Jecca Mehlota (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jecca_mehlota) wrote2007-07-28 01:02 am
jecca_mehlota) wrote2007-07-28 01:02 am
Now look what you've made me do, Aniko!
Back in January, I was struck by madness and slammed this thing into a word document. It's two original characters. One of them - Jade - is mine. Hotaru Okame was created by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
travelers_flame but I've been given free reign over her. I did ask specific permission to do this, though, because it's not nice to send anyone to Silent Hill.
They both have quite a bit of history behind them (and, yes, they are in a very, very bizarre and messed up relationship of sorts). If anyone aside from Ani actually reads this and wants to know what the heck is going on, uh. Ask. I am really only posting this now because, well, for one, Silent Hill has literally come up from six different people in the last 36 hours or so, and Okame and Jade've been bugging me, so I ended up asking Aniko if she'd seen the entirety of this story (I know I'd sent her the beginning). No, she'd not, but all I could find was the one saved with html-tags, so instead of cutting them all out, I just posted it.
This is... fairly unedited. I'm rather bad at editing my own work, so couple that with me being up literally all night writing this and you've probably got a lot of missing words. Oops. >.>? Feel free to point out any errors.
Endtil
She hated it here. Not for the first time, Hotaru wondered to herself how, exactly, Jade had managed to convince her it would be better to stay in town for the night. She could handle whatever creatures came out of the darkness. She could handle the cold that was only intensified by lack of proper shelter. She was even pretty sure she could handle walking all through the night, if Jade didn't want to settle down in the woods to sleep.
Anything to be somewhere else.
They were staring.
She stepped closer to Jade, who had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to scan the streets. A man glanced at the two of them as he passed, and Hotaru frowned and again inched closer to her traveling companion.
Jade rolled her head lazily to look over her shoulder at Hotaru. "What're y'doing?"
"I should think it obvious, Jade. I'm annoying you." Hotaru smiled faintly as Jade's blank expression hardened into a halfhearted sneer. "Let's go?"
"You've been saying that since we got here," Jade complained, but she did start walking again.
"And I'll keep saying it until we leave."
Jade made an irritated noise in the back of her throat. "You could have stayed in the room and gone to sleep." She stopped again and crossed her arms as she looked up and down the streets.
Hotaru shrugged, though she knew the other woman couldn't see her. "But if I'd done that, we wouldn't be having this lovely conversation, now would we?"
"And wouldn't that just be a terrible loss." The rolling of her eyeballs was audible and Hotaru grinned, despite her discomfort. After a moment, Jade ducked her head and shifted so that the majority of her weight was on her left foot, her standard 'lost in thought' pose.
A man and woman walking together passed them, and Hotaru felt their eyes on her. As they passed, she turned to see them. Their faces were obscured, and the more she squinted, the less she could see of them. A dark haze seemed to be crawling out of their skin. She turned away, but noticed the same tint on the other people near her.
"... Okame?"
She blinked in surprise when Jade called her name and peered up at the taller woman. "Sorry?"
Jade scowled at her. "I asked if you'd gotten your hearing checked yet."
"Of course. They told me it was perfect." She smiled a little too nicely and looked back out at the street, noting with vague interest that the other people on the streets had seen fit to regrow their faces while she'd been looking away.
She spoke again after a long pause. "Let's go to the graveyard."
"...The graveyard." Jade shook her head. "After complaining all evening about staying in Endtil, you suddenly decide you want to visit the graveyard."
"It's right near here. Just outside town." She didn't really want to go, she realized. Maybe Jade would say no.
"Why?" She was obviously expecting a reply, but Hotaru remained silent. Jade waited a full minute before finally uncrossing her arms (if only to then put her hands on her hips) and asking again, "The graveyard?"
Hotaru nodded, mute. It was just a feeling...
Jade sighed heavily and shrugged. "Right, whatever. Lead the way, if you know where it is."
They started walking, and Hotaru ducked her head to watch the ground beneath her feet so that she could avoid the stares of the townsfolk.
~-~-~
"...And we're here because...?" Jade leaned against the fence surrounding the area.
"Did you notice how everyone was staring at us back there?" Hotaru asked as she glanced around, trying to orient herself.
"...Okame, the only one staring was you. At everyone else." Another eyeroll from Jade. Hotaru turned and walked off to the right, knowing Jade would follow again after a moment.
She paused when the path split and looked around.
"Over there." The voice was small, but confident.
Hotaru turned around, trying to determine where it had come from. Jade was staring at the sky as is terribly bored, but standing a little to her left was a small child wearing mostly gray. He was pointing off to the side.
She pointed in the same direction, a questioning look on her face, and he nodded. "Thank you," she told him.
Jade caught her attention for a moment as she turned her gaze down and raised a questioning eyebrow at her, and when Hotaru looked back, the boy was gone.
They walked in the indicated direction, Jade staying just a few steps behind.
"This is the place," Hotaru informed her once they'd stopped again. "'O.' I'll... be quick." Jade shrugged.
The tree was as she'd remembered: twisted around and looking as though it could fall over from a slight breeze. But...
Gone.
This isn't right.
darkness run run blood screaming blood thunder run run run please not her anyone but her please it's so dark -
"It's gone, how can it be gone? It was right here, I swear it was right here, oh god how?"
"Okame-"
"Please, I swear it was here, I know, I'm telling the truth, you have to believe me!"
"Okame."
"I don't know what happened! Why would they remove it? It's supposed to be there!"
"Hotaru!"
She gasped and saw again. Jade was staring down at her, face twisted in confusion. Hotaru blinked up at her several times before realizing she had grabbed onto Jade's arm in one hand and shirt in another and been talking.
"It's gone," she repeated.
"What is gone?" Jade used her free hand to pry Hotaru's fingers from her shirt. She didn't try to dislodge Hotaru's grip on her wrist.
"It... It's not there, Jade." Why was she not listening?
"Gravestone?"
"It should be there," Hotaru insisted, tugging on Jade's arm.
"...Is your blood sugar low or something?" Jade frowned at her, starting to sound annoying. "It's getting dark; you probably missed it. Look again, if it's bothering you that much."
Hotaru slowly released her grip on Jade's wrist. "Right... Sorry, I..."
"Whatever." Jade rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. "Look, I'm going back, so try not to take too long."
"A-all right." Hotaru nodded and waved as Jade pivoted and strode back towards the gate without bothering to glance back.
As Jade's footsteps faded off into the dusk, Hotaru stood and carefully examined the area from the path.
It was quiet.
She shrugged it off and crossed over to the gnarled tree and leaned against the trunk. It should be visible from here, and she still didn't know why she was doing this. Nothing good would come of it, and Jade was over at the entrance, probably bored.
She was hungry, she realized.
Maybe Jade had the right idea. This was a stupid idea, it was late, they were both tired... She knelt down on the ground and lightly ran her fingers over the withered grass and decided. If she woke up in the morning and still wanted to come here, she'd do so.
Smiling faintly, she stood and dusted off her knees and the ends of her long coat. Jade'd probably make some annoying comment or another, but really she wasn't going to tell her she couldn't come back.
She slowed her pace as she exited through the cemetery's gates. "Hey, Jade? I'm ready."
No response, so she called out again. "Jade?"
Maybe when she'd said she was going back, she'd meant back to the room they'd rented for the night. Hotaru made a face, half annoyed and half amused. It'd be like her to do something like that.
"Well, I hope you're not still here, because I'm leaving. See you at the room, then." She waved to the graveyard. Something flickered back at her from beyond the gate and she turned away to hurry back into the town.
~-~-~
The bridge across the river. She faltered as she approached it and looked around. A light fog had started to creep in, but beyond that was nothing she could see or hear that hadn't been there when she'd left, but that didn't mean...
Nothing would come from the other side. The town was on the other side. She turned around and, backwards, stepped onto the bridge. Slowly, she made it halfway across then spun and sprinted the rest of the way. She ducked behind the wall put up around the small city and stopped, straining to hear behind her.
Nothing.
She sighed heavily and pushed herself off the wall. She must have taken longer than she'd thought, she realized. The streets were empty. Just as well, really, she decided as she turned down the road that led to the hotel she and Jade were staying in.
She didn't encounter anyone along the way, though once she thought she saw someone on the other side of the street. They didn't seem to notice her, and she was content to hurry on her way. Better they didn't see her.
Why had she agreed to stay the night here?
The door to the hotel creaked loudly as she entered, startling her a bit. The lights by the reception desk were off, though, so she at least didn't have to face someone on her way through the lobby. ...Though, now that she thought about it, most of the lights were out. Strange, that.
She paused outside the door of their room. It was so very quiet... Maybe she'd been a lot longer than she's thought. Hopefully Jade hadn't gone to bed already. Hotaru grimaced as she thought it, though she knew the worst Jade would do would be to glare sleepily at her.
She tried the door - it opened. She eased it open a crack. The lights were all off inside so, quietly as possible, she slipped in and closed the door behind her.
... It smelled of smoke. She coughed and covered her mouth and wondered where it could be coming from. There was certainly no fireplace in the room. Outside, obviously, but she hadn't smelled it from the street.
Hotaru shuffled towards the beds and squinted at them. Which one was occupied?
"Jade?" she whispered, hoping the other woman wasn't asleep yet. She listened carefully, but heard no reply. She sighed and approached the closer bed. It was, she quickly noted, unoccupied, but she shot a glance towards the other one, anyway.
... It was empty, she realized.
"Jade?" she called, louder this time. "You in here?" She had said she was going back, right? She hadn't been at the graveyard, she was sure of that. Hotaru knew she would have seen her.
'Maybe she's just getting food,' she thought, well aware that she didn't really believe it was a possibility. 'She wouldn't have just left.'
She squinted around the room again, then raised her left hand and concentrated for a moment. It was hard to focus and hard to contain, but finally a small glow began to appear above her palm. As the room lit, she looked around carefully.
There was no way Jade had been back. Both beds were still neatly made, and a closer examination of the small table on the other side of the room revealed a thin layer of dust covering everything. The window, she noted, was open and the source of the smell of smoke.
Strange.
It was all so very strange.
Hotaru leaned over towards the window, intending to either shut it or determine where, exactly, the smoky smell was coming from, or hopefully both. As she reached for the sill, though, she shuddered and, suddenly nervous and feeling watched, turned and quickly went back out into the hallway.
~-~-~
She walked slower through the halls this time, taking careful note of the state of things. Some of the doors were opened slightly, and none of the lights were on anywhere. When she stopped, held her breath, and listened, she couldn't hear anything aside from her own heartbeat.
The reception desk was still unoccupied, but she was almost expecting it by then. She glanced over the counter briefly, but didn't see anything worth a closer look.
Hotaru bit her lip and closed her fist, extinguishing the small light she'd created. There was enough natural light coming in from the entrance. She crossed the room and sat on the bench against the wall.
"All right," she told herself. "There's no one to be found here in the hotel. Jade's gone and gotten herself lost somehow.
"Now what do you do?"
If Jade were here, what would she do? If she noticed things were amiss, anyway. Probably go out and find someone and demand some answers, right?
Hotaru stood up and dusted off her coat. "Well, then! To the streets, it is."
~-~-~
Unfortunately, it seemed the rest of the town was as empty as the hotel had been. Hotaru sighed and tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear. Something felt off, and while that wasn't really anything new for her, this was... different.
It was as if everyone had simply ceased to exist. Or maybe she'd been the one to...
Her eyes widened slightly and, suddenly panicked, she ran down the street as fast as she could manage. The fog had spread out and thickened up, making it harder for her to see, and as she strained to see ahead, she forgot to watch her feet, and tripped.
She landed on her hands and knees and stayed put, catching her breath and her wits. Once she felt she'd calmed somewhat, she sat down on the pavement and looked around, trying to orient herself.
Ah, there was the small drugstore that had been... near her home when she was younger. She winced, but stood up and approached it, anyway. As she got closer, she thought she saw something moving through the windows.
'Finally!' She quickened her pace and knocked open the door.
"Hello, is someone -" She froze.
There was certainly someone behind the counter. Someone? Something. It was facing her, or at least she thought it must be.
It had no eyes.
She grimaced and stepped back. "H-hello?"
When she spoke, its head jerked towards her, and it took a few unsteady steps around the counter. Once it had made it that far, though, it stopped and cocked its head, listening.
Rather, she thought it might be listening. Its entire body seemed to be spasm every several seconds, and it posed itself awkwardly, so it could have just been a coincidence. Either way, it didn't move towards her again, and after several long minutes in which she barely breathed, it slowly eased back behind the counter again.
She held still a minute longer then, convinced it wasn't going to move suddenly, carefully approached it, doing her best to make as little noise as possible. It was hard when the floorboards kept creaking, but the... eyeless thing didn't seem to pay any mind to the small groaning noises given off when she stepped on some of the boards.
Finally, she stood directly opposite the creature. It looked mostly humanoid, though its back was hunched and she couldn't tell if it was supposed to be male or female. Its skin, she decided, looked fake. Shiny. She resisted the urge to touch it. As she'd already seen, it had no eyes, merely sunken pits where they must have once been. No lips, either, though, she mused, she wasn't really sure the line across its face was actually a mouth. It was unreal.
Curiosity more than satisfied, she slowly backed away from it, not wanting to take her eyes off it. Unfortunately, she wasn't watching where she was going, and her foot caught a display case full of unlabeled cans. They went crashing to the ground and the thing behind the counter lurched towards the source of the noise faster than she had thought possible, considering how slowly it had moved before.
She hurried backwards, but now it seemed to know where she was and turned towards her again. Hotaru winced and stepped back more, only to realize half a second too late that she'd just passed the door. She turned her head to look behind herself and realized she was about to pin herself against a wall.
Unfortunately, the distraction she caused herself by turned allowed the eyeless thing to catch up to her, and it latched onto her arm with one hand while reaching for her face with the other.
Hotaru shouted in surprise and fear and pulled back as best she could, but the thing's hand pressed against her face, anyway. It was cold and smooth, and almost slimy. She could feel the thing's touch, cold and wispy, all the way through her body, and she shoved at it with her free arm, desperately wanting it to be gone.
She tried to pull away again, only to find herself running up against the far wall of the small store. "Hey!" It was too strong! She fought against it, simultaneously tugging on her arm and trying to force the thing backwards, but it wouldn't let go.
At least it hadn't been inclined to do anything else yet, she found herself thinking, just before it snarled and opened its mouth to expose sharp, jagged teeth.
"Help! Someone!" She didn't hear anyone coming and it was too close, so finally, reluctantly, she relaxed her tenuous grip on the energies bottled up inside her. She didn't feel any immediate difference, but before her eyes, the creature went into convulsions and dropped to the floor, where it gradually stopped moving altogether.
As she lifted her gaze from the darkening shape, the shadows in the room danced around her and harsh voices began to whisper in her mind, speaking a language she couldn't understand. Suddenly dizzy and overwhelmed, Hotaru slumped back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor, losing consciousness.
~-~-~
Her head was pounding. The blood rushing through her ears blocked out any sounds that may have been present. Wearily, Hotaru rubbed at her face and opened her eyes slightly. It was entirely too bright out.
She had nearly gone back to sleep when she remembered why she'd passed out in the first place. She sat up with a gasp and tried to scoot backwards, but the wall she'd fallen against was still behind her.
In fact, she noticed as she looked around, the only thing missing was the body of the creature that had attacked her.
She stared down at the spot she knew it had fallen to, stupefied. It couldn't have gotten up and walked off! It had been dead! Right?
She shook her head and, although she was feeling rattled, managed to get her feet back underneath herself by using the wall for support. Maybe the whole thing had just been a crazy dream or hallucination. No way something that weird looking could exist, much less be running around town.
Hotaru started to laugh, nervously, at herself, but remembered how quickly the thing, which may or may not have even existed, had moved after hearing her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound. Definitely time to leave the store. She didn't want to be here when the owners got back and saw the mess. She staggered out as fast as she could manage.
The streets were still as empty, foggy, and gloomy as they'd been when she'd entered the little shop. She must not have been out for too long, then. That was a relief. Hotaru glanced around, not sure where she wanted to head next.
Someplace quiet, where she could think for a few minutes would be ideal. Not the streets, since she was sure that, any time now, someone would come by and ask her what she was doing, standing in front of the door. The park, maybe.
... Jade kind of liked parks, anyway, when there weren't other people in them. Maybe she'd be there. Hotaru shuffled slowly down the street, hopeful.
~-~-~
The road remained empty the entire way, for which Hotaru was thankful. She stepped into the small park that sat in approximately the center of town and paused. From her point at the proper entrance, she could see most of the park. There was a small swing set off to the left, a slide behind it, and over to the right there was a patch of grass with some benches on the far end.
She sighed softly and wandered over to the swings, where she dropped heavily into the center seat and looped her arms around the chains. She was tired, but she didn't want to go back to the room until she located Jade. She was confident Jade hadn't been back yet, either. If she'd been going back, she would have been there before Hotaru arrived. Besides, the room smelled - and felt - funny.
Sighing again, she scuffed at the sand and pebbles underfoot and tried not to think about the incident in the store again. The thing was... There was no way...
"Oh, whatever," she muttered. Her head hurt too much to try and make sense of anything that had happened in the last few hours. She squeezed her eyes shut and decided she was just blaming it all on the town, and when she found Jade, they were leaving even if she had to knock her out and drag her.
"Ugh." Hotaru rubbed at her eyes and wished her headache would let up. What a stupid idea, attacking a monster that probably hadn't even been there in the first place. She was going to be feeling the effects all week, she was sure. Maybe they could spend a few extra days in the next town so she could recover a little.
She was also beginning to feel as if she were being watched again. Hotaru gasped and jumped slightly as a drop of water landed on her leg and she glanced up reflexively. The sky's overcast appearance hadn't changed so, she concluded, it probably wouldn't start storming. Still, maybe it would be better to...
Something shuffled in the dirt behind her and she froze momentarily before darting up and sprinting out of the park.
~-~-~
She didn't stop running until she'd made it several blocks, at which point it occurred to her that she hadn't even bothered to see what she'd run away from. Maybe it was just someone's pet, or the wind. Hotaru laughed at herself, though she winced as she noted the tint of nervousness in it. What would Jade think if she could see her now?
'Stupid girl... Getting all worked up over nothing. It's just one night, anyway.' She glared at the buildings around her and was struck by the sudden urge to stick her tongue out. She suppressed it, not wanting to somehow jinx herself, and instead choose to stare down at her sneakers and just walk.
'Hey,' she told herself in an attempt to justify it. 'Sometimes it works.'
~-~-~
She looked up as the smell of smoke came back. She couldn't hear any fires burning, nor could she see any smoke, but there it was again. She wrinkled her nose and raised one hand to her face as if to block the smell out and glanced around again. There was a source, of course. There had to be. It was just a matter of finding it. She paused as she realized where she was.
She should be surprised, really, she reflected. Or at least, there should be some sort of reaction. She turned slightly so she was facing the gate straight on, instead of having to look over her shoulder. Hotaru wasn't even sure how she'd arrived here. She'd been heading in the opposite direction... hadn't she?
Through the gate and across the small lawn, the house she'd been raised in sat almost as if it had been waiting for her.
"You're not quite what I had in mind when I was thinking I wanted to go home, you know," she informed it. She was smiling faintly and she wasn't sure why, but she reached out and bumped the gate open.
The yard looked well kempt enough, she guessed. They probably still paid someone to come in and see to it every so often, of course. Whoever had come through last, though, had forgotten to snip off the dead flowers from the bushes by the house. Hotaru absently reached out and broke off one that was too close to the door.
The handle turned easily. She stepped inside, not thinking about what she was doing or why, because she didn't want to know the answers. It was too dark to see inside, so again she called out a small light to form, though this time she expended extra energy and imbued it into the dead flower she was still clutching. She held it up like a candle and looked around. The room was empty.
The entire house, actually. There wasn't much in the way of furniture on the first floor. Hotaru shrugged it off. It wasn't as though there would have been anyone around to use any of it, anyway. She slowly crossed through the building and headed up the stairs, running the fingers of her free hand along the few flat surfaces she passed along the way and leaving trails in the dust settled there.
At the foot of the stairs, she paused. There was no reason to be here, no reason to continue. She'd probably get in trouble if anyone saw her. Hotaru almost turned to leave, but found she couldn't. Slowly, she started up the stairs, feeling as though she were in a trance.
The upstairs wasn't much different from the down. There were a few pieces of furniture, but it was all covered. Hotaru drifted into the room she had shared with her sister and closed the door behind her. Still in a daze, she stopped in the center of the dark room, knelt down, and placed the dead flower on the floor before her. She stared at the faded petals listlessly and tried not to notice as the shadows danced closer.
Her ears rang and her breath caught. Any moment now...
~-~-~
The smell of smoke and burning hair caused her to jolt upright. The flower had stopped glowing at some point, and she was suddenly painfully aware of the silence of the room. Light was coming in the window.
What had happened?
Her cheek was cold from where it had been pressed against the floor, and her arm was tingling unpleasantly.
Voices in the darkness. Eyes in the shadows. Her throat hurt.
Hotaru shivered. Maybe Jade had been right. Maybe her blood sugar was low or something. She looked up, half expecting to see someone sitting on the bed. No one was there, of course, so Hotaru stood up, brushed at her coat, and walked out of the room, leaving the dead blossom in the center of the floor.
~-~-~
It was still drizzling when she left the house. The walkway leading from the door to the gate was beginning to look damp. Hotaru frowned, but stepped into the cold rain, anyway. She didn't bother to latch the gate behind her as she left the property. Whoever had been there before her hadn't bothered, either, so it must not matter too much.
"Hey."
She jumped, twisted around and put her arms up in a defensive position, prepared to attack. Jade... smiled? She looked surprised and a bit confused. Probably wondering why she'd just reacted like that.
"There you are!" Hotaru crossed her arms and stood up straight. "What, did you think that was some kind of joke, or did you just get lost?"
"Eh?" Jade raised an eyebrow.
Hotaru wasn't about to let her start in with a sarcastic lecture. "Honestly, Jade, that wasn't funny, leaving me back at the cemetery like that. Next time just-"
"Woah, hold it!" Jade held her hands up in a surrendering gesture. "Have we even met? I was just going to ask if you knew were everyone had gotten off to!"
Hotaru blinked at her. "What do you mean, have we...?" She trailed off as she studied the woman before her. It wasn't Jade. She clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry! I thought you were someone else for a moment there!"
The other shrugged easily. "No problem. Happens, right?"
"Well, considering who I mistook you for, you probably ought to feel insulted." Hotaru smiled humorlessly. "At any rate, I am sorry. I shouldn't have gone off on you like that... What's your name?"
"Jane." She held out a hand. "Nice t'meet you, Hotaru."
"Likewise," Hotaru replied as they shook hands. "You know, you look like someone I know. Your names are even similar! How strange is that?"
"Go figure." Jane smirked and put her hands in her pockets. "Hey, do you know what's going on? I haven't seen many people around here lately. Some out of town celebration or something?"
Hotaru shook her head. "I'm not sure... Might just be this weather they're avoiding." She started walking, ready to be away from the house. Jane followed, half a step behind.
~-~-~
"You wanna rest a bit?"
Hotaru stopped, surprised. "I can keep going, if you'd rather." Since when did Jade care if...
Right. Not Jade. She turned around. "I am a little tired, though," she admitted.
Jane nodded. ''There's a spot just ahead where we can sit and rest a while. Here, this way." She headed towards an alley where a set of wooden stairs led up to the second story of the houses surrounding them. She sat on the seventh step, about halfway up. Hotaru debated for a moment going up and sitting beside her new companion, but opted to sit more towards the bottom.
Jane rested her arms on her knees. "So what are you doing here, anyway?"
"I'm..." Hotaru paused. What was she doing here, really? "I was just planning on spending the night with a... friend. We're headed back towards the bigger cities, and it's safer in the towns."
She was going to continue, but Jane's expression scrunched in confusion. "If you're traveling with someone, then where are they?"
"Good question," Hotaru sighed. "We went out towards the graveyard earlier. I wanted to - Anyway, she went back ahead of me. Haven't seen her since." Jane thankfully didn't ask what Hotaru'd been wanting. Voicing it wouldn't help, though it might make her feel stupider for going in the first place. "Now I'm trying to find her again."
"Ah."
She expected more of a response, maybe a grumpy retort, but no, when Hotaru twisted around to look up behind herself, Jane seemed to be considering what she'd said.
"The graveyard, huh?" she finally asked. "We could go back and look for her."
Hotaru nodded, assuming Jane was looking down at her. "I was planning on doing that eventually, if I couldn't find her here in town."
"And you haven't, have you? She's probably not here."
"No, probably not. Look, not to be rude, I do appreciate the company, but is there something you should be doing? I don't want to take up your time."
Jane laughed faintly. "Nah, I was just passing through the area. Figured I'd say something when I spotted you, since it's been fairly quiet here, otherwise, aside from the..."
Hotaru turned around again as Jane trailed off. "Aside from what?" she started to ask, but Jane motioned her to be quiet. She bit the question off and strained to determine what Jane had detected. As she did so, she realized her headache was returning. She pinched her eyes shut and rubbed and her temples for a moment.
She nearly gasped when she opened them again, for standing in the mouth of the small alley they were sitting in was another one of... them. It hadn't heard them, or at least she didn't think so. It wasn't moving. Her hands clenched into fists.
Jane crept down the stairs so they were sitting next to each other. Hotaru spared a glance at her and noted with some surprise that she had produced a handgun from somewhere and was leveling it at the creature.
"Don't," she hissed. "If it doesn't hear us, it'll just move on.”
Jane looked over at her. "Are you kidding? These things as crazy. They'd just as soon kill us, and it's only one. Shouldn't be a problem." Hotaru winced, but the thing didn't seem to hear Jane, even though she was making no effort to keep her voice down.
"The shot might attract more," she protested. Jane just smiled crookedly and lined up her shot.
The noise as the shot went off caused all of them to jump. The creature - which, Hotaru was displeased to note, appeared unscathed - lurched towards them. Beside her, Jane snarled and bent her head as if to examine her weapon for a problem. Hotaru grabbed her arm and started to scoot backwards up the stairs. "What happened?!"
"I missed," Jane growled, though Hotaru got the impression her frustration was directed at herself and not the question.
"Well, shoot at it again!" It had reached the stairs and appeared to be slightly confounded as to what to do next, though it certainly knew they were just out of reach.
"I can't! I'm out of ammunition!" Jane snarled as she drew her arm back. Hotaru was about to ask what she was planning now when Jane launched the gun itself at the creature. She missed, and by a wide margin.
Maybe, Hotaru thought, it wasn't that the bullet didn't do anything. Maybe Jane just had really bad aim. Either way, they were in a lot of trouble if they couldn't do something about that thing.
"Do you have any other weapons?" she asked, climbing higher up the staircase as the eyeless thing finally took one cautious step up.
"No, that was it," Jane told her, already several steps higher. "Hey, there's a door up here. Maybe it's open!"
"You can't just go into other people's homes like that!"
"We're being chased by something that wants to kill us. I'm sure they'll understand!"
She heard the door open and Jane was calling her up the stairs, but... The creature paused in its slow climb and stared, and she couldn't move. She didn't even know how it was staring, when it had no eyes, but...
"Hotaru, come on!"
It was still coming. Her ears were ringing again.
"Hotaru?"
Her head was going to explode if she didn't do something.
"Hotaru Okame!"
She reached out, placed her hand firmly on the thing's forehead, and pushed.
The door slammed.
The ringing stopped and, almost in slow motion, the creature fell into a boneless heap at the bottom of the stairs. It didn't get up.
"...Jane?" Her voice was a little shaky, but Hotaru was fairly sure she wasn't going to pass out this time. The door clicked again.
"What happened? Did it fall over or something?" Jane came down and looked at her. "Did you do that? With what? Wow!"
"I... yeah, it... I don't know. I just did." I don't want to talk about it, she hoped she implied.
Jane casually put her arm around Hotaru's shoulders and started the rest of the way down the stairs. "That's pretty impressive. They usually give me lots of trouble. Did you see where my gun landed?"
Hotaru pointed towards where it had landed.
"Great. Anyway, did you want to head out to the graveyard? If you can handle those things, we shouldn't have any problems!" She half-laughed. "I'd probably be dead or something after that if you hadn't been there! Man..." She withdrew her arm and, after picking up her gun, put her hands in her pockets.
Hotaru blinked, stunned. Had she really... "I don't think you would have died, Jane. That door was unlocked, right?"
"Yeah," she admitted, "but it was just the one room. No other doors out or anything. I would've been trapped in there."
"Well, then you probably would have found a way to fend it off, or just run past it!" She hadn't meant to sound annoyed, really.
Jane quirked an eyebrow at her. "What's wrong? I thanked you for saving me, least you could do is be gracious about it. Nothing wrong with admitting you did something right." She grinned.
Hotaru sighed softly. "I guess. I just..."
Jane nodded for her to continue.
"I guess I'm just," Hotaru hesitated, then smiled widely. It was a false smile, but Jane didn't seem to notice. "I guess I'm just modest or something," she lied cheerfully.
Jane chuckled.
Jade probably would have threatened to whack her for it.
~-~-~
Jane stopped just as they approached the town's gate. "Wait here just a moment. I want to check something."
Hotaru stood off to the side of the street as Jane ducked into the guard's booth. She reemerged, smirking.
"Found some bullets. In case we run into trouble."
Hotaru nodded, deciding not to comment that she'd just stolen those bullets. Maybe they'd be useful.
"Of course," Jane continued, "you handled that first thing pretty well. I'll probably just get in the way, huh?"
Hotaru nodded again, and wished Jane would let that subject drop, already.
The bridge was damp from the light rain and the wood planks were starting to become slippery. Hotaru glanced back at it once, warily, after they'd made it across. It always looked so ominous.
The path that led to the cemetery split off the main road shortly after the bridge. It trailed off into the fog, and Hotaru squinted into it, trying to see if there was anything ahead they needed to avoid. Jane noticed her hesitation and called out to her, but when she asked what was wrong, Hotaru just shook her head and smiled.
They'd barely made it to the trees when Hotaru stopped. Jane turned back again. "Why do you keep doing that? Is something wrong?"
"No, I don't..." This wasn't working. "I mean, yes. But I don't know what. This just... feels wrong," she finished helplessly.
Jane looked confused. "I thought you wanted to find your friend."
"I do! I just... I don't think she'll be there." It wasn't entirely true, but she didn't know how else to explain it. "I just know we're not going to find her if we go there right now. Something's wrong."
Jane's expression didn't change. They stood facing each other for a long moment. Finally, she cracked a lopsided smile. "All right, then. If you really don't want to right now, I guess there's always later. Might as well go back to town, right?"
"Something's wrong."
"I heard you the first time," Jane told her. "But it's not like we can do anything about it. Let's just go back for now."
~-~-~
They were approaching the bridge again. Jane stopped suddenly and turned. "It's here."
"What?" Hotaru followed her gaze and went cold. Behind them, coming through the forest, she could make out a large shape moving towards them. Lizard. Nightkeeper.
"Run," she whispered urgently. "We have to run!"
Jane looked at her and smiled. "Why? It's nothing we can't handle, right?"
"You don't understand! We can't stay here! Please!" She grabbed Jane's hand and tugged her towards the bridge. "We'll be safe in the town."
Jane studied her for a moment then nodded, accepting with a faint, reassuring smile. "All right, let's go. You lead."
Hotaru smiled back, shaky but grateful, and started towards the bridge. Her sneakers sounded off the wooden planks, making a hollow echoing sound, and she realized as she approached the center that hers were the only footsteps. She skidded to a halt as careful as possible, aware of how the rain had turned the wood slippery.
Jane had stopped at the edge of the river and turned back towards the forest.
"Hurry!" Hotaru cried, desperate. "You have to come across!"
"We could hold it off," Jane insisted, not bothering to turn around to talk to her. "Just think, we could kill it. You could probably even take it alone, right? No one else would ever have to suffer because of it again."
"We can't! There's no time and it's too big!" Her hands were clenched in anger and fear. Why couldn't she listen? Why did she think Hotaru could defend her? Even Jade knew when she was outgunned!
It didn't roar. The brush snapped and the ground shook under its feet, but the Nightkeeper itself was silent aside from its hissing breath. Hotaru stood, paralyzed, as it came from the line of trees and, finally catching a clear sight of its prey, hurried towards them.
Jane stood confident as it approached, and it seemed to sense that. It paused a few yards away, just close enough that she could see.
Its eyes were only sunken pits, and something red-tinged dripped from its gaping mouth. Its dark scales were cracking and thick, black liquid oozed down and across its body. She could smell its breath, heavy with death and decay even from where she stood.
Eternity passed in the stillness.
As she stared, hands clenched and pressed against her mouth, the image shifted and Jane, for a moment, appeared as a little girl with curly hair, standing at the edge of the bridge completely oblivious to the monster approaching.
The lizard twisted its head towards her and snorted.
Hotaru opened her mouth to call out, to make Jane move, but the spell was broken, and, even as she screamed wordlessly, she doubted the other woman had ever known what had hit her.
Blood, so much blood, dripping and running and the crunching and -
It was less direct than she would have imagined. Less direct than she'd seen. The lizard had all of Jane's left shoulder and most of her torso in its mouth. As she watched, it bit deeper, nearly breaking the body apart, then suddenly released it.
She tried to turn, but she lost her footing and fell face down on the bridge. Whimpering, she clawed uselessly against the planks and tried to pull herself up to run, to escape, anything at all, but her whole body shook in terror and the efforts were in vain.
The bridge shook, and she rolled onto her back to see the Nightkeeper approaching.
It paused again as it stood over her, and the only coherent thought she could manage was that it had to be reveling in its victory. It had finally caught her after almost ten years of waiting.
She raised one arm up as if to shield herself and then, finally, it roared. Her bones shook and her heart stopped for one terrible moment and then its mouth opened wide and it lunged for her, giant teeth coming down too fast, too fast, too fast -
She turned her palm out towards the beast and screamed, louder and deeper than she'd ever known was possible, and her ears were ringing so loudly she couldn't even hear herself. She felt it in her blood, in her skin, in her hair, and the darkness was coming down again and I can't see, oh god I can't -
Something behind her eyes snapped and the world went blinding white.
~-~-~
Things cleared slowly. Her whole right arm felt as though it were burning and her left arm was shaking so badly she was surprised it was still supporting her. She wondered vaguely when she had even sat up. She lowered her right arm and slowly leaned forward until she was kneeling on the bridge. Most of the wood had been bleached white, but before her, where the Nightkeeper had stood, the planks were black.
It had to be dead now. Too late, too late for all of them...
She reached out blankly, feeling as though she were only watching someone else's body, and poked at the spot. Her fingers came away covered in soot. As she pulled away, the black melted down into the river below, leaving a hole in the middle of the bridge.
Hotaru slowly closed her eyes, exhaled, and painfully eased herself up. Without opening her eyes, she walked, not knowing her direction or destination. She didn't stop until her legs gave out.
~-~-~
Something touched her shoulder, and she jumped to her feet and twisted, adrenaline helping her prepare to fight again.
"You're still here?" Jade asked, more than a little irritated and standing too close, as she dropped her hand from Hotaru's shoulder.
Shocked, Hotaru opened her mouth, but couldn't manage to say anything. She shook her head, instead. Jade raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.
Neither spoke.
Finally, Hotaru stepped backwards. She hit... something. She flailed wildly and started to fall backwards, eyes wide and mouth still open, though now in a silent gasp.
Jade reached out and caught her arms just as Hotaru felt there was no chance to stop her crash to the ground. "What are you doing?" she asked as she helped Hotaru steady herself.
She turned her head and looked down. A stone. She'd tripped over a gravestone. The name... What was the name? There was a bouquet of dead flowers in the way. She squinted at the faint etchings in the dying light. Okame, Kiri-
She stumbled again, this time falling forward and crashing into Jade, who also stumbled, but at least managed to stay on her feet.
They stood for a moment, then Jade put her hands on Hotaru's shoulders and tried to push her back, muttering something that Hotaru couldn't be bothered to understand. She didn't want to move. She couldn't move. She started to tremble and found herself unable to stop.
She reached up and, grabbing onto Jade's sleeves, pressed her face firmly against the taller woman's left shoulder, hiding her eyes from the world. Jade hissed faintly as Hotaru pressed too hard against the scarred markings there and again tried to shove her off.
'Not now,' Hotaru begged silently, 'Please, just not now... You never have to do anything for me again, but please don't push me away right now.'
Maybe Jade heard somehow. She sighed in resignation and dropped her arms to her sides.
"... Okame, are..." Jade paused, as if unsure of what she wanted to say. "Why...?
"... What do you want me to do?"
She swallowed a few times and finally, without looking up, managed a word, so faint she couldn't even be sure she'd really said it, in a voice she couldn't even be sure was her own, except that Jade put a hand on her back and slowly started to ease her back towards the path, back to the gate.
"help."
~-~-~ END
So, uh... yeah, there was stuff I wanted to say about this but I can't remember any of it right now. Probably either edit it in or just make a new post later. Fun times. Any questions? Final thoughts? HOW MUCH DO I SUCK OH GOD I MUST KNOW PLEASE. Please understand, I hate all of my work. No amount of praise will change my mind, so certainly don't feel the need to! It's a win/win situation for everyone! Except Aniko, who continues to try to convince me I am not as awful as I imagine.
Also I hate the ending. Hate the last word (Okame's creator does like it, but she is not me), but not sure where else to put it and I feel it to be necessary. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I could do with that, or does it not suck as much as I think it does? >_>;
And now in a different conversation with someone else, the idea of Hisime going to Silent Hill has come up. That is horrifying! Hisime should not be sent to Silent Hill and I refuse to go along with you, Brain!
This is like some kind of sign, isn't it? Why is everyone talking about Silent Hill all of a sudden?
travelers_flame but I've been given free reign over her. I did ask specific permission to do this, though, because it's not nice to send anyone to Silent Hill.They both have quite a bit of history behind them (and, yes, they are in a very, very bizarre and messed up relationship of sorts). If anyone aside from Ani actually reads this and wants to know what the heck is going on, uh. Ask. I am really only posting this now because, well, for one, Silent Hill has literally come up from six different people in the last 36 hours or so, and Okame and Jade've been bugging me, so I ended up asking Aniko if she'd seen the entirety of this story (I know I'd sent her the beginning). No, she'd not, but all I could find was the one saved with html-tags, so instead of cutting them all out, I just posted it.
This is... fairly unedited. I'm rather bad at editing my own work, so couple that with me being up literally all night writing this and you've probably got a lot of missing words. Oops. >.>? Feel free to point out any errors.
Endtil
She hated it here. Not for the first time, Hotaru wondered to herself how, exactly, Jade had managed to convince her it would be better to stay in town for the night. She could handle whatever creatures came out of the darkness. She could handle the cold that was only intensified by lack of proper shelter. She was even pretty sure she could handle walking all through the night, if Jade didn't want to settle down in the woods to sleep.
Anything to be somewhere else.
They were staring.
She stepped closer to Jade, who had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to scan the streets. A man glanced at the two of them as he passed, and Hotaru frowned and again inched closer to her traveling companion.
Jade rolled her head lazily to look over her shoulder at Hotaru. "What're y'doing?"
"I should think it obvious, Jade. I'm annoying you." Hotaru smiled faintly as Jade's blank expression hardened into a halfhearted sneer. "Let's go?"
"You've been saying that since we got here," Jade complained, but she did start walking again.
"And I'll keep saying it until we leave."
Jade made an irritated noise in the back of her throat. "You could have stayed in the room and gone to sleep." She stopped again and crossed her arms as she looked up and down the streets.
Hotaru shrugged, though she knew the other woman couldn't see her. "But if I'd done that, we wouldn't be having this lovely conversation, now would we?"
"And wouldn't that just be a terrible loss." The rolling of her eyeballs was audible and Hotaru grinned, despite her discomfort. After a moment, Jade ducked her head and shifted so that the majority of her weight was on her left foot, her standard 'lost in thought' pose.
A man and woman walking together passed them, and Hotaru felt their eyes on her. As they passed, she turned to see them. Their faces were obscured, and the more she squinted, the less she could see of them. A dark haze seemed to be crawling out of their skin. She turned away, but noticed the same tint on the other people near her.
"... Okame?"
She blinked in surprise when Jade called her name and peered up at the taller woman. "Sorry?"
Jade scowled at her. "I asked if you'd gotten your hearing checked yet."
"Of course. They told me it was perfect." She smiled a little too nicely and looked back out at the street, noting with vague interest that the other people on the streets had seen fit to regrow their faces while she'd been looking away.
She spoke again after a long pause. "Let's go to the graveyard."
"...The graveyard." Jade shook her head. "After complaining all evening about staying in Endtil, you suddenly decide you want to visit the graveyard."
"It's right near here. Just outside town." She didn't really want to go, she realized. Maybe Jade would say no.
"Why?" She was obviously expecting a reply, but Hotaru remained silent. Jade waited a full minute before finally uncrossing her arms (if only to then put her hands on her hips) and asking again, "The graveyard?"
Hotaru nodded, mute. It was just a feeling...
Jade sighed heavily and shrugged. "Right, whatever. Lead the way, if you know where it is."
They started walking, and Hotaru ducked her head to watch the ground beneath her feet so that she could avoid the stares of the townsfolk.
~-~-~
"...And we're here because...?" Jade leaned against the fence surrounding the area.
"Did you notice how everyone was staring at us back there?" Hotaru asked as she glanced around, trying to orient herself.
"...Okame, the only one staring was you. At everyone else." Another eyeroll from Jade. Hotaru turned and walked off to the right, knowing Jade would follow again after a moment.
She paused when the path split and looked around.
"Over there." The voice was small, but confident.
Hotaru turned around, trying to determine where it had come from. Jade was staring at the sky as is terribly bored, but standing a little to her left was a small child wearing mostly gray. He was pointing off to the side.
She pointed in the same direction, a questioning look on her face, and he nodded. "Thank you," she told him.
Jade caught her attention for a moment as she turned her gaze down and raised a questioning eyebrow at her, and when Hotaru looked back, the boy was gone.
They walked in the indicated direction, Jade staying just a few steps behind.
"This is the place," Hotaru informed her once they'd stopped again. "'O.' I'll... be quick." Jade shrugged.
The tree was as she'd remembered: twisted around and looking as though it could fall over from a slight breeze. But...
Gone.
This isn't right.
darkness run run blood screaming blood thunder run run run please not her anyone but her please it's so dark -
"It's gone, how can it be gone? It was right here, I swear it was right here, oh god how?"
"Okame-"
"Please, I swear it was here, I know, I'm telling the truth, you have to believe me!"
"Okame."
"I don't know what happened! Why would they remove it? It's supposed to be there!"
"Hotaru!"
She gasped and saw again. Jade was staring down at her, face twisted in confusion. Hotaru blinked up at her several times before realizing she had grabbed onto Jade's arm in one hand and shirt in another and been talking.
"It's gone," she repeated.
"What is gone?" Jade used her free hand to pry Hotaru's fingers from her shirt. She didn't try to dislodge Hotaru's grip on her wrist.
"It... It's not there, Jade." Why was she not listening?
"Gravestone?"
"It should be there," Hotaru insisted, tugging on Jade's arm.
"...Is your blood sugar low or something?" Jade frowned at her, starting to sound annoying. "It's getting dark; you probably missed it. Look again, if it's bothering you that much."
Hotaru slowly released her grip on Jade's wrist. "Right... Sorry, I..."
"Whatever." Jade rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. "Look, I'm going back, so try not to take too long."
"A-all right." Hotaru nodded and waved as Jade pivoted and strode back towards the gate without bothering to glance back.
As Jade's footsteps faded off into the dusk, Hotaru stood and carefully examined the area from the path.
It was quiet.
She shrugged it off and crossed over to the gnarled tree and leaned against the trunk. It should be visible from here, and she still didn't know why she was doing this. Nothing good would come of it, and Jade was over at the entrance, probably bored.
She was hungry, she realized.
Maybe Jade had the right idea. This was a stupid idea, it was late, they were both tired... She knelt down on the ground and lightly ran her fingers over the withered grass and decided. If she woke up in the morning and still wanted to come here, she'd do so.
Smiling faintly, she stood and dusted off her knees and the ends of her long coat. Jade'd probably make some annoying comment or another, but really she wasn't going to tell her she couldn't come back.
She slowed her pace as she exited through the cemetery's gates. "Hey, Jade? I'm ready."
No response, so she called out again. "Jade?"
Maybe when she'd said she was going back, she'd meant back to the room they'd rented for the night. Hotaru made a face, half annoyed and half amused. It'd be like her to do something like that.
"Well, I hope you're not still here, because I'm leaving. See you at the room, then." She waved to the graveyard. Something flickered back at her from beyond the gate and she turned away to hurry back into the town.
~-~-~
The bridge across the river. She faltered as she approached it and looked around. A light fog had started to creep in, but beyond that was nothing she could see or hear that hadn't been there when she'd left, but that didn't mean...
Nothing would come from the other side. The town was on the other side. She turned around and, backwards, stepped onto the bridge. Slowly, she made it halfway across then spun and sprinted the rest of the way. She ducked behind the wall put up around the small city and stopped, straining to hear behind her.
Nothing.
She sighed heavily and pushed herself off the wall. She must have taken longer than she'd thought, she realized. The streets were empty. Just as well, really, she decided as she turned down the road that led to the hotel she and Jade were staying in.
She didn't encounter anyone along the way, though once she thought she saw someone on the other side of the street. They didn't seem to notice her, and she was content to hurry on her way. Better they didn't see her.
Why had she agreed to stay the night here?
The door to the hotel creaked loudly as she entered, startling her a bit. The lights by the reception desk were off, though, so she at least didn't have to face someone on her way through the lobby. ...Though, now that she thought about it, most of the lights were out. Strange, that.
She paused outside the door of their room. It was so very quiet... Maybe she'd been a lot longer than she's thought. Hopefully Jade hadn't gone to bed already. Hotaru grimaced as she thought it, though she knew the worst Jade would do would be to glare sleepily at her.
She tried the door - it opened. She eased it open a crack. The lights were all off inside so, quietly as possible, she slipped in and closed the door behind her.
... It smelled of smoke. She coughed and covered her mouth and wondered where it could be coming from. There was certainly no fireplace in the room. Outside, obviously, but she hadn't smelled it from the street.
Hotaru shuffled towards the beds and squinted at them. Which one was occupied?
"Jade?" she whispered, hoping the other woman wasn't asleep yet. She listened carefully, but heard no reply. She sighed and approached the closer bed. It was, she quickly noted, unoccupied, but she shot a glance towards the other one, anyway.
... It was empty, she realized.
"Jade?" she called, louder this time. "You in here?" She had said she was going back, right? She hadn't been at the graveyard, she was sure of that. Hotaru knew she would have seen her.
'Maybe she's just getting food,' she thought, well aware that she didn't really believe it was a possibility. 'She wouldn't have just left.'
She squinted around the room again, then raised her left hand and concentrated for a moment. It was hard to focus and hard to contain, but finally a small glow began to appear above her palm. As the room lit, she looked around carefully.
There was no way Jade had been back. Both beds were still neatly made, and a closer examination of the small table on the other side of the room revealed a thin layer of dust covering everything. The window, she noted, was open and the source of the smell of smoke.
Strange.
It was all so very strange.
Hotaru leaned over towards the window, intending to either shut it or determine where, exactly, the smoky smell was coming from, or hopefully both. As she reached for the sill, though, she shuddered and, suddenly nervous and feeling watched, turned and quickly went back out into the hallway.
~-~-~
She walked slower through the halls this time, taking careful note of the state of things. Some of the doors were opened slightly, and none of the lights were on anywhere. When she stopped, held her breath, and listened, she couldn't hear anything aside from her own heartbeat.
The reception desk was still unoccupied, but she was almost expecting it by then. She glanced over the counter briefly, but didn't see anything worth a closer look.
Hotaru bit her lip and closed her fist, extinguishing the small light she'd created. There was enough natural light coming in from the entrance. She crossed the room and sat on the bench against the wall.
"All right," she told herself. "There's no one to be found here in the hotel. Jade's gone and gotten herself lost somehow.
"Now what do you do?"
If Jade were here, what would she do? If she noticed things were amiss, anyway. Probably go out and find someone and demand some answers, right?
Hotaru stood up and dusted off her coat. "Well, then! To the streets, it is."
~-~-~
Unfortunately, it seemed the rest of the town was as empty as the hotel had been. Hotaru sighed and tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear. Something felt off, and while that wasn't really anything new for her, this was... different.
It was as if everyone had simply ceased to exist. Or maybe she'd been the one to...
Her eyes widened slightly and, suddenly panicked, she ran down the street as fast as she could manage. The fog had spread out and thickened up, making it harder for her to see, and as she strained to see ahead, she forgot to watch her feet, and tripped.
She landed on her hands and knees and stayed put, catching her breath and her wits. Once she felt she'd calmed somewhat, she sat down on the pavement and looked around, trying to orient herself.
Ah, there was the small drugstore that had been... near her home when she was younger. She winced, but stood up and approached it, anyway. As she got closer, she thought she saw something moving through the windows.
'Finally!' She quickened her pace and knocked open the door.
"Hello, is someone -" She froze.
There was certainly someone behind the counter. Someone? Something. It was facing her, or at least she thought it must be.
It had no eyes.
She grimaced and stepped back. "H-hello?"
When she spoke, its head jerked towards her, and it took a few unsteady steps around the counter. Once it had made it that far, though, it stopped and cocked its head, listening.
Rather, she thought it might be listening. Its entire body seemed to be spasm every several seconds, and it posed itself awkwardly, so it could have just been a coincidence. Either way, it didn't move towards her again, and after several long minutes in which she barely breathed, it slowly eased back behind the counter again.
She held still a minute longer then, convinced it wasn't going to move suddenly, carefully approached it, doing her best to make as little noise as possible. It was hard when the floorboards kept creaking, but the... eyeless thing didn't seem to pay any mind to the small groaning noises given off when she stepped on some of the boards.
Finally, she stood directly opposite the creature. It looked mostly humanoid, though its back was hunched and she couldn't tell if it was supposed to be male or female. Its skin, she decided, looked fake. Shiny. She resisted the urge to touch it. As she'd already seen, it had no eyes, merely sunken pits where they must have once been. No lips, either, though, she mused, she wasn't really sure the line across its face was actually a mouth. It was unreal.
Curiosity more than satisfied, she slowly backed away from it, not wanting to take her eyes off it. Unfortunately, she wasn't watching where she was going, and her foot caught a display case full of unlabeled cans. They went crashing to the ground and the thing behind the counter lurched towards the source of the noise faster than she had thought possible, considering how slowly it had moved before.
She hurried backwards, but now it seemed to know where she was and turned towards her again. Hotaru winced and stepped back more, only to realize half a second too late that she'd just passed the door. She turned her head to look behind herself and realized she was about to pin herself against a wall.
Unfortunately, the distraction she caused herself by turned allowed the eyeless thing to catch up to her, and it latched onto her arm with one hand while reaching for her face with the other.
Hotaru shouted in surprise and fear and pulled back as best she could, but the thing's hand pressed against her face, anyway. It was cold and smooth, and almost slimy. She could feel the thing's touch, cold and wispy, all the way through her body, and she shoved at it with her free arm, desperately wanting it to be gone.
She tried to pull away again, only to find herself running up against the far wall of the small store. "Hey!" It was too strong! She fought against it, simultaneously tugging on her arm and trying to force the thing backwards, but it wouldn't let go.
At least it hadn't been inclined to do anything else yet, she found herself thinking, just before it snarled and opened its mouth to expose sharp, jagged teeth.
"Help! Someone!" She didn't hear anyone coming and it was too close, so finally, reluctantly, she relaxed her tenuous grip on the energies bottled up inside her. She didn't feel any immediate difference, but before her eyes, the creature went into convulsions and dropped to the floor, where it gradually stopped moving altogether.
As she lifted her gaze from the darkening shape, the shadows in the room danced around her and harsh voices began to whisper in her mind, speaking a language she couldn't understand. Suddenly dizzy and overwhelmed, Hotaru slumped back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor, losing consciousness.
~-~-~
Her head was pounding. The blood rushing through her ears blocked out any sounds that may have been present. Wearily, Hotaru rubbed at her face and opened her eyes slightly. It was entirely too bright out.
She had nearly gone back to sleep when she remembered why she'd passed out in the first place. She sat up with a gasp and tried to scoot backwards, but the wall she'd fallen against was still behind her.
In fact, she noticed as she looked around, the only thing missing was the body of the creature that had attacked her.
She stared down at the spot she knew it had fallen to, stupefied. It couldn't have gotten up and walked off! It had been dead! Right?
She shook her head and, although she was feeling rattled, managed to get her feet back underneath herself by using the wall for support. Maybe the whole thing had just been a crazy dream or hallucination. No way something that weird looking could exist, much less be running around town.
Hotaru started to laugh, nervously, at herself, but remembered how quickly the thing, which may or may not have even existed, had moved after hearing her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound. Definitely time to leave the store. She didn't want to be here when the owners got back and saw the mess. She staggered out as fast as she could manage.
The streets were still as empty, foggy, and gloomy as they'd been when she'd entered the little shop. She must not have been out for too long, then. That was a relief. Hotaru glanced around, not sure where she wanted to head next.
Someplace quiet, where she could think for a few minutes would be ideal. Not the streets, since she was sure that, any time now, someone would come by and ask her what she was doing, standing in front of the door. The park, maybe.
... Jade kind of liked parks, anyway, when there weren't other people in them. Maybe she'd be there. Hotaru shuffled slowly down the street, hopeful.
~-~-~
The road remained empty the entire way, for which Hotaru was thankful. She stepped into the small park that sat in approximately the center of town and paused. From her point at the proper entrance, she could see most of the park. There was a small swing set off to the left, a slide behind it, and over to the right there was a patch of grass with some benches on the far end.
She sighed softly and wandered over to the swings, where she dropped heavily into the center seat and looped her arms around the chains. She was tired, but she didn't want to go back to the room until she located Jade. She was confident Jade hadn't been back yet, either. If she'd been going back, she would have been there before Hotaru arrived. Besides, the room smelled - and felt - funny.
Sighing again, she scuffed at the sand and pebbles underfoot and tried not to think about the incident in the store again. The thing was... There was no way...
"Oh, whatever," she muttered. Her head hurt too much to try and make sense of anything that had happened in the last few hours. She squeezed her eyes shut and decided she was just blaming it all on the town, and when she found Jade, they were leaving even if she had to knock her out and drag her.
"Ugh." Hotaru rubbed at her eyes and wished her headache would let up. What a stupid idea, attacking a monster that probably hadn't even been there in the first place. She was going to be feeling the effects all week, she was sure. Maybe they could spend a few extra days in the next town so she could recover a little.
She was also beginning to feel as if she were being watched again. Hotaru gasped and jumped slightly as a drop of water landed on her leg and she glanced up reflexively. The sky's overcast appearance hadn't changed so, she concluded, it probably wouldn't start storming. Still, maybe it would be better to...
Something shuffled in the dirt behind her and she froze momentarily before darting up and sprinting out of the park.
~-~-~
She didn't stop running until she'd made it several blocks, at which point it occurred to her that she hadn't even bothered to see what she'd run away from. Maybe it was just someone's pet, or the wind. Hotaru laughed at herself, though she winced as she noted the tint of nervousness in it. What would Jade think if she could see her now?
'Stupid girl... Getting all worked up over nothing. It's just one night, anyway.' She glared at the buildings around her and was struck by the sudden urge to stick her tongue out. She suppressed it, not wanting to somehow jinx herself, and instead choose to stare down at her sneakers and just walk.
'Hey,' she told herself in an attempt to justify it. 'Sometimes it works.'
~-~-~
She looked up as the smell of smoke came back. She couldn't hear any fires burning, nor could she see any smoke, but there it was again. She wrinkled her nose and raised one hand to her face as if to block the smell out and glanced around again. There was a source, of course. There had to be. It was just a matter of finding it. She paused as she realized where she was.
She should be surprised, really, she reflected. Or at least, there should be some sort of reaction. She turned slightly so she was facing the gate straight on, instead of having to look over her shoulder. Hotaru wasn't even sure how she'd arrived here. She'd been heading in the opposite direction... hadn't she?
Through the gate and across the small lawn, the house she'd been raised in sat almost as if it had been waiting for her.
"You're not quite what I had in mind when I was thinking I wanted to go home, you know," she informed it. She was smiling faintly and she wasn't sure why, but she reached out and bumped the gate open.
The yard looked well kempt enough, she guessed. They probably still paid someone to come in and see to it every so often, of course. Whoever had come through last, though, had forgotten to snip off the dead flowers from the bushes by the house. Hotaru absently reached out and broke off one that was too close to the door.
The handle turned easily. She stepped inside, not thinking about what she was doing or why, because she didn't want to know the answers. It was too dark to see inside, so again she called out a small light to form, though this time she expended extra energy and imbued it into the dead flower she was still clutching. She held it up like a candle and looked around. The room was empty.
The entire house, actually. There wasn't much in the way of furniture on the first floor. Hotaru shrugged it off. It wasn't as though there would have been anyone around to use any of it, anyway. She slowly crossed through the building and headed up the stairs, running the fingers of her free hand along the few flat surfaces she passed along the way and leaving trails in the dust settled there.
At the foot of the stairs, she paused. There was no reason to be here, no reason to continue. She'd probably get in trouble if anyone saw her. Hotaru almost turned to leave, but found she couldn't. Slowly, she started up the stairs, feeling as though she were in a trance.
The upstairs wasn't much different from the down. There were a few pieces of furniture, but it was all covered. Hotaru drifted into the room she had shared with her sister and closed the door behind her. Still in a daze, she stopped in the center of the dark room, knelt down, and placed the dead flower on the floor before her. She stared at the faded petals listlessly and tried not to notice as the shadows danced closer.
Her ears rang and her breath caught. Any moment now...
~-~-~
The smell of smoke and burning hair caused her to jolt upright. The flower had stopped glowing at some point, and she was suddenly painfully aware of the silence of the room. Light was coming in the window.
What had happened?
Her cheek was cold from where it had been pressed against the floor, and her arm was tingling unpleasantly.
Voices in the darkness. Eyes in the shadows. Her throat hurt.
Hotaru shivered. Maybe Jade had been right. Maybe her blood sugar was low or something. She looked up, half expecting to see someone sitting on the bed. No one was there, of course, so Hotaru stood up, brushed at her coat, and walked out of the room, leaving the dead blossom in the center of the floor.
~-~-~
It was still drizzling when she left the house. The walkway leading from the door to the gate was beginning to look damp. Hotaru frowned, but stepped into the cold rain, anyway. She didn't bother to latch the gate behind her as she left the property. Whoever had been there before her hadn't bothered, either, so it must not matter too much.
"Hey."
She jumped, twisted around and put her arms up in a defensive position, prepared to attack. Jade... smiled? She looked surprised and a bit confused. Probably wondering why she'd just reacted like that.
"There you are!" Hotaru crossed her arms and stood up straight. "What, did you think that was some kind of joke, or did you just get lost?"
"Eh?" Jade raised an eyebrow.
Hotaru wasn't about to let her start in with a sarcastic lecture. "Honestly, Jade, that wasn't funny, leaving me back at the cemetery like that. Next time just-"
"Woah, hold it!" Jade held her hands up in a surrendering gesture. "Have we even met? I was just going to ask if you knew were everyone had gotten off to!"
Hotaru blinked at her. "What do you mean, have we...?" She trailed off as she studied the woman before her. It wasn't Jade. She clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry! I thought you were someone else for a moment there!"
The other shrugged easily. "No problem. Happens, right?"
"Well, considering who I mistook you for, you probably ought to feel insulted." Hotaru smiled humorlessly. "At any rate, I am sorry. I shouldn't have gone off on you like that... What's your name?"
"Jane." She held out a hand. "Nice t'meet you, Hotaru."
"Likewise," Hotaru replied as they shook hands. "You know, you look like someone I know. Your names are even similar! How strange is that?"
"Go figure." Jane smirked and put her hands in her pockets. "Hey, do you know what's going on? I haven't seen many people around here lately. Some out of town celebration or something?"
Hotaru shook her head. "I'm not sure... Might just be this weather they're avoiding." She started walking, ready to be away from the house. Jane followed, half a step behind.
~-~-~
"You wanna rest a bit?"
Hotaru stopped, surprised. "I can keep going, if you'd rather." Since when did Jade care if...
Right. Not Jade. She turned around. "I am a little tired, though," she admitted.
Jane nodded. ''There's a spot just ahead where we can sit and rest a while. Here, this way." She headed towards an alley where a set of wooden stairs led up to the second story of the houses surrounding them. She sat on the seventh step, about halfway up. Hotaru debated for a moment going up and sitting beside her new companion, but opted to sit more towards the bottom.
Jane rested her arms on her knees. "So what are you doing here, anyway?"
"I'm..." Hotaru paused. What was she doing here, really? "I was just planning on spending the night with a... friend. We're headed back towards the bigger cities, and it's safer in the towns."
She was going to continue, but Jane's expression scrunched in confusion. "If you're traveling with someone, then where are they?"
"Good question," Hotaru sighed. "We went out towards the graveyard earlier. I wanted to - Anyway, she went back ahead of me. Haven't seen her since." Jane thankfully didn't ask what Hotaru'd been wanting. Voicing it wouldn't help, though it might make her feel stupider for going in the first place. "Now I'm trying to find her again."
"Ah."
She expected more of a response, maybe a grumpy retort, but no, when Hotaru twisted around to look up behind herself, Jane seemed to be considering what she'd said.
"The graveyard, huh?" she finally asked. "We could go back and look for her."
Hotaru nodded, assuming Jane was looking down at her. "I was planning on doing that eventually, if I couldn't find her here in town."
"And you haven't, have you? She's probably not here."
"No, probably not. Look, not to be rude, I do appreciate the company, but is there something you should be doing? I don't want to take up your time."
Jane laughed faintly. "Nah, I was just passing through the area. Figured I'd say something when I spotted you, since it's been fairly quiet here, otherwise, aside from the..."
Hotaru turned around again as Jane trailed off. "Aside from what?" she started to ask, but Jane motioned her to be quiet. She bit the question off and strained to determine what Jane had detected. As she did so, she realized her headache was returning. She pinched her eyes shut and rubbed and her temples for a moment.
She nearly gasped when she opened them again, for standing in the mouth of the small alley they were sitting in was another one of... them. It hadn't heard them, or at least she didn't think so. It wasn't moving. Her hands clenched into fists.
Jane crept down the stairs so they were sitting next to each other. Hotaru spared a glance at her and noted with some surprise that she had produced a handgun from somewhere and was leveling it at the creature.
"Don't," she hissed. "If it doesn't hear us, it'll just move on.”
Jane looked over at her. "Are you kidding? These things as crazy. They'd just as soon kill us, and it's only one. Shouldn't be a problem." Hotaru winced, but the thing didn't seem to hear Jane, even though she was making no effort to keep her voice down.
"The shot might attract more," she protested. Jane just smiled crookedly and lined up her shot.
The noise as the shot went off caused all of them to jump. The creature - which, Hotaru was displeased to note, appeared unscathed - lurched towards them. Beside her, Jane snarled and bent her head as if to examine her weapon for a problem. Hotaru grabbed her arm and started to scoot backwards up the stairs. "What happened?!"
"I missed," Jane growled, though Hotaru got the impression her frustration was directed at herself and not the question.
"Well, shoot at it again!" It had reached the stairs and appeared to be slightly confounded as to what to do next, though it certainly knew they were just out of reach.
"I can't! I'm out of ammunition!" Jane snarled as she drew her arm back. Hotaru was about to ask what she was planning now when Jane launched the gun itself at the creature. She missed, and by a wide margin.
Maybe, Hotaru thought, it wasn't that the bullet didn't do anything. Maybe Jane just had really bad aim. Either way, they were in a lot of trouble if they couldn't do something about that thing.
"Do you have any other weapons?" she asked, climbing higher up the staircase as the eyeless thing finally took one cautious step up.
"No, that was it," Jane told her, already several steps higher. "Hey, there's a door up here. Maybe it's open!"
"You can't just go into other people's homes like that!"
"We're being chased by something that wants to kill us. I'm sure they'll understand!"
She heard the door open and Jane was calling her up the stairs, but... The creature paused in its slow climb and stared, and she couldn't move. She didn't even know how it was staring, when it had no eyes, but...
"Hotaru, come on!"
It was still coming. Her ears were ringing again.
"Hotaru?"
Her head was going to explode if she didn't do something.
"Hotaru Okame!"
She reached out, placed her hand firmly on the thing's forehead, and pushed.
The door slammed.
The ringing stopped and, almost in slow motion, the creature fell into a boneless heap at the bottom of the stairs. It didn't get up.
"...Jane?" Her voice was a little shaky, but Hotaru was fairly sure she wasn't going to pass out this time. The door clicked again.
"What happened? Did it fall over or something?" Jane came down and looked at her. "Did you do that? With what? Wow!"
"I... yeah, it... I don't know. I just did." I don't want to talk about it, she hoped she implied.
Jane casually put her arm around Hotaru's shoulders and started the rest of the way down the stairs. "That's pretty impressive. They usually give me lots of trouble. Did you see where my gun landed?"
Hotaru pointed towards where it had landed.
"Great. Anyway, did you want to head out to the graveyard? If you can handle those things, we shouldn't have any problems!" She half-laughed. "I'd probably be dead or something after that if you hadn't been there! Man..." She withdrew her arm and, after picking up her gun, put her hands in her pockets.
Hotaru blinked, stunned. Had she really... "I don't think you would have died, Jane. That door was unlocked, right?"
"Yeah," she admitted, "but it was just the one room. No other doors out or anything. I would've been trapped in there."
"Well, then you probably would have found a way to fend it off, or just run past it!" She hadn't meant to sound annoyed, really.
Jane quirked an eyebrow at her. "What's wrong? I thanked you for saving me, least you could do is be gracious about it. Nothing wrong with admitting you did something right." She grinned.
Hotaru sighed softly. "I guess. I just..."
Jane nodded for her to continue.
"I guess I'm just," Hotaru hesitated, then smiled widely. It was a false smile, but Jane didn't seem to notice. "I guess I'm just modest or something," she lied cheerfully.
Jane chuckled.
Jade probably would have threatened to whack her for it.
~-~-~
Jane stopped just as they approached the town's gate. "Wait here just a moment. I want to check something."
Hotaru stood off to the side of the street as Jane ducked into the guard's booth. She reemerged, smirking.
"Found some bullets. In case we run into trouble."
Hotaru nodded, deciding not to comment that she'd just stolen those bullets. Maybe they'd be useful.
"Of course," Jane continued, "you handled that first thing pretty well. I'll probably just get in the way, huh?"
Hotaru nodded again, and wished Jane would let that subject drop, already.
The bridge was damp from the light rain and the wood planks were starting to become slippery. Hotaru glanced back at it once, warily, after they'd made it across. It always looked so ominous.
The path that led to the cemetery split off the main road shortly after the bridge. It trailed off into the fog, and Hotaru squinted into it, trying to see if there was anything ahead they needed to avoid. Jane noticed her hesitation and called out to her, but when she asked what was wrong, Hotaru just shook her head and smiled.
They'd barely made it to the trees when Hotaru stopped. Jane turned back again. "Why do you keep doing that? Is something wrong?"
"No, I don't..." This wasn't working. "I mean, yes. But I don't know what. This just... feels wrong," she finished helplessly.
Jane looked confused. "I thought you wanted to find your friend."
"I do! I just... I don't think she'll be there." It wasn't entirely true, but she didn't know how else to explain it. "I just know we're not going to find her if we go there right now. Something's wrong."
Jane's expression didn't change. They stood facing each other for a long moment. Finally, she cracked a lopsided smile. "All right, then. If you really don't want to right now, I guess there's always later. Might as well go back to town, right?"
"Something's wrong."
"I heard you the first time," Jane told her. "But it's not like we can do anything about it. Let's just go back for now."
~-~-~
They were approaching the bridge again. Jane stopped suddenly and turned. "It's here."
"What?" Hotaru followed her gaze and went cold. Behind them, coming through the forest, she could make out a large shape moving towards them. Lizard. Nightkeeper.
"Run," she whispered urgently. "We have to run!"
Jane looked at her and smiled. "Why? It's nothing we can't handle, right?"
"You don't understand! We can't stay here! Please!" She grabbed Jane's hand and tugged her towards the bridge. "We'll be safe in the town."
Jane studied her for a moment then nodded, accepting with a faint, reassuring smile. "All right, let's go. You lead."
Hotaru smiled back, shaky but grateful, and started towards the bridge. Her sneakers sounded off the wooden planks, making a hollow echoing sound, and she realized as she approached the center that hers were the only footsteps. She skidded to a halt as careful as possible, aware of how the rain had turned the wood slippery.
Jane had stopped at the edge of the river and turned back towards the forest.
"Hurry!" Hotaru cried, desperate. "You have to come across!"
"We could hold it off," Jane insisted, not bothering to turn around to talk to her. "Just think, we could kill it. You could probably even take it alone, right? No one else would ever have to suffer because of it again."
"We can't! There's no time and it's too big!" Her hands were clenched in anger and fear. Why couldn't she listen? Why did she think Hotaru could defend her? Even Jade knew when she was outgunned!
It didn't roar. The brush snapped and the ground shook under its feet, but the Nightkeeper itself was silent aside from its hissing breath. Hotaru stood, paralyzed, as it came from the line of trees and, finally catching a clear sight of its prey, hurried towards them.
Jane stood confident as it approached, and it seemed to sense that. It paused a few yards away, just close enough that she could see.
Its eyes were only sunken pits, and something red-tinged dripped from its gaping mouth. Its dark scales were cracking and thick, black liquid oozed down and across its body. She could smell its breath, heavy with death and decay even from where she stood.
Eternity passed in the stillness.
As she stared, hands clenched and pressed against her mouth, the image shifted and Jane, for a moment, appeared as a little girl with curly hair, standing at the edge of the bridge completely oblivious to the monster approaching.
The lizard twisted its head towards her and snorted.
Hotaru opened her mouth to call out, to make Jane move, but the spell was broken, and, even as she screamed wordlessly, she doubted the other woman had ever known what had hit her.
Blood, so much blood, dripping and running and the crunching and -
It was less direct than she would have imagined. Less direct than she'd seen. The lizard had all of Jane's left shoulder and most of her torso in its mouth. As she watched, it bit deeper, nearly breaking the body apart, then suddenly released it.
She tried to turn, but she lost her footing and fell face down on the bridge. Whimpering, she clawed uselessly against the planks and tried to pull herself up to run, to escape, anything at all, but her whole body shook in terror and the efforts were in vain.
The bridge shook, and she rolled onto her back to see the Nightkeeper approaching.
It paused again as it stood over her, and the only coherent thought she could manage was that it had to be reveling in its victory. It had finally caught her after almost ten years of waiting.
She raised one arm up as if to shield herself and then, finally, it roared. Her bones shook and her heart stopped for one terrible moment and then its mouth opened wide and it lunged for her, giant teeth coming down too fast, too fast, too fast -
She turned her palm out towards the beast and screamed, louder and deeper than she'd ever known was possible, and her ears were ringing so loudly she couldn't even hear herself. She felt it in her blood, in her skin, in her hair, and the darkness was coming down again and I can't see, oh god I can't -
Something behind her eyes snapped and the world went blinding white.
~-~-~
Things cleared slowly. Her whole right arm felt as though it were burning and her left arm was shaking so badly she was surprised it was still supporting her. She wondered vaguely when she had even sat up. She lowered her right arm and slowly leaned forward until she was kneeling on the bridge. Most of the wood had been bleached white, but before her, where the Nightkeeper had stood, the planks were black.
It had to be dead now. Too late, too late for all of them...
She reached out blankly, feeling as though she were only watching someone else's body, and poked at the spot. Her fingers came away covered in soot. As she pulled away, the black melted down into the river below, leaving a hole in the middle of the bridge.
Hotaru slowly closed her eyes, exhaled, and painfully eased herself up. Without opening her eyes, she walked, not knowing her direction or destination. She didn't stop until her legs gave out.
~-~-~
Something touched her shoulder, and she jumped to her feet and twisted, adrenaline helping her prepare to fight again.
"You're still here?" Jade asked, more than a little irritated and standing too close, as she dropped her hand from Hotaru's shoulder.
Shocked, Hotaru opened her mouth, but couldn't manage to say anything. She shook her head, instead. Jade raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.
Neither spoke.
Finally, Hotaru stepped backwards. She hit... something. She flailed wildly and started to fall backwards, eyes wide and mouth still open, though now in a silent gasp.
Jade reached out and caught her arms just as Hotaru felt there was no chance to stop her crash to the ground. "What are you doing?" she asked as she helped Hotaru steady herself.
She turned her head and looked down. A stone. She'd tripped over a gravestone. The name... What was the name? There was a bouquet of dead flowers in the way. She squinted at the faint etchings in the dying light. Okame, Kiri-
She stumbled again, this time falling forward and crashing into Jade, who also stumbled, but at least managed to stay on her feet.
They stood for a moment, then Jade put her hands on Hotaru's shoulders and tried to push her back, muttering something that Hotaru couldn't be bothered to understand. She didn't want to move. She couldn't move. She started to tremble and found herself unable to stop.
She reached up and, grabbing onto Jade's sleeves, pressed her face firmly against the taller woman's left shoulder, hiding her eyes from the world. Jade hissed faintly as Hotaru pressed too hard against the scarred markings there and again tried to shove her off.
'Not now,' Hotaru begged silently, 'Please, just not now... You never have to do anything for me again, but please don't push me away right now.'
Maybe Jade heard somehow. She sighed in resignation and dropped her arms to her sides.
"... Okame, are..." Jade paused, as if unsure of what she wanted to say. "Why...?
"... What do you want me to do?"
She swallowed a few times and finally, without looking up, managed a word, so faint she couldn't even be sure she'd really said it, in a voice she couldn't even be sure was her own, except that Jade put a hand on her back and slowly started to ease her back towards the path, back to the gate.
"help."
~-~-~ END
So, uh... yeah, there was stuff I wanted to say about this but I can't remember any of it right now. Probably either edit it in or just make a new post later. Fun times. Any questions? Final thoughts? HOW MUCH DO I SUCK OH GOD I MUST KNOW PLEASE. Please understand, I hate all of my work. No amount of praise will change my mind, so certainly don't feel the need to! It's a win/win situation for everyone! Except Aniko, who continues to try to convince me I am not as awful as I imagine.
Also I hate the ending. Hate the last word (Okame's creator does like it, but she is not me), but not sure where else to put it and I feel it to be necessary. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I could do with that, or does it not suck as much as I think it does? >_>;
And now in a different conversation with someone else, the idea of Hisime going to Silent Hill has come up. That is horrifying! Hisime should not be sent to Silent Hill and I refuse to go along with you, Brain!
This is like some kind of sign, isn't it? Why is everyone talking about Silent Hill all of a sudden?