Chapter Text
“So, what does it look like?”
Footsteps resounded through the hall as the two Agents walked to their work for the day. They were walking up a flight of stairs, and one was ahead of the other, charging forwards with quick steps. He was clad in a red suit the colour of flesh. The eyes covering it glanced around, curious, taking in their surroundings.
“What have you heard from the other employees?” The Agent glanced back at the one following him, hazel eyes flashing with flecks of gold and yellow, like autumn leaves. He had ruddy freckles on his skin and little wrinkles which made him look unexpectedly kind.
The younger one opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted,
“Actually, don’t tell me. Let me guess. They told you it was something like a terrifying monster, or maybe a mangled mess of flesh and bones, right? It probably frightened you. And I bet they mentioned me, too, didn’t they? The one who extracted and wears its EGO. What do they call me, nowadays? Was it something like a butcher?”
“Um… something along those lines, sir.” The trainee replied, taken aback by his candid response. She wore the EGO extracted from the Abnormality Alruine, dubbed the Faint Aroma. The shade of purple suited her nicely, and the pleasant smell of flowers followed her everywhere she went, thanks to the suit.
In times long past, when the Black Death ravaged Europe, people once believed that the good scent of flowers and herbs would ward off that of death. Such superstitions were not imprudent to hold here, where tomorrow was not assured. Perhaps that was why she had selected this particular EGO.
He sighed. “I guess gossip in a place like this is inescapable. The work I do here is work that nobody else wants to do, and for that I’m viliified by the other employees. Even those I used to consider friends have bought into the rumours.”
“Villified, sir?”
“You know, ostracised. Shunned. It can’t be helped. I bet you were scared to come work for me, right? I’m sure they told you that I was… well, eccentric, violent, manic, half-crazed- am I getting any closer to the truth?”
“Um, you’re not far off…” She replied, sheepishly.
Tim finally turned to face her, from where they had reached the top of the stairwell that led up to the Information Department. All eyes turned on her, one by one. His expression turned deathly serious, gentle eyes coming into sharp focus.
“I won’t make any claims of perfect sanity. My years at this company have left their mark on me. You will have to be the judge of your own safety, if it comes to be that we’re in a dangerous situation together, I cannot promise that I will hold myself back. Ruthlessness is what is required to have survived here as long as I have.”
The trainee gulped, and nodded sharply.
“And, to answer your previous question properly…” He paused, trailing off.
“Yes, sir?”
“The truth is typically far more frightening than anything you can find in the stories the employees tell. That thing… its form is not of a monster at all. When it’s at its most dangerous, it’s going to look like a person, like me or you. If it had been observing someone specific for years, it’s possible it could imitate them perfectly. It may be impossible for anyone to know the difference until it’s too late. I implore you to remember that, if nothing else.”
Tim didn’t wait for the trainee to reply. He walked up to Nothing There’s cell, briefly greeting the clerk who guarded it, and scanned in. The door hissed at the release of a pressure seal and then fell away from the frame with a thunk. Tim pulled it the rest of the way open and stepped inside. The trainee followed suit, unsteady and nervous, with trembling fingers.
The first thing they could hear was the sound of it. The cell was filled with the sound of heavy breathing and groaning, like somebody was in pain. Then, occasionally, wracked sobs, or choked dry-heaving. And, finally, interspersed between, was the sound of various unfamiliar voices, sometimes calmly discussing work-related tasks, and at other times crying out in abject terror or calling for assistance through their radio.
Tim’s expression was inscrutable as he listened to it… but, he must have recognised some of them. It was impossible for him not to.
The Abnormality itself was in the form of a mangled mess of human parts, all stitched together invisibly like some patchwork Frankenstein. Joints were bent at odd angles and flesh was torn in places, with skin stretched over it like undead upholstery. Sticking out to the left of it all was what must have been its head.
Well, it wasn’t a head exactly: it clearly didn’t even have a skull. But stretched over something was another layer of skin, and then two differently-coloured eyes were stuffed into makeshift sockets, and more were scattered across its forehead. There was a mangled nose from which the distorted breathing sound came, and a wide open mouth, panting like a dog with its tongue sticking out.
Tim didn’t look at the quivering Agent next to him. “Well? What do you make of it?”
She had her fists tightly drawn to her sides. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out in her shock. She tried again, and eventually mustered up a hoarse whisper,
“What is that… thing…? Why are there sounds of people…? I can’t make sense of it all…”
He looked at her now, with sympathy. “What was your name again… Em?”
She nodded.
“Do you know why this Abnormality is entrusted only to me? By our venerable A, no less?”
“Because you’re good at your job, sir?” She winced as a wail sounded from the other side of the room.
Tim shook his head. “I’m not anything special, young lady. I’ve been working here for a while, but so have countless other employees, all more talented and skilled than I could ever hope to be. I’m not even a Captain. I was passed by for promotion, in place of my betters. Do you want to know the real reason?”
There was a pause as he watched her for a response. Reluctantly, she replied, “Okay. What is it?” She seemed to have regained her composure somewhat.
“Well, remind yourself of its appearance.” He gestured to the disgusting monster at the other end of the room.
It was watching them, curiously, with much the same air of the eyes on Tim’s suit. It almost looked innocent, childlike. But then, as Em looked at it longer… she realised something. It was studying them. She couldn’t tear her eyes away, despite how terrified she felt.
She realised then she had encountered something truly unique and fascinating, and yet awful- straight out of the depths of Hell- and a feeling of quiet awe dawned upon her, both for the Abnormality and the Agent beside her. Tim spoke again,
“Do you notice something? It’s made of human parts. And those sounds it’s making… Those people you hear… I knew all of them.”
Em gasped. “You don’t mean-“
“They were all Agents who worked on Nothing There without my supervision, yes. They couldn’t resist their curiosity.”
She glanced again at Nothing There with a renewed sort of horrified fascination, gaping slightly, then she turned back to Tim. She was rapt now as she listened to him,
“It’s always the curious types, you see, with little survival instinct, who agreed to work with me. Your predecessors, I guess you could say. All of them either tried to strike out alone and paid the price, or gave up as soon as they realised what they were dealing with. For this, they kept their lives but never satisfied their curiosity. I wonder which one you’ll be…” He drifted off, looking somewhere distant for a moment.
“Sir, I’ll do my best to live and stay curious! I can do both, just you watch!” She replied, quickly.
“You want both, eh? Well, isn’t that a little greedy?” His gentle eyes creased with subdued amusement.
“If living is what you’re after, then know this: It wants nothing more than to be one of us. Every single time one of those Agents died, it breached, stealing their skin in order to infiltrate our ranks. It got better at it everytime. Each time, we suppressed it before it assumed its true form, thanks the careful dilligence of our great Manager and our fellow Agents, as well as the decisive orders of my former Captain. If you remember that, and listen carefully when I show you how to work with it, you may survive.”
There was a pause as Tim took in a breath, then he spoke again,
“But… there may come a day when we are unable to distinguish it from a real person. At that time… even I may not be able to prevent the company’s downfall. At that point, I ask you: don’t blame yourself for what happens. Some things are beyond small fry like us. Our venerable A will come to us then, and save us all from ruin.”
“’Our venerable A’? Are you talking about the one who owns the company?”
Tim nodded. “He will save us all.” He repeated, with wholehearted belief. Then he clapped his hands together and smiled jovially, as one might do so when they had nothing left to lose.
“So, shall we get to work?”
--
Sanchez stood outside of The Snow Queen’s cell hesitantly.
He could hear winter winds howling from inside. He shivered as he remembered what it was like in there. Why had he come back here, again? To stave off that awful chill? Or was it his own curiosity that had led him here? Swallowing his terror, he fumbled for his Level IV Employee keycard and scanned into the containment unit.
The door hissed and opened with a sense of finality. And there, across the floor of the unit before him, was that godforsaken line. It was all he could make out through the whirling blizzard which obscured the rest of the cell. He couldn’t see The Snow Queen anywhere- hell, he couldn’t even see the walls. He stepped inside tentatively.
There was a slam behind him, and he realised with mounting terror that the door had shut. He whipped around, staring at it for a moment. That… was not meant to be closed. At least, not while they were working with the Abnormalities.
He fumbled with the keycard scanner to one side of the door, but it was covered in snow and frozen over to the point it was clearly no longer operational. Then, he resorted to just banging on it and shouting, hoping the Clerk at the other side could hear him and maybe go get an Agent. That didn’t work either. He could hear only crushing silence from the other side.
He groaned with frustration and ran a shivering hand through his hair, brushing away flecks of snow. What the hell was he going to do now? He slid down the wall in defeat, planting himself on the floor firmly, trying to kick away some of the snow surrounding him. He couldn’t just wait this out, exactly. He was going to freeze to death before then.
Sanchez remembered his radio. He shoved a hand into his pocket and pulled out the little walkie-talkie- walkie-talkies, after all, were already perfect, and defied the technological advances that the unstoppable march of human progress typically brought on. It was only natural that the Agents would use them. It was definitely not because they were extremely cheap. He pressed the button to switch it on, and spoke into the receiver.
“Hello? Hello? Is anyone there? Can you hear me?”
There was a brief pause, filled with only crackling static, and then, distantly, the sounds of screams and gunshots. Sanchez furrowed his brow, staring at the little device like it had offended him. He rolled his eyes. 1.76 MHz must be fudging the comms again. It didn’t seem like anyone was on the line, anyway. So he really was stuck. He almost had half a mind to throw the little device, but he composed himself and carefully put it back into his pocket. He sighed, deeply.
Then, he realised something as he looked out into the endless expanse of white before him.
The wall was not where it should have been. Actually, it was more than that. He could see a distant light shining in the roaring blizzard, and it looked extraordinarily far away. Well, that definitely didn’t obey the laws of physics. He got to his feet and started wandering towards the light. It was probably an extremely stupid idea, but he had ventured so far into the realms of idiocy that he figured one more stupid choice wouldn’t hurt.
Besides, the light looked familiar. It reminded him of that glint in his Lady’s eyes. He would take his chances with her over this blizzard anyday.
Sanchez wasn’t sure how long he had been walking for, but by the time he reached the sprawling steps of The Snow Queen’s castle his legs were burning. Yes, that definitely didn’t obey the laws of physics either.
From what he had surmised, the entire interior of the cell had transformed into a frozen wasteland, with Her castle laying at the centre. It was a huge palace, just like she had described, reflecting bright hues of blues and whites from its crystalline surface, and it shone and glittered where the starlight above struck it. The moon hung in the sky dead-centre over the tallest spire, looking down on it watchfully. He realised, then, the source of the light: the moonlight had refracted through the crystalline castle, which had concentrated it to a bright blue ray.
And, before him, lay a towering set of ascending steps. Just as he had gotten here, he was in for another trek. His legs cried out in dismay but the cold that had settled into his bones spurred him on as he clambered up them. At last, he reached a huge door. He pushed on it, and with great relief, realised it was unlocked. He fell through it as he tried to go through with a little too much gusto and hit the floor with a heavy thud.
The room he found himself in was cavernous, with a tall ceiling from which hung a glittering chandelier. At the far wall, on the other end, there was a huge fireplace, in which roared a strange blue fire. And along the wall were torches lit with same peculiar blaze. The blue light danced across the walls and floor, lighting the room up in a sapphire glow. It produced warmth, but not a comforting one.
There was a large chair in front of the odd fire, in which Sanchez could see a seated sillhouette, reading a book. There was a tea set on the coffee table before her. He realised quickly that it must be Her, and tried to scramble to his feet to run over to her and beg her to let him stay there. However, he found that all of the fight had left his limbs, and he collapsed bodily on the floor.
In his half-conscious haze, he could just make out footsteps walking towards him. Priceless palatial shoes surely made of crystal click-clacked against the floor. His Lady crouched down to look at his face, grasping his chin between her jagged fingers. She said nothing, but merely smiled at him, sharklike.
She had taken on a different form, one much more human- she had even gained a neck, against all odds. She wore a gorgeous trailing dress with a cinched waist, and at her neck was a priceless-looking necklace, shining with blue light. At her hip was a scabbard which contained what looked to be quite a deadly sword. The hilt had a sapphire on it and was engraved with fine patterns. Her hair looked as if it was woven with threads of pure silver, and lying on her head was a large crown.
This must have been her true appearance.
It was with that singular touch that Sanchez finally passed out.
--
Nicole peered at her assigned works for the day from under silvery rims. She glanced around the Central Command Department’s main room. There were a few clerks dotted about, cleaning up a bit from the last Ordeal or just taking a break. She was looking for someone in the crowd. Ah. There he was. She strode over to the table.
“Captain?”
Ryu glanced up from what he was reading. Smoke trailed from the pipe hanging halfway out of the corner of his mouth. Nicole held her breath, for the sake of her lungs.
“What’s up?”
“I heard my trainee asked you this morning about working on The Snow Queen again. You didn’t tell him yes, did you?”
“Oh, that…” He took his pipe out of his mouth. “Yeah, that kid asked me this morning. Put in an official request and everything. We ended up saying yes. You gotta let the newbies strike out on their own and learn the hard way sometimes, you know? It’s good to put a little fear in ‘em. Snowy wasn’t fully researched either, so we figured either way we’ll get some useful data. And if anything goes wrong, Tim can deal with it just fine. Sami already said we could have him if we need him.”
She shook her head. “So, you expected this outcome? I’ll go assess the damage. What a headache…” She grumbled, and started to leave. Time was already running out. They had to get him out of there before the end of the day.
Ryuisel called after her, “Look, just think of it as a part of his training! Don’t give me that sour look!” He jogged on over as she stopped in her tracks. “By the way, you should go grab Tim and take him with you. I think he’s showing that newbie Nothing There right now up in Information. They’ll probably be done by the time you get there. I hope, anyway, for your sake.” He did, perhaps, look a little sorry for her.
“Great, so now I’m stuck dealing with that maniac, too.” Nicole sighed, deeply, and then righted herself. “Just think about your bonus, Nicki…” She muttered, speed-walking off towards the elevator in Central Command. The doors slid shut behind her.
Curious Clerks watched her go. Not two seconds later was there the belligerent sound of a loyal dog barking orders for them to get back to work.
--
Em was all-too-eager to get out of that containment unit. She looked bedraggled, hair matted with various inexplicable substances the origin of which was unbeknownst to her, and she was covered in sweat. She gripped something in her pocket tightly, thumbing it over nervously.
Tim glanced at her, looking as spry as ever, “You alright?”
“Am- am I alright!? With all due respect, sir, what WAS that thing!?”
“I already told you.” He sighed. “Look, just have a seat and rest for a minute. This job is never easy.” He guided her over to a nearby bench with tentative hands.
It was dull and minimalistic, with no back support, but it would be better than nothing. It typically just ended up getting thrown at employees by raging Abnormalities instead of actually getting used, so it was probably rather grateful for the opportunity to finally fulfil its purpose.
Em collapsed onto it with a thud. She pawed at her hair uselessly.
“Ugh. I think those weird secretions got in my hair. It kept trying to lick me like a dog…”
Tim scratched the back of his neck, looking a bit guilty. “You can have a shower later. It’s just how it shows affection. She used to be human, too, you know.” He sat down on the other end of the bench, maintaining a not insignificant distance.
“I smell, don’t I?” She grumbled.
“No! No! Of course not!” He shook his head effusively.
Em deadpanned. There was a brief pause. Suddenly, Tim glanced around anxiously.
“Do you hear that?" He whispered, looking like a deer in the headlights.
“Hear what, sir?”
“I just got this terrible feeling… There’s this malevolent force coming from the other end of the hall. Don’t you feel it?”
Em peered down the hall, just out of politeness. “Sir, there’s nothing there. What are you talking about?”
“Don’t say that!” He jumped, bolting to his feet, and frantically glanced about. “We need to get out of here, quickly! Come now, come on! Before we lose our lives!” He grabbed her by the arm and started to run, but was quickly stopped.
A voice piped up from behind him. “What on earth are you two doing? Stop scaring the newbie." They both paused, mid-run. Tim let go of her arm, and Nicole sighed a deep, long-suffering sigh, before continuing as if she had seen nothing.
"Nice to meet you, by the way, I’m Nikki. I'm your senior, from Cap' Ryu's team. I hope Tim hasn't been giving you too much trouble.” She moved to shake Em’s hand, and she took it, nervously.
“Nice to meet you too!” She blurted, quickly, and then snapped her mouth shut. She gripped her hand a little too long, so much so that Nicole ended up having to pull hers away first.
So they were both eccentrics. Nicole’s expression contorted ever-so-subtly as she realised there had been something on her hand when she shook it. She discreetly wiped her hand on her blazer. Tim was looking at her with distant terror, whereas Em now appeared a little starstruck. These newbies were going to be the death of her.
“What are you looking at me like that for? Again, my Captain ordered me here. I'm only here on business.”
“But, there was a- I heard a-“ Tim started, stammering in a way much unlike him.
“What did you hear?” She quirked a brow. He seemed to be looking at something behind her, hand grasping the handle of his weapon. Then, he faltered.
“Nevermind. It was nothing." There was a brief pause, but Nicole didn't even flinch. By now, she had seen far too much of this to ever take it seriously. Em looked a bit spooked, however, and she felt a flash of sympathy for her. Neurotic and crazy was not a good match, usually. Who knew what was going to happen to this pair?
"What’s going on, anyway? Ah, it’s not about this morning, is it?” He started again, smiling in that carefree way he sometimes did.
Nicole groaned. “Why was everyone briefed about this but me?”
--
Ryuisel drummed his fingers on the table before him idly. He stole glances at Sami occasionally, for what paranoid reason he wasn’t sure. Sometimes, he just felt this sense of danger around her, like a bull was going to charge up to him and put him through the wall. Each time, he’d look over to her, but he’d always find her just doing paperwork or muttering to herself while reading something. He always half-expected to find her poised to kill him.
Working with Sami like this was not an outcome he had expected. She was like a shadow that followed him everywhere with her watchful eye, making sure he didn’t slip up. But, in all honesty, he revelled in his little ‘slip-ups’. They were the spice of life. He enjoyed getting in trouble every-so-often.
There was one sort of trouble he used to get into. Whenever things about the facility were slow, which happened more often than you’d think, even in an exciting place like this, he’d slip off to the firing range where employees usually trained and just spend a while practicing his marksmanship. It had been a useful reprieve for him. He found he was beginning to miss it.
It’s not like it was a waste of time: that was something they had in abundance here.
If you really stopped to think about it, it was hardly breaking the rules. If anything, practicing his skill with EGO weaponry was entirely productive: he should really get paid for doing it. Somehow, he had avoided capture, but with this watchful dog scrutinising his every move he couldn’t just slip away like he did before. Frankly, he was afraid to imagine what would happen if he tried such a thing.
Watching her now, he had begun to have this thought, that perhaps in order to regain his prior freedom, he’d have to corrupt her somehow. That he ought to drag her down to earth with the rest of the mortals. He didn’t have the faintest idea how to go about it, honestly. Her particular dogma, if you will, that she followed was seemingly impenetrable, so it seemed unlikely he'd be able to convince her to waive the rules.
He did like a challenge, though, and he’d had luck talking his way into- or out of- things before. Perhaps he could take a shot at it, at the very least. He glanced over to her yet again, settling his gaze on her properly this time.
“What are you giving me that creepy look for?” Sami glared back from the book she had cracked open. The cover implied that it was about something like Abnormality classifications. It was, after all, difficult to imagine her reading fiction.
Ryu shrugged. “I’m bored. What’re you reading?”
She gave him a suspicious look. “It’s just a textbook they hand out to the employees. I found a copy discarded nearby, so I elected to read it to pass the time. What’s the status on that new-hire from this morning, incidentally?”
“Ah, so you saw that… uh, well, I think the kid got captured by Snowy, actually.”
“I figured as much.” She sighed. “Well, you did tell them to go get him, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did! Who do you take me for?”
“A headache of a person.” She scoffed. “It’s obvious you want something. What is it?"
Well this was already going terribly. “Nothing, nothing, I was just, uh. Making conversation. You know.”
Sami raised a brow. “Making conversation. Right. You’re not doing a very good job.”
Ryu faltered, and then sighed. Maybe just coming out with it would work. “Look, how do I put this… we don’t really have anything to do, at least until our subordinates get back. Back when I worked in Training, I used to have certain ways of passing the time…” He trailed off.
“Your point being…?” He had her attention now. She watched him curiously. He cleared his throat, feeling sheepish all of a sudden.
“What I’m saying is, uh. Well, whenever things were slow, I’d go and hang around at that firing range up in Training. You know, where they teach the newbies how to use the pistols, all of that. It’s usually empty this time of day, and getting a little extra practice in every now and then isn’t exactly bad, right?”
“Uh-huh.” Sami replied, dryly. “So, you want me to… ah, what do people call it, usually? ‘Play hooky’? Yes, that. You want me to ‘play hooky’ with you. Is that it?” Her expression was entirely deadpan. Ryuisel was beginning to feel like maybe this whole thing had been a bad idea.
“Uh, yep. That’s the long and short of it. It’s not like our subordinates won’t be able to reach us, since we have comms, and anyone who sees us will just think one of the Sephirah ordered us up there. There’s really no downside unless we get caught.”
There was a brief pause, during which Sami seemed to be actually considering it. She furrowed her brow sharply as she appeared to realise what she was thinking, and shook her head quickly. “I can’t be seen sneaking off with you.”
He shrugged. “Well, I’m going either way, whether you wanna come with me or not isn’t my problem. I just thought you looked a little bored.” Ryu got up out of his chair. The metal legs scraped across the floor obnoxiously, and he made for the lift. This bluff would probably do it.
“Wait!”
Ryuisel stopped, and took a moment to smile, just to himself. There it was. He turned around, slowly, schooling his expression into something more appropriate.
“Yeah?”
Sami’s face was sour as she spoke. She threw up her hands in defeat. “Fine! I’ll come with you. But I’m just keeping an eye on you. Don’t get any ideas.”
“Well, follow me around if you want.” He shrugged, feigning disinterest. He turned to walk off just as he was before, but, furtively, he glanced behind him, just to check she was there. He was still in slight disbelief. Sami did appear to, in fact, be in tow.
Well, would you look at that. He still had it, despite everything.
The pair of them stopped just outside of the elevator. Sami piped up.
"This isn’t particularly far, is it? We need to be able to respond quickly in case an emergency occurs.”
“You don’t know where it is? It’s just up here and down the hall. C’mon, I’ll show you.” He politely gestured for her to step into the lift first. Begrudgingly, she did so, but she rolled her eyes.
The doors slid shut behind them, sealing them in, and the elevator started with a hum.