Arc 2; Friends on the Other Side: Chapter 11, Ruins

After I had climbed down from the floating house extraordinaire, aka I jumped into the water while screaming. I had managed to pull myself out of the water and noticed a very interesting fact, the giant town I had fought my sentiment in was just under the lake.

At the moment we were currently walking through town buying supplies, albeit wet. I had to hold Paige on my shoulder so she wouldn’t hug the ponies we passed. After getting some food we were walking to get some lumber for firewood when Paige looked at Gwen.

“So... How did you... Kick the bucket?” Paige inquired with uncertainty.

Gwen frowned a little, “I was beheaded,” she moved a hand up and rubbed her neck. “It hurt like hell when I appeared in front of Death.”

Paige grimaced a little, “Oh.... What about you Mr. Kondraki?”

Kondraki looked at her, “Classified....”

I looked at him, “Dude... We’re dead. I don’t think it’s classified any more.”

He sighed, “Fine.... I was eaten, by a near immortal lizard monster that hates humans.”

I blinked, “...What?”

He looked at me, “That’s basically The Foundation in a nutshell.”

Gwen poked me and Kondraki, “Hey... We got company.”

I looked over to see Sarah, the other Sarah, Jav, and another girl... with wings. WHAT IS MY LIFE!!!!

Kondraki tilted his head, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say an SCP escaped again.”

Paige waved at them, “Hello!”

Sarah waved back, “Yeah, hi. Don’t know you two people, hello to you too I guess. If any of you haven’t met these people,” she gestured to the others behind her, “they’re Jav, Sira, and my sister Mary.” Oh... Thats why they look so similar.

Gwen looked at Jav with a raised eyebrow, “I’m Gwendolyn.”

Paige waved again, “I’m Paige!”

Kondraki stared at them, “I’m Dr. Kondraki.”

Sarah’s eye twitched, “Did you say doctor....” Oh god.

He raised an eyebrow, “Yes.... Not a medical doctor mind you, just a title that The Foundation gave me.”

Her eye twitched even faster as her skeletal hand activated, “Must. Resist. Urge. To. KILL...” Oh god no....

Kondraki looked at her before blinking, “Hmm... 076-2 was scarier.”

I looked at him, “Dude... Don’t anger her any further.”

He looked at me, “I just told her my name and she freaked out when I said I was a doctor.... I’m being peaceful here.”

Mary stepped forward and pushed Sarah a bit before looking at Kondraki, “She’s had some horrible experiences with Doctors. Really horrible.”

He looked at her tiredly, “Okay.... I won’t piss her off then.”

Sarah glared at him, “Don’t even fucking come near me, or I will disembowel you with your own spinal cord...”

He glared back, “I’ve been eaten by a near immortal lizard monster and threw cat piss at a vampire. I’m trying to be nice but you’re really acting like a bitch right now, so calm. The fuck. Down.”

“Calm? CALM!? I was tortured and raped for seventeen fucking years by fucks like you. I had my own body violently ripped open thousands of fucking times so that you assholes could do your sick experiments on me, and you want me to be fucking calm around you!? Not. Fucking. LIKELY!” She glared at him with the fury of a thousand suns.

He just stood there calmly, “Alright then, you were tortured by doctors. Not me. I understand alright, I won’t bother you if that angers you. Just calm down and let’s just talk.”

“Stop telling me to be fucking calm. I am on the edge of another mental fucking breakdown, and you saying shit like that is only going to make it worse.”

He nodded, “Fine.”

Her claw went back to normal but she kept glaring, “Now, you sick piece of fuck, tell me why I shouldn’t treat you like those sadistic monsters back at A.N.G.E.L.”

He blinked and looked at her, “A.N.G.E.L.? That’s... That’s impossible. We raided their base.”

She spat at him, “Yeah, the above ground complex. They had an entire underground network of laboratories and research stations. Obviously you didn’t think to look.”

He raised an eyebrow, “We did look, we found nothing. Nada. It was just the complex.”

“Then explain to me, just how they were kept running until a few days ago when Dean killed everyone in the fucking place. Explain to me how they kept their experiments running for all that fucking time, if you bastards killed them. Well, fucking explain!”

He blinked again, “I can’t... All I know is that a group went and raided the base, came back, was found infected with something, and killed.”

“And how long ago was this, exactly?”

He shrugged, “A week ago.”

She stared blankly, “The above ground facility was destroyed almost twenty years ago, and Dean just wiped the underground one clean a few days ago. What the fuck are you even talking about?”

“...” He blinked a few times. “I don’t know.”

Gwen looked at both of them, “Can we PLEASE just move on and get the supplies already!?”

Sarah shrugged but kept glaring at Kondraki. “Fine. But if you come anywhere near me, I am not going to be held responsible for what I might do to you.”

He nodded, “Fine.”

I blinked when I felt Paige jump off of my shoulders and run over to Jav. She stopped in front of him and looked up, “Woooow. You’re tall.”

Jav looked down at her, “I know... And you’re rather short.”

She blinked, “What’s with your eye?”

“My family mark. I’m from a family of Necromancers, this is how we show it.” Wait... Necromancers.... Cooooool.

Paige grinned, “Oh cool. I knew a couple Necromancers. They were actually quite nice.”

He looked at her confused, “Wait... What?”

She smiled, “I’ve met Necromancers before. Took a class on Necromancy and learned how to cast some spells.”

He blinked, “... Wait what?”

She raised an eyebrow, “I took a Necromancy class. It was actually fun, I got to summon a couple ghouls.”

“Wait...” He said slowly, “So where you’re from... They actually teach Necromancy?”

She grinned, “Yeah! It’s a required class.”

Jav stood silently, then slowly raised his head to the sky and shouted happily, “You hear that Knights of the Holy Lance!? You can SUCK IT!”

Gwen walked over and looked at him, “Hunters are here?”

He nodded, “A couple, yes. Why?”

She grimaced, “I don’t get along with them... Not since I was killed by one.”

He tilted his head to the side in confusion, “Killed by... You aren’t human, are you?”

She shook her head as her hair started moving on it’s own what the fuck! “Yeah.... I’m a Gorgon.” What!?!?!?!?

Jav’s eyes widened a bit, “Huh, never met one before.” He stuck his hand out, “James Valentine, nice to meet you.”

She grabbed his hand and shook it, “Gwendolyn Pietra. Nice to meet you as well.”

Jav pulled his hand back. “That’s the first time I’ve met a non-human who didn’t freak out after hearing my last name. My family was rather infamous in the non-human underground.”

She smiled, “I ran away when I was twelve. I never really met anyone from the underground.”

“Ah, that explains it.”

Her smile got larger before she whacked a strand of her hair, “No... I’ll feed you guys later. Go down for now.” Blinking I looked closer and saw that her hair was now composed of snakes. More specifically Black Mamba snakes... Fuck.

Sarah stared at her blankly, “That... is fucking strange as shit.”

Gwen looked at her sadly, “Please don’t insult me... I get enough of that from other people.”

“Wasn’t trying to be insulting, just... Not something I’m used to seeing...”

Gwen smiled softly, “Understandable... Very few people know about us.” She sighed a little, “Medusa was the one who gave us a bad name.”

Sarah shrugged, “No idea who that even is.”

I spoke up, “One of three sisters cursed by the goddess of wisdom because they were hotter than her.”

Gwen looked at me, “Spot on...”

Sarah raised an eyebrow, “That sounds.... Incredibly stupid.”

Gwen nodded, “It is... And if you want to know, Medusa was beheaded so a guy could save this girl he loved.” She grumbled, “Didn’t help she went insane.”

“Huh. Sucks.” Sarah looked up at the sky before speaking again, “We should probably get going, we wasted a bit of time talking.”

I looked up and blinked, “Crap... Come on, we need to get some lumber for firewood.”

Sarah tensed a bit, “Uh, heheh, did you say firewood?”

I blinked, “Uh... Yeah. Why?”

She gulped, “Uuhhh... No reason?”

I blinked a couple more times before shrugging, “Oookay...”

Paige grinned, “You know.... We don’t need firewood. I can just summon a couple light orbs to keep us warm.”

Sarah spoke up, “Yeah, let’s do that! sounds much better that murder- I mean fire. Hehe-he...”

I looked at them both, “Sounds good...”

Gwen looked at me, “I think we have everything.”

I looked in my pockets, “Let’s see... Yeah just about.”

Sarah looked at us, “Okay, then let’s go. The quicker we get this done, the better.”

I nodded, “Yeah... Wait... what are you guys doing?”

She raised an eyebrow, “Didn’t Death tell you? We’re working together to get rid of the Sentiments in the ruins.”

I blinked and shook my head, “He just said to go and deal with the problem.” I pulled out the piece of paper and opened it, looking blankly at the map. “Plus he gave me a map.”

She walked over and looked at the map, “Cool, let’s go then.”

I nodded and rolled the map up, “Alright... Shall we?”

Kondraki nodded and made sure to walk the long way around Sarah, “Yeah.”

Gwen smiled, “Of course.”

Paige started hopping up and down, “Hooray! Adventure!”

Sira tilted her head, “I do not understand the enthusiasm, but I am ready to leave.”

Mary nodded, “Hopefully this doesn’t take long...”

Jav shrugged, “That would be nice.”

I sighed, “Then let’s go.” I turned on my heel and started walking off, Kondraki quickly running up.

Kondraki looked at me, “Why is it people always want me dead?”

I shrugged, “Sarah’s.... Had a hard life.”

Sarah shouted from behind us, “We’ll meet you there, we’re going on ahead!”

I turned back, “Alright!” I turned around again and blinked when Paige hovered over us, “Why are you flying?”

She shrugged, “It’s fun.”

I turned to Gwen, “So... You’re a Gorgon?”

She sighed but nodded, “Yeah...”

I smiled, “That’s actually cool when you think about it.”

She glowed a little, “Thanks.”

“No problem.” We continued in silence until we reached the forest’s edge.

Kondraki looked at me, “So... Any idea what’s in there?”

I shook my head, “Nope.”

We walked further into the forest, pausing briefly to stare at what appeared to be a manticore corpse.

Kondraki blinked a few times and groaned, “God damn it all.”

I twitched a couple times, “Anyways! We should keep moving.”

Paige stared at it before flying above us, “Yeah... Whatever did this might be close.”

After a few more encounters of random shit I would have expected from a freak show, we had made it to a rope plank bridge.

I sighed and stepped on it, causing it to groan. “It’s fine, hurry up.” They nodded as we made our way across to the other side. I blinked at the castle ruins ahead of us, “Wow... It must have been beautiful.”

Gwen nodded, “I can only imagine.” she blinked and pointed over at Sarah’s group. “Oh hey! They made it here first.”

I waved, “Hey!”

She looked up from a hand of cards and waved, “Nice to see you finally showed up!”

I smirked, “Well at least we made it here... So... About ready?”

She and the others stood up as she nodded, “Been ready. Where do you think the Sentiment is?”

I shrugged, “It might be in an area with a lot of room. I’d say the courtyard or the meeting hall.”

She nodded and walked over to the doors, about the open them before Jav walked up. He placed a hand on her shoulder and said something before he grabbed the handles and.... What the fuck!?

He just ripped them out of the walls and threw them at least a hundred feet. He dusted his hands of while my eye twitched again, “What...”

Kondraki whistled, “Nice!”

Paige oohed as Gwen walked up and nodded, “Thank you sir.”

I walked up and stared, “What... The... Hell?”

Jav shrugged, “I have the strength from being a sixty eight year old Necromancer, the fact that Equestria’s gravity is half as strong as Earth’s, and the fact that my power cuts that in half again. I’m pretty bloody strong right now.”

I blinked. “Ah... I see.” Not really no.

Sarah shook her head and walked through the door, “Right then, let’s just find the Sentiment.”

I nodded, “Sure.” I walked forward and blinked when Paige flew over. “Really Paige? Really!?”

She stuck her tongue out, “Nyeh.”

Sarah looked around the room, “Anyway... Think there might be one in here?”

I shrugged, “I think so yeah...”

She looked like she was about to say something but an axe hit the wall, turning I saw.... WHAT THE FUCK!? It was a golden. Flaming. Sentiment.

I moved away as it swung it’s axe again, almost hitting Sarah if Jav didn’t block it with his sword. The sentiment glared at him and adopted a battle stance.

Jav got into a defensive stance, “Restriction levels one and two, release!” Grey fire burst off of his body and I nearly stumbled when the gravity around him felt heavier. He rushed forward and raised his sword, “Heavy Swing!” the sentiment blocked and sunk down a couple inches before a cloud of dust was kicked up.

He thrust his hand towards it, “Lock and Key.” The sentiment stopped moving and Jav spoke up again. “Everything but the Kitchen Sink!” I blinked... what? Every. Lose. Object on the ground suddenly flew at it and it stumbled backwards. Jav quickly ran up and pulled his sword back and swung it down, “Pack a Punch!”

I blinked as a blast wave came from the impact, it’s axe shattered and it’s body was blown apart. I blinked a couple times. “Wow...”

Jav stood up as his sword formed back into his cane and he grabbed the soul left behind. He looked at all of us, “So who get’s the soul then?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know... Draw straws?”

I blinked in shock as a wheezing, robotic voice came from somewhere. “I... Apologize... But the soul... Is to go.... To the young..... Sira Molante....” I looked to the corner and WHAT THE FUCK!?

Kondraki stepped back a little, Gwen blinked and tilted her head, and Paige giggled. The thing in front of us was completely covered in various items. Machinery, pieces of wood, scraps of leather, animal pelts, at least one of everything you could think of. It’s only features were a masked face with a grated mouth and glowing blue eyes, and two mechanical arms sticking out from it’s “body”.

Sarah just looked at it, “Weren’t you... Bheidh i Seilbh, wasn’t it?” WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO IT!?!?!

It nodded, “I am.... Glad you.... Remember me.... Young Akinson...” it moved over and grabbed the shattered axe and put it in the pile of junk. “I have..... Come to inform.... you that the..... Soul is destined to.... Become young Sira Molante’s.... And no one elses.....”

Sarah shook her head, “I still have no idea what the fuck you even are, let alone why you’re here...”

It shook it’s ‘head’ as well, “I cannot.... Tell you.... Unfortunately.... Too many.... Problems would.... Arise...” He... I don’t know it looked like he walked over to Jav, grabbed the soul and tossed it to Sira. “Eat up..... Young Sira.... It is necessary that Fate would..... Give you that power....”

Sira looked at the soul and it a couple times before popping it into her mouth. After she did the thing looked at Sarah again, “We will not.... Meet again for some..... Time, young Akinson.... And my time here.... Grows to an end.... I am to leave now....”

Sarah waved, confused. “Al... right then, bye.”

I twitched as it started to fade from existence, but before he completely did he said. “Time’s Ultimatum will.... Be reached soon..... Prepare in any way... You can......”

What....

What!?

What!?!?!?!

I fell to my knees and slammed my head on the ground repeatedly, “WHAT IS MY LIFE!?!?!?!?!” Suddenly, a small piece of paper landed in front of me. Looking at it, it read:

Bheidh i Seilbh was too serious to tell you this, so I’ll say it. Grow up, not everything is going to make sense. Hell, you’re dead and alive right now. How does that make sense?

-U

My eye twitched, “God damn it...” I took a deep breath and sighed annoyed. “Alright then....” I quickly hopped up, Let’s keep looking.”

She nodded and stood up, “So... where to next?”

I sighed again, “Let’s check the secondary court, then the meeting hall.”

She nodded again and motioned, “I have no idea where any of that is, so you lead us.”

I nodded and looked around, “Let’s see... We entered through the barbican, so....” I turned and smiled when I saw a door. I pointed at it, “There, through the great chambers.”

She stared at me blankly, “... I have no idea what the fuck you just said.”

I blinked, “Just follow me.” I walked over and opened the door kicking up some dust before walking to the left and opening another door. I paused briefly before walking through an armory. I paused halfway in the room and turned right towards another door. I opened it slowly and smiled at the sight.

I turned back to the others, “Welcome, to the secondary courtyard.”

Sarah looked around, “Cool, you think the last Sentiment or Sentiments are in here? Because I kind of want to leave, this place is boring the fuck out of me.”

I nodded, “Yeah, it’s here somewhe-” I had warning bells go off in my mind so I jumped to the left, barely dodging a giant black arrow. Looking back I saw what appeared to be a middle aged woman wearing a black armor. I blinked in shock as hundreds of black arrows burst from her back.

Gwen pulled out a hilt, “Wraith blade, activate. Restrictions one and two, release!” Pinkish fire burst from her body as the light around her darkened somewhat. She ran forward and slashed the things legs, “Low Blow!” The sentiment stumbled a bit before lashing out with more arrows. Gwen jumped over them and landed on the other side before slashing her sword which released a few black and blue bolts of energy. “Bulloni di Twilight!”

The sentiment... I don’t know smiled as a wall of arrows popped from the ground and blocked the attack. “Vector technique...” A symbol appeared around it, “Blackened Sky!” The seal glowed with a black light as hundreds of arrows burst from it and appeared in the sky, darkening it before the arrows came crashing back down all around her.

Gwen smiled. “Shroud of Twilight!” An orb of black and blue energy surrounded her, slowing down the arrows. She raised her sword up to the sky, causing walls of the same energy to appear around the sentiment. She then thrust her sword at one of the walls, “Twilight Waltz!” A beam of energy burst from the sword and started ricocheting off of the walls. The sentiment screamed as it faded away, leaving a black, somewhat grey, ball in it’s place.

I blinked a few times and clapped my hands, “Wow....”

She reached down and grabbed the ball, “Heh... Who wants it?”

Paige started hopping up and down, waving her hands. “Oh oh! Me, me!”

Kondraki shrugged, “I can get the next one.”

Gwen smiled and tossed the ball at Paige, “Eat up.”

Paige caught it and put it in her mouth, chewing it for a couple of seconds before swallowing, “It’s good. Kinda like cotton candy but, better.”

“Anyways.” I turned and pointed at another door, “There’s the meeting hall. Just one left.”

Sarah looked somewhat cautious, “Yay, then we can finally leave.”

I walked forward and tried opening the door, only to have it stick. I slammed my shoulder against it hoping to force it open, but only receiving a bit of pain. “Fucking door’s stuck.” I sighed and stepped back a little and kicked near the lock with all my might, causing it to fly open. “Problem solved.”

Sarah spoke up, “Well that’s efficient.”

I looked at her and smiled, “Kicking always works.”

She rolled her eye, “If that was the case I would’ve gotten out of several hundred experiments and other... Things back at the facility.”

I frowned a little before walking into the meeting hall. Looking around I saw rafters and tables that had rotten over the years. The roof had crumbled and was filtering in moonlight across the room, giving it a strange haunted feeling.

“So you’ve come at last~.” I turned towards the front of the room where a tall man was standing in tattered red robes. I could see his bloodshot blue eyes looking at us, “The master told me people would come again...”

I don’t know why but he just radiated this aura that made me boil in rage. I glared at him and prepped my hammer, “And who the fuck are you?”

He smiled all creepy and shit, “Proditore ad Auallonia.... Do try to remember it.” He flicked his hands, causing two daggers to appear in his hands. “For it will be the last you ever hear! Discordia cadit super te!” He leaped forward and swiped at me, I brought up my hammer just in time. His other hand swung at Sarah catching her in the side.

I kicked him away, “Restriction level one, release!” red fire burst from my body as I felt power run through me.

Sarah growled out, “Restriction levels one and two, release!”

I ran up to him, “Midnight Smash!” I swung my hammer only to have him block and stab me in the shoulder before ripping the blade upwards.

I staggered back and glared at him before an idea popped into my head. I smashed my foot onto the ground, causing blocks of metal to hover in front of me. I grinned as I punched my hand forward, causing the blocks to hit him in the chest. “Titanium Toss!”

Sarah ran up towards him, “Nevermore!” She burst apart into ravens, fucking ravens! They swarmed him and started pecking and clawing at him.

He growled as he slashed at the birds, “Chaotic Artistry...” A giant symbol appeared under him. “Bentley’s Paradox!” What!? The symbol glowed a bright blue as I felt something pull me towards him. He grinned as the ravens were dragged to the ground.

I stabbed the pointed edge of my hammer into the ground, keeping me from getting closer to him. I saw Sarah being pressed against the ground. Son of a bitch... Wait... Metal... Oh let’s keep him still.

I thrust my hand towards him, “Neodymium Nexus!” my grin got larger as blocks of metal began to rotate around his limbs at a high speed. The symbol shattered as I fell to the ground. “MAGNETS MOTHERFUCKER!”

I stared as Sarah backed away and looked at him in panic, before snarling at him. She raised her bladed hand up to the sky before slamming it back down, “The Day is Done!”

The room was covered in darkness as I heard fighting going on. This continued for about five minutes until I heard Sarah shout, “When Shadows Reign!” the darkness lifted as I saw the battered up sentiment get hit by blades of darkness.

The sentiment roared as it faded away, leaving an orange colored ball in it’s place. It looked somewhat faded. Sarah got up and looked around a bit with a completely white eye. She sniffed a couple times before looking right at me and tilting her head.

I blinked, “Sarah... You okay?”

She stared at me before smiling and walking over and sitting down next to me. She looked up as I stared. What. The. Fuck?

I looked at Jav, “Um... What’s going on?”

He stayed quiet as Mary walked in, looked at her, and sighed sadly. “A result of some of the things she went through in the facility. She began to rely on basic animal instinct to survive when doctors thought it would be “fun” to blind her for their amusement.” She patted Sarah on the head, who in turn smiled, “It’s kind of sad, really.”

I looked at her and sighed, “Yeah.... That is sad.”

Mary looked at Kondraki, “I know she was rather harsh to you, but this,” she gestured to her, “is one of the nicer things they put her through. I hope you can at least understand her hate for Doctors by now.”

He walked in carefully and nodded, “Yeah... The Foundation at least has a moral standing.”

Suddenly Sarah tensed and shook her head, before she opened her eye. She looked around before facepalming, “God damnit, I went all animal again, didn’t I?”

Paige nodded, “Yeah.... You looked kinda adorable.”

Sarah stopped moving before standing up and walking over to one of the walls. She quickly began punching the wall into rubble while saying something about scientists. She reared her arm back and punched the wall as hard as she could, sending it flying.

I stared at her, “Done relieving stress?”

She nodded and turned around, “Yep. Now if you’ll excuse me.” She fell forward on her face and stayed there. I moved closer and heard her snore a little.

I looked at Mary, “You wanna help me move her?”

She gave me a deadpan stare, “I can’t lift seven hundred pounds that easily, even with your help.”

I sighed, “Well then... We might as well camp here.” I walked over and picked up the soul, peering into it. “I wonder what power this is?”

“It’s paradox.” I turned and looked at Death, who was standing next to Sarah in his human form. “Strange, considering that’s one of the few I’ve seen.”

Kondraki stared at him, “Paradox?”

Death nodded, “Not quite chaos, but very, very close to it.”

Kondraki smiled and walked over grabbing the soul from my hand, “Cool.” He put it in his mouth and raised his eyebrow. After swallowing he stared at Death, “Um... That tasted like water.”

Death grinned, “So I’ve been told.” He vanished in a puff.

I sighed, “Great... Well then, let’s get the camp set up.”