Nearly There Nicely 73

Akiio raised his free hand up, and with use of the stiletto, he slashed downwards to create a strange dark navy line. The line broke apart like a fractal until it shattered, opening a rift just wide enough for a single person to walk through at a time. Through the dark navy edge of the rift, Will could make out the familiar navy illusion of the Threshold.

“Wh... What is...”

“Ultimum Tenebris,” Akiio answered as he took a step toward the rift. “The true doorway between Life and the Betwix.” Akiio pulled Will through the rift, his shoes sliding against the stone as Will tried to stop his motion.

Passing through the rift didn't feel like crossing over a regular door into the Threshold. It felt cold, sudden and icy. Will shut his eyes tightly as Akiio yanked his body through to the other side. Needles of ice seemed to pierce all of his nerves during the passing. Gasping for air once through, Will opened his eyes to study his new surroundings.

He was standing hand-in-hand with Akiio just outside the hallway that led to Phyte's vault of memories. Will looked Akiio over, and then himself carefully.

“When lacking the power to summon a door, a human can use a deliverer's blade to slice a rift between to end up on the between.” a soft male voice explained. Will looked around himself, turning on his heel until he saw Isaac leaning with his back up against a wall just down the hall watching them. “It's a terrible choice for a pathway to get here, Akiio. Each time you pass through the Ultimum Tenebris, it sucks some of your spirit!”

Akiio looked away from Isaac, focusing his attention on the door to the vault.

“Is...” Will's question trailed off. That must be why Akiio looks drained – he's been travelling with that recently instead of the doors. But... he always used doors before, right?

“Just because Phyte took away your sight doesn't mean you should travel like that! It's dangerous, you know!” Isaac shouted, stepping toward them.

Akiio shut his eyes. “I have my sight.”

“Uhm...” Will made a meek noise as Isaac stepped closer to him in frustration.

Immediately Isaac turned his glare on Will. He shouted at Will, gesturing with his arm widely at Akiio's head. “This idiot refused to do something for Phyte, so Phyte took away a power he'd given him – the ability to see the traveler's doors! But Phyte still makes him do all of this work!”

“A punishment that fits the crime is not to be cursed.” Akiio stated plainly, turning to look at Isaac.

“It is when you're being an idiot!” Isaac shouted at him. “Just apologize!”

“Impossible.” Akiio shut his eyes after answering.

Will glanced uneasily between the two. He didn't get a chance to say anything as Akiio took Will toward the wall where the door was. “Open.” he said in a curt tone. Isaac waved an arm at Akiio in a dismissive manner, then walked off down the hall, clearly irritated.

Will stared at Akiio's face in awe. Although he clearly looked exhausted, the tone in his voice held a stubborn force. Whatever it was, he won't apologize. That stubbornness … it's like Crow's.

Will turned his attention the wall as the door appeared in the same fashion as before – liquid silver seeming to melt into the very wall until the large double-doors appeared. The hand holding his wrist tensed tighter, making the pain in Will's bones more prominent. “Is... Phyte expecting me?”

Akiio didn't look to him, but stepped forward toward the doors. “Think.”

Will frowned at that blunt response, but was forced to follow Akiio forward. If Akiio was ordered to kidnap me by Phyte – why is Phyte wanting to see me?

“Before you ask...” Akiio started to say something using a more relaxed tone. He let his words trail off, and then dropped his tone to something much softer that Isaac wouldn't be able to hear. “When someone refuses to do an order given by Neo Phyte, they are punished. Ordered to Glados, my homeland... The Uuenci would not be appreciative to witness a ghost.”

Will looked over the doors, and then back to Akiio's grim expression. “Did you serve their royal family?”

“The Lucus?” Akiio asked, turning his crimson eyes on Will. The emptiness sent a chill down Will's spine, as the light seemed to create a glow from the iris. “I was trained as a Death-Eater, an assassin who lacks fear of anything, let alone death.” Will felt his lips tense, recognizing the title of the elite assassins from Glados history. Akiio noticed the uneasiness in Will's posture, so he turned his eyes back to the silver doors. “Separation from Isaac by going to Glados... is something I will not accept. My life being consumed as I travel is painless.”

“He's... really important to you.”

“We are imprisoned after attempting to steal from Phyte, correct?” Akiio asked as he took a step toward the doors.

Will couldn't mutter his thought aloud, almost afraid that his hunch was wrong. Akiio attempted to steal Isaac himself.

As Akiio approached the doors, he lifted his hand to the cool metal. His hand tensed on Will's hand once more, creating a sting that traveled up Will's shoulder. When the doors opened and Akiio stepped through, Will followed with a nervous look on his face.

Not being a god doesn't make him anything less god-like... Power-wise. Will thought to himself, trying to relax. He needs me alive. He wouldn't consume my raw soul.

Walking around in a fashion that seemed aimless was Phyte. Will recognized him by his dark red hair, dark skin. As he moved, the wilted dragonfly wings fluttered behind him gently like a cape. As soon as Akiio had entered with Will several feet, Phyte turned to face them with a mischievous smile on his lips.

“Fantastic job in bringing him here,” Phyte said in a happy tone. “You're more responsible than Crow, but he always did bring me interesting things.” Will took a slow look over Akiio's blank expression before directing his attention back on Phyte. “You can go now,” Phyte said in a rather blunt tone. To convey his direct order, he lifted his hand and swung it upwards from the wrist in a shooing motion.

Will turned his head to see Akiio make a rather expressive grimace, his crimson eyes glaring at Phyte. It was an expression Will had gotten used to seeing on Crow's face when he spoke about Phyte, but Crow generally never aimed it at anyone.

Akiio released Will's wrist, turned and went back through the silver doors. As he passed through, they began to shut of their own accord. Will watched as they slid slowly, creating a grinding noise that seemed to fill the room, echoing up into the high ceiling.

“Now then,” Phyte said bluntly, causing Will to turn his face back toward him. “We can do this two ways- painfully, or not. Which would you rather?”

Suddenly, Will felt his mouth dry up, leaving a sour taste behind. “You're not... going to consume my soul?”

“Well, I could.” Phyte answered, that playfulness returning to his voice briefly. He lifted a leg, and took a dramatically playful wide step forward, followed by another, and then another. With a few more steps, Phyte was standing just in front of Will. He stood shorter than Will just barely, but that didn't make him feel any less menacing. “You're dressed in a rather classy style this time. Or is this normal?”

“S-somewhat...normal.” Will found his words catching in his throat. He could feel his blood pressure rising as his hands began to feel warm and a pressure form behind his eyes between his ears.

“I see.” Phyte lifted his hand, grabbing the front of the vest Will was wearing. Between his forefinger and thumb he ran the soft material up and down, then flicked the button with his thumb's nail. “If you're going to cooperate, you'd better take off your shirt and vest.” He said with a wry smile.

Leaning his upper body back away from Phyte, Will lifted his hands to start unbuttoning his vest. “I'm pretty sure you're not a god.”

“No.” Phyte nodded, taking a step back to create a physical distance between them. “The gods are something more, but it's just easier for us to call ourselves that for the sake of human's brains. You're not exactly the most … understanding of species.”

As he listened, Will loosened his vest and then his shirt. Phyte waved his fingers at him downward without a word. Somewhat understanding, Will slipped off his shirt, and set it into a pile on the floor next to his feet.

“It pleases me that you're cooperating. Crow didn't.” Phyte said, his smile turning into something that looked genuine and sweet. “Turn around now.” He waved his hand in a circle motion with his palm toward the floor.

“You did this to Crow?” Will asked as he turned his back to the 'god'.

“Certainly.” Phyte's voice pitched up. “It's excruciatingly painful, but it's the only way to study the soul without ripping it out. All that's after that is leaving it as a ghost or consuming it.” Nervous, Will turned his head so he could look at Phyte over his shoulder. He watched as the young man lifted one of the pink feathers from his belt and dragged it over his middle finger, leaving a trail of red – blood. “It's too bad cirrus is so hard to come by, but this knife made of the gas should do the trick.”

“It's... made of cirrus?”

“Yes. Aether can do rather interesting things after all.” Phyte lifted his emerald eyes to meet Will's briefly. “I hope you can stand the pain.”

Before Will could even ponder what sort of response to answer, Phyte had moved his hand forward to his skin. The instant Phyte's middle-finger touched the seventh vertebrae, Will felt a shooting blast of ice rocket up his nerves straight to his brain. It was so cold, it felt painful. He took in a sharp breath, his eyes widening. The pain increased as Will felt Phyte drag his finger down Will's spine until the rim of his pants. Now the sensation of pain was so strong that Will couldn't even tell if Phyte was still touching him.

Able to stand upright for only a few seconds, Will yelped and collapsed down onto his knees into a puddle of pain. Writhing in pain, Will struggled to keep his knees beneath him and his palms against the cool smooth surface of the floor. Crow. was all Will could think, as he felt his eyes sting like oil had gotten into them. Tears formed in the corner of his eyes, further blurring his vision.

Only ten seconds had passed since Phyte had first touched Will's spine and now Will was whimpering on the floor. His shoulders shook, his spine felt like goo, his arms trembled, and his fingers struggled to tense enough to provide any support to potentially lift Will back upright.

“Huh, interesting...” Will heard Phyte muse up above him at something.

Curiousness welled up in Will, even in this immense amount of pain he couldn't help it. Struggling, Will relaxed his right shoulder against the floor, lifted his left by moving to lock his elbow, and turned his head to look above him. What floated above Will, straight out of his back, shocked him.

It was an ethereal figure. As Will focused his left eye as best he could, the phantasm became clearer to his eyes. The outline of the figure shifted and moved, as if it was having trouble remaining physically visible, but its shape and color was enough for Will to identify it. That's... me. Shock ran through Will as his brain raced to process what he was seeing. The phantasm seemed to have a red filter over it, as all of its skin was tinted a redder shade than Will's, his hair was a richer pink, and his eyes appeared purple, not blue. He had no clothes on, but Will couldn't see anything below his hips, either blocked by his shoulder, or that portion of the body just wasn't there.

Suddenly, Will saw Phyte stretch forth his dark hands to touch the phantasm. A bolt of fear shot through Will, unsure what Phyte was going to do. The phantasm reacted to Will's fear physically, darting backward, unable to seemingly move much from Will's spine however. If Will had looked back to the phantasm, he'd see the fearful look on the boy's face, but his blue eyes were stuck on Phyte. Phyte reached out and grabbed at the phantasm's shoulders, turning him as if to turn him around. The twisting motion that happened shocked Will, a surge of pain bursting through all of his nerves in his body. His brain overloaded from the sensation, causing the only natural reaction: a scream. Will doubled over onto his face, his arms spasming, his hands gripping desperately at the floor for any semblance of balance. Will couldn't think, no thoughts went through his head, the pain was muddling everything out. Whimpering and screaming alternated as Phyte twisted the phantasm the other direction.

“Why isn't it here?” came Phyte's voice through Will's scream.

That's all Will heard. His screaming deafened his ears out. Then, it was suddenly silent. The pain lingered, tingling his spine. The cold feeling of the floor pierced his arms, face and chest, and it started to seep through his pants to his knees. Then, within a few seconds, all of the sensations of reality faded away and Will had no awareness of anything; nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to feel.

Phyte clicked his tongue against his teeth, watching as Will fainted onto the floor. “What a disappointment. Crow both didn't cooperate and stayed awake through all of the examination.” He crossed his arms, turning to walk around Will to the doors. “The souls should stay even when they're unconscious. Stupid humans.” He yanked open the heavy door with one hand, shouting out it. “Hey! Come get this useless whelp!”

After another moment to ruminate on the pain, Will slid out of bed. A breath of air escaped his lips when he felt how cold the floor was. He took careful steps, trying to relax his feet against the cold as he made his way over to the door. Huh? A door? Wait... Where am I? Moving as if he knew where he was going, Will pulled it open, then stopped and looked around at the unexpected scene he saw.

Before him was a warm lush green environment closed in by trees – a small moist glen of green grass tall enough to hide his feet. Around the grassy circle shape was a small stream of cool water that small birds were flying in and out of, bathing themselves and then flying back up into the trees and thick bushes. Scattered about were various flowers in shades of pink and pale blue.

A thought passed through his mind as he leaned in to look above, making note of the navy sky that didn't darken the glen at all, with something like white stars and snowflakes stuck in it. It bothers me how accustomed I am to this... Will leaned back out to peer around the empty room.

“Crow?” He called, waiting a moment to see if there'd be a sound. When nothing came, Will glanced back at the glen, enjoying how warm it felt. “...It should be fine if I leave the door open...” Will mused to himself in a soft voice, then stepped across the threshold onto the warm grass.

Will took a few steps in, his bare feet warming up against the lush blades of grass. He kept turning around to look at everything, the flowers, the trees. The sounds of the birds was soothing, as was the water, but it was almost deafening. Will froze when his eyes fell on the only dark mass in the area – a strange small animal about the size of a lamb.

Suddenly the pain in his spine was remembered and Will collapsed forward down into the warm grass, grasping at the blades desperately with a shriek erupting from his throat.

“Are you okay?” came a soft voice, soothing, velvet, relaxing – familiar.

Will stopped shouting with a bit of diffculty, turning over his shoulder to look above him, gasping for a soothing breath. The strange darkness had gotten up and moved to stand above him, but it was rather short and small. Through his tears, Will focused his eyes. Then, the pain was gone. Will blinked his eyes a few times, noticing the darkness had touched his bare shoulder with a small human hand. Focusing his eyes, Will took in a breath as he rolled his body over slowly to get a better look at the figure. It was Crow- well, miniature- a younger version of him. The mini Crow was dressed in crimson pants and a white shirt; his hair was wild and curly, looking quite fluffy; but his eyes were startling gold.

“C-... Crow?” Will croaked out, his throat feeling dry.

The little boy, probably around eight-years-old, smiled at him in a similar genuine sweetness the Crow Will knew had. “Sort of.” He said. “This is,” he waved an arm as he spoke, turning to look around, “a room in your mind's labyrinth. I'm just a manifestation of the memories you have of me as a child.” When the boy's attention went back to Will, his sweet smile returned. “You were thinking about me so much, I guess you just came here when you fainted.”

“I...fainted?” Will asked, shifting up to his elbows more comfortably now.

“Yes.” The boy nodded. “Don't you remember? Phyte was looking at your raw soul.”

“My...raw...soul...” Will lifted his hand, shifting his weight, and rubbed his forehead with his palm. Pushing his pink hair up, Will closed his eyes as he tried to recall what he had just seen. Once the memory came flooding back to him, Will relaxed his palm down and met the mini Crow's eyes with his own. “Am I dead?” Will didn't want to recall that terrified expression on the phantasm's face, but that was seared into his eyes every time he blinked.

“No. You're just unconscious. Actually, when you wake up, this place and conversation will be fogged over as a dream, and you'll forget it in your conscious mind.” the boy explained. “For now, you can rest here. You'll be safe.”

“Wait... What?” Will thinned his eyes, trying to comprehend the strange answer. Nothing about reality seems logical. Soul this, labyrinth that. Where does it end?

“People travel their minds as they sleep, their subconscious.”Crow answered, easing down until he sat next to Will's shoulders. He lifted his hand to pet Will's locks of hair gently, moving them back into their proper place against Will's cheeks and forehead. “You'll be safe here. Phyte can't mess with your soul.”

That doesn't make sense. Why not? I don't have a Seal on me but really... Will was almost afraid to ask, but... I have to know. “Why are you here?”

Laughing quite nicely, the mini Crow smiled at Will. “I'm a physical manifestation.”

“No. Really.” Will shifted up slightly until his face was on an even level with Crow's. He looked the boy straight in the eye and asked sternly, “How did you get in my soul, Crow?”

A look of nervousness came across the boy's face. “...You'll have to ask the real me, out there.”

“But you know.”

“I do. But...” Crow tried to smile, trying to charm Will's sense of mercy. “It'd be better if you asked and got mad at the real me. It won't do you any good if you snap at me.”

Will sighed, closing his eyes. He relaxed his arms, falling back into the grass. “What a pain. You're always doing crazy weird stuff, aren't you?”

Crow's voice came to Will's ears full of sadness softly, “I'm just trying to protect you.”

Will let out another sigh through his lips, then opened his eyes. He looked over the mini Crow's dejected face. It was too much sadness and pain for Will to bear seeing on him. He reached up to brush the back of his hand against the young Crow's cheek. Crow looked down at him puzzled, then smiled.

“Do you forgive me?”

“No.” Will answered flatly. I'll just deal with it later when I can punch him without feeling like I'm assaulting a child. “It's fine.”

Happiness overcame Crow as he leaned over Will, darted down for a chaste kiss. Startled, Will stared up at him, unable to think or move. Crow giggled playfully at the look of surprise on Will's face, then started running his fingers through Will's hair again. “You just rest. I promise, you'll be safe as you sleep.”

Uneasily, and still feeling startled by the child kissing him, Will shut his eyes and focused on the soothing sounds around him. The warmth of the day relaxed him, the playful soothing touch of his hair being gently mused about, and the white noise of the water moving – everything relaxed Will as he began to fall asleep.

So my soul traveled into my mind's labyrinth and sought out where this little invader was hiding at, all because the pain Phyte caused brought nothing but the plea and hope that Crow would come get me? Somehow now I can empathize with Crow's desire to sock Phyte in the eye.

~*~

When the realization of what just happened sunk in, Crow started shouting at the restaurant staff. “Get me Corian! Right now! James Corian!”

Startled and shocked, the staff sent a bus-boy to send immediate word to Corian by contacting the nearest knight infantryman standing guard several blocks away. As Crow waited for his father to arrive, he cast his eyes down to Invictus. The sight of the flames licking the blade still ran clear in his mind sending terror down his nerves.