Destroy

Ace stared at the hole in the wall, suddenly realising something.

"Was I too noisy?" he asked Cleo when he heard another voice in his head.

"What were you doing, President???"

"Sorry." He said sheepishly. "Was it that bad?"

"I am working on it!" She screamed into his head. "Please try to be stealthier. There is no point in you being invisible anyway."

"Right. I will," he said apologetically as he looked at the wall and gave it a swift kick.

It fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"President!!"

"Sorry." he laughed. "I didn't have too much of a choice."

"Please. I do not have the kind of skill you so." She begged.

"Ok. Ok." he held his hands in surrender. "I will be more careful now."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Ok. You have three minutes." And she was gone.

"Damn it." He began to run down the stairs as fast as his legs would carry him. There were a ton of stairs.

Why are there this many stairs??

"You were asking something?" Cleo asked as he continued to run down.

"Oh right," he said remembering. "I thought that the giving of the army is tomorrow? Why is it tonight all of a sudden?"

"System," it said, looking at him. "It seems better if the initiation happens tonight."

"Can they even do that?"

"Yup. They can do whatever they want. Especially now that you are causing a few minor problems in the system."

"They can do anything they want?" he asked, missing his step and he fell down the rest of the stairs, landing on his face on the last stair. "Ouch."

"Are you ok, President?" he heard two voices in his head as he tried to push himself up.

"Too. Many. Voices." He said, groaning.

"Not everything." Cleo flew to him calmly, landing on his shoulders. "But let's leave this conversation for tonight. You have bigger problems at the moment."

Ace didn't even have to ask as he took in a breath and instantly felt like throwing up.

He quickly covered his nose with his hands, eyes watering as he pushed himself off the ground.

The place he was in looks like it could be a sewer but it is very dry and relatively clean compared to it.

Slowly, he made his way forward.

"I can't take this," Cleo shouted and then disappeared.

Coward.

"President. Are you still there?"

"President?"

"I am here." He thought. "Don't worry about that. This place reeks."

"I can feel that." Fira's voice echoed in his mind. "It feels putrid."

"Are you seeing this, Leon?" he asked and the boy replied.

"Yes. Where are you?"

"In the back of his office." He said, walking slowly as he heard water leaking somewhere, there were little pitter-patter of feet all along the room.

"I don't know where I am though."

"Can you located Silas?"

"Let me try." Ace paused, trying to reach out of Silas but he was just greeted with another overwhelming stench.

Quickly reaching out to the wall, he tried to brace himself as he began to see dots all over his vision.

"Are you ok?" Leon's voice came to his head.

"Not one bit," he said, trying to take a breath in that awful stench that surrounded him. "This is just torture at this point."

"I see."

"Just ... I'll just walk forward."

"Ok."

"Hurry."

_____________

As he continued to walk, the stench grew even worse and he was finally forced to hold his breath as he ran through the endless tunnel.

Why am I not getting anywhere? He thought. How long have I been here? Isn't it already three minutes?

He suddenly paused as he heard shuffling behind him.

"So, you are here again." he heard the voice of the man from that morning.

"Mr Denvor," he said, turning around. "What are you doing down here?"

"I should be asking you that." He said, standing in the shadows, golden-green eyes gleaming. "What are you doing down here?"

"I must have gotten lost." Ace said, looking at his hands. They were still semi-transparent. So he doesn't know who he is just yet, hopefully.

"How did you even end up here to be able to get lost?" he asked, still standing in the shadows.

"I wonder that too." Ace chuckled, putting his hands behind him to summon a weapon but nothing appears. "Strange."

"Magic does not work?" The man asked, teasing.

"How did you know?" Ace teased back. "Were you keeping such a close eye on me, sir?"

"You are amusing."

"I like to think that as well," he said, tilting his head as he looked around the tunnel. "This is a nice little place you got here."

"If you like it that much, I can give it to you," he said, pearly white teeth appearing in the shadows.

"I don't like it that much." Ace chuckled, still looking around him.

There wasn't anything else except the curved roofs made out of steel, he thinks it is steel anyway.

"Shame." The man said, walking around in the shadows almost as if the shadows were connected to him. "Is there anything you would want, young man?"

"Me?"

"Yes. Is there anyone else here for me to talk to?" He laughed. "Come, tell me."

"I don't really have anything," he said, thinking. "Oh, wait. I have one thing."

"And that is?"

"Do you happen to know where my friend is?" he asked, holding his hand out to about his ribs high as if the man could see. "He is about this height. Light blue hair, almost like that ... hmmm."

He stared at the clump of blue hair on the man's hands, smile still evident on his face.

"This?"

"Yes," he said cautiously. "Looks like some kind of thread, right?"

"It does," he said, looking at the hair in his hands. "Lovely colour if you asked me. Beautiful."

"Yes," he said, again, observing his face. "May I know where you got that?"

"A little girl came into this place asking for a … 'boon'. I granted it to her and got her hair in exchange." he said, snapping his fingers and a pile of blue hair fell to the ground.

There was something red staining the roots of the hair and he heard something splat when the clump of hair hit the ground.

Frowning, he did not wish to know what happened but he could guess as he stared at the hair.

"Do you wish to take revenge on me?" he asked, laughing.

"No," Ace said nonchalantly.

"What? Why are you not mad?" he asked, almost hissing in anger.

"Why would I feel angry?" Ace asked tilting his head to the side. "You seem to be the one getting angry though."

"Why? Why aren't you mad??" He shouted, almost growing twice his size immediately. "This was your dear friend. Why are you not mad??"

"I don't know," he said staring as the man finally came out of the shadows and he frowned looking at his face. "Damn dude. You need some help."

His neck was ten times as long as a giraffe's and his face looked like is as about to split in two.

"Youuuu!"

"Yes?" Ace laughed. "Did you wish to say something? Why are you so agitated?"

"Yo-!" It shouted and charged at Ace who refused to move until he was inches from his face and a long stick pierced through his skull, making him fall dead.

"What do you think you are doing??" Ace became visible again as he looked up and smiled at the boy in the same uniform walking to him.

"Nice to meet you too, Silas," he said, smiling brightly at him.

"Forget that." he grabbed him by the collar and shook him. "You could have died!!"

"Does that matter?" he asked, tilting his head to the side again. "I really need to stop doing that."

"You should. You are insane aren't you?" he asked, clenching his teeth.

"I hope I am not." Ace chuckled. "What's wrong? You and that ... thing are so mad at me for no reason."

"That 'thing' is going to wake up at any minute. We have to go." He said, suddenly realising the situation they were in. "We need to leave. Now."

"What do you mean? We came down here to try and find him." Ace said, looking at the man's long twisted neck and mouth agape. "We found him. Though not in the way we thought we would."

"Now is not the time." Silas angrily grabbed Ace's hand and pulled him down one path but they never seem to reach an end. They just continued to walk and walk and walk.

"What on earth?" Ace asked, looking around him. "What is happening here?"

"Just destroy this place and we will get out," Silas said turning to Ace.

"Ok."

Ace was about to summon his magic again when they heard a voice, "Silas?"

His eyes widened immediately and he looked at Ace before taking off.

"Beatrix!"

"Wait! What is happening here?" Ace called out but the boy did not stop. Sighing, he ran after him. "Silas! Wait!"