infinite_reflection | The Hell Just Happened?

Struggling helplessly, she felt Miho's grip on her arm. "It's not enough!!" The tug was overwhelming now. Seiya began to cry, now feeling Greg's arms around herr. Still, it wasn't enough.

The mirror tugged her inside, pulling her into what felt like an eternal fall. Yet, she seemed to only hit the ground. Eyes shut tight, she simply screamed.

“Just.. just hold on, okay?! Hold on!” Miho tried, in vain, to grab onto one of the bars that ran along side the other two mirrors in the elevator. With her teeth grit she held on for dear life, her knuckles turning white from the effort of it - it wasn't enough. “Seennpaaaai!” The girl screamed, eyes wide behind her oversized glasses as they were all forcibly dragged into the rippled surface of the mirror. The fall felt like it took ages, wrenching her gut out of her chest – the world around them was pitch black as far as the eye could see.

They fell for what seemed like an incredibly long time. Miho's eyes were shut tight as possible, and her grip was hard around Seiya's wrist (one of her hands had also grabbed onto Gregory, so she was effectively clinging to them both). The sight that greeted her when she opened her eyes was bizzare. They were still in the elevator... Or so it seemed. This elevator only had one button that said 'lobby'. Their reflections didn't show up in the mirrors that lined it, either!

That wasn't the oddest thing, though. The doors were open, and stretched out before them was what seemed to be a long and spiraling corridor of ice.

Just as he'd expected, Greg flew in the moment Seiya did the same. While the two girls let loose like banshees he was much quieter, and all the boy did was grunt once and then clamp his mouth and eyes shut. The poor boy fell for what felt like absolutely forever, and never felt a landing either! That meant opening his eyes was a surprise, as they'd already landed! When did that happen?

Gregory stumbled out of the elevator quickly, if only to get out of the confined space, and leaned on his knees to almost-but-thankfully-not-quite puke. Ever obsessed with his technology, though, the boy wasted no time before tapping at the touch screen of his phone. "On, turn on, will you?" No dice; the screen was back-lit as though it should be displaying something but the screen was simply black.

As they descended, her thoughts were anything but positive. How dare she drag two innocent bystanders into this? Curling up into herself, it was then that she noticed she was no longer suspended mid-air.

Opening her eyes, she felt a shudder run down her back. Seiya's breath came out with a hitch. What was this place?

Daddy, I don't want to. A little girl's voice echoed down the long hall before them, bouncing off the walls. It's stupid... I want to go out. Let me out, won't you?

Miho's breath came out in a puff of steam – it was chilly, here. That was probably a result of all the ice. But... That couldn't be ice over there, could it? Where in the world were they?! She lifted her glasses a little to rub at her eyes before looking to Seiya. “Was that a..” She squinted back down the hall and gulped.

“G-san, come back in the elevator, kay?”

"I'm fine. It's fine out here, and less... Claustrophobic, ugh." Greg was still smacking at his phone, trying to get the stupid thing to work, but it seemed like no dice. "How about you come out here?" Gregory sounded mighty annoyed, but with good reason (in his opinion). At that point the boy finally looked up and away from his phone, taking in his decidedly odd surroundings. "Didn't I say this was a bad idea? This was a bad idea, uh, let me say it again."

"I'm so sorry..." Tears pricked at her eyes as Seiya shakily exited the elevator. Leaning on the icy wall, she allowed herself to fully sob. "I'm so so sorry!!"

You should be. You're the reason they're going to die! The little girl cackled, her reflection showing up in the mirrors. She reached out, her fingertips breeching the glass.

Seiya stared wide-eyed, "It's me."

That... Wasn't possible, was it? How was that possible?! The little girl in the mirror's finger tips weren't in the mirror anymore. “...How can that be you? Let's get out of here.” Miho bent down and lightly tugged at Seiya.

"How? How do we get out, exactly?" Greg seemed more concerned with that than the several mirrored Seiyas! That was only because he hadn't seen them, though, and a peek into the elevator fixed that. "Oh, what the hell?!" Great, now the girl was getting out! "Run! Let's run, okay? No use sticking around here!"

In fact, Gregory was already on his way. He'd spun around and started a brisk walk, one that would quickly upgrade into a run as soon as the two of them caught up or they took too damned long. He'd wait and see!

Unable to move anywhere but towards the elevator, she stepped inside the doors slowly shutting. The little girl fully stepped out, cackling.

"It's useless you know. You brought them here and now they'll die. You didn't want the responsibility anyway, right?"

Seiya bowed her head, a black smoke filtering out from the elevator. Black creatures slinked towards Miho and Gregory, snarling.

“..U-uuh, um, heh.. Sen..Senpaiii..” Seiya had entered the elevator, which left Gregory and Miho outside in the icy corridor! She took a startled step backward, eyes wide at the smoke seeping toward them. What were those creatures?! They didn't sound or look friendly at all. “G..g-san, what're we supposed to do?”

That attempt to flee was quickly cut short with the sudden appearance of... He didn't know what to call them! It started as ominous smoke, but creatures took shape before long and then he'd backed up until he was in front of Miho. Hey, at least he was being chivalrous? That meant he'd die first! Maybe. "I, uh... I've got n-no idea." The fear was clear in his voice, mostly because the poor boy was certain that him and the two ladies were dead.

His mind was racing, searching for an answer, but there seemed to be none. Why hadn't they brought weapons?! That sounded very smart in retrospect!

Seiya stared at the smaller version of herself. The little girl's eyes glowed yellow as she taunted her older counterpart.

"Poor us. We pretend to be so outgoing and carefree. We care a lot, don't we. Waaaah daddy! Daddy notice us wwwwaaaaah!"

"STOP IT!" Seiya glared harshly at herself, gritting her teeth. "Just stop it!"

The creatures outside slid closer, baring their slimey teeth as they sized up Miho and Gregory. Little Seiya's reflection appeared in the ice as she grinned. "She's not going to come out, you know. She's in the elevator, going home. Idiots."

“S-senpaiii..!” Miho had an odd foreboding feeling that the only way home was the elevator. Seiya wouldn't just leave them, would she?! Of course not! Regardless of her own feelings, though, her and Gregory were in trouble. Another step back was taken, and then she glanced around the narrow and icy corridor. Ice, ice, ice... It was all ice – but it was all sharp ice!

Without thinking, the bespectacled girl tried to pry a shard of ice from the wall. The result was her hissing harshly as the jagged wall sliced into the delicate palm of her hand. “M-mouu, jeez!” She kicked it instead. “We've got to do something, G-san!” They really should have brought weapons, huh? After another kick and a grunt from Miho, a shard of ice fell away. She picked it up and threw it at one of the 'shadows'!

“S-seiya-chan, we need you..!”

Miho's pleading was unfortunately met with silence from her partner outside of the elevator, and he had a decidedly grim expression on his face to make things worse. Both eyes were focused on the small mob of shadowy figures in front of them and he'd lifted his arms somewhat defensively... Y'know, like that'd ever help. Gregory felt awfully unprotected in just his clothing! "I, uh... I think we're dead, here." How encouraging; the first words he'd spoken in a bit.

"I'm gonna die a virgin. That's, uh, that's a real shame." Priorities!

Seiya growled, clenching her fist. Her shadow self began to dance from mirror to mirror, until finally she couldn't take it anymore.

Lifting her fist high, she released, slamming it into the glass. Shards flew as blood poured from her knuckles, a light flashing.

I am thou, and thou art I....

A woman with pale skin and glorious flowing clothes burst forward, prying the elevator doors open. Seiya fell to her knees, watching through blurred vision as the creature dove through the shadows, slicing them in half.

I am Hlin, Goddess of Consolation.

Hlin screeched, circling around Greg and Miho to fly back at the little Seiya, slicing her until she turned into nothing but smoke.

Seiya shook as Hlin departed as well, before falling flat on the ground, unconscious.

Miho was bordering on pure panic over here – that is, until the doors for the elevator were wrenched open. With wide eyes she watched 'Hlin' tear through the shadows. “S..” The child version of Seiya was reduced to nothing but smoke as well, and Miho's brows furrowed. “Senpai! H-hey!” She ignored her own bleeding hand and moved forward now that the coast was clear (back into the elevator). “G-san, come here! Let's.. Maybe if we hit the lobby button.. We need to get Seiya-chan out of here.”

Oddly enough, there were two buttons on the elevator now. 'Lobby' and 'Basement 1'.

Greg didn't notice the doors open, actually, and was just about to prepare for his imminent demise when something suddenly whipped out from behind him! It was large and rather shiny but more importantly destroying everything in front of them. The boy's eyes got a little wide while he watched, arms dropping from their defensive position to allow him to further stare at the thing cleaving everything in two in front of him. That was... If he was being honest, that is... That was awesome. "Huh..."

By the time he'd stopped being lost in thought Miho was gone, and Gregory turned around just in time to get her shouting at him. Oh, shit! Was that Seiya in a heap, there? "Right! Uh, sorry, coming..!" He rushed back into the elevator, then spun around to face the buttons and take note of the new one. "Which do I hit, Miho-san? Wait, uh, you probably don't know. I'll just, uhmmm..." With a shrug, his thumb smacked into the button marked 'L'. The doors slid shut with a ding!

Oddly enough the elevator started climbing, and Greg rubbed his palms together nervously before glancing back at Miho and Seiya. "Is she okay? I mean, uh... She's not..." He didn't want to say that word, and it thankfully did look like the girl was breathing. "Mmh." Greg just nodded, then glanced back to the button panel. He was quickly distracted by the floor of all things, though, which had started to almost ripple like someone had dropped a pebble into a pool of water. "Uhhmmm... Miho-san? What..."

There wasn't time to finish, because after a moment the motion of the floor got a little more intense! It started to shimmer and took on a glassy exterior, much like a mirror... Greg was sensing a theme, here. Unfortunately for him and his two elevator-mates, whatever invisible solid foundation was holding them up gave out and they fell right through the now smooth and glassy floor. "Ahh, sshhiit..!"

(( LONG POST IS LONG ))

Seiya was in fact breathing, and as they made their transition between the parallel worlds, she began coming to. Eyes opening halfway, her gaze darted between her comrades.

There they were, in the same elevator as before the whole ordeal. The doors swung open, revealing the lobby. People bustled in and out, going about their business as if nothing had happened.

"You guys... okay?"

When Miho opened her eyes again, she was on her knees. On her knees and in the plain ol' lobby elevator instead of some weird other world one! She glanced around a bit, as if she couldn't believe her eyes, and then looked down to Seiya. “Senpai! Senpai, you're okay!” Minus the bleeding fist. Actually, the bespectacled girl was bleeding, too! Hand wounds, woohoo!

She breathed a sigh of relief... And then sniffled. “M-mm, I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm glad you're awake. Are you alright, G-chan?” Sniffle, sniff. Oh boy, was she crying a little? Hard to tell, because her face was behind her hands.

((SOCIAL LINK RANK UP!!! FOOL ARCANA WOO? :|))

Greg's eyes opened and he immediately leaned backward and against one of the mirrored walls. Potentially a bad idea, but then this one wasn't sucking him in, so... He exhaled a sigh of relief and then regarded the other two, having returned to his line-faced and otherwise undisturbed attitude. "Uh, I'm good. The only one not bleeding, anyway. Got a first aid kit in your apartment, Miho-san?" His finger hovered over the button for the thirty-sixth floor, not that the boy was very much in the mood for another elevator ride. It beat climbing that many floors, though.

They might've expected worry behind the somewhat cold exterior, but in all honesty he was more concerned with whatever had come out of the elevator and laid waste to everything. Maybe this was like a game. If it was, he wanted one of those.

Glancing down at her hand, she noticed the shards of glass embedded in her flesh. Oh. Seiya's eyes clenched shut as she tried to imagine herself anywhere but on the elevator. "'m gonna throw up." She buckled into herself, shaking. "Oh God please..."

((RANK APPU))

“H-hookay, okay, aha, ahh, no puking in the elevatorrr…” She didn’t really feel like cleaning puke up, and they were both bleeding.. Miho stood up with a bit of a sway. That had certainly been an adventure – not to mention really scary. “Yes! Right! First a-aid kit, let’s, let’s go. Can you walk, senpai? G-san, help mee..”

And with that, if Gregory would help her, Miho attempted to lift her senpai on up and waited for them to slowly ascend to the thirty sixth floor (once Greg hit the button, of course). Fortunately this time no crazy hoodoo happened, and it was a relatively peaceful ride. Once they arrived she was really rather hasty to walk Seiya out of the damned thing and then down the hall.

He pushed that '36' button and then leaned down to help Miho lift their friend up. The slow climb up was a little awkward in Greg's personal opinion, mostly because he had to support a bleeding friend with another bleeding friend and he wasn't entirely sure what they'd tell Miho's mother if she was home. Yeah, he'd just hope that she wasn't! And if she was... Distract her with his apparent good looks, or something. "Seems, uh... Nothing's happening. So that's good..." Indeed, there was a pleasant *ding* and then the doors slid open to reveal the 36th floor.

Gregory took one side while Miho took the other, and they helped poor Seiya walk down the hallway and to the apartment's door. "I'll, uh... Find your keys, Miho-san, I can hold her up."

Seiya wobbled, stomach doing cartwheels. She leaned on Greg as Miho apparently fished for her keys. She let out a shaky sigh, trying to stand on her own. Yeah nope. Holding tight to her new friend, she tried not to bleed all over him.

"Unnngh what the heeelll just..."

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