Archive of Our Own ^beta

Sam exhales, a cloud emanating from his mouth due to the harsh L'manburg winter freezing the air around him. He stood before The Big Innit hotel, its bright lights almost blinding to look at. Sam opened his suit jacket and pulled out a pistol, holding it at the ready as he entered the luxurious hotel. 

There was no staff in sight as Sam walked through the dimly lit entrance hall. Keeping his guard up, he scoured the entrance for any sign of blood or foul play. As Sam approached the grand staircase he thought back to when the mayor had brought the hotel to his attention.

"Sam! How's my favourite police chief doing?" Wilbur exclaimed as he walked into Sam's office.

"Mr Mayor, what a surprise. What are you doing here?" Wilbur sat in a chair in front of Sam's desk, pulling out a cigarette.

"I am here to give you a very special invite," Wilbur said with a smile as he pulled out a card from his coat pocket. "You see, I decided to start a hotel business in the upper-class district with the help of my younger brother. In celebration of its opening, a party is going to be held there at the end of the week. I want you to be there." Sam looked up from his paperwork and looked at the card.

It was a black card with gold lettering. "You are invited to attend The Big Innit Hotel's grand opening party," The card said in a simple font. 

Sam walked up the grand staircase, gun at the ready as he reached the first floor. The grandeur of the hotel carried through, making the hotel feel old but expensive. Sam walked through the dimly lit hallways, staying on guard, jumping at the slightest of noises. As he walked, he thought of his reason for infiltrating the hotel.

Sam elected to not go to the party, and he did not regret his choice. Those who had gone to the party had left something with them behind. Most ended up being taken from their homes in restraints as they had tried to harm themselves or their families. He remembers seeing the photos of the many crime scenes of people who had killed their loved ones after screaming about someone telling them to do it. He remembers the videos of children laughing madly, covered in blood as they gleefully described how they killed their parents. He remembers seeing the forensic pictures of the bodies that had been ripped apart or half-eaten.

All those people had in common, was that they went to the party. Something had corrupted them. In his three years of serving as police chief, Sam had never seen anything like this.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a crashing noise behind him. Sam quickly turned around, gun at the ready as he saw a figure with their hands up. Sam pulled out a flashlight from his jacket pocket and pointed it at the figure.

"Who the hell are you?" Sam queried, his light revealing a man with short black hair and bright green eyes. He was holding a gun in his right hand, holding it in surrender above his head.

"H-Hey, I uh, mean you no harm." The man nervously stated.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

"Uh, Foolish. That's my name, yeah that's my name. Why am I here? It's complicated."

"Complicated how?" Sam grit out, walking closer, his gun still pointed at Foolish.

"Uh, rumours. I heard that my brother's murderer was here, so I decided to look into it."

"Your brother?"

"His name was Clay. He went on a mission and never returned. The official report says he disappeared, but I don't believe it. Can you put the gun down now?" Foolish says, anxiety creeping into his voice. Sam sighed and lowered his gun.

"I'm Sam. I'm looking into this hotel because of what happened to the guests of a party that came here a few months ago. I think the mayor has something to do with it." Foolish looked at Sam with surprise. He lowered his hands, holding his gun loosely in his hand.

"The mayor huh? If you want, I could help you scout the place. I already looked through the right side of this floor." Sam sighed and weighed his options. He didn't know this man but it seemed that he had good intentions. Some extra help would be ideal as he made the stupid decision to come alone.

"Fine. It would be better to work together anyway if we are dealing with a murderer like you say." Foolish smiled slightly.

"Okay, we better get to work then."

Sam and Foolish kept their guns at the ready as they explored the rest of the first floor. The darkness was slowly eating away at their minds. They jumped at the slightest noise and looked down every corridor that whispered into their ears. They eventually made it to the second floor. It was grander than the first, red carpet lined the hallways and expensive oil paintings covered the walls. As they passed each portrait it felt as the eyes were following them, watching them as they explored the hotel.

They slowly walked down a long corridor when they heard the laughter of a child rush behind them. Foolish swiftly turned around, looking for the source of the child's voice.

"You heard that right?" Foolish nervously asked Sam.

"Yeah. I can't see where it came from. Can you?"

"No." Sam nervously looked around him, occasionally glancing at the oil paintings on the wall.

"Let's keep moving," Sam said, leaning towards Foolish.

Sam and Foolish continued to explore the second floor, the laughter following them as they explored every corridor they could find. The laughter eventually morphed into playful words, begging Sam and Foolish to play with the voice. They tried their best to ignore the phantom child, but it would get difficult when the child would beg for interaction, it would call out for their parents. They were walking down a large hallway when music could be heard in the distance. Sam and Foolish looked at each other and walked towards the source of the music.

They reached the end of the hallway and were met by a set of double doors. They each opened a door, guns at the ready. The doors opened to reveal a grand ballroom with marble floors and a crystal chandelier. The room was occupied by people dancing to the waltz playing from nearby speakers.

"How is this possible?" Sam whispered. "We are on the second floor. How can an entire ballroom be on the second floor of a hotel in the middle of a city?"

"I don't know but it's beautiful." Foolish whispered.

Foolish and Sam entered the ballroom, weaving between the dancers. Sam examined the dancers closely, his eyes widened in shock.

"Oh my god," Sam said in horror. "Foolish," Sam said, stepping away from the dancers.

"Yeah."

"We have to leave, right now."

"What! Why?"

"These dancers, they aren't guests. Some of these people have been missing for almost three years." Sam put his flashlight in his jacket pocket and waved a hand in front of one of the dancers. They didn't respond. Sam looked at each of the dancers. They seemed to move robotically, almost as if they were animatronics. Sam's eyes widened. "COVER YOUR EARS!"

"What?"

"Cover your ears. The music is what's controlling these people, we are lucky we aren't compromised right now." Sam felt his pockets, pulling out a case of foam earplugs. "Here, take a pair. I must have forgotten about them after I was training at the gun range." Foolish nodded.

"Lucky for us then," Foolish exclaimed, putting the earplugs safely in his ears.

The music became muffled as Sam and Foolish looked at each other. They both ran from the ballroom and out into the corridor. They ran through the hotel, weaving through hallways that seemed never-ending. Eventually, they stopped at the staircase leading down towards the first floor. Sam signalled Foolish to remove his earplugs.

"I think we're safe now."

"What was that? How were those people brainwashed like that?" Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I don't know, and I don't think we want to find out." Sam looked over to Foolish, fear in his eyes.

Sam and Foolish ran down the stairs onto the first floor and continued down to the ground floor. Sam rushed towards the exit and ripped open the doors.

"No," Sam whispered, his hands shook with fear as he stood back from the doors. He became overcome with grief as he looked in horror at the exit. 

There was no exit. The doors led to a brick wall.

"Sam the phone lines have been cut I can't contact the outside." Foolish walked over and stopped looking at the exit. "Where is the exit?"

"It's gone," Sam said, dread forming in the pit of his stomach. They were trapped within a hotel with no way out and a rumoured murderer was in the building.

"But that's impossible."

"This whole hotel is impossible."

"How is any of this possible. First, there were the voices, then there was that creepy ballroom and now the exit is gone." Foolish looked at Sam with fear in his eyes. Sam was going to reply when they were cut off by laughter coming from behind them.

San and Foolish quickly turned to look behind them. Stood on the staircase was a young man with blonde hair and red eyes. He was wearing a red dress shirt with black pants and shoes. His eyes were filled with amusement as he stared at Sam and Foolish.

"Who are you?" Sam demanded. "Are you the person keeping us here?" The young man smiled. It was filled with malice and the promise of death. His red eyes almost glowed in the darkness.

"If I am?" He asked, his head tilting to the side.

Sam opened fire. Bullets flew through the air and hit the man, but they had no effect. Not even his clothes were pierced by the bullets. Fear crept its way through Sam. It coursed through his veins as he looked on in horror. He was going to die.

The young man closed his eyes and inhaled. He released a breath and sighed. "As much as I love the smell of fear, you aren't my prey this evening. A shame really. You are too valuable to my brother for you to perish." The man looked over at Foolish and in a blink of an eye, he held him by the neck against the wall behind Sam. "There you are big man. I was wondering when you would show up."

"I had to," Foolish grit out. "You killed my brother."

"Did I now? Who was he? I can't seem to remember."

"His name was Clay. He was an investigator and you killed him." The man looked into Follish's eyes and threw him across the room. Foolish hit the staircase railing with a loud bang, a dark gold liquid fell from his mouth. 

"Clay huh? What a stupid name. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't remember killing anyone by the name of Clay." The man slowly walked towards Foolish, like a predator taunting their prey. Sam looked closer at the man; his eyes widened. He knew the man looked familiar.

"Wait! You're Tommy, right? You're the mayor's younger brother. This is his hotel." Tommy looked a Sam and smiled.

"You're a perceptive one." Tommy stood before Foolish and looked down. "Now. To deal with you." Tommy stared into Foolish's green eyes before pausing. "What are you? You're certainly not human, not with that blood running down your chin."

Tommy held his hand to his side, a great ball of fire forming in his hands. He pressed the ball onto Follish's skin. The smell of burnt flesh wafted through the room as Foolish screamed. Tommy laughed, taking in the pain and suffering.

"With pain receptors like that, you are definitely half something. Well then freak. Why don't you go see your mother?" Tommy leant down, ripping Foolish's neck out with his teeth. 

Tommy swallowed the chunk of flesh and wiped his mouth. He looked down in satisfaction as he saw Foolish choking on his own blood. Eventually, Foolish's bright green eyes became dull and he went limp in a pool of his own gold coloured blood.

Sam watched on in horror as Foolish died. He screamed at the loss of his companion. He only knew him for a short period of time, but it felt like he had lost a dear friend. Sam looked up to see Tommy standing before him. He smiled and hit Sam across the head.

Everything around Sam faded to black as he laid on the hard floor of The Big Innit Hotel.

Sam woke up, sitting at his desk, surrounded by paperwork. He looked at the clock on his desk. It was 4 am. He sighed and got up, collecting his things and left the L'manburg police department. As he walked down the streets, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. He looked behind him.

Nothing.

Sam sighed and walked to his apartment. He unlocked the door to his apartment and was greeted by his dog, who was patiently waiting for him. Sam smiled and got ready for bed. He did have to see the mayor tomorrow.