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This wasn’t a typical job for them; spontaneous, late at night, with half of a plan. They were lucky to have been in the area when Reigen had recalled the rumours. He was lucky that Serizawa was willing to indulge him. Hell, they were lucky the door was open. If there was a nasty spirit here, they would get rid of it, and contact the owner to inform them of their good Samaritan-ly duties. If there wasn’t, well, it wasn’t an awful place to tour, was it? Maybe there’d be a nice view at the top. If Reigen was secretly hoping to be rewarded for their efforts, well, he kept that to himself.
“Nice place,” Reigen says as they wander through the foyer. Even decayed and decrepit, the building imposes a stellar air of high class activity. Decorative columns adorn the room in a listless pattern. He can already picture the place full of important people with important business, a reception desk over there, security checkpoint there. Walls made of glass illuminated their surroundings easily, fueled his imagination, yet the light couldn’t seem to reach the ceiling, leaving it shrouded in darkness, and the walls to seemingly stretch on forever. “Tall ceilings…”
Serizawa gives him a stiff reply. “It looks… expensive…” After a brief swivel of his head, he points across the room. “The stairs are over here.” Down a side hall, past the defunct elevators, Serizawa presses open the stairwell door, which creaks to reveal a pitch black nothing. Undeterred, Reigen passes by him with a quick word of thanks, letting his phone illuminate the darkness ahead. “I don’t feel anything yet. But I’m still not sure if this is a real one, so let’s stick together, just in case.” Reigen can’t argue with that. They were supposed to be on a date after all. And this was his idea.
The first floor was some kind of break room, he guesses, based on what must be the barest frames of cabinetry on the walls. It’s much darker than the lobby, with small windows of moonlight obfuscated by concrete pillars jutting from the ground. Maybe they should have thought about bringing real flashlights. But then again, there is only one other door on the level, leading to a supply closet, so maybe it was fine that they hadn’t bothered. The second floor contained nothing more than a few rows of cubicles, split up by the same concrete beams. A bit of a thrill to investigate, but with no payoff. Beyond them, empty bathrooms, empty corner offices, empty meeting rooms. Empty, empty, empty. The third floor is even emptier. The only inhabitants are the concrete support columns, the frames of offices that didn’t exist, and more small windows. Reigen opts to not even bother with searching.
It was always strange to walk through abandoned places. Places meant to be so busy and full of life, simply devoid of anything. He could see why it would be a perfect haunting ground, even without psychic powers, places like this had some kind of peculiar vibe, and this one was no exception.
But there were no signs of a spirit yet. “How many floors do you think this will take?” Reigen asks as they scale up to the next platform. He’s not trying to complain, but he is starting to loathe the stairs. He’s surprised to find Serizawa so far ahead of him, already on the next staircase. He’s only able to tell by looking for the dull glow of his phone in his hand, the only part of him he can see.
“Not sure. But I don’t feel anything weird about this place.” Well, if the job turns into a light workout, and maybe a nice view, he supposes that’s reason enough to have made the trip.
When they open the door to the fourth floor, they are met with only darkness, not unlike the stairwell they stood in. Their lights land on nothing. There are no windows to illuminate inside. He glances at Serizawa, or rather, his tie, in the darkness. “… Skip?”
“We can’t skip another floor, can we?” No, Reigen supposes they can’t, but he hardly wants to wander in the dark if they don’t have to. Without real lights, this would be a pain to search through. If the other floors are of any reference, this one is likely just as empty as the last.
But he’s the one who asked Serizawa to come with him here, so he can’t half-ass it. He offers a compromise. “Let’s at least check the next one first.” Thankfully, Serizawa can grant him that.
He gets as far as the next platform before he finally needs to stop. He hates to pump the breaks on their little excursion, especially with nothing to show for their efforts so far. But going up two consecutive stories is apparently his limit, which makes sense when he considers his office. He rests his head on the cool metal railing, and hears Serizawa stop ahead of him, feels his concerned stare through the dark. “Small break?” he asks.
Reigen gives a wordless nod that Serizawa can’t see and turns to sit on the floor of the platform. He waves a hand in Serizawa’s general direction, beckoning him to sit. He hears him comply, but can’t feel him nearby. “Where…?”
“Here.” A gentle arm slides across his back, a hand rests on his shoulder, then he’s nicely tucked into Serizawa’s side. He can feel his body running warm. He can smell him through his shirt, and he’s sure he smells no better, but he’s relieved to know that Serizawa isn’t some stair-climbing superhuman who isn’t breaking a sweat. He’s just putting up a better fight than him.
“We should do this more often…” He breathlessly quips against his chest.
“Yeah?” He’s not sure if Serizawa is goading him or just ignorant of his sarcasm.
“No…”
“Not into fitness?” Goading, then.
“Yeah, well… ” Being outpaced by Serizawa, there’s something ironic in it, he’s pretty sure. Something about being a shut-in and defying expectations.
“I think we’re close to the top.” Serizawa says. “Ready to power on?” He’s as ready as he’ll ever be.
The fifth floor— the final floor, actually— is as elegant and vast as the lobby, but in very rough shape. It’s worse off than the rest of the building, with cracked tile floors, half-boarded up windows, splintering plaster. Lots of furniture and unused building materials scattered carelessly throughout. Seems like the perfect place for a ghost or ghoul.
“Anything?” Reigen asks, looking over to Serizawa. Here, they can at least see each other’s faces with the help of the moonlight.
“It’s faint.” Serizawa says, as his eyes methodically drift across the room.
“Well, faint is good.”
“Faint means it’s real.” His voice takes on a lower, steadier pitch. “Stay close by.”
He tries to not let Serizawa’s serious tone take his mood down with it, and tries to stay nonchalant. “Right, right. We find it, you do your thing, and then we’re out in no time.” Serizawa glances at him from the corner of his eye, and Reigen flashes him a small smile. He watches his face soften at the sight of it, and he gives his own in quiet reply.
He lets his hand follow the cracks on the wall as they pace the perimeter of the room. Each step has small bits of concrete and plaster crunching underfoot. There’s leaks in the ceiling, he thinks, listening to the steady sound of what must be water dripping into puddles beyond them.
As they pass the first support pillars, he opts to not point out the stress cracks in them, and lets Serizawa focus on locating whatever is haunting the building. The cracks are worrying, but not enough to think the place will collapse any time soon. His gaze drifts to the gaps in the boarded up windows on the far wall, and he shivers with a passing draft. He wishes he had dressed better for the occasion. He’s considering leaning back into Serizawa’s side to soak up some of his warmth, when his foot suddenly connects with something and he stumbles.
“Woah–” Serizawa’s arm shoots out, and he latches onto it to steady himself. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just– tripped.” He makes a exaggerated show of collecting himself to hide his own chagrin, shining a light around to find the offending cause of his stumble. There’s a few large chunks of concrete, likely what he tripped over, and he kicks one petulantly. He looks up at the ceiling, but can’t see much, and of what he can see, nothing looks out of place.
“Oh. Well. Be careful.” His show is for nothing.
The further they go, the more the room devolves; tiles turn back into concrete, boards on windows become rustling tarps. He tries to fill the eerie silence with some lighthearted, mindless chatter.
“You think— it’s gonna be a tough one?” Reigen asks. He tries for casualness, but there’s such an echo from just talking at a normal decibel that he instinctively lowers his voice.
He receives a delayed and distracted reply. “Maybe.” At a glance, he knows Serizawa is nervous. He knows he doesn’t like Reigen being in real ghost situations. He also knows he can’t stop him from inserting himself in them anyway. He must be thinking about how to keep him out of the way for when the real work starts. “The tough ones always hide. So maybe.”
As they walk, he finds some small muddy puddles, and kicks pebbles of debris into them as they go by, to watch his feet more than anything else. He’d rather not fall on his ass tonight if he can help it, and one close call is enough. The conditions of the place only get worse the further they go. The columns have deeper cracks, and missing chunks. There’s more, bigger puddles. The air gets colder. He’s sure Serizawa has noticed it all as well. The moonlight has mostly left them, the only proof of its lingering presence is their fading shadows that lay ahead of them. There’s nothing sinister yet, but…
There. A rustle. Did he imagine that, or…?
“Wait.” He patiently watches Serizawa scan their surroundings with his light. He tries to help him, but he’s honestly not sure what they’re looking for. Until—
“There.” He gestures towards the centre of the room. “Behind those chairs.” Indeed, from the jumbled pile of office chairs he sees some of them slowly pittering away from the group, recently disturbed.
“You think we can take one of these back to the office?” He glances at Serizawa, who, as expected, ignores his attempt for a joke. But then there's a scraping sound, another rustle, and the chairs move just a bit more. He takes a step away from the commotion, and glances at Serizawa, who quickly moves in, leaving Reigen to follow at his heels or be left behind.
He’s quickly met with a hand to his chest. “Wait back here a bit. Please.” Reigen bites his tongue. Standing in the dark, alone and unmoored, it doesn’t sit right with him. He doesn’t like it. It seems like a bad idea, like an easy way to be bait. He’s not sure if Serizawa knows his discontent, because he stays facing away from him, but maybe that’s on purpose. Maybe he doesn’t want to falter his composure if Reigen tries to hit him with his puppy dog eyes and baby face. Or maybe, more likely, he wants to keep an eye on the spirit.
But he’s not about to let this go. “What happened to ‘sticking together’?”
Serizawa’s reply is quick and terse. “I’m going to check and come back. If it’s dangerous, then you’re out of the way.” He can’t argue that. But he still doesn’t like this. Like an afterthought, Serizawa continues. “If it’s not dangerous, then… I’ll bring you a chair. For the office.”
He knows he’s only saying this to try and re-lighten the mood, but he’ll play along, because he honestly hopes that it will too. “A fair trade, Serizawa.” He nods sagely, although he’s pretty sure Serizawa can’t see it. He’ll have to concede to him here. “Alright. Go do your thing. I’ll be here.”
As soon as he’s gone, he changes his mind. At the very least, he wishes he had stayed back by the wall. He takes a quick nervous glance behind him, but they’ve gone so far that the light doesn’t even reach it anymore. It’s like the room goes endlessly in every direction except the way they came. Anything could be out there, waiting for them to let their guard down or slip up.
No walls. No one watching his back. Only his phone, and a pocketful of salt. Well, Serizawa didn’t seem nervous about leaving him here by himself. So he’ll probably be fine. But there is a tiny, irrational, childlike part of him that still sees a patch of darkness, and fills it with a monster.
Maybe he should scooch a little closer to Serizawa. Just a little. For safety. Surely just a bit closer couldn’t hurt. Surely it could only help. Peering over Serizawa’s shoulder as he does, he can’t see much in the way of spooky sources of noise. He hates to use the cliche, but maybe it was nothing. Maybe they had nothing to worry about. Maybe the spirit left.
The steady dripping gets louder as he approaches, but he refuses to be distracted, and keeps his eyes on his partner. “Find anything?” He asks as Serizawa’s light slowly circles the pile. Maybe the nearby leak made stuff fall over. Some light refracts off of the wet saran-wrap that covers the furniture. It’s not impossible to imagine.
Serizawa finally speaks up, but his voice is laced in confusion. “There’s… something.” He speaks slowly, deliberately, like the words themselves were dangerous. “It’s not spirit-related, but it’s not good either.”
Morbid curiosity mixes in the pit of his stomach with accompanying unease, and Reigen decides it’s time to make a judgement call. “I’m coming over.” He was already doing that, but now he’s double timing it. As he rounds the corner, he smells the source of Serizawa’s unease before he sees it. A large dried splatter of blood, slowly liquifying under steady drops from the leaky ceiling. It seeps under the pile of chairs, and small rivulets pass by their feet into the darkness behind them.
Reigen moves his light to look above them, and that’s his first mistake. Lurking beyond, now spotlighted, is what can only be described as a monster. Not human, nor spirit. He only catches a glimpse of its marred face; sagging skin, empty eyes, sharp, spaced out teeth, stretched into a wide smile, blood dripping from its lips in a slow rhythm. It’s so close that he wonders how they could have possibly missed it. Then Serizawa is pushing him back, and his light is blocked.
Until there’s a bright flash of psychic energy, and he sees the creature for another half-second. It reels back and lets out a haunting cry, echoing and shaking the building with a cacophony of warbling voices.
Serizawa keeps pushing them back, trying to hastily distance themselves from the monster. Reigen should have been watching his feet. That’s his second mistake.
Maybe it was the slick floors, or a loose piece of concrete. Whatever the reason, the outcome is the same. He loses his footing. The only reason he doesn’t take Serizawa down with him is because his fingers slip from their purchase in his jacket.
It all happens in an instant, yet it passes by like a slideshow. As he falls, he watches Serizawa turn around. He watches his face turn from tense, to surprised, to scared. Then he watches it get swallowed up by darkness. There’s only more darkness, as he plummets further below the floor.
The landing catches him off guard. The ground knocks the air from his lungs, smacks his head with a resounding crack. If he could see anything, it would be doubled, he thinks. He tries to breathe steady, but every stuttering, shallow inhale stabs a sharp pain in his chest. He feels his consciousness flutter for a moment, before snapping wide awake, and shooting up, coughing and gasping out his already empty chest. It feels like forever until he can finally take a breath that doesn’t seize his lungs.
He shakes his head to bring himself back into focus, and ow , it feels like his brain has been tucked into a spring mattress. He raises a hand to the back of his head, but feels nothing of concern. His brain says otherwise, but he supposes he can ignore it for now.
He tries to take in his surroundings, but he’s only met with pure, formless darkness. He blinks, hard, trying to see if his eyes are really opening. They are, there’s just nothing to see.
He looks up, and there’s no indication of whatever hole he fell through. There’s no glimmer of moonlight, or familiar face. He looks down. There’s only more darkness. He waves a hand in front of himself. Nothing.
He can’t see anything. He can’t find his phone. And he can’t hear anything above him.
What should he do? Should he stay put? Look for the way out?
Which way is the door? Which way is he facing? Which way is his phone?
Part of him wants to smooth his hands across the floor and look for his phone. A bigger part of him is terrified to reach out into the darkness.
What if something’s here? What if he touches something, like a cockroach, or a rat, or heaven forbid, the monster. What if it followed him here? What if it’s lurking now, right on the edge of his awareness, patiently waiting for him to walk into its awaiting mouth?
Okay, no. Don’t think like that, Reigen. And don’t freak out. If he freaks out, then he’s screwed. Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out.
Serizawa will come back for him. He just needs to hold tight. He’s probably dealing with the monster right now. He strains his ears for any kind of sound, but there’s nothing but a dull ringing. He’s not sure if it means nothing is happening, or if there’s something wrong with his ears.
Suddenly, there’s a scuffle beside him, and he flinches away from it. He doesn’t know what that was.
Don’t freak out.
He can’t know what it was.
…
He’s kind of freaking out.
What should he do?
He’s half tempted to scream. Half tempted to curl up and wait for rescue. Or death. Whichever comes first.
He doesn't want to move. He fears he might have to. What if Serizawa’s not coming? What if he can’t find him. He needs to move. He needs to find Serizawa. He can’t fight monsters, or get help. But he can move. He can get himself out of this. He needs to move.
Reigen, against his better judgement, tries to stand up. It’s difficult to find his balance, even more so when he can’t see the floor. So he leaves his feet planted, locks his knees to feel sturdy. Tries his best to quietly slide them around, feeling for an idea of the general area, searching for anything solid to connect with. He tries to turn in a circle, but then decides against it. He’ll keep his original heading. If he sticks to one direction, he will surely find something.
Reigen, against his better judgement, tries to take a step forward. He slides his foot ahead. Then, his other foot. Two steps becomes three. And soon enough, he’s properly, blindly, wandering in the dark, with slow, hesitant steps.
His hands stay curled up around him, tightly gripping his jacket. He’s terrified to extend himself in any direction, terrified to touch something unexpectedly. His whole body is coiled in on itself with fear. The only part of him still functioning is his legs, which drag him forward, towards an unknowable destination.
Each step is nothing less than terrifying. With them, his brain fires out awful outcome after outcome. He’s about to step into a bear trap, into a hole, onto a corpse, into the monster. With every raised foot, he accepts his inevitable, horrible, painful death. And with every landing, he frighteningly defies all his expectations, and stays alive. But that only makes the next step that much more terrifying. Surely this will be the one to kill him. If not this one, then the next one. If not that, then the next. It’s an endless horror.
Until it isn’t.
He makes contact with something solid, and practically screams.
It doesn’t kill him. He doesn’t move until his echo finally peters out, and it’s quiet again. When it does, he hesitantly kicks whatever he just stumbled into. It doesn’t budge. With nervous, shaking hands, he finally reaches out. Touches something that makes him flinch. It’s cold, and rough. He reaches out again. A pillar, he thinks. A pillar! Finally! Something! After an eternity of nothing, one piece of concrete is enough to make him sane and oriented.
He could cry with relief. He collapses against it, would hug it if his arms could encircle it. But they can’t, so instead he just curls up at its base. He’ll stay here. At least for now. He’s suddenly very tired. Maybe he’ll just… take a breather.
Beyond him, there’s a rational part of his mind yelling, to keep going, to find a wall, find a way out! But it’s muffled and hazy, so it’s easy to ignore. He trusts Serizawa to come for him soon. He understands their priorities. The importance of dealing with the monster.
But what if Serizawa can’t handle the monster? What if he’s hurt?
No, he’s not. If he is, then he’s screwed. There’s nothing Reigen can do for him. He can’t call for help, or fight the monster. Even if daylight comes, it’ll be just as dark down here. Forever.
There’s nothing else he can do, is there? He just needs to sit tight. Serizawa is coming for him. He must be. And if he’s not… he’ll deal with that later. But for now, he just needs to rest. He tries not to fall asleep. He’s not sure if he’s successful.
Later arrives sooner than he expected. There’s a sound. He can’t make it out, exactly, but there’s a distinctly human quality to it. It’s Serizawa, it has to be. Please. It must be him. He’s here to save him. To let his end. Please let this end.
But for some reason, he can’t bring himself to make a single sound. Because what if it’s not? What if he’s wrong? What if it gets him killed?
“Reigen…?”
Serizawa. Help. He can feel his eyes welling up with tears, but he slaps his hands over his mouth, holds his shaky breaths in. Closes his eyes to the darkness, and pretends that it makes him invisible. If it doesn’t, that’s fine. He can die here. He probably will die here.
“Reigen, please…” The voice is quiet, but full of concern, and it rips at his heart. It continues. “Let me know you’re here… that you’re okay?”
Reigen, against his better judgement, kicks his leg out, scuffing his shoe against the ground. The sound echoes through the room, surely to reach the source of the voice.
He doesn’t die.
“Good… good… can you do it again?”
He does.
“Good… I’m coming, okay?” He nods to nobody.
He doesn’t know how long he stays like that, curled against the pillar, fitfully kicking his leg out, waiting for rescue. His leg is exhausted, his knee is aching, but he doesn’t stop. Not until it finally connects with something, and when it does, it makes him shout behind his hands. It’s completely unexpected, nearly has him jumping out of his skin. It’s terrifying. He rears back, slamming himself firmly against the concrete. Pulls himself tight into as small a shape as he can. No, no, no—
Something touches his shoulder, and his hands finally fall from his mouth, letting his cries and protests echo through the empty air. His hands move to fight what’s on him, one waving into the distance, trying to push away whatever approaches, the other uselessly pawing at what’s touching him. Whenever he touches it, his voice only gets louder, and he only gets more panicked.
“Shh, shh…” A hushed voice whispers, practically begging him for quiet, for calm. When it doesn’t work, the voice grows stressed. “Reigen, Reigen! It’s me, it’s Serizawa…!” No! It isn’t! Is it? “Feel my hand, it’s me!” Could it really be? Could it? He pauses, briefly, just to see if it’s possible. What he feels is human. It’s warm and strong. Not monstrous and weird. It’s human. It has to be.
“I-It’s you?”
“It is.”
He tries to follow the hand up his arm, but he doesn’t want to lean forward and search through any more darkness. Doesn’t want to move. “Wh-where’s your face?”
“Here.” The hand shifts, wraps around his own gently. He feels it be brought up, and soon touches something warm, and strong, what must be his jaw. He flinches from it at first, but the hand on him stays firm, gently guiding him along his jaw until Reigen is confident. When he takes over, he slides up, cupping his face.
It’s him. It has to be.
But he needs to be certain. After so long in unknowable darkness, he needs to see it to believe it. To fight the ludicrous delusions that still plague his mind. The lingering fear that this is not Serizawa. It’s the monster. It’s fake. It’s not him. He needs to know for certain. He needs to see. “Light…?”
“I-I can’t.” Before he can pull away, or even ask why, what he trusts to be Serizawa continues, returning to a low, quiet voice. “It follows light and sound.”
It? You mean…
“It’s not dead?” His own voice rises to a pitch that would otherwise be comedic. Then why is he here? Why has he come for him? What is he doing? What is he thinking?!
“But I don’t think it can actually see.” What does that even mean? “It’s mostly blind, I think.”
Maybe Reigen’s focusing on the wrong thing here, but he really would like to have some certainty today. He presses him. “You mean you didn’t…?”
“No.” He sounds as disappointed as Reigen feels. “Sorry.”
What are they going to do? What does this mean for them? “What do we…?” What are they supposed to do about the monster? How can they fight that?
“I know the way out.” Of course he does, he came in to collect him. “Let’s get out.”
Get out? Get out? Serizawa? Is suggesting they bail? What happened during the fight? “Are you okay?” Did he get hurt? Is he injured?
“Can we go?” His voice is tight and rough, and he realises that maybe this isn’t the time and place to interrogate Serizawa.
Maybe he should just listen to him for once. “Okay.” So he does.
After a moment, Serizawa speaks up again, meek and nervous. “... Stick together?”
“Right.” And if Reigen takes it too literally, and locks their elbows together, Serizawa says nothing of it. He lets Serizawa pull him to stand. He suddenly feels sick with the movement, hand instinctively rising to his head. He feels Serizawa tug on him, and stumbles trying to keep his footing. He can’t say the room is spinning, but it feels like he’s standing on a boat.
“You okay?” Serizawa asks, and oh how the turn tables.
“I hit… my head…”
“Oh.” Serizawa lets out a sympathetic sound. “That’s not good.” Reigen doesn’t know how to reply to that. It is not good.
So he just says the first thing that comes to mind. “Let’s go home…?”
“…Okay.” And he lets Serizawa lead him out of the dark.
It’s so peaceful like this. To let Serizawa just pull him towards their escape. Just mindlessly follow behind, towed by his leash of an arm. The less thinking that he can do, the better. He usually to control any situation, especially the bad ones, but today, it’s almost too easy to drop everything into Serizawa’s capable hands. He’d stop walking if he could trust Serizawa to carry him. If he could…
“Are you… okay?” Reigen asks.
“Shh.” Serizawa needs him to be quiet right now.
But he can’t seem to listen. “Are you hurt?”
“… It got me a little.”
“Oh…” Was he bleeding? Was it serious? “ Not good…” Is all he can say. His brain and his mouth seem to be having a disconnect at the moment.
Luckily, Serizawa is an esper, and seems to be reading his mind. “We’ll be okay.” He says.
“Okay…”
He’s content with that. He could be content with being okay. With this being the end of it. That they would get out, go home, and are okay. But that would be too convenient.
Instead, there’s a sound. It’s a long, drawn out, grating thing. It echoes through the room, creaking and moaning and slamming with a bang. Was it…?
“Serizawa…?”
“Shh.” It was.
“Not good…” It was.
He feels himself get pulled toward Serizawa, twirled in front of him, and pushed into his chest. He stumbles a little at the fluid motion, but luckily Serizawa picks up his slack. He feels a hand on his head. The way he’s standing, cheek resting on Serizawa’s shoulder, pressed against his chest. He could almost fall asleep like this.
“Shh…” Serizawa needs him to be quiet.
There’s a new sound. It’s a footstep, he thinks. One, then another. And another.
It's behind him. He’s facing away from the monster. He can’t take it. He doesn’t want to die like this. He doesn’t want to die wondering what killed him. He wants to face it with the same certainty as death. He presses feebly against Serizawa, tries to turn himself around. “I can’t…” He needs to see it.
Serizawa seems to understand, because he’s spun back around, and pulled against his chest even tighter, arm crossed over him. All this spinning, he feels sick. The arm around his chest might be the only thing holding him up.
The footsteps get closer. And yet Serizawa doesn’t move. His arm gets tighter around him. His chin digs into Reigen’s shoulder. But they don’t move. They just stand there, in the wide-open darkness, as the steps loom closer.
It feels like it’s right on top of them. He grips Serizawa’s arm for dear life. What is he doing? What’s the plan? What—
“Reigen…?”
What?
There’s a voice, ahead of him. No, behind him. No. Where…?
He needs to know. He needs to. “Serizawa…”
“Shh.”
“Reigen?”
He needs to know. “Please…” He can’t take this anymore. “A light…” A hand covers his mouth. But his wish is granted. A swirl of psychic light shines in front of him. And he sees Serizawa. He looks rough, covered in patches of blood, missing his jacket, hair more wild than ever. There’s copious amounts of blood along his sleeve. He looks terrible. But he doesn’t look scared. He imagines Reigen looks scared enough for the both of them.
He watches Serizawa’s eyes drift behind him. And while he is terrified, he is even more desperate to know with final true certainty what lurks in the darkness behind him.
From the corner of his eye, he sees the amorphous silhouette of a horrifying figure, wearing a sagging mask of a familiar face. It’s practically liquifying where he stands, whatever rigidity it possessed is long gone. It could barely be considered a pantomime or imitation of a human. It was nothing short of a monster.
He glances down. The arm around his torso is gone, transformed into a winding stretch of skin and mass that connects to the monster, leaving Reigen settled within it. He can’t see what’s on his face, but it feels nothing like a hand anymore.
Serizawa speaks, voice steady and strong. “Don’t worry…” He says, and it’s almost too easy to listen to it. But the monster chuffs and warbles, grows tighter around him, so yeah, he’s a little worried. But Serizawa is undeterred. “I’m going to get you out.” He says, carrying a finality to it that spurs the monster into a hasty reaction.
The thing surges with a cry, and Serizawa jumps into action, swiping at the monster with his powers. It howls and shakes, and with it, the restraints on him weaken, if only slightly. But it's enough for him to claw through the mud on his face for a brief sliver of air. With one final, frantic push, Reigen lurches forward with all of his strength and tries to pull himself out. He reaches out blindly towards Serizawa with a desperate hand, feels him grab at his wrist, and start pulling. Reigen can only paw at his arm, and try to hold onto him in equal measure. He tries to take a single step forward. But the monster rolls back, and they're quickly pulled apart. It feels like a death sentence. His legs finally lose their strength and fall out from beneath him. He sags in the monster's hold. Feels it grow on him, dig into his skin. He claws at the ground in a desperate, last-ditch effort, but he knows it’s no use. He feels it consuming him, his legs, his arms. His hands, climbing towards his shoulders. His neck, over his face. His nose. He takes one last look at Serizawa, who flashes his intense, undeterred stare, before his world goes black.
It’s quiet and dark again.
He can’t see anything. No flashes of psychic light. He can't hear anything, not even the faintest of yells. But he can feel everything.
He can feel the dwindling pockets of air reach his lungs with shallow breaths. Each attack that hits the monster rattles its body, and him inside it, with powerful waves. He can feel himself being thrown around with it as it moves. Feels himself growing dizzier with it all. Feels his chest burn, his stomach roll. He’s going to puke if this monster doesn't stop. He might suffocate before he even gets the chance to hurl. Or choke on it if he ever does.
Beyond the monster, he can see a faint light pulse, brighter, closer, warmer. The flailing starts to slow, and the monster wails again. It rattles through Reigen, shakes the very organs inside him. The light only grows with the monster’s bellows, and its seizing, painful grip on him. It all throws his every nerve into overdrive. It’s blinding. It’s deafening. It’s crushing. It’s too much. And it persists. It drags on for an eternity. Nothing but pain never ending. Please, let it end.
After his tiny eternity is over, he feels nothing. He doesn’t feel the monster melt away. Doesn’t feel himself tip forward, or Serizawa wrap him in his arms. He just feels a blanket of static wash over him. The world stays quiet and dark, save for a messy blur of awareness.
He’s not sure how long he stays like that.
Slowly, his senses come back to him. He can feel cool tiles under him, something soft pillowing his head. He can hear Serizawa talking, but it’s muffled.
When he opens his eyes, he distantly notes the tall ceiling, previously obscured by darkness. In the corner of his eye, Serizawa watches the front doors to the lobby expectantly. He glances at Reigen with some cloudy emotion, then does a double take when he realizes he’s awake. He leans in over him, upside down, talking, asking something.
He tries to focus on the words. “…urt? …asking if… anywhere?”
Oh, he knows this one. “My head…” Serizawa nods and talks into his phone, which not only tells him that he’s right, or at least answered the question acceptably, but that his job is done. Perfect. He lets his eyes drift back close.
The next time they open, there’s a haze of red and blue lights flashing on everything in a hypnotic rhythm. It’s too bright. He closes his eyes. The lights flash at him anyways. With a groan, he shuffles his arm over his eyes. There’s talking above him again. Hopefully not anything important.
Something tugs at his arm, and he can’t stop the violent reaction that explodes out of him. He can’t stop himself from throwing his arm out to escape what’s on him. He can’t stop the ripple of terror going through him. The shallow pick-up of his lungs. The wide-eyed panic in which he takes in his surroundings, looking desperately for—
Serizawa’s head pops into his view, expression laced in owlish surprise and a tinge of concern. He takes in Serizawa’s drawn back hand. Looks to the side, takes in his own arm, still extended and rigid. He can put the picture together.
The world comes in crystal clear. There’s strangers talking over receivers. The sounds of footsteps and equipment. The distant hum of an engine. It all becomes background noise when Serizawa asks him, “You okay?” He nods, and awkwardly returns his arm to his side. Although, he’s a little confused. Serizawa seems to get that. “We’re going to the hospital.” He says. He supposes that makes sense. “They said I need a tetanus shot.” Serizawa is making such a face at that, that Reigen almost laughs. He would if he had the energy. He closes his eyes again. Serizawa seems… reluctant to go. Reigen supposes he will have to be the mature one here and lead by example.
“It won’t be that bad…” He tells him. Ack, his mouth tastes disgusting.
“Yeah?” He nods. “Will you come with me?” He stares at Serizawa with exasperation. “Just in case.” He nods again. Relieved, Serizawa looks away and politely waves for someone’s attention. He doesn’t know. He keeps his eyes on him.
He follows his hand back down to his side. “They’re going to put you on a stretcher, okay?” He nods. He feels a presence, just outside of his vision. He ignores it. There’s another by Serizawa’s side. He tries not to look at it either. When they put their hands on him, he’s not sure what kind of face he makes, but if Serizawa's face is any indication, he's unhappy with his current predicament. When he’s lifted off the ground, the uncertainty and fear rock through him again. His hands begin to rise instinctively. He watches Serizawa take notice, and reach for them. Reigen grips him like a lifeline. Stares at their pile of hands and ignores everything else in the world. Squeezes them as hard as he can, until he can feel the bones grating together. Serizawa doesn’t seem to mind.
He touches cool sheets, and feels the hands withdraw. He still feels uneasy as they begin rolling out of the building, but Serizawa doesn’t let him feel it alone. He doesn’t even leave his line of sight. He watches Serizawa’s attention flicker between him and their surroundings. But it always comes back to him. When it does, he always flashes Reigen a small nervous smile. After the fifth one, his body must suppose that they’ll be okay, it seems. As his eyes start gently drifting shut again, Serizawa lightly squeezes his hands one final time. “I’ll be right here.” He says. Serizawa wasn’t going anywhere. Reigen was certain.