The sunny stay sanitarium

Chapter 9 in which the cruelty of the fates is on display.

Many lunches came and went, between Rose and Kann their time often spent in friendly banter. Sometimes taking their meals outside to discuss weather, as well as the ever-approaching plan.
Then that night, the moment the sun set, the whispers found her once again, they hit full force once more, sending her into a horrid migraine, almost always Right once when the sun set.
The dark Whispers seemed confused and concerned as to why they were unable to reach Rose in the during the day.
They also seemed oddly wary and Rose could not help but wonder when the next time she would receive another harsh dream would be. She also could not help but let her mind flash back to the pile of ash she had created.
Surely, they would not seek justice for that fiend... would they? When these thoughts filled her mind, she always seemed to find herself heading to her room so that when the wave of whispers did hit, she would have something soft to lay down on when her migraine. 
It seemed as though all tests were being put on hold for the upcoming visit of the owner, Though Rose knew that probably would not last, Hell, they might just be sedating her more heavily. So, for all she knew they could still be testing, just not in a way that would let her remember.
With a sigh Rose shook her head free of all negative thoughts. With any luck the owner would show soon, and they could get the hell out of this place. With a smile Rose recalled the nice seating area the staff had been setting up just this night, the owner could arrive tomorrow if they were lucky!
At the moment though, she sat still in bed having just finished an early dinner, waiting for the silence in her head to be replaced by the ever-familiar whispers that seemed to seep out of the cracks in her mind. Thankfully, the whispers came fast. Like pulling off a band aid, and much to her surprise only left Rose with a horrid stinging instead of a full-blown migraine.
"There is much to discuss." großer Verräter's booming voice found its way into her skull rather quickly this night and Rose simply decided to listen.
"Join us in your sleeping realm, and face penance."
Face penance? That did not sound good, Rose decided, with a sigh she shifted under her blankets and put her head against the pillow, opting to reach whatever awaited in the dark depths of her mind. As her mind alighted on the feather stuffed pillow the thousands of light whispers lulled her thoughts helping carry her away on a cloud of fitful sleep.
As the sweet feeling of sleep rushed into her mind, she felt the familiar shift, her body suddenly registered the feeling of cores sand or rocks against her back. with a heavy sigh she opened her eyes and sat up, a bleak monochrome scene greeted her, standing up she seemed to be on an extremely high cliff. Overlooking the very same dark viscus ocean she had trudged through on her last visit to this dark world.
Looking behind her, she spied the cliff descending off into fading darkness, slowly spiraling out of sight on a gentle slope, to her front the sheer cliff face cut straight downwards. Leaning slightly forwards, she did her best to judge how exceedingly high up she truly could be.
Her bare feet felt the harsh black sand grade against her toes, and she took a step back searching for something to throw off to help her judge the drop, her fingers quickly found a sharp shard of black shining rock. Standing and lobbing it off the edge, she watched as the stone dropped. Her heart dropping as minutes passed by without so much as any sort of splash.
"What do you expect me to do!" she shouted to the wind as it whipped passed her, playing with her hair. No deep voice answered her, and the whispers in her head stayed much quieter then normal.
Frustration filled her, the dark creatures that had summoned her here must have meant for her to do something, for a second she glanced out to the cliff, the realization of what she was clearly meant to do hit her.
"Really?" she whispered to herself, backing away a slight bit, rationally she knew that she was dreaming, but she also knew from experience that the pain in this place could feel all to real.
With a deep breath she made her decision turning away from the edge she walked towards the slope trudging slowly into the shadows, before turning on her heel and beginning to run at full speed towards the edge.
Her heart hammered in her chest, as she did her best not to think about what she was in the process of doing.
The edge approached far to fast for Roses liking, and she leapt forwards. Springing herself off the sharp ledge, and far out into the air. It only took a few moments for gravity to take her and send her plummeting towards the viscus dark ocean before her. It took less time for her to regret her decision, wind whipped past her face blurring her eyes with tears as the dark oily sea began to be approached.
Much to her surprise, at a surprisingly slow pace.
For a few seconds she wondered of she was ever going to hit the horrid surface she was hurtling towards, just now understanding how far up she had truly been.
After some mental math she concluded that when she hit the water... it would essentially be like hitting concrete. In short, this was going to hurt like hell, she felt the wind steal the scream that she let loose, its sound never reaching her own ears.
Then it was as though someone had hit fast forward, the dark ocean began to become much closer, much faster. With a silent prayer she closed her eyes and braced for impact. For a few moments she felt nothing, then she felt herself falling through the onyx colored gunk. Surprised she felt no need to breath in this time, as she pushed out and kicked to swim downwards.
She fell to the floor of the great hall with a thud, sitting up and shaking her self of any phantom muck.
twisting darkness reached for her before she could stand, not really fearing the consequences of these dreams any longer she let The shadows given form lift her upwards towards the large glowing eye.
Rose could make out her own reflection with her own vison, oh boy! did she look like she had seen better days.
Her examination of her reflection ceased as the tendrils of shadow began fully enveloping her in a cloud of nothingness. The feeling enveloping her was not unlike being thrown into a frozen lake. And she silently sent a thanks to whatever god that might be out, there that any slight pain began to recede.
even her sore knuckles being replaced only with an icy chill it did not take long for Rose to begin to feel again. The first thing she felt was a pressure at her chest.
Before an all new cold lanced through her, the light she felt in her chest surged forth and the smell of burning filled the air. Rose in an instant fell from the swirling mass as it dropped her, landing on her hands and knees. Finding her inquiry's mostly gone.
A loud screech accompanied her drop, and instantly Rose felt guilt at hurting the great beast that had just healed her, Rose found the source of the burning smell. One of the long tendrils recoiled into the rest of the shadows followed shortly by the rest. Rose clapped her hands over her ears.
"WHAT IS THIS TRECHORY!!!"
Boomed all the whispers großer Verräter's voice  only slightly louder than the rest. Rose quickly realized that they c wanted an answer,
"i-I don't know! What are you talking about?" she stammered, hating how her voice quivered and her body shook from the force of the shout. Could the tests really have caused this so quickly?
All the whispers seemed raised in volume, as the shadows at the edges of the hall writhed. the smell of off wine and rotten things all the stronger. The voices seemed to come to a conclusion as the slowly quieted down and the great eye above Rose focused on her once more, its large slit of an eye narrowing in on her.
"Child, it seems you have been tampered with," the beast paused, and Rose took a moment to appreciate the fact that its vernacular seemed to have increased.
Along with its ability to speak full sentences, its voice even sounded quite clear.
"The doctors in this house of lull, they have placed a horrid burning inside you, one we cannot remove."
Rose nodded, happy that großer Verräter now sounded much calmer, even though the implications of his explanation sent her skin crawling.
"how? How is it possible they did this?" she asked hoping they might know the answer, the machines in the basement may be high tech, and they might be messing with her genes but... how could such results be made in such a short time? "The answers may bend your percept child, simply put. Magic, things that lay outside your understanding."
Rose felt taken back, sure the Allrons had very advanced tech, and sure some seemed to resemble the magic fairy tales of Oldearth, but magic? She shook her head and decided to believe the huge eldritch creature made of shadow and terror in front of her. For all intense and purposes, what he said? She would believe.
"This cannot stand, I shall leave you with my mark, so that no others may try and take you further from our grasp, tell me my child."
His eye closed, as the being paused, and Rose saw a long shadow reach out from the dark reaching towards her, it took the shape of a hand.
"Will you accept me as your patron?"
A patron? That sounded suitably ominous, never one to rush into an agreement, she decided to push a bit.
"What does that entail?" she dared ask, feeling a bit wary, though the sound of no further tampering with her genes certainly sounded nice.
"You will learn, listen and do as I ask, and in turn I shall protect you..."
Protection? Jeepers, Rose could use some of that right now. Would he offer again? She could already feel her time in this world waning, and the offer dangling Infront of her felt far to good to say no to.
With little other option she reached towards großer Verräter's hand. It dwarfed hers in size and the second she reached forwards it enveloped her hand whole.
For a moment all the whispers in her mind and around her became much quieter as a small chant began to rumble through their ranks.
The shadows continued their chanting as what felt like lightning tingled through Rose, making it feel like her nails were about to fly off her fingers, and somehow made her very teeth itch. The hand felt like ice against her skin, and she found her vison darkening once more as the deep voice of her new patron commanded her to
"sleep"
upon waking Rose sat upright thanking her lucky stars she was not in a testing area; it seemed her Patron was already working his magic. A glance at downwards had her gasping in amazement, her knuckles seemed fully healed.
Bolting out of bed she rushed to the bathroom to hurl up the ichor that burst from her mouth. The smell of off wine and something rotting filled her nose as the briny liquid spilled into toilet. The taste just as horrid as the smell.
Why does that keep happening? She wondered, feeling sticky and more than a bit sweaty she wanted to get clean.
the smell of off wine was bringing back some very bad memories, so stumbling over her feet she found her way into the shower and turned it on, not caring about the clothes still on her back or the fact that the water was freezing at first. Just wanting to get the smell of alcohol off her, yet she sat for a long time and the smell still hung in her nose. So long she began to ponder if she was just imagining it.
The shower soon turned scalding as the water inevitably warmed.
It only took Rose around half an hour to finally take off her sodden cloths. Leaving them into the corner of the small shower. Proceeding to scrub everything until her skin stung.
At least, stung more then the distant throbbing that seemed to permeate her whole being. All seemed to go decently well until she got to her nails, she could not remember when the last time she panted her nails black.
But all ten nails stared back at her, shiny in the water, and undeniably the colour of pitch. Her heart rate skipped into high gear, was this her mark? With a shrug, feeling numb she let the water fall over her for a little while longer. I always did like my nails black, she reasoned with herself, at least now she wouldn't have to worry about panting them.
Stepping out of the shower she began to get ready for the day, only to be met with another startling discovery, when going to apply her black lipstick she found her lips already a dark glossy black. Though she distantly had to admit, that her patron might make a great markup artist, the pitch color looked expertly applied.
Another distant thought of, well at least I don't need to worry about that anymore. Hit her as she looked in the mirror, it seemed as though the white edges to her hair had grown farther into her long blond hair.
With a sigh that could make a fifty-year-old man proud she continued to get ready for the day, though a glance at her watch told her breakfast had already passed.
Oh, how was she going to explain this one to the group? With a final look in the mirror she deemed herself ready for the public. Her chosen dark purple dress and black cotton shawl made it look like her black accoutrements were a planned part of her outfit. With a tired smile Rose thanked her lucky stars that the whispers still seemed blocked through the day, though their comforting presence would be missed, the migraines would not.
and made her way to the dining hall, finding the usual suspects waiting for her at their table. All of them seemed pretty interested as to why she had missed the arguably most important meal of the day. But taking one look at her tired eyes, and a look that said "Ill tell you later" fended them off for now.
But judging by the glances Carson kept tossing her way, her emotions were still negative. From then on Many hours idly passed as an anticipation gripped the whole building, many having never seen the mysterious owner of this sanatorium. All those that had were either doctors Rose had no interest in talking to or were completely off their rocker; if this was because of the medication or not, Rose still did not have the firmest of answers.
Thankfully, all the pieces seemed to be in place; Kann had kindly decided to help them beginning to take the night shift so when the time came, she could let them all out. Now all they had to do was wait and spy, she was chatting with Terina about the ethics of biological enhancements, when the commotion started. A glance at the clock told Rose it was just after Twelve o'clock, and it seemed today was the fateful day.
The owner had arrived.
Rose glanced up from her discussion; her deep purple eyes catching sight of a very well dressed Allron, the male was at least six foot and with the addition to the wild hair and two curving antelope like horns at the top of his head, he seemed to tower over everything. he swayed into the room as though he literally
owned the place, and, Rose supposed he did. Though one part of the ensemble he wore seemed to clash, almost purposely. A bright pink sash hung around his right shoulder swooping down over his chest before coming back to rest where it started, a bright golden emblem resting on it right over his chest.
Rose recognized in instantly, her world history class flashing through her synapses. That emblem being the insignia of the Allron royal family. Each patent that happened to recognize said symbol did their absolute best to give the man a wide berth. Both predators, humans, and prey. It was clear that this man was one to be feared and respected,
Although Rose had only a slight idea how politics worked on Planets in Allron jurisdiction, she got the sense that the man before her was not one to kiss babies.
Though as Rose watched him out of the corner of her eye, she realized that he himself was not a royal; or at very least, not one of the direct royal family. It was well known that the Allron royals were all the same cast, or to put it bluntly, they were all each one of them a murdering machine.
Horror stories were made purely about them, their elongated faces and echoing dark laughter. The very sound said to drive humans and Allrons of all casts alike, insane with fear; and though the gentleman who was being led away seemed to give off that same predatory sense that all carnivorous Allrons seemed to set off. She knew for a fact he could not be one of the royal family.
He slowly made his way outside and Rose and her group fell quiet. Each actively avoiding eye contact with the owner of this establishment. Soon enough he sat himself down on the arranged furniture outside, and was shortly joined by Doctor S.
A jab to the ribs Via Vina told Rose it was time to get up and find those files she had been waiting oh so long to get.
she looked at her friends. Lamenting for a moment the lost conversation, taking comfort however in the smile and mock salute thrown her way; along with the muttered, "God speed Rose." From Terina.
And just like that she was off, jogging down the twisting hallways, steadily finding her way to doctor scots horrid lime green cave he had the audacity to call an office. Her heart hammered in her chest as she approached the door that she has been taken through only to receive hearty jolts and creepy smiles for the weeks they had kept her here. For a second, she had to remind herself why she was here, as well as fuel the curiosity for what she might find.
All in all, It really didn't take long to step int the horrid green office, In the grand scheme of things it was only a tiny grain of sand in the temporal hourglass that is existence. Or at least, that's how Rose reasoned with herself; it was fine!
She might have been raised her whole life never to enter certain rooms. Hell, she might have been punished with lack of affection, or general human contact for days when she disobeyed said rules.
So really, she argued with herself the twenty minutes it took her to enter the horrid room were nothing. Not in the grand scheme of things at least.
Shaking of her momentary dread at being in another's space without permission, she reminded herself that this space belonged to an ass.
An ass that totally drugs people to insanity, an act she might have been included in if she was not so smart in the first place.
That did it, finally she was able to look around readily assured she was not the antichrist for simply snooping.
At first, she saw nothing of interest. Everything that same horrid shade of lime green that seemed to sting her eyes no matter where she looked. Even out the small round window-Did that bastard really get dyed glass? in that,


Same.
   Horrid.
        Shade!


Now properly enraged she began to rifle through his belongings, sheets of paper sat artfully arranged at his desk. With small notes scribbled in more of that disgusting green. With a quick glance it seemed none of them were of importance, turning from the notes she moved onto the drawers that seemed to be tucked into the desk at either side.
She went for the left on first, an found that it was unlooked; inside she what one would normally expect inside a drawer, a few blunt pairs of scissors, some tape, and a few thumbtacks. She was about to turn her attention to the next drawer before a glint caught her eye.
Reaching under the roll of scotch tape she found a small key. It seems small, unassuming and was surely for something nearby, as it had an infuriatingly colored piece of string attached to it.
Shrugging she slipped it into the small pocket in her shawl. She glanced towards her point of exit, deciding that there was still a bit more to look through here. she turned her keen eye on the filing cabinet, wondering how on earth it existed, where did one find a lime green filing cabinet?
Slowly she made her way towards it, her mind still focused on the two men-one of them the owner of this hell hole- who could be coming back at any moment.
She grabbed the key she had just found and, sure enough! It fit the cabinets lock perfectly! Rummaging through she found that all the files had been alphabetically sorted, she went through and found each of her friend's files, each one varying in thickness. The temptation to look through them tickled Roses conscience, but she pushed those horrid thoughts away. Then, she found her file.
Her mind felt shifted, something was not right, she has spent the least amount of time here
yet... her file seemed to be the thickest among the bunch?
Rose shook her head, refocusing. She would look at it later, soon her violet eyes rested on the bottom cabinet, simply labelled with a bold F. with shaking hands she reached forwards and pulled in open. She pulled the first file out if its place in the squished confines or this overflowing opar of the cabinet and turned it to face her.
The large blood red letters jumped out at her after so long of only seeing green. The word FAILED, glared at her off the thick file. She took a calming breath and tucked some imaginary stray hair behind her ear before slowly opening the file in front of her.
It felt as though a piano was being pressed down onto Roses chest as she began to read. The horrifying story of a poor unfortunate soul was being played out before her, at the same time the mystery of where many of the patents that had come here over the years had disappeared to became all to horrifyingly clear.
Words like mutilation, vacuum chamber, as well as names of surgeries and operations Rose could never have a hope of understanding were, they not painstakingly detailed spilled before her in that same sickening green. The horrifying realization that in this very building, people had breathed their last breath, came crashing down onto Rose, as well as the startlingly horrifying realization. Hundreds of illegal explements had been done under this very roof.

Things that had been outlawed after the war, painstakingly carried on at the expense of the people laid out in the F section before her. Such as the horrifying forced genetic splicing they had carried out on the poor boy in this file, pictures littered throughout, showed in a gruesome display how the changes slowly affected him becoming less and less human until the very last picture Rose had the guts to glance at.
The red X scratched over top of his face brutally informing her if his fate. Though the dried red ink did nothing to hide the hundreds of eyes that protruded all over his flesh like particularly bad case of acne.
The same with the large and razor sharp teeth that seem to spiral out of his wide-open mouth, locked in a silent scream of torment that would never again be heard
She shut the file her breath coming in shaky short puffs. dimly she wondered what horrifying monstrosities might lay behind closed and locked doors here. what labs and experiments might she herself have undergone if not for meeting those two tricksters she calls her friends?
She tossed the file, as though it had burned her. Standing up she glanced at the stack on the disgustingly lime green desk. Should she even take them? What did they hold besides horror? Perhaps she would be better off not knowing.
There she stood, her hands grasping towards the bright green folders on the desk, yet her feet made no move towards them. The battel she had had so many times in her youth holding her in place, should she risk knowing the knowledge tantalizingly before her? And risk it bring her more pain? But then, could she really leave it behind with a clean conscience? Would it keep her up at night, wondering after what small piece of her person she was doomed to never understand.
She stepped towards the knowledge.
She grabbed the folders off the desk and made her exit. Clutching the lime green packets to her chest like they could be made of glass instead of paper. Thankfully, the hallways seemed empty, soon she found her way to good old room number seven.
Tossing the folders to the small desk in her room she slowly sunk onto her bed. Doing her best to slow her breathing, feeling as though her mind was made of fluff, she tried to remember what Kann had told her to do last time she felt as though the world was collapsing in on herself.
The world seemed to darken at the edges as Rose desperately wrapped her arms around herself. Rose understood that she was experiencing a panicked episode. She knew that she needed to calm down and yet, the feeling of the world closing in as she struggles to take in breath seemed to keep her mind on the panicked side.
The last time someone had tried to sneak these files they had disappeared, Rose found that to be one of the most pressing worries, yet she seemed very much appeared. She assured herself that all this would be over soon, that she would get away from this horrid place. With a few deep breaths she focused in on that.
Slowly, her breath began to come more easily as she assured herself, she would be fine. Even slower still, the world began to take on a normal feeling. After she had successfully drawn breath that did not feel as though her chest were about implode, she cast a glance at her timepiece.
Perfect, it was right around one thirty, lunch would start soon.
Rose shoved all the folders into her packed suitcase, ever grateful she was to lazy to unpack it all these past weeks, shoving only the commonly used essentials like her toothbrush and makeup in right at this moment.
With a sigh she shook her head. Zipping the suitcase back up she rested it against the door, she was about to leave when something sent a chill down her spine.
"you  took  something  from  masters  office..."
a voice eerily like one she knew from her darker dreams echoed from the shadowed corners of her room, sending her heart hammering. A form seemed to peel off the wall.
It cried out its form almost matching that of the creature she had turned to ash about a week ago, it jerked towards her. And she stumbled backwards, could she recrate what she did down in that lab all those weeks ago? She held her hand in front of her, ready to try and scorch this thing, but; its movements halted. From under the mas of tentacles covering its head in a twisted mockery of hair, a sharp set of glass shard teeth appeared in a scared snarl.
"the betrayer has taken one for himself... I will find you... at a later date." the creature said, its long tong tasting the air, before it slithered backwards and disappeared through her wall, leaving Rose breathing heavy, and wondering what the hell just happened, oh boy was she going to ask her new patron some questions next time she saw him. With a stressed and slightly manic giggle she supposed that is what happed to the last fool who tried to take files.
Was the only reason she was still drawing breath due to her strange agreement with großer Verräter? She questioned, suddenly feeling the need to send a silent thanks to her dark protector.
Trying to remind herself that though the dark looking creature might initially give off some creepy vibes, großer Verräter had been extremely helpful ever since he made contact in her dreams. It made a strange sense, that doctor S. had trapped her patron's own kind, turning them against their own kin for his own twisted purposes.
Doing her best to shake that experience right off she grabbed her sketch book and made her way to lunch. Her whole way there reasoning with herself that she would totally need some form of counselling after this whole debacle ended.
And the feeling of being watched was her imagination. Right?
She found her way to the dining hall only to find her group waiting there with worried expressions panted across their faces, and to Roses surprise Kann was among them, in a heated discussion with Vina, all of that came to a pause when Rose approached them.
"Common, outside." Carson said, briefly Rose could see that the table and chairs had been taken down, and the owner and doctor scot were somewhere out of sight.
"What's going on?" Rose asked as they all found a spot outside, by one of the large silver barked trees, their bright red and very alien looking leaves providing some very nice shade. The group sat down, hiding from view of the institute via the large silver trunk of the tree, the group looked decently panicked, but seemed to be ecstatic Rose had made it back.
"We have some news, Vina managed to eavesdrop on the owner and Doctor S. the thing is, something big is going down tonight, we need to leave a bit ahead of schedule, right after lights out." Trina said, her voice holding a tone of worry in its gravelly depths. "Well yeah their going to move all of us, because this place is supposed to-" here Vina raised her fingers for emphasis "disappear!"
Disappear? Rose asked herself, on earth or an planet in their jurisdiction. a whole building could not disappear without anarchy breaking lose and the cops being called almost at once, but on a planet run by the Allron government? If the royal family ordered it, breathing would be made illegal. Oh boy, did this messed up government love making things wink out of existence.
With a sigh Rose rubbed her thumbs together, her stress levels raising ever higher. Though another panic attack felt all to close, Rose nodded fighting it down to deal with later. "Well what's the plan?"
"it's the same, just sped up a bit, we can't stay until gas time since their planning a mass move, and according to Vina, that's thirty minutes after lights out give or take." Terina explained, Rose nodded as Vina gave the group a chill thumbs up and a sly grin. Clearly trying to ease the tension, though even her normally loud and boisterous personality seemed much more serious at the moment.
After a few moments and a few assurances, the group dispersed, not wanting to look suspicious.
Rose stayed sitting by the tree, absorbing the ever-shining rays of sunlight, trying to fill the light in her chest as much as possible, she was sure it would be a loooong   night. "are you doing ok?" asked Kann, surprised Rose glanced over her shoulder, Kann had stayed behind, and seemed to be giving Rose a very odd look.
"I'm ok, just have no clue what comes next... I want to go home but what about the other patents? What about-" Rose paused, flashes of her mother's disdainful face surfaced in her mind.
did she really want to go home? As messed up as It is, Rose had smiled more here, and felt far more supported then she ever did at home.
That alone told Rose that the toxicity there was not a good environment.
"Rose, don't over think this, we need to focus on getting you out of here, then we will find some way to get everything in order," Kann assured taking a graceful seat next to our purple eyed protagonist, leaning her head on Roses shoulder,
"Thanks, I really care about you." Rose said, barely over a whisper, half hoping kann wouldn't hear it. Her fear of rejection a very real one.
"I care about you too." Kann replied, and Rose could feel her smile into her shoulder, Kann's cold nose nudging against Roses warm neck, as Kann let out a contented sigh, slowly ever so slowly twining Roses hand with hers.
And there they sat, the sun slowly threatening to set. Kann was the first to leave, leaving Rose with a butterfly light kiss on the cheek, that left Roses face as red as her namesake.
Before bouncing off to go prepare for the long and harrowing night ahead. "Oh boy shell be the end of me." Rose muttered, standing up on wobbly legs.
The butterflies that were so often left in Kann's wake flittered about, leaving Rose feeling much more confidant in tonight's plan. But first there was someone left to meet...

After a once over of her room, Rose was assured everything was packed and ready to go. She slipped a dark purple sweater over her shoulders, double lacing her shoes.
Finally, after all, she felt ready for whatever would come her way. So, she began to make her rounds, she would have to meet the rest of the team today.
A shudder ran through her at the thought of the change in plans, putting that aside she began to wander to the once place in this sanatorium she had not yet dared to traverse.
The isolation wards.
The place in the sanatorium with cold iron doors and constant noise, oddly enough the ward was located at the top floor of the facility. This at first struck Rose as odd, since the dreary walls and solid doors seemed to belong in a deep dank, underground bunker much more than they did the highest floor of an asylum.
So I suppose you can imagine Roses trepidation as she gingerly stepped out of the elevator, her eyes trailing the long halls. As slowly her ears began to fill with the mindless babbling that often came with such places, though it was just quiet enough that it seemed to echo Roses ever-present worries. setting her on edge much more then she thought it might.
Thankfully, she didn't have to wander the halls to long, as a very large and very alone guard was staring her down.
Instantly Rose recognized him as the Centaur guard. Often "Fondly" called hoof bag by Carson, Rose was sure his name to be Zach, walking forwards Rose took in his full form, his lower half looking like a mix between a gipsy banner horse and a Clydesdale. His flank Respectfully covered by a draping guard's uniform, while his upper half donned the rest of the blue garb, long horse like teeth grimaced at her from across the room as she made her way closer.
"hello, I'm Rose, your Zach correct?" a nod, and a pair of crossed arms were her only reply, "Vina and Terina already catch you up?" Rose asked, another nod and a vaguely affirmative grunt followed.
Feeling her friendly tactics beginning to slide she decided to cut her losses. "Great, can you show me where to find Ness?" that seemed to get his attention, his head tilted to the side as though sizing Rose up, what threat Rose could pose him? She had no idea. After a moment, a very well-muscled arm gestured to a door down the way, and Rose needed no more incentive to get moving
Welp, next up would be someone Rose had seen before, even if only when transformed into a sort of hellish feline. Thankfully, it only took Rose a few seconds to find the solitary door covered in scratch marks, as though a cat had been clawing the door from both sides. Rose could only imagine the damage on the side containing the girl
Rose approached the iron door, the metal glinting in the light of the florescent bulbs that lay above. With only slight hesitation, Rose rapped her fist on the door. Knocking to let her compatriot know she had a visitor. There was nothing but silence behind the door for a worrying moment, in fact Rose had just rase her hand to Knock again, until she heard a peculiar Chuffing sound come from inside.
"The huntress wasn't expecting visitors, especially not the polit kind that knock."
A small and young sounding voice could be heard through the scratched iron door, though muffled. Rose was slightly amused with the how the girl on the other side seemed to speak in third person, she got straight to explaining the matter at hand; The slight change in plans in regard to timing, and a short introduction for herself.
"Humm, the huntress is  excited to be  free from  the  box  she's been kept in, she thanks you for letting her know." A light scratching was heard, accompanying her oddly put statement. As well as other vaguely feline sounds.
"Well it was my pleasure Ness, be prepared for tonight."
Rose began to head back, feeling odd, that seemed far too easy, and it was putting her on guard.
It was getting late and of course she wanted to be in her room when the whispers hit, Carefully she glided through the halls, and made her way back into her room, taking the time to repack her suitcase In a bought of nervosa energy, leaving the five green files on her desk for the time being, before entering her bathroom.
She began to reapply her markup, slowly building her mental defenses as she did so. Layering on her lipstick as she layered her emotions. Carefully, she began to work out her feelings as she applied her mascara.
Painstakingly as she applied her war paint, she became prepared. Finishing it off with her trademark black lipstick, she set her face into a schooled expression, one with a kind yet stern smile.
Another once over in the mirror and she let her shoulders relax. Though she was sure it was a slightly strange coping mechanism, having herself presentable made her feel that much more in control. By god she might be trapped in a horrifying testing facility, and her very life might be in danger, but she would rather meet her maker wile looking her best if possible.
So, she walked over to the small desk in her room, regarding the horrid green files before her. Putting all but one away into her small suitcase.
With a feeling of determination rising in her chest she turned to the last
remaining file on her desk, she had a while until twelve o'clock and she resolute in her decision to make the time waiting worthwhile.
Slowly she sat down at the desk in front of her with the finality of sitting in the electric chair. She made sure to keep her breathing even, absolute in her want not to lose more time to the dark recesses of her mind. Doing her best to ignore the whispers as they slammed into her mind, signaling the ending of sunset.
With hands trebling slightly she edged open the file.
Her name jumped out at her once again, along with the words that seemed to accompany them.
Experiment,
a shudder ran through her as she dared to glance down, to her horror there seemed to be details of tests in the hundreds She would instantly disregard the data as fictitious, if it weren't for the printed images. Pasted to the file, pictures of her. She could hardly believe what she was seeing, something on this page setting her on edge. It was a comparison photo, one focusing on her eyes, as they slowly turned from a pail grey, to the deep purple she now seemed posses.
Her mind was buzzing, no memory of the tests described even in the deepest back of her mind. Yet she dared to dig deeper. Most of the data made no sense, yet the pictures slowly began to show Rose a story she wished she could stop reading.
Starting with the young brown haired grey eyed two-year-old in the first picture. Ending with Rose waving goodbye to her mother, on her way to university. Eyes purple and hair blond. With the words in bold underneath reading.
EXPERMENT ONGOING.
Closing the thick file, she did two things she did very well. Took the horror and mountain of feelings welling up within her and tamped it down. Then, she replaced her cold mask of while slipping the file deep into her suitcase along with the others to be examined later. She made the concise decision to let herself feel all of the horrid things she was tamping down once she wasn't under threat of removal, kidnapping, demons, and alien governments.
Its strange how far the human mind can be stretched and tested, she thought to herself, feeling numb. This is messed up, she reminded herself, the new norm of her life horrifying to the once promising student that resided deep within her mind.
Shaking her head, she looked towards the file one more,
One thing she noted on the cover of file was the same symbol that had been emblazoned on the owner's sash. Thankfully, she had something else to focus on as now. As her timepiece began to tick ever closer to midnight.
Right now, she had to focus on her escape, and she fully intended on succeeding. demanding answers from her mother, Rose knew who most of that tilted and swirling handwriting in her file belonged to. And it surly wasn't Doctor Scot, not with the bright pink ink littered throughout the file, no it was the sweet loopy cursive Rose would always find scattered in notes around her childhood home; and it belonged to her mother.
A pair of familiar footsteps echoing from the hall broke Rose out of her mental lockdown, refocusing her on the situating at hand.
Rose snatched the handle of her suitcase and prepared herself. The plan was starting, and it was going to be great...