Preperation (The one and only Daft)

[Anonymous]

"You can't leave."

"This is everything now. Don't you see? You're a liability. You're a danger. You're food for the rats."

"You're lucky they even installed a communication line. Maybe, if we're bored, we'll talk to you. You won't be alone in your final moments."

"Maybe you'll all die horrible deaths, right before she gets rescued."

"Yeah, maybe we'll all...wait, what?"

A sudden crackling, followed by a clash of steel echoed around her, and April heard gurgles and blood splatter and cracking and horrible, horrible screams.

Then there was silence.

A voice again.

"April. April, are you ok? This is Crimson. You...um...kinda need to tell me where you are."

[Anonymous]

April just lay there in the red stain while she heard the voice. She didn’t blink, didn’t respond, didn’t say anything. That was, until a familiar voice was heard, but rather than feel joy, her body numbed and her insides froze. Crimson. Silence. She continued to lay there, before he addressed her.

“Crimson…� She whispered, her voice crackling, blood in her mouth from her torn throat. She swallowed and rolled onto her side.

“Crimson…� She said again, staring into the darkness with blank blue eyes. When he asked her where she was, she didn’t say anything for a moment. She’d lost so much of her mind she wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. Would he really kill her? She didn’t think so…and he was her only way out. At least if he killed her, she would die somewhere that wasn’t this black hell.

“I…I don’t know Crimson.� She cried out in her ruined voice. “I don’t know where I am!� Tears pushed their way out of her eyes as she sat there on the floor, heaving for breath as she looked up, whatever up may be. “It’s so dark!� She was beginning to panic again. Safety was so close, so close to her but she couldn’t help him find her.

[Anonymous]

There was silence--a soft rustling noise, as if somebody was looking through some sort of papers, or leafing through a book. A dull thud and an annoyed swear echoed out of the darkness.

"Ok, look...coming to get you is going to be kinda tricky. I'm gonna turn on the lights. There's a series of passageways. One of them should lead you to me--I'm in the main security room. Understand?"

There was a loud clicking and all of a sudden, light flooded the room. You could almost wish it hadn't.

At least twenty dead bodies--all in various states of decay--littered the room. Some had their limbs chopped off, some were cleaner deaths. All were mostly eaten--by rats, maggots or...others.

A steel door rested against a far wall. Another click, and the door unlocked. Crimson's voice again.

"Go through there. The halls should be empty...but be careful anyway."

[Anonymous]

April tried to catch her breath, her shoulders shaking with the continuous sobs, and her vision blurred with the intense pounding her head. She listened to him as he appeared to be looking for something, before light flooded the room. Once quick glance, and she pressed her face to her knees, and screamed, and cried. When he told her to move through the room, she kept her face in her knees, trying to gain some sort of composure.

“D-do you h-have any i-idea what s-sort of room I h-have to go t-through!� She yelled, her voice crackling and even missing in some parts. She couldn’t move, peeling her blue eyes open to stare at the absolute horror.

She’d gone to hell and back too many times for a person to stay sane.

After a few moments of talking to herself, she shakily pushing herself to her hands and knees, and then slowly to a standing position. She continued to shake with sobs, tears running down her face. It took every ounce of will power she had to lift a foot up, and take a step towards the steel door. She took another, and another, before she was very slowly making her way through the room. She had to bite onto her fist more than once to keep her screams silent, but when she reached the steel door, she threw herself at it, and ripped the door open.

[Anonymous]

Cool air struck her like a wall, and she saw a dimly lit stone hallway stretch before her. It was cold, dark, empty and isolating. A kind of sadness hung in the air, like mildew on wet rocks.

But, on the bright side, it was completely corpse free.

[Anonymous]

April inhaled and exhaled heavily, trying to clear her eyes of the tears that just wouldn’t stop. She knew there would be no talking for a few days after this, at least not without croaking and sounding like a frog. After making sure she was all in one piece, her body, not her mind, she took off at a full on sprint down the stone hallway. It was a miracle that she could get her body to run, but if she was getting further away from that room, she’d go as fast as possible.  She didn't know where exactly she was going, but it was away from the dark, hellish room. It was away from laying in a dried pile of blood, loosing piece by piece of her mind.

[Anonymous]

The hallway twisted and turned and coiled in and around itself, moving up and down, left and right, spiraling in a dizzying fashion. Except for the occasional fork in the road, the hallway was relatively linear, and wasn't nearly as labyrnthian as the designers may have wanted you to think.

After an hour of walking--if you didn't deviate from the initial starting path--you'd eventually come upon a partially open door. The room past the door was cylindircal and large, with a bunch of strange crystals floating atop mysterious-looking mechanical devices. Their pale blue light gave the room a cold feeling--which was not helped by the group of bloody corpses that were littered on the floor.

Crimson Iscariot was sitting, rather awkwardly, on a chair, staring at one of the crystals intently. Not far from him was a ladder, which stretched up to a hatchway on the ceiling. Rays of sunlight shone down from above. Crimson looked up when April entered, smiling wearily.

"You're alive! Thank the gods--I'd get up to greet you, but...my legs don't work."

[Anonymous]

April didn’t stop running, not once while she was on the path. The burn of her lungs and the sting in her legs didn’t bother her. Fear was the thing pushing her further and further down the path, until she came to the door. Only then did she slow down. Her hand began to spin and her body was shaking. She moved forward and pushed the door open, standing there at the entrance. More dead bodies. She bent over and hugged her abdomen, nodding as she heard Crimson, trying to not focus on the corpses in the room. After she was sure she was able to do that, she slowly straightened her back, fiercely wiping at her wet cheeks.

“W-where were you?� She asked him, her voice jumping and skipping in some places, the words hurting as they exited her throat. The fabric that had held her hair was long gone, and the blonde locks hung in a tangled mess around her face.

“If you can’t bloody walk then where were you!� After screaming that, she made the quick decision to stop screaming. It wasn’t doing any good for her headache or her throat. She clenched her jaw together, but didn’t move a step closer towards him. The voices words were still lingering in her mind. Would he really kill her? Is that why he got her out of there? He’d have to start all over again if she had died in that room. She inhaled heavily and tried to ease her breathing.

[Anonymous]

"I noticed some soldiers out the window, snooping around the building. Being a paranoid person, and knowing damn well that I'm very much still a wanted man, I crawled out of bed and escaped out the window. I hid in the rose bushes"

He held up his hand and pointed to his face, both of which had small, painful looking scratches on them.

"And waited. I heard you come in, then I heard the soldiers. Unable to walk, I couldn't do much but wait and listen. I was hoping that if they couldn't find me, they'd keep you alive. They led you away, and I tried to follow them. Unfortunately, I can't walk, so keeping up with their pace was impossible. Despairing a bit, I remembered something. Back when I was still an Adelan Knight, I heard about a series of underground prisons--nothing more then pits, really. I knew Serendipity had one close by. Judging from what that soldier said, he didn't want the King involved--which meant you would have to be held somewhere...discreet."

He pointed to a broken pair of crutches that lay near one of the corpses, blood staining the blunt tips.

"I bought these from the innkeeper and followed suit. It wasn't easy, but I managed to sniff out this hatchway. I caught the tail-end of their conversation with you, and ambushed them."

He smiled rougishly, giving her a sly wink.

"Sorry I was late. Hope you didn't miss me too terribly."

[Anonymous]

April pressed her lips together and stared at him with red-rimmed eyes, not even a flicker of acknowledgement to the smile or wink in her expression. She couldn’t really blame him for what had happened. But being locked in a pitch black room being threatened with horrible things to tell his location, learning about him and his disease, and what he had to do to fix it, only to find the pitch black room had rotting corpses in it, she kind of needed someone to blame, and he was top on the list.

“No, I didn’t miss you at all. Actually, I was having a splendid time! You really should have taken your time. I’m sure I could have learned so much more about you and your bloody life, and your damned curse!� So much for not yelling. She moved around the perimeter of the room, always making sure to stay that extra little bit away from him. She’d told herself she didn’t believe what they’d told her about Crimson, but in the back of her mind she kept thinking about it, kept wondering if he would actually kill her.

“Where’s the door? I just want to go home. I’m sick of dead bodies, weird old men, and killer pirates. I just...want…to go home.�

[Anonymous]

Crimson was quiet, looking down sadly, a guilty look in his eyes. He let out a heavy sigh and leaned over, picking up the broken crutches and shakily lifted himself up on them, struggling to keep his balance as he rose to his feet.

"Go home. I suppose you're right. You have to go back. It's the only way. Go back to where it all started, I guess. We have to go back to Arca."

[Anonymous]

April watched him as he got up. Despite the fact she was upset with him, she made sure he was alright, that he wouldn’t fall while using those. After making sure he wouldn’t topple over, she looked up to him, only to start shaking her head.

“No, no, no. I can’t go back to Arca.� She said quickly, remembering what the voice had told her, the voice that she’d heard just before she’d been arrested, or whatever it was she’d been. If she voice was telling any sort of truth, she’d die there.

“No…Arca isn’t there anymore. We just, we have to stay here. I’ll die if I go to Arca.� It sounded more like she was talking to herself than Crimson. She began to pull at her hair and pace back and forth where she stood. She’d decided Crimson wouldn’t kill her, so she hoped. She’d ask him later. Wait, no, that would be a silly question. ’Crimson, you weren’t planning on murdering me with your bare hands and then eating me after, were you?’ No, that was just plan silly. But then again, she was listening to a voice that was telling her she would die if she went to Arca.

“I…I don’t know…� She finally said, dropping her hands from her hair in defeat. She took a few steps away from the wall, which meant it was a few steps closer to him, which was some sort of improvement, she guessed.

[Anonymous]

"We have to go, April. Don't you see? This is exactly it! This is the moment! We have to retake the city! I don't...I don't know how...we'll reorganize. We'll find people. Anyone we can. People to save Arca. To destroy the foul creatures that have taken it. Return the city back to this world! My disease...Arca's destruction...they're all interconnected."

He turned, looking away, reaching and grabbing a rung on the ladder leading to the surface.

"It...it may be too dangerous. But I have to go. I have to see this to the end April. But...don't follow me. Don't risk your life because of me. You've done so much already--and you've been hurt too badly. I can't ask any more of you."

[Anonymous]

“I’m not a hero, Crimson. I don’t save cities. I’m just…I’m just some silly girl that got caught up in something she shouldn’t have. If I see one more dead body, I swear, I’ll go insane.� She stood there a few moments, before looking at him grab a run on the ladder, hearing what he said. She couldn’t let him go alone…not like this. Where else would she go? She had no home, no family, nothing.

“I have to go with.� She finally said, wringing her hands together before staring at the back of him.

“But I need to ask you something before I go with you…� She swallowed, her throat stinging. She wouldn’t be surprised if she became mute by the time this ended, if it ever did end. She didn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. Not even close.

“Do you know how to cure your disease?�

[Anonymous]

"No. If I did, why would I still be here? I've been spending the past three years trying to find a cure. If I had any clue how to cure this curse, I'd have done it already. If your Crowley friend couldn't do it entirely, then it means I gotta keep searcing, now don't I?"

He was at the top of the ladder and he leaned down to offer her a hand up.

"Anymore questions?"

[Anonymous]

April didn’t say anything for a long time as she heard him. Where they just trying to turn her against him? What they said couldn’t have possibly been true. Crimson wouldn’t ever hurt her, let alone try to kill her. She had to be content with his answer, rather than the answer of someone who was keeping her in a room full of corpses.

“No…� She replied back to him. It took her a moment to take the hand he offered, but she forced herself to lift her hand up and take his, stepping up onto the bottom rung and making her way up behind him. She was really hoping that the voice she had heard was lying, or a side effect of insanity that she was sure was going to take over her mind soon or later.

[Anonymous]

Crimson pushed on the metal hatch, grunting with exertion as he pushed it open, letting a pillar of sunlight blast down on them. After the dark, dingy confines of the prison, this little bit of light was refreshingly warm and inviting. Crimson slowly pulled himself out, laying on the green grass outside like a beached whale.

He reached into the hole to help April out, grimacing in pain. After doing what he could to help April up, he paused, staring at his hand. His eyes widened in shock and a bit of fear as he saw his palm--what was on it. Quickly he stuffed it back into his coat, quickly trying to get back onto his feet, muttering.

"We...we should get going."

[Anonymous]

April couldn’t have been more pleased in her entire life to have felt the warmth of the sun on her face. She took Crimson’s hand and pulled herself onto the grass, exhaling and inhaled the sweet air, the air that wasn’t stale with death or blood. She nodded as she heard Crimson, pushing herself to her feet, and helping him up as well, making sure the crutches weren’t going to break and have him tumble. Once she made sure of that, she threw her arms around him and buried her face into his chest.

“I wouldn’t ever hurt you or turn you in…� She murmured into the front of him, pausing a moment, before continuing. “And I hope you’d do the same for me.� She obviously didn’t believe he would hurt or kill her, or else she wouldn’t be standing there, latched to the front of him.

After a few moments, she would clear her throat, painfully, and take a step or two away from him, brushing her fingers through her hair.

"Yes, uhm, let's go." She coughed out, her voice still hoarse.

[Anonymous]

Crimson looked down in surprise as she suddenly grabbed hold of him, burying her face in his chest. He blushed slightly, looking up and around nervosuly. He smiled thinly, closing his eyes contendedly.

As she backed away, his hand caught her arm, and he pulled her close to him, an arm around her waist, and the crutches fell away, landing on the soft grass. His lips meet her, and this time, when he kissed her, it was no accident, and certainly no delusion.

[Anonymous]

April didn’t stand there in shock, and didn’t pull away. She heard his crutches fall to the ground, and she held onto him, partially to make sure he didn’t fall, and the other part just needing to hold onto something. When he leaned down and kissed her, she tightened her grip on him, almost scared that if she were to let him go, he’d vanish and she’d be alone. She pushed herself up slightly and responded in full. When her lungs started to hurt, she pulled back and inhaled, turning her head to the side.

“I’m s-sorry, I d-don’t know what came over m-me.� She whispered out her apology, unlatching one hand from him to wipe at her eyes, coughing from her bruised and torn throat. She couldn’t let him go and stand back, fearing he’d fall over, so she just stood there, keeping her eyes turned to a few blades of grass near them.