A/N: well this chapter was a pain to write...i have scrapped and re-written it like three times...and i'm not sure if i'm happy with it but i know if i dwell on it, i won't be able to continue.

Happy new year's :)

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Chapter Twenty-Nine: Bloody Mary

Abandoning X, the two-legged thing lumbers towards me without pause and I'm standing here like an idiot. This time, Cody isn't here to save me. I dodge passed her outstretched knife-like fingers as she pounces like a cat -and I'm the mouse. She probably didn't expect me to move as she crashes into the side of the tunnel, rolling down a little. Getting back up again, she lets out another banshee screech, making me cringe and my vision shaky. So her goddamned voice can mess with my head...yay...

She comes for me again and I dive to the side in time for her to rush passed, but swerves around mid-stride and bounces back in my direction. I don't think I can keep playing dodgeball with the lizard much longer. This time as she runs her scream takes on a new pitch that muddles my brain-leg connection and she almost had me, clipping my left side and sending me into a nearby wall, hitting my head with a loud thud. My vision went black as I crumble to the ground. Wanting nothing more than to let that dark abyss take me out of this nightmarish, humid and wet situation. But instead, I try to open my eyes and roll onto my ass, hunched over hoping the world stops spinning.

Shaking my head, I try to get some focus back into eyes as my brain swims about my skull. I'm also wondering why she hasn't ended me yet as I'm basically a stuffed pig -apple in mouth- waiting for it. But as my mind clears a little, I see X is preoccupying her. He darts around, flipping and spinning, dodging her attacks while striking with his own hands (that I swear are now clawed). I could watch forever, entranced by the grace of this weird death dance. But I could see the pain contorting his face and I felt something lurking behind his eyes, growing stronger as his rationality ebbs away and his attacks are slowly transcending into something more bestial, lost sanity.

I get back to my feet, ears still ringing while the world goes through vertigo and I try to hold down the baby-food I was force fed at three in the morning...why am I here again? I could hear something, almost coherent words, as the Queen screams out in frustration. It almost sounds like 'Help me'.

I keep myself up by leaning a hand on the wall, my entire body feels like it was set on fire while someone was beating the shit out of me. ...I think that the medication is wearing off. Wonderful. A particular burning sensation across my shoulder stood out more than the rest of my body. When I looked at it I realised that the long pointy witch fingers of bloody Queen Mary over there had nicked me across the shoulder, ripping right through the fabric and it felt like she hit bone but I couldn't be sure in this light. But what hurt the most is that through all the bleeding and stinging pain; I could feeling something like acid bubbling in my veins and made me hiss as I try to compress my shoulder to slow some of the bleeding. I really can't come out of any of this shit unscathed, can I?

I watch as X sinks a hand into the side of the Queen but the muck just absorbs his hand, pouring over his fist as if to take him with it. He pulls back to strike again, this time directly at the torso of the human but she seems to notice this and screams out and he retreats in what I describe as pain, only for the giant claws to come out swinging once again.

Was there anything to hit her with? I look around, only seeing the stairs and the giant pool of black sludge. Then from the corner of my eye, I notice on the wall that was part of the dreary staircase, I see there was some miscellaneous bare iron pipes. It's something at least.

Limping over to it, I notice the Queen losing interest in X once again, sniffing the air slowly, her jaw hanging open when she picks up whatever it was she found and pushes X away. She then turns around and the human head cranes out at me as I grab the pipe strongly in both hands, the metal completely giving me away as it lets out a soft ring as it scrapes the floor and wall.

She obviously didn't like the fact that I was up and about as her human head became...less human as her mouth deforms, leaving only this lipless hole framed with spikes and the jaw opens further than humanly possible. Ok. Nightmare level acquired. Perfect. Great...fuck. I want to run now.

But instead I wield the thick iron pipe like a bat, wanting to at least get her in the face before she kills me, (as at this point, I really don't see the point in running) and managed to time it perfectly to clips her in the arm as she brings it down to slash me, knocking it out its path and smacking into the floor with a thud. She looked up surprised at what I just did and I could even see her frown at the anguished noise that the iron pipe had made when it connected with her arm. Her hit was heavy and if I had taken the blow instead of redirecting it just then, I think it would have broken my arms instead of just making them really numb. ...I don't think I could do that again. As she bears down at me, and I knew she was going to strike-

The pipe disappears from my hands and I felt naked for a second as my eyes went wide at the loss, only for X to come up and wield it, and connects a shot to the up-side of her face forcing it to awkwardly turn. The surprise attack got her off-balance and she tips into the water tank with a great splash and bubbles. My eyebrows probably went through the roof as I stare at X and the bent iron pipe that he just used as he breathes hard with sweat dripping off his face...and I don't think it was because he was out of breath.

He drops the iron pipe as it clangs to the floor, stepping back a little until he hits the wall, slouching over, trying to control his breathing as he stares at the floor.

"X?" I whisper, about to reach out to him.

He looks up at me before I touch him and I almost flinch at the ferocity that reflects in his eyes. They soften when he realises that it's me but then takes in my shredded shoulder. He reaches out and touches some of the fabric around it, his fingers coming away darkened by the blood and look up at me again with anguish reflecting in them that almost made me cringe. I could almost feel something from him, like an apology.

I take in his stare. "I'm ok," I'm half lying but it didn't really matter. Staring into his mismatched eyes, I see that the irises were thin slits like a cat fuelled with pure excitement before a hunt.

But we weren't allowed much of a respite as I was about to ask him what we should do next (my vote was run) as he pushes me to the side, his eyes going feral again as he hisses, "Get away, it's-"

A black mass strikes us from behind and because of X moving me to the side, it grazes passed, skidding to a stop on top of the water before turning into goo and dissolving into the black goo all over the fucking place. Wonderful. I touch the side of my face and notice warm sticky blood pouring form my cheek when she had got me.

"She can fucking materialise!?" I yell at him, unable to suppress some of that panic that was just building up now.

His attention though was on the water at the moment so no remark back. Not like he hands those out anyway. She manages to attack again, this time from the middle, driving me and X further apart and I feel like that was her plan. This happens another few times as she bounces between us until we were on opposite ends of the hall, with X closest to the stairs now. He grabs another two iron pipes, ready for her in a sword stance. Would be feeling the awesomeness of that but right now, a little preoccupied. She lunges at me like a freaking shark but I still managed to stumble from her grasp by landing on my ass. Backwards crawling away from her, I hit a wall to see her disappear and rematerialize in front of X, her wails now a lot harsher and I think were accelerating their effect on X, wearing him down until he was almost kneeling and covered in his own blood. He lost one of the iron pipes, holding onto the side of his head while barely managing to hold onto the other. It was like someone was trying to bind him with ropes, forcing him into submission and he was tolerating it. But he's now on the verge of wanting to burst out.

When she had him on his back, she didn't take the final blow, instead it was more of a 'don't get in my way' kinda thing as she races after me again. I see my doom about to come crashing down, her mouth wide open as the sound penetrates my mind. I roll up into a ball, hands over my ears, desperate for some sort of buffer against that horrible sound. She raises up, reaching out in a pounce.

I don't want to die.

I can't die.

I haven't found them yet.

The Queen bounds headlong, her long talons outstretched.

Not now.

Not yet.

Not you.

It won't be you.

Fuck! Stop it right now!

Something snaps in my head as the sound of metal sings out, lashing forward from behind me. I stare in shock as the Queen stops in midstride, her hands stopping just short of my face. Spears of solid metal had lashed out, puncturing her hand and grazing her sides. Some even pierced through the beast's shoulder and right through where the mouth and brain would have been but the 'human' torso was practically unharmed. Looking closer at the spear I could see glowing crystal blue veins cracked along the metal that shone like a polished blade. ...It was ice and I think glass?

She shrills at the new unfamiliar predicament, jumping back with out of the blades like a fucking ghost going through a wall. But I had hurt it. It was dripping with thick black liquid dripping off its hand where I had gotten it.

'I had gotten it'? Did I do that?

Not able to contemplate on that, she decided to go after X and he was just...sitting there, looking at the ground in subdued silence. His hands were slack but...not in an 'I've given up' way but false; waiting...and I felt something in me break, I couldn't let them attack each other anymore. My instincts were screaming alarm bells at me to stop it.

So my body gets up and I make a strange motion with my hands, almost like I was pushing something out of my way. This made the water stir from the floor tank, shooting out as ice from underneath the Queen in spikes, creating a makeshift wall between them. This stuns the Queen and she looks at me (...not an appropriate time but can she even see?) and growls, only to finally comes at me again and for some reason, I let her. I let her grab me like a doll in one taloned hand, pressing me up against the wall, my feet just dangling from the ground and I just look at her, her giant hand swallowed up my entire torso. The girl's screams out, her voice echoing in my mind. But...I could see something coming from under the bandage across her eyes...tears...?

She brings her face closer and I couldn't stop myself from reaching out to touch the side of her face and everything went black before my eyes, as I feel myself drop into limbo.