The unresponsive Lex begins to buckle under the weight of his own body, and he crashes to the floor, twitching. Zen rushes to pick him up before the brass spike of the grandfather clock impales him. Sweat beads on Zen's head as he weaves around the first jab. He can't just leave Lex, not like this.
"Lex, wake up." Zen tries shouting, a mixture of irritation and concern etched into his voice. Yet Lex is quiet, seemingly sleeping peacefully amongst the chaos going on around him. A flurry of objects whir into Zen's vision, becoming incorporeal. Zen breathes out a sigh, attempting to regain control of the situation. The phones and books the creature launched hit the floor behind Zen, and a dark mist swirls out of them. Zen gasps as it touches him. Like being dunked into cold water, the mist sends a shock down Zen's side. Then a flurry of words hit Zen's mind.
"That doesn't look good."
"Nah, he's too ugly."
"You need to be better."
Memories move in his head, being seen, being talked down to, being the object of disgust. Thoughts he always carries with him start to bubble up, crawling into his head like a parasite. Zen, however, has felt this before; the unyielding echo of self-doubt and pain brought on by the hall space is nothing new.
"Shit, this is why I didn't want to be here," Zen shouts out to the voices whispering around him. His cry pierces the invisible voices, dispersing them with his willpower alone.
Zen, coming to his senses, realises the creature is readying another stab attack. He squints his eyes, trying not to let the feelings overwhelm him.
"Regulate." He whispers. Zen runs forwards, keeping an eye on the towering mess of objects and spirits. The clock chimes again as Zen reaches Lex, who is now sprawled on the floor, lying like he was already dead.
"You're so done once we are out of here," Zen mutters, picking Lex up by the arms and running as fast as he can towards a bookshelf.
More projectiles are fired, and Zen expertly weaves in and out of the shots. Lex's head bobs, his legs still dragging along the floor. He starts muttering, seemingly waking up to the chaos around him.
Zen reaches the shelf and dashes behind it, throwing Lex into a safe position as well.
"Get up." He shouts, kicking Lex's side.
Lex's eyes blearily open.
He tries to understand the situation he's in, but as soon as he starts thinking, the voices take over again. He covers his ears, but Zen stops him with a hand and shakes his head.
"Hey, Lex, are you hearing people, all around you... Talk about your worst insecurities?" Zen mumbles, embarrassed despite himself.
He rubs the back of his head and leans against the bookshelf.
Lex nods, then his eyes open, "Have you..."
"Yes, it happened to me," Zen affirms.
The bookshelf shakes, knocking Zen down. Quickly peeking around the corner, Zen checks if it is safe. The creature is closing in; however, it seems that it is far enough away not to be a problem, for now.
Lex puts a hand to his chin in thought, "I usually think of Mrs Brown from first year. She was the one who did PE? She once told me-"
"Are you still tired? Our school doesn't do PE, and I don't think we had a Mrs Brown?" Zen interrupts, turning around to look Lex in the eyes.
"No, no, that can't be." Lex tears through his memories searching for anything, but he can't even remember a face, just the outline of a person who never was.
"It doesn't matter, we need to" Zen looks at Lex, who seems more disconnected now than ever. "Forget it, you stay here. I'll sort out the ghost."
Lex doesn't even process what he said, someone who he thought was so integral to his life, how could that be made up? But he only thinks of her in these spaces, is she just another illusion? Then what can he trust? Lex's mind starts to wander again, the chains that bind it down start to fall, and he descends into the abyss of thought.
Zen shakes his head and walks out from behind the bookshelf. Steadily and slowly, he draws the dust-covered sword, which glints in the otherworldly light. The smell of old books and dusty carpet invades his nose, and despite the overwhelming terror at the monster in front of him, he drops his weapon into a guard position. Trying to release the thoughts of Lex and his blights, Zen focuses on the opponent in front of him. He studies its movements, its ripples, every head that appears and every item that surfaces. The faces are in pain, or ecstasy? It's hard to tell. The cold chill emanating from its body enwraps Zen, begging him to leave Lex and flee the creature.
And it moves closer, closer, closer.
Zen sees it ripple and, on instinct, turns incorporeal. A telephone pole crashes, appearing from the ghost's left side. The dull greys of its form clash with the wooden brown, allowing Zen to easily move through it and reappear on the other side.
Getting a good balance on his feet, Zen swings his weapon. The ghost doesn't seem to notice as it whistles through the air, shaky but strong. It digs deep into the form of the creature, bringing with it chunks of mist that spray out of its side like blood. The sword, halfway through the creature, visibly dulls, dampening in the gloom of the ghost.
It shrieks and the slice starts to cover up, "Shit, no." Zen growls, attempting to remove the sword from the creature's side. Yet it doesn't budge.
Then it hits him, this creature isn't a mindless killing machine, it's alive, and it knows what it wants. It wants him dead. The sword is trapped, and there is no way to get it out. Zen lets go of it.
The sword disappears into the form, and it ripples again.
Zen spots it but turns too late. He attempts to drop to his knees, yet it only heightens the injury as the sword slices through his side like paper.
"ARrg" Zen yells, covering his hand in his mouth, trying to stifle both the scream and the pain. Luckily, it isn't too deep a cut. Zen bites his lip and starts to run towards the desk, dodging and weaving between the projectiles being thrown at him.
"Lex, get up." He yells, trying to get Lex's attention to no avail. "If I can get to him and get another weapon..." Zen's thoughts trail off, "It's pointless this, no Lex's space is too strong, how will we even damage the creature he birthed?"
Zen starts to wallow in despair as he stumbles against a shelf of books, indescribable, yet clear for the first time. Not background props, perhaps the last things he will ever see.
-
Lex is stuck behind the shelf, trying to latch onto an anchor of reality. Was Mrs. Brown fabricated? He doesn't know, and he slowly loses his grip. Then he's alone, Zen is gone, and he doesn't notice.
...
But finally, a sharp cry pierces the air, and Lex notices the space around him. His heart beats faster as he realises what he was doing. As his vision widens, his mind races. "Zen, please be okay." He wills, yet no other sounds come from the room.
Lex stands up and runs past the shelf to see Zen behind the counter pressing on his hand, the ghost towering behind him, undetected.
And Lex knows in that moment, that he failed, he lost it again and if he keeps on going, he will lose his friends too and this path will never end unless he walks towards the creature. If he doesn't gain the courage of Zen, or the willpower of Lilly he can never save himself, much less Zen.
Steeling his shaking legs and sealing his fractured mind, Lex runs forward towards the creature. A flash of another time, deja vu, is it? He, with long flowing hair, beautiful robes, charges a creature that doesn't belong to his world or this one. And as the vision grows, so does his courage, his legs aren't made of stone, instead carrying him with the power of a jet but the lightness of feathers. His head clears, thinking only of people he doesn't know, a strange state of being, a midpoint between one life and another.
Lex, fuelled by an ambition he doesn't know he has, stabs through a projectile moving so fast it is hard to even discern its shape. A phone appears on his sword, pinging with messages from Eren, yet Lex pushes forward, his swing mirrors that of a master swordswoman, the blade strikes through the ghost's shell, empty and cold. Immediately, Lex pulls it out as tendrils reach up to grab the weapon.
Zen gasps from the corner and Lex catches a faint smile, yet the presence of the deja vu returns and Lex continues to fight the creature. It builds in him, experiences he doesn't know he has had swirling in his brain. Paths and endings appear as he dodges and weaves.
However, as the fight drags on, it appears to be a stalemate; neither party's blows do damage or hit, yet somehow Lex seems to be the superior fighter. A clock spike is blocked by a sword swing, and a slash is rolled under. Lex thinks he can see a figure in the ghost's shell. "Lex, whatever you're carrying in your heart, it'll be okay. This moment doesn't define you, it will pass". The words echo in his head, planted and rushed. Then the grip of the trance faulters, and like a droplet breaking surface tension, Lex forgets who he was and starts to fall behind. His swings become sloppy, and he can feel his stub of a finger rub against the abrasive grip of the guard.
He grits his teeth, clawing for the skill that just slipped from his grasp, yet it doesn't return.
"This is to protect my friend." He thinks trying to become reinvigorated, but it is useless; whatever happened those words broke the spell.
The sound of flesh splitting echos across the room; a satisfied smirk settles across one of the ghost's faces.
"Lex!" Zen shouts, trying to stand up but stumbling.
A sword is sticking out of Lex's wrist.
"AAhh," Lex screams, dropping his sword and cradling his wrist. Pain seeps through it as he grits his teeth.
He got carried away.
A ripple across the ghost.
"Lex, run!" Zen shouts urgently.
A twist enters Lex's mind. Almost a last resort from whatever spell held him together in the fight.
His mind becomes clear.
He stands, unfazed by his surroundings, not catatonic but acutely aware. The swords slashes down at him, protruding from the ghost's body. They disappear as they hit him, fading into black. A face disappears, again, again. He starts to touch them, first slowly, almost hesitantly but then he punches, again and again and again.
As Lex trades blows, this time, standing still just swinging at the ghost, killing one of its many faces he is in control. The ghost, desperate throws everything at him, yet nothing happens, all the items just disappear.
Zen sits back, in shock. Though it isn't the first time that he has seen this power, it is scary. The deletion of something from existence frightens him to his core.
Soon, only a single face remains, not a bead of sweat is present on Lex.
Lex looks coldly upon the ghost and sees the face of Brown-. The face smiles morphing, almost glitching into something unrecognisable. Lex's breath hitches.
"Wait-" Lex yells, but it's too late, he releases the state and the room tips.
He and Zen fall, first to the walls, then through the ceiling as they leave the confines of the room behind.
And then they are up, outside, in reality. Lilly running towards Lex, who sits on the bench. She collapses in a cold sweat.
Lex stares down as Zen runs out of the shopping centre, two bones strapped to his back.
"Lex- What's wrong?" He huffs.
Lex's finger is missing.