Seir took the place of one of his shadow selves, leaving a shadow on the ground. It lunged at Rain, and Rain jumped back.

Only a feint. The shadow looked like it was snickering, then disappeared.

Rain gave the now-absent Seir the finger.

Then he was left to wait. He stared down at the hair that still stuck through the door, stuck there.

Someone at the corner of the building walked out to their car. Rain turned away, hiding his masked face.

The day was slightly overcast, but the sun was bright. Rain fidgeted, back to the wall, hood up and head down. When the explosion hit, he could feel it through the walls of the building.

He looked down at the hair.

The door jumped, chains clacking and screeching against the metal of the door handles. Rain stepped back.

He heard the thuds, the pounding of fists on the metal, and the first of the shouts. As the thuds escalated, his own heartbeat picked up. He could feel the rush, hear the pounding of his blood in his ears joining the cacophony from the hallway.

He could make out the words, the pleas.

His hands went to the chain, traveling along it to the lock. He could feel each push from the people on the other side, until the pushing stopped outright.

Not because the people had stopped, but because there was so much pressure that it wasn’t possible to pull the door back.

He looked up, for Seir, then to the side, and he gripped the lock.

His hand fell to his side.

He could hear people screaming and shouting, and he closed his eyes. There were still thuds on the door, pounding fists. Those, too, came to a stop.

Just the outward pressure on the door, and sounds from people further inside.

An interminable amount of time seemed to pass.

On the other side, he heard the scream he now knew to be Love Lost’s.

A huff of noise left his mouth, more cough than anything. He brought a shaking hand to his face, and his vision jerked, spasmed.

His hand fell again, grazing chain, and he stepped back. No longer muffled, the laugh left his lips. It didn’t stop, continuing when he couldn’t draw in the air properly, small, hysterical, wild.

He sucked in a breath, almost pulled himself together, and then the laugh came out again, while his hand pressed against the door.

He was still laughing some time later, when Seir appeared. The man created a shadow near Rain, took its place, and shoved Rain down.

“Fucking moron!” Seir swore. “This is supposed to scare them, not kill them! How the fuck do you think we’re supposed to clue them into the power of God, goodness and badassness both, if they’re all fucking dead!?”

Rain’s mad laughter continued.