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[right]Interactions: Lynn & Daniel
[code]Outside Warehouse - Woods[/code][/right][hr]


Lynn knew she needed out.  While the monster was busy fighting what Party Boy turned into, Lynn watched as the jock and what she assumed was his girlfriend left together, a few others got out, and the girl squad left as well.  But Daniel was still in this warehouse; he had lost every bout with the devil, and he needed to get shaken from that trance he was in.  Lynn tossed a panicked eye back at the monster and saw that it, too, had begun to panic.  Someone, maybe something else, had arrived, and whatever or whomever it was had scared the beast into admitting defeat before the first blow was traded.  Lynn’s breath was caught in her chest as she watched it scamper away like a weak and pathetic little monster.  That scared the shit out of her.  If that monster, that creature that caused all this death and destruction, was scared, Lynn paused the thought as her eyes shifted to the new arrival, then how powerful was this thing?  It did not stick around to display what that power was. Her chest let loose the breath, and she gasped.  She could not tell why, but for some reason, the air around the warehouse had lost a lot of weight to it, even as the warehouse itself was a scene of horror with blood, viscera, and damaged concrete strewn about. 

Valor had watched the monster prepare itself, understood how it fought and the way it divided punishment into some evolutionary defense. The knight felt no concern of this understanding, it would simply resolve to administer punishment greater than the beast could bear.

But no such resolution came. Valor’s weapons struck at nothing as the creature burst into gore and fled using its base elements. The tear in reality, where the beast had spawned from, showed glimpses of the town in its maw, but Valor paid it no heed. More concerned with finding and estimating whatever had caused the creature to make such a retreat. It found nothing, the new presence leaving as soon as it had arrived and the dimensional wound closing over, leaving behind an empty building full of dead things. The knight weighed these events in its impassive face, far from ideal.

[colour=SteelBlue]“[b]HM.[/b]”[/colour] Valor grunted, mild annoyance in its normally indifferent reverberation. Like the other paranormal guests of the night, Valor suddenly relinquished control and seemed to disappear - albeit remaining closer than the rest of the evening’s uninvited guests. Daniel Mars returned to the world, collapsing forward and smacking his face on the ground, eyes closed and wheezing for air, like a drowning victim who’d been unexpectedly fired out the sea and back onto land.

Lynn quickly shot her eyes back towards Daniel and saw that whatever had possessed him had let the boy go.  He was unconscious, on the ground, but he was breathing, and he was distinctly himself.  Lynn smirked.  A small blessing.  She had only just made him an acquaintance; she could very well not lose him before she learned more about this town and the school.  *[b][i]thud[/i][/b]* Lynn’s head lurched downward as a small piece of concrete fell from above and hit her on the crown of her head.  It was not very big, nor did it hurt much, but it still pulled her attention upward, revealing the damage the fight between Daniel and the Monster wrought on the building in this part of the warehouse.  She was no engineer, nor did she know what exactly to look for to determine if a roof was about to fall, but she did know that seeing the stars through the roof, spiderweb cracks, and pieces and parts falling at a steady rate were not good signs.  She looked towards Daniel, and back to the ceiling, and back to Daniel.  He was in danger.  Lynn’s eyes went wide as she gasped.  Daniel was in danger, and so was she.  

The next thing Lynn knew, she was moving.  Her legs had gained a strength that she had never felt before, and she had found a drive that her spirit had always lacked.  She moved with speed, avoiding debris and bodies, as she made her way towards Daniel's unconscious form.  Within a few moments, she had slid beside him with both knees on the ground, one hand on his shoulder, and another on his chest.  She shook him hard once, twice, and a third time more.  [color=8A2BE2]“Daniel,”[/color] Lynn said as she continued to shake, her head turning and watching as more concrete fell around them, [color=8A2BE2]“it’s time to wake up, Party Boy.  We don’t have to go home, but we can’t stay here.  Wake up, please,”[/color] Lynn pleaded as she rose from her feet.  She grabbed him by the hand and began to pull.  To say Lynn was weak would be a disservice to weak people.  She had never lifted a day in her life, and while Daniel was not heavy, it was still difficult.  Lynn began to tug and pull, leaning back with all her might, giving it some slack, before returning to pulling again.  More and more debris fell around them as she did, and some seemed to almost curve towards Lynn’s head.

Groggy and uncoordinated - a drunkard after last call - Daniel ambled to his feet, able to vaguely move even if it were acutely obvious he’d fall in a heap without Lynn’s support. It felt like the lucid dream of someone concussed, the rational part of him could recognise danger in some vague acknowledgement but the rest of him lagged behind. Not helping was the echo of pain in his torso from when Valor had been knocked aside by the monster, something that didn’t ache as much as it felt akin to the pain of a phantom limb, an acknowledgement of pain but not the sensation. Even in this state, Daniel tried to mumble to Lynn, a thanks or a warning or something completely nonsensical in his addled mind, lost to the noise and chaos of the collapsing building.

Eventually, Lynn was outside, Daniel was halfway there, and the roof was holding on by a prayer.  A large chunk wiggled loose and began to fall towards Daniel.  With one last heave, Lynn pulled Daniel completely free of the warehouse and away from danger.  [color=8A2BE2]“[b][i]YE-[/i][/b],”[/color] Lynn was interrupted as a small chunk of concrete exploded outwards from the impact sight.  While it initially moved away from the two, something grabbed hold of the chunk and directed it right towards Lynn’s forehead.  [color=8A2BE2]“[i]Fuc-[/i],”[/color] Lynn stammered out right before the concrete impacted right on her cheek and the side of her head, a taste of metal filled her mouth, and the world spun around before she fell backwards and felt the cold ground greet her back.  While she was not out, she was down and groaning in pain.  Her thoughts felt like a mile away, and her vision felt a touch out of reach down a long tunnel.

[colour=SkyBlue]“Uff!”[/colour] Face smacking the dirt, Daniel would never quite know how narrowly he came to a much more mundane death or disfigurement after the nightmare that was this party.

The impact’s effect was twofold, one was caking Daniel’s face in muck and fully bloodying his nose after the impact of his last fall, the other was fully pulling him out of his post-possession stupor, a system reboot after smacking a machine. He scrambled like frozen water had been dumped down his back, everything flooding into his mind yet again, the deaths, the black knight, the end of the world. God, how many were dead? His head turned, a mask of frantic terror carved on his face, just in time to witness Lynn fall to the floor with a squirt of blood erupting from the side of her face.

[colour=SkyBlue]“Lynn!”[/colour] Daniel yelled, his manic fear suddenly focusing into a singular direction. As he stumbled back up, a thought emerged that would’ve ordinarily been chilling in its simplicity: he thought Lynn was dead.

It was welcome, if strange, relief when he reached her side to find her groaning and still moving. Even then, the sight was distressing, scraped flesh from where the concrete had struck her face and the slight glimpse of her teeth stained crimson from the blood welling in her mouth. Shots rang from behind the metal and concrete, more aimed debris striking the walls and the doorframe, they were being directed away, not that they needed additional reason.

[colour=SkyBlue]“It’s alright, it’s ok!”[/colour] Daniel sputtered, his rushed tone making clear he didn’t believe it himself. He coiled one of Lynn’s arms around his neck and began lifting her off the dirt, her willowy frame and Daniel’s comparative strength giving him an easier time than she did - suddenly his father’s homophobia-laden demands that Daniel get into sports was now mildly appreciated in retrospect.

[colour=SteelBlue]“[b]LEAVE HER. THERE IS ANOTHER BEING IN THESE WOODS. WE MUST TRACK IT..[/b]”[/colour] A voice echoed somewhere in Daniel’s mind, a thought forced into his head and making his brain feel like it was swelling beyond the contour of his skull as it spoke.

[colour=SkyBlue]“It’s all going to be ok.”[/colour] Daniel weakly repeated, the voice was fiction, all of this was fiction, everything would be ok when the sun came up. He felt tears stinging beneath his eyes and blinked them away, gritting his teeth and breathing loudly through his nose while he half-guided half-dragged Lynn down the dirt path to freedom. [colour=SkyBlue]“We’re just- it’s-”[/colour] His mind swelled again, something protesting, a defeated grimace rested on Daniel’s face. [colour=SkyBlue]“Let’s show you around town; starting with the hospital.”[/colour]

Lynn tried to respond, but her words were caught in her chest.  Seeing the town sounded nice.  It would be the perfect thing to distract her from just how bad her face and head hurt.  They could see so many fun things, and they would start with the place called the hospital.  Especially after whatever bad stuff had just happened, she knew she could go for some fun. Lynn grimaced as Daniel dragged her along as pressure built behind her eyes.  It felt like her skull was filled with an ever-expanding foam.  She felt every heartbeat in her temple, and each pulse arrived with a spike of pain.  Daniel’s voice stretched and warped, and for some reason, it sounded like he was both right next to her and a million miles away.

Something warm crept down along her neck from her hairline, sticky against her skin. When she tried to swallow, her jaw hitched, and fresh crimson iron washed against her tongue. She realized, dimly, that she couldn’t quite tell if she was walking forward or being dragged. The spaces between moments kept disappearing on her, blinking out like skipped frames in a damaged film reel.  Eventually, the skips turned into brief seizures like trips to the Garden.  Daniel would watch as Lynn’s eyes would flash green for a brief moment, her body going stiff with it, before they returned to normal.  

[color=8A2BE2]“M’fine…”[/color] Lynn slurred, though the word came out with an almost wet undertone. The attempt to speak only made her stomach lurch, and her ears ring. Lynn thought back to what Daniel had said earlier. Hospital. Ok. Safe. Maybe.  Everyone she loved never made it to the hospital; maybe she truly needed it. She blinked slowly and immediately regretted it. For one terrible second, she couldn’t remember why they were running. Then it all slammed back into place at once.  The carnage, a monster, collapsing concrete, and more loss. Her breathing hitched again. She dug shaky fingers into Daniel’s sleeve hard enough to wrinkle the fabric.  She took a deep breath in and then exhaled deeply.  The world focused around her ever so gently.  The tunnel collapsed quickly, though her vision still felt further away than it should be.  She was able to think again.  And save was able to feel the pain she was in fully.  Tears welled, fell, and burned as they crossed her wounded face, and a gentle sob quickly filled the air.  Her free arm reached up and touched her lip, and her face winced sharply as daggers shot across her face.  That was not good.

[color=8A2BE2]“Thank you Mars, Daniel Mars,”[/color] Lynn muttered, barely above a whisper.  

The preacher’s boy never did quite make out what Lynn said, only hearing her sporadic, gentle weeps that reminded him to keep his own tears at bay. Only seeing the dripping blood and flashes of colour blink in and out of her eyes, reminding him that, however hard he may deny, tonight’s events were real. A reckoning had happened, children that Daniel had grown alongside - knowing their individual eccentricities, hopes and beliefs - were dead and left behind as the two continued down the dirt path. 

Selfishly, Daniel felt some measure of gladness that Lynn was injured. Escaping alongside her was a goal, something to override the existential terror that would have rendered him catatonic in any other circumstance. In fact, he realised he didn’t feel much of anything right now. Numbed by so much change in such a short amount of time. Would there even be a hospital to reach? More likely all those worthy had been raptured far away from this town, the sinners left with a dreadful respite before the hells opened up in earnest.

Instead of divine light, it was a duet of cherry red and stark white that greeted them when they reached the treeline. Ambulances, squad cars, even a firetruck was turning the corner and making its way down the street from afar. Adults could only react in confusion and work off conjecture while scores of dirtied, bloodied teenagers babbled in hysteria, wrapped tightly in blankets and tears. A weary exhale, Daniel held Lynn closer against him - perhaps realising that with civilisation evidently not quite over yet, he would need her support more than she needed his. 

[colour=SkyBlue]“H-hey! Help! There’s been an- she’s hurt!”[/colour] He said as he waved down one of the EMTs for help. A middle-aged woman took one glance at Lynn and widened her eyes before quickly jogging towards the duo. Daniel sardonically wondered how that same doctor would react when she saw inside of the warehouse.

Another attempt to bury it down before the police inevitably asked him for a statement. Tonight was a prank, some mundane explanation for however horrific the situation was. It only took another glimpse at Lynn to dispel that notion, a girl Daniel only just met hours ago now left mumbling imperceptibly after saving his life multiple times, blood beginning to drip down from her chin and into a discoloured pattern on her shirt. But really, what forced Daniel Mars to confront this new, warped reality, was the ever-present pressure on his skull as a voice demanded he return to the woods and deliver retribution, coldly repeating the order again and again.