Opening the door [Forward dated to day 11]

[nobasisinfact]

[There's no message, just this,followed by laughter. The laughter doesn't sound right. It's like nails on chalkboard and static all at once.]

Comments

[11calls]

[In more than a few of her nightmares, Alex has heard that tone of voice, but not in those combinations of words. Vessels, she knows. There's no way that she couldn't not know what he means by that.]

Richard.

[It's not a question now.]

Where are you? This isn't funny.

[Even though she's already suspecting that she's definitely not dealing with Richard right now.]

[nobasisinfact]

Isn't it?

[More laughter erupts in the darkness. Of course, it's funny. She came, just as he knew she would.]

He's coming.

[11calls]

[Alex just frowns, and her hands are tightly balled into fists, and she's just taking the same sort of effort that she took with Warren when she met him about the Horn of Tiamat.]

Are you taking your creepy cues from Simon now? Because I'm definitely way past being scared by that at this point.

[nobasisinfact]

The vessel has been prepared and he'll come. Aren't you pleased, to play such an important part?

[More laughter. It sounds as if his voice has started echoing.]

[11calls]

Richard isn't a vessel. And he's not coming here, if he's coming at all. You're just the Sphere taking my nightmare and making it real.

[Alex just walks forward, one hand on the wall as she tries to find him.]

[nobasisinfact]

Are you so sure? He's everywhere.

[11calls]

Yes I am. That's something that you forget back home, that Richard Strand is the most stubborn ass I've ever met. He'd never let this thing use him for a vessel. And he'd never open the door.

[Alex sounds so very sure of this. And she is, mostly. But she suspects that he would if she was in danger.]

[nobasisinfact]

He is inevitable. The key will unlock the door and we will come. Our army will conquer, and you will have a place among us. He will lift you to the place you belong.

[The voice sounds so sure. Then, there's a pause, a sound of pain.]

Alex,

[It sounds like Richard, but he sounds like he's struggling against something. Like he's in pain.]

Go.

[11calls]

[If there was anything in the world that would make Alex not go, it's that. It's the pain in Richard's voice, his real voice without the weirdness of the demon. Instantly, Alex jolts into action, moving at a run despite the skeletons and the shadows around them. There's something that Alex does know without a silver of a doubt: that Richard would never leave her to the demons in the dark anymore than she can.

Of course, she knows that this could be a trap, because of course this could be bait, but she finds him in the dark and grabs his hand.]

Richard.

[nobasisinfact]

[The direction it comes from isn't clear, but Alex is shoved back toward the entrance, hard.]

Go.

[The voice is still Richard's.]

[11calls]

What the fuck?!

[It’s quick and Alex stumbles her knees banging on the floor before she tries to scramble to get up.]

I’m not leaving you, you idiot.

[nobasisinfact]

It - it wants you.

[Another shove.]

Our general has been waiting for you, vessel.

[The voice has stopped sounding like Richard.]

[11calls]

[Well. Fuck. For a moment Alex just stays on her knees before the change in Richard’s voice causes move to a standing position.]

Oh yeah? I’m right here. Get out of him.

[nobasisinfact]

You are not mine to take. You belong to our general.

[11calls]

And he's mine. So get the hell out of him.

[Alex is on her feet now, and she just steps closer, her eyes blazing with anger, and she's drawn up to her full height.]

Now.

[nobasisinfact]

Do you think your screams will remove me? You have no power until he possesses you.

[11calls]

[Alex's voice is very very cold.]

I think if you hurt him, he'll never get the chance.

[nobasisinfact]

What will you do, kill yourself? He'll find another vessel.

[11calls]

I'm not an idiot.

[And another step.]

You're forgetting. Richard's the one who's supposed to the door. That's why Warren is doing everything he can to get him to Geneva. If you hurt him, he won't be able to do that, and your general isn't going to be very happy with you.

[nobasisinfact]

And you believe we need him alive to open the door?

[11calls]

I think that if Thomas Warren could have killed him and used him to open the door than he already would have. I think that if Thomas Warren would have kidnapped him to get him to Geneva he would have too. And Richard needs to be the one to make the choice to go there. To do it. And you can't make any choices when you're dead, demon.

[Another step.]

Get. Out. Of. Him.

[nobasisinfact]

You can't intimidate me, vessel.

[11calls]

Yeah, well, you can't intimidate me either. Because I'm not going to leave him alone like this. If you know anything about me, you know I don't give up. Especially when it comes to people I love.

[nobasisinfact]

I could kill you.

[11calls]

But aren't I an important vessel for your general? You really should keep your story straight. If you kill me then he doesn't get to do that.

[And that's another step.]