Mix Matched

7

 The knife clattered to the ground, making a loud enough sound to break the spell her glare had put him in. It was right in between them. Emma looked at the man once more who was now trying to think up a quick plan. Their glares locked and all Emma could help but do was give a little smile, then dive to get the knife.

She managed to grab it right before the man could and she stood up, knife in hand. The man lashed out, trying to grab the hand with the knife, but Emma dodged and the man fell forward, his momentum making him stumble right beside the portal. Emma's way home. The man came again at Emma, trying to tackle her, but Emma dodged him like a pro. He stumbled again trying to face Emma, who found herself close to the portal. If either the man or Emma went through right now, there would be no going back. Emma couldn't leave Mist lying there, unconscious, but she knew that she couldn't let this man go through either. How would she get home, and what would he do there?

Emma's thoughts were interrupted when she felt a sharp pain in her side. Spinning around as fast as she could, she was met with a more petite figure holding a dagger into her side. They quickly pulled out the dagger and dodged as Emma swung her blade over their head.

Emma clutched her side and glanced from person to person, she could only think of a few outcomes.

She could fight either one of the attackers and risk getting overpowered by the other

She could grab Mist and try to make it to the portal but the attackers will most likely try and stop her

Run into the portal without Mist

Give up and possibly be here forever

Her thoughts swarmed around her and her head was getting fuzzy. The wound in her side was noticeably becoming more numb and damp. The two people beside her started walking towards her slowly, hands raised like they were approaching a frightened animal or child and trying to prove they were safe.

Their weapons did not help.

Before Emma's head could protest, she ran over and grabbed Mist, not wanting to look over her shoulder to see if the others were trying to stop her. Running in the opposite direction of the portal, she threw the knife in the other general direction. By now sirens in the building were going crazy and she could hear the faint sound of running footsteps behind her, only making her adrenaline pump faster.

Sprinting down the hall and taking random turn after random turn she opened a door into a room she found quite familiar. Even, the glass wall still shattered.

Emma pulled Mist through the doorway and shut the door quietly. Despite her dagger wound and unconscious Mist, Emma had managed to get a pretty good lead from the men.

Emma sat down, leaning against the door, wincing at the pain in her side. She ripped some fabric from her jacket, and pressed it against the wound, trying to stem the blood flow. She looked at Mist and then at the broken window.

"Back to the beginning," Emma rhymed, "back through time,

"Nothing's ever truly gone, just out of sight,

"Through the Night, crawlers creep,

"Waiting for a snack of meat,

"Don't be scared now, don't be frightened,

"Your little sunshine will be safe,

"Once you are home."

Footsteps were running past her hiding place, back and forth, hunting her down. Emma had stopped speaking out of fear of being caught and also by being exhausted. She moved slowly, trying hard not to pass out. Her hand was covered in blood, the cloth she had ripped from her jacket was stained red, and the wound itself was still bleeding badly.

Emma didn't notice Mist beginning to stir next to her but did notice when she muttered, "Don't move. It'll make it worse."

Emma leaned against the door again and whispered, "What are we going to do?"

Mist didn't answer immediately but when she did she said, "Hide and heal a little bit. This is a healing potion, drink it."

A cold glass bottle touched Emma's leg. She grabbed it and drank it as quickly as she could. When she was finished, she set the bottle down.

Just then a dark figure walked behind the broken glass wall.

"Who's there!?" Emma half-whispered, "W-we don't want any trouble, we j-just want to go home..."

Mist shushed Emma, "We don't want them to know we're here too!"

"Don't you think they found out we were here by the time we even just walked into this room?"

A small chuckle was heard from the other side of the room.

"That's quite clever of you, but I've known you both were here for a while now."

A hush went over the three people. The shadow-like figure seemed to almost dance around the hanging bits of broken glass.

"You must be quite powerful to be able to shatter all this in one go, I must say I'm quite impressed! Not even the strongest people we knew could get out of there, well, at least alive anyway. May they rest in peace, or not. I don't care either way."

For a while, no one said anything. The only noise one could hear was the sound of glass crunching under one's feet.

"Well you two sure were talky until I showed up, do I, and I know this is crazy but, scare you?"

The person was now getting closer to the girls, a smile obviously present on its face. As the figure stepped into the lighter part of the darkroom, its features didn't seem to become any clearer. Its body seemed to be made up of a black, lightless, fire with only a few things staying the same, like the sharp teeth and suit he seemed to be wearing. Emma and Mist couldn't seem to focus on one part of them for too long because it always seemed to shift.

"No matter, I'm just so happy this is the room you decided to hide in, It makes it a lot easier for us."

"What do you mean?" Mist managed to get out sounding sure of herself.

"Heh. Don't worry, it'll only hurt for a bit."

And with that, what was left of the light vanished. Mist could hear Emma screaming and being yanked away as the air started getting harder to breathe. As soon as the pain began, it stopped. Leaving both Emma and Mist in cold sleep.