Title: Voices in the Dark

Author: The Dragoness, aka Regan

Notes:  Okay, I thiiink that's enough of the pages and pages of characterization. ^^;;;  Of course, all-action chapters really aren't my thing, so expect more thinking of course.  But now that everyone's actually on stage, I can actually do something with them.  Absurdly long update time… I know… so sorry!!!  (no beta either to kick my arse)  Once again, I am extremely forgetful (although this "get emailed when you get a review" thing helps now ~_^), but now that I'm back in school I've decided to crack down and finish this thing eventually!  Eck.  Action-ish chapter.  Eck again.  Hope you guys enjoy it!

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Chapter Five: Darkness Descending

                And thus began a new session of "Let's make Devi's apartment even less recognizable than it was before."  To put it quite frankly, for the last ten minutes Chaos had been attempting to crush everything within the cramped space, hoping that at least one of its adversaries would be destroyed in the process.  Yet Devi and Nny were not to be underestimated, having a quicker and smaller size on their side.  Dust and splinters of furniture flew into the air as on separate sides of the room, they each attacked the creature with their own set of weapons: Devi her kicks and Nny his knives, attempting to find some sort of weakness in their adversary.  Although it was taking its toll, they skirted around the monster, slicing and causing damage wherever they went until the Voices interrupted the proceedings.

                What the hell are you doing?  Devi whipped her head around, trying to find the location of the perturbed voice that had suddenly burst into her head.  Do you honestly think you're going to stab an immortal entity to death?  You don't fight like that and you know it!  Now stop screwing around trying to save that girl and do something useful, you idiotic-

                Without looking up from Chaos, Nny reached into his backpack, took out a stuffed bear, and hurled it across the room.

                Cute.  Reeeeal cute.

                She wasn't even about to ask.  Well, maybe she would ask once she'd finished managing not to be crushed to death by the frantically pounding and very angry arms flailing around her head.  Besides, she doubted that Nny would be able to answer her at the moment.  He seemed to have his own set of problems.

                Needless to say, Chaos was not a happy deity.  At least not from what Nny gathered.  Fortunately, the light maneuverability and general size difference managed to allow them to avoid being crushed to death by its massive claws and tentacles.  Precise as those claws were, something told Nny that the creature's main forte was not physical combat.  So why hasn't it attacked yet?

                Because we're holding its mental forces off, idiot!  Although as sharp and biting as usual, Shmee's retort sounded weary in Nny's mind.  So it would please the rest of us if you'd STOP throwing your protectors around the room and DO  something!

                We can't keep this up much longer, Squee rasped, gasping for air before gritting down against the ongoing waves of mental frequency Chaos was emitting in an attempt to enslave the resident humans' minds.

                You can't keep this going?  Nny asked Squee as he thrust his knife upwards through the jaw of yet another of its infinite heads.

                Nnnno… we can barely hold him off as is.  We need… a plan… this was… a rescue operation.  He paused, mouth open as he gasped for air before swallowing thickly and continuing.  Actually… Shmee really wanted this to be a… test run.  To see what would hold up and what wouldn't-

                SQUEE!  The bear's voice thundered through their minds.  If I want backchat and gossip I will gladly turn on the news!  Now work!!!

                "Devi!"  Nny ducked and rolled to his left, and placing his palms on the ground where he landed, sprung between two massive claws.  Finding himself near the remains of what was once the kitchen, he sprinted along the length of the wall, using the battered and crumbling plaster as a shield.  "Hey, Devi!"

                "What?!"  She thundered back, aiming a kick into the nearest head.  She clenched her scratched hands into fists and turned to look at him, sucking breaths in between clamped teeth.

                "The voices can't take this much anymore… we need to just get out of here.  Now.  Get over to the kitchen if you can."

                She nodded and immediately began to weave her way around furniture, taking an erratic zig zag route as she leapt over chairs and ducked under coffee tables.  Meanwhile, Nny bolted across the room to snatch Shmee where he had fallen and thrust him into the backpack once more.  Realizing their intent, Chaos screamed in fury and redoubled its efforts, banging and destroying more objects in anger over its prevented mental conquest.  Dust particles mixed with plaster while sweat flew into the air, and Devi squinted her eyes against the tears that threatened to spring up.  Throwing herself around a small footstool and blindly hoping that she hadn't gotten off-course, she felt a sudden pressure on her ankle, and with a sudden jerk she stopped in mid-flight, and came crashing down on the floor to land flat on her chest.  The wood creaked back at her and she coughed roughly against the sharp pain in her sternum, winded temporarily.  Behind her, Chaos screamed in triumph.

                She had to fight back.  Get up, Devi… Get UP!  Get up NOW!  Gasping, she began to violently kick the claw wrapped around her leg with the heel of her other foot.  "Get off, you bastard!" she managed to growl, a note of anxiety creeping into her voice.

                But then there was Nny at her feet, frantically slicing away at the thing, eyes wide, teeth glaring, and face splattered with blood.  She almost shrank back in fear before remembering whose side he was on.  With a triumphant yell, he splintered its wrist and wretched its vice-like grip off of her ankle.  But in a flash the disembodied thing had dug its razor-like fingers into Nny's own arm, clenching down to draw blood as he backed away with a start.  Devi sat up violently, and with one fluid motion grabbed the severed wrist and hurled it back at the creature it came from.

                "Thanks,"  Nny muttered thickly as he shook his head to clear it.  "Can you stand?"

                "I can manage."  She shifted her weight onto her ankle and grimaced.  "Twisted.  Don't think I can run though."  Soundlessly, Nny slipped his arm around her waist and pulled them both forward in the direction of the front door, which could still be accessed from the splintered and destroyed kitchen.  Nny had flung it open when Devi suddenly smacked both her palms against the frame, stopping them with a jolt.  "Tenna."  Her eyes quivered.  "Oh shit… I forgot about Tenna."  She turned and, throwing herself away from Nny's grip, flung herself back into the room, weaving unsteadily on her feet.

                I can't leave her.  I can't leave her.  Not like this.  Not after this.  She's my friend.  Leaning against the wall and panting heavily, she drug herself forward, forcing her damn ankle to move like it was supposed to until she reached the unmoving body tossed carelessly against the wall.  With a grunt she dropped heavily to her knees.  "Tenna?!  Please be alive…"  She flipped her onto her back, dragging her closer.  "Tenna-"

                "What are you doing!"  And suddenly Nny was at her side again, yanking all three of them away from the whipping tentacles and falling plaster.  Well, that was fine, Devi thought fiercely.  He'd take care of her, and she'd take care of Tenna.  However, Nny's next statement snapped her back to reality.  "Chaos just blocked our exit," he growled, snapping his head in the direction of her front door.  It took only a moment to register the piles of debris and spare arms and furniture piled haphazardly around it.  He raised his voice.  "What should we do?"

                "About what!" She shouted back over the noise.

                "About an exit!"

                "Find a new one!"

                "Where?!"

                "There!"  She jabbed a finger at the full-length window three yards in front of them.

                Despite the flying plaster, dust, and general chaos bouncing around them, Nny fixed her with a stare that did nothing less than question her sanity.  And then with a shrug, he linked his arms around her waist.  "Sounds good to me.  Hold on to her."  Devi nodded, gritted her teeth, and tightened her grip before finding herself flying though the air.  Well, that was it, she decided.  They were insane.  The both of them.  And with the roar of shattering glass, they began the long plunge to the sidewalk from her fourth-story apartment.

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                The mind-numbing crunch of broken bones and the explosion of her insides as she crashed messily into the pavement didn't go quite as she'd expected.  Of course, that was mostly due to the fact that it never happened.  Not yet at least.  So understandably she was a bit shocked to find herself enveloped by complete darkness, floating alone without a glimpse of Nny or Tenna in sight.

                "Hello?" Devi shouted, unease growing when nothing, not even her own voice's echo, came back to her.  What in the world was going on?

                Everyone was gone.  Everyone was in danger.  And she was somehow responsible for this, wasn't she?  The thought suddenly clicked into her mind.  Yes, that made sense, didn't it?  It was her fault that Tenna had been hurt, that she herself had to be rescued.  Just like all those other things Chaos had told her were her fault.  Because she was so screwed up in the head… so "psychotic."  Socially inept.

Of course.  It made so much sense.  Her life was one big screw up… a waste… not even worth fighting for…

                Wait.

                She blinked pointlessly into the darkness.  What the hell was she thinking?  This was her life, screwed up as it was, and why would she just toss it away?  And where the hell had that thought come from anyhow?!  An unsteady grin crept across her face.  Of course… Chaos.  Well, if it thought it could get to her so easily, it'd better try something a bit better than that.

                All right then.  How about this?

                Confusion.  Pain.  Fear.  Loathing.  Sadness.  Greed.  Hunger.  Without warning a million pinpointed voices flared to life in the void around her.  Mr. Nervers's droning, her boss at the bookstore's pompous sneers, the man who hit on her at the café, Tenna, her father's complaints, her classmates, her neighbors, her boyfriends, Nny's screams.  All mixed in with uncountable others, thundering against her aching head and melding together into an unrecognizable mass, each connected by the a single face.  "We are a part of you.  You are a part of us."

                "Shut up!"

                "We have changed you.  You have changed us.  You are a part of Chaos whether you like it or not."

                "I don't care!" she screamed, digging her nails into her scalp.  "I already know, and I don't care what you say; I'm not going to lose myself here.  So give me my friends back and let me the fuck out of here!"

                A moment of silence and the darkness shattered like a hollow mirror, the last tiny sound of tinkling glass fading away just as her body slammed into the awning at the base of the apartments, ripped through it, and fell roughly against a pile of cardboard storage boxes.  Shocked, she stared dizzily up at the nighttime sky, slowly flexing her fingers as her mind spun in a disoriented loop.  Then with a gasp, she bolted up into a sitting position, loosening her grip on Tenna and laying her on the ground.  A glance from her broken apartment window to the awning to the boxes verified that she was still alive, something that was somewhat of a surprise.  Talk about a lucky coincidence.

                Coincidence, my fuzzy ass.  That was a phenomenal amount of work to set up.  These resources aren't as available to us as they are  to the Parasites.  The voice in her head, the one she assumed came from the stuffed bear in Nny's backpack, sounded decisively peeved.  Nny.  Hissing at her ankle to stop being so darn painful, she turned and tossed several boxes aside, finally finding her savior and potential murderer still unconscious and bleeding slightly from a cut to the head and the claw marks on his arm.  Biting her lip, she paused.  Something in the back of her mind still irked her about even considering helping him, the one person, other than herself she now realized bitterly, who had helped ruin her life more than any other.  She jumped as his hand closest to her twitched slightly.  And yet… Squashing the previous thought and mentally kicking herself, she reached out to shake his shoulders roughly.  "Nny?  Hey, get up."

                Not quite out of Chaos's control yet, a female voice chimed in.  He has a few more demons to deal with first.

                Sorry we couldn't help; we were busy with manipulating the physical world for you.  A child-like one filtered through her mind this time, and her expression softened in spite of herself at his sincere words.  Not that you really needed help… you were very good.

                Sure, taking into account that Chaos was distracted as hell.

                Devi chose to ignore this last comment, too tired at the moment to start an argument.  She shifted her weight a bit off of her sore ankle, sliding a few more boxes aside.  "Thanks.  I'm not going to be much use here though.  I defiantly won't be able to carry both Tenna and… oh.  Hi."

                Nny, now awake, blinked slowly back at her, eyes slightly unfocused as he undoubtedly mimicked exactly what she had done minutes earlier.  "Hi."

                "You okay?"

                "Yeah, I guess."  He rubbed his head, making a face at the sight of blood on his fingertips.  "Well then, that was fun."  He dropped his hand and closed his eyes, looking for all the world as though he were merely taking a nap on the grass and admiring the stars.  "Where to now, Squee?"

                Home.  Time to regroup.