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“Uhg.” Gura’s voice was almost drowned out by the constant hum of fluorescent lighting. The buzzing was almost unbearable until another voice spoke up. She thought she briefly heard music, but the constant drilling sound from above drowned it out.
“I told you to not mess with Amelia’s watch, that was stupid.” There was a grunt and Kaela pushed herself up from the carpeted floor. Her vision blurry and ears ringing, or what she thought was ringing. The woman next to her rolled over and sat up, rubbing at her head.
“Hey, it worked last time I did it.” Gura’s slit eyes squinted at the glaring yellow-tinged light that barraged them from above. “Gross. Where are we? This isn’t Atlantis.”
The immediate area was empty, save for the few scattered objects that were Gura’s. Which was a backpack with various items. There was a grotesque yellow carpet covering the whole floor and the walls were matching with wallpaper that featured stylized flower designs. “You tell me, you were one toying with the laws of nature…For a date.” Kaela stood up and rubbed at her lower back before reaching a hand out to haul Gura to her feet.
“Looks like someone’s basement from the seventies, or eighties” Gura grunted as her tail lashed behind her. “If it was empty as hell.”
“Certainly has a unique odor.” Kaela said as she waved a hand in front of her nose. It was like the carpet had a moist, mildewy aroma to it that was mildly nauseating, never minding the constant buzz above them. “Get us out of here. We can just go do something else.”
“Well, I’d love to, except I don’t have the damn watch. I must have dropped it. Look around for it!” Gura said with frustration as her tail lashed again, she began walking around, looking at the immediate empty area, but no watch was to be seen. Something so bright, gold and pristine should be obvious. She walked over and grabbed her backpack up, grabbing up various assorted snacks, a manga she was kinda sorta not reading, a toothbrush and finally - “My Ukulele! Whew.. It’s not damaged.”
“Oh, good. So you can find your silly little babby guitar but not the all important time travel watch?”
“Hey! Shut up! I thought you liked my music!”
“I do. When I’m not trapped in a place like this.”
Kaela shook her head as she put a hand to her hip and then turned to begin walking. She walked through an opening and on the other side was the same room, copied perfectly, with an exit to her left. She adjusted her jaw as she walked towards it. This room was larger, long, rectangular shaped, with a few random half walls jutting out. Everything was perfectly crafted, but something was wrong about it all. Her red eyes scanned around and she felt uneasy. She inspected a nearby wall, and knocked on it a few times, it sounded hollow. She knocked as she went and eventually found a stronger sound return to her, a support board on the other side like there should be. She looked at the half walls and stepped through another entrance.
“Uhg. These buzzing lights are killing me!” Gura yelled from the other room. “Hey! Where’d you go?”
“In here! These rooms are… weird!” Kaela called out. “Like, they’re well crafted but something is off.”
Gura followed after her hands over her pointed ears, now wearing her backpack, her instrument partially sticking out of it. She found kaela in a much smaller room, with a perfect square hole in the floor that Kaela had crouched down to and was inspecting. “Did you find the watch? Hey are you even looking for it?”
“No, I’ve not found the watch yet. I was looking at this place. Look at this hole.”
“Yeah, that’s a hole alright. Square one.”
“Yeah, a perfectly made square hole..” Kaela said with a mild tone of suspicion.
Gura put a hand on Kaela’s shoulder as she leaned forward to look down into it; there was a lower level below them, about a twenty foot drop. “There’s no way it’s down there, right?”
“Prob’ly not.” Kaela shrugged and looked around again from her crouched position. A section of a wall with the vaguest of protrusions, like an incorrectly placed panel. The golden haired woman walked over to it and ran her fingers along it, finding a bit of purchase and tugged, pulling the panel completely off the wall, revealing a thin hallway that connected to another room. “Whoever made this place, was not smelting with a full toolbelt.”
“Ah huh.” Gura said with a snort of air as she walked over, scratching the back of her head. “I’m going to go back and search for the watch in the other room.”
“Yeah, alright, I’ll come with you. Let's try to not get too separated here.”
An hour later, or what feels like an hour later, they’re still in the main room that they arrived in, Gura on her back with her legs laid against one of the walls as she stares up at the tiled ceiling. Kaela was pacing in a circle as she held her right arm and her left hand grabbing at her jaw and chin in thought.
“There’s no watch.” She muttered to herself.
“No watch.” Gura repeated with annoyance. “I know I had it when we fell in here.”
“Well, it didn’t get up and walk away on its own.”
“No shit.”
Kaela’s brow pushed together in a mild scowl and she walked over, reaching down and grabbed the backpack Gura wore and partially lifted her up off the ground and dragged her along the carpet. “He- Hey! What’s the big idea!”
“I’m tired of being in this room, we’re going to explore. Don’t you want to see what’s here?” Kaela looked back at her as she squirmed and writhed while being dragged.
“No, well- I- I mean, kinda…” She finally knocked Kaela’s hand free and she fell back to the floor before twisting around and abruptly righting herself to walk alongside the blacksmith. “Coulda just asked.”
“Could I have?” Kaela smirked to herself.
Gura just grunted at her as they arrived back into the room with the square hole and the hidden thinner hallway. “Hallway or go down?”
“There’s no way back up if we go down, unless we find a ladder.” Kaela shook her head.
“I could jump that easy.” Gura grinned up at her, tail swaying. “I’m strong enough to carry you too. Not embarrassed are you, huh?”
Kaela rolled her eyes as she walked to the thin hallway. “Hardly. Let's go this way.” Gura made a little huff, not getting the response she wanted out of Kaela.
The hallway was a tight squeeze for Kaela, she was taller and larger than Gura, and while it wasn’t a walk in the park for the Shark either, she didn’t need to squirm and writhe to get out of the end.
Finally a room that wasn’t empty, but the newest oddity was that the objects in the room were wrong, they were too big, too stretched, and too small sometimes. Others lacked logic and had too many legs, or duplications of other aspects. They were chairs, stools, tables. There was a stone pillar but the designed grooves cut into it were overlapping each other in impossible ways. And there was the way a grandfather clock was tilted at a thirty-degree angle and partially merged into the floor and the wall.
“I don’t think we’re in someone’s basement.” Kaela muttered quietly as she walked further into the room. There were two ways to leave, ignoring the one they just entered from. One in front of them had a door that was far too small to enter through, for either of them. And the second was a massive arch to their left, leading into an even bigger room that was marked with square pillars that resembled the wallpaper covered walls in long rows of two.
“I uh, I don’t uhhh….” Gura fumbled her words as she walked by Kaela, inspecting the strange furniture and grandfather clock. She tried to open the front of its casing but found there was no seam or opening, it was just solid. Gura felt a twinge of panic set in as she turned and went towards the assortment of oddities. Particularly when she saw something reflect off light. She hoped beyond hope that it was the pocket watch they were looking for but when she pulled the object back, she was startled and dropped it.
Kaela twisted around quickly in alarm. “Hey! What’s wrong-” She looked at the object at Gura’s feet and saw half of her own goggles, the glass cracked and broken. The leather ripped to shreds, it was only one of the two lenses
“What the hell man?!” Gura yelled. “That’s part of your goggles! Isn’t it?!”
Kaela grimaced as she walked forward, peeling her goggles off her head as she bent down to pick up the broken one. “It’s… very similar if it isn’t mine.” She swallowed quietly as she tried to calm her heart down. “There isn’t anything else, right?”
Gura shook her head quickly. “No. I didn’t see anything else.”
“Mmm.” Kaela tried to stay calm as she compared the two pieces of eyewear. They were a perfect match, down to her initials on the inside of what was left. She forced herself to toss it back into the pile. “We should hurry up and try to find the watch, or find a way out of here. At worst either Amelia or Kronii will once they realize something is wrong.”
“Y-Yeah.” Gura said with a quiet noise of uncertainty as she moved closer to Kaela. “We gotta find a way out of here.”
Gura then promptly started walking with a bit more of a pep in her step, causing Kaela to reach for her when she went by. “Hey, slow down.”
It was a combination of panic and a need to leave the room with the broken goggle, but there was also a soft musical of strings being plucked that made her want to investigate. They sounds of the strings were wrong though, it was like they were vibrating the wrong way, distorting and warbling. “Do you hear that?”
“I just hear that buzzing sound, and you.”
“Well-” Gura forced a change of subject. “We’re not gonna find anything if we just are casually moseying around here!” They were in the pillar room now and then they found themselves in a room with white walls and rich brown wood trimming. The floor was sunken in a circle in a corner, but it was empty. This room had an actual door on it and Gura immediately went through it. Kaela had to jog to keep up with her.
“Slow down damn it!” The blacksmith yelled as she went through the door. She found herself in an open space with a balcony against the far wall with doors and stairs that disappeared out of view, there were multiple entrances and some of them dead ended into a wall a few feet in. Through an archway she could see tables and chairs in rows and some in stranger arrangements.
She opened another door and found signs jutting out of the walls of a hall. Their text garbled and unreadable. “Hey! Shark!” Kaela called out, her voice echoing away. She turned back and went into the main room, listening. Then she heard footsteps from another entrance way, they were moving quickly, running and there was a dragging with it.. “Hey!”
Gura suddenly tumbled back into the room but she came from a different entrance. Kaela had to twist around to see her, which set the hairs on the back of her neck to stand as she twisted back towards the rapid feet. They had quieted. “Uhg…”
“How'd you get over there?” Kaela quickly went to her, hauling her to her feet again.
“What do you mean? I was just following you. How’d you get in front of me?”
“No you weren't. I've been chasing your stupid tail for like what, five rooms now?” Kaela huffed at her. Gura’s face scrunched up at her before she looked away.
“I know your steps. You're loud as hell. I was following you.” Gura followed Kaela’s eyes to the open arch that she had heard the running from. “I didn't go that way.”
“Something was coming from that way. Maybe it was just an echo…” Kaela sighed heavily. “Did you see the room with the signs?”
“No, but I saw a few street signs that were like, inverted or reversed.” Gura's tail flicked behind her again.
“Mm..” Kaela hummed a noise to herself as she put her hands to her sides. “You need to not run off like that. Losing sight of each other here, I don't think it's a good thing.”
Gura rubbed her arm, looking a bit guilty. “You're probably right. You uh… you notice how big this place is?”
Kaela just nodded her head. “I'm getting the idea that it's bigger than we think. None of the rooms are making much sense. They're like someone just made them without thinking. There's not a lot of reason or logic for how it all actually functions.”
“Yanno it's like when people go crazy and they just keep buildings on and on and on to their house so like, ghosts and stuff can't find them.”
“What?”
“You know.” Gura swung her tail. “Rich person goes crazy, starts building random rooms onto their home for ghosts and ghouls. Random dead ends and traps and stuff so nothing can ever find them?”
“Can't say I do…” Kaela snorted air out of her nose with soft amusement, smiling at Gura bit more..
“Well, I saw a show about it on TV. This is exactly like that. I bet some loony made all this stuff to confuse ghosts and ghouls.” Gura nodded her head in confirmation, perhaps more so for herself than anything.
“Well, it's certainly working on trespassers too.” Kaela let out a breathy laugh that was barely audible. “Alright. What now?”
“I uh… I'm thinking we keep exploring? There's gotta be a door or window somewhere that leads outside. I mean, how are we getting oxygen?”
“Could be being pumped in from somewhere in the ventilation. Though I've not seen any actual vents…” She sighed and looked back the way they had come from. “There was that weirdo house section, right?”
“Yeah but there were no vents or holes or anything.”
Kaela looked at her incredulously for a moment and Gura put her hands up. “Hey! I can notice things when I'm running too!”
“Ah huh.” Kaela chuckled quietly. “Alright, pick a direction, Shark.”
Gura looked around their central hub area before she pointed to a staircase that vanished around a wall. They went up about ten steps and it curved to an upper level, which Kaela noted didn't exactly make sense but she kept it to herself as they went up another set of stairs.
Some steps were too small, others too big. A half door was at the top and Gura pushed it open and they found themselves in a room with rows of shelves and office chairs. There were no tables, at least not immediately until Kaela looked up and saw them jutting out of the ceiling at odd angles. Her brow tightened briefly.
“No one is having a meeting in here today.” Gura chuckled to herself.
“Not in any easy manner, no.” Kaela said with mild annoyance. “Who could have created something like this?”
“Maybe it’s not a who, but a what?” Gura suggested gently as she shifted her shoulder, hefting her pack up awkwardly.
“Yeah, I don’t think I like that thought-line either honestly.”
Two halls and four rooms later, they stood in front of a house, which was partially jutting out of the wall and fused with the ceiling. There was a quiet sound coming from within, like music.
“Don't suppose we just uhhhhh. Go in..?” Gura looked to Kaela who was wearing a soft scowl the deeper they went.
“I don't know… You hear that music right..?” Kaela asked and Gura found herself relieved that she wasn’t the only one hearing it now.
“Music means people.” Gura went to the door but Kaela hissed at her.
“Music don't mean they friendly!” She quickly followed Gura and stopped her hand from touching the door knob. “Just… wait and listen.”
They stood there for a moment in silence, listening at the door, the music coming from within was eerie and strange. It wasn't a particularly scary sort of eerie or spooky one either, it felt ethereal and like something you might hear in your dreams. It was both welcoming and made them long for the constant hum of the previous yellow tinged rooms.
After a long moment, Kaela grabbed the handle but it didn't turn, instead the door just swung open easily. She let go of Gura as she walked inside. There was electricity, lights were on, a ceiling fan running and the music was much more apparent.
“I…” Gura said quietly as she walked closer to Kaela. The interior just looked like a house, it was almost normal. “I've heard this song before…this music..”
“What? Really?” Kaela looked at her with a mild alarm on her face.
“I.. yeah. I mean. Okay it's.. it's so familiar. Like I think I've played this tune before…” Gura walked in slowly, following the melody into a side room, which was a hallway. “But it's not right. Something is wrong with it.” The hall was littered with random objects, mainly something they had not seen much of so far in their exploration, clothes, boots, shoes and other accessories. There were strange toys and broken objects like varying styles of clocks.
Kaela only briefly stayed behind because she saw an object in the front room that looked like it had teeth marks indented into it, sharp ones, but she followed along. “I don’t know about this. This is a bad place, Gura.”
“Shh. Listen.” The shorter Shark hissed in a quiet whisper, waving a hand as they reached a door on the left side of the hallway, wires ran into the room from another one down the hall. There was a soft flash of flickering light on the other side of the door as Gura pushed it open. In the room was what was once a bed room, the bed was shoved up against the wall, a dresser was destroyed and messed up, and there was debris everywhere. Torn clothing and cloth, bags and other strange objects like an oxygen tank.. There were even shredded signs of something akin to hazmat suits.
In the corner of the room was an old TV on a table that was merged out of the wall and only had one leg. The wires that connected to it were from the outside and on the floor in front of it was an old camera, a hand held thing. It too was connected to the television. On the old flickering screen were distorted crackly images of blue and white, the music emanating outward from it.
Gura was drawn towards the television while Kaela was inspecting the random clothing and hazmat gear. Her brow furrowed, noting the claw marks and bite marks, the black residue, the dried blood. It was sticky and stuck together. She saw clothing that she recognized.
Gura made a startled noise. “Oh my god.” Kaela’s head darted up to look at her but the other woman was staring at the distorted screen. “I- I know this melody. I knew it. I knew it! It’s from my ukulele!”
“What? Your ukulele doesn’t sound like that..”
“N-No. But.. But that’s definitely what is being played. That song, I used to play it when I was anxious and upset, it would calm me down.” Gura said as she quickly pulled off her backpack and pulled the instrument out. She strummed the strings in time with the music on the television. They would be soothing if not for the fact their ethereal distortions were being played immediately behind Gura. “But why is this recording, playing it…?”
“I don’t know. I really, really don’t know.” Kaela said with a soft urgency as she peeled the sticky clothing apart nearby and startled as she fell back next to Gura. “Oh shit-” The TV abruptly distorted with a loud crackly thud and there were voices that they both recognized.
“Is this it? Hey, I think this camera is still working.”
“Just be careful to not record over anything that might be on it.. We just need to follow the cables back to base and we’ll be good. Stop playing with it.”
“Come on, I know how to work a camera. The footage is safe.”
“It’s Zeta--” Kaela said breathlessly and Gura interrupted her.
“And Ame…”
Before Kaela could continue, the screen distorted again and they saw someone running ahead, in a hazmat suit, yelling. The footage was almost too distorted to make out with how they were running so urgently.
“It’s following us! Hey ! Help! It nearly got Amelia! We think we’re nearly at the base, but we can’t find the cables! Send a recon team and--”
Zeta’s voice cut out as the camera went tumbling and there was a blur on the screen that sent what could be assumed to be Amelia flying out of frame, followed by a wet crunch and snap. Zeta in her suit crawled back into frame with a bleeding gash across her back and whatever attacked them hit the camera sending it rolling again.
Kaela was twisted around, looking at the screen from the floor and Gura stood next to her with wide eyes, swallowing loudly, her breath having picked up. “Turn it off.” Kaela said quickly as the screen distorted and changed again to something with white hair and sharp teeth, the sound of crunching bone was heard. It was only a few seconds of footage before it went back to the blue and white, the distorted music kicking back in, with quiet little whimpers, followed by familiar crying.
Kaela grabbed the camera and pulled on the wires, disconnecting it finally as Gura stared at the reflection of herself on the screen. “Wha- What the hell was that…?”
“I don’t know, but we need to go.” Kaela pushed herself up and kicked the clothing pile nearby, grabbing Gura’s upper arm to turn her away from the screen. “Look. It’s Zeta.” She pointed to the destroyed clothing where an ID card sat with the name “Vestia Zeta” and the image of the grey haired woman on it. It was splattered with blood.
“Wait- Wait! I think - I think that was-” Gura was interrupted as there was a loud screech down the hall from one of the closed off rooms. Kaela grabbed Gura by the hand and started running, practically dragging her out into the hall and away from the screech.
“Run! Run now!” Kaela yelled as there was a crash behind them with a mixture of rapid steps and dragging. The lights flickered in the main room as they arrived and went through the front door. Gura barely even had time to grab the door and try to swing it around as they went through.
They ran away from the house but it was in a large open room, they’d be seen before they could get into another hall. They heard thrashing inside the home and then another scream, high pitched and echoing, unending.
“Come on!” Kaela yelled as she pulled Gura along with her, they rounded a corner but not before hearing the house door get thrown open and crash against the wall. They could hear the rampaging steps, the strange dragging and the screeching that gargled as it pursued them.
“The door! Right there!” Gura yelled as she ran with Kaela, holding tight to her Ukulele in her free hand. Kaela hit the door nearest and it flew open, they nearly tumbled into the room, Gura slapped it closed with her tail. The room was another living room, with missing windows that just viewed out into another side room that vaguely resembled a kitchen. They ran for the kitchen as they heard the monster outside. It hit the door, almost like knocking before there was a long scratching sound.
“We have to find a way out!” Kaela said harshly as they both twisted and looked around. Gura let go of her hand and ran for a smaller door, a comically small door that was closer to a dog door than anything.
“Here, come on!” Gura opened the door and pushed her instrument through and then crawled through it herself, it was a short passage but she got through and out the other side.
Kaela stared briefly and then yelled as the closed door slammed. “I cannot fit that!”
“Fucking try!” Gura yelled back. Kaela dropped down and shoved herself through the door opening and wriggled and writhed.
“I’m stuck!” Kaela yelled, shifting and grunting, barely pulling an arm free ahead of her as she tried to wriggle deeper into the passage. Gura grabbed her freed hand and pulled, causing Kaela to groan in pain. They could hear the door slam open as Kaela finally got pulled through to the other side.
This new room was small, with white tiles you might use in a bathroom or indoor pool setting. There was water spilling from the ceiling and infinitely filling up smaller dents in the floor. “Wha..what the hell is this now?” Gura looked around quickly as Kaela pushed herself up.
“Gawk later, move now!”
They moved through various rounded tunnels that were covered in random pipes that made no sense and spilled water into grooves in the ground that never overfilled. Light from what might be the outside filtered in through filtered glass above them in a blinding white color. Eventually they came to a massive room with rows of pillars made out of that same kind of tile from the other rooms, jutting out of massive pools of water that were waist deep.
“What now?” Kaela looked around their surroundings, there were pipes going up along the walls and pierced across through the room, but they weren’t exactly ideal for climbing. There were openings they could get through but it’d require going into the water.
The screeching and screaming was far off, steps and dragging with a gargling drowned sound, it was almost like it knew where they were at all times.
“Come on, into the water. Let's go that way.” Gura hopped down and the water went up to her chest, she raised her ukulele over her head as she waded through the water. Kaela followed her quickly, wading through the water as she kept glancing behind her.
“It’s getting closer.”
They were halfway into the room when the dragging, scratching sound turned into a splash. Gura and Kaela’s movements became much more panicked and erratic as they tried to reach the next room. They hit the threshold and found a floor to pull themselves up onto. Gura was out of the water first and threw her instrument to the ground. When she reached back for Kaela’s hand, the golden haired woman was forcefully jerked back and pulled under the water.
“No! Kaela!” Gura yelled as she watched the water ripple and thrash about, she saw a shark tail and then another, and then long sharp jutting teeth, Kaela’s flailing limbs and then red began to stain the water. Gura turned and looked at the nearby wall and saw a thin enough pipe she could get her hands on. She ripped it out of the wall, causing water to suddenly spray out before she jumped towards the fighting pair. She struck the creature over and over repeatedly, there were pained noises underneath the water and what looked like a massive broken tooth chipped off, which Kaela narrowly grabbed and stabbed into the monster. It let her go and she crawled up onto the raised level.
Gura stayed behind to defend her, thrashing the pipe at the creature in the water until it finally backed off, disappearing across the room. Gura was breathing heavily, the pipe was awkward and bent, practically useless now. She discarded it and joined Kaela, grabbing her ukulele up quickly. “Are you okay?!”
“I’ll- I’ll make it.” She said as she grabbed at a bleeding wound at her side, and Gura could see scratches on her back, torn through her shirt and jacket. “Come on, before it recovers.”
They quickly left the flooded room as quickly as they could. Kaela was hissing and holding her side, but she was putting a brave face on for Gura who was against her other side for support. They were leaving a trail of water and blood as they just blindly ventured forth. “Did you kill it?”
“N-No I don’t think so. It fled. Maybe.. Maybe scared it off…”
“Did you get a good look at it?”
“Y..Yeah…”
“Too many teeth…”
They found themselves in an apartment complex, the bottom floor atrium had a large fountain that sprayed water out of what was supposed to be a fountain angle, but it was contorted and twisted wrong. Lanterns on chains hung down from the ceiling that they couldn’t see above them. There were so many levels, too many above them.
“We need to find a spot to rest.” Gura suggested as Kaela let out a quiet groan.
“I’m- I’m fine. It’s all right.”
They found the stairs and started to ascend, going up five levels before stepping out into the balcony. They looked down at the main floor and then up again, still unable to see the end. Gura brought them to a door and it didn’t open. She grunted and went to the next, it opened but only a few inches, something was blocking the way in. “Damn it..”
“Come on.” Kaela said tiredly as she walked along the wall. Two doors later, they found one that opened and went inside, but what they found seemed impossible, though at this rate, that was the norm here. They were in a massive school gymnasium, the floor was rich wooden boards and there were standard chairs as one might find but some of them were merged into each other, or facing the wrong direction. There was a massive stage that was disjointed and warped with heavy red curtains. There were five mic stands on stage, but two of them were spliced into the stage and bent at awkward angles.
A blue cloth banner was in tatters that hung on the back wall but it was almost entirely unreadable. It might have been a celebration.
There were cardboard cutouts of rainbows, trees, mushrooms, stars and suns. The stars had too many points, the trees had actual real leaves on them and the sun had an alarmingly real detailed face drawn on it that just smiled and stared forward. There were overly large, colorful dolls that were scattered on the stage, facing away from the crowd where they laid. There were three exits and Gura left Kaela leaning against the stage as she tried all of them. One was locked, the other didn’t function as a real door at all, and the third opened to a blank wall.
“We can rest here for a moment.” Gura sighed heavily as she stood there with the taller woman. “This is all my fault.”
“Yeah, you really messed up.” Kaela said bluntly with a quiet chuckle.
“H-Hey…” Gura flicked her tail.
“I was just agreeing with you.”
“Yeah, well, you could have agreed just a tiny bit nicer..” Gura pouted slightly and eyed Kaela’s injuries with a frown. “We need to get you fixed up.”
“I’m okay, I think. It just really really stings..”
“Yeah but we don’t know what any of this is made of, you were in that water, you could get an infection.” Gura set her ukulele down and then scratched at her head. “Damn it! I might have had something in my backpack and I left it in that stupid house!”
The door they came through began to creak open as Gura paced back and forth in frustration in front of Kaela.. Kaela’s red eyes widened as she stared as a long hand and arm reached through the opening. Clawed digits too long and black. Teeth grown up everywhere on its limbs. Pale hair draped down in front of its face, red and blue eyes peering through the veil with a dead stare. Black bleeding into the sclera of the eye. There were too many teeth in its over-stretched jaw. The torso was just a maw of teeth, mouth and flesh. Multiple tails jutted out behind it, shark ones. It dragged itself into the room.
There was a bloody wound in the back of its head that dripped to the wooden floor below. Kaela’s wide eyes caught Gura’s attention, her tail siding along the ground as she finally took notice of the sounds behind her. She slowly turned around and saw the monster clearly.
It was her.
It stared at her with a dull look in its face before it slowly morphed into one of anger.
“Gura-” Kaela whispered harshly to her but the creature gargled and let out a low screech from its stomach maw, causing them both to startle. Gura caught the monster’s eyes darted to the ground and spied her instrument.
Gura’s eyes slowly tracked to the instrument and she very slowly crouched down to reach for it, but it screamed at her when she touched it. She flinched but grabbed it and stood up quickly as the creature crawled into the room on all fours, dragging its tails behind. “G- Go up onto the stage. Hurry.” Gura said in a hushed whisper.
Kaela backed up along the front of the stage and kept her eyes on them both as Gura held the instrument out, trying to keep the monster’s focus on her. She reached and plucked a few strings, and the monstrous version of herself began to calm though it seemed confused. Gura backed up and went up the stairs and onto the stage. The creature dragged itself across the floor in front of the stage, knocking a few chairs over, ones that weren’t permanently stuck at least.
Gura began playing her melody in earnest as Kaela reached for one of the lopsided mic stands, trying to pull it free as a weapon, but couldn’t find purchase with her wounds. “I can’t get a weapon..”
“Shhh- I- I think it’s soothing her…” Gura frowned as she continued to play her instrument, letting the music waft out into the large gym and bounce around. The horrifically distorted Gura stared at the one on the stage, body becoming relaxed slowly. The quiet gurgles and noises coming from within it slowed down.
Minutes passed and Gura continued to play for the monster, her fingers were aching but the risk of being torn limb from limb by some stretched abomination of herself was too great. Kaela had already injured, there was no way she could help fend it off either. Gura had her strength but if it really was some version of her, there would be a much greater risk with how many teeth it had. One good bite and it was over.
“My fingers are cramping…” Gura said quietly as Kaela was looking behind the red curtains of the stage, finding nothing of value.
“There’s nothing up here. No way out. We have to go out that door, and we’re still like five levels up. Maybe.. Maybe it’ll fall asleep..”
“I don’t know. Maybe if she’s calm enough, she won’t attack us. She’s.. She’s been through a lot.” Gura said with soft sympathy as Kaela held her own side as she walked up to Gura.
“She looks like it, but she also still tried to kill me.”
“I-I know. I’m not saying she’s not dangerous, but it's not her fault. Maybe it’s just, this place..”
“Maybe, but-” There was a bright flash behind both of them, they both twisted around to look as a blue and golden portal opened. A woman with dark blue hair and eyes stuck her head out of it and stared at them both.
“What the hell…?” Kronii said as she stepped through onto the stage. The creature in front of the stage stirred and growled but Gura started playing again.
Kaela quickly moved and grabbed Kronii. “We got to go, she’s distracting … It’s a long story!”
“Holy shit, you’re bleeding?!” Kronii yelled as Kaela shook her head quickly. “Amelia!”
Amelia came rushing through the opened portal and looked around before startling at the sight before her. “Oh, oh okay, this is happening, great.”
“Take Kaela back. She’s injured.” Kronii barked at the shorter woman. Amelia twisted to Gura.
“Hey! You’ve got a lot of nerve stealing my watch again!”
“Yeah, it was really stupid, okay! I’m sorry I lost it! I’m a bit busy with keeping her at bay! This music is the only thing keeping her from tearing us limb from limb!” Gura called out without looking as her face scrunched up, trying to keep her focus on playing through aching fingers.
“I am bleeding here! Gura! Come on!” Kaela called out as Amelia helped Kaela by slinging her arm over her shoulders. The gold and blue portal behind them wobbled and flickered as Amelia and Kaela passed through it. Kronii narrowed her eyes at the creature before looking at the back of Gura.
“My power doesn’t last long in other timelines. We need to go now before it closes. Leave that thing alone. It belongs here.”
“I- I know. I get that. I just -I feel bad for her.” Gura’s voice was quiet as the creature began to calm and relax, settling down once more. Gura took a few slow steps back towards the temporal tear.
“Feel bad back home.” Kronii turned and walked through as it flickered and stretched.
Gura watched the creature as the soft gurgling sound made way for an almost whimper, an all too familiar sound to her that made her gut twist just a bit more. “Sorry. I-... I can’t keep playing. My hand hurts and - and I gotta go home. I’m… I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve whatever happened to you, Gura.”
She stopped playing and took another step back before turning and running through the light as it began to stretch and then shrink. She tumbled through into the swirling corridor as blue and gold light washed over her. She was sitting on the ground holding the ukulele close to her chest as Kronii stood over her. She snapped her fingers and the portal behind them closed and disappeared into white light.
“If it makes you feel any better, there’s nothing you could have done for it.” Kronii frowned slightly as she looked down at Gura. Gura clutched the instrument closer to herself and wobbly stood up.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t. I wanna go home.”
“Kaela and Ame are waiting for us.” Kronii put a hand on Gura’s shoulder as the time corridor swirled and then closed in on itself and in the blink of her eyes, reality snapped back into place and she was standing back in Amelia’s apartment, Kaela was sitting backwards in a chair and Fauna stood behind her, a golden glow on her hand against the blacksmith’s wounds.
“It was a shark.” Kaela snorted.
“I’ve never seen a shark do this before.” Fauna raised an eyebrow.
“It was a big shark. Lotsa teeth.”
“Uh-huh. Stay still, this might sting.”
Amelia stood nearby watching before her attention turned to Gura and Kronii. “Man, you’re really lucky, you know that?”
Gura was still holding her instrument and she put it down on the couch nearby. “Look, it was really fucking stupid, okay? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for .. For all that to happen! I didn’t mean to lose your watch!”
Amelia’s face twisted in mild confusion before she reached into her pocket and jerked the golden timekeeping device out. “You didn’t lose it. I barely even understand how you got to that place without it coming with you. Maybe the damn thing just willed itself to stay behind after you two went galivanting off!”
“Excuse me, I was not galivanting. I was a barely willing participant in time travel.” Kaela spoke up behind them and Amelia rolled her eyes.
Kronii cleared her throat. “What Short-n-Stubborn is trying to say is, something crossed paths with you when you tried to jump. There’s things out there, other timelines that are aggressive to put it mildly. You know how hard it was for us to find you?”
“Do you know what that place was?” Gura frowned slightly as she looked at Kronii, tail swaying lowly.
“It didn’t make any sense. Was like someone just kept building and adding nonsense on top of nonsense. Like they were obsessed with creating, or like… recreating…?” Kaela spoke up and then made a hiss from the burning sensation in her side as Fauna went to a new location to heal.
“Don’t get so worked up while I’m healing you.” The antler horned woman lightly chastised.
“No. We don’t know what that place was. But what I do know is that timelines sometimes have intrusive entities attached to them, fringe realities from things outside that shouldn’t be.” Amelia sighed and relaxed a small bit, looking at her watch. “It should have gone with you, but something snatched you at the moment you left. It just happened to miss the watch. It was stupid, dumb luck. Random goddamned chance.”
Gura rubbed the back of her neck and looked away with an apologetic look on her face. “Would I be able to go back there?”
Kronii, Amelia and Fauna all looked at her and Kaela just rubbed her forehead.
“Are you nuts?”
“Are you fucking insane?”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about and I think that is a bad idea.”
“I- I just mean. That, that.. That other me. She’s all alone. Maybe if I could go back and-” Gura’s voice was small and awkward.
“That thing wasn’t you anymore. Whatever that creature was, was distorted and changed by that place.” Kronii walked up to her and put her hands on Gura’s shoulders. “Even if you somehow discovered a way back there, there’s no telling where you’d end up. There’s no telling if we could find you again and there’s no telling if we or you could escape. There’s nothing you can do for that version of you. What’s done is done. You can’t undo what has happened.”
“She didn’t deserve it though.” Gura looked up at Kronii and Amelia spoke up.
“Yeah, no one does though, do they? It just happens. Shit just happens.”
Kronii let go of Gura and put a hand on her hip as she spied the freckled, blonde woman. “Now if only you practiced what you were preaching. Am I finally getting through to you?”
“Hardly.” Amelia snorted, walking over and hugging Gura. “I’m glad you’re safe. Both of you. Just, try to not think about it. It’ll pass.”
Gura hugged Amelia and nodded her head into her shoulder for a moment. “Sorry. It was stupid.”
“It was.” Amelia put a hand into white hair and playfully grabbed and rubbed. “Don’t be stupid, Stupid.”
“Yeah…” Gura’s voice was quiet.
“Now then. Who wants food?” Kronii spoke up and grinned. “Ame’s paying!”
“I am not!”
“You are too. You let your watch get taken!”
“I didn’t let it get taken! She stole it!’
“Same difference!”
The time-pair went arguing across the room and into the kitchen, bickering about dinner options as Fauna finished with Kaela.
“Better?”
“Much. Thanks.” Kaela smiled at the green haired woman.
“You might still be a bit sore, and maybe a little scarring, but it beats going to the hospital, huh.” Fauna grinned at her playfully before nodding her head and going towards the other two in the kitchen. “Hey! Ladies! You have to take orders first before you just start ordering random things!”
Kaela adjusted her torn shirt and looked at her jacket on the table and snorted as she got up and went to Gura who had sat down on the couch. “You okay?”
“I think so. Hey, I’m sorry.” Gura got up abruptly. “That was a really stupid idea and you got hurt because of me. That was really, just, really fucked of me.”
“Yah. It was.” Kaela sat down on the couch and sighed. “But you saved me, and you also kept us from being torn apart. So, at least you tried to do something about it. However, how about next time we just order pizza or something?”
Amelia called out from the other room. “Pizza! Yeah! That’s a great idea!”
“Oh no, you’re not ordering this time! Give me the phone!’ Kronii called out as Gura and Kaela sat on the couch and looked towards them before looking at each other again.
“Yeah. Yeah.” The shark woman laughed and sat down next to her again.
“As far as third dates go though, that was certainly memorable.” Kaela chuckled quietly.
“Oh. Well. That’s good. I think.” Gura’s brow furrowed and she laughed awkwardly. “We’ll do something more normal next time.”
“Well. I didn’t say thaaaaat.” Kaela smirked at her slyly before getting up, calling out to the trio in the kitchen. “Hey someone got a shirt or hoodie or something I can swap out? This one is messed up.”
When all was said and done, pizza and merriment was had, until Kronii, Kaela and Fauna left, leaving Amelia and Gura alone. Gura sat on the couch, plucking a few of the strings on her ukulele.
“Haven’t heard that one in awhile.” Amelia smiled sympathetically at her as she came around to sit next to her. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Was all she got in return as she played the self-soothing tune. After a minute of playing, she stopped and moved the instrument around to look at it with a fond melancholy. She slid her hand down the front of it slowly. “Can I ask you for a favor?”
“Uhhh, I don’t think you’re in a place for asking favors after today’s stunt.” Amelia leaned back into the arm of the couch lazily. “What is it?”
“Is it possible you could send an object back to that place?”
Amelia’s eyebrows raised and she laughed out. “Oh man. Okay. You must have inhaled something in there.”
“I’m being serious, Watson.” Gura had a stern look on her face, causing Amelia to sit up a bit more.
“I.. What? What do you want to send?”
“My ukulele. Maybe. Maybe she’d find it and it’d help her feel better.”
“Gura, you’ve had that since before I knew you.” Amelia frowned at her. “Why would you want to do that?”
“It’d just make me feel better, okay? Can you do it or not? Or do I need to go bother Kronii about this?”
Amelia snorted. “Alright, alright. Don't go and bring her into this. It was already a pain in my ass to get her to save you. Pretty sure she only did it because you roped Kaela along.” Amelia scratched at her hair and stood up, pulling her watch out into her left hand. “I can probably piggyback off the traces of energy that snatched you, that’s how we finally figured out how to locate you.”
“Okay.” Gura said as she stood up with Amelia. The blonde woman frowned at her slightly.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yeah. Just, don’t miss or something.” Gura said as she put the instrument out to her. Amelia took it from her and clicked the top of her watch.
“I don’t miss.” Amelia said confidently as there was a flash and the instrument suddenly phased through her hand and when it hit the floor, it vanished into it with another bright burst of gold light. “Well. That’s it then. Gone forever. Uhg.” Amelia clicked the watch again and laughed, beginning to pace. “That was so stupid! Why did I agree to that! You just had to goad me with the Kronii comment, didn’t you! I could have fallen in too! Just like you did! You’re lucky I’m so damn good!”
Gura chuckled and smiled at her, flicking her tail as she watched her pace. “You are good. Thanks, Ame.”
Beneath the ever present fluorescent buzz, a string was plucked.