I've been here before.

Cold.

That was her first immediate thought upon stepping out of the portal. The location of this so called "Lab" was placed in such a precarious place, however the more she thought on it as she looked around, what place is more hidden than the middle of a deeply frozen ocean?

She looked up at the sight beyond her, a large building with a lighthouse attached to it shone over the darkness of the night with a smaller building infront of her with a sign on the wide open door. Confusion washed over the blue haired wanderer, how did she miss such a sight on her exploration travels around the world that she was forced into upon receiving that fateful letter?

...Then again, she did miss many a living space that was currently being occupied by her associates (and friends) while making her rounds so maybe she really was just unobservant...

The woman who had been so lost in her thoughts flinched upon hearing the sound of two of her companions exiting the same portal she had come through behind her. She turned to look at them. Two vampires. One with many scars along his body, a tired look in his eyes and called himself a supposed "Doctor" (whether or not that was an excuse to steal some of her blood, she still doesn't know). The other had large rabbit ears that were currently sagging on his head (Possibly exhaustion from the battle they just fought or maybe anxiety from entering the location they had just came upon? She wasn't sure.) and long flowing locks. The latter she had become quite close with, finding refuge at his shared home with his partner when she was lost.

They were both apart of the group known as "Shaftgang", a group that had setup home nearby the woman but also seemingly a magnet for the many travellers and creatures of the world as well as a magnet for "situations" that they keep finding themselves in. They had found the location of the final "target" that needed to be destroyed and required assistance from an additional member, which just so happened to be her. She wasn't sure if it was because they needed the extra firepower or if they just wanted her to be included but she still went with them due to her resilience against strong foes that she have faced before.

Upon defeating said target. The corpse had a golden key on it. The third member of the Shaftgang who called themselves "Reyes" noted that the group needed to take it to the "Final door in that lab". She was confused. Why did that whale have a key? Why did they need to kill it for that reason and.......what was this....Lab?

"Lab?" She had asked. "What Lab?".

The Doctor (known as Kay) said in a low voice "The Lab in the frozen ocean. Luminarys Headquarters."

The ride home from the Aether was a quiet one. While her companions were chatting away about various things, you could only think about the lab. Images ran through your brain like fuzzy TV static, but none of them clear enough to formulate what they could mean. Why did the idea of there being a lab in this world unnerve you like this. You shivered as if someone had ran a finger down your spine, you didn't like this. You just couldn't fully understand why.

The womans inner flashback was once again broken by the arrival of the last of her companions for this adventure. The respective partners of the two vampires. Reyes (who adorned himself with a cowboy hat) and Nox, a demon dressed in all black. They both stepped out of the portal and gravitated towards their partners. Nox grasped the rabbit eared vampires (Alexander, but they all respectfully called him Xander) hand to attempt to calm is worries down. Clearly whatever was in this Lab was unnerving them greatly. The woman then glanced over at the other two, the Doctor was staring at the door to the Lab beneath, his partner stood close to him staring at his face. It looked like he was trying to read the Doctors emotions, did he know what was beyond that unopened Door that they needed this key for? She didn't pry.

"Lady Gold" She flinched again from her long thinking session. She looked back over at Xander as he stepped forward with new found confidence (whatever Nox said to him worked really well it seems). "The lab is just through th're, tis a long climb down to the v'ry bottom". She nodded to him and turned towards the door and begun walking towards it, not saying another word. The members of Shaftgang all turned to each other, their concern going unspoken before they all nodded to each other and followed behind the Bluenette.

The silence that followed when they had reached the bottom was deafening. The soft quiet sounds of the ocean hitting the glass windows infront of them was unnerving, but not as unnerving as the pale white walls that appeared before her when she turned away from the ladder. She stepped forward slowly, familiarity hitting her slowly but she was once again unsure of why. She didnt notice how long she had been staring at the hallway until the Doctor placed his hand on her shoulder. "Are you sure you still want to go in there? There may be things you do not wish to see." he muttered to her. She let out a breath she didn't realise she was even holding in.

"Yes. I need to see it with my own eyes."

The Doctor turned towards his group and nodded at them, letting Gold take the forefront. She slowly stepped through the entry way and into the main waiting area. The walls were even paler in here, the lights letting out a droning buzz, the TVs on the wall displaying who would be next up on the list but seemingly never changing. From the perspective of the uninformed, this is seemingly just the standard front for a doctors office. But she knew there was something beneath all this, she just needed to know what.

Walking through the doors past the receptionist who didn't even seem to acknowledge the presence of the 5 travellers. She continued through the hallway containing the examining rooms, each one containing medical chairs and tables, but not a single one occupied. She travelled all they way to the back, to a door labelled "Door 1". This must be the true entrance she thought. She once again turned to her companions, each a few steps back from her. The Doctor looked at her with an unreadable expression, Xander looked towards her anxiously while gripping Nox's hand harder. Nox looked down towards his partner with a calming smile, and Reyes was still once again trying to read the Doctors face. Something was truly bothering him.

She turned and pushed the glass door open, reveal another hallway leading into a stairwell. Her mind flashed once again with familiarity but nothing was clicking at all. It was really starting to piss her off. She continued forward, chasing the incomprehensible visions that were constantly attempting to invade her mind. Her steps echoed off the empty walls and grew louder and she took the first step down the stairs. Passing a corner to more stairs, she sighed hoping this wasnt going to be the entire journey to the bottom of the lab. But passing the second corner did not prepare her for what laid before her.

Blood.

Lots of it.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, her head swung at the doors around her. The blood trails went in and out of each room, the rooms she could see had failed experiments and disgusting excrement lining the walls. The images in her head begun to flash again but this time, there was no static filter over them. They were as clear as day.

"Gold?" She was frozen staring at the floor. "Lady Gold? Is thou alright?" She couldn't hear them. It was all coming back to her instantly. As if someone was playing a horrific movie at 4 times the speed in her head. She whispered so quietly that her companions had to strain themselves just to hear it.

"It was here."

The members of Shaftgang stood confused at her words. Was this really the first time She had been to this lab? They all knew very little about the Blue Haired Vagabond or her past. They knew nothing of why she had also received the letter. But her cold and calm personality was just friendly enough for them to all be accepting of her.

Which made it all the worse when her usually unchanging stoic face turned to the 4 of them shocking them all.

It was a face of pain and hurt. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

The ever empathetic Xander begun to feel his eyes well up too. The change in his friends personality was way too sudden. He had NEVER seen her like this. He almost rushed to her side to comfort her but the Doctors voice immediatly stopped him.

"Gold, have you.....been here before?"

Gold could only respond with one thing.

"This is where it happened."

She screamed, startling the group. She clutched her left eye, visbily and audibly in extreme pain. She begun flailing around while holding her eye. Muttering sentences and words that confused them all while also screaming from pain that scared and frightened them. "This isn't right, it was gone. I saw it disappear. Why is it back. Where is she. Where is Mia?" Her companions followed her as she dipped in and out of the rooms looking for something. The words that were spoken by them were completely lost to her hearing.

The pain in her eye spiked as she neared one room. A voice in her head that she had been hearing started to scream, starting quiet before becoming increasingly louder and louder as she walked through the doors to the room. Then it started to speak words.

"IT HURTS. PLEASE. PLEASE STOP IT. PLEASE. SISTER PLEASE. PLEASE STOP IT."

The pain in her eye became too extreme. She begun opening the drawers to the cabinets in the room, looking for something, ANYTHING that could stop the pain. Reasonability completely thrown out the window. The final drawer she opened contained one thing. A small iron knife. She picked it up and stared at it right as her companions walked through the door behind her. She turned towards them. Their mouths moving in panic and horror upon seeing the knife but no words were reaching her. The only thing she could hear was that scream. Telling her to stop the pain. To put it to rest.

She turned away from them looking back down at the knife. She saw her own reflection in the sheen. But instead of seeing blue hair and gold eyes. She only saw black hair and red eyes. The figure in the reflection said only one thing to her.

"Sister. please."

She looked over her shoulder one last time at the people behind her who were advancing towards her to stop her before she stared back at the knife again.

She lifted the knife by the handle with both hands.

......and stabbed it directly into her eye.

Silence and horror befell the Shaftgang as they were all frozen watching the awful scene...

...and they could do nothing as Gold let out a bloodcurdling scream.

She fell to her knees. Hands falling to her sides as the knife was stuck in the wound before it begun to slip out, cutting the upper and lower parts of her eye deep. Before she passed out from the sudden pain and blood loss, she whispered one final thing.

"I'm sorry.........Mia."