Needle and Thread

Take This to Your Grave

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I'm being watched, Lyra said. Well, said wasn't exactly the right word. She couldn't remember her mouth moving. Still, she mulled, the thought stands, no matter what I'm doing. I'm being watched.

She looked around the place where she was sitting. She couldn't quite remember sitting down in the first place, but suddenly all that seemed quite immaterial.

She was sitting on a stone bench in a courtyard. The stones looked like the scales of a giant snake. If Lyra looked closely, she could almost see the ripple of muscles twisting underneath the skin of the world.

The sky was red. What this signified, if anything, Lyra had no clue. But it was red nonetheless, and soft-looking, without clouds. Almost like a rose petal. And the roses growing all around the near-exitless courtyard were all shades of blue and orange, like the colors of the real sky. When Lyra walked up to them to investigate, she saw that the roses were the sky, all different shades and weathers growing out of jewel-toned vines. Lyra could not tell whether it was beautiful, or frightening.

And underneath all the strange sights, there was the persistent feeling of being watched. Lyra looked around and up to the sky, but there didn't really seem to be anybody other than herself.

She shrugged. I hope they enjoy looking at me, whoever they are. She got up.

The courtyard had one exit, where the roses looked like they'd been lifted up and molded into an arch. Lyra went through it.

That's weird. Lyra was in an intersection of rose hedges. Is it like a maze?

She plucked one of the hairs out of her head and left it on the ground. Then she went forward... and found herself in the same place. Her hair was right where she'd left it.

Lyra glanced back though the last arch she'd come through. One of her hairs was on the ground there, too. Frick frack diddley dack.

It was unnervingly quiet here, as Lyra walked through the archways again and again and again. She started to get angry. Who's fucking with me?!

She wanted out she wanted out she wanted OUT--

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[Ancients Time!]

It's not her. I can't... how could I have not seen a doom that close, and that important?

We're all going to die. We're all going to die. And that's just being optimistic.

I can't break eye contact. Can't go to the others. The gate might hold them. Might. If they aren't at full strength.

Are they?

Slowly, I blink. When my eyes open again, they are pressed up against the gates. None are inside.

So they aren't.

Still, there isn't much I can do. Maybe get a few in my room, wait a bit. They'll get in, eventually. There isn't much use in them feeding here, so they can't get any stronger, technically. They'll murder everyone.

Good riddance.

I step back slowly. Don't blink. Don't make eye contact for too long. Don't blink. Don't blink.

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[@2D3D4D]

When Andesine had finally gone, Benny relaxed slightly. No matter how much Lyra seemed to like him, he still struck Benjamin as... rude, to say the least.

No matter. The guy seemed okay in a fight, which was all that mattered now.

The TARDIS made a small pinging sound and produced a wooden mallet, which Benny used to tap the console once or twice until, with a slight coughing sound, the machine stopped.

The doors opened before Benny could even get to them.

Thank God. I was beginning to get bored. It was obviously Lyra, Benny thought, but it wasn't a voice. It was more like... the feeling of Lyra. It felt like... well, it was hard to describe. If pressed, the closest thing Benny could come up with was like sunshine beaming through stained glass in the morning.

Lyra?

Andesine appeared as if he'd been summoned. His voice felt like newly-dried tears. Something about it seemed angry, even though Andesine was happy.

Oh, hey Andy and Ben-la. Wassup?

Uhm, Benny said, and was surprised at how cool his voice felt. So. Do you know where we are? Because the instruments are kind of saying that we're nowhere and also, in the core of Croix, my planet.

Oh. Well, I don't know where we are, but how about we leave? That maze is super creepy.

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE.

Benny started when he heard the double-voice of the Boss. The one on top felt terrible, but underneath it, he could almost feel diving into the ocean at sunset. Nereida. It had to be.

Bencanker! C'mon, dude, I know those doors are supposed to withstand anything but I don't know if they've met the Boss before!

Benny snapped back to reality. Of course. He had to get them out.

But Nereida. She was in there. Maybe he could save her.

Benny, I swear I'll sock you in the jaw!

Nereida's in there, Benny said desperately. Maybe we can-- The TARDIS shook. Dust rained down from the ceiling.

That's it, Andesine said, we're leaving now. He slammed his hand on the nearest button.

Out of the control panel popped a bouquet of flowers with an attached note that read "I love you." Andesine ripped them out of the control panel. How is that what the big red button does?! I thought it would do something, I dunno, important! He threw the roses in the air. Lyra caught them automatically, then swiftly put them down, the hint of a blush coloring her face.

Benjamin! Now! Benny tore himself away from the muffled sounds of the Boss's-- and Nereida's-- voices. He flipped a switch and pressed three buttons, and they faded into the time vortex. The frustrated screams of the Boss died away.

Benny turned to Lyra. "So. What now?"