curiously_cora | (no subject)

Coraline knew what she had to do. Coraline hid him out of sight and threw the key at the creature in front of her. Its head snapped up away from the little boy, button eyes narrowing at Coraline and long red claws curling into her palms. She smiled at Coraline, blood and gore covered her dress, as she stepped forward and away from Sawyer towards her. Coraline stepped back, she had to get her away from him. She wouldn't let her hurt anymore kids.

"Come on, what are you scared of? Me? I'm just a thing, a kid and you're scared of me! You're pathetic!" Coraline shouted at her. The buttons flashed and then she was moving, her body elongating and twisting into the monster she truly was. She was scared, she was terrified of her but she had to be brave. She had to save him. The Sawyer Other Mother creature moved quicker than Coraline remembered, her claws reaching out to grab her and Coraline let out a shriek, stumbling backwards onto a hallway floor that hadn't been there a moment ago.

Looking behind her confused, Coraline stared at the long hallway for a moment before remembering she needed to run. Scrambling backwards, Coraline rolled back and up onto her feet in one fluid motion and it was only then that she saw or rather didn't see. The Other Mother was gone, the boy was gone, the room was gone and only a long hallway remained in both directions. A long hallway with no windows, no doors and eerie flickering lights.

"I don't understand," Coraline said quietly, turning around on the spot as she tried to figure out what was going on. The place was silent except for the ticking that echoed down the corridor. Coraline felt an unease spread through her body at the noise. This place was wrong and she had to get the Other Mother and then she had to getout. Coraline ran down the corridor screaming. "Where are you? Come on! Come out and face me you coward!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Of course you are, you have super powers that means you're a superhero. Even superheroes need saving sometimes, even superheroes are normal people." Coraline said as Claire turned towards the laughter.

Coraline knew that laughter. She knew that laughter and she knew the smile, the cruel smile that went with it. Coraline shuddered as her hands tightened around Claire's. If Claire could heal, wouldn't that make her the perfect daughter for the Other Mother always in pain and always healing feeding her and making her grow stronger.

"We have to go Claire, we have to run. We need to go now, she can't get you." Coraline said panicked as she glanced at the shadows and the tick tocking noise and the hallways that went on and on forever.

"No, I'm really not," Claire insisted, even though she stopped still in her tracks and tried to step in front of Coraline, not caring that she was shorter, because she was still better equipped in the end to deal with any sort of villain or monster, or so she believed. Even as she felt a chill run up her spine, cold as ice, she shook her head. "Powers are just powers, it's what you do with them that counts and I can't... do anything. I can't save people, I've tried, but people just end up dying because of me, that's all. If powers were all that people needed, then villains wouldn't exist."

A piano played off in the distance, keys out of tune and echoing unpleasantly through the hallway.

"Look, Coraline, you need to run," Claire insisted. "I can't save you, but I can stall whoever she is. She can't hurt me. I can't die, not unless— I just can't die for good, okay?"

"Well, you're doing something now. You're helping me, that makes you a hero Claire." Coraline said. Coraline wished she had a power but she didn't. She could see things clearly because the stone was magical, it could protect her too but Coraline wasn't special. Coraline was just really, really curious.

And it had gotten her into trouble.

"That's it you can't die and if you can't die then she won't need anyone else. She can kill all the kids she wants, she'll get stronger and bigger and hurt people because she can.. She feeds off energy, she drains them." Coraline said. She'd enough for Coraline to have felt it the drained Coraline, just a little bit but next day. She'd been tired and weak. "So, you need to run or we need to run but she can't get you. She can't."

Coraline was so focused on her, that she never thought about what the music was or the ticking.

Although she was tempted to shake her head, to point out that helping Coraline was something that any sane person should have offered to do, Claire kept quiet on the matter instead. Even if she wasn't a hero, the last thing either of them needed was to debate over the matter and waste precious time. She took a deep breath, watching as Coraline put together all of the facts and went on about how it wouldn't be right to let Claire be fed on by this creature, this false woman, for the rest of her neverending life.

And maybe that was true, Claire thought, but better one person captive than for the monster to take more and more.

"Look, if she gets me— or even if Sylar gets me, I stand a lot better of a chance of escaping than someone who can— they can't keep me forever. So run, Coraline, I'll take care of this."