The Abandoned Sanatorium (Lockwood & Co: FanFiction)

⊗ Part 5: The Maze ⊗

I hurtled my tarnished iron-tipped dagger towards the apparition skulking across the dimly-moonlit lobby floor, the dagger penetrating the silhouette inaudibly. There was also a near-comic moment where the apparition reappeared once more, and was promptly forced away again by the seemingly harmless iron dagger lain across the mould-corrupted tiles. I sighed and wiped my leather glove rigidly along the beads of sweat forming across my forehead tentatively. Finn appeared though a shattered window, his arms caressing an ebony duffel bag morphed around different shapes. He had escaped the Sanatorium to grab that a little while ago, since the killer had hidden all of our weapons and supplies, Finn had left to find some more. He smirked and slid the bag over his shoulder, the bag landing with a barely audible clunk over all the psychic chatter going on in the back of my mind; there was a lot of ghosts as we had found out. His muscular arms rippled beneath his sleeve as he hollered "Look out!" I promptly buckled down onto my knees and somersaulted across the tiled-floor, squinting my eyes as I listened to the whirling of a rapier gliding through the air, I felt a cold chill pressing down on my chest, there was definitely a strong sense of malaise in the room. I whirled around and stabbed my rapier into the apparition of a wraith a mere inch away with every single pulsation of strength I could muster, whilst Finn was wrestling across the ground with a cold maiden.

"Finn! We have to get to the others!" I yelled, swiping my rapier.
"Kind of busy!" He replied, backing away from the apparition.
"I'll set up an iron circle!" I yelled over the psychic murmurs which I knew he heard as well, rolling towards the duffel bag which had been lain at an awkward angle below the shattered window. I fished my hands around the bag, landing a finger on a cold loop of chains, the iron chains! Just the touch of those made me yearn to be back home. I hurriedly settled them into a grand circle, sprinkling the outsides with iron shavings for the added effect of defence on the barrier. Finn leapt back into the circle, the cold maiden screamed inaudibly, her face contorting slightly as she was forced back into the blackened hallways of the Sanatorium. Finn breathed heavily and laid back against the chains, I sighed and rubbed my eyes disgustedly, I wish I knew how Lockwood was.. I missed him.

"I'm sorry--about what I said earlier." He said turning away slightly.
"It's fine." I huffed and pinched the point of my rapier.
"Where do you think the others are?" Finn said, his eyebrow raising.
"I don't know Finn.. Maybe we could--"
"I am not talking to these ghosts, they can't be trusted Lucy."
"We have the same psychic ability, we both can do it."
"Exactly." He grimaced as he began to probe the duffel bag.
"Come on. We're partners, Finn. We take care of each-other." I huffed.
"I suppose Lucy.." He met my eyes; he leaned forward slightly..
"U-um.. You know, Lucy.. I was wondering if after all this we could--"
"What? Finn are you seriously--"
"Yeah Lucy, I like you." He smiled, his eyes glimmering.
"Uh.. Finn I--" I gulped in shock, his face was closer than I thought--
"Don't Lucy.. If this is our last moments, I want to spend them--"

I hurriedly maneuvered onto my feet, slightly pushing his face away from mine with the dull plane of my rapier as gently as I could muster from within my shaking limbs. He stared up at me confusedly, awkwardly turning down to his shoelaces In embarrassment. I couldn't do that to Lockwood, he loved me, and I loved him. Finn was maybe kind of--cute.. But Lockwood was the one. Wasn't he? I suppressed those thoughts and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry.." He whispered, his voice shaking.
"N-no.. I'm sorry, Finn. You are an amazing guy but--"

A mould-bitten door slammed across the dimly-lit hallway, blanketing the room in a swath of cold chill. I bit my lip promptly as a contorted scream emanated from behind the door, Finn stood alongside me, his rapier at ready beside mine in the proper position as our breaths steadied to meet each-others in a deepening crescendo. My eyes widened in shock as a mangled body was thrown out from the doorway, their hair was mopped around their head in a pool of blood which nauseated me even further. A silhouette appeared from behind the corpse, their skeletal face plastered against the wall as if it were confined to the blank canvas of the Sanatorium. I clung to Finns arm as the contorted ghosts face met ours, their blank eye sockets burning into ours.