Chapter Text
Time moved irregularly in that hell, the line between minutes and hours blurring due to the exhaustion everyone felt.
"We've been walking for hours, Im exhausted.." Atsushi complained, clutching his stomach like a wounded animal.
"Atsushi's right! Shouldn't we have a break? Im starving." Lucy chimed in, she walked besides the whote haired boy, looking expectadly at the infamous duo.
"I suppose we could stop for a bit.." Chuuya sighed, he looked around the familiar walls surrounding them, feeling a sudden pitch in his stomach.
The walls continued on endlessly, some spots on them were damp with moist, creating a rather humid atmosphere.
And on top of that, the smell was absolutely disgusting. The rooms(?) stenched with mold and other substances. Chuuya swore he could smell dried blood and hear flies somewhere, however all the evidence of this occurrence dissapeared the moment he turned his head around to inspect the signs properly.
"Of course! What kind of dog owner would I be to not let my doggy rest!" Dazai sang, both him and Nakahara had walked forward, leaving the other two trailing behind them.
"If you keep calling me your dog I'll make sure to kill you before we get out of here." The mafioso yelled responded.
"Ow, so cruel! Chuuya knows that I hate pain"
"Ugh, just do everyone a favour and shut your damn mouth, fish."
"Hmm, no can do!" The black wraith teased, taking a strand of his hair and twirling it around his fingers, he added:
"Okay, you guys sit here, me and Chuuya will go investigate." Dazai suggested, he turned nack to Atsushi and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.
Liar.
"We won't take long don't you worry, and..Try to keep Lucy at peace m'kay?" The man cooed. Behind him the girl scowled before sliding down against the wall. The tiger soon followed.
Soon, double black began moving, they didn't wander too far off, always checking behind them to ensure they stayed close to the others.
"So, what is it you wanted to tell me?" Chuuya asked, a steady expresion on his face.
"I have no idea what you're talking 'bout." The other shrugged, suddenly finding way too much interest in whatever gross substance was on the slightly soggy, carpeted floor.
"Don't bullshit me now, Dazai, you've been eyeing me oddly for the past hour." Chuuya explained, turning to his side to look at the other more clearly.
"Was I that obvious.?" He let out a breathless laugh, and continued walking before answering.
"You've been acting weird. You've figured something out, havent you?" Osamu asked as he suddenly stopped walking, waiting for the others' responce.
Nakahara sighed.
"Im fine, its just.." He scoffed, "I dont know okay? This shit is just confusing." The ginger finished before walking past the other, poor attempt to lie, he knew that, but what more could he do?
He knows.
"Haven't you learned that lying is bad, Chuuya?" Dazai mocked, his expression shifting to something sharper and creepier.
Chuuya froze.
Its best to confess anyway.
"Smart bastard.." He muttered under his breath, already looking at the brunette, expecting him to catch up to him.
And he does.
Osamu moved swiftly, placing himself next to Chuuya's side.
"I dont know how to explain it, I mean - It's like a voice in my head, guiding me and..Telling me what to do.." He sighed as he paced around.
"Is that why you were to eager to tell us where to go earlier?" Dazai smirked, taking a step forward as he put his hands in his pockets, gaining an insult from the other.
Then he spoke up again.
"Is it like the voice you heard back when the Verlaine incident happened?" Osamu asked a low, hushed voice, raising an eyebrow.
Verlaine.
Chuuya internally flinched at the mention of the name, Paul was here, someone down there with them, potentially in danger and he couldn't do anything about it.
"No, that was Doctor N's" He took a long pause before continuing. He was over it, sure, But it was uncomfortable speaking about it again after six years.
"This one's different, it resembles the voice I hear whenever I use corruption, this is.." How could he explain it?
Guiding through the walls, leading towards salvation.
"It's my voice, Dazai. But it sounds.. weird." He confessed.
Like a stereo replaying a song over and over until the music gets distorted.
Like staring into a mirror for too long your reflection starts to look uncanny.
"Define weird" Dazai questioned.
"It sounds distorted," He raised an eyebrow at that and let him continue speaking,
"Like, static? Im not sure to how to explain clearly." Chuuya confessed, mumbling the last part.
He was staring at the dirty ground, analysing the pattern of the carpet..
It somehow felt as if the walls were shrinking, growing smaller and tighter when the Demon Prodigy's gaze was examining him carefully. He could feel the blood pumping from his veins in his wrist. The smell of blood was becoming more noticeable as time went by.
Fake, its all fake.
Don't believe the lies it feeds you.
Don't be deveived by the fake normality of it's artificial nature.
It's my voice.
It's my voi-
"Ah, Chuuya, I think that's just called being schizophrenic, were not even a day inside this place nad you've already gone crazy!" Dazai suddenly cut his overthinking short, moving past Chuuya, now standing in front of him.
He knows what he's doing.
Maybe cutting him off was a good thing after all.
"Im not schizophrenic, asshole!" Nakahara shouted in frustration. His face growing hot.
"Hm, what was that? Chuuya's barking cannot be heard from up here!" The taller man teased, making an elaborate gesture of putting his hand behind his ear and tilting his head slightly towards the other's direction.
"Why you-" Before the gravity manipulator got to finish, someone was already grabbing his arm and tugging him forward.
"Do you trust the voice?" His face suddenly growing dark, disposing whatever 'joy' he had before.
"W-what?" Chuuya sputtered, he could feel heat on his face and ears.
Why is he so close?!
Somehow, Osamu on now even closer than before, inches away from the other's nose.
"Don't play dumb with me, now. You said it told you where to go, yes? Could it perhaps know where the exit is?" He grinned as he uttered those words, getting out of Nakahara's space.
Thank god.
"So, you're basically asking me to become your makeshift compass." It wasn't a question.
"You're so smart Chuuya!" Dazai cheered. "Too bad I don't have amy treats to give you." He pouted as he turned away.
"Time really does fly quickly here, huh? Im sure the others are worried sick about is!" Dazai yelped as he continued grabbing onto Chuuya's arm.
"As if anyone would ever be worried about you." He grumbled in response, rolling his eyes and kept moving.
It's unfair to lie to yourself like that.
Yeah, maybe he was schizophrenic.
...
...
...
"Are you sure they're okay? Maybe we should go look for them, it's been a while.." Atsushi muttered, lost in thought.
"Relax, they'll be fine, Chuuya's way too strong to get hurt and Dazai would've already screamed for help if something happend." Lucy explained in response, vaguely looking around, memorising her surroundings.
They were still sitting down, a few metres away from eachother against the yellow wall. In front of them stood again, a yellow wall, however there was 'RUN' written on it in black paint, which was slightly smudged at the end, as if someone had been writing this in a hurry.
"I can use my tiger senses to track them down." Nakajima suggested again, lifting his gaze up to meet Lucy's.
"Abilities dont work here, remember? We're basically helpless." She sighed, burying her face in her hands.
"I wonder if this is how people feel when they get trapped in Anne's room.." She whispered. Regret hanging loose on her tongue.
"You shouldn't think of that right now," Atsushi answers as the corners of his lips turn into a soft smile."Lets just try to find a way out, yeah?" The boy continued. He's always been incredibly supportive, even if he's losing himself in the process.
"You're right," Lucy agrees, "We should focus on finding the others-"
Before she gets to finish her sentence, she gets cut of by the sound of footsteps approaching.
Multiple, running.
Her blood runs cold, she looks over at Nakajima, who looks just as alert as she is.
Slowly, she gets up from the floor and makes her way over to the other wall. Atsushi looks like he wants to interfere, however he stops in his tracks as Lucy gives him a reassuring nod.
I got this.
She can feel dread rising up to her face, burning her and making her sweat.
Montgomery creeps up from behind the wall, preparing herself for what she's about to face.
Okay, it's okay. She pauses. I can do this. She takes a big step as the noise gets louder, and louder, until-
"Hey guys, did you miss us?" Its fucking Dazai! He's grabbed Chuuya by the arm, who looks like he's about to shoot himself.
As soon as Lucy makes contact with the figure, she lets out a terrified scream and jumps away, shielding her face and chest wih her hands as she raises up her leg to kick the 'stranger'.
She opens her eyes slowly as she realizes the person people in front of her aren't doing anything to hurt her.
As soon as ahe spots the figures her demeanour immediately changes.
"What the hell in wrong with you two?!" She's shouting now, dropping her hands down to grab her hips.
"Ah, sorry Lucy.. My dog here didn't really feel safe going on a walk in an unfamiliar territory, so he practically begged me to return!" Dazia explains, resembling a child explaining to it's teacher how it crushed a butterfly.
"I'm not your fucking dog, dipshit!" Chuuya yells in reply, puling out of the other's grip.
"Well, did you find anything, at least?" Atsushi chimed in, hoping to get a positive answer.
Chuuya sighed. "We didn't wander far off, so we didn't really come across anything." He said as he turned away and begun walking.
"W-wait! Chuuya-san where are you going?" Nakajima asked him frantically, alreadly jumping up from the floor to try to stop the executive.
"We won't get out of here if we continue getting distracted. Follow me." He raised one arm up in dismissal, waiting for the remaining people.
"And why should we follow you?" Lucy asked in annoyance.
"Because I know where the exit is." Chuuya replied calmly, gaining confused glances by almost everybody.
He didn't actually know where the exit was, not sure he knows whether or not the voice in his head was actually trustworthy. Ue was taling a huge gamble and he was aware of that.
Right is the correct way.
He turned right and everyone followed.
Dazai had lost track of time, she felt they were going in circles, and have been going in circles for the past hour.
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Lucy demanded, her heels making a soft, rhymic clicking sound against the carpet.
She's becoming paranoid.
"I know what I'm doing." Chuuya huffed in response.
He did not look like he knew what he was doing.
Dazai however, was an observing person. He noticed how Atsushi fidgeted with his gloves when he was nervous. He noticed how Lucy was playing with her braid in her fingers, he noticed Chuuya's concentrated expression whenever it spoke to him.
He noticed the faint splatters of dried blood on the wall and the hair strands on the ground.(Dazai wasn't going to be the one investigating where they came from.)
"Do you really know how to leave this place?" Lucy asked once again, her impatience growing more intense as she gained a positive answer from Chuuya.
"Bullshit." She huffed, stopping behind him as she spoke again.
"We've been going in circles for the past hour and a half, how do we even know if you're telling the truth?" Her voice grew louder with every confrontation coming out of her mouth.
Chuuya suddenly turned around too.
"I want to escape just as much as you want." Nakahara confessed woth a sigh.
His hair was sticking on his forehead because he was sweating, he couldn't blame him though, the atmosphere there was kind of muggy and humid.
"It sure was hell doesn't seem like it." Lucy replied in rage, clicking her for against the ground.
"What you want me to do?!" The gravity manipulator snapped, his shouting cutting through the air, slicing any possible noise short.
No flies, no blood, no humid atmosphere. Just akward quiet.
Atsushi had stopped fiddling with his black glove, Lucy had an unreadable expression plastered on her face.
He could see mishaps on her makeup from the sweat.
"If you wanna stay here and sulk 'till you die from starvation then be my fucking guest. I'll go actually look for a way out." He croaked out aggressively, Atsushi looked like he wanted to say something but quickly let go of the idea.
Lucy tried to argue back, however she got cut off by a noise.
He could hear it, he was not acting paranoid , it was real.
Low grumbling and coughing in the distance, the rhythm sounded uneven, as if someone was limping, dragging themselves along the carpet.
The smell has become ten times more distinct, reeking of disgust.
A chill ran down his spine, unable to move, nor take his eyes away from the suspicious noise.
..
..
..
"Hello? Is someone ther-?" Questioned Atsushi loudly, uncertainty and fear on his voice. The grumbling stopped, alongside the dragging.
Dazai put a hand over Atsushi's mouth to silence him.
What the hell does he think he's doing?!
He snapped his gaze over to Chuuya, who looked like he'd seen a ghost.
Or rather, heard a voice.
Suddenly, Chuuya's eyes perked up, wide and full of worry, frightened and dangerous.
"Don't. We have to leave." He warned. Stopping the weretiger dead in his tracks.
He'd never seen Chuuya like that, with genuine fear on his face.
The boy muffled before taking his mentor's hand away from his mouth and continued speaking. "But, what if it's a person?" Explained Nakajima, already picking up his pace and making his way over the sound.
"But what if its not?" Lucy told him, just as frightened. However to no avail. Atsushi had already dissapeared to the void.
Dazai quickly followed, he wasn't going to allow Atsushi to leave, he'd taught him better than that, Dazai was the strategist, he was supposed to plan ahead! And his mentee was supposed to follow his plans! Not go around out in the open like that!
Curse the Atsushi's saviour complex.
He signaled for the others to stay back. Of course, his dog disobeyed him too, getting to his once blind side.
Lucy did not look convinced, she still followed after all, not wanting to stay behind.
Atsushi couldn't have gone far, right?
Except if was already dea-
"Guys! I found him! Its a person!" The boy cheered for a distance, showing himself from behind the wall, raising moving his hands up and down so to be spotted by the others who sprinted towards his direction.
Slowed, they approached the tiger, who looked extremely proud of himself for discovering another human being.
"See? I told you all that it was a person." He chucked softly and made his way of the Dazai.
"You stil shouldn't have taken such a big gable." He warned, raiasing his hand to pat the child's shoulder, resting it there before continuing speaking.
"Besides, we don't know that man's true intentions." He added, barely ablove a whisper and smiled fondly.
The boy seemed to tense up at the words and his smile faltered. He muttered an apology quietly, his guilty expression never failing to show.
The tension broke as Lucy stormed over to them and started going all out on Atsushi.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" She shouted. "Do you realize how fucking dangerous that was?! You could've gotten seriouly hurt! N-not that I care or anything-!" She continued her aimlessly angry rambling.
However, Dazai wasn't paying attention to that, right now.
He walked up to the wall, ready to inspect the mysterious man. The metallic scent not leaving not nostrils. He crept up to the wall, bracing himself for whatever sight he'd embrace.
The corner was a bloodbath. Yellow, being covered by red, brown and bordeaux. As if someone had been gutted and smeared their insides on the wall.
On the side, stood a tall man, who had crumbled down to the corner. His sode was completely destroyed, blood streaming down from every direction. It looked as though the man had been dragging himself on the wall, a thick, unever line of red going horizontally, leaving a dark trail behind, with an unclear starting point.
Someone really got gutted, he thought.
The male's face was covered with bloodied and sweaty hair, his gaze down. He looked barely alive. Clothes torn and burnt.
Why were his clothes burnt? He wondered.
Atsushi soon walked up from behind Osamu and crouched down as well. He slid once arm under the man's and applied slight pressure. The man let out a pained groan before murmuring a thank you.
"I found him like this when I got here, he seems badly hurt.." Atsushi croaked out and getting up with the man to support him against the wall.
"If only Yosano-sensei were here." The boy continued, but Dazai wasn't laying attention to his words.
The man was a bit taller than him, however slumped over as he was, it was difficult to pinpoint his height accurately.
That was when the detective noticed his face. A gash spread all over from his cheek to his eye.
It looked disgusting. By the looks of it, it was most likely infected.
Blood and flesh was dripping down his chin, greenish and yellow pus liquid was leaking from his eye. The red was mixing with the liquid, creating a foul smell, resembling an animal corpse.
It seemed as if someone had mauled his side with a baseball bat and let it rot.
It was clear the man's body was unstable, already decaying.
We can not afford to waste time on a dead man.
However that was when he looked at his other eye and inspected him more clearly.
Dull, lifeless blue eyes, dark, orange and bloodied hair. A beige coat hanging loosely on the male's shoulders. - No, his coat hanging loosely on his shoulders.
That man was undeniably Oda Sakunosuke.
What.?
That doesn't even make sense.
How was Odasaku standing in front of him.
That's when the man fixated his eyes on Dazai's and looked up. It smiled at him,
Something shattered inside him.
It looked uncanny, he somehow had too many and not enough teeth. The gash on it's face tearingg apart more. Grin wide and fake, as if something was trying to imitate human behaviour, wearing their skin to-
To lead prey straight to it's direction.
The thing opened it's mouth, teeth clattering together, muffling something inaudible. It sounded like Oda's voice.
But it wasnt, it was too low when it started and too high pitched when it stopped.
"Atsushi get away from that man right now." He ordered, already backing up.
"Os..a..m-u.." It was mumbling his name, over and over, still smiling with it's teeth.
"Wha-why? He-" Atsushi tried to argue, though he immediately restrained himself from doing so when he noticed his mentor's shoulders trembling slightly, and thats when he turned his head back to see-
Atsushi stumbled back, a terrified expression plastered all over him. He walked back slowly, not turning around, to keep watch of whatever was in front of him and pretending to be his dead friend.
"Dazai," Another voice, it belonged to Chuuya. Low and cautious.
"I know how we get away from it," He continued, Dazai was trying to pay attention, he really was, however the sight in front of him was extremely distracting.
"We must run straight and then when we see a gap on the wall, we turn left, we mustn't go through the ga-" Chuuya's voice cut off.
Why did he stop talking?! He snapped his head back to see-
It was standing up.
It was standing up.
It didn't even need to support itself on the wall, as it looked like.
Its bones snapping and growing, creating popping sounds, it felt like its was getting taller by the second.
No, it was getting taller by the second.
As it's bones snapped, it's skin also tore like leather, letting black and red liquid liquid run down it's body.
Mouth now moving frantically uo and now, the sound of teeth clattering together growing louder and louder, alongside the popping and the tearing sounds on the bones and the skin, his friend slowly approaching with that sickly smile of his.
"Osamuosamuosamuosamu.." Muttering Dazai's name like a prayer, as if it was the only word it knew. As if it were something sacred and priceless.
It seemed like it was missing its foot, one leg was shorter than the other, simping slowly towards them.
Then it got faster, a scream could be heard next to him, which belonged to Lucy.
Then it got faster
And faster, leaving a traid of blood from it's missing foot on the carpet, it outstretched it's ridiculously long arms to hug Dazai.
Or to kill him, he didn't know,
His dead friend running towards him with open arms, maybe under different circumstances he might've run towards him too.
But this man was not Oda Sakunosuke.
It was simply something wearing his skin and running towards him.
Someone was yelling his name in the distance, yet it sounded muffled.
"Dazai!" Oh, it was his dog, of course it was.
How would Chuuya react if he was turned into a monster?
How would Dazai react if Chuuya got turned into a monster?
He tugged him backwards and ran, and that's when the weight of the situation hit him.
They were running from a creature that wanted to kill them.
Cuhuuya was muttering curses at Dazai as they ran, in front of them Lucy and Atsushi were running next to eachother, still screaming.
That thing wasn't necessarily fast, however when you're running from a ten foot monster in an unfamiliar environment will so many walls, you become slower.
Chuuya was yelling directions to the others, leading them all somwhere.
Didn't he mention something about a gap?
He ran as fast he could, he could not turn back, he couldn't afford to get distracted again.
Miraculously, they bought some more time thanks to the thing's awfully slow running pace.
And there they stood, in front of the gap.
He expected it less intentional, to say the least.
But no, it looked like it was deliberately made to fit a person inside.
Lucy and Atsushi ran straight in.
"We have to turn left!" Chuuya shouted to no avail.
The uneven running around was getting louder.
"We have to-" Nakahara tried again before getting cut off by Dazai.
"If we turn left it'll find us and we'll die." Dazai ordered.
Usually during missions, Dazai was the strategist, he ordered and Chuuya did as he was told.
However this wasn't a mission.
It was a battlefield.
Chuuya looked unsure, he obviously had no idea who to follow, the voice in his head telling him to not go inside, his friends saying he'd die if he does otherwise or the monster running towards them right across the corner.
Dazai was ready to make to move and grab his frmer partner however, Lucy beat him to it.
She grabbed Chuuya by the hand and yanked him forward, stumbling a bit from the intact.
They all then ran inside the gap, with Atsushi first, then Dazai, and lastly Lucy with Chuuya.
Whatever was chasing them before shot it's arms up and grabbed Chuuya's other hand through the gap.
Of course, the best martial artist in the mafia kicked it backwards and continued running.
At the end of the passage was a brown, wooden door.
Atsushi opened it slowly and they all ran inside it.
Dazai fell on the floor to his knees next to his mentee, panting heavily.
What the fuck just happened.
The weretiger looked like he was about to throw up. Eyes glassy and full of tears, which he refused to shed.
Suddenly, a blood curdling scream came out of Lucy's throat.
Both of them snapped back to look at her.
She was holding Chuuya's hand.
What.
She was only holding his-
Lucy threw the bloody hand on the ground with a cry and stumbled back before falling and breaking down.
Behind the open door was merely just.. A yellow wall.
No gap no anything
No Chuuya, more importantly.
On the wall was a giant splatter if blood, which was most definitely Chuuya's.
Dazai gaped and looked at the bloody hand on the carpet, with his glove still intact.