Chapter Text
Silence was an odd thing, wasn't it?
cold and still, similar to ice somehow. how one waited for it to snap, crack or shatter with even the lightest of pressure, or wait for a rock to be thrown against the surface and watch as the shards scatter and collide with one another.
Ice, thick, cold. so similar to glass. the reflection of one who looked into ice was warped and blurry, unable to see past the fogged surface. ice was two ways, seeing in made it hard, yet seeing out was somehow easier. worlds blocked by ice, my glass, glass one could look at and see only themselves without seeing the other. secluded to the world only they know. They grow content with it, happy even. in the small world they'd created. It's a mystery how one could shatter that glass, and why. why break away from something so familiar and kind. too kind to keep you protected in familiarity. we hold the normalcy close to our chests and never let it go. we grow dependent on it. always expecting it to be there. to greet us when we return back to the same room we started in yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. To see us in that cold, silent kindness that everything was the same.
you could run, explore or swim to try and find something else and maybe you have. but it does nothing. you know that. you will fall asleep and you will awake in that same room again, the same smells. the same sounds. the same taste in your mouth as the day repeats again and again. you grow used to it, accustomed. even expectant. but rivers change, mountains shift and even the oldest of trees must fall eventually. nothing in this world can truly follow normalcy forever. but of course, you already knew that.
A lock, a door, a key. three components to an everlasting trio, a door cannot exist without a lock, and a lock cannot open without a key, the door cannot allow those in without being unlocked.
a door, just as inviting as it was guarded allowing those in who have what it takes but refusing to allow those to enter who do not. a lock, cold and secluded, untrusting of anything, a lock will not open itself until something- or someone- enters the right combination. a key, useful, versatile in use but has one, sole purpose. a key, so important yet so easy to lose if one doesn't pay attention. easier to forget, a silent key, with no lock to open. and no door to welcome.
they were running... no, exploring, or perhaps swimming. breath heavy, footsteps loud, heart numb. It was an odd thing, silence. the silence of isolation. sure, the pipes creaked, bricks fell and wood groaned beneath boots. but the beat of a heart that stood alone was deafening. it always was. the first break of silence was the opening of a door, the hiss and creaking of metal as the path opened. the lights were bright, cold hospital light washing over the space in a pale blue. shelves and lockers lined walls, desks sat against railings, papers and files scattered every which way as if placed or thrown in a panic. A sight Expendable had seen before many times, though the location had changed at the start, the ending, the entities and the halls never did. the concept of change was a shadow to the endless loop they were trapped in. the air was stale and cold, the smell of salt ached their nose, dust and mildew undertones of the stench. they wandered, wasting no time to explore the already memorized space. collecting small USB sticks and files, grabbing the blue and white keycard just as they always had before.
approaching the door with a heavy sigh, a hand resting against the cool metal, wondering what exactly would be there to greet them first. perhaps angler? maybe a squiddle. maybe they'd get lucky and just see the crystal they'd collected hundreds of times before. going to bed in a real home, on a real mattress before waking up, back in that damn submarine.
they slid the keycard in, listening to the whirrs and beeps of the mechanisms reading the card, and the door slid open with the accepted chime, the card disappearing just as it always had. the room ahead was hard, uncommon on the first room, even with a starter area like this, but. they had gone through worse. already adapt to the darkness they had walked through plenty times before, they took a step forward.
and their foot met with nothing. the void beneath them stretched forward, on and on like the same endless loop they had been stuck in. no. surely this was a glitch. something the script hadn't written for; they'd be sent back. back to the submarine. back to the rooms and halls. surely...
yet they just kept falling.
down
down
down..
watching the light of the empty doorway become nothing, a distant light, then a pinprick... then gone.
they felt weightless, somehow, they felt something.
fear.
were they afraid? yes... yes, they were... they hadn't felt fear in so long. the numbness had eaten away at their heart for what felt like eternity now, until there was nothing left. now at least there was something. something to gain...to loose... to chase.
"̶E̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶l̶o̶s̶t̶,̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶.̶"̶
The halls had gotten longer, somehow, they had. why? or how was unknown. the doors were further apart,
The slopes had gotten longer, the drops far deeper, the lights duller.
the saferoom was cold, and silent. just as it always was.
John fiddled with his lantern, somehow the eternal flame inside flickered and shifted as if in a wind that didn't exist, he sighed in solemn. leaning back as his head met the wall behind him. how long had he been here now? they weren't sure anymore. so many doors, so many halls and stairs. so many entities they had avoided, so many times they had risked life and limb to return to their lord. The warmth and love of the god who had loved them so dearly. a hand rested on their chest, just over their heart. a soft pray leaving his lips as he closed their eyes, gently asking for guidance, for help and hope that they would reach the goal he sought so eagerly.
to return to Zen. to return to his god.
Words echoed within their mind, soft and gentle. Warmth of love filling John's chest as he listened. to continue forward to push through. he would be guided and loved. no matter what. The love echoed so sweetly... something awaited him... perhaps a reward. maybe even more bricks...
John sighed and stood, finally allowing his senses to return as he held the cross around his neck tightly within his grip, whispering a final 'amen' against the cool material. eyes still closed as he thought. of the sins.. their sins.
the sin of pride, misinformation, lust and addiction being his main concerns now. he could handle the others. not allow them into his mind, force them away from his heart and soul. There was no place in his mind, or body that had room for anything other than his lord. His Genesis. John's love and devotion were for one and one alone and he made sure that was clear.
the cold silence ached, yet the soft voice of Genesis eased it, melted the ice and gave soft music to the silence. a gentle touch to a fragile glass heart that was John's.
John trusted their god with everything they were and more. If something was waiting for him, a gift from their lord and love, they would gladly take it with open arms.
They approached the door, stepping onto the metal slate as the pressure released the vault, kept in a vault he always found himself. like a precious gem. a treasure. They wasted no time to crouch, heels digging down as they ran.
expecting what was usually always there, a hall, maybe a wall to slide under or jump over. but nothing met him.
just void. At first, he wasn't too worried, their god always appeared within the void, the peaceful cold silence of nothing. Yet he didn't stay floating as he always did, instead, they started rising. away from the vault door, away from the supposed ground. the silence was deafening. They tried calling, praying, anything to ask for a sign. To see the god, they loved. Only the void responded. The same cold, and silent response. Had their god abandoned them? had they truly fallen too far?
Was this his punishment from falling too far from the love of Grace?
John's eyes stung with tears, frustrated and confused. Scared. Mainly scared. Why was his lord not answering? Why was he only met with silence? There had never been silence before- there had always been something!? A feeling, a presence, a gaze- SOMETHING! WHY WAS HE ALONE-
"Ϛҽҽʍʂ վօմ'ɾҽ հąѵìղց ʂօʍҽ էɾօմҍӀҽ, ƒɾìҽղժ..."
The silence of exploration had never been an oddity among their life,
They had long forgotten the outside world in favor of the dusty wooden halls, the old carpets and the raging storm outside. The constant tapping of rain against glass windows became a white noise They couldn't live without. The creak of wood and the groan of walls against wind, the howls of it outside with the rattle of windows from thunder somewhere unknown.
A maze of wood, a hotel of never-ending hallways.
Visitor was never off put by such a thing. perhaps once they had been... though those memories were long gone, buzzed and faded like a worn map over eons of hands touching it. blurring the ink and lines of a path any traveler would be able to follow.
Though they were set on a path without a map, purely traveling by memory and familiar feeling alone. The ever-changing halls and doors never allowed for much rest, never gave any spare of normalcy. Thought Visitor didn't exactly mind. having spent what felt like lifetimes trapped within the oak halls they had grown to try and see things... in a different light. More optimistic. they were a scientist of course, or at least they had been. Cryptozoology was a rare field of study, they knew that, but discovering the unknown had always been a passion of theirs. For as long as they could remember of their life before the hotel, before the entities and monsters that trailed behind.
They sat against a wall of a small guest room, the hallway outside was shrouded in darkness, the lights having been blown out earlier by an entity called 'Rush'. Visitor waited, nowhere was exactly safe for sleep, thought whatever rest they could get was welcome. They sighed, leaning their head back as a hand removed their glasses, they were exhausted. anyone really would've been. Thoughts wandered through each entity they had encountered, from Rush to Eyes and Dupe... and even that damn spider hiding in drawers. listing each sign, each route and behavior of each entity, something they had done over and over again; a repetitive action to try and keep whatever sanity they had left. It was a coping mechanism they had figured, developed after years of just, doing the same thing over and over.
Slowly their eyes opened, fixing to the faint clock against the far wall. the hands moving back and forth. going clockwise, then freezing, then counterclockwise. Then back again. They hummed weakly, the lack of time messed with them, a lot. Their eyes shifted back to the door. The lack of blue shimmer around the frame was...odd. usually Guiding Light would shimmer the doors or cabinets they needed to progress forward, but all that met them was the silent, cold shadow.
Slowly Visitor stood, grabbing their flashlight from their belt, the battery was low, but they had enough light to make it past this room. holding it out to the door as the light passed the darkness. and stopped. This was strange, somehow the light wouldn't pass through the doorframe. the area past continued to hide within darkness.
Slowly, visitor continued their approach. Standing at the precipice of the door, looking out into the void beyond, if this was a new entity. It was odd. It made no sound, so indication of its arrival. They grabbed their notebook, flipping through the small books lined pages, the pen tucked between the pages was old, something they'd found in a desk somewhere.
'Void? Constant Shadow?
New entity found, nothing new, no warnings from Guiding Light, perhaps the lack of appearance is a warning.'
They looked back up, eyes narrowed as they fixed their glasses back to the bridge of their nose. Closing their notebook, clipping it back to their belt. They took a breath, slowly reaching out into the shadow. They shivered, the air was, Cold ...and thick. Like water. Ice water. They tried to pull back, yet was unable to, eyes widened as somehow, they got pulled further in. They yelled, Visitor crying for Guiding Light, even Curious Light if need be.
Yet all that answered was silence. The cold was growing, reaching their shoulder and shin.
Music began to play. Eerie, echoed and broken, tunes and cords that sounded so familiar but how it was so jumbled and hidden behind sounds of what Visitor couldn't describe. Tears pricked their eyes; muscles seized against the freezing cold of the invisible water until they were entirely submerged. The music muffled, the faint sounds of bubbles and... pipes? The creak and groan of metal somewhere distant.
The darkness was consuming, unable to see anything. the feeling of freezing cold, and the pressure of being thousands of feet underwater. They couldn't breathe. The cold eating at their body as if freezing and breaking apart, pain and numbing cold all at once.
They cried. silently for the celestial that always seemed to protect them. But the silence persisted even here. The darkness grew deeper, the cold eating into their head.
until everything fell silent.
Dₒₙ'ₜ gₑₜ ₗₑfₜ bₑₕᵢₙd.
.
.
.
Silence was an odd thing. So consuming. Yet so easy to break.
Being alone for years can drive people insane. To the point they'd do anything for a change, even if they believe they don't.
One swimming in the freezing cold, consuming any attempt of struggle.
Another falling to whatever depths they believed would claim them eventually.
And the last rising, despite the belief they had yet to earn such a thing.
Insanity can be lived with, the act of doing something over and over again until the hope of something changing. But when that change does come?
The reaction most would feel, is fear.
Distrust. Aggravation. Hostility.
It's no surprise really. Especially among these three.
.
.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?"
"Where am I..?"
"-LIGHT?! wha-...what happened..?"