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Despite youma, despite working at night, despite the darkness of the Negaverse hallways, and despite being witness to some of the worst carnage around, Wolframite was still easily scared. He didn’t watch zombie movies, hated ghost stories, and tended to keep the light on if he heard strange creaking at night. There was no boogeyman, but damn did he think that, with the existence of youma, anything was possible. Point proven when he followed the group, lingering near the back, when he noticed he glow from Tanzanite’s touch that brought the scene of horror before them.

They were literally surrounded by nightmarish creatures. Their erratic gestures and silent howls made him think of so many movie previews he had seen where the crazy, creepy ghout walked on all fours at odd angles and turned their head slowly. Where things crawled too quickly and tore off faces. Of course he couldn’t cover his eyes here and ask for someone to poke him when it was over. They had JUST started this “adventure down crazy nightmare lane” and he had to prove that he was brave. Nothing was hurting him, but it was hard not to look. Each side was being pressed in by the bodies and shadows that pressed and clawed at the crystal, making Wolframite feel both trapped and in some sort of zoo display where the tortured were there for observance. All he wanted to do was scream just to offer some noise and maybe to get the hell out of this terrible hallway.

Breathing hard, he looked ahead at the rainbow cape of the General, but it was hard to see the light splashing on the crystal when you were short. One shape threw itself at the wall nearby, causing the small Captain to jerk back and bump into another officer. Turning, he noticed Zinkenite and then down to the fact that his hand was clentching the boy’s arm. Quickly releasing, he stepped away, but as little as he could seeing as he didn’t want to get closer to the walls. “Sorry.” He apologized, looking around before Tanzanite spoke up.

It was enough to somber him a moment and distract him from the tortured souls around them. They looked human. There was no denying that, but they were distorted and not because of the layer of crystal between them. He wondered about that as well. They were called corrupt, and in the past, he had thought it wasn’t right. They were the side of good, protecting their planet and fighting evil, but even he couldn’t deny a few things. He had been of the old generation as a few present had been. He had started as a rookie killing for starseeds. That was corrupt, but even he could justify it for the greater good, as Nealite and Tanzanite later had told him. Scarifies for the end result to be accomplished. Necessary.

It was how she said it that made him look at the creatures once more. Somewhere, he wondered if Tanzanite though she would be like them. He had heard her many times talk about how she wasn’t human, and he had tried time and again to say it wasn’t true. Looking back to her (if only to stop looking at the creatures), he offered his own feelings. Feelings born from both the past and present. Thinking. He’d done a lot of it lately.

“Sometimes you have to be corrupt to fight those that are corrupt.” The BMC being the biggest group in his head at the moment. To fight animals, who were heartless and cruel, had made him feel the same need to. To raise the bar as they had when they had burned him. Kicked him. Starved and beaten him. “…even when it’s for good.”

Paragonite felt herself yanked along by the raver General. When Scheelite paused in step she yanked her arm back and threw him a quick glance that read nothing short of "What the hell is wrong with you?" before letting it slide and just dusting her arm off where he had grabbed her.

When she had a chance to actually look around and take in the sights, she felt something catch in her throat. Yes, the figures were distinctly human, and she'd seen them suffer before. This was not even a little the same. It was strange, and rather unnerving. For once she was almost grateful for the her glowworm, and she took a small step closer to him.

Tanzanite's smile did a world of wonder to Serandite-- An equally soft sile returned to the General Queen, Serandite stepped forward after the crew in complete confidence. As she stepped into the room, the chill forced Serandite to rub her arms through her thick kimono .. Even her kimono didn't seem like enough when one looked at the crystal wall.

Her first instinct was to repel back from the horrifying view-- but soon, she could see an image of herself behind the glass. Instantly, the world became underlaid in a darker tone, the General Queen's sadness becoming infectious. Serandite wasn't brave enough to touch the glass, as Tanzanite did, but she did spend a moment lingering along the wall ..

"Toby.. ?" She asked, unclear if he was close. It saddened her-- Everyone seemed to have people to rely on. But Serandite could hardly say she had someone .. Everybody who had been a support for the General seemed to have disappeared.

And so she was left .. With Toby. Whether that was unfortunate or fortunate had yet to be decided.

"Good," he replied keeping his voice quiet as well. Though he wasn't particularly close with the violin player but at the moment she was perhaps one of the few negaverse officers he considered a friend. Though now wasn't exactly the place for it, he needed a friend especially since it seemed that no matter where he looked he could see her blonde dreads.

It was inevitable he supposed, the faction was small all things considering, and she was closer to those that held more power. He'd probably see her around frequently, but he'd continue to pretend like he didn't. Letting depression get the better of him wouldn't do him any good, not now. Not ever. So he thought to distract himself with Tantalite, even if it was only temporary.

"You've missed a lot while you were gone," he told her even as he stepped ahead and tried to fall in line behind the others, careful to keep his friend close to him. He was grateful that his uniform covered most of his skin because the chill ran down his spine and made him shiver. It could have been worse.

His amber eyes fell onto the dark human like creatures wondering just what they had to do with them and being "corrupt".

For once, Hayden had been studying. She didn’t find plopping down at a desk or bed with textbooks and notes in hand and then jamming her brain with information she had already “learned” to be an enjoyable experience. Eyebrows furrowed, she blankly stared at the numbers splayed across her worksheet. Unfortunately, her grades were beginning to slip and Hayden would rather avoid a tirade over the phone—courtesy of her parents. She sighed and brought up a pencil to scribble down a hasty answer, but found a vaguely familiar force pulling her somewhere else.

Once again, she was in a sea of unfamiliar faces. Fukalite furtively glanced around at the others before finally turning her attention towards the youma queen. Something worth risking my life for? She quirked a curious eyebrow. A rather vague proposition, but was the lieutenant really supposed to refuse? She was still scrambling her way around the organization. Perhaps whatever lay beyond that door would help solidify her ideals and intentions. As others slowly made their way into the room, Fukalite trailed behind them, comfortably settling herself near the end of the group.

Until she took a close look behind the glass, at least. A chill ran through her spine as she watched the figures squirm behind the crystal, pressing their hands against the barrier. Fukalite hastily turned her eyes away from the shadowy figures and forced her gaze onto the person in front of her. Up ahead she heard a few murmur her own thoughts: What were the creatures behind the walls?

“Corrupt, huh?” she echoed, nervously pulling on her scarf.

Ew.

Proustite's eyes widened, pupils impossibly dilated in the dark of the foyer, and regarded the claws that scraped along the crystal with no small amount of disgust. He took note of the sorrowful inflection in Tanzanite's voice, but could not bring himself to grieve for the trapped… things that festered on the other side of the wall.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Proustite was glad of the distance between them, and hoped beyond hope that the barrier would hold out until he was safely out the other end.

Grimacing, incapable of looking at anything other than the twisted excuses for faces that mocked them all, Proustite tightened his grip around the cool plastic of his weapon. This might have been comforting, if Hematite didn't have a ******** huge sword.

The coolest thing about his hula hoop were the little balls inside that rattled when he swung his hips.

If s**t went down, Jack knew where he wanted to be.

"Excuse me," he said, without much consideration for manners, and pushed his way bodily up the line. "Coming through."

Proustite accidentally trod on somebody's foot.

"Woops," he said, "sorry, about that. Anybody ever told you you have pretty big feet?"

And then he stopped, having elbowed and shoved and insulted his way to the spot directly behind Hematite.

The brief tap of Hematite's hand against her own was comforting, though she knew that this black hole of a hallway was no place for it, even if other people couldn't see past their own hands for the darkness. Surrounded by the silent monsters behind the walls though and feeling that with every step she took they were closing in, it was nice to know that he was there.

"Yes," she answered quietly, "just making sure you did." There should have been amusement in the tone, a joke laced under the words, but she couldn't muster it from beneath her dread. Responsible Hematite was still a new thing for her regardless.

She let a little of her panic fade away, confident as long as he was there that he would be able to keep her safe if those.. things managed to get out. She had just let her attention focus completely back on Tanzanite and the part of the procession in front of her when suddenly, there was a commotion behind her.

She turned her head and peered through the darkness behind them, trying to make out a face among the barely lit blackness. Part of her wished she could have used her light without simultaneously hypnotizing the entire parade at once. She just focused on what she hoped was a face, standing out just barely among the shifting shadows.

"Are you alright?" She had no idea that Proustite had really been the one causing most of the problems.