Better Left Forgotten

*They are looking into a dark window into a door. Thiera stops & looks back.*

T"(Do you see something?)"
=========================
*Closer to the sound, she realizes that there are many footsteps. They are coming from down a side hall, inside of a stairwell.*

"Just a window," Gabe said.

--

Mortal continues towards the sounds, preparing herself to fight multiple people at once. "Hey," She called out, "I hope you guys are ready, because I've had enough of this bullshit! Now come out where I can see you!"

*Eve shines her flashlight into the room*

Astarte continued to cling to Noct, while Hector and Eduj were taking up the rear of the group and looking back often.

*Some of the light reflects back at her. The rest barely illuminates the wall on the other side. Meanwhile, they hear Mortal yelling like a damn fool.*

T"Hey, that's that big girl--what's her name--Mortal!"

*Thiera takes a few running steps before stopping herself.*

T"Wait...but how do we know it's really her?"
===============================
*Mortal continues hearing voices as she nears the stairwell, the hinges broken, doors on the verge of falling off. Some of the voices are quiet, some louder. She can't quite make out what they're saying, but she does faintly see a beam of light swinging around in the darkness above her. Euryale shines the flashlight around her from behind, to make sure nothing is sneaking up on her.*

E"Please stop running ahead. I can't back you up & keep the others safe at the same time. Someone should go help her."

Eve:<We don't.>

"Then what do we do?" Astarte asked in a whisper.

"If it IS them we can group up," Gabe said, opening the door, assuming that is where she heard the voices coming from.

--

Mortal stopped walking, and looked back, "Well, come on then. Don't you want to get this done, and get back to the others?"

*It is not, so I'll assume she's going down the stairs.*

T"It's not that simple. We would hear voices in the forest that led us away from the others. They got us lost in the forest. They may even be leading us to the Shadow."

L"If that were the case, then they could just tell Tall, Dark, & Horrifying where we are. Let's not be too paranoid."

*She follows Gabe as well, so Thiera relents.*
=============================
*The beam of a flashlight begins rounding the corner behind Mortal.*

E"Alright, alright. I guess we're going to be confronting them one way or another. Come on, everyone."

*She leads the group to where Mortal is.*

And so Noctis follows as well, pulling Astarte along, as Gabe leads them downstairs.

--

Sab follows Euryale's lead while Mortal patiently waits for everyone to catch up.

Astarte deliberately slowed herself and Noct, but kept moving forwards. Hector and Eduj followed, still keeping watch behind them.

And so they march to their likely impending doom, Taiyo kimd of being dragged along on account of hanging on to Euryale.

Azuma: "You think it's the others?"

*It is! The 2 groups meet in the basement.*

T"Oh! Oh, thank God it's just you. So you really did fall into a hole?"

E"No, it's like we were teleported."

T"That's...that's really bad. The only thing we know of that can do that is--"

E"Yeah. He says that the gang's all here."

*She points to Roatha. Thiera stares at him for a while, then runs towards him, pushing Nero out of the way & hugging Roatha. Nero kind of smacks against a wall & slides down.*

N"Hey!"

Azuma: "I'm sure that's not the worst thing to happen to you."

*Cameron grins*

<Glad you're alright.>

*Eve nods in agreement*

"Then we should get out of here quickly," Hector said. "We've got Roatha, staying any longer is too dangerous."
Astarte tugged on Noct's hand a little in agreement.

*So Euryale resumes her pace, the rest of the group presumably falling in line.*

T"I'm glad you're safe. We were so worried."

R"I'd say the same to you, but I was unconscious most of the time."

L"Not to ruin this happy reunion, but we didn't actually learn anything. Are we really just going to leave? If there's a bunch of evil stuff in this building, doesn't that just prove that something important is going on here?"

Azuma: "We found Roatha, so it's not like nothing was done. What do you expect us to do? Perform an exorcism?"

"Something important that we have no way of dealing with," Hector said. "Seriously, we could be a few steps from death here."
Astarte made a half-formed noise, intended as an agreement with her brother.

Eve:<We cannot fight these things. Right now.>

N"So why aren't we going up the staircase?"

T"The crawling one is up there somewhere. There should be another stairwell near the opposite end of the facility."

Azuma: "Lead the way."

*Eve takes the lead, since no one else is*

Noctis wanted to disagree with Hector, but Astarte kept making it hard for her, so she just deepens her scowl, and presses on with the group.

Mortal, not beholden to anyone at the moment shakes her head, "Wait, leaving now would be dumb. These people are terrorizing you guys, and now that you're finally all together you're just going to run so that they keep doing it? Unreal. If you guys want to leave, fine, but I'm going to stay until I get some answers as to what is going on."

T"Please be reasonable. We just got Roatha back, & he's not in the best of shape. Besides, without all of us together, we don't stand a chance. To be honest, even with all of us together, I'm not sure we'd be able to stop even the things we can fight."

*They turn the corner onto a hall with several boarded up windows. A thin, ripped up sheet lies on the floor. Thiera & Euryale stop, & motion for everyone else to do so as well. Thiera points a shaky hand down the hall. In the distance, her light illuminates a figure in a cloak & porkpie hat walking down the hall. Lilith reaches into her backpack & pulls out her machete, but she & Euryale still take a step back, with Euryale putting her hand on Mortal's shoulder.*

E"(I know what you're thinking, but when I tried it, I wound up bedridden for a week. It didn't even move.)"

N"(Shit...wait, I think it's walking away. Can it not see us?"

L"(Not to ask a stupid question, but is that even the thing? Could it be just a normal person?)"

T"(I don't know, but we shouldn't take the chance. Let's turn around.)"