Angelique refrained from joining in any conversation with the others. In fact she refrained from switching back to her human form, instead making herself comfortable on the hay and falling asleep there. Leave the others to their various dramas and problems, she didn't care...she was sick of dealing with them already. After all, she took care of her own problems first.
"...plans for expansion," Nicolette said, handing her a manilla folder. Taking the folder, Angelique looked through it.
"Looks fine, put their request for funding through to accounting," she said, glancing up at the clock and frowning. "That clock's still broken. Why haven't they taken it down or fixed it yet?"
The floor changed from the hard tiles of the lab to the carpet of the main offices.
"It's been almost a hundred years, I don't think they're going to fix it, Miss Moreau," her secretary said, taking the folder.
"Well somebody should do something about it," she snapped, continuing toward the door out of the room.
"Maybe you should fix it?"
Angelique paused, glancing at the clock again. "I'll look at it another time." Turning back toward the dark archway, she left the room, stepping out onto the springy grass. Apparently it had just rained, recently as storm clouds rolled overhead still and puddles of muddy water lay all over the ground.
Passing a decorative pond, Angelique glanced at it, going over to see if any of the fish were visible, but it was impossible for even her vision to penetrate the murk and gloom. Turning back to the path, she avoided several headstones as her heart seemed to skip a beat. She always hated coming here, this cemetery. It made her feel uneasy. Halfway through, she stopped, turning to her left to look at the grave markers over there. Thunder rolled overhead as a few droplets of freezing rain fell, making her shiver. Recognizing some of the markers, she began to feel sick, guilt rising, and turned to continue down the path, running. She had to get away from there...
"Hey Ladybird, where ya goin'?"
She stopped, turning to see Robert trot up to her, umbrella in hand. Trust him to remember what she forgot. Shivering slightly from the rain, she waited for him to catch up, skirt shifting around in the wind as it picked up.
"So what're you doing all the way out here?" he asked, setting his coat over her shoulders and falling in step with her, umbrella protecting the both of them from the rain.
"I just felt like a walk," Angelique said, watching birds flit around in the trees.
"A walk through a cemetery? Sounds pretty morbid."
She glanced sideways at him. "No, just...a tribute..."
Turning, she looked over the expansive plot of land where hundreds of stone markers rested, naming those who had passed on.
"So why were you here, Robert?" Angelique asked, turning back to look at him, only to blink when he wasn't there. "Robert?" The wind seemed to be picking back up.
From behind her, she felt arms wrap around her waist as her fiance pressed up against her back.
"Don't you remember, Angelique?"
"Remember what?" her heart seemed to race faster as her nerves wound themselves tight. She didn't want to know...
"I'm already dead..."
Looking down, she saw the decayed arms wrapped around her and screamed as they caught on fire, the flesh seeming to melt off of them...
Breaking away, she took off running, refusing to look back, heart pounding, breath coming in gasps. When she reached the far gate, she nearly ran into it before she slowed down enough to pull on it...
But it wouldn't budge.
"Angelique, where ya goin'?"
More familiar voices...but she didn't turn around. 'Oh gods...Ra, please open...' She pulled on the gate harder, trying to melt it, use a spell to destroy it, anything. Finally she began to climb. When she felt a hand on her ankle, she sent out a wall of flames behind her, ignoring the screams and scent of burning flesh. Dropping to the ground on the other side, she turned around to face the cemetery.
"A-angelique..."
Robert held onto the gate, flesh blackened and melting, popping, eyes pleading, hand reaching through the gate.
"Oh gods no...you're dead...you're already dead!" Closing her eyes, she tried to block out the sounds, the smells....tried to erase that last image from her memory.
"Angelique...why?" Agony, pain, confusion.
"I...it was an accident!" She dropped to her knees, no longer able to stand, let alone run. "I didn't mean to, leave me alone!" Tangling her hands in her hair, she felt the strands slipping out, falling to the ground.
Looking up, she realized that she was in her grandmother's house. With a shake of her head, she stood up and looked around. The house was dark and empty with no sign of Nicolette, making her wonder if she'd been delayed in the cemetery as well...
Angelique took a few steps toward the living room, avoiding the various pieces of broken medical equipment and spare mechanical parts that littered the floor. She stopped in her tracks and turned toward the window only to look right into the eyes sockets of a grinning skull, still wearing Robert's clothes. Bony fingers scraped down the window, causing her to scream and run toward the nearest door, throwing it open and running through.
She was in the basement. It was a long, seemingly endless hall all in white. Not a trace of color was seen anywhere except on her, not even on the clothes of the medical staff that walked silently up and down it, occasionally entering a room or leaving one. Her heart pounded as she made her way down the hall toward the nearest door.
She needed to get out of view before they decided to lock her up again.
Pushing open the door, she entered the room. It was dark with dim light filtering in through curtains drawn over the window. She walked forward, stopping beside the bed and leaning down over it. She had her kit in her hand, a heavy bag full of various implements used in ritual magic. This wasn't going to be a simple process after all. On the floor was the shell she had created. The most advanced body robotics and magic could offer currently, though still not quite human, she had faith that with time she'd be able to make it nearly as liveable as Nicolette's current human one...
At least she hoped so.
"What are you doing?" Nicolette's weak voice croaked out from the blankets before she began a coughing fit.
"Sh...it'll be okay...I'm going to save you..." Angelique assured her, pulling things out of the bag, various plants and metal bowls to burn them in. 'Please don't die...I don't think I could stand it if I lost you, too...'
A scratching at the window made her pause to look up. Going over, she drew back the curtains and screamed, jumping back from the skeletal figure that stared in again, bones scratching through the glass...
Angelique ran down the hallway away from the window, screaming. Several pairs of arms wrapped around her, forcing her to stop moving.
"NO! Stop! LET ME GO!!" She thrashed, but her arms were immobilized by a straightjacket. She fell back against the padded wall of her cell, curling up. Why was this happening...
"Looks like you've gotten yourself into quite the mess little bird," Kain said, leaning against the wall. She didn't bother ask how he'd gotten in. In fact she hadn't bothered to say much in several weeks, or was it months now?
"I'm here to rescue you," kneeling down in front of her, Kain cut the straps that held her arms pinned and pulled her up. "You remember how to walk?" When she nodded, he began to drag her forward. "C'mon..."
They ran down the hall, going further and further into it. The medical staff watched as they passed, turning toward them as if to follow. Angelique stopped looking at them, eyes closed.
'Just get me out of here...'
Kain stopped and so did she, staring around in horror as she noticed they were surrounded. Nicolette in the new robotic body watching her in anger, Robert, reaching for her...the doctors coming up from behind her. Didn't they see the SKELETONS standing in front of them?
"Come on Evelyn, let's get you back to your room..."
She looked at Kain, but he just shrugged. "I tried."
"No...NO NO NO!!!" With a sudden release of power, flames sprung up around her as the floor crumbled beneath her, sending her falling, screaming, down into the churning waters below.
With a slight jump, Angelique woke up, hay poking at her as she looked around. Everything was still dark meaning she still couldn't see anything. Her heart pounded and she suddenly wished that there was somebody there she could actually stand to be around. Huddling down, she let out a quiet, desperate chirp before trying to get back to sleep.