital. It smelled sterile and stagnant like a hospital, like too much antiseptic and clean metal, like overhead lights buzzing in your ear and the crinkle of plastic and paper--easy to dispose of.

This is a facility, she choked out, stumbling out of the room, pulling Biana with her. She still couldn’t see her, but she could feel the tremble of her fingers in her hand, could hear the way her heart had picked up a beat, smell the sweat slicking from her palms.

There’d been several smaller facilities, hidden places scattered around the world, but none had been as fearsome as that original one. The one where everything had gone so wrong.

But that didn’t mean places like this one didn’t exist, offshoots to make sure not everything was localized, keeping animals and monsters and poking around with them or whatever they did.

Because that was a cage on the other side of the room, thick bars bent and twisted and unfurling themselves from the walls. Whatever had been kept there no wanted to be kept, had let itself out. She just hoped it wasn’t still somewhere within these walls, this hall.

That explained the symbol outside, at the very least.

Breath quickening, Sophie moved to the opposite side of the hall, pressing her fingers to about the same spot, moving her hand around until that same click sounded, the wall unfurling into a door revealing more of the same desolate decor, the sterile air.

In this room, though, there were spilled vials of various colorful liquids spreading all over the table. Deep red crusted the edges of notebooks and papers littered on every surface and floor, wrinkling and warping their appearance. Jagged and elegant, she couldn’t understand the runes written on the papers.

That wasn’t the worst thing in the room, though. No, she realized, as Biana let out a little squeak, grip tightening in Sophie’s like all that stood between the end of the world and the world itself was the two of them.

Rotted and crumbling, a skeleton sat behind the bars of this room, curling in and out of itself, sprawled in the corner, some parts a polished white and others coated in dried sinew and lingering skin. Inhuman in every sense of the word, but there was something in the back of her mind that couldn’t help but recognize the thing, to see it and understand it on some level.

Biana pulled her back out of the room. We have to find Marella--now.

I know. I know. But I don’t know how! she groaned, reaching a hand up to brace on the top of her head, like there was just some answer she could find to make this all fix itself. She’d fixed too many of the world’s problems before, but now this was personal.

Are you sure you can’t track her?

Grimacing, she dropped her hand back to her side. I can try again.

Opening her mind once more, she sent her consciousness rocketing in each direction for Marella, for a hint of anything. Any hint of a spark, any trace of a tail to follow. Again and again, her power shot out of her mind like shock waves, powerful enough Biana shifted in discomfort.

Nothing.

Panting, Sophie lowered herself to the ground, letting go of Biana’s hand to press both of her own to her temple.

“She has to be somewhere,” she croaked, throat raw from the stress coating every inch of her insides, the tension littering her muscles.

One more time. One more minute, and then they’d tear the entire place to pieces to find her--she’d call everyone else to come look, too. It didn’t matter that they’d scold them later for running off alone, for spying on a friend. As many eyes as they had would be on this area as soon as possible if she couldn’t find anything in one more try.

Gathering everything within her, she sent one last desperate, searching wave into this hall, searching for an end, searching for a lead, searching for a friend.

Nothing.

Groaning to herself, she dug her fingers into her scalp. Nothing nothing nothing again and again, the silence as deafening as it had been back when--

Wait.

A dozen moments flashed across her mind, testing and comparing and questioning.

Sophie sat up straighter, and Biana glanced side to side, like there was something she’d be able to see in this darkness.

Dark and numb and quiet. That’s what this place was, that’s where Marella’s mind had gone.

“Of course,” she hissed, jumping to her feet. “Don’t let me bump into anything.” The last part was directed at Biana, who was looking at her with hesitant hope.

“You found her?”

“No, but I think I can. I have to find my blind spots.” She explained, closing her eyes as she reached out again, searching for the center of that emptiness her voice had vanished into.

Biana hesitated for a moment, processing. “What?”

Sophie waved her arms in a brief explanation that didn’t explain anything. “Quiet. Monsters. Marella. It makes sense.”

Because it did, and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t put the pieces together sooner.

Marella’s mind had become undetectable, and every since then she’d been unable to find any mind other than Biana’s within this emptiness, but if she was right, that would disappear soon as well. She hoped she was right.

That day, just a few weeks ago, had she not made the same realization? Neither her nor Fitz could pick up on that mind approaching, and they’d burst into the wrong room without realizing there were swaths of people behind it.

Monsters were quiet. They made everything quiet, casting a thick blanket of emptiness over those near them.

Marella must’ve been near one, one powerful enough to snuff out a mind she knew so well, to hide it from her at her most desperate.

So she’d follow the emptiness, the silence. She’d follow it to it’s core as it got louder and louder until she found Marella. Searching for her like a blind spot, just like she’d said.

She just hoped her realization didn’t come too late.

Turn upon turn, rooms and stone and doors merging upon themselves and melding into a maze she couldn’t understand. How do you find a blind spot? She couldn’t see it, her eyes shut tight as they were.

Biana held her hand the entire way, the creaking grinds off opening passages and the overwhelming power of rot and rubbing alcohol and ruin pressing against her face as they moved.

MARELLA, she called out, desperate. It echoed into the emptiness pouring into her mind, as though the further she went the deeper and thicker the water grew. Wading through tar would’ve been easier than transmitting to Marella. But that’s not what she was trying to do.

It vanished into the murky fog, but with direction. Casting it all about, there was a direction where it became muddiest, traveled the least.

That’s the direction she indicated to Biana, letting her handle the doors and the moving, Sophie concerned with keeping that hold, that single gleam of hope amongst an otherwise bleak existence. Because at the other end was Marella. It had to be. There was nothing else she’d accept.

Again and again she called out, keeping them on the right track, though it was difficult with all the twists and turns. Ignoring how difficult it would be to get back out, Sophie furrowed her brow further.

But they’d stopped moving.

Biana’s arm was pressed against Sophie’s middle, holding her back. “Um. Sophie. I think you need to see this,” she whispered, breath trembling as she exhaled oh so slowly.

Sophie opened her eyes. Sophie let her hands fall to her sides.

Framed on either side by a once-extravagant curling arch, the world reoriented itself in her mind. The balefire sconces on either side tried desperately to illuminate the vast, unending cavern before her, but it simply couldn’t reach far enough. It would never be enough.

Mouth agape, Sophie stepped forward, moving through that arch and into the end of the world.

Wet and craggy, the smooth polish of the floors turned to rough rock, dropping off into an edge like the side of a cliff only a dozen feet in front of her.

A cave, vast and eternal. This was a true hollow beneath the earth, unending. A few wrong moves and she’d get lost in this molten black with no way back, stranded.

Because it was pitch black, the ceiling practically non existent it was so far away--when had they gotten so deep underground?

A cough rang out behind her, and she turned to see Biana’s arm pressed to her face, her eyes watering from the putrid rot and mold growing everywhere they could touch.

What had this facility been hiding down here?

Cautiously, Sophie reached out her mind. Nothing. As far as she could reach she sensed nothing, no one, nowhere. It wouldn’t do her any good to just go rushing off into the dark. She was reckless but she wasn’t that reckless--that was something Keefe would do, which meant she absolutely shouldn’t do it. Taking a single moment to get her bearing and solidify an approach could be the difference between life and death later. That didn’t mean she liked the wait, though.

“We have to find her,” she whispered, wings humming to life at her back, turning to look over her shoulder one last time to meet Biana’s eye.

But Biana wasn’t there.

Whirling, she turned back around, squinting out into that darkness, that open cavern with no boundaries. She could’ve sworn she saw a hint of the void grinning back at her. Perhaps Biana had flown off ahead of her, had moved when Sophie had frozen. But if she had, she was vanished and Sophie couldn’t detect a trace of her, not even the slight flapping of her wings in this dead silence.

Brr.

Sophie flinched, muscles all jumping to high alert at that single noise. She knew exactly what that noise meant.

A light exploded into existence in the distance like a beacon.

Fire.

Marella.

Found her.

How strange it was that concern for another could be so powerful any thought for yourself would vanish like an extinguished candle, hardly a puff of smoke to remember that self-preservation by.

Sophie was in the air and she didn’t know how she’d gotten there.

Heavy nothing pressed against her eyes, none of the shapes she knew existed registering in her conscious mind. It was too dark.

But that flash of flame--such a brilliant red-- had shot so high, so bright. The cavern had been illuminated for just long enough she’d been able to burn the image into her mind, knew there was nothing but open open space ahead of her.

She forced herself to think over the rest of the image, the cracked floor and frozen trickle of water that marred its surface. But she was in the air, so that didn’t matter. Why was she thinking of it?

“Marella!” she called out, desperate, hoping hoping hoping for another burst of light, a hint of direction. Her mind had become useless, the heavy lull of the presence of something keeping her suppressed, unable to reach out or track her any further.

Wait.

The presence of something.

Lead filled her heart, choked her lungs, tore her to pieces. So desperate, she’d been, to find Marella, to figure out where she was. She’d even made the connection between here and that first facility. The monsters, the blanket over her mind, the dampening of her ability.

There was something here.

And Marella was near it.

“MARELLA,” she called, listening to the echo back at her. If only Tam were here, maybe he’d be of some use in this environment. Some shade trick, some sleight of hand acquired from those bat wings of his.

A puff of flame answered her call, and her focus narrowed in.

No hesitation crossed her mind as everything became that one spot. She didn’t even register what that brief light illuminated, the marks on the ground, the curls of smoke that smelled faintly of burning sugar.

Towards the back of this cavern, or perhaps it was the middle, an outcrop of rock jutted into the sky, raised a bit higher than its surroundings. That’s what she’d noticed with that light in that moment.

Brr.

There. The sound came from so close she could’ve sworn she could see it, touch it. Something unfamiliar rippled through her body, coursing hollow electricity through her mind as her skin shuddered against her will. Air rushed past her mind, echoing further and further away, her ears ringing.

Wet rock and moss slammed against her, sending her crashing to her knees on the ground, hands splayed before her. What? That wasn’t possible--she hadn’t been close enough yet, hadn’t reached where she’d meant to be.

Stifling a yelp, Sophie pressed to her feet, and the wobbling of her mind told her if she could see the floor it would be swimming before her, undulating and curving in an unnatural way, nearly sending her to her knees again. Get it together, she scolded herself, trying to shake the feeling away.

Exhaustion pulled at her eyes, a deep desire to calm down and let all her worries fade away, nearly undoing all the effort she’d put into this trip.

Brr.

Just ahead of her, that’s where the noise came from.

“Oh? What are you hissing at?” Marella. That was Marella’s voice saying those words. Why?

That creature, that little echo. She’d taken it. Taken it and vanished into the earth.

Hissing? It wasn’t hissing, couldn’t she hear? Was it not clear the casual deference in its sound, as though bored with this whole ordeal.

But Marella. That was Marella, safe and alive and whole and so so so close. Where was she--the darkness remained relentless, impenetrable. Even if she’d had her sense of balance she doubted she could force her way through this empty smog, not this deep in.

She didn’t have to.

Brr.

The sound--behind her, it was behind her so she whirled, wings steadying her with a hum as she staggered into position.

It blinked at her. A pair of eyes, pure white, a ripple washing down its body as each of those white stripes she’d caressed not so long ago burst to light, incandescent, a beacon. Tumbling down and around and flooding the air, specks of dust turned to glitter rain and the wet rock beneath her feet shivering into life.

And it was as that light burst from it’s little body, curling through the air and guiding her, that illuminated Marella. It was still in Marella’s arms, but she was facing away from her, dragon wings draping down her back, falling around her as she looked off off off into the darkness that wasn’t so dark anymore.

And it was that light that killed her and left her to rot. Curling through the air, rippling through the world in waves, that light was bouncing back, bringing something else out of the dark and into the light.

That pure light turned into a deep red, glinting off claws and leather flesh and dripping dripping dripping into the ground.

Marella stood in front of a dragon.

There was nothing more beautiful, more alive in this world than being afraid. A pounding heart reminded her of all the blood she could lose, the tremble of each muscle a gentle threat of all the power she could be, the potential she could hold if only she was willing to throw her head back in the wind and embrace it as her.

This moment was beautiful in that Sophie Foster’s lungs moved too quick for her to count, in that Marella was oh so close to that thing and the thought of it set her alight.

She didn’t say a word, didn’t need to. Nothing more than a silent observer, Sophie feared.

As though the light against its scales were sparks hitting tinder, a warm glow burst to life beneath its skin, illuminating like a forge in its belly, lighting it up from the inside out as it raised its head, burnt sugar scented smoke leaking from its mouth as it exhaled oh so slowly.

Sprawled on its side, its appearance became visible: deep ruby scales to match the ones at Marella’s back, eyes a hollow white, the right one marred through with several deep scratches still fresh. Its body wrapped around itself, forming a crescent on top of this raised dais. A crescent Marella stood in the center of, that echo held tight in her arms, no hint of fear to be seen.

“Will you let me approach, now?” Marella whispered, not looking at it.

What are you doing, she called out with her mind, desperate, but she could feel it fall flat. It didn’t stop her from trying. A heavy silence pressed over this place, stole her breath, and she feared if she spoke it would be the last time she did so.

Her mind was unreachable despite such close proximity, guarded and elusive enough it may as well have been that of the dragon.

Whatever kept Marella safe so close to that creature, she did not dare disturb further.

What next and what to do? Look look look at me the answer said and yet she could not find it, saw only the glint of scales and the hollow of this chamber and the nothing nothing nothing on all side.

It was nothing.

The answer.

Do nothing.

Sophie stood frozen as stone as Marella stepped forward, closer to that dragon.

Its head turned towards the sound of her approach--it couldn’t see. It was relying on sound and scent and everything in between but it could not see. That slash through its eye must’ve blinded it.

It exhaled in a snarl, great bellowing curls of smoke adding to the miasma.

Marella did not flinch and Sophie could only watch stare fear as it pressed closer and closer and closer, the ground beneath them rumbling as it started to shift to its feet.

The shift allowed it to press its head right up beside Marella, head nearly half the size of her.

Slowly, determined, Marella’s hand moved from the echo in her arms, reaching out out out, skin meeting scale as she exhaled, the palm of her hand glowing with that same burning light that came from this beast’s throat, shining through as it puffed a lick of flame against her face.

Like calls to like.

The saying popped into her mind, but its origin eluded her.

Marella’s head bowed as she moved closer, resting her forehead against that of the dragon, encased in smoke. Each breath they took, they took in tandem.

A faint grinding sound, something ancient, snapped into place and their heartbeats synced; Marella’s existence could barely be heard over the cacophony of the dragon, its thunderous presence.

Whatever this was, it would pass. It had to. Sophie would get Marella, find Biana, and get them both out of here. Whatever was happening, she’d fix it. Everything would be okay. She just had to wait it out, see it through.

Something screamed.

From way off in the distance.

Wretched and wet and echoing.

The dragon’s head snapped up, huffing.

Marella turned, quick as a whip.

Her eyes were lidded and vacant, her breathing rhythmic.

But that’s not what caught Sophie’s attention.

It was the glow, the heat, emanating from those eyes. Alive. Marella was burning alive from the inside out.

The intensity of that gaze had her stumbling back, unnerved. Her hand flew to press against her sides, searching instinctively for those pockets, those missing pockets. Throwing stars, there were supposed to be throwing stars on her person, but there weren’t any pockets in her clothes because these weren’t meant for fighting.

She was. What devastating, effervescent beauty, to be born to fight. A fury in her soul refused to quiet, the remnants of her haunting lull on the battlefield never content.

Her pain would not be tamed.

Sophie’s hand slipped into a pocket; something pressed against her fingertips.

Unthinking, she withdrew it.

Her imparter cast a murky light into the growing smoke, the fog, but it remained devastatingly legible.

A cascade of messages had come through in the past few minutes alone.

Fitz had sent question after question, out of his mind with worry. Why couldn’t he reach her? Where was she? Was she hurt?

But there was another message from someone unexpected. Maruca had reached out, one sentence. But those three words may as well have slit her throat for the way she choked.

Linh’s gone missing.

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