Work Text:
The creaking and the slithering maggots were whispering dark secrets. The stench of death and opened carcasses. There was a shadow looming over her shoulder and a face hiding in the cracks of the ceiling.
Tome could feel the stares, it made her skin crawl, it made her clothes feel uncomfortable, suddenly too sweaty, suddenly too constricting. Tome's uniform was dirtied by the dust and by the debris. The abandoned house creaked and groaned under the weight of its own age. Her flat-shoes anxiously make contact with the cemented floors. The paint in the walls were chipped, cobwebs in the edge of every room.
Tome tried her phone but there was no signal..
She was stuck.
Tome stuffed the phone back to her skirt pocket, and huffed, trying to get her bearings together.
She needed to find Reigen, gods know what he had managed to got himself into this time. Tome couldve sworn she saw an eerie face in her peripheral vision. She point her flashlight all over the place, bugs and rats scattered.
There was a knock on the door by the end of the hall. Tome gulped and closed her eyes, praying for it all to end. Her hands were shaking so much that she accidentally dropped her flashlight, Tome was quick to grab it and hug it to her chest like a lifeline.
The knocking went louder and louder... it disappeared.
The windows were cracked and half opened, the chilly night air biting her skin as she trotted by.
There was something in the corner that was calling her name.
"Tome...Tome, come here, sweet girl, sweet little thing—"
Tome clenched her teeth and grinded them together, shes brave, shes Tome.
She can do this.
Tome stalked to the corners and flashed her light everywhere, only to find nothing.
This place was driving her insane, she couldnt do this anymore, she couldnt, the minutes ticked by as she observed an army of ants.
Tome walked further down the hall to the exit and when she opened it, she started at the beginning of the hallway.
No.
It's exactly like Silent Hill.
Fuck.
"Reigen! Where are you! This isn't fu-funny anymore!"
No response.
Shit, they had gone over their heads in this mission. Reigen told her that it was probably nothing and she insisted on coming along as usual, Reigen reluctantly allowed her and it turned out that he was dead wrong, it was indeed a dangerous spirit or spirits and they were left with only their wits and their bags of table salt.
At some point, Tome seperated from Reigen after looking at an odd mirror for too long. Reigen was nowhere in sight, she wondered if she could tell whats real anymore. Tome bit her nails, in that usual bad habit of hers, she bit and bit until her fingers drew blood.
Tome tried drawing something with a marker, a picture of the amogus astronauts twerking and she walked to the end of the hallway and soon enough she found her crude drawing again.
Fuck, the hallway is definitely a loop!
Then after a few more loops, there was a loud crash.
Tome was cautious, if horror games ever taught her anything was that its a good time for a shitty jumpscare. But she saw a body on the floor instead, there was blood pooling around it and the ceiling looked like it collapsed.
She's pretty sure thats Reigen's corpse, laying limp on the floor. Tome walked towards it to take a closer look and it was Reigen except he wasn't dead.
"Ow..I fell from the top floor, fuck—! My head.." Reigen grunted, he stood up and dusted his suit. Tome stared at him for a bit.
"Are you real? Quick, are aliens real?" Tome asked, crossing her arms.
"Ugh— what? Yes, of course, we saw them together— ow, my head.." Reigen groaned when there was a sharp stinging pain on his head, drops of blood flow down from the top of his head.
"Okay! Im so glad I found you, but bad news— infinite loop hallway." Tome winced when she saw his wounds.
"What!? Like the game, Silent—"
"—Hill, yeah, yeah, get with the program, old man!"
"I'm not even that old!"
They went back and forth for a bit.
There's a pair of eyes watching them from the edge of the hallway, Tome froze and so did Reigen after awhile, they stared at each other with uncomfortable glances. They made a quick plan in their heads, silently communicating as they both made a run for the bathroom, then Reigen managed to lock the rusty doors.
"The fuck was that!? The FUCK was that!?" Tome cursed out and Reigen hardly stops her.
"The hell, what the hell..I can't call anyone, not Mob or Serizawa— looks like this is the end, kid, it was nice—"
"Shut up, you old fart! Maybe you can die in here but I can't! I'm too young!" Tome hissed, shoulders tensing and squaring up.
Reigen looked at her, studying the sweat decorating her forehead, the wide eyes, the messy hair and he sighed. Reigen patted her reassuringly.
"Just messing with ya." Reigen winked, his stiff shoulders loosening, he looked more relaxed although it looked a bit forced. Reigen kept a hand on her shoulder to ground her to the earth, to stop her mind from flying off the handle.
Reigen sneaked a peek out of the dingy bathroom and the pair of eyes was gone. Reigen stepped out, he could still feel the unease of being watched intently but he pushed down his fear and put on a brave face in front of Tome, it was almost automatic for him to hold Tome's hand and guide her out of the dark hallways.
Reigen somehow managed to find an open window.
"Tome..can you climb down from the window?" Reigen asked faux seriously.
"..yeah, I can." Tome took a deep breath, she couldnt, she hadnt even climb through a window in her life before, she cant even imagine the fall down, but she can't let her fear and inexperience show through.
"Haha, liar, dont worry I'm just playing with you, I wanted to do this—" Reigen sticks his leg out the window and sat there, he leaned out and tried to get phone signal, Tome was holding on to him so he wouldnt fall and break all of his old man bones.
"Uh...ah-hah! There it is!" the cellphone ringed.. then someone picked up.
"Ah, Serizawa! Yes, yes, sorry! Okay, classes? That doesnt matter right now, me and Tome is stuck in this house with a looping hallway...is there anything dangerous? Well..not yet, but can you get here? Like, right now!? Okay, okay, good, thats good.. in 8pm the earliest? Wait, what.. but me and Tome came here at 10pm? What! it's been a day?" Reigen was spouting something, Tome pondered for a moment, she had been missing for a whole day and her parents didnt even bother to ask Serizawa where she is judging by how lax her co-worker was being, the thought made her uneasy. She clutched Reigen's side tighter, soon enough her boss hopped back in to the building, fixing his stupid grey suit.
"Don't worry, kid, we'll get out of here—"
"Did my parents..at least asked Serizawa where I was?" Tome cut-in.
Reigen blinked rapidly, taken aback, he cleared his throat and put a hand to his chin in thought.
"No, don't think so, but listen to me, Tome, your parents..—" Tome sighed, waving her hands dismissively.
"I get it, y'know, I thought it was so cool how much my parents gave me freedom, I didn't realize that they just didn't care.." Tome grumbled, clutching her skirt to steady her nerves.
Reigen scratched his head, Tome sank down and hugged her knees.
"Look, Tome, I've been there. My parents were pretty hands-off too, but they ignored me all the time and my older sister practically raised me." Reigen awkwardly sat down on the floor, flinging his blazer over his shoulder.
"It was.. freeing but also suffocating in a way, when you have to fend for yourself starting at high school." Reigen continued, shrugging.
"So..don't— don't hesitate, okay? To come to me or Serizawa or Mob, anyone, we're all here for you the same way you've been here for us." Reigen put a hand on her shoulder.
Tome looked up at him, she was so tired, she nodded weakly and they left it at that.
They waited in the deafening silence of the house.
"No one..noticed you were gone too?"
Reigen laughed. "I'm an adult now, Tome, it'll take a few days of me going missing and not answering my phone until anyone notices or even care enough to check up on me." He stood up and shrugged on his jacket.
There was a shadow lurking at the edge, hands bursting through the walls, grabbing at Reigen and Tome. Reigen quickly shielded the highschooler with his body.
...
The lights of the abandoned house turned on suddenly, obviously not the work of electricity. Serizawa grunted at the slight workout as he struck and exorcised these spirits effortlessly.
"Hi..!" Serizawa greeted shakily.
Tome was quick to run to him with open arms, Serizawa was shocked and mostly confused but he returned the hug soon enough.
"There's so many spirits here..! But, at least they're very easy to find!" Serizawa released Tome from a bear hug and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
Reigen smiled. "I mean, I couldve gotten outta here all my own."
Tome scoffed, she punched his arm, Reigen yelped in surprise.
"Reigen..! Your head!" Serizawa panicked at the sight of blood trickling down his boss' face.
"Huh? Oh, I fell through the top floor, no big deal."
"What!?"