Hunt the Hunter (Revised Version To Be Uploaded)

Lock(et) And Key(ring)

11th December 3049
10.43 am

~Third Person~

The implant that was in Shika's neck was pretty much latched onto her spine. It took more than four hours for Linda to get it off safely. But even if having it removed was the best thing, it left a very cold and hollow shell.

And that shell had just awoken.

Technically, Shika's eyes were open the whole time, but her mind refused her body to make any physical demands. So when she woke, her body was all stiff, but it was registering with her brain. Nothing was. The only thing getting through to it, was a glowing red light in a sea of darkness.

And it was just down the hall at the end of some stairs.

Like a machine, she retraced her own steps to the ground floor. No real logical explanation to back up her actions. Only triggered muscle memory and a strong tug in her gut.

Just like the last time she was down there, three heavy stone doors faced her; left, right and center. But the one that seemed to call on her empty mind, was the one to her right.

As she stepped towards it, a low moan crept from the left one. Like everything else, it repeated it's actions last time she was there; moaning out broken, unspoken cries for help. But like everything else as well, it's cries were ignored, for Shika's sole focus was on the darkness behind the door.

The darkness that blinked back.

In a trance, she lifted her hand, and it touched the door. The stone, which was cold, began to grow warmer, and through the iron bar window, a small red light flickered to life. Glowing softly as Shika stared at it, neither flaring, nor fading.

A perfect reflection.

A click sounded and the door began to crawl open, the Titan's small hand barely applying pressure. The light inside unchanging.

The moans grew louder. The creature in the opposite door began to wail and screech, growing restless, as if in warning. But the Titan paid no attention, not even when the darkness slithered to her foot and up her ankle...

"Shika NO!"

A hand yanked her backwards as the door slammed shut and she landed in someone's chest, not registering anything at all.

She was now being carried up the stairs.

"Jokul get your butt here NOW!" The person yelled, but the orphan didn't register it.

Not her being carried back to the small room. Not her vitals being checked. Not the hand waving in front of her face. Not the voices of concern. Not even the warm hand above her chest as her body's temperature plummet to twenty-eight and below.

As far as her mind was concerned, her body, like her eyes, was glassy and empty.

A hollow shell.

"How in the world could they let that happen?!" Linda was pacing the mess hall and slightly charring the wooden table next to her.

"You know if you don't punish those officers, Jokul will probably deal with them... permanently." Trent chuckled.

"I am WELL aware!" The table next to her finally went up in flames and Trent put it out.

Cameron and the others had come back from the barracks about four hours later only to find her guards napping and Shika missing. The only thing that had made those officers paler than when Linda was fuming in front of them, was the screech that eventually led them to Shika. A still hollow Shika.