Agnes' Awakening

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah presses her face into Lionel's shoulder and sobs. "I was so frightened," she sniffles. "I didn't know what he was going to do to me. And then he sent me down alone into that horrible place. It was some huge underground cave with tracks leading off."

"It's all right, Sarah," says Lionel, hugging her. "We're here now, and everything's going to be okay soon. I was afraid I would lose you, but now that we're together again we'll get through this. I think we're going to have to go down there to set things to rights. I need you to be brave. You were fearless earlier, and you can be again."

"Fearless? That doesn't sound like me."

"You weren't like that before, but you've come through everything stronger. You saved my life. I'm so proud of you, Sarah."

"I did? I can't remember any of this."

"You will, in time."

"Thank you so much for finding me. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there, you and Agnes. I...I'm sorry, Agnes, I can't remember you. Are we sisters?"

[kabukiman]

-No, we actually just met some hours ago. I knew your father and tried to help him.

[Mr. Handy]

"Well, I'm glad you did," says Sarah. She smiles, though it can't be seen in the dark. "It's nice meeting you...again. So, where are we and what is happening?"

"It's not going to be easy for you to hear this, Sarah," says Lionel, holding her tight. "We're in Mercy Cross Hospital, where we worked. I'm afraid that the world as we know it is no more, but we have a chance to set things right and restore everything the way it was before. If we succeed, even those who have died may live again. Basically, a wave passed over the world turning almost everyone in it to ash. We survived, along with various others, because we were sealed in protected environments when it hit."

Sarah's knees go weak, but her father supports her. "Oh, God..."

"I'm sorry to say that it got worse than that. There are monsters roaming around, and it seems that our fears can become reality."

"How could this have happened?"

"There is a being, referred to as a 'taboo,' that is hidden underneath this very hospital. In fact, that lift may go down to its lair. It was accidentally unearthed a long time ago, but it was kept in check when it was discovered, also by accident, that betraying and sacrificing someone could suppress it for a while. The people who found it later learned that sacrificing an innocent child could keep it down for seven years."

"How horrible!"

"Yes, it is. I learned all of this from Louie, a janitor who worked in the hospital who was part of this secret group of people until he broke away from it. They were grooming a little orphan girl named Brianna to be the next sacrifice, and Louie was supposed to be the one who betrayed her. He couldn't go through with it, though. The taboo had already awakened by this point - Louie said it was because they reduced the sacrifices to every ten years - and that is what caused all of this to happen. The taboo got the attention of something from outside our world that came here searching for it, and it used the ashing wave to try to find it. The ash helps it search somehow. What I think we need to do is find the taboo ourselves and lead this otherworldly entity to it. I'm hoping that the entity will take the taboo away with it, leaving the world alone. I believe this will also restore everything to the way it was, so that none of this destruction will have ever happened. Even if that doesn't work, the world should still be free of these beings' influence, and we'll be able to rebuild it."

[kabukiman]

-By the way, I heard a voice telling me how we could end this, I think it was that man, Blackworth. We should go deeper inside, how did he say? "further inside, and unleash the god and hope he doesn't destroy the world when he is leaving If you survive the journey." or something like that.
Agnes don't tell the first part of the talk.

[Mr. Handy]

"You and I know him better as Daniel Scott, Agnes," says Lionel. "He was the air raid warden, if you recall."

"Air raid warden?" asks Sarah.

"Yes, I somehow ended up going back in time to 1941, which is where I met Agnes. We eventually returned to the present through some equally unknown means. Daniel got taken over by the entity that did this to the world, and you and Dahlia had to use a special powder to stop it. Unfortunately, he got turned into ash too."

"Who's Dahlia?"

"She's a little girl who was at the hospital. You've been keeping her safe and looking after her, and you've taken a real shine to each other. I always knew you'd make a wonderful mother, Sarah."

"Where is she now?"

"I wish I knew. There were several of us in the helicopter. A monster tore it open and everything went dark. When I awakened, there was nobody else around. I saw the helicopter's wreckage up in the trees, but I was lying on the ground. It's possible that she's still up there, but I didn't have time to look. I heard you screaming and had to hurry to find you. You formed a close bond with Brianna too, and so did I. She's been like a second daughter to me. I saw her fall out of the helicopter when it opened up, but I have hope that she's still alive somewhere."

"This is all so confusing."

"Believe me, you're not the only one who's confused. Agnes, when you saw Daniel and he talked to you, that wasn't the first time something like that happened. Sarah told me earlier that she saw her mother, who spoke to her. I wish I could have seen her again too."

"You mean my mother...is dead?"

"I'm sorry, Sarah. It was a long time ago, when you were little. We've always had each other, though. We were apart when all of this started, but I knew I'd see you again, and that thought kept me going even when all of those years separated us."

Sarah clings to Lionel as memories start to tricle back. "Please, don't ever leave me."

"Not if I have anything to say about it, I won't. I love you so much, Sarah."

"I love you too, Daddy." Sarah hugs him, and they say nothing for a little while.

"We're going to need some light sources before we go down there," Lionel says at last.

"I've got this lighter, but that's all I have. We'll need something better than that." Sarah flicks the lighter on and takes a good look around.

[Laraqua]

The faint light from the lighter is almost blinding after all this darkness but they can see again after a few moment's blinking. The room seems to have been badly damaged. A set of steel shelving against one wall has been yanked down, the items in it swept into a corner, and several of the bars that ring the moving platform have been sheared off leaving little stubs behind. There's grubby handprints everywhere, child-sized, reaching up high and down low and all around them. The goods on the steel shelving seem to be mostly candles and even some flashlights but they've been shattered, no, pulverised against the floor before being swept into that corner.

The Emergency Wardens are bound to have flashlights at their desks in case the Emergency Power somehow went out.

[Mr. Handy]

"We'd better go back the way we came for now," says Lionel. "We need to find the Emergency Wardens' desks. They'll have torches there."

Sarah nods and puts her arms around her father's waist. "Okay, let's go," she says. As they walk, she flicks the lighter off for a short time every so often to let it cool before flicking it back on again, waiting in place rather than risking stumbling through the darkness. They return through the busted-open door and look around the room on the outside.

[Laraqua]

They find themselves in a long corridor that heads in an L-shape from this location. It takes Lionel a few moments but he soon recalls where he is after checking the labels on a few doors and some of the hanging signs. The Emergency Area just down the hall would have Emergency Warden equipment in the office behind the counter.

[Mr. Handy]

"I know where we are," says Lionel. "This way, it's not far." He leads Sarah and Agnes carefully towards the Emergency Area.

[kabukiman]

Agnes follow more relieved, since she has now company.

[Laraqua]

They make their way through the darkness into the emergency area and find a large room with the shattered emergency room doors. There seems to be a crack of light, almost like a chink, in one of the doors behind the emergency room counter. The glass window that should have been transparent is black and roiling inside, yet there is still that chink of light. Behind the reception desk are chairs and filing cabinets and a few other cupboards. The Emergency Warden kit and flashlights should be on the counters.

[kabukiman]

Agnes start looking for them.

[Mr. Handy]

"They should be on the counters," whispers Lionel as he guides Sarah over, "That room back there seems to have a light on too. We might want to check that out next, but carefully." Lionel and Sarah also search the counters.

[Laraqua]

There's a couple of yellow tin helmets and three flashlights in one of the cupboards near the compulsory emergency first aid kit.

[Mr. Handy]

"Ah, here we are," says Lionel softly as he distributes the torches. "Putting on the helmets would be a good idea too, considering where we're headed. Sarah, you should take the first aid kit. I still have that excellent paramedic's kit that I got from Jennifer."

"Who's Jennifer?" asks Sarah, picking up the first aid kit. "I don't remember her."

"You never met her, but you'd have liked her. She worked at the cinema."

OOC,Are there only two helmets, or are there three?

[Laraqua]

Show,Three.

[kabukiman]

-What hapened to her?-asks Agnes as she puts the helmet.

[Mr. Handy]

Lionel and Sarah also put on their helmets. "She went back to 1941 as well," says Lionel, "but we arrived separately and in the middle of an air raid. Sadly, she was killed. I almost bought a plot myself, but I survived with a head wound, trapped under the rubble. Daniel found me and dug me out, and I was able to treat my injury on the spot. Otherwise I'd have had to stay in hospital. It's a good thing I didn't. Doctors make the worst patients. I helped Daniel look for other survivors, thinking correctly that I wasn't the only one who'd gone back in time. I found Jennifer, but it was too late for her. Ronald and Brianna went back too, and we later ran into them." He listens carefully at the door with the light behind it.

[Laraqua]

He can't hear anything.

[Laraqua]

He can't hear anything.