After leaving the outdoor patio, Aria and Sonata roamed the land in the rain.
"it is good that the camera be antiwater" Aria said.
"I can't see anything" Sonata said, taking Aria by the arm.
"Me neither, the thunders barely lets me see a thing" said Aria.
The rain was terrible. Luckily, they found a small hut which had many tools. It was perfect to take a break, and to avoid the worst of the cold.
"Ari, I'm cold" Sonata said shaking.
"I know, but there's nothing here to warm us up" Aria said.
"But-"
"We must continue, there is no time to stop" Aria said.
Before Aria could continue, she felt something heavy on her.
"What the…?"
Sonata was the something holding her.
"Hey! Let me go!" Aria said.
"Please..." whispered Sonata.
"What?" Aria said.
She looked up at Aria's eyes with her pleading.
"Please… Just a second..." She was about to cry.
"Uh..." Aria said blushing. "Fine, it's fine" she replied.
And so they were for a while, silent for approximately 10 minutes.
"Sonata" called Aria. "Sorry" she said.
"I'm sorry too, sorry to be a nuisance to you" Sonata said.
"You are not a nuisance to me. Without you, I would have gone crazy in this place" Aria said.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Sonata asked curiously. "You're always picking on me and hitting me" she said.
"Sometimes you make me angry, and your stupidity bothers me" Aria said. "But... that does not mean I don't need to worry about you... you and Adagio are the only things left that I... I do not want to lose" Aria said blushing.
"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me!" Sonata said, happily bearhugging the stronger Aria.
"Y-Yeah," Aria said, still blushing. "You ready to go back outside?" she asked.
"No. But we have no other options" Sonata said.
"True. Are you okay?" Aria asked.
"Better when I'm with you" Sonata said happy and innocent.
Those words put more red on Aria's face.
"All right. Let's keep going" Aria said, separating from Sonata.
Sonata took her hand, which did not seem to bother Aria. They opened the door and continued on their way.
They continued until a wall. On the wall was written in blood: "How alive are you?"
Thunder echoed through the night, and for a moment Aria saw in her camera the black silhouette of a person, but it seemed to be floating.
"Aria..." called Sonata nervously.
"I know, I saw it too" Aria replied. "Do not fall behind" said.
They advanced, following the figure for 20 minutes. They tried to find a way back inside, but every door was sealed. They continued walking, jumping, and climbing objects for an entry. They came to end in the administration unit.
"We're close" Aria said.
"I hope so, I can not stand anymore rain, I'm sick" Sonata said rubbing her nose.
"Me neither, but okay, at least no sick haunts us" Aria said walking.
They walked around the building trying to find a door or window, being very careful indeed not to be seen by some patient-variant. If that happened, it would not be good; they could kill them... or worse.
The bright side is that Aria found many batteries for her camera; they wouldn't know what to do without it. They followed and they wandered around without success. They jumped a gate to the main courtyard, the thunder was her only illumination. They found a passage that appeared to lead them inside.
"Here it is, we just have to find a way to get there" said Aria relieved.
"Ari? You hear that?" called a nervous Sonata.
Suddenly, a strange sound was heard, they seemed to be steps, but there was something heavier, as if it were dragging a chain.
"I do not want to find out" said Aria, her hand pulling Sonata.
Once on the other hand, saw a straight path, with steps at the end, they moved forward ... but a thunderbolt fell close, illuminating the stage in front of them. There was the big fat variant. Chris Walker.
"RUN!!!!!" Aria yelled, retreating.
Now they ran back down the same path as before, until a kind of stage. Aria thought if she could go around, they could return to where they wanted to go. They made it and went down to a rock wall with a hole at the bottom they could crawl through. First Sonata, and just when the fat varient neared, Aria came out. They go and... Thanks to Celestia!...they got rid of the fat.
"We... We did it?" asked Sonata, exhausted.
"For now, luckily the monster is too potbellied to get us" Aria said, equally exhausted.
That caused a little laughter in Sonata. Aria smiled.
"What do we do now?" Sonata asked a little quieter.
"Search for Miles in the women's pavilion" Aria said, rising from the ground.
"I thought you did not want to look?" said Sonata confused.
"Yes, but as you said earlier, maybe he can help us. Besides..." Aria trailed off.
"You also have faith that Adagio will be with him?" asked Sonata.
"Yes..." Aria answered seriously.
"We'll find her, but we must continue" Sonata said.
"Okay" Aria said, her arm taking Sonata. "Let's move"
They reached the women's pavilion, tried to enter the door without success. Then they went through the yard: in it, there was a fountain outside the madhouse full of blood. Five bodies laid on it.
"Damn... There's so much blood in the water that I can smell it," thought Aria nervously.
"I think I'm gonna puke" Sonata said, lightheaded.
"Calm down, calm down, hold on a little more" Aria said, moving away from the fountain.
They surrounded the source to find an open window with some boxes on the floor to help them climb.
Once they were inside a room in the administration block, they walked a little to see that, right in the middle of the room, there was a blockage of wood debris.
"Oh no. I'm getting tired of this place" Sonata said.
"Me too, but we have no other options" said Aria recharging her camera. "Now, we will go for the upper floors to find Miles" she said, looking up from the rubble at the door.
"How long will it take us?" asked Sonata.
"One hour. Maybe two" Aria said, unsure.
"Rats..." said Sonata, annoyed.
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After hours of walking through the huge maze of a hospital, and escaping from several variants, they finally they came to a staircase, but even these were broken halfway. They had to jump.
"Are you okay?" Aria asked, tired.
"Just... give me a break..." Sonata said between breaths.
Aria took advantage of Sonata's rest to check the place out. As usual, it was not very different from the other places, all dirty and messy, but there was something that caught her attention: on a desktop there were some candles illuminating the wall for her. On it were some words written with blood, saying: "Follow the blood"
"What's the plan now Ari?" Sonata asked, standing up from the ground.
"Follow the blood. Come on" Aria said.
They continued walking until they found themselves in a dark hallway. They found an alternative "road" that turned a corner, but the only way to get to unbroken planks was to slide along a small wooden ledge covered in blood and jump across a wide stretch of missing boards.
"It's a painful looking fall" Sonata said, peering down.
"Stay close" said Aria, moving forward.
They walked down the narrow path, taking care not to fall. Next they had to jump from the ledge, a clear way. First it was Aria, who managed to do it without problems, and then Sonata, with some help from Aria to climb across. Judging by the beds everywhere, they were in a room for the sick. There was a big hole that looked out onto the level below, as if something or someone had fallen through.
They toured several similar rooms, looking for the way forward. For a moment, Sonata thought she saw a black cloud in the halls. They followed these corridors to find a door. Another room.
"I feel like we're walking in circles" whispered Sonata.
"Me too" Aria whispered. "But I think now we can find a way" she said, walking towards a door.
They were in another room, or what was left of it. The place was torn apart, literally. It was a challenge to cross it without falling to the floor below. They were more careful in this place. They jumped, slid along the wall, and the door led to another. It was a difficult jump, but anyone who might fall could scale the structure without any problems.
"Ready to jump?" asked Aria.
"Nope. But we better go" Sonata said.
"I'll go first, then I can help you" Aria said.
She was prepared, and took a big jump, but she made it.
"Your turn Sonata, and take care, this is slippery" Aria said.
Sonata pulled back a little, to get a little speed going, she ran and jumped... but her foot slipped.
"A-Aria!" shouted Sonata as she began to fall.
There was no time, Aria reacted quickly, both hands grabbing Sonata by the arm. She dropped the camera.
"No!" Aria and Sonata shouted together.
Sonata attempted to catch it, but it fell through a hole to the lower floor. Aria hurried to pull her up, seeing that someone wanted to enter, but the body only stood at the door before left.
"A-Aria. I- I'm sorry. I did not mean…"
"That doesn't matter. What matters is you're okay" Aria said, rubbing the shoulder of the younger girl.
There was a problem: the way they should go was too dark to continue without the camera.
"We have to recover the camcorder, we need it to move through the darkness" Aria said.
"I will go. It's my fault. I'll get it" Sonata said firmly.
"No" Aria said.
"Don't try to sto-"
"We'll go together" she replied with a slight smile.
Sonata nodded happily. They went downstairs and went through the nearest door.
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Outside the prison in a tower, Sunset and Adagio decided to travel the corridor in front of them.
"But what-?"
"Shhh!" whispered Sunset, stopping.
They stopped, seeing a dark mass at the end of the corridor, its shadow passing just below their feet. Only a few floor tiles separated them from the door.
"What is that?" Adagio asked nervously.
"Whatever it is, it didn't attack us. Why not?" replied Sunset.
"Doesn't matters! Can we move on? Please?" Adagio said.
"Sure. Let go" Sunset said, moving forward.
The hall ended in a door, luckily it was not locked. They continue down the dark corridor, the only way was to the left, another door open to the outside.
"Great, outside again" Adagio said sarcastically.
"Relax, there's always another way" said Sunset.
This place was not as dangerous as the last. Her only option was to go through the drain of water.
"Over here" said Sunset stepping into the water, which reached her knees.
"Are you crazy?!" Adagio said, disgusted. "It's tap water! I will not go in there" she said.
"First, it's not drain water, it is dirty rain water; and secondly, it's not a big deal" Sunset said.
"Even so, I will not go into it" Adagio said.
"Oh, come on! Will you not start again? Or will you?" said Sunset, upset.
"Easy for you to say, you have clothes at home but I do not!" said Adagio upset, and a little hurt.
Sunset felt a little bad, wearily sighed and headed back to Adagio.
"Okay, look, I'll take you" Sunset said, extending her hand.
"How do you plan to do that?" asked Adagio.
"I'll carry you above the water" Sunset said. "Now, come on"
"If you try to take me, rest assured that we will both fall" Adagio said turning around "Besides, no offense, but you're not so strong."
Suddenly, Adagio felt something tugging at her arm.
"AAAHHHH!!" she screamed, scared.
"You want to keep quiet?" said Sunset. "You want those crazy men to come for us?" she asked.
Adagio stopped when she saw that Sunset was carrying her bridal style.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?! Put me down!" said Adagio, upset and flustered.
"You didn't want to ruin the only clothes you have left? Then I'll take you to the edge" Sunset said.
"I said no-"
"No. You listen to me," Sunset said firmly. "I understand. You do not want to get dirty. Seriously, do not worry, I will not let you down" she said, starting to walk.
Adagio was surprised at that, no one had ever been so kind to her before.
"By the way, take care of the camera" Sunset said with a smile.
"Heh, don't worry, I'll got it" Adagio said taking the camera.
Sunset led Adagio to the other side, surrounded by some security fences.
"Which way now?" asked Adagio.
"There are stairs out there, let's go" Sunset said, setting Adagio down carefully.
They climbed those stairs, and ran into one of the towers of the prison, having decided to enter. They passed through a gate to get in front of the tower, but had to go through another locked door. Luckily, there was a big hole below, they entered crouching and found themselves facing what was a body of one of the inmates.
"Why is it that every place we go there are bodies?" asked Adagio.
"Better we find them dead than alive" Sunset said.
Ignoring the body, they entered the tower. There was not much to see, only pipes and chains. On the other hand, there were more stairs, many more stairs. They started walking.
"Sunset?" called Adagio.
"Yeah" said Sunset.
"You know where to go?" she asked.
"Honestly no, but we can not stay in one place for long" Sunset answered.
The stairs ended by a gap that prevented them from advancing. So they had to jump. Sunset went first and she did it smoothly, then went Adagio, who struggled to land, but Sunset helped her up.
They continued their way down the very long set of stairs until they continued on a straight path, which led to more stairs. These went up and continued a little longer, finally finding a window that led outside. In spite of being in a very high place, the fog prevented them from seeing much.
"I did not think it was very big, this place" Adagio said.
"Me either" said Sunset, who used the camera to see better.
Things that could see clearly was the main building of asylum, where the entrance was.
"That's where we have to go" Adagio said.
"We will... but how?" Sunset said.
There was no path to follow.
"We could jump" suggested Adagio.
"You're kidding right?" Sunset said. "Look at that, we are like 5 meters away, not to mention the fall," she said looking at the missing metal space.
"I listened your suggestions, yet you can't listen to mine?" Adagio said, a little annoyed.
"But this could kill us!" Sunset said.
"We could have also been killed in your ideas" Adagio said. "I trusted you, why you can not trust me?" she asked.
"It's not that, I-"
"As you wish, I'll go" she said, preparing herself.
"What? No! Wait!" shouted Sunset.
But Adagio had jumped. She managed to grab hold of a table, trying to climb but could not as the table broke away.
"AAAAHHHH!!" Adagio screamed as she fell.
"ADAGIO!" Sunset screamed.
Impulsively, Sunset jumped, quickly grabbin Adagio and covered her with her own body, and fell together through a roof. Fortunately, the splintered wood cushioned their fall.
"Ugh!" said an achy Adagio. "But what-"
Her words stopped when she realized she was on top of Sunset.
"I'm sorry! I did not mean... "Adagio blushing said, turning away.
But Sunset was knocked out.
"Sunset? Sunset, wake up" Adagio trying to wake said girl.
And she succeeded.
"Ugh! Ouch! "Sunset said, sitting and holding her ribs.
"Sunset, I-"
"Are you okay?" asked Sunset.
"I am, but you-"
"No matter Adagio, I'm fine, it was just a scratch" Sunset said, trying to smile.
"I'm sorry. It was a bad idea" said Adagio guiltily.
"There it was, had to risk it" Sunset said. "Look at the bright side, we are closer to the exit" she said trying to encourage the siren. It was not so easy.
"Hey, I'm fine, really" said Sunset rising. "You see?"
"You... sure?" asked Adagio, uncertain.
"Very sure. Here" Sunset said, offering her hand to the siren, to help her up.
Which Adagio accepted with a genuine smile on her face. After getting up and shaking the dust off their clothes, they examined the place.
They were in a warehouse, there were wooden boxes everywhere, not to mention dirt.
After looking at the place, Sunset examined the hole where they had fallen. It seemed strange, it were bigger than the two of them together, maybe someone had fallen too?
"We keep going?" Adagio call.
"Sure, let's go" Sunset said, walking.
They came to a maze of boxes and storages. They also heard voices, different voices, footsteps. Soon they realized that the voices were not from individuals but of a single man, a variant. He was talking to himself.
"That's crazy" Adagio whispered.
"Not so much, many people hide second personalities, some have three or even four" whispered Sunset. "Besides, I do not think what he says are lies"
They continued through the maze, listening to footsteps and strange sounds. They ended up against a man who watched them.
"Oh no..." said Adagio.
"Wait, is he dead... or rather hanging?" Sunset asked in a whisper.
Indeed, the body hung in the maze of boxes and warehouses. He must have believed the best way to leave that hell was suicide, as other asylum inmates have shown.
"The more we try to escape, the more it seems we get closer to the bottom" Adagio said.
"Yes. Dead men aren't surprises to me. Suicides seem a wise choice" Sunset said.
"I hope we do not get that far" Adagio said.
"We can't let this place eat us, we have to get out of here" said Sunset, moving forward.
They continued through the maze, while still hearing more voices from the same variant.
"Does he never shut up?" said Adagio annoyed.
"I think that Dennis feels alone" answered Sunset.
"Wait, you know his name?" asked a confused Adagio.
"Are you paying attention to what he says?" asked Sunset.
"No" replied Adagio.
"He said something about being safe. Also mentioned a kind of bride, and a name... Mr. Gluskin?" Sunset said.
"And who's that?" asked Adagio.
"I do not know, and I do not want to know" replied Sunset.
They kept walking, jumping, and climbing the maze of boxes and warehouses, up some stairs, which even led to an underground floor. They went with caution.
The building itself hid many secrets. The place looked like a factory and there were sewing machines on the tables.
"Surely this is where uniforms were made for the variants" Sunset said.
"It seems so" Adagio said.
This time, they did not advance much, her steps were interrupted by a melody.
"What's that music?" asked Sunset.
"Music of the 30's" Adagio responded.
They followed the melody to a white curtain. Adagio went through first, but after 2 minutes, she did not come back.
"Adagio? Are you okay?" called Sunset.
But she not responding, Sunset advanced to the curtain, and when she did, her eyes could not believe what they saw.
The body of a man bent into the fetal position. His genitals had been mutilated. It was the kind of thing that one can not see without suffering irreparable change.
"How is it possible the things I've seen here can exist?" Sunset thought petrified. "Why would anyone do this to people?"
But her thoughts were interrupted by a girl puking in a corner.
"Adagio? You okay?" asked Sunset, stroking her back.
"I'm... I'm... good..." Adagio said between breaths.
Sunset wished to have something to help her, a towel or a bottle of water, but all that had been left in her car.
"Should we stop for a moment?" Sunset said. "If you want, we can-"
"No, please. We can rest when we leave here, but not now, much less here" Adagio said.
"As you wish, come on, let me help you" Sunset said taking her hand, shielding her from seeing the body.
They continued on their way without problems, but...
"Darling, where are you?"
They hid under the nearest table, Sunset lit night vision to see clearly. He was a man, two meters, black hair, and wore fingerless gloves on his hands. What called for more attention was the fact that the subject seemed to wear a wedding suit. It was the same man she saw before.
They managed to escape in silence, into a room that had a wedding dress, and a drawing of the dress. They continued but not by much when they heard him again. He was singing.
(Sing) "When I was a boy my mother often said to me, get married son and see how happy you will be..."
The gruesome melody man kept was heard, they were moving as quickly, but as quiet as they could, from door to door, room to room.
(Sing) "I have looked all over, but no girlie can I find, who seems to be just like the little girl I have in mind..."
They never stopped, nerves did not allow them to think clearly, crossed the main room, where they create all uniforms of patients. But…
"Darling…"
They went through the next door, and ran away from the man.
"You don't have to be alone anymore..."
They continued until a elevator shaft ladder.
"You could make me whole. I could fill that emptiness inside of you... "
They could not go those stairs, they could only climb into the lift tube. Sunset jumped and clung tightly, Adagio jumped too, but her arm was caught.
"Did I frighten you? I'm awfully sorry, I didn't mean to... "
The groom took the hood, revealing her face. The finely dressed man was surprised to see it was a woman, a real one.
"Darling? Oh Darling... you're so real..."
Adagio tried to pull away, but the man's grip was very strong.
"Don't worry darling, I think there's no surgery needed to correct you... right darling?"
Adagio could not do anything. She wanted to turn to see Sunset, but the groom stopped her.
"Darling... Let me fill you up... Let me love you..."
The man turned slowly to face Adagio dead on, centimeters from her lips. Adagio was trembling and distressed.
But her nightmare ended when the man stumbled. It was Sunset, who had hit him in the skull with a pipe. She took Adagio and jumped for the end of the elevator.
The fall was painful, Sunset hit her head against the wooden siding of the elevator, Adagio hurt her leg, crossed a little wooden platform, a piece of wood pierced into her leg. She immediately tried to withdraw it, but it hurt too much. The groom looked down from the other end of the elevator.
"Oh god. Oh god, are you okay? Tell me you're okay. I hate to think of you suffering without me. Why would you do something like that to yourself? You'd rather..."
The man stopped when he saw the body of Sunset.
"Rather be with 'him' than with me? Then die..."
The elevator started up, just above where the man had been. This time Adagio grabbed Sunset and got off at the next corridor.
"Sunset? Sunset wake up! Please!" screamed Adagio.
"Argh! My head!" Sunset said, holding her bleeding head. "What happened? That guy made you do something?" she asked.
"No. Thanks to you" Adagio said, leaning on Sunset. "Thank you Sunset" said.
"No problem, you okay? You hurt?" asked Sunset worried.
"I hurt my leg after falling, I can not run fast" Adagio said.
"At least now..."
"What have you...? Ha. Then we continue... "
"Forget it" Sunset said. "We have to go" she said, advancing while helping Adagio.
They reached a room with no exit. Preferring to not die, Adagio wanted to hide in a locker, but Sunset stopped her.
"What?" asked Adagio in a hurry.
"Not there, he'll find us" Sunset said.
Sunset tried to find another option. And she found it! An open ventilation unit. She helped Adagio up, then Adagio helped her. Once inside, they closed the ventilation again. At that time the groom entered.
"Hmmm. Close. I can... the smell of my love's arbor. Darling, you can't hide from me..."
While the groom was looking for them, Sunset beckoned Adagio away from the room, now wandered aimlessly through the pipes.