Chương 35: 00035. Tot Musica
After the tremor finished Marcus said, "You don't understand, if we don't find Uta. Everyone on the island will die."
Benn, who was seated in the row behind, placed a hand on Marcus's shoulder as he asked, "What makes you say that?"
"I saw it in a dream."
Shanks and some of the others started to laugh before Shanks said, "A dream? I thought you were actually serious for a moment."
The ground trembled as the whole concert theater shook slightly before Marcus said, "It's fine if you don't believe me, but I need to find Uta. If you don't want to help, then at least try to protect the people here."
As Marcus started to walk past Shanks, His brothers got up to join him as Ace said, "Hold on, we'll come and help."
Shanks glanced at Benn as he said, "Even if Marcus is wrong about his dream, Uta should have come back by now. Take some people and go look for her."
"What about you?" Benn asked as he pointed out some people to help him search for Uta.
Shanks rested a hand on his sword as he said, "I'll stay here to help out just in case."
As the building shook again people started to look around in concern. It still wasn't that bad, but each time it happened it got worse. Gordon, who was still on the stage, tried to calm everyone down as he said in a loud voice that carried throughout the concert hall, "It seems like we are experiencing a minor earthquake. I would like everyone to please follow the ushers's instructions and leave the concert hall in an orderly fashion."
As people started to get up and move towards the exit, Marcus and his brothers rushed past them. Marcus had no idea where Uta might be, but he headed towards the backstage area of the theater first. Gordon noticed the boys as they got close and said, "Turn around, the exit is the other way."
"We need to find Uta first, she went missing." Marcus said.
"Oh… Well, head outside first. I'll look for her myself." Gordon said as he moved towards the edge of the stage.
One of the ushers near the front of the stage who was directing people towards the exit overheard the conversation and asked, "Are you talking about that young girl with the red and white hair?"
"Yeah. Have you seen her?" Marcus asked hopefully.
The usher nodded and pointed towards a door as he said, "She went in there a little while ago."
As Marcus glanced towards the door, Gordon who just dropped down from the stage asked, "That leads towards the back stage, why did you let her go in there?"
"You normally allow the guests you invite to visit after the concert, so I didn't bother to stop her." The man said as Marcus rushed towards the door followed by his brothers.
Just before they passed through it Gordon called out, "Wait! Head towards the exit, I'll go find Uta for you instead."
"We don't have time for that." Marcus said as he disappeared through the doorway and the building shook a little harder.
Gordon let out a sigh before he moved towards the door and quickly followed behind the boys. Marcus and the others started to move through the backstage area as they called out for Uta and searched. As they did the building shook more often and parts of the plaster walls and ceilings broke apart.
Gordon dodged a piece before he said, "I don't think she is here. Let's head outside, it's starting to get dangerous."
Marcus glanced over his shoulder as he asked, "Is there an exit to the building here?"
Gordon shook his head as he said, "The back of the concert hall is built into the bedrock of the surrounding hills. The closest exit is almost two hundred feet from here."
Marcus shook his head as he said, "Then we'll leave after we search all the rooms here. We need to make sure she isn't here."
Gordon wanted to stop the boys and drag them out of the place. But he realized even if he tried, he would only be able to handle two of them at once, not all four. With that in mind he decided to help them quickly search the place instead, so they could leave faster.
Marcus and the others went room by room as they searched for Uta. The boys seemed to easily dodge anything that fell or collapsed next to them, while Gordon took a few hits. He was lucky though, since it was all just small chunks of plaster and only left him covered in dust.
After they finished the last room Ace said, "Looks like she really isn't here."
"Good, then let's head outside." Gordon said.
Marcus let out a defeated sigh. He hoped Uta would be back here somewhere to make this quick. But it looked like she went somewhere else, which would make everything harder.
Marcus glanced around one more time as a massive tremor shook the building. Everyone was thrown off their feet this time as part of the building ripped apart. A large crack formed on the back wall that went from the floor to the ceiling before it expanded wider.
As everyone stood back up, Marcus glanced at the massive crack in the wall. Marcus noticed something weird about it and as he moved to examine it, Gordon said, "Alright, let's hurry up and head outside."
Marcus stood next to the opening as he looked inside it. It seemed to be some sort of brick lined tunnel that was shadowed in darkness. Marcus glanced over his shoulder as he asked, "Why is there a tunnel back here?"
Gordon, who was trying to gather up the brothers, glanced up to look at it before he said, "That's part of the old sub basement, back before they remodeled the building. It's been sealed ever since and that was over a hundred years ago."
Marcus glanced around quickly before he jumped up on a table and ripped a lantern off the wall. As he jumped back down and headed for the tunnel Gordon asked, "What do you think you're doing?"
Marcus turned around as he stood next to the crack and pointed at it as he said, "Uta has to be in there."
"That's impossible, the entrances are sealed up."
Marcus shrugged as he said, "Maybe. But my gut is telling me she's down there and I plan to find her."
Marcus glanced at his brother's as he asked, "You guys up for exploring a mysterious tunnel?"
Luffy's eyes lit up as he rushed forward and said, "Let's go!"
Ace smirked before he ripped a lantern off the wall as he said, "Not really, but I'll come along to keep you idiots safe."
Marcus dropped down into the tunnel as he said, "I don't need you to keep me safe and I'm definitely not Luffy."
Luffy dropped down into the tunnel as he picked his nose and said, "Of course you're not me. You're Marcus."
Sabo dropped into the tunnel holding another lantern as he said, "Never change, Luffy."
As Marcus glanced to the left and right Gordon dropped down into the tunnel with another lantern. He glared at Marcus as he said, "She won't be down here."
"A million bellys." Marcus said as he studied the tunnel for a moment as another tremor hit.
Gordon used one hand on the wall to steady himself before he asked, "What are you talking about."
Marcus started to move down the hallway to the right as he said, "I bet you a million belly she's down here."
Gordon frowned before he asked, "Why are you heading that way?"
"It slopes downwards in this direction. If she is here, she will be near the bottom of this place."
"That doesn't make any sense." Gordon said as he followed the boys deeper into the tunnel.
Marcus picked up his pace as he said, "It doesn't need to."
As they moved down the tunnel, it turned right every few hundred feet. If it wasn't for the fact the grade was so shallow, they would be a couple hundred feet underground. Instead they were only about twenty feet underneath the theater after walking for about ten minutes. Marcus had no idea who created the place, but a simple set of stairs would have been a way better time and money investment than the tunnel they were currently in.
While they traveled through it, the tremors became worse and more frequent as the walls around them groaned. Some of the bricks even started to break apart as long thin cracks formed in the tunnel. Marcus eyed some of the larger cracks as he increased his pace again and started to jog through the tunnel.
When they turned another corner, something finally changed as dim light shined ahead of them. When they were about halfway down the new stretch of tunnel, a massive tremor hit and everyone was knocked off their feet.
As Marcus and the others attempted to get back up, a loud boom went off. A moment later a shockwave along with a cloud of dust flew up the tunnel towards them. It slammed into them like a wall and swept everyone off their feet again. They each flew more than thirty feet before they crashed into the ground as the air was knocked out of them.
Marcus struggled to inhale as everything around him went deathly silent. As Marcus was sprawled out on the ground he heard Uta singing as he sucked in a ragged breath. He forced himself to get up and started to move down the tunnel again as he tried to steady his breathing.
As Marcus arrived at the end of the tunnel he found Uta as she stood in the middle of a room. Well, it used to be a room. The room was at least thirty feet underground, but there was no longer anything that blocked the view to outside. Rubble from the room itself, chairs from the theater and other stuff covered most of the room as dust hung heavy in the air. Uta stood in the middle of it all, wrapped in a weird smoke filled barrier as she sang as if she was in a trance.
Marcus moved out of the tunnel into the room and glanced around for a moment. The sky above was filled with stars but nothing else currently, so he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He moved toward Uta as he yelled, "Uta! Stop singing!"
Uta didn't respond, lost in whatever trance she was in. Marcus frowned as he moved closer but once he reached the barrier he couldn't move closer to her. The blue and black smoked-filled barrier swirled around Uta and attacked as a shield that protected her from the outside world. Marcus slammed on it as he said, "Uta you need to stop singing! Uta, if you can hear me, fight it and try to stop singing!"
"What the hell is going on?" Ace asked as he pushed on the shield.
"It doesn't matter right now, we just need to stop Uta from singing before things get worse."
Gordon glanced around in worry as another tremor shook the area. As the tremor went off the smoke grew bigger and Marcus noticed three skulls that appeared to flicker in and out of existence above Uta, along with piano keys. Marcus punched the shield hard once the tremor stopped and he regained his balance as he said, "Everyone help me. We need to wake her up."
The others weren't exactly sure what was going on, but each of them started to bang on the shield as they yelled at Uta to stop.
"Uta, wake up!" Marcus said.
"Young girl, it's dangerous. Stop singing and let's leave this place." Gordon said.
"Stop singing and let's go eat meat, Uta!" Luffy said.
Nothing worked as another tremor shook the area and forced everyone to stop for a moment. Above them for a brief moment a large monster appeared cloaked in shadow. Marcus's heart sank as the monster's ghoulish face glanced down at him with a twisted grin on its face before its hand reached for him. Then the monster was gone as if it never existed as the tremor stopped.
Marcus's heart was beating like crazy as he stared at the spot just in front of himself where the hand just was. He wasn't sure what would have happened if he was touched, but he was sure it wouldn't have been good.
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