It took four and a half hours.
-x-
I stood, my knees shaking less from nervousness and more from exhaustion. I couldn't tell how much of my pain was psychosomatic – this was all in my head, but the damage felt real enough to me.
The moment I tried bouncing on my heels to get ready for a charge, or a dodge, or anything at all, I heard a clicking noise. Clacks and whirs vibrated through the stone beneath my bare feet, and I could feel as gears and mechanisms turned and spun.
All of my body's weight threw itself forward as I dodged the head of an axe from above. A spear rose from the opening floor to meet my gut, and I turned to let it stab past me as I stumbled and lost sight of Larry.
When my feet touched the ground again, I waited. That was the first time in minutes that Larry had tried using traps to kill me. What changed?
He wasn't in my sight, but he was using these kinds of traps whether I could see him or not. There had to be a reason he stopped. So I waited, because at any moment a battering ram might swing into me.
Nothing – once again, Larry was waiting. But why?
I considered the way the world around me moved when, only seconds before, I tried shifting locales in the middle of the air. There was a delay in this world, one that couldn't be detected at ground level.
That meant that this world was traveling with me, as I moved. That also meant it had walls, and those walls were clearly staying a relatively even distance away from wherever I was.
Whenever the world around me shifted, it only did so when I moved. But when I moved, I wasn't trying to jump from Larry's world to the temple, or to the train station. No, I was still here.
I ran forward.
Each step triggered something new. A trip wire snapped, and blades sang through the air as they tried to cut me to ribbons. My Zanpakuto shattered them easily enough, but the column of stone that swung up from in front of me to impede my path and catch my legs was harder to block.
So I climbed it. I leapt up, feeling the muscles of my feet change slightly as they warped and extended. It was a minor chimeric transformation, but it proved more than sufficient as I rolled over the pillar and kept going.
My feet hadn't touched the ground before chains ending in knives began dropping from the ceiling. And, mid-air, I shifted backwards. I tried to move myself through my own mind as fast as I could, but only a few feet back.
I watched the chains swerve as if they were jerked in a certain direction. Then, standing still, I severed them with my Zanpakuto and watched them drop to the floor in pieces.
Silence again.
I waited for another trap, but now I knew none would come.
Because that was the trick of Larry's world – I could only move so far as Larry let me. And as long as my feet were on the ground, or as long as some part of me was touching a part of Larry's world, I would be on his personal treadmill. I could run anywhere I wanted, but I wouldn't move a single foot – even if I tried shifting locations.
However, if I did that mid-air, then this dimension would move to follow me. More than that, I learned something even more crucial. These traps that Larry was sending at me required me to move.
They weren't something Larry could do any time he wanted. They were procedurally generated, and needed me to travel a given path before they actually started trying to kill me. He'd waited before, trying to lull me into a false sense of security.
But now I knew. I wasn't sure if Larry knew that I knew that.
And yet… did that really matter?
From the fog, I saw shining light soar towards me as Larry tried to decapitate me with his knife. A blade of golden light extended from its edge and carved partway through the stone floor as his arm swung.
I clapped my hands and grasped raw sunlight as I breathed. The conversion of breathing into raw, sun energy was nothing in the face of someone who consumed the power of plutonium. In seconds, the energy around his blade had vanished.
My Zanpakuto swung at him in turn, golden light exploding from them as they struck. The power of the sun reflected back at Larry did little to harm him, but did everything to distance him from me.
Not by much. By maybe a foot. But now, he was in the air.
I hopped.
I shifted.
Suddenly, the far wall of Larry's world came toward the two of us and struck him in the back, pulling his body towards me as I thrust out my Zanpakuto. "Got you!" I snarled.
Panic filled Larry's eyes as his knife intercepted my Zanpakuto, holding them both in place and forcing them to cross over him and wedge into the stone. He was pinned, but I still had two hands.
They glowed with hollow power. "CERO!" I punched at him, an explosion of energy being deflected by his club. My other fist followed, "CERO!" Another deflection with his trench club, and each of Larry's motions required the least amount of effort as we continued shifting backwards as fast as I could force us to.
Any sense of direction abandoned us as my fists began to blur.
"CEROCEROCEROCEROCEROCEROCEROCEROCEROCERO!"
Flashing colors, rainbows of energy exploded between us as Larry's sparking form held off my attacks with raw sunlight and sheer, stubborn effort. He twisted his shoulder, and swung back. My wrists snapped.
But my maw extended, and I glared at him with a single, bestial eye as my mouth opened. Energy dripped out between my fangs, and I roared.
"GRAN REY CERO!"
There was no defending against it as the blast struck true and pushed Larry back against the wall of his world.
Cracks spread out behind him like an extending spider web of destruction. Stone ground against itself as the power of my attack seeped through Larry's body and began igniting the damage with psychedelic, rainbow lights.
Still he healed, and just as I reached out to take back the Philosopher's Stone that kept Larry alive, the world collapsed around us. He flew free of my attack, stumbling into the darkness as I collapsed. A hole we formed in our battle high above us dribbled sand to the floor tiles as it slowly closed.
Darkness. Then, light. Torches ignited around us as I turned and ran towards the center. Countless empty, wooden shelves stood in every direction. If I focused, I could see thousands of text books of various sizes and colors all the way back along the furthest walls from our battle.
Footsteps echoed not far behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see the shadows cast from Larry's twisted form. Bright red flashes of light signified that he was healing the damage done to him, and all the while he continued to follow.
I grinned as I reached the center of this place, and came to a stop. Then, slowly and deliberately, I sheathed my blades and took a seat as Larry charged into the torchlight to stab at me.
His hideous form went still, forced to a stop as a hand wrapped around his wrist. Behind him, dressed in a toga and wearing a metal helmet, a familiar canine face snarled down at him.
Hermanubis' eyes were usually filled with some kind of mirth or a light of "I know something you don't know". In the presence of Larry, they had turned to pits of pure, raw disgust.
And behind me, a giant weighing scale sat. A feather on one end, and nothing on the opposite.
Larry was already turning to stab at Herman with his knife, but the demigod in my soul was faster. With his other hand, he bitchsmacked Larry hard enough to dislocate his jaw and knock the blade from his hand.
Herman stepped forward, his foot collapsing Larry's kneecap with a loud crack, and he plunged his free hand down. First, it tore a hole below the former man's ribcage. Then he flexed his arm and pushed it up higher.
It reminded me of someone stuffing a turkey.
There was a tearing sound, sparks exploding out as Herman ripped out Larry's pumping, beating heart. There, embedded into it, an infinitely recursive Philosopher's Stone glowed and grew. It was a partly melted thing that seemed to cake the organ like caramel to an apple.
It clung to Larry's heart, and stank of rot and ozone.
Herman lifted his foot, still pinning Larry's shattered knee to the floor, and kicked him in the throat hard enough to toss him to the wall of a room. His body struck it, then slid down to a stop on the floor while Herman marched to the scale. Every other footstep painted the floor a blackish red.
There were no final words of judgment. There was nothing left to be said that hadn't been said already as Herman placed the heart on the opposite side of the scale and leered at Larry. There was plenty of loathing there.
…And maybe a flicker of pity as the scale lifted the feather.
Now, he sighed. "…I don't think there are any stories of men who come here and fail this test." Hermanubis said, "Am I wrong, Poe?"
I shook my head. "You're not."
Herman nodded. "Lots of tales of consequence, but there really are no depictions of this actually happening in the original myths." He hmm'd to himself and lifted the heart from its place on the scale. "I suppose, then, that we'll be making history."
With a casual toss, he threw it over his shoulder. From the dark, I heard a padding of heavy feet as Amit leapt into the air and caught the organ with her crocodile jaw. She gnawed on it, tearing it to pieces. Even as she did, I saw the sunlight flee from Larry's body as the rot set in.
But when he tried to stand and move towards us, he collapsed. His legs were melting. All of him was. His mouth opened to scream, but only hissing came out as his incredibly long nose turned to slush and dripped to the floor.
I wanted to look away, but didn't dare. Not in the off chance that he might have some other trick up his sleeve, even after a point of no return like this. It didn't matter how awful it was to watch, I'd have less peace of mind if I averted my gaze as his blackened body bubbled like tar and burst in splashes and splotches that stained the corner.
His remains dried quickly, resembling ink stains if not for the unmistakable human shape they took. His club fizzled and melted into the sludge, fading to nothing. And his knife was away from us both, stuck into a wall from Herman's earlier strike.
There was another, long-lasting hiss.
Silence.
…
…I looked at Hermanubis. "Thanks."
He shrugged. "Just doing what I was based on," he tried to pass it off. "You thought this scale was just for show? I'm as perfectly adequate at judging others as that Rider fellow."
"Ah." I exhaled. "So he really was guilty." It felt a little hard to breathe, and I shuddered as I felt my body slowly heal from the damage of my fight. My chest ached.
"…Yes. With enough time, and enough evil, anyone could be killed without a single soul to mourn them." He paused, the sound of Amit's gnawing the only thing that could be heard. "I suppose that makes what you did here admirable."
"Euthanizing him?"
"Crying for him."
"Ah… I, uh… I–" I hiccupped, "I'm not crying for this bastard. He murdered kids. He was an unabashed psychopath."
"He wasn't always." Hermanubis sighed, "And of course you're not. Just breathe, Poe. George L. Joestar II died a century ago. Just think of this as a reburial."
I tried to do that.
…That still didn't stop my eye from burning. Fuck, why was I doing this?
"Not working?" He asked, "In that case, think of what you'll tell Medusa when you leave."
My hands fell to the floor as I stood myself up. "Yeah," I trailed off. "Yeah, you're right." I slapped my cheek a few times, "Fight's done, let's go. Okay… Okay…" Deep breaths, "Meds is gonna flip her lid when she hears about this." I tried to smile.
"That's the ticket." Herman clapped me on the shoulder. He chuckled, but it sounded forced. "And while you're at it, you tell her I said hello."
"Why? So you can hear her call you a mutt?"
"Call it a childish pleasure of mine." Now the laugh felt genuine as I stepped away, watching as books and book cases floated back into their proper places one by one, bit by bit. I shut my eye…
…and I opened it to a blurry ceiling. I blinked a few times, and my vision cleared. My legs felt… better. I moved, slowly getting myself out of bed. My steps were uneven as I walked, and my hand reached out to grasp the doorknob.
It opened for me. Cana stood on the other side of it, easily dwarfed by my height. "Mister Poe! You're up!"
Not the first face I expected to see now that I could walk again, but I'd take it. "Hell yes I'm up," I offered her a grin. "And I bet Meds'll be happy to see me!"
"…Oh… Oh, you wouldn't know…" Cana's voice was uncertain.
My smile faded. "Wouldn't know what?"
"Miss Medusa is… you've been asleep for a long time, Mister Poe."
"The hell?" I blinked, "How long have I been out?"
"Three weeks." Makarov's voice shook me as I saw him step out from behind Cana. "You've been asleep for three weeks, Poe. And your…" he searched for the word. Girlfriend? Wife? "Lover, is currently searching for one of ours."
"Who?"
"My…" Makarov paused. He took a deep breath, "My son, and my grandson, are missing. Medusa offered to find them. She asked us to tell you when you woke up that if she wasn't here then we were to assume the worst.
"We don't know where she is.
"I'm sorry."
…
…
…Fuck you, Larry.
-x-
One Foot on the Platform
OR: One Foot on the Train
End-312
