Chapter Text
It felt as though every heavy breath that blew out your lips rattled your rib cage. The burning in your legs was intense and threatened to give out. Whipping your head around, your eyes darted to the white devil-like figure hot on your trail, misshapen arms outstretched in efforts to catch you.
“I actually tried to be a good teacher!” She shrieked as you both rounded a corner, “Why didn’t you just listen!” Your heart tightens as you skid to a stop, in front of a dead end. Well, more like a huge pit, much like the pit you had entered this new level of the Garten in. Now with Banbaleena stalking toward you, you brace yourself for the worse.
But her wrath never came. On account of the thick, red glass that had lowered down from the ceiling, like a curtain falling. You hear her muted, shrill voice shouting incoherent nothings to you, surely threatening your life as she pounds on the glass. Now with the time to allow your breaths to catch up, you cover your face with your hands, letting the tears of fear and irritation regarding your escape fall. All you wanted was to escape.
Then, you felt a hand come into contact with your shoulder from behind. Heart dropping, you slowly turned your head behind you…
That damn red thing.
“Good job on making it so far. While this isn’t the exact hallway I wanted to meet you at, it will do.” His voice was as monotonous as ever.
You, an uncomfortable look crossing your features, brushed his red hand off of your shoulder as you turned to face him. Backing up a few steps, you shudder, “What do you want now?”
“Come with me, I’ll need your assistance.” He said flatly, already making his way to the elevator lift that had risen from the pit below.
Now defensive, you narrowed your gaze, “First, you knock me out and perform some cryptic surgery on me, now you just expect me to follow you into some dark abyss?”
Ban Ban’s expression didn’t change— it was still as flat as ever. He no longer held his usual stuck-out tongue and wide smile, but instead a flat line pressed on his lips, the bit of his tongue sticking out (perhaps just because that was his gimmick? You wonder.) He folded his arms, “There’s a lot you don’t know about me. If you follow me, I will give you answers.” He looks around again, shooting you a questioning glance as he gestures to the screaming demon on the other side, “Besides, it isn’t really like you have anywhere else to go, right?”
Swallowing your pride, you took those agonizing steps forward, feeling the weight of the elevator platform shift as you stepped on. He shut the gate behind you both, and the elevator was put into motion. Ban Ban, standing at your side, began explaining, “When I knocked you out, I was fully prepared to extract and take what I needed.”
You gulped at that, feeling pinpricks travel up your spine and cause you to shiver. When he spoke again you had even jumped a little, still on-edge, “But, I decided not to.”
He watched you quickly feel your abdomen area, smirking slightly as you gasped, “You didn't?”
He chuckled, “No, I didn’t. I decided to leave you be.”
Upon cocking your head to the side he explained further, “Believe me, I had you perfectly strapped to the table, completely at my disposal. All I had to do was cut you open and take what I needed.” He seemed to enjoy the freaked-out look you gave him, despite the casualty in his voice.
Taking a small step away from the tall, red monster standing beside you, you asked, “So…what stopped you?”
“I see something in you. Of course, I’m not gonna let you free, but I will keep you safe.” He reassured you.
But, you thought, if he thought you’d trust him that easily then he was mistaken. It’d take much more than a flimsy promise to gain your trust.
By the time he was done with his little spiel, the elevator clattered and finally halted to a stop. Unnerved, you noticed a frantically-drawn note on the wall: ‘Don't Go any further. You can’t escape.’ Gulping, you stared at it.
Ban Ban noticed this, and cleared his throat to steer your attention towards him, “Ignore those. It’s nonsense.”
You followed him down the eerie hallway, cringing at the dampness of the floor. Your eyes meticulously scanned the entirety of the hallway, searching for any different ways you could turn and hope for an escape. But, to your dismay, the hallway was just a straight-shot to another sliding metal door. By the time you both made it to the end, Ban Ban produced A keycard out of seemingly nowhere, and you raised an eyebrow at the notion. Using it to activate the door into motion with a ‘beep,’ revealing a—like every other room you’d been in so far, simple and desolate office. The only thing you’d deduced as different was the microphone laid on the desk.
That damn microphone. You guess it was where he was projecting his voice to you to lure you to the security room, where he double-crossed you. Anger flaring, you tried not to meet his eyes when he looked at you again to say, “This is my office. Back when the Garten was still in commission, I loved my role as the ‘principal’ of the school.” He used air quotations with his fingers to explain, as to which you narrow your gaze.
“This is the safest place in the entire facility. There was only ever one keycard made to enter, and I have it. It was to ensure no one could have access to the intercoms for any…malicious intent.” He sat down in his chair while he explained, gesturing for you to sit in the plush-padded one in front of his desk.
You raised an eyebrow, “Really? I wouldn't exactly call what you did to me not malicious.”
Ban Ban stiffened, but then chuckled as he replied, “Alright, that’s fair to say. I guess I owe you an explanation.” He folded his hands and rested his arms on the desk before him—which, upon your observation, was oddly rid of papers or anything. It had a couple of generic filing folders stacked neatly to the left, as well as a little mug reading ‘#1 Principal’ filled with pens and pencils.
“I am much more aware than those case files give me credit for. They say I am…confused. Or in pain due to my form.” The mention of said case files, you remembered the two files mentioning ‘Case 6’ in the title. Because of that telltale alias that read ‘The Devil’ you’d only guess they were talking about Ban Ban.
“That was a while ago, maybe just before the incident. After the incident, I had the freedom to learn my background. I’ve learned that I am not human, nor was I ever.” You gulped upon seeing his fists ball up as he went more in-depth, “I retained the memories of the donor whose genes were used to create me. That being said, I retain his skills, education, and all the like.”
You tilted your head slightly, “so was your donor a principal?”
Seemingly in a better mood due to your question, he spoke in a better tone, “No, but that’s a good guess. But over the past couple months since the incident, I’ve been experimenting with humans and givanium…” by now, you have read enough case files and even have seen some givanium yourself to know they were using the newly-discovered element as a substitute for blood. “…Using the skills my donor shared with me, I conducted experiments on any humans that wandered down here, such as yourself,” he gestures to you, “and used the intercoms to lure them. You experienced the first part of this.”
Allured, you spoke, “So why didn’t you go through with it? With me?”
“I’ll give you the comfort of a simple answer. I just didn’t feel like it.” His answer simply raised more questions than answers.
“So…you can just decide to experiment on me at any point in time?”
He nodded, making your heart sink, “Yes, but I don’t really intend on it. Think of it this way, I did you a favor so now you’ve got to do me a favor. And all I ask is that you cooperate with me.” He didn't give you any time to answer because he rose from his seat and headed toward the door, pulling the keycard out again to activate it. “For now, stay put. I’ll be back soon.”
Confused, and a little impatient, you tried to question him but the door closed right after he stepped out.
Right about now, you wanted to tear that party hat-wearing devil to bits.