Welcome to Gaia! ::

The woman didn't stop; she continued to pull Leon down the hall, ignoring his cries and protests. "Nope, right person! You're Leon, you're with the Watch, right? You're going after that guy who lives here. But the mansion is dangerous, so that's why we're here. You have to have some modifications done before you can go anywhere, understand? Or else things will end badly for you." She stopped speaking for a moment, then added under her breath, "Of course, it'll end badly anyway..."

Then there was a room ahead, with an open door. This area of the 'clinic' didn't seem to have as many people; and the sign to the left of the door clearly read "Surgery". This was not a very good sign, and the woman pulled Leon harder, resisting his struggling. "Come on now, it'll be a fast procedure, it'll only take a few moments. You won't feel a thing, I promise!"

From inside the door an arm reached out, assisting the girl in dragging Leon into the room. A wet rag was placed over his nose and mouth, smelling faintly of chemicals. It was held there for a few moments, then the person holding it apparently decided that this was taking too long, and Leon would feel a heavy object being applied to the back of his head. And bang! He was out like a light.

A middle-aged man stepped back into the room, dressed in a white coat. He stepped to a nearby sink, rinsing what appeared to be a bloodstained scalpel. He then turned to Leon, and frowned upon seeing him awake. "Oh dear, this isn't going properly," he said, voice a bit muffled behind the bloodstained cloth over his nose and mouth. "You aren't supposed to be up yet, we've only done the first stage of the procedure. And we've only recently sutured the area, you can't be moving or you'll reopen it." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Mmm, and you'll speed the rate of the poison through your bloodstream, and then we won't get accurate results on how it works. That would be a shame, really." He stepped towards Leon calmly, scalpel still held in his hand. "Now, stay still. I'll have to put you back to sleep, so that we can continue working."

The room flashed for a moment, and then it was different. The light had turned to a dark crimson, to match the stains on the walls. Jars and pans of organs sat around the room, apparently being stored; or perhaps they were from previous patients in the room? A nurse now stood on each side of Leon, holding down his arms; their eyes were sewed shut, as were their mouths. The doctor's cruel grin widened, and he stepped towards Leon in his bloodstained smock. "On second thought, why use anesthetic? Why don't we test your reactions this time?" He laughed, a cruel, harsh sound. "Don't worry, it will only hurt until you DIE."

Nobody followed him. The cackling laugh of the doctor followed him down the now dirty and dingy halls, and the few nurses standing there turned and followed him with their faces, at least; not one had any eyes. The place seemed to have turned into a horror show - first Leon passed a morgue, with bodies being chopped up, then a room where surgery was in progress, the patient awake and screaming; then the main entry, outside the (oddly enough) glass doors raged flames in which people were burning.

And then the poison would be too much, and Leon wouldn't be able to run anymore. He'd collapse against the dingy wall, the poison soaking into his body. If he looked under the chain mail, he'd find stitches running up his chest; a small device filled with poison had been placed directly into his heart and then sewn up again, ostensibly to test the effectiveness and speed of said poison. It seemed to work quite fast, and once it had fully spread through Leon's body - taking over all his organs and shutting them down - that would be it for him. He had only a few minutes, or perhaps even seconds before he would be out of time.

And that was the second. And soon the rest would go... just as he did...


The second floor that the three women would step into was very nearly bare. In the center of the room sat a couch, two chairs at angles on either side of it. These all faced one 'wall' of the room; however, this wall was in fact a great window that looked out over the city. In front of the window was an odd tube with glass circles set in either end that, when looked through, made the view of the town get much larger in the vision. This was what would be known as a "telescope" in a few other worlds.

Really, this seemed to simply be Tura's viewing room, from which he could see the results of his actions. It wasn't a very interesting room, overall, but it did look like it would have been pleasant to be in.

Melethia slowed down a bit before getting to the second floor. She was making sure she still had some energy left in her when she got to Tura, whenever that may be. She looked around a bit.

"Tura's not here." She said, "And Amelia didn't wait long enough for me. She's going to tired because I'm really sure we aren't going to see Tura till we get to the top." She sighed before dashing to the stairs and going up them.

"What do you have planned for us Tura?" She thought to herself. "If I'm right about you being at the top, you might want us to be tired."

Kishuna strode out of a door in the main hallway; the flames had died now, leaving just a faint smell of burning behind. The floor didn't seem to have been damaged; odd. But the morph walked slowly towards the door, holding what appeared to be a journal, with small spots of blood speckling the cover. There seemed to be a legible word on the front, if one looked: "Report." The morph paused for a moment, with a gentle sigh, then strode out the front door, walking up to the horse still standing there. He reached out to Anri, holding Leon's report; then he nodded slowly. "This was your master's... take it. He will have at least this small memoriam."


Meanwhile, in other places in the mansion, the members of the Watch were each coming to face their own trials.


Ghis, upon walking through his door, had found himself in what looked to be a kitchen; it was filled with rotting food, broken utensils scattered around. To his left was a wall on which knives had been hung. As he stepped into the room, the wall began to move inexorably inwards, knives jingling on their hooks. That didn't bode well for Ghis. So, the man would take his only choice and run, vaulting over the center island and rushing through the open doorway, which was soon barred by said island crashing into it.

Now, he had two directions to go. To his left was a hall with waves of moving spikes; the spikes also happened to be aflame. This looked extremely difficult to traverse and quite dangerous, as the spikes could likely penetrate Ghis' armor. To the right, however, was a floor littered with broken glass. Of course, Ghis would choose this, as he was wearing metal boots. He stepped forward confidently, making it forward a few steps.... until the nearly-invisible razor wire sheared off his head just above the shoulders.


The area Jin entered seemed to be a sort of laboratory. Had he been around the castle during the Guildaversary, he might notice that some of the pieces here had belonged to the Sage Domanova, and had apparently been carried here. Things bubbled, and sizzled, and whistled, all around him. And he dare not touch; for these strange chemicals were not things to be trifled with and could easily harm someone.

There were two doors in this room. The Assasin would open the first cautiously; this led simply to a storage room which held nothing of use for him. Only a few boxes and canisters of supplies. The other door, however, when opened, led to a room filled with a strange silver powder. The motion of the door caused a rush of air, and the powder rushed over Jin's body, and into his lungs as he took a breath involuntarily. A moment later... he caught fire, burning and burning and he couldn't put it out. The last thing he would see through the flickering flames would be the small sign next to the door; it read simply "K".



(To be completed later.)

Out of the lot of people assembled, Javert had to have been the least clueless. He was never involved in Ghis' rumermongering or Jin's stealthy (yet failed attempt at) sleuthing; although a Halberdier, he was still nothing more than a pawn. Simple man though he was, however, he could understand what had happened in the entryway...

What am I doing here, with all this darkness and dread? Do I really stand a chance against this?

At last, Javert had an inkling of how Charice had felt way back when, being chased (and very nearly annihilated!) by no less than the Hawk King of Phoenicis. Javert had never faced a battle he couldn't possibly win--until now. But he couldn't go back, either... there was just forward. The path of the lance was the path he chose; he'd either meet Tura face-to-face or die trying--but at least not a traitor who abandoned his friends.

...Or are they friends? A second thought entered his brain. Have you really spoken to them for that long, or that much? What makes you so sure that your death will have meaning? Or value? Nobody ever said Cowardice was a "deadly sin"--some would call it "saving their skins".

Javert laughed nervously at his own thoughts, rubbing the back of his head. Then again, I've always been the generic soldier. What have I ever known but following orders? It just wouldn't feel right someho--gaah, too much thinking and not enough running!

And with that last irritated thought, Javert sped forward to his own doorway, his mind taking one last second to note that Tura let only the women move freely... Fireman, Ghis, Redhead, Leon, and Piers had to go indirect routes.

What a pervert.

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XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX{Amelia}