It was getting louder. More intense. If there was trouble going on, he needed to be on it right away.
When he walks down the halls more, however, is where the troubles began. Not because of the thumping itself, but only because the sight that greets him, distracts him.
Employees reacted to flesh-like vines everywhere, panicking and many fighting, many of the vines seemed to have been keeping containment doors closed.
This was very unusual. Yesod doesn't recall any abnormality or ordeals that could cause this. The third thing in mind was... not impossible, but it shouldn't be likely to happen.
And yet it might be.
He's still thinking about all the unknown factors when an employee runs past him with a scream. Some people are cowering behind their coworkers, and others hiding in corners.
It's simply chaos.
Keeping calm, Yesod continues down the hall.
"Noodle!"
"Oh, hey, boss!" Noodle waves lamely as she keeps her weapon still.
"What's going on?"
"I'm not sure! One minute I'm working with one of thems fuckin' Funeral, and the next, I'm almost locked in their rooms! These vines are everywhere!" She gestures to the vines crawling along the walls, "They're not attacking us yet, thankfully, but I wouldn't wanna test 'em!"
Yesod frowns. They don't appear hostile. That's strange. "Do you know what they are?"
She shakes her head, "No idea! It's not grabbin' anyone, and it's only keeping the doors shut, somehow! I thought that was a good thing, but I'm worried about the energy we're supposed to collect from those abnormalities, now..."
Yesod observes the vines, trying to pinpoint where the source is coming from.
"So... what should we do, boss?"
He considers it briefly. What could he say? This was new territory, it would take some time to figure it out.
The priority had to be finding the source of the problem. It wasn't doing anything harmful, so long as it kept to itself. He didn't want to risk any employees getting hurt by these things.
"Let's find the source and deal with it from there."
"You're coming with? What if something happens to you?"
"I can't die," Yesod responds bluntly, "I'll be fine, Noodle. It's about time I got more involved."
Noodle's eyes light up in excitement, "Wooow... This is the first I've ever seen...! Let's not waste a moment, then!"
The hallways shifted to a greenish hue from the violet colors of the Information Department.
"It's coming from Safety Team...?" Noodle whispers.
"Looks like it," Yesod nods in affirmation.
The green lights illuminate the corridor, showing the abundance of vines all over the walls. It makes a texture that makes Yesod squirm enough to try and look away from.
As the pair approached the group of employees, they were overcome by relieved but scared individuals.
"Yesod!" The Safety Team agent called out frantically to him, "what's a higher-up like you doing here?"
"Have the vines been attacking the employees at all?" Yesod asks, ignoring their question entirely.
"They're blocking our access to the rest of the facility, obviously. I've been trying to help clerks out of all this..."
Noodle nods, "It refuses to fight back despite all the cuts I made on it," She says in a hushed tone, "maybe it's not an abnormality."
"It's not," The agent states, "Netzach's gone crazy."
"Netzach?" Yesod repeats slowly, raising his eyebrows at the sudden mention of the name, "I didn't expect him to be capable of something like this... Sephirah don't have meltdowns of this caliber twice."
The agent shrugs, "I dunno sir, he was pretty on edge today! It was so unlike him, I tried to ask about it but he just ignored me!"
Thump. Thump.
Yesod turns to look at Noodle, noticing how worried she looks.
"If my hunch is correct... Is there any way to get someone into the Safety Team's main room?" Yesod asks, earning a hesitant nod from the agent, "Then let me in. Noodle, help this agent--"
"Iris."
"-Help Iris let me in there. Then help them with the clerks."
"What about you, sir?!"
"I'll be fine, Noodle," Yesod repeats what he's said before, "I can't die."
Noodle looks at Iris for an answer, seeing them nod in agreement. Noodle sighs, "Fine... Please be careful!"
The three walk over to the Safety Department's main room door, the captain and agent both utilizing their weapons to help Yesod squeeze through what little gap they could make before the vines made the door even more inaccessible.
"Sir!!!" Noodle yells.
"I'm fine, Noodle. Go," Yesod shoos the captain from the other side of the vined door, "Iris needs you."
...
Yeah, there she goes. It's quiet on her end.
Yesod slowly turns to face the source of the vines and chaos.
"Netzach."
"Yesod," The echoey voice from Netzach's lowered cognition filter, trying to sound emotionless but failing, "I'm sorry." He was like how Yesod remembered seeing him, his boxed frame sprouting an almost tree-like bundle of vines out of him, but there were simply even more vines than before, longer and thicker, tangling within themselves more than actual tentacles, like Yesod's. The trophy in the room was knocked down, and crashed onto the floor, partially broken.
Yesod takes careful steps forward. He has to keep his safe distance from the tendrils so as not to accidentally touch them.
A few minutes pass in the silence between them. No sounds of struggle and shouting filled the air.
"What happened?"
Thump.
With Yesod breaking the silence, Netzach sighs, "I don't know."
"I know you're lying. Tell me what happened."
"It's not a lie," Netzach's response comes out in a whisper, "it started small. I was just... Thinking... And I kept thinking on that thought. It was too much. I ended up on the floor. I was going to get my usual dose... But I couldn't move."
Ah. Of course. "What were you thinking of?"
"... I was... Reminiscing."
Thump.
Thump.
Silence fell once again. The tension between the two grows thicker. The silence becomes more uncomfortable with each passing second. No words were spoken as each considered the other.
"... May I join you?" Yesod asks.
It was a weak question. A simple request.
Netzach lazily brushed a spot nearby himself with those vines of his, not a verbal response, but an act of invitation.
Thump.
Slowly, Yesod sits down beside him.
this house has people in it
Start from the beginning
