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let-spretend · 1 month ago

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hellooo here's part 2 , some minimal alexei & bucky in the beginning, then void and bob . ok bye

heavy space between us pt.2 (bob x reader)

CW self-harm, mental unwellness

pt. 1

You, Bucky and Alexei were being sent out on a short-notice mission, to assess several reports of a supernatural being in the upstate area. With a disproportionate amount of funding, missions that don’t call for immediate attention were to be gone with a car. Obviously, Alexei opted for a limousine and that’s what you got. No one really cared at that moment, but now everyone was slightly embarrassed to be seen in it for missions or to represent the Avengers. You didn’t mind, the room in the back was way too convenient and luxurious, despite it being on the cheaper side. But, 5 hours. It was a little bit daunting, when it was awkwardly silent Winter Soldier and overly extroverted Red Soldier occupying the car. The leg room was not cutting the two extremes you were facing. You look out to see the open fields. It was so flat that it didn’t feel real. But the green gave you a sense of relaxation. The bustling nature and blinding lights were nowhere to be found, but it wore off a while ago.

Bucky fiddles with his gun to avoid talking to you. Guns were never your thing but they got the job done; another thing that kept you out of the loop from the New Avengers. You and Bucky have always had an awkward and strained relationship - where neither of you were willing to open up to each other and you both could tell. Despite this, you still looked up to and cared for him as much as the others. You couldn’t tell or say the same about him.

You would give Alexei a couple chirps here and there to engage him in conversation, but something was off. You could feel another entity nearby. It wasn’t as though you were near bulks of civilization, just the same miles of field.

“Bucky, I think something is here.” You say. He immediately stops his fiddling, his face full of alertness. His usual furrow of the brow forms onto his face, his eyes glaring into yours. You begin to confess, “I know I haven’t told you a lot of things but-“

“Something’s coming, New Avengerz!” Alexei yells, accentuating the Z.

You couldn’t even react. The car was smashed into by some inhuman speed. The rear was smushed in, Alexi grunting by the lack of space, squeezed in. Shards of glass fly by, grazing both you and Bucky on the face. You reach for Alexei’s seatbelt, unbuckling him to help release him before he is crushed indefinitely. The green scenery was no more from the windshield, only black could be seen.

“Alexei, please! Coordinate with me.” You strain, as you try pulling him out of his seat. His panicked flailing stops and he tries to shimmy out whilst you pull his arm. His plans for a summer body were clearly not progressing.

“Opened.” Bucky muttered. He had worked on finding a way out for you all, kicking at the backseat’s one-way door. He shuffles on over and helps you get him out by pushing on him through the crack on the left, Alexei popping out in no time. The damage done to the car was irreplaceable, completely wrecked. Or rather, beginning to fade. The front portion of the car was just gone, like it had never existed. You hated the way it resembled the Blip. You squeeze your eyes momentarily to snap out of it. It seemed a miracle you all were able to avoid death.

“Like what I did there?”

The three of you turn to see an older man, perhaps in his late 40s, in a regular working suit. He had no scratches or wounds, or any indication that he was the perpetrator. His mouth contorted in a smug way, proud of his work on the limousine.

“I ought to think you wouldn’t show up! Y’know, like they always do, only caring about the big city ‘n all.” He confessed.

“What is it that your town needs, exactly?” Bucky sternly asks.

“We need jobs, investment and focus in this area. No matter how hard I tried, my voice was never heard.” He looks down onto his palm. “I’ve always had this problem, y’see. I’m a Mutant. Always thought of it as something to hide and be ashamed of. But, I can use this.” His arm reaches out, you all crouch expecting impact. “No more waiting.”

Only speckles of black flakes remain where he used to be, disappearing. The warmth of another, resurfaces, behind you. You feel a hand grasp at your backpack, tugging you backward. You instantly hear your shoulders get lighter, items clanking beneath you. When you turn around he waves around a small light bomb that should’ve been in your bag. Shit. You turn back around toward your teammates, grabbing and slamming them to the ground. You attempt to cover at least one of their ears, your left hand on Alexei’s and and your right on Bucky’s. Your arms and back shield their eyes. Your left hand tingles from the pressure.

A hot, burning sensation trickles onto your back and a loud ringing follows. Disorientation was an understatement, everything had happened so fast. You open your eyes to a yelling Bucky, but you couldn’t hear anything spewing out of his mouth. His hands find your shoulders, lightly pushing you off him. All you could do was watch him dash toward the mysterious man as Alexei tries to get you back into the moment. His words were at least muffled now, face littered with worry. You don’t fail to notice the rips and tears in his uniform from when the car crashed.

You brush him off and begin to pick yourself up. You need to protect your people, your purpose. The sounds come rushing to you as you come to a straight stance, throwing off your equilibrium for a moment. Bucky grunts as he is thrown to you and Alexei’s feet. He attempts to help him up but is met with resistance. Your feet lose contact with the ground. You all were floating an inch off the pavement, flakes surrounding you. He’s making molecules disappear and transport you, as he did with himself seconds ago. You can only watch helplessly as just the flick of his finger makes you go flying 40,000 feet into the air.

The world begins to warp and the houses begin to shrink. All the parachutes had been left in the car as an afterthought.

Shit. Shit. Shit. The wind that hits your face hurts, as you all begin to hurl toward the Earth. Alexei begins to yell, the circumstance beginning to hit him. Bucky joins in with him, closing his eyes. There was really no other way. You had to rely on your powers. To save your friends. So it would be okay.

You attempt to swim amidst the air, grabbing onto the Red Soldier’s thigh. His holster for a small knife carefully hidden away by the various straps on top of it. You hand snakes it out of the jail it was behind, freeing it for its use. To slit, to cut.

“Alexei. Hold onto Bucky, okay?”

He looks like he wants to ask what it is exactly you were planning, but Bucky does the “holding onto” for him, not questioning you. You hum at his obedience and look down to see his knife. Shining and in optimal sharpness. Raising and scrunching your left sleeve to your elbow, you don’t dare linger on it. You bring the knife near your left ventral and cut toward your palm. It was deep, you could feel it digging in. You couldn’t quite tell whether you hit bone. A flash of heat, followed by a shiver when the blade leaves you. You sigh. The comfort of this feeling was one you know you should hate. All the things you did because of your power, to yourself and others. This odd sense of familiarity is why you stopped when you were younger. It confused you.

The familiar feeling of blood oozing and rolling off your arm, reminds you why you even did this again in the first place. Closing your eyes, you concentrate on your blood, draining yourself.

A maroon red begins to slowly cocoon you three, hardening it like a shell as best you could to brace for impact. You keep your eyes closed. Afraid of what Alexei or Bucky’s faces looked like. What they would say.

It felt like forever, falling back down to Earth. It killed you to not know when you would hit the ground. Your right hand that was squeezing your arm to hold in as much blood as possible should hurt right now. Alexei and Bucky are still yelling, arguably louder since they couldn’t see. Forever sounded nice. Until it wasn’t.

As soon as you hit the ground, the blood became plush to cushion your fall. It immediately disperses and turns into liquid. Bucky and Alexei’s bodies slam into yours and they roll off onto the ground. Your blood stains all of your clothes, the wet seeping through onto your back. It stung, with the previous burn from the stun bomb.

“Oho~ I didn’t know you had powers, Avenger.” He mocks. “A weird one at that.”

Too much blood was leaving your body, but you had to keep fighting. Your clouded mind was beginning to fade.

You prop yourself up with your left arm, more blood oozing out of your body. Hurriedly, you slam your hand onto the wound.

Crystalizing what blood was still on the ground, you fling it toward the man with two fingers. You didn’t want to create anything life-threatening to him by using the fresh blood from your arm. He yells from the several that penetrate his thigh and shoulder, immobilizing him. You had deduced he was just a man with powers with no physical training or battle experience from his appearance.

Alexei seizes this chance, pinning him to the ground. The man struggles under his weight, but gives in after a couple seconds, flopping his arms and legs to the ground. The Red Soldier grins for the victory. Bucky swiftly administers a power suppressor onto the man’s neck, disabling his ability.

You allow yourself to lay your head onto the ground, beginning to let yourself into the black. It was comforting, not in the way that it was familiar, but this devoid feeling reminded you of Bob. Early this morning was calm and enjoyable. You could stare at his concentrated, hard-working form all day. You could feel two sources of warmth approaching you, but you stay ignorant, staying in the comforting black. The Void.

It felt as though you woke up, but you were met again with nothingness. You never necessarily remembered how it felt or what you saw in your mind when you were unconscious. You simply woke up. This time, though familiar, there was no warmth like you felt before you fell into the dark.

Faint dripping noises could be heard, looking down, the same wound you had inflicted was still on your arm. It runs along your forearm and continues to splatter onto the floor. There was no pain, only the sensation of the liquid running along.

You guess you’d been staring at this anomaly for a while, as a pool of your own blood begins to form. Crouching down, you look at the moment the blood hits the pool. It ripples for only a moment, dying as soon as it lands.

”Why do you not stop it?” A figure, seemingly blended into the darkness, stands before you. Only two small slivers of light could be seen radiating from his pupils. The Void. This must be his doing, but it didn’t feel as though he was creating this place out of malice. Whether he was asking about the ripple or the flowing blood, you couldn’t tell. You only look up, allowing him to have the upper hand.

”Stop what, exactly?” You try to clarify.

”The bleeding.”

”Oh, well. Not that I really can, can I?” You confess. The Void steps closer to you, crouching down with you, watching the fleeting ripples.

Softly putting your hand onto your wound, you squeeze at it, trying your best to stop the flow. No matter how you rearranged your hand, blood would always manage to seep through. Your once clean right hand, tainted with fresh blood.

“See?” You say, looking over to his bright irises. He takes several moments to stare you down, to assess you. Of course the Void and Bob were two different entities, but you could see many similarities in them. “Are you okay, Void?” You ask. He only blinks, taking his time to look into your eyes.

“Hm.. yes.” He answers. “Why is it that you ask?”

“You seem.. different. More, present.”

The Void stands up, creating distance between the two of you.

“I had thought that controlling you, having you beneath me was what we wanted. Bob doesn’t know what he wants with you and I don’t either.” You turn to look at the Void in confusion. “I was born to be the manifestation of Bob’s flaws. You… your powers are like myself. Where, we are confined to be a specific way and cause harm, but there is solace and comfort in that familiarity. Why did it take me you to understand that I am needed, that I am Bob? And I figure, it is because you are so imperfect and raw that I recognize my being was never so ..” Again, his eyes meet yours. “Haah.. I can’t find the word..”

The bleeding had long stopped while the Void was talking. Only a long gash remained. You could see the inner workings of your arm, where the muscle lay and bone met. You look up to see the room lightening to a dark gray, the Void now clearly visible. He contrasts the place harshly, a rough outline of Bob’s shaded figure standing before you.

“The others don’t understand us.” It states. The void steps forward, seeming to want to touch you, but stops the action. “I.. will see you again...”

Your brows furrow as the room brightens in an instant, blinding you momentarily. You want to know what it is that you helped him to understand with your actions. How come you don’t understand that yet?

That looming feeling of the Void dissipates, but lingers. Warmth.

You jolt up fully expecting to still be in upstate New York, bleeding out on the endless fields. You were met with the familiar blinding med bay lights within the tower. Your wound had been stitched up, due to its deep nature.

A warm feeling fills your body, both sensing and seeing Bob at your bedside. His hand was on your left, answering your question as to why you were visited by the Void in your unconsciousness. An unknowing psychic.

Keeping your hand under Bob’s, you quietly turn it around, holding his in yours. Your ventral side of your arm now toward you, you could see the red. You run your fingers along the closed slit, barely seeing any thread. Must’ve been a layered stitch. You sigh, leaning back into your pillows. They had been propped up so you were slightly upright in the bed. You wonder if Bob had done that for you.

You had never thought of the Void as something to be locked away, though you knew why the New Avengers had gone with that route. It made you question why the Void was okay with your complicity. Shouldn’t the Void be angry, even with me?

You turn your head to see Bob, sleeping, his head on your bed with his hand lightly intertwined with yours. You brush his bangs away from his face, revealing his closed eyes. They twitch a bit, now that the lights are fully hitting him. Mumbling into the bed, he pushes himself up with his left hand. “Ergh..” He groans, squinting.

Just like the other day, using the same hand, he rubs his eyes to wipe the sleep away. He softly blinks, realizing you were awake. His face contorts, wanting to say something, but all he could do was hug your body tightly. You hadn’t been in the fight directly, so nothing hurt really, but your heart tightens when Bob sobs quietly into your chest. More like a relief than anything. You let him be like that for a while. His cries did stop relatively quickly, but he remained in the hug with no intention of letting go soon. Though you wanted to, you decided to keep your arms to your sides. To have him initiate something, was new.

You also come to think it was nice to feel him physically. He is always scared to touch anyone due to the Void, which in a way you understood. He couldn’t really control it and you don’t think he ever will.

“Thank you for being with me, Bob. You didn’t have to.” You say.

He slowly peels himself off you, revealing his puffy red eyes. You admire his ability to be vulnerable, but wonder greatly why the Void hadn’t taken over. Usually when he is in great distress, the Void finds it easier to.

He gulps a small bit. You could clearly see the gears turning in his head, hyping himself up.

”Why…hadn’t you told us about your powers?” He meekly asks, scared you would be mad for bringing it up. His mouth tightens, his dark blue eyes meet yours.

“Uh, well…” You trail off, trying to find the right words to say. You remember, how the Void had asked why you hadn’t stopped the bleeding and you didn’t know why. “I initially thought my reliance on my powers was normal, y’know, like Ava. It’s like second nature, a habit, and I’m sure for her it’s a healthy one.”

You look down onto your arms to see the littered healed scars. It felt vulnerable to have them out due to the hospital gown you adorned, usually you would wear more concealing clothing. Not that you were ashamed of having scars, but you weren’t quite at the stage where you couldn’t look at them without convincing yourself it was to use your powers again. Which you knew wasn’t true. “There are good days and bad days, right?” You say, looking at Bob. His eyes were on your arms, accessing what that exactly meant.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know what I was asking.” He states.

‘It’s not a crime to ask, Bob. Just that, I also realized that I was solely using my powers to hurt others and myself. When I met you, you reminded me of what I was like or, am, really. I still haven’t completely recovered that part of myself yet. And I know you don’t know this, but the Void had told me that he now understands that he is an extension of you. Not necessarily a part that should be pushed down, but I guess, we both have a part of ourselves we need to constantly be working on. I shouldn’t have been subduing it this whole time. You and the Void, your relationship, helped me understand that too.”

“You talked to the Void.” He goes a little bug-eyed, in disbelief. “Okay..”

“I’m not quite sure of it either, but I think it was a good thing.” You say, with confidence. His mouth tenses, but he seemed to trust your judgement. Amidst this new understanding of you and the Void, Bob understands why he’s always felt a connection to you. That, every part of him feels it.

“I told Bucky I would call him over when you woke up. We’ll keep talking later?” He says, slowly standing up from his chair.

You simply nod. He averts his eyes and shuffles out of the room very quickly, not turning back.

After the incident with the Void, he had been reluctant to give into great self-indulgence. He would read books and watch some TV to pass the time, but never anything he would specifically be interested in. Always picking out mundane channels or boring books. He felt undeserving. But this time, he walks out feeling lighter and he doesn’t know why.

#robert reynolds x reader #bob reynolds x reader #bob x reader #robert reynolds #bob reynolds #thunderbolts #the void x reader #the void #thunderbolts*#bob thunderbolts #marvel #marvel mcu #gender neutral reader

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let-spretend · 2 months ago

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hey…. so i’m back to rid of the urge to write a bob x reader ..

i will keep writing until my creative juices run out !!!! second part in the works !!!!

edit: i got rid of the weirdly big spaces but idk if it looks worse now

heavy space between us pt. 1 (bob x reader)

The New Avengers' paperwork lines the communal table, you, diligently filling it out for the team. It had been a bit of a blur the past few months, being thrown into this new team and working together to protect citizens. It gave you a new purpose, rather than the necessary killings you needed to do to protect yourself, you could channel that expertise for the benefit of good and getting paid. But, you were simply getting tired. Physically straining yourself everyday: practicing, training, working out and doing your hero job, it was starting to catch up to you. Though the others have experienced many of the hurt you have, it was difficult to open up to them and you felt yourself lagging behind, despite the Void incident bringing you a bit closer. You were the only one still reluctant to share your past fully to the team. They knew and you knew it as well. Throwing yourself into work helped you feel connected with them in a way, and deserving of this position.

You punch in some numbers into the calculator about some living costs and upcoming expenses that need to be made. Your left hand meets your hair, scratching at it as some stress reliever. It feels warm.

Soft shuffling could be heard to your left, indicating someone approaching the dining area you were occupying. “Y/N?” Bob asks, groggily. You turn to see him rubbing his eyes, adjusting to the half-dimmed lights over the dining table. His hair was disheveled, him still in his simple matching PJ set. You cock your head to the right, wondering why he was awake this early in the morning.

“What’s up?” You say. “Just workin’ on some taxes and other things.” His eyes trail over to the mess of papers and slightly ajar laptop.

“Do you.. want some help?” He asks. His voice was now much clearer, a sign he’d woken up indubitably. He looked hesitant about asking, afraid of being pushed away like he constantly was. But you remember him always wanting and willing to help around the tower. This, being one of the rare things he could actually help with. You honestly didn’t want him to. Not in the sense that he’d slow you down or otherwise, but this extra work and feeling like you were contributing, was all you had right now. You look down at the papers. Still so much left to do.

Though your sense of contentment would be diminished, you realize he was feeling and thinking the same way you do.

“Sure. Come here.” You beckon. His mouth contorts into a content smile and happily takes the seat next to you. “We have to calculate our incomes, health insurance, assets, etc. for our AGI. If we’re eligible, use the IRS’ tax software with my laptop. Sound good?” He nods silently and gets straight to work. You stand up and he looks over to you, assuming you’re going to leave him. His eyebrows knit together a bit, confused. “I’m just going to make coffee for us, don’t worry.” You coolly state.

He gets a bit sheepish, for you having figured him out. So you give him a small smile.

Everything felt a bit fuzzy while you were putting together the coffee. You were sure as soon as you got a sip in you would be fine. You were brewing up a simple Americano for yourself, first putting the hot water into your cup. The sound of the boiled water hitting the bottom of the mug lulls you.

You don’t notice your hand burning until it begins to sting. You peer down to see your left hand directly on the kettle. Slowly removing your hand, the palm appeared red. Huh, I should've instinctively.. “Uh, cold brew, right?” You ask, with uncertainty laced in your guess. You decide to just ignore that mishap. You just need to get the coffee done.

The top of his head becomes his face, his side bangs covering his eyes. He brushes them out his face with his right hand, pencil still in grip.

”Yeah! I’m surprised you remember.” He laughs.

Toward the beginning of the new team formation of “The New Avengerz,” you all had gotten roughed up by some sort of villain attack on the city. Bob had offered to get you all coffee to lighten up the mood. You shrug a tiny bit, remembering that day. He really is just someone nice to have around.

You really didn’t care to measure, lazily filling in the portafilter and locking it into place for your Americano. You peer into the fridge for Bob’s cold brew and sigh. No cold foam.. You were just going to skip it and just serve it to him blank, but his hard-working form makes your body do otherwise. His back slightly hunched, engrossed in working for the team. Sighing again, you take the heavy cream and milk out of the fridge and eyeball their measurements into a cup. Substituting vanilla syrup with some extract, you stir it with a spoon gently. You never said it was going to be good, or even ideal. You mentally faceplant, looking at the almost whipped texture.

Tamping your coffee clumsily, you place it back into the machine once more, starting the shot. Your hand feels as if it were beeping, reminding you of its mild burn. You watch the coffee begin to pour into the cup, lightly splashing as it meets the hot water. The once clear water begins to turn into a soft brown, the aroma of fresh coffee hitting your nose. It smelled like this in the coffee shop Bob took you all to.

“It smells really good, Y/N!” He comments. It brings you out of your trance and reminds you to finish making his drink. You briefly look over to him to acknowledge his comment. Taking out a tall glass, you pour his cold brew and top it with the mildly sweet cold “foam”. It sat with a little curl on the top.

Your espresso was beginning to blond, so you stopped yours and grabbed them both to the table. It stung to even hold the handle to your mug.

“Wow, it looks so good!” Bob says, happily taking the cold brew from you. He takes a second to admire the generous amount of cream. He takes a little sip and widens his eyes to show you it was delicious. “Thank you so much, Y/N.” You try to look at his eyes, but the cold foam on his upper lip distracts you greatly. He looks at your distracted eyes, searching for where your attention was. You could see his face visibly flush from your staring.

“Something on my face?” He stutters. Bob’s left hand reaches for his cheek as he attempts to get rid of whatever you were looking at. Instinctively, your right hand goes to his lip to wipe off the cold foam. His whole body stiffens, his eyes on your hand.

“Got it.” You say.

Looking at your finger, you realize you never got the chance to taste your concoction. Licking the foam off your finger, it was a little on the sweeter side. You didn’t mind it though.

“Haah.. Right. Thank you.” He darts his eyes away, continuing sipping on his drink.

Even with the cold brew reinforcement, sleep had won over Bob’s body. There were still a couple more documents that needed to be filled out, but the throbbing in your hand was becoming too much. First, draping a small blanket over Bob’s shoulders, you stroll over to the bathroom. A small medkit was hiding behind the mirror over the sink, where you had last supplied it. Mainly for the others.

The antibiotic ointment felt cool on your hand, contrary to how it felt wrapping it. It was weird. It obviously hurt, but it felt oddly freeing, reminding you why you were still here and serving along with your team. Squeezing your left fulfilled this urge. Not good.

You return to Bob still soundly sleeping on the table. You squeeze your fist a bit. You want to try harder for him, the team. You scootch into the chair as quietly as you could without moving it. He stirs a bit when you shuffle the papers, but remains asleep. The finished papers were in a neat pile, done by Bob. Without him, it would’ve taken you an extra day to finish. The few that littered the table motivated you to keep on going this stretch.

When you finished up, it was about 5 in the morning and the others would soon begin their routines. Wanting to let Bob get a few more hours of sleep in, you carefully lift him up into the air. Your power was to control and manipulate blood. It normally didn’t take so much effort to do so, but a strain was beginning to form in your mind. Despite the nuisance, he continues to float over to his bedroom, landing softly into his bed. You could tell he was in a completely relaxed mood by his palpitations. Feeling the blood coursing through his veins, it signaled his livelihood. Though, he always felt awfully heavy, you assume due to his added void personality.

He snuggles into his familiar bedding subconsciously, you covering his body with his light gray duvet. It was weird. You felt warm again.

“What are you doing?”

You turn around to see Yelena peering into Bob’s room. Rather than her usual suited getup, she was in workout clothes. She made no footsteps, deeply contrasting Bob’s slight drags of feet when he entered the dining room. She must’ve been the reason you felt something was off.

“He was helping with the paperwork. Fell asleep doin’ ‘em.” You say.

Yelena’s reaction seemed as though disappointed but still suspicious, as if she were trying to catch you in an embarrassing act. You never really found these “miscommunications” embarrassing because they simply weren’t true and you stood on that.

“Bucky wanted me to tell you, you have a mission with him and my father in 10 minutes. Sudden reports of a disturbance in the upstate area.” Yelena reports. You nod, thanking her for the heads up. She looks down to your bandaged hand and questions if you were in optimal shape for the sudden mission. “We Powerless need to be in our best condition in order to keep ourselves and others safe.

”Well, it’s not supposed to be urgent or dire, right? I have Bucky and Alexi, don’t worry.” Waving her off. She sighs. You forget you haven’t told or revealed your powers to anyone in the group yet. You hadn’t found the need to, your hand-to-hand being one of your more controlled and trained traits.

With what came with your powers, was self-destruction. Lifting one living person barely needed thought until you straight on stopped using them unless necessary. Where your powers are at their most optimal, was complete exposure and vulnerability - freshly drawn blood. Blood when contained in the body or other containments, means extra weight and concentration. Though you say you can only lift one person now, when you were at your peak, killing, anything conceivable was possible. Your powers came with the need to access fresh blood as much as you could for your benefit. To be cut when you need to. To be willing to.

There was only one person always at your disposal to do so. But it’s not like you really had a choice, was there?

#robert reynolds x reader #bob reynolds x reader #bob x reader #robert reynolds #bob reynolds #thunderbolts #the void x reader #thunderbolts*#marvel #gender neutral reader

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let-spretend · 1 year ago

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hey guys ! sorry about being away for so long , but i've come back with the second part of mold for thought . one thing though , i have to confess , i am losing interest in batman and re7 ... recently i've just finished watching broadchurch , so i might write a one-off fanfic about that . sorry about the sudden interest change .

#broadchurch #mold for thought

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let-spretend · 1 year ago

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hey guys .. so , it's been a couple months since the last update , and i'm so sorry !!! i've been procrastinating and putting this off for so long and have been losing interest but i'll try to keep writing this series .

cw violence, crude comments

mold for thought pt. 2

home is where i want to be !

three years ago - 7/11/20XX

“We’re going to Dulvey.” Ethan hurriedly gathers up his things and beckons you to do the same. Gathering your phone, earbuds and wallet, you decide on a small backpack to store your things. You don’t question his sudden order, blindly doing as he gestured.

“Will it be long?” You ask.

He stops and thinks. “YesーWe’re picking up Mia.” You shove in your journal, clipped with a pencil and a bag of chips. Mia?

You stop, “Wait, what?”

He swings his keys and opens the front door. “I’m sure she’ll explain everything.” Ethan says. He sounds like he’s lying to himself but you don’t ask anything more. Mia’s been gone for so long, you were accepting the fact she wasn’t coming back. You’re so glad she’s okay, you’ve missed her so much.

The car Ethan drove was a Dodge Challenger from the 1970's. Having the privilege of riding the car was always something you pride yourself on. You rolled the window down and breathed in the fresh air. The roads were unfamiliar and the scenery was becoming open fields.

Mia and Ethan took you in when you were little and you don’t remember much. You were now 15, and they were talking about having a child before Mia went off to do her job. At the time you were excited. Wanting to be that cool and loving older sibling to the Winter’s child. You remember Mia reassuring you that she would still take care of you, no matter what. You wanted to hug her then. You would’ve if you'd known she would’ve been gone after that. What were you going to say to her after all this time?

A phone goes off, it rings 3 times. Ethan picks it up and says a shy ‘hello’ into it. “You really shouldn’t have come here.” You could hear a woman’s voice faintly, as you stood close to Ethan. You stare at your left hand and arm. You arm had knife slashes all over it, and in the middle of your hand was a gaping wound. Ethan had frantically put medical aid onto it, but it still throbbed.

“Who’s this? And what the fuck is going on?”

“My name’s Zoe. There should be a way out though the attic. Go thereーnow.” He hangs up and nods in your direction. Ethan had no choice but to trust this mysterious person. He holds out his right hand for you to take and you hold it tight. You were never one to be touchy, but comfort was very much needed in the moment. Ethan was leading you through the halls, trying to find the stairs.

You had found Mia, asleep in a bed. To get there it was a treacherous task, the house riddled with locks and puzzles. At first she was “normal”, trying to get you out of the house to the best of her knowledge. But after a roadblock, she changed. Started saying weird things and sat down, stopped moving. You had followed Ethan to find a way out, not feeling safe being alone with Mia. During that time she was alone, someone had taken her.

Soon after she was taken, banging on a door or wall could be heard. It went on for three minutes, the same rhythmic banging every single time. As Ethan almost gets to the heart of the sound, it stops. He puts his arm out to stop you, now silent, you could hear hoarse hisses coming from the shadows. Something was crawling. The more it nears, you could make it out its humanoid shape. It suddenly jumps and grabs onto Ethan’s shirt. It was Mia. Now clearly being controlled by something. Her face was different, gray and monster-like.

Ethan goes flying through the many walls, leaving you alone with Mia. She charges toward you with a knife, first, throwing you onto the ground. You try to get back up but she attacks your face, forcing you to block with your hand. As she pulls back, it slices your arm. You try to push her off of you, but her strength was unhuman-like, remaining on top of you.

Mia aims for your face again, but this time you were slow with your block. It goes clean through your palm, and the blade is inches away from your face. As she tries to push in further, you kick her as hard as you could with both of your feet. You get up as quickly as you could, but she gets up faster. “Ms. Winters.. Wait, wait!” She keeps aiming for your face and you block, again, as she pulls away the knife slices your arm. The second attempt, you are able to catch Mia’s arm and use your right arm to push her face away. She falls back slightly, but is determined. As she comes back, you use two hands to grab onto her armed hand. You stay like this for a couple seconds, before she gets the final stab on your hand and lets go of the knife.

You stare down at your battered hands. The pain was growing worse and worse, as you realize how bad they looked. “I can hear her.” Mia strains, “I can feel her clawing her way back inside me. Get out!” She rams herself into the wall. “Leave me alone!” Again, with more force. Her eyes flicker over to you. You were still breathing heavily, trying to forget the agonizing pain coming from your left hand. “I’ve been bad. I deserve this.” She stares directly into your eyes and again rams herself into the wall. She flops to the fall, unconscious. You hurriedly go check on Ethan, who had been unconscious and bleeding. You shake him awake and he jolts up, expecting Mia. “We have to go.” You mutter. He feels a wet substance on his right arm, where you were shaking him.

“Y/N, your hand!” His face was fearful, pulling out a strange green bottle from out of his jacket pocket. He pours it onto your hand and you bite down onto your lip. You could feel the inside of your hand, screaming. He casts the bottle aside and rubs your shoulder. “I’m so sorry.” He says. The moment didn’t last long before you could hear small footsteps approaching. He frantically looks around, finding an ax within the rubble. He stands and doesn’t hesitate to swing at Mia’s body. She held the same knife she was attacking you with before, swinging for Ethan’s face. All you could do was sit and watch, telling yourself that this was in fact happening. They go at each other, back and forth, before Ethan lands a finishing blow to her neck. It’s like the moment was in slow-motion, her knees slowly go weak and her face returns to what she normally looked like. Her pale white skin and green eyes. She reaches out for Ethan before she falls, and Ethan tries to catch her.

Her body meets the floor, and the sound her body makes makes you realize she was dead. Ethan stares at his hands for a moment, realizing what he’d done to his wife. You try to process everything, but were interrupted by some ringing..

Mia comes out of the shadows and stops you from going forward. She takes Ethan’s free hand and slowly backs, holding tightly. His breath hitches. “Ethan! Y/N! It’s OK. It’s OK, it’s me.” The blood from the previous fight was still on her. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me.” Mia shakes her head side to side, trying to console herself. As she slowly backs up, she abruptly stops and throws Ethan’s hand away. She raises her hands and grabs Ethan’s shoulders, pinning him to the wall. He lets go of your hand from the impact and winces. “But you shouldn’t have done that!” Her face contorts into a monster-like form again and her voice becomes raspy.

Mia grabs you this time, pushing you onto the floor. “It fucking hurt!” She takes your shoulder and positions you onto the wall. Too scared to move, you let her move you. Her hand crawls onto your left arm and she pins it higher, on the wall. A sharp pain jolts through the palm of your hand and you look over to see a screwdriver pinning you to the wall. Your left hand was somehow healing back up, still very sensitive. But she pierced through the newly formed muscles and nerves. A pained yell escapes your lips. Somehow the pain was worse than the first time.

You desperately pull at the screwdriver, tuning out everything around you. Ethan’s hand was trying to calm you down, but you were absorbed in the pain. You hear some distant revving of a chainsaw, but what brought you back was Ethan’s screams. He was protecting you and blocking the chainsaw with his left hand. His blood splattered onto your face and you realized his hand was gone. Mia pushes him to the side like some object, reaching for you.

She grabs onto your shoulder again and throws you across the hallway, the screwdriver forcefully coming out of the wall. You look at Mia, terrified. She looked completely different. All that remained was her body, but even that, it was gray, making her look sickly. As she mutters incohesive sentences, Mia falls back but you don’t understand why.

You pull out the screwdriver from your hand and keep it as a weapon. You take the tablecloth from the small side cabinet, wrapping it around Ethan’s open wound. He hisses from the foreign contact, but holds it tight after. Blood soaks through it in seconds. You take his cut-off hand and throw it into your bag. Grabbing his right hand, you lead him as best as you could, to the attic. He was wobbling around, his breaths shallow.

A big red button labeled with ‘STAIRS’ was on a beam. You press it and watch as a pair of stairs slowly descend. You had trouble getting Ethan to the top of the stairs and into the attic. You hold onto his waist while he uses his right hand to prop himself up. You leave him at the top in case you have to get out quickly. Also, giving him the screwdriver to protect himself.

Immediately, there was a white door to the right. It was dimly lit from a small lamp on a table. A box of ammunition was next to it and you took it, hesitantly. Near it, there was a M19 handgun. Observing it, there seemed to be nothing wrong with it. “OK, fine.” You sigh and take the gun. Back out, you look back to see Ethan closing his eyes, his chest rising slowly.

You keep going further and enter a room full of mannequins. Some ammunition was lying around here and there and you would pocket anything you could find.

A ladder, prepped up against the wall, had a small door near the top of the wall. You decide to check where it would lead before calling for Ethan. As you got closer, clattering and shoving was coming from behind the door. That same revving was getting closer and closer. You jump down from the ladder and begin to run where Ethan was. “Mr. Winters! Hide, now!” You yell as loud as you could, interrupted by Mia slashing down the wall next to you. She breaks down the wall with her body, trying to grab you. You instinctively kick her across the room and she falls with a grunt. Using the new handgun you found, you aim for her head. You don’t want to. The image of Mia lying cold on the floor comes back to you. The recoil makes your body stumble back. You shut your eyes as the report makes your ears ring.

“Everyone is relying on me. Everyone!” Mia yells. You run back into the room with the ladder, trying to avoid Mia from discovering Ethan. She comes back through the way you came in and you attempt to shoot again. Expecting the recoil, you flinch and miss the shot. She charges for you, and you nearly escape by falling backward. Crawling away, you hurriedly get up and run across the room.

This time, you try not to focus on the kickback. Breathing deeply, you shoot two rounds. One for her head and another landed on her shoulder. She stumbles back, but bobs her head back straight away. Through gritted teeth, “I have to do this.” Mia cried. The chainsaw revs and she attempts to slash your head.

Running for the room with the lamp, you quickly try to figure out how to reload the gun. The slide was open, showing the chamber had no bullets. From movies you’ve seen, you try to find a button to release the magazine. A small button on the handle grip catches your eye, and you press it. The magazine drops to the floor and you quickly grab a loaded one from your pocket. You could hear Mia slashing through another wall, so you hurriedly shove the magazine into the magazine well. Pulling back the slide, it snaps forward. Assuming that it cambered a round, you fired at her four times. She staggered forward, trying to maintain balance. The bullets that pierced her torso began to slowly bleed. She falls to her knees and faces you with a pleading look. With a raspy voice she muttered, “I love you,” and fell over to her left.

She laid still. Blood gushed out of every gun wound and you felt like you couldn’t breathe. You knew she could probably come back. But it still was horrifying, knowing you had the power to kill something, someone.

He could also be dead, from shock. You try not to imagine Ethan dying and leaving you here, or to keep going without him.

You also look down at your left hand. A gaping hole where Mia stabbed you. Something terrible has happened here. What the hell is going on? What did they do to Mia those three years?

You run over to Ethan, who is now wide awake, clutching onto the screwdriver. You help him up and get him down the stairs. He was springing with energy, able to support himself. Ethan desperately tries to find the way out of the place and you hold the gun steady to protect him. The soft pattering of footsteps goes unheard with the obnoxious footsteps Ethan was making. “Welcome to the family, child.” You feel a hand aggressively grab onto your shoulder, and a man punches you straight in the face, causing you to fall to the floor. Pain racks through your face and you drop the gun to the floor. You hear some yelling and tussling while your eyes are closed. Pushing through the pain, you try to grab on to the man’s leg. He tries to shake you off like a bug, but you persist and try to twist it. He kicks you off and bashes your face in with his leg in response.

In some glimpses, you feel your body being dragged across the mud. A foreign view. Some hair was dangling in front of your face, and you saw another person being dragged along with you. Tiredness washes over you, and you give up on fighting and rest your eyes once more.

“C’mon.. don’t you die on us, now. You both have work to do.” A woman’s voice, a southern kind, wraps your hand in gauze. You recognize it as the lady’s voice on the phone. After she wraps you up, you hear rummaging and loud stapling next to you. Your head is extremely heavy. Something’s off. You can’t fight the urge to sleep.

But a horrid smell wakes you up. You try to get up but feel restraints pull you down. Turning to your left, you see an unconscious Ethan, who was also restrained. His hand was stapled back on, with a new wristwatch on. “What the hell?” You squeak out. Three people were in front of you. You guess a father, mother and son. Out of the corner of your eye, you see another figure. Still, and shriveled. She looked like she was rotting in the chair. The younger man throws something at your face, turning your attention away from the old woman. The smell was horrible, and you try not to recoil in disgust.

They all had that gray-toned skin that Mia had, and all looked miserable. The father, who was in the middle, was chugging down a beer and seemed the most calm out of the four. He was balding and had glasses on, like an average middle aged man. The mother was twitching and scratching her neck a few times. She was smiling wide, and her hair looked like it was thinning. The son had his hood up, not really staying still for long. Staring and creepily smiling in your direction.

There was so much meat, platted neatly on the table. The few candles create a nice orange hue over the meal. The meat looked unrecognizable, like something you’ve never eaten before. Not just that, but also parts that you’ve never seen normally. You deduce it to be human flesh. Tons of remains laid before you. Some rotted, boiled or fresh. You try not to freak out.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead. It’s time for supper.” The mother of the family finally speaks up. Her hands were shaking violently as she picked apart the ‘food’. She nibbles on the piece she ripped off.

“Who are all you people? What did you do to the Winters?” You ask. Ethan was still unconscious from the blow. Margueritte slams her hand onto the table to shut you up. She shoves the rest of the handful of remains into her mouth, while facing you.

“Eat it. It’s good.” She says in a sing-song voice, ignoring your question.

“Dumb son of a bitch wouldn’t know good if it hit him!” The son throws a plate full of human flesh toward Ethan’s head. He stirs a bit, still not fully awake.

“Lucas!” The mother scolds. She’s angry because of him disrespecting the food. He tries to assert himself and stands up. Suddenly, the older man grabs his son’s arm and stabs it in with a steak knife. He begins to cut through it, blood splattering everywhere. The arm was cut off clean, and he holds it in the air as the blood keeps oozing out.

“Goddamn, old man, not again!” It didn’t really sound like he was in pain, but rather utter annoyance. Jack throws the hand onto the floor with zero remorse.

“Get out the way, Marguerite.” He commands. She scoots in quickly, her body touching the table. “That child’s got to eat! They got to have their supper.” He grabs some meat with his bare hands and begins to approach your face. “Come here, child. Let’s do this, come on.” He grabs onto your shoulder, forcing you still. The smell was so bad, you could feel your stomach flipping. There was white intestine and some green brain inching closer to your mouth. You clamp your teeth tight as it nears, seeing the brain glisten from the candlelight. The veins were now a dark-ish green, it didn’t even look human anymore. You whimper from the thought of eating human remains, keeping your mouth shut as tight as you could. He tries to force the meat past your lips and he successfully pushes in. The force makes you open up your clamped teeth, allowing the human remains to properly enter your mouth. The meat lies on your tongue and you can’t help but retch. The feeling was so foreign and disgusting. It spat out onto the table, clanking onto the dirty plate in front of you. You cough as much as you can, trying to get rid of the feeling and smell.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shitーthey’re not eating it, Jack! They’re not eating it!” Marguerite yells and stands to point at you. You try to calm yourself down, but the yelling makes it harder to concentrate. Your mouth was slightly open, trying to not let your tongue touch the roof of the mouth. The rubbery feeling of the intestine stays on your tongue.

“Shut the hell up, Margueritte!”

“I made that for them!” She sobs.

“Get the hell out of here!” He kicks her chair toward her and she screams in response.

“You’re a fucking bastard!” She points at you again and leaves, stomping. Lucas didn’t seem fazed, still holding up his handless arm in the air. Ethan was now fully awake from all the yelling, taking in his surroundings. Marguerite yells more incoherent insults before shutting the door. The ground shakes a bit from the force. Jack reaches over you to grab the food you spat out.

“This was supposed to be a very special feast.” He shows the rotted brain to somehow prove his point. It was now all mushed up. Placing it softly back down onto the table, he slowly grabs a new knife. “Come here, child.” He coos. Jack slowly raises the knife, aiming for your mouth. His hand was on your shoulder again, but this time you fought. Your eyes grow wide and instinctively move your body to the left. He stabs your shoulder and you yell out in pain. You try to look down, avoiding Ethan’s face. You didn’t want to see what he was thinking.

He twists whilst stabbing, and the pain you felt was nauseating. Ethan is yelling at the man to stop. After being satisfied with your squirms, he finally pulls out the knife. You breathe out in short breaths, trying to think of anything but the pain. Lucas was watching with glee, anticipating his father’s next move. “Come on now.” Jack says. He tries to cut into you again, but is interrupted by Ethan. He doesn’t hesitate to shove the knife into Ethan’s face and he cries out in great pain. It only lasts a few seconds, to your relief. Jack would’ve kept going, but the doorbell rings.

“God damn it. I bet it’s that cop again.” Lucas stands to go inspect the sound.

“Goddamn pigs!” Jack says. He looks up, then lets out a big sigh. He sternly points toward you. “I’m coming back for you.” His eyes darted toward Ethan, then back to you. Your breaths were shallow and fast. You look around and see the grandma still sitting there, still as an object. You watch him close the door and immediately start to thrash around. Ethan flinches, surprised by your outburst.

Falling to the floor, the chair you were in breaks on impact. The rope around your hands burns from the pulling but you’re determined. Once free, you grab that steak knife from earlier and cut Ethan’s restraints. The blood makes your hands clammy.

He crouches down and embraces you. “Thank you, Y/N. You’re okay, we’re okay and we’ll get out of here... Somehow." Ethan says. You’re convinced he’s trying to soothe himself, with those words.

He pours First Aid Med onto your open wound and it stings real bad. It took a lot not to show it on your face. “I’m so sorry for bringing you here.” Your mouth felt dirty. You couldn’t respond at that moment. Not saying anything, you just shake your head side to side. Trying to show that Ethan shouldn’t feel guilty.

You keep the knife in your hand, in case you need to use it. The blood from Lucas stains your hand. You both quietly roam around the halls, carefully checking and listening for any sound. The more you ventured into the house, the more paranoid you got. “Some sort of locked trapdoor. Maybe we can go through here?” Ethan whispers. He touches the door, looking through the cracks to see a way in. Before you could leave, Jack barges into the room, armed with a shovel.

“Thought you’d just slip out before dinner was done?” Ethan shields you with his arm, slowly backing away. When the timing was right, you both evaded Jack. But he grips onto Ethan’s shoulder, turning him back around. Jack attempts to scratch Ethan, but he blocks with his bare arms. He motions for you to go and you follow his orders. You could hear maniacal laughter followed by Ethan’s frantic footsteps.

While Ethan was preoccupied with Jack, you try to search for the key. It all seemed too quiet, until an arm holding a shovel suddenly burst out through the wall. Jack’s body breaks through, the wall crumbling behind him. “I was so worried about you.” He shouts. You immediately turn around, trying to avoid him. “You’re wasting your time.” He physically grabs your face, forcefully turning you towards him. His face was scaringly close, feeling his breath on your skin. “You came to the wrong house, child.” He hits you with the shovel and you fall to the floor. He raises his shovel into the air, stabbing it straight down into your right leg. It only pierces halfway through. A blood curdling yell leaves your lips. He brings it back up and down again, exactly where it was before. Putting his whole body weight on top of the shovel, it goes through clean. The bottom half of your leg flings back and blood spews out of the gashing wound. Your yelling is muffled through your teeth but still leaks through. “Poor thing.” He sings out.

Jack grabs onto your bleeding leg and feels your blood gushing out. It wasn’t a heinous act or anything, but you felt disgusting. He uses the same hand to push your body fully on the ground. He walks leisurely a couple feet away from you and crouches down. You push yourself back up and flip yourself onto your stomach. You army crawl over to your cut off leg and grab it. Your arms were tired and the leg in your hand didn’t help with the crawling.

He sets down a green bottle onto the floor, “You can use this to fix your leg. You can do it.” Jack laughs a little, observing your move. He was making you so unbelievably angry that he wasn’t frightening to you anymore. You breathe out deeply with every attempt at getting closer. You snatch it before he could try anything. Propping yourself up, you stick the leg back on and pour the liquid. This bottle looked different than the regular ones. “You better now?”

You clench your mouth as you hold it in place. Your leg slowly starts to reattach to your body. “What the fuck!” You move it around, hoping it would fall off like a normal human being. Maybe this First Aid Med has healing agents in it? lt’s able to reattach because of the liquid, right? You collect yourself and try walking on the leg. It hurt, but you could walk and had full control over your foot in mere seconds.

“You… better… run… Here’s Daddy!” Why was he attacking you and helping you next, then attacking again? You dash out, limping slightly with every push on your right leg.

Looping through the kitchen and back near where Jack tore the wall down, the key was resting on a little table. It was just the hallway away. Ethan got there before you, grabbing the key. He was about to yell out your name but you waved your arms to make him stop. You both quietly creep over to the trapdoor, avoiding any noise.

The sound of Ethan opening it was heard. “Found ya!” Jack exclaims. You let Ethan in first, quickly hopping in after, locking it behind you. “Have fun under there. I’m gonna come back for you later.” You flop onto the floor in exhaustion.

“The screaming, are you okay? Where did you go?” He looks down to see blood all over your leg and a clear line through it. “Holy hellーWhat happened?” His face was littered with worry and guilt. He touches your leg to see if it was okay. It was a different kind of touch than Jack’s did, Ethan only had your wellness in mind.

“What’s happening to me, Mr. Winters?.” You stare at the cut. He seems distraught by your question. He only sighs before standing up, not able to answer your question. What did Ethan think of you?

“Just, rest up a bit.” Ethan goes off first and searches every nook and cranny for some tools. Looking at the cut consumes you with thought. Were you like those people now? You sigh and touch your face for comfort. Your hands were covered in dry blood and it was honestly frightening.

You decide you can’t ‘dilly-dally’ any longer and help. It was huge, underground. Never seen a crawlspace this big. You follow a yellow wire that leads back up. You grab onto the ledge of the hole and pull yourself up. It was an old laundry room. Looked like laundry hadn't been done in a while. Your curiosity gets the better of you and you smell the socks hanging from a rack. They really stink! You thought.

You find some more bottles of First Aid Med and grab them for future uses. Useful things were lying everywhere and you grabbed what could fit in your backpack. It was all soaked in blood now and you doubt the chips you packed weren’t crushed. Your pistol from before was in there. Maybe Zoe put it in there? You pocket the gun in your back pants-pocket. You try to use an old rag off the washing machine to wipe off the blood, but it was already stained. The slightly dirty rag was now drenched in blood. You toss it back into the washing machine and close the lid. The bag no longer wet, you were satisfied. Familiar ringing goes off, and you notice a black touch-tone phone is going off and you pick it up.

“You did good, Y/N.” She says. You know Zoe’s probably the only thing that can help you, but you can’t help but be suspicious. How does she know your name? From Mia?

“What the fuck are theseー” You try question her but she cuts you off rather harshly. Does she not know, or is she hiding things from you?

“Shut up and listen if you want to stay alive.” You make a face. Being commanded by someone you didn’t know made you annoyed. “You gotta get out of that house. There might be a way out through the main hall. And that thing on his hand is a codex.”

“That doesn’tー” answer my question. She hangs up before you could ask anything more. You click your tongue in annoyance, “A hell-of-a-girl..” You whisper. You look for Ethan, and he was in the halls. “She says to go through the main hall.” Yelling ever so slightly, so Ethan could hear. You open up the steel door, which leads back to where you were before. You sigh at the sight.

“Fuck!” You yell out. Looking at the father and deputy’s bodies, a chill runs through your body. Jack’s head is now bits, all over the floor and the deputy’s decapitated head lays cruelly on the floor. The warmth of the flames start to creep up on you, realizing that the fire is spreading. Ethan had crashed a car into a pole, which led to an explosive fire. He nearly had himself killed.

That deputy could’ve been your ticket out of here and he was dead. You try not to remember, but the image of the shovel going through the man’s head was stuck in yours. It was that same shovel Jack used to cut off your leg. You try to shake it off and meet Ethan at the top of the ladder. He shoves a shelf to the side and reveals a drop down. You are worried about your leg but figure you’re just going to have to suck it up.

He lets you down first, dropping with a grunt. Not waiting up for Ethan, you open the door, where it leads back to the first floor area again. You feel like you’re going around in circles. Ringing, another phone call. You search for the sound and come across another black phone. “Did my daddy give you a hard time?”

“That’s your father?” You say, in disbelief. How were you going to break the news that you, sort of, killed him?

“He used to be.”

“I’m sorry… but he’s, uh, he’s dead now.” You confess. But, ‘used to be?’ As in, she doesn’t view him as a Father anymore or she knows you killed him? She scoffs on the other end.

“You just might be able to pull this off.”

“What? Pull what off?” You were scared this was all her big deliberate plan, but it was unlikely.

“There’s something I need you to do, but I can’t explain it right now. You may need some sort of keys to do it, but find a way out of the house. I’ll be in touch.” The long beep brings you back to reality. You softly clank the phone back and rub your face to cool off. You grab the newspaper that was next to it and see what it was about. ‘Over 20 missing in 2 years’ as the headline. Could be 22 by tomorrow. You sigh and crumple the first page.

The nearest front door was of no use. With windows boarded and other doors being locked as well, it seemed like there was no obvious way out.

You and Ethan tread the Baker’s household quietly. No sign of Mia or those mysterious phone calls. The house was never ending somehow. Although you were looking for a way out, you were also searching for materials. Anything that could keep you two alive. Every stray bullet or bottle of first aid fluid, you would pick up.

You open a bathroom door to a weirdly placed bathtub. It was right in the middle of the room, with ample space around it. It holds murky black water and you decide to drain it. Not that you wanted to, but there was an urge to. Your hand slips into the water, feeling achy from your disgust. You search for the plug and pull on the ball and chain. It gulps down the water and you swish your hand around in the water. You got over the feeling of disgust. Oddly enough, the water felt soothing; you were drawn to it.

As the water level slowly goes down, it reveals mold sticking all over the bottom. It only clung, not moving. You felt this sort of connection to the mold. You try to touch the mold, but hear quiet footsteps growing near. Ethan tries to usher you to leave, opening the door. But is met with Jack, his head still not fully recovered. His brain was pumping, mold covering some parts of it. Ethan puts his arms up to prepare for a hit. Instead, Jack raises Ethan from the neck and stares at him, Ethan struggling helplessly. “Heck of a thing, ain’t it? Sure as shit beats the hell out of dying.” Jack says, noticing both your stares at his head. You act fast, shooting him in the brain area. Blood splatters all over the walls and Ethan. He throws Ethan in frustration and goes after you. “She has given us a gift, and this gift is with me always.” Gift? She? Who is ‘She’? You assume it’s not Margueritte or Zoe. You think back at the dining table, to your dismay. An older figure, not moving. Her? Or maybe it’s Mia?

Ethan picks himself up and you both run for it. Jumping down the stairs and pretty far from Jack. “As you can see, the family is only a part of her gift.” You could hear him boldly talk through the walls. “Whichーin a wordーmeans, you’re fucked.” You lean on the wall in exhaustion and put all your body weight onto it. The wall acts as a door and you yelp from the sudden movement.

A hidden door. “What the hell?” You prop yourself onto your elbows, looking at the weird door. “Who builds this shit?” You say, under your breath. You scratch your head in annoyance and amusement. Ethan comes jogging over to your yelp.

“What happeー” He stares at the open wall and sighs. He helps you up and check out the pathway. Ethan was holding a shotgun, you wonder how he got it. Before you could ask, he begins the inch closer to the open wall. It was dark and narrow, but your only shot at getting out. “Worth a shot.” Ethan says. He goes in first, making sounds from being squished so tightly. “Who builds this shit?” He sighs. You snicker a bit from the coincidence. You close the wall behind, making the hidden hallway pitch black.

It led to a hidden bedroom. It was scattered with a bunch of notes and photographs of people. You picked one up and read its contents.

June 14

Vacationing Husband and Wife

The Husband was a success. He’s the 12th. Unfortunately, the Wife was no good, so we’ll just get rid of her.

July 7

3 college girls

They’re all rottenーLucas is a damn idiot.

August 13

Homeless man

Turned in 3 days. He’s the 13th.

What the hell? Was the Son involved with experimenting on people with this mold? You look up at the pictures on the wall with people. Were they all victims?

The room was full of hunted items. A deer head on the wall, several antlers littered the room and even a fully taxidermied deer was on display. You let Ethan thoroughly check the room first, leaving you to admire the deer. Its beady eyes stare back into yours.

Every corner is left searched and he nods after being content. He leads the way toward a door with some black goo on it. It was spilling out from the cracks of the door. You can’t help but feel it screamed dangerous. It opens up to a small smoke-filled room, with a singular foldable chair and table as furniture. No light. There’s more mold lining the walls, if anything, the whole room was covered in it.

It shuffles in the darkness. You try to peer at it closer. There’s faint gurgling and it starts to get louder. Part of the wall with mold, a figure starts to emerge. “What the?” Ethan says. It swipes for the both of you, but staggers out of the wall, causing it to miss. You were barely able to comprehend what happened, as Ethan led you out quickly. There was light again and finally, unfamiliar halls and no mold.

Without thinking, you head down a flight of stairs that went into the basement. The stairs were covered in mold. You’ve seen nothing like that figure since being trapped in this house. The further you went down, the more mold started to appear on the walls. Opening the basement door, it reveals an infestation far worse than anything you’ve seen so far. The roots were thick and you could barely see the cement walls. Your eyes strain from the obnoxious fluorescent lighting.

Turning the corner, that thing from before comes out of nowhere. Your breath hitches from the sudden encounter. It had long claws and was made up of strings of mold. You start to shoot at its head. You didn’t really know if bullets would work on it, but it would screech from the hits. It had a humanoid shape and walked with a slouch. The resemblance it had with a human wasn’t helping. It flops onto the floor.

You keep trekking in further, zipping through the corners of the hall. Stopping at a green, rusted, foldable fence, Ethan pulls it back with all his might. It didn’t screech as much as you thought it would. A couple steps in, you stop. That smell again. Decomposing flesh was on racks and fresh meat on a cutting board. Your head was pounding. That feeling in your mouth was back again. You cover your mouth and try not to think.

Thumping from above you is what made you go out of your trance. You looked around and it wasn’t Ethan making the noises. A loud bang comes from behind you and your head whips towards the sound. Another mold monster. It slumps onto its head from the fall. It uses its arms to get itself up and begins to drag itself over to you. Ethan shoots with perfect accuracy, but it shields itself with its arm. Ethan goes in circles around the table with the meat, repeatedly shooting until it stops moving.

One after another, they would keep coming. You both just run and run until you find a door and close the monsters out. It was a small room with metal shelves preventing you from getting anywhere. You peer through the gaps of the shelves and see a door, and try to tell Ethan you’d found something. “Mr. Wー” Out of nowhere, a hand grabs an item where you were looking through. Seemingly, trying to give you a spook. Your breath hitches and you try to keep quiet. Ethan puts his hand on your shoulder to calm you down.

“No-no-no-no-no-no-no. I will find them and I will make them suffer.” The father leaves through the door and it slams shut. How many times will this guy keep coming back? You sigh out in relief. Ethan lets go of you and opens the door.

Trying to escape the mold monsters, you didn’t have time to take a look around your new surroundings. Looking around closely, there was a door within the walls of the corridor. The creaking brings Ethan to come. It opens to a place with iron bars and the atmosphere feels off. There was a small pair of stairs, which led to a slightly elevated floor.

Right of the top, there was a door that was somewhat ajar. You peek through and recognize the familiar shelf. Instead it was where the father was standing. You look through to see where you were mere seconds ago. If it were you, you would’ve been able to see if there was somebody behind there. Perhaps, he was too preoccupied with his thoughts.

You enter with caution and immediately see a body bag hanging from the ceiling. You turn back around to leave, but see a sight. You didn’t notice the deputy hanging while on the other side.

“Poor deputy…” Ethan’s face contorts into sadness. He holds the pocket knife the man gave him. You try not to stare too long at his body. The blood from him runs along the walls, his body looked worse than it did at the garage. There were other hooks in the room, you try not to imagine other victims hanging on them.

Going deeper into the main area, there was a body hanging from the ceiling, in a bag. Just like the one in the room with the deputy. The place was elevated higher and you peered down to see if there were any mold beings. It looked like some sort of arena. “Y/N!” Ethan calls out. A hand grabs your face and turns you around. It had to be Jack, he’s done it before. You were expecting his face to be stupidly close, but it wasn’t. He kicks you down onto the first floor.

You fall directly onto your back; it throbs tremendously and you gurgle out in pain. Ethan struggles above, trying to stop Jack from going after you. You struggle to get back up but push through, propping yourself onto your elbows.

He jumps down with a comically large ax, towering over you. He swings up and you prepare for the worst, putting your arms up to block your face. But Ethan jumps down onto Jack’s back, stabbing him with the pocket knife. He seemed unfazed, but the more Ethan slashed at him, the more he started to curl into himself. He mumbles in a very low voice, incoherently. Suddenly, Jack uses his left hand to grab Ethan by the arm and throws him off. He hits his head on a pole and doesn’t get back up.

You were scared. The pain in your back was unforgiving, but you couldn’t afford to die here. You forced yourself up, despite your body yelling at you not to. You pour medical aid onto your hand and throw the empty bottle at Jack face. His face has shards of glass stuck, and all he does is adjust his glasses. The place where his brain was poking out was now healed, and bald. Lazily grabbing for the gun in your back pocket, you try to make a menacing stance. You try aiming for that bald spot.

“That gunーit’s not going to work the way you think it will.” He fell to the floor and you could see his brain pulsating again. Again, he didn’t seem in pain.

You back up and slam into something that was hanging. Another dead body. You seriously couldn’t believe that this was happening. Shutting your eyes tightly, you try to console yourself. You had to protect Ethan.

Jack pulls away at a wired cage, another body, with a chainsaw sticking out of it. Jack grabs a different weapon but you quickly go behind him to grab the chainsaw. His was a large pincer, with a motor. “Groovy.”

“That is not groovy.” You manage to remark between breaths. He charges forward with full speed, noticing the chainsaw in your hand.

“That’a child, that’s the ticket!” He laughs. You try to block the blow with the chainsaw but your hand gets caught in the strike. It was a sharp and quick jolt of pain. Your hand was still connected to your arm but there was blood all over it. You form a claw shape with your hand to check if it is still mobile. It hurt.

You circle around the hanging body and attack Jack from behind. He curls from the slashes but turns around to hit you. Holding the chainsaw up, you counter his attack and push him to the floor. His head erupts and exposed parts of his head reappear. You take this chance and ram the chainsaw into it. Blood and mysterious light brown liquid gush out of his head. It splatters all over the bottom half of your body, staining your clothes even further. “You are gonna get it now!” He stands up whilst you keep pushing the chainsaw into this head. He bonks you with the pincers and you feel blood seep out of your head. It trickles down to your left eye, and let it drip off your eyelash. You keep running around, maintaining distance, while occasionally getting slashes in. When you pay attention to his head once more, it was back to normal.

Using the hanging body, you push it into him. It rams into him, making him stumble a few steps back. With him stunned, you jam in the chainsaw into his face, tugging downward. His head starts to split into two, and his bones make it harder to go down. His arms trying to reach out for the chainsaw to make you stop. His yells make you hyper aware of what you were doing. You were killing this man.

He tries to get away and pushes you, his head pulsating again. Sparring no time, you stab into his brain once more. Pulling the chainsaw out and back in again, in another spot. The chainsaw stops abruptly, getting stuck in Jack’s head. “What’s the matter? Outta juice?” He says, unfazed. Jack tries to stand up, but you yank on the pull cord, adding pressure into the chainsaw. He yells and you continue to pull the cord rhythmically, until it gets going. It revs up and you continue down his face. He pushes you off and he explodes. His blood covers your face and you close your eyes from the sudden contact. Your eyes open to a pair of legs attempting to walk forwards. You nudge it with your chainsaw and it flops to the ground.

You sit there stunned for a bit, not moving. You blink quickly a few times to soak in the new situation. Helping yourself up, you look down onto the pair of legs. “Do me a favor and justーjust stay dead.” You say, quietly. Hoping he’ll hear your weak pleading.

Sitting on the ground, you pour First Aid Med onto your hand. You look at your bloodied hand, mixed with the aid. It drips onto the floor, and softly makes dripping sounds. With the wet hand, you touch your face. It was cold and comfortably soothing. Closing your eyes, you breathe out deeply. What did you do? Mia, and now him? You stare at the still legs. You didn’t feel real. Looking around at the damage, you snap out of your trance. Ethan. You scramble over to his unconscious body and rock him back and forth. He stirs a bit before jolting awake and grabs his head. “I don’t think he’ll bother us for a while now.” You say. He peers over to the torso-less legs. He seems to relax a bit from the sight. Ethan slumps and opens his arms. His tired gesture but caring eyes make you emotional. You dive into them and let the hug take over. It only lasts a few seconds before you break it. It just felt wrong, being able to hug like that after doing something ‘unthinkable.’ Helping Ethan up, you grab the chainsaw again and try to open the door. He wipes off the blood from your face.

“No, let me, Y/N.” Ethan takes the chainsaw from you and begins to cut through the metal. He cuts through the metal but the chainsaw’s blade cleanly comes off with it. “Whoops…” He laughs, a bit embarrassed. You only stare at him.

Finding your way back upstairs to the main area, you find an entrance that seemed to be a normal front door. Excited, you speed up. A possible way out. Before turning the knob, you feel a hand on your hip. “What is it, Mr. Winters?” You turn to see the grandma from the dining table. “Shit!” You exclaim. Her hair covered her eyes, making you unable to make out her facial expression. You swear she wasn’t there before. The grandma slumps back into her chair and stops moving. You couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not. She was as still as a statue. And, she wasn’t attacking, so you didn’t care too much. Still, it was eerie. You decide to just leave her there, not knowing if she was a threat or not.

The door did in fact open to the outdoors. You took in a deep breath to breathe in the fresh air. The house was all musky from, presumably, the mold.

There was a white trailer right in front of you and you headed straight in. It was bright and lively. Albeit, it was a bit dirty, but way more kept up than the house was. In a closet, a bra was hanging from a hanger. A clue, that this place was probably the person calling you with the phone. Speaking of which, there was another touch-tone phone. Waiting for it to go off, you explore the trailer. On the right, there was a fridge, with a table next to it that looked like a booth. Soft, yellow lighting made the place homey. It was different from the blinding lights from the basement. On the left was a single bed. You drop your bag onto the floor and flop onto it, not bothering about permission. You close your eyes, but don’t fall asleep. Trying to relax, you take deep breaths. With everything that’s happened, this place felt like a safe haven. You would stay here if you could.

Familiar ringing brings your attention to the phone. You slowly get up from Zoe’s bed and lazily walk over to the phone. “You made it. You’re the first I’ve ever seen make it this far.” Her statement does not make you happy whatsoever.

“So, what is it you need me to do? Is it gonna help us get outta here?”

“Yes, now listen carefully, Y/N.” Zoe pauses briefly. “My family and I… our bodies are contaminated. I can’t leave the property unless I get it out. Same goes for Mia.”

“Is there a way to get it out?”

“We need the serum. It should clear whatever this stuff is out of the body. As long as you’re not too far gone.” If that was true, why didn’t she just make the serum herself? But, you try not to be a smartass over the phone.

“Alright, so where is it?”

“If I knew where one was I’d already be long gone. But I have a feeling my mother has hidden some inside the old house somewhere.” Slightly irritated from her answer, you sigh.

“So if we get this thing, I can help Mrs. Winters and we can get outta here?” You start to reach for your bag with your foot. One of the straps gets caught on your leg and you bring it over to the foot of the counter the phone was on. Ethan slowly opens the door behind you, and sits himself down at the table.

“Right, and so can I. The old house is near the waterーyou can’t miss it.”

“Alright…” You say, weary. You pick up the backpack and sling it over your right shoulder. You see Ethan moving in the corner of your eye.

“I just hope you can handle my mother.”

“Your mother?” She was the one who made all that ‘food’. If she was giving you a warning for her, then she must be worse than the father. You touch the left side of your face to stop worrying.

“Be careful. They’ll be lookin’ for ya.” You put the phone back down and see Ethan sitting at the table again, reading some notes. You wonder how long until Zoe will become like the others. Or maybe the mold doesn’t have a concrete way of infecting people. Maybe people react differently with the mold?

He puts the papers down once you get close. “She said the ingredients might be in the old house.” You say. He gets up and immediately holds the shotgun to his chest. He leads the way to the place. It was hidden within the trees, behind a gated entrance. It was unlocked, and opened to a narrow boardwalk. It had a wooden roof and walls, making you feel caged in. Baby dolls were strung up on the walls, in all types of directions. The wood was all old and molded, they looked as though they could break at any time.

The front double doors were huge and opened up to a room full of bugs. They were not normal sized and appeared to be some sort of bee. In general, you didn’t necessarily hate bugs, but these were the size of your hand. Ethan switched to the pocket knife and sliced the bugs attacking you. Nests hung from the ceilings of all rooms. They looked like strings of mold sewn together, similar to the mold beings. Buzzing and swarming were all you could hear. You try to walk as slow as you could, so as to not disturb the bugs.

‘She’s upstairs. Don’t go up.’ was written on a wall near the stairs. You couldn’t tell if it was blood or paint. Looking around the room, there weren’t any stairs nearby. Maybe Zoe or a person before you wrote this?

You progress deeper into the first floor of the house. The bugs would occasionally be able to sneak up on you and bite. It felt like energy was being drained out of you. Your eyes would feel heavy and breathing would be difficult. Ethan would slash at the man-eating insects and they would explode instantly. Yellow liquid would spew out and a nasty smell would follow. Ethan grabs onto your arm while slashing as best as he could.

The bugs became attracted to the smell of their brethren’s blood. As they swarm and Ethan could not keep up, he pulls your arm and runs. Hurrying out to the veranda, you could breathe in fresh air. You stare out and realize you were on the boardwalk again. The man-eating insects buzz angrily at the door, and they attempt to sting at it as well. This house had the same musty smell as the other one did. Ethan also sighs out in relief.

The water was eerily still. Sometimes a puddle fly will move and there would be a small ripple. You felt at peace with these bugs. They were just normal, not being controlled. There were no man-eating bugs out here, so far. You feel the bite marks on your neck.

While you admire the insects, Ethan scavenges for items. There were multiple trash bins scattered about. His eye catches on a particular one, which had some sort of contraption sticking out of it. He takes it and inspects it further, wiping off the dust off it. Ethan keeps it, making you think he has some sort of a plan for it.

Staying on the boardwalk, you both head toward the small shack to the left, that was lit with candles. An empty backpack sat on the molded table, presumably from a former victim.

He puts the contraption inside the backpack and hangs the shotgun onto it. You peer out onto the water again and see other places outside that connect to the house via boardwalks. Your best bet at finding supplies while avoiding the bugs and Marguerite. Nothing was connected from where you were, so you would need to head back inside. Ethan slowly steps out of the shack and gives you a small thumbs up.

Feeling a bit prepared, you both decide to head back inside. You hadn't even noticed a projector sitting there, facing a wall. Which was odd, since nothing seemed to be operating with electricity in the old house. Before you could properly inspect it, bugs came out of nowhere and began to swarm you. Ethan swung the knife around while sprinting forward. You try to stick as close as you could to him and avoid being stung.

Heading into the kitchen, he finds a door with a glass window. He takes his chances and goes through the door and is met with the outside again. Some bugs were there, but not nearly as much as the inside. He jogs into the closest shack and shuts the door quickly. Melted candles were the only light source. It seemed that was the only way things were lit in the old house.

A burner nozzle laid on the table. You assume it could be assembled with the component from earlier. He assembles it like you thought he would, and inspects it thoroughly. “I’m not sure if I built it completely right, so stay a bit back, OK?” You nod and do as you’re told. He goes outside and aims at one of the bug nests near the crates on the boardwalk. It goes up in flames, but bugs start to swarm out of it, trying to find its attacker. Ethan proceeds to hose them down with more fire, and they all fall, burnt to a crisp.

Returning inside and back to the kitchen, there were some items you missed but thought could be useful. Some chem fluid and more First Aid Med.

Ethan decides to open a molded door connected to the kitchen. As if waiting, the bugs swarm out attacking you and Ethan. You try and swat them away with the chem fluid bag, and Ethan goes further in, destroying the nest. There was another and Ethan attempted to torch it also, but there were too many bugs. “Down here!” You say. A small crawl space was made in the fireplace. You go in and see it leads to a basement. You push the door open and shut it as soon as Ethan goes in.

The room was again dimly lit with a few candles, your eyes immediately landing on a table. You try to reach for whatever was on it until, “Y/N?” It was Mia’s voice. You look behind a fenced off hallway and see Mia standing there, in front of an open door. She comes up to it and grabs on. Mia looked happy to see you. She notices Ethan behind you too. “Ethan.” She breathes out. He stands in front of you, slightly hiding you behind himself.

“No more bullshit, Mia. I want some answers.” Her face became concerned.

“I know. I know. You’re right. And I always wanted to tell youー” She shakes her head and looks down, “but, I justーI can only remember a little and the rest is just gone!” Lucas comes out of nowhere and grabs Mia, and holds her tight. Ethan gasps and grabs onto the fence.

“Ethan, right? You mind if I borrow her for a little bit?” He backs up and drags Mia with him. “Well don’t just stand thereーdo something!” He reaches for the doorknob and slowly closes the door, with Mia struggling under his grip.

“Ethan, Y/N! Help!” She manages to scream out before Lucas closes the door.

“Dammitー” Ethan grits his teeth and goes back where the bugs were. He gets ready to fire, and unleashes it onto the nests and bugs, releasing pent up anger. The nest on the ceiling falls to the floor after the fire goes out.

You try to exit through the molded door again, but feel a weight behind it. “Stay the fuck out!” Her face was oddly calm while her voice was raspy and yelling. Marguerite closes the door and summons spiders to appear all over the door. They jump at you, crawling over your arms and body. They didn’t bite but the feeling of a million legs had you thrashing around. You aggressively swat them off of your body and release a deep breath out.

The creaking from her lantern could be heard if dead silent. You try to tiptoe around the house to avoid her. Occasionally hiding if too close. “I told you to get out! It’s mine.” She yells out, at nobody. Ethan’s body was sticking out behind the crates and was visible. You mentally smack your face. She again summons insects to go attack you after she notices. You try to run back to the previous room, but the spiders were still on the molded door. ”Alright, you pieces of shitーI’ve had enough of you.” Her yelling was muffled through the walls. She was much more crass with her words than the father was.

Your eyes meet with Marguerite again, and she laughs maniacally while releasing more bugs. As you start to run further away, her laughs turn into weird yells. Incoherent, and sounded painful.

Running back into the room with the projector, your feet get caught under the rug. You fall straight for the wall where the projector was shining on. Bracing for the impact, you bring your hands up trying to protect your face. Instead, you lean forward and a loud rumbling follows. You look up to see it’s one of those hidden doors again. Ethan helps you up and pushes you in lightly. “Hurry!” He pushes the door shut, and you try your best to adjust your eyes to the darkness. You could hear faint crawling of something, but don’t think about it.

Slowly, you proceed through the narrow pathway and see bugs crawling all over. That was what was crawling. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” You panic, under muttered breaths. There were centipedes, millipedes and silverfish on the walls, the ones you absolutely want to be surrounded by. “JesusーFuck.” You stop as some fall from the ceiling. Taking a deep breath, you take big strides out. You hope Ethan doesn’t hear your swearing.

The very end was a dead end, but the wall your body was facing had a gap through it. You fall forward, stepping out with the small thump. The room had stairs and a gap in the floor, preventing you from getting over. These stairs must be the one the wall was warning you about. Since Marguerite was probably someplace else, you decide it's safe. You go up the stairs with caution and see a dead crow plastered on the door. It was hung up with pins like how butterflies would be. A note was also pinned to the side on the doorframe.

Zoe,

You tried to sneak up to the second floor again, didn’t you?! Did you think I wouldn’t notice?!?! Even after what happened to Grandmother, you just keep talking about some strange medicine. And what are you planning to do with my altar? You better keep those sticky hands off of it! Nobody touches my sacred altar!

You think your father and I are idiots?! You spoiled pathetic child…

I wish you’d NeVEr been born. UnforGIVably pathetic yet always lookingDOWN on uS aNd trying to Leave our HOME! After EVERYthing WE’VE done for YOU… Pathetic PATHETICpathetic pathetic…

If you EVER even touch my altar I’ll slice off your chest and serve it up as potroast…

You make a face. You couldn’t imagine the people you love talking to you like that. You felt really bad for Zoe. You tried to open the door, but it was locked.

Returning to the main area, the hole in the ground had a rope contraption in front of it. All it needed was some sort of handle to retract the rope. You look around for anything that could be, but instead you find a hole next to the stairs within the wall, sort of lit up. You venture in despite Ethan’s quiet protests. The crawlspace reminded you of the one in the other house. Staying in a crouched position, you move little by little.

Pushing past a crate, you find a crank. You’re a bit surprised by how easy it was to find. You turn back around, and hear familiar buzzing. A bug sitting there, innocently. You sneak up behind it as quietly as you could and stomp on it. Its yellow-blood gets all over your shoe. You felt cold.

Ethan was waiting for you and helped you up. “I got it.” You say, showing him with great accomplishment, the crank and place it onto the device. You push and pull and feel immense weight each time you row. A plank starts to slowly rise, creating a bridge where the hole previously was. Before you cross over, you rethink other places you haven’t explored. The boardwalk. Outside, there was one shack you couldn’t get to. You carefully take out the crank, afraid the bridge would collapse without it. To your luck, it stayed.

The room was connected to the wall with the red lettering, so you made a run for the veranda. “You got no business being out here!” Marguerite says, hearing your footsteps. Bursting through the door, your eyes search the area for an unsearched shack. The place where Ethan previously burned down a nest, had one. It had the same crank contraption next to it. You quickly attach it and begin to heave. Just like in the house, out of the water, a bridge started to slowly lift up. It was much heavier this time, with the weight of the water and the bridge being longer. You puff out your chest, clenching your teeth and push.

You hurriedly walk over to the shack. There was a small sink, with an empty bottle of First Aid Med sitting in there. The door opens with a swing. This shack was considerably smaller, and you realize, it was supposed to be a bathroom. Another sink was to your left, and in front of you was a toilet filled with trash. On top of that trash had burner fuel, which you thought Ethan could use.

A shiny box was on top of a rollable shelf, and you hesitantly opened it. Inside it, it had a makeshift key with a crow’s skull tied onto it. The key to that door. You shove it into your pocket and slowly close the chest. Again, you swing the door open, to find Ethan keeping watch of the perimeter. You throw him the fuel and he happily accepts your find.

This time, you tread carefully through the house. There was nowhere you could confidently make a break for.

The house was eerily quiet, but she wasn’t anywhere in your vision or hearing. Ethan had your back covered, confident you both were safe. The crow door was growing near and you mentally prepared yourself for what could be behind that door. You would be lying if you said you weren’t thinking up the worst to come.

Slowly going up the small stairs, you reach for the doorknob; with Ethan right behind. Marguerite was patiently waiting for you to come back, hidden within the shadows. “I told you to stay out of here.” She grabs onto your shoulders and shoves you hard. Your body hits Ethan on the head and falls to the foot of the stairs. You go flying toward the middle of the room and land on your hip. You groan out in discomfort, squeezing your eyes shut tight. Your body starts to ache and you wonder, how much more damage could it take?

The floor starts to crack and wood starts to break apart. You wanted to move, but your body was tired. You were tired. The ground rumbles and the floor from under you breaks away. Out of instinct, you grab onto the ledge. Your fingers were barely hanging on, with just the tips of your fingers holding your weight.

The section of wood you were grabbing onto was not sturdy and snapped off. You try to grab onto something but it is no use. You prepare for the worst, but land almost instantly. Landing on your back and you immediately suck in. You tried to breathe out, but you couldn’t. Panicking from your inability to breathe, you mentally tell yourself to calm down. Not being able to touch your face was upsetting, but you nonetheless keep trying to breathe calmly. You manage to get out tiny breaths. Your body felt weak. Rolling over to your side, you try to shake off the feeling of being afraid. Pushing yourself onto your knees, you feel the ground. You’re okay.

Marguerite kicks Ethan out of the way and she peers down at you, holding her lantern out to see you better. Still fazed, your chest was rising up and down while you looked back up at her.

Slowly pulling out your gun, you shoot for her face. She doesn’t budge from the three shots. “Alright, you little cocksucker, let’s get down to business.” You try not to pause from her comment. You aim your anger at her, shooting anywhere you could land.

“I’m fifteen!” You mutter out. Ethan grabs onto her, and makes her fall backwards. You couldn’t see her, but she summons her bugs to attack you while she is distracted.

You don’t waste your bullets. Instead, you pull out whatever you had, which was a first aid bottle, and swing. Most of the bugs explode from impact.

Your swatting gets sluggish from every bite. That feeling of immense tiredness washes over you. Through your lidded eyes, you try to attack anything that is moving. You squish them with the first aid bottle, crushing them into the walls.

Ethan throws down his flamethrower while fighting the mother. The sound of it landing surprises you, snapping you out of your haze. She releases even more bugs after you, “Eat well, my pretties!” She exclaims. You aim and release. Torching them all down, Marguerite grunts in frustration. This time she sends the hurd after Ethan, leaving you and Marguerite alone. “You think you can waltz in here and have your way with my family?” You furrow your brows and aim the flamethrower at her face, not thinking. As the fire gains contact with her, she starts to crackle. Her clothes begin to burn away at a fast rate. She screams in great pain and thrashes in the fire. You look up again, mortified at what you’ve done. The father, and now her? You hate what this place is doing to you, changing your mind and body. You don’t feel the same anymore.

Your breath wavering, as she suddenly stops. She leans back and drops her lantern in the pit. You move to the side and let it hit the floor. The sound of it hitting the ground makes your skin itch. She reaches for her lamp but realizes it's too far gone. Her fingers curl in and her face has a somber expression on it. Her body looked like it was covered in soot. All your doing.

She loses her footing and falls in, landing with a gasp. As she reaches for her lamp, her hand goes limp. Ethan runs back in and helps you up, leaving her behind. “It’s mine… It’s mine… My light…” Marguerite croaks out. She forces herself up, inching toward the lantern. You look back down to see black water rising from underneath her. It looked like that moldy water from the bathtub. You could feel its yearning, once more. It consumes the lantern and her, the light slowly disappearing. She gurgles as the black water envelopes her.

The water was still after that. You felt cold again. Ethan grabs onto your shoulder to console you. You reach to feel for the key in your pocket. You needed to get over yourself. Nothing was to get done if you didn’t, right?

You push the key into the weird lock and it clacks open. The room had those baby dolls hanging from the ceiling and flowers next to a chest.

Distant beeping could be heard somewhere and you look around to find nothing. Ethan slowly goes up to the chest and raises the watch on his left arm. “What the?” He says, quietly. The chest opens automatically, revealing a decomposing baby in a fetal position.

Regarding the serum:

the following items

be able synthesize serum

(infected decompo d at least two y s)

D-series cranial nerve

D-peripheral nerve

“I think that’s it.” As soon as he makes his remark, the phone goes off. This time Ethan goes and picks up the phone, and shyly puts it to his ear.

“Well? Did you find a serum?” Zoe asks. Her tone could’ve been interpreted as a bit, matter-of-fact, condescending. Ethan’s eyebrows furrow and his body stiffens. He looks like he’s trying to stop himself from exploding.

“I just got done dealing with your mom and her fucking bugs. I wish you coulda warned me.” At home, Ethan was always careful with his words. Soft and caring, he would slip up with curse words sometimes but he would always apologize. You’re surprised at his outburst.

“Sorry about that.” She laughs and dismisses it quickly, not really caring for Ethan’s change of mood. “What about the serum?”

“Haven’t found any, but I did find out what we need to make one. A D-series head and an arm. This can’t be right...”

“A head?” She pauses. “ I think I have that around here somewhere.”

“You do??” Ethan’s words leave his mouth surprised.

“I don’t know about the arm, though. Have you searched the whole house?” Zoe asks. It seemed so matter of fact to her that you were kind of creeped out. I mean with everything, were you really surprised though?

“No, not yet. I still need to check the second floor here.”

“Alright, check it out. Meet me at the trailer if you find it.” She cuts off, like usual. Ethan glances at the phone a bit, taken aback by the abruptness. He puts it down lightly and uses his head to nudge to the left. There were four small steps up and a small room right at the top of them. Ethan goes ahead, and ignores the room to check if the coast was clear. You sigh as soon as Ethan leaves your side. Slowly going up the steps, you feel the handrail as you drag yourself up. It was chipped and corroded, rough at the touch. The door frame was in the same condition as the handrail. It’s chipped white paint reminded you of home, back with Ethan and Mia. Why was she involved with all this?

Inside, you inspect a doll that was on the desk. It seemed like dolls were a recurring theme in this house. It was homemade, and had no features on it. You put it back down, feeling bad for the mother. It’s not their fault they were infected.

The room was very cramped, with a piano, chair and rolled up rug taking up all the space. You see a journal on the piano and decide to snoop through it. You were expecting sheet music but instead found several journal entries.

October 11

My ears have been ringing all day and I haven’t been able to sleep since the child showed up. It’s like Zoe says: There’s something strange about the child, and the woman she brought with her.

October 15

I’m seeing things, hearing things, can’t stop feeling nauseous. I went to see the doctor in town and he gave me an X-ray.

What’s happening to me?

October 23

The child gave me a present.

October ー

I put the present in the secret room right at the back of the second floor, where nobody will find it.

That arm is a sign of the child’s trust. That arm will lead us to happiness.

And anyone who corrupts that happiness… I won’t allow them to live.

You try to understand the entries but something doesn’t add up. There is no child here. Or at least to your knowledge. It would explain the baby dolls hanging around though. Maybe the mother grew a sort of obsession over this child? And the woman. That had to be Mia. What is Mia’s relationship with this mold? You place the journal back down and think back to Mia’s video calls. She was babysitting someone. Was this ‘kid’ the person she was babysitting?

Ethan pops his head back in the room and shakes his head. “Locked. Some weird contraption to get it opened.” You nod and follow him out. He goes back down the steps and out though the crow door. You both peer down the hole and notice there was no black water anymore, just the lantern. You could hear some quiet growling and see a long, sickly arm come out of the hole in the wall. It hastily grabs the lantern and disappears. That was the only way out. Ethan hesitates but starts to go down the ladder. You do the same, and try not to think about what appeared.

You both carefully peek into the hole, seeing a shadow moving in the tunnel. It was walking like an animal, on its hands and legs and moved like a spider. “What the fuck?” Ethan breathes out. He turns over to you to see what you were thinking. He sees your worried expression. “That’s special.” He blurts out. His line delivery sounded like a middle-aged white dad. You sigh through your nose. You’re glad he’s still trying to make you laugh despite it all.

The light disappears and Ethan begins to follow in after it. The tunnel was small and narrow, caving you in. It had you hunched over, taking baby strides.

You could hear the wind and water getting closer, and light began to shine in. At the end of the tunnel, there was a ladder that led to the outside. You were back at the old house, and behind you, there was Zoe’s camper behind a fence. The lock was, luckily, on your side, so you unhook it and were relieved to see no Marguerite. You take a mental note of where this door was. The trailer was your only safe haven here.

Ethan was trying to find a way back into the old house, climbing up a set of stairs full of vines wrapped around it. He quickly comes back down, shaking his head. Must’ve been locked.

There was another way up exactly how the other stairs looked. The green door was unlocked and opened to a place infested with more vines. Shrubbery was growing through the cracks of the floorboards. Clearly, unkept, moreso than where you were roaming before within the old house. You could hear painful groans echoing through the walls, as you looked for a way further into the house.

Another hole was the only way to progress. You both jump down to unfamiliar territory. It was the second floor of the old house. The atmosphere was completely different, off, even. There were no candles to light the way, just pure darkness. Naturally, you open your eyes wider to somehow see better. Your eyes gradually got used to the dark, but it was still hard to make out a lot of things.

As you make your way further in, you could see some light. There was a lonesome lamp on a desk and it drew you near. Like a moth. The light allowed you to see the state the place was in. The second floor was also overrun with vines, but had this grimey look to them. Everything was in a hue of gray, devoid of life.

You stick close to Ethan as he ventures through the rooms. He clutches onto his flamethrower, getting ready for what’s to come. He has trouble finding a way through, circling around and going back to where you first started. You sigh and point to some stairs you saw while wandering around. He awkwardly chuckles and starts to go up the stairs. As he sets foot onto the old stairs, it creaks horribly. You shudder, something is wrong. “Mr. Winters!” You cry out.

Out of the boarded up wall, comes out Marguerite. Ethan immediately shot fire, but she still was able to claw at him. He falls to the foot of the stairs and she manages to grab onto Ethan’s feet.

“I got you. Don’t you worry none.” Her voice is now deeper. It was all hoarse and scratchy. Ethan points the flamethrower at her again, and she grits through the pain. She lets him go and desperately tries to put out the flames. Marguerite retreats while still patting herself down, giving you a chance to help up Ethan and leave. Her whole body leaves the house, the boarded up wall now revealing the night outside. The open wall reveals the night sky, stars twinkling. What cruel timing.

Your head is running. You’re overwhelmed by the “new” threat you had to face. You had just defeated her, you thought it was over.

You take the flamethrower from Ethan and run up the stairs. He is surprised by your assertiveness and stands there stunned. “I torch, you shoot.” You calmly but quickly let out. You could hear distant scratching and see Ethan’s caught up with you.

“Here I come!” A deep and hoarse voice yells out. She appears from behind you, and Ethan lands a few shots on her with his shotgun. Her body was two times the height it was before. Her arms were freakishly long, being able to swing at you from a great distance. You release fire on her and she jumps onto the ceiling to avoid it. She crawls around like a pesky spider that tries to avoid being squished. You hose her down again, and she falls through a crack in the floor.

Marguerite yells in frustration, spazzing out on the floor. It was a sight to see. She was clawing at nothing, staying in that one spot. Your eyes leave her for a second, looking back, she is gone. A shiver runs down your spine. Her groans could be heard, but it echoed throughout the walls. You jump down through the hole Marguerite fell in and scan the room as fast as you can. Her voice was closer, but she was nowhere to be found.

That buzzing was getting louder, and you turned to see two big bugs that only Marguerite could control. She was near. Ethan goes for the swing and it bites him as he slashes. Something pulls at your hair and your body responds and swings back. She towers over you and you’re sure to aim for her stomach. It looked like a bee’s nest, extruding out of her and had holes all over. As she drowns in the fire, her hand attempts to grab at your face. You jerk back and aim the fire at her. As you try to bring the fire back down to her stomach again, a bug catches you off guard and you are forced to stop.

Marguerite gets on all fours and begins to back away from Ethan, who was shooting her with the shotgun. She slowly climbs up the wall, without looking. She hung from the ceiling peering down, “You got nowhere to go, now, child.” She jumps down and lands on top of you. You immediately point the flamethrower at her face, and she screams in agony. Ethan releases a couple rounds on her, making her retreat. She jumps back on top to the second floor, to your amazement. Ethan stares at the hole in the ceiling, breathing heavily. You hand him some First Aid Med from your backpack, and he applies it to the bite marks he got from earlier.

You try to find the ladder up quickly and quietly.

There it was, painted in a bit of yellow. You clutch the flamethrower in your right hand and leave your left to grab onto the ladder. You peek your head in and see Marguerite peering down the hole she jumped from. You unleash the lot of fire onto her, and she whips her body around as soon as it hits her body. Using your right leg, you kick her down the hole. Your foot landed onto where the nest was, making her scream as she went down. You hear gunshots from below you, followed by more screams. She jumps back up through the same hole, surprising you greatly. Marguerite reaches for you and successfully grabs onto your shoulders. She brings you in for a bite, her teeth sunk into your left shoulder. Her teeth threaten to break through skin, while you try to pry her off you. You kick near her lower region, until you feel a squish. She falls back again, clutching onto her stomach. She tries to reach for you again, but is met with bullets. Ethan had made his way up here, and gave you enough time to hose her down. She falls to her knees and begins to spaz. She gurgles out nonsense and slowly leans back. Her body begins to petrify, from her legs to her face.

From her face, she crumbles. “Just fucking stay deadーOK?” Ethan yells out, he tries to soothe himself with his outburst. All that remained was her lantern, which Ethan took. You stare at the pile she became. The shards were red on the inner side, and a light gray on the outside. You felt numb, and hated that you did.

The ground started to shake and you looked over to see the wall start to crumble down as well. It seemed like similar material to what Marguerite became, but had no red in it. A green door similar to the one that led here, was behind the crumbled wall. You crouch down to feel the crumbled wall. As soon as your hand lands on it, it disappears. As if, nothing happened. You sigh and look at Marguerite once more. She too, was as if nothing had happened. What would be of her now? You take one shard and start to head toward the green door. Ethan has left it open, waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs. As you clench the shard and ascend down, you look at the starry sky again.

You were going to make it out of this place.

#gender neutral reader #mold for thought #re7 #batfamily x reader #platonic batfamily x reader #platonic batfam x reader #ethan winters

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let-spretend · 1 year ago

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hey guys !! this is the start to a platonic batfamily & reader fanfic series !! for some background, this is a crossover with re7/8 and batman. i tweaked a lot of how the mold works and the whole timeline with re7/8. if you have any questions, send through the ask ! i'll be happy to answer.

2/18/2024 - edited !!!

cw body dysmorphia/dysphoria, self-harm (self-destructive behavior), vomiting, over-thinking

mold for thought pt. 1

hit me on the head !

Alfred’s carbonara had crispy bacon bits mixed in, with a fresh egg cracked on top. Damian sat ways away from you, across, five chairs down. It’s not like that was where he had to sit. He always just chose to. His pasta was different, a Lemon Basil vegan pasta.

Coming down to eat, it was always just the two of you. Damian ate with class, properly spinning the fork in the pasta. Honestly, you hated watching him eat. Something about it always screamed like he was trying to seem better than you. He was always judging your way of eating, or anything for that matter. Digging your fork into the egg yolk, you watch it spill over the pasta. Your mouth felt dry. Food has made you antsy because of what happened three years ago. Your fingers touch your mouth. You’re fine.

Copying Damian’s movements, you flick the fork and swirl it to collect the pasta. Nothing was wrong with it at all. If anything, it looked perfect. The sauce, creamy. Pepper decorating the pasta and the yolk running down it. You remember the rotting food and foul smell of the Baker’s dinner table. Fighting to not let them shove the rotten food down. Ethan screaming in pain from the prying Jack did to him.

Damian was staring at you intently, waiting for you to eat. You push past the memories and chow down on the pasta. It was good. Really good. “Glad to see you’re enjoying the carbonara, Mastress Y/N.” Alfred hands you a white handkerchief. The white was now stained with a yellowish sauce.

“Thanks, Alfred.” You say, slightly embarrassed. He collects your plate and you struggle to hold in your food. It was tasty, but it felt like it was fighting its way up. You hastily get up, running to the nearest bathroom. Damian was staring at your sudden outburst, but who cares. With no time to lift the seat up, you just splurged into the toilet. The burning sensation in your stomach disappears, instantly. The barf didn’t even have food in it. It was all black, mixed with some blood. The mold. Oddly, there’s always no smell or difference in color. You sigh in relief and waste no time flushing it all down.

When you were first getting used to the Wayne manor, you used to cut to see if your blood was also mold. You convinced yourself it was just to check. Partially, it was true. With Superman’s help, you’ve slowly just accepted that you have mold. It’s always tempting to go back, but you know it only spirals for the worst. Throwing up was also self-destructive and you knew. You don’t know why you keep doing it. You touch what scars you could see, some self inflicted, from that place in Dulvey, others from crime-fighting. It never gets easier.

You needed to go out today. The mold was practically screaming at you to release some of it out of your body. Washing your hands and scooping some of the water into your mouth, you feel somewhat refreshed. Going back to the dining area, Damian was nowhere to be found, except his dishes were left on the table. You collect them and help Alfred with the dishes. “I gotta go out tonight. I’ll shovel the snow before I sleep, deal?” He chuckles and places the two clean dishes on a drying rack.

“Be careful, Mastress Y/N.” Alfred lightly smiles. You smile back and wave before leaving. Gotham in December was beautiful. You could almost forget the horrors of the city when it was silent and the moon was out. The lights hit the snow and everything seemed brighter.

Your backpack was hidden within some trees, containing your costume and weapons. It wasn’t anything special. Just baggy clothes, some gloves and a mask that covered your entire head. All black but has white where your eyes would be on the mask. Changing into your costume, you feel safer somehow. Your identity being unknown, just felt, nice. Your abilities come from the mold. Besides the mold, it gave you superhuman strength, the ability to reattach limbs, and heightened senses. The mold comes in handy to grapple around the city. You don’t use it to apprehend people or touch anything living. It’s not that you’ve actually seen people get infected with your mold, but you’ve seen non-sentient living items crumble from it. You aren’t going to risk anything. You’re reluctant to let anyone touch you if not necessary.

Fighting petty crime was your thing. Not fighting global threats, not busting huge gang activity, but small robberies, stopping physical or sexual assaults and more. It made you sad that these crimes were considered petty and too small for major heroes to handle. The people named you, the Peril. Which was funny since, what exact peril were you bringing to Gotham? It didn’t really bother you since the name was cool, but you don’t go around calling yourself the Peril.

Being a vigilante, there were its perks and disadvantages. For you, a disadvantage is the Bats. You would encounter them every other time you would leave to be fighting for civilians.

While swinging around, you find a man being mugged. You swoop down and kick the robber’s face in. She falls to the floor and drops the man’s wallet. You grab her by the shirt and threaten her with anything you can think of. The robber looks you in the eye and scurries off, holding her cheek. You try not to engage in combat. It’s not like you were bad at it, but you were a dirty fighter. Unlike the Bats, you don’t know any martial arts. Just street fighting and your ability to use guns. You don’t want to kill anybody. So no guns. Plus, being in Batman’s “turf”, you had to respect his no gun policy. But you were working on making guns with safe bullets.

You could feel a presence watching over your encounter. Maybe Batman? Silently, you give the man his wallet. He thanks you profusely and runs off. You tend to not talk when it's not necessary.

You turned around and cock your head, gesturing he talk. Batman seemed surprised that you knew he was there. Robin stands next to him, disinterested in you. His arms crossed and his head looked the other way. You pay no attention.

“The Peril.” Batman says. You let out a stifled laugh, you always do. He never gave you the time of day out of costume. Without him even asking, you knew he was trying to recruit you.

“No.” You answer, curtly. Grappling away, you leave Batman and Robin in the alley alone. He asks you at least once a week. Which you feel is both a perk and downside. You wish for his approval and want to be of use to Batman. At the same time, you want to lash out toward the man, for being so ignorant.

You feel your phone buzz, deep in a pant pocket. Superman. You like his company. Compassionate and a symbol to the people, yet, an outsider. Being infected with the mold, you feel out of place and in the wrong body. Superman is an alien, trying to find his place within Earth. He’s taught you to be okay with the fact that you are different now. But you feel like he’s hiding something from you. He was sitting on a rooftop of an abandoned building. “Superman.” Your feet land on the ledge he was sitting on.

“P.” You both meet up when you can. He has been the one guiding you through the vigilante scene. Other than him, you have only worked with the Red Hood. He was a mystery to you. From what you’ve seen, he’s somehow related to the Bats. You don’t really care for his identity. He can be nice to you, but he often does his work in ways you disagree with. He’s erratic and does what he wants. One thing you both have in common, is your distaste for Batman.

You knew Clark’s name because he told you. You never really knew why. He doesn’t know your name. Or at least, he hasn’t called you by it. He could easily look through your mask and see your true identity. You’re grateful he’s respecting your privacy. You decide not to call him by his name when on duty.

Superman takes off at a slower speed than normal and you swing after him. “Batman tried to team up with me again.” You say, defeated. Laughing a bit and sighing at the same time after you confess. It feels so stupid to be sad about it every time. You stop on top of a building. “I declined. Again.” He also stops. Superman lightly lands and leans close. He decides not to say anything.

Clark gives you a piggyback gesture and you get on. He heads for Metropolis, fast enough to be there in mere minutes but slow enough to keep your skin on. At least once a week, you and Superman band together and work on whatever it was at that moment. Today it was Lex Luthor shenanigans. Although smaller threats were your preferred thing, fighting big threats wasn’t bad.

After the fight, you go out and eat ice cream; Being with Superman helps you forget things. He puts a hand on your shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t want me to explain things, kiddo?”

“Definitely not. I’m honored that he’s interested in my skills. But, he doesn’t know it’s me. I know when he finds out he’ll lose interest and stop me from doing this. Or, maybe he won’t. I don’t know. I’m not going to risk it.” You latch onto Clark’s back again and he starts flying toward Gotham. You peer down to the bottom and admire the small people and buildings. You slightly tug at Superman’s shoulder to get his attention. “I’m going to be gone for a week. I don’t know when, but I’ll text you then.”

He keeps facing forward but acknowledges your message with a slight nod. “I’ll miss you a lot. I like our talks.” He breathes deeply out of the nose. “I’ll try to do what I can with Bruce. Without being obvious.” You’re very grateful he’s doing all this for you. He lands at the same spot you met up at.

“Thank you. Oh, and here. For Jon.” You hand Superman a cat keychain from your backpack. “He told me about his cat. My stitching isn’t very good but maybe it’ll cheer him up a bit.” Superman pocketed it safely, god knows where. You check the time and sigh. “I gotta go. Told Alfred I’ll shovel up the snow at the manor.” You swing away while waving goodbye. Still, that looming feeling hasn’t left you and it’s definitely not Batman this time.

Stashing your backpack in the same place as before, you tread quietly into Wayne's property. It was two in the morning. Rubbing your eyes, you take the shovel. You sigh at the amount of land Bruce owned. Deciding to just shovel the snow on the pavement, you treat it as training. Scooping as much snow as possible and carrying it around, tossing it or regular shoveling. You wish you could train where and how your siblings did.

Staring at the gigantic pile of snow, you put your hands on your hips and lean backwards. Back problems at 17? You laugh at the thought. Entering through the front door, Alfred greeted you with some hot chocolate. His infamous hot cocoa, filled with mini marshmallows. “I could never pass up your hot chocolate.” Alfred makes eating much more enjoyable and feel safer. The hot chocolate was right in the middle of a tray. The liquid burns your tongue but it warms up your insides.

“How was patrol, Mastress Y/N?” Alfred asks.

“Oh, nothing special.” You quickly turn it down. You don’t really let Alfred entertain any thought about your work. He knows of your secret “vigilante-ing” and decides to keep your promise of keeping it a secret from Bruce. You don’t really understand why, but you guess Alfred understands your situation and tries to get Bruce to be a parent to you. He tries to remind Bruce every now and then. Wants Bruce to notice himself, but his work consumes him. Bruce also thinks you’re okay because you can't physically and mentally be hurt anymore like his other children, who fight crime. While that could be true if you didn’t, that doesn’t mean you should be put aside.

“Thanks for waiting for me, Alfred.” You add. He nods.

“You must go to sleep. It is a school night after all.” You set the mug back onto the tray and apologize for the extra dishes to wash. Quietly slipping into your shared room with Damian, you celebrate when he’s not in the room. He was a light sleeper and he always questions why you’re out so late. You made him believe you’re some party animal. Which, you admit, would be cooler than being a vigilante.

You’ve always wondered why you and Damian shared a room. The manor was spacious and had ample room for both of you to have your own. You sometimes think they somehow knew you were being self-destructive and made him monitor you. Or, maybe to punish him by being with you. You try not to question everything Bruce decides, but it’s hard not to.

You sink into the silky bed sheets and just stay that way. Not bothering to get into them. Your room was a place of comfort, but being in the manor always tired you. It reminded you of the absence of Bruce and your siblings. Being away from Ethan, you feel you miss out on so much. Bruce and your siblings have a bond over being Bats, Ethan has Rose now, and Alfred doesn’t just take care of you. You’re happy that he gives you any attention.

Alfred the Cat climbs up onto your bed and snuggles into you. One reason you’re happy you’re rooming with Damian and not somebody else. You’re reluctant to pet him because of the mold. But you convince yourself you can do it. You pet him softly and sigh. He meows quietly from the petting and begins to purr.

A quiet click comes from behind you, quiet footsteps ensue after an hour of your sulking. “Are you still up?” Despite knowing he knows you’re awake, you decide to fake it. Your hand is still on top of Alfred the cat’s head. “I know that you are awake.” You sigh and decide to face upwards.

You couldn’t make out exactly where he was standing but look in the general direction of where his voice was. “Okay, maybe I am. Why?” He also sits on his bed, slightly creaking.

“Was just wondering why you were throwing up your brains out after Alfred’s dinner. Rude, much?” Shit. He heard that? That’s why he was gone when you were back. You think back to when he was Robin a couple hours ago, giving attitude. Rude, much?

“Just nervous ‘bout the trip.” Which was true. “I’m going to visit Mr. Winters for a week, to see the baby. I want her to like me.” He lets out a sound that seems like he half believes you, but he doesn’t care enough to pry. “Anyways, I’m going to pick you up sometime next week. For publicity, as Mr. Wayne says.”

He sighs. “I know.” You wait for more, but all he does is settle in bed. What a cute little brother. No thanks or comment. Guess that’s just how they all act.

Also trying to settle in bed, you feel bad again. Not trying to alarm Damian, all you do is put a hand on your closed eyes and try to soothe yourself. Ethan will understand this feeling, right? Your body doesn’t feel like your own anymore and you hate that you can’t even control your mold well. You still have to listen to it, have to release it. What if you suddenly couldn’t control it and it infects Damian right now? Turn out like the Bakers? Shutting your eyes tight, you flop your body so that you are lying on your stomach. Breathing deeply into your pillows, it slows. You turn your head sideways for fresh air. The cat was sleeping peacefully next to you.

Right. Tomorrow’s school. You had to be okay. You flip onto your back and close your eyes, letting your brain take over. Mold, mold and more mold. Accepting that your dream was going to be about mold, you sigh, letting sleep take over you. Damian watches, recognizing that you had some sort of stress-induced breakdown before bed. He jots something down and puts it away in this nightstand.

You wake due to a feeling of being watched, your eyes open to Damian looming over you. “What’s wrong, Damian? Are you okay, need something?” More worried than anything, you quickly get up. He never was this attentive towards you. Though, Damian was the one you talked to the most.

“Nothing. Just confirming things, L/N” You were too tired to comprehend what he was trying to say. Rubbing your face, you force yourself to the bathroom, which was also shared with Damian. He follows you in, watching you brush your teeth. You roll your eyes.

“I’m doing my regular morning routine like always, Damian. You’ve got to get ready too.” Pointing to his body with your toothbrush, which was still in pajamas. He clicks his tongue in annoyance but follows your orders.

Stepping out of the car, you thank Alfred for the daily rides to school. Tim was off before you could catch up or talk. You sigh.

Gotham City High school. Something happens here at least once a week. You don’t really talk to anyone like Tim does. Your mind was busy a lot and people couldn’t understand or want to wait. When you first were settling into the Wayne household, you remember Damian being upset with you because you were zoning out. It's happened more than you can count with regular people. It also seemed like people knew something was different about you.

During math, your body starts to feel weak. You could sense Tim staring like how Damian was yesterday, like he was assessing you. You stare down at the worksheet, trying to focus. Touching your face, you try to calm down. That burning feeling creeps up in your stomach again. Having no choice, you decide to go to the bathroom. One rule you had was to never throw up the mold at school. Anyone could come in at any moment and hear you. You slip toward the back doors of the school and open them slightly, just enough to see the grassy plains of the field. From your hands, you release your mold onto the grass. It turns black and crumbles into the air. It horrifies you everytime. If you could've, you would have preferred throwing it up for this reason.

You were running back to class, realizing you were taking longer than what a normal bathroom break would be. “L/N.” Before you could open your mouth, you were redirected by the teacher. You slide the bathroom pass back with irritation and grab your things. It was not the first time you had to attend detention for your tardiness. Sometimes you were glad Bruce didn’t notice your slip-ups, he would be up your ass.

You took as long as you could to the classroom. Touching the cold lockers as you went by, looking at posters and ignoring people passing.

“Again, L/N?” The supervisor hands you a reflection form for you to fill out. You were running out of excuses to write on them. Sighing, you decide to just sleep and not fill it out.

“L/N?” You raise your head up slowly, waiting for you to be scolded. “L/N!” You whip your head toward the voice of the supervisor. She looked frightened. What had her yelling? Feeling a hand grab your neck, you immediately push the person off of you with your elbows. They fall to the floor with a grunt.

“Fuck!” You yell out. The Scarecrow. He looked worse in person. “Sorry.” You stop in your tracks. Why were you apologizing to this man? He grabs your leg and brings you down with him. The supervisor runs out while the Scarecrow is distracted with you. Screaming from the halls leaks into the room. “What did you do?” He laughs and ties your arms behind your back.

He leads you to a getaway car which has one student already inside. Students and teachers were all yelling and screaming at the air. Scarecrow must’ve released fear toxin into the school. Did Tim also inhale the fumes? Was he okay? Did Scarecrow know you were of relation to Bruce Wayne? He shoves you aggressively in and gets in himself. The girl next to you was crying her eyes out, snot drooping down into her mouth. “Do I frighten you?” He asks. He laughs quietly from your silence and the girl’s loud sobbing. “I’m conducting an experiment, if you will. You two are my constants.” You eyebrow furrow. Constants? Is he going to create a new strain of the fear toxin? You decide to stay quiet but try to comfort the blonde girl next to you as much as you could.

#batfamily #batfam #platonic batfam #platonic batfamily #batfamily x reader #batfam x reader #platonic batfamily x reader #platonic batfam x reader #gender neutral reader #re7 #mold for thought #superman #platonic superman x reader

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let-spretend · 1 year ago

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i deleted the former announcement post but essentially this is the same thing but more detailed.

i have gotten some requests but they will be put on hold !! im very sorry ! but im planning on writing a fanfic for a platonic batfamily and reader. it'll have a very big influence from re7/8 !! but i did change up a lot. this is so self-indulgent, i don't know if people will want to read it LMAO.

but i've mapped out what each chapter will contain and now i just have to get writing...

#gender neutral reader #batfamily x reader #platonic batfamily

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let-spretend · 1 year ago

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bi-han x reader but the reader is flirty !! this was a requested fic over on ao3 ! i was sort of hesitant about doing it since personally i think bi-han is a difficult character to write and i was afraid it was going to be ooc. but i still wanted to give it a shot !! i do use Y/N in this fic, but it is gender-neutral.

sorry for just a drabble! and i will be stopping requests! thinking of starting a batman fanfic...

bi-han x reader

Being Liu Kang's assistant wasn't easy but you loved being able to serve the people of Earthrealm. Liu Kang always had a mysterious aura around him but you never sensed anything evil. On the other hand, dealing with the Lin Kuei's new grandmaster was tiring. He was always trying to prove himself, went above and beyond, and said inconsiderate things. No denying, he was a very handsome and beautiful man, but after his father's passing, he was becoming ugly. He would never actually do evil things, but his execution of action was definitely weird. Speaking of the devil, his footsteps were easily recognizable. Big and bold, letting people know of his presence.

"You come here often, Bi-han. Do I perhaps have something to do with that?" You scribble down his name and the time he got here. The chart was mostly just Bi-han or his brothers' names. Occasionally Geras, but he usually just appears in Liu Kang's temple unannounced. Bi-Han chuckles and crosses his arms. "You know that I am only here for Liu Kang." You look at him with playful doubt.

"He will be available in 3 minutes... Also, are you making that voice deeper for me?" You chuckle. An oddly low but endearing voice. You just like to tease him. He sighs. He clears his throat a bit before talking. "How much longer do I have to wait?" "I said 3 minutes, Bi-Han. What's so distracting, hm?" You tilt your head and try to look at him innocently. He inhales sharply from your demeanor. You smirk from his cute reaction. Liu Kang's hand appears in between the sliding doors and reveals a small smile on his face. "I see you two are getting along?" You think his question is rhetorical. He motions his head for Bi-Han to come in. The man clad in blue gives you a playful glare before shutting the doors behind him.

Scribbling on the sign-in paper was probably going to get you in trouble but you were dying from boredom. You huff and decide to erase the drawings. Quiet shuffling could be heard and you fix your posture. Familiar yellow and gray emerge. "Tomas! Kuai Liang! Here for your brother?" Tomas' face lights up from your call and Kuai Liang sends a small wave. "Yes, is he going to be long?" "They've been in there for quite some time now. How about we just chat 'till he comes out?"

30 minutes pass and finally Bi-Han emerges out of Liu Kang's doors. "Brother! What took you so long?" Kuai Liang stands with some worry. Him and Tomas were sitting across from your desk. Bi-Han pinches the bridge of his nose. "We were just discussing the new Protectors of Earthrealm. We will have to test them some time next week, to measure their strength and will." He seemed irritated about the whole thing. "Go. I have to talk with Y/N about making an appointment with Liu Kang beforehand." They shuffle away by Bi-Han's command.

"Couldn't stand to wait just 3 minutes with me alone, Bi-Han?" He sits where Kuai Liang was sitting moments ago. "Yes." His answer was curt but weirdly honest. "Oh? How so?" You feel his answer has more meaning to it. "I am the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei. I won't stand for your teasing, Y/N." Bi-Han puts emphasis on teasing. "Teasing? Partially, I am teasing, but take a hint. I don't do this just for anyone." You use the same tone on teasing as Bi-Han did. His face scrunches in confusion but also tints with red. "Now. What day did you say you want that appointment?" His left caresses his face and has no answer. All you could do was chuckle. "Was I able to melt the stone-cold faced Bi-Han?" Moving his hand out of the way reveals his eyes looking into yours. His hair was tied up into a bun like always but had loose strands hugging his face. You push the ones on the right, behind his ear to take a good look at him. "I'm jealous of your beauty, Bi-Han." He stiffens from your comment. You give him a light peck on the cheek.

"I'll call you about the appointment thing." Slightly regretting your action from Bi-Han's reaction, you decide to flee. That was the problem with Bi-Han. You never knew what emotion he was expressing. Clipping the sign-in sheet to your clipboard, you knock three times before opening Liu Kang's doors. "Your cheek was very cold." You point to your right cheek and close the doors. You saw him feel his cheek before you shut them. Closing your hand into a fist, you take his last minute reaction as a win. "Woo!" Quietly cheering with a whispered voice. "Perhaps getting along too well." You could feel Liu Kang's glare immensely.

#mk1 x reader #bi han x reader #bi han mk1 #mk1 #fluff #bi han #gender neutral reader

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let-spretend · 1 year ago

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hey ! sorry for the long wait. this is supposed tk be a fem presenting reader but i do not specify in any way. im trying to figure out how to write without starting with the word ‘you’. i’ll try on my next fic. open to requests!

cw internalized homophobia, self-loathing

kitana x reader !

Kitana laughs at some terrible joke Johnny lands. You admire her parted lips and subconsciously strain a smile. You realize how creepy you must look or sound and stare right back down at your food. It was an Outworld delicacy, as introduced by Queen Sindel. You pick at it a bit, not exactly in the mood for eating. Despite it, you try a bite. You look up to see Kitana waiting for your reaction. You thoroughly chew and give her a smile. Even a thumbs up with it. She lightly laughs through her nose and looks down. You sheepishly smile and swallow your food.

You sit on the castle stairs, staring at the pearly floors and walls. You could hear distant yelling in the background. Recognizing it as Queen Sindel and Mileena's voices. You were quite surprised by the topic they were discussing. Disease? Throne business? Honestly, you couldn't really give a shit. Some hurried clacking passes by, but you don't turn your head to see who it was. After a few minutes, slow footsteps could be heard approaching. You turn your head to see a blue figure sit next to you. "So, Earthrealmer, why is it that you were chosen as one of Earthrealm's protectors?" Kitana sits next to you, her right thigh touching your left thigh. She gazes at you with full curiosity. You laugh. You don't know whether you laughed because you were nervous or embarrassed about your upcoming answer. You look down and shake your head.

"I don't really know why. Before I was 'recruited' I was partaking in some street fights to earn some extra cash. I didn't have any proper training prior to going to Wu Shi Academy. All I did was flip burgers." You sigh from the memories. You take another look around you, the castle was gorgeous. She was gorgeous. But you can’t. You’re just a girl. She’s royalty.. and a girl.

“These burgers… May I ever be able to see you flip them?” You blankly stare at Kitana’s face before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. “What?! Was it a stupid question?”

“No! No! Just that, uh, it’s nothing special. Flipping burgers.” You let your statement sit for a few beats in comfortable silence. You stand up from the stairs and walk down to the bottom. You look up at Kitana and smile sheepishly. “Watch.” You pretend to shove your hair into a hat and tie around an apron around your waist. You take out a frozen patty and place it onto the make-believe grill. You create a sizzling sound and push the patty down into the grill with a spatula.

You look up to see Kitana actually interested in your stupid act. So you continue. You scoop the patty and flip it into the air and pretend to lean back to avoid the oil splatter. You push down the patty down again and pat it. You scoop it up and place it on top of a bottom bun. You place the tomato slice and lettuce gently and place three small pickles. Squirt some ketchup to top it off and place the top bun. You push it down a smidge and lift your perfect burger up to admire. You carefully bring it over to Kitana and place it onto her hands.

“Nothing special, right?” Kitana’s hands hold the invisible burger and she pretends to squish it three times. “I’ll make you a real one some time if you want.”

“That would make me very happy.” She smiles and pats the invisible burger into your lap. “Even with your, beautiful acting, I couldn’t really tell what it was that you were doing.” That statement alone made you not wanna ever act shit out again. You place your elbow onto your left thigh and rest your head onto your hand. “I’m sure Johnny can show you a plethora of movies or of himself acting out what I do.” You amuse yourself with the image of Johnny working at a fast food place. He could probably pull off the look. “I don’t want to see Johnny doing what you do.” Her left hand moves to your right thigh. You tense up. Kitana looks at you with wonder. But you just can't reciprocate it without doubt. You want to keep your mind off of that.

"What's got you so worked up, Princess?" Her mood changes slightly. She peers down the stairs, choosing her words carefully. "Just family matters." She shakes her head. "I don't really want to think or talk about those things. But, you, you intrigue me, Y/N." Your face gets hot. "I intrigue you? You sure, Princess?" You feel the back of your neck, trying to sooth yourself. "Oh, stop calling me Princess. You're making it weird." You snort. "Yeah, okay." Kitana shoves you lightly, letting out a stifle. She looks back into your eyes and puts her hand to your face. You swear you stopped moving, or thinking. Instinctively, your hand grabs her arm. You lightly move it away from your face and you quickly stand up.

"I'm sorry, Princess. I should go. Uh, good luck at the tournament tomorrow." You manage to cough that much out.

"Wait, how did you-" You leave her at the castle stairs alone. You speed walk back to your shared room with Kung Lao, Raiden, Kenshi and Johnny. You open the door rashly and head straight to the bathroom. You don't notice who was in the room. You quickly lock the door and just slide onto the floor. You place your hand onto where Kitana placed her hand and just cry. You felt gross. Not because of her touch, but because you enjoyed her company. You didn't even know if being in love with a girl was wrong for Outworld standards. Remembering how you would be viewed back at home, you just felt hollow. Even though you were away from that toxicity, the ideology they've instilled into you still runs deep. You don't even want to think this way anymore but it gnaws at you. It's not her, it's just you. You can't bring yourself to be comfortable with the way you were. You bring your legs to your chest, forming a fetal position. You let your head drop into your knees and shut your eyes tight.

Your head was pounding from all the crying. You wipe your eyes harshly and decide to take a shower. That would help with the headache, surely. The warm droplets hit your head, soon letting the water envelope you. You stare at the water, flowing down into the drain. Some loose hair gets stuck in between your toes.

Why can't you just let yourself have this?

You aggressively shampoo your hair and close your eyes as the bubbles start to trickle near them. As the soapy feeling fades, you rub your eyes. You weren't back home. You're in Outworld now. Filled with culture, different people and experiences. You are just going to let yourself be, for now. You take your soapy loofa and aggressively wash your body.

You finish up your whole routine and dry yourself off. You open the bathroom door to see the four, smile at your presence. You flop onto one of the four futons and smush your face into the pillow. "Sorry for taking so long. I know how long your skincare routine can be, Johnny." He laughs and pulls out his pouch full of expensive skincare products from his bag. He ruffles your hair and locks himself into the bathroom. You could hear Johnny humming some ABBA song through the walls. It's relaxing to hear. Raiden lies next to you, offering simple company. "Thanks, Raiden." You hug him like a stuffed animal and close your eyes. You could hear Kung Lao arguing over who gets what futon, but you remain still. Kenshi tells him to shut up and to let you sleep. You sigh, happy that your friends try to cheer you up in their own quiet ways.

It was officially Day Two of the tournament. It was a nice day, sun out and clear skies. The battle was taking place in the Hanging Gardens. It is a stunning venue. Lush trees and bushes, stone pathways with the grass poking out and a huge wisteria tree decorating the background. You stand behind three big chairs with Johnny, Kung Lao and Kenshi. Raiden was before Empress Sindel, with her slightly peering down at him from her fancy chair. Liu kang stood behind Raiden with his hands intertwined, wide stance.

"You continue to surprise, Raiden. Among others, you have defeated Kotal, Motaro, and Sheeva. Only two fights remain. Are you ready, Earthrealmer?"

"I am, Your Majesty." He says with great certainty. You shoot Raiden two thumbs up to cheer him on. He gives you a shy thumbs up back, but quickly hides it when the Empress starts to eye him down. She sighs. "Then next you face my daughter..." Heels clacking briskly could be heard from the side of the mini arena. Her mask was on and she had her signature fans. Blue emerged from the bushes instead of a dark pink. "Kitana." Liu Kang had surprise written all over his face. He slowly started to approach Empress Sindel to complain. "Your Majesty, this is unprecedented. Raiden's next opponent should be your heir." Kitana looks at Liu Kang with furrowed brows. "Mileena is unavailable. She's away on pressing imperial business."

Liu Kang tilts his head in mild frustration. "But I have not prepared him to battle Kitana." Raiden looks over to Kitana, slightly embarassed. Kitana reciprocated the look. "He's already demonstrated great skill. Can he not improvise?" Sindel pleads with a concerned look. Liu Kang's annoyed blink could be seen from miles away.

"Do not worry, I can do this." Raiden reassures him.

"Very well."

"I will be no easier to fight than my sister, Earthrealmer." Kitana reminds Raiden. Her eyebrows are furrowed and her body language was stiff. "I suffer under no such delusion, Your Highness." He holds his chest and slightly bows his head. "I will win this fight. For her, my Empress, and all of Outworld." They both get into ready stances. Raiden, with his left hand forward and right hand pulled back, but open. His stance greatly reflects him and his personality, at least, that's what you think. Kitana has her left hand held high with her bladed fan open. Her right hand with a closed fan in her fist, facing down. She immediately jumps up and kicks him, which makes him go flying. She kicks him again from behind, making him fall to the ground with great force. He quickly picks himself up and shoots a lightning-infused punch her way. Kitana blocks but yelps from the burn. He does the same again but with his whole arm, pushing her far. She gets up while sending her fan Raiden's way. It cuts his leg up good but he tries to pay no attention to it.

Kitana scans the audience and her eyes land on you. You tense up again. Raiden takes this chance and kicks her face in. Before she falls, she grabs Raiden's shirt. She throws him over herself and they both land to the ground with a great thud. Kitana tries to send her fans again but they go array once Raiden uses his amulet to deflect them. Before she could catch them in time, Raiden lands some blows onto Kitana's stomach. She stays standing but is clearly hurt and tired. With determination to win, she has a burst of energy. She punches Raiden's chest and slaps his face with a closed fan. She follows with a high kick to his face, her heel stabbing his cheek. “Gah!” He holds his cheek in pain and falls straight on his back. Kitana starts to run up to him to finish the match with a clean blow. But Raiden is quick to react, sending a lightning bolt her way. She blocks but it was futile. She yells in pain and falls to the floor, struggling to get back up. Raiden sees that he is safe to stop his fighting stance. He slowly approaches. "You fight well, Princess." She grimaces, but picks herself up. "As do you, Earthrealmer. Surprisingly so."

"I hope we meet again. Under different circumstances." Kitana returns her answer with a puzzled look on her face.

"It's time for the final match. It's testament to your abilities that you've made it thus far. But now you must face General Shao." He appears where Kitana emerged out of, standing menacingly. “Victor of Tevarian War. Conqueror of the Kuatan Plains. Defender of the Navala Coast. As has his family for generations, General Shao defends us.." And you zone out. Your head leads you to the right, following Kitana sitting in the far right chair. She catches your stare and a half actually mad half pout comes your way. Before you could make a face back, an axe being slammed into the marble floor makes great noise. Raiden barely dodged, a bit surprised at the General's intentions. You stare at the fight but don't pay too much attention like before. You just know Raiden was beating his ass. He rolls in the air, infused with his lightning, into General Shao's stomach. Copying Sonic much, Raiden? Shao groans and lays. Raiden stares at him with open eyes. "It's over. I have done it!" Sindel stands up with a hidden sour face. "Congratulations, Raiden. Earthrealm wins." She slowly exits and Kitana follows. She passes by you and lightly brushes your hand. She doesn't look back to see your reaction. Your gaze lingers on her.

"Well done. You have exceeded my greatest expectations." Liu Kang warmly smiles. Raiden could only smile. "Thank you, Lord Liu Kang." He modestly bows his head. "Because of you, the Outworlders who would disturb the peace will once again be held at bay." He adds a bit of space in between his words, sort of admiring Raiden. " Come. Let us bid our hosts farewell and return to Earthrealm." Liu Kang grabs Raiden's shoulder lightly and brings him closer to you and the rest of the three. You bow, really proud of how Raiden's come to be. He reciprocates and bows his head gently. When his head comes back up, his face was beaming. Kung Lao quickly came to his best friend's side and draws him closer. "That was fantastic, Raiden. You really showed those Outworlders how it's done."

You find yourself wandering the castle halls looking for Kitana before you go back to Earthrealm. God knows when you’ll have the chance to come back, or if you ever will.

A pair of arms grip your shoulders and you immediately whip your body around to face your assailant. “It’s me, Kitana.” She puts her hands up and you sigh in relief. “Sorry, I thought I got caught.” She chuckles. “You did. Luckily, it was me.” She takes your hand and drags your hand someplace. You stare at your intertwined fingers and shiver. In both happiness and wariness. She leads you through the halls, her movements memorized. Her open hand pushes a heavy door with ease, revealing a huge bedroom.

She closes the door and pushes you onto her bed, your feet hanging on the edge. The bed was so soft, all you could do was sink. She flops down next to you, also allowing herself to sink in. She places her hand onto yours and stares into your eyes. “Can I kiss you?” You look down at her lips. They were a pale pink. You close your eyes and bring your face into hers. She laughs into the kiss and cups your face. Your hand finds her shoulder and you squeeze it. She pulls apart and runs her thumb across your bottom lip.

“I’m sorry about yesterday.” All you could do was stare at her. She was so pretty. “I shouldn’t have just left like that. I mean, leave you like that. You and me, I’ve never been told that, that was okay. But, you make it feel okay. That it’s okay to love.” She holds you in a tight embrace, despite laying down. You feel you sink even deeper into the bed. You wish the bed would just swallow you, to preserve this moment. You hug her tightly and shut your eyes.

“Don’t forget about my burger, okay?”

#kitana x reader #mk1 x reader #kitana mk1 x reader #kitana #kitana mk1 #fem reader #hurt/comfort

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let-spretend · 2 years ago

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currently writing a kitana x fem! reader, it does have self-hate, internalized homophobic themes so beware !!

#kitana x reader #mk1

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let-spretend · 2 years ago

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hey !! very self indulgent fanfic here, wanted to insert reader into the game itself so lots of dialogue is directly pulled from chp 15. armageddon !! could be platonic if you squint ‘cause it’s pretty vague. still open to requests and criticisms.

liu kang x reader !!

"There is nowhere to run, Shang Tsung. Nowhere to hide." Liu Kang opens his arms, looking side to side. "We have banded together to rid all timelines of your evil. The threat you pose to them ends today." He points to the ground.

"Such certainty, Liu Kang. That this battle will end in your favor." Dark Shang Tsung only spits back with venom.

"It can end no other way. Because across all timelines, the arc of history bends toward justice."

"Does it? In this timeline, it bends toward me." Dark Shang Tsung's arms engulf into flames and he starts to swing his arms into a circular motion. Chanting, he shoots a beam of fire towards the sky. Slowly, a portal starts to rip open, lighting up the area. "Behold, Liu Kang, the hell I unleash upon you!" He motions his arm toward the portal and skulls start to pour out, creating a pathway. Dark versions of everyone start to come out, with Quan Chi leading the herd. Dark Shang Tsung and Liu Kang stare each other down, while Dark Shang Tsung's army starts to line up near him. He yells for them to charge, gesturing toward all of you. You start to run up the stairs, with the rest of Liu Kang's army also doing the same. You don't pay any attention to who you were fighting, just interacting with whoever decided to stand in your way. You push and kick your opponents into the green waste between the pyramid stairs.

"My godly might will strike you down." You turn your head to see a Li Mei in similar attire to Raiden. You get into a ready stance and are ready for anything she tries. You notice crackling occurring between her fingertips and you realize she was a version of someone's timeline's Raiden. You land the first punch, cornering her into a wall. Continuously you strike, pushing her down to the floor for enough time to escape. She falls with no intention of getting back up.

You sprint toward the stairs again, climbing up to one of the many platforms on the stairs. You see a flicker of green in the corner of your eye. Before you could act, a version of Syzoth punches you right in the face. You fall to the floor, clenching your cheek. You send a low kick, causing Reptile to meet you on the ground. You push yourself into the air and aim your feet toward Reptile's face. "How you like that, Syzoth?" You chuckle, imagining your timeline's Syzoth being defeated by your hands. Before she could respond, you lift her up from the ground and throw her across the platform. After this action, dozens of dark Shang Tsung's people come rushing towards you. You start to run, sucker punching a dark Kenshi along the way. You hear Sento clank to the ground as you turn the corner. You see an oncoming shadow but no people around. You clamor to the ground as a heavy weight jumps onto you. A person that appears to be Sub-Zero towers over you, ready to strike. You roll to your right and get up onto your knees. "So eager you had to jump onto me?" You banter. She sneers and sends icicles toward you. You crouch down and go for her feet. She acts quickly and jumps up, coming down with a kick. It lands on your stomach, you grunt in pain but punch her in the face as she lands. Blood paints her face as she attempts to wipe it off. Her stance now staggered, she summons an ice flail into her hands. She lunges toward you but you block, the flail breaking on impact. You suck in from the pain and cold it left. You slap her face and punch her in the stomach three times, sending her a couple feet in front of you. As she goes down with a thud, a Dark Sonya that has Kano's eye starts charging toward you. She kicks for your face and tries to slash your arm with her blade. You block all of her attempts and reply with a punch to her face. Her face swings back as her robotic eye releases a deadly beam. You hold her face away from yours and punch her with brute force. She cries in pain and falls.

"You get to be killed by a megastar." You turn around to be met with a Shao Kahn dressed in Johnny's attire. You can't help but let a loud laugh escape your lips. He charges at you and you go flying, landing next to the defeated Sonya. He walks over slowly and you jump up and kick his stomach to keep him from coming any closer. He groans and you keep at it. Punching in any place open and finishing with a kick to the balls. He yells out in pain and topples over. "Learned that on from you, ironically." You retort. You hear a mix of low growling and yelling above you. It was Goro. He jumps off of the roof and lands next to you, making you almost fall over from the impact. He hurls his hammer into your face. Your face burns with pain and you clutch it instinctively. You thought your whole face was taken with the hammer. Goro tries to hit you again with his hammers but is stopped by a punch. He falls onto the stairs but kicks your aid back. You look up to see a Ninja Mime Cage being caught by more Cages. Johnny taps him on the shoulder. He jumps back up quickly and turns his head to the right to see why Johnny tapped his shoulder. Janet also taps him and he faces her. Johnny shouts and "Ms. Cage" does the same. Probably to hype themselves up. Ninja Mime smiles at their antics and also yells silently. You chuckle at the mime's attempt at yelling. He notices your laughter and sends you a wink, but is quickly interrupted by Goro. He swings his hammers toward the three of them and they all dodge. Johnny back kicks Goro in the balls while Ninja Mime flips in the air and kicks his calf. While he winces, Janet kicks him in the face, leading him closer to the ledge. Johnny sends a green blast from his hand hurling toward Goro. You don't remember your timeline's Johnny having powers. Ninja Mime tries to land a finishing kick but Goro grabs his leg. He bends it in an unnatural way, a crackle left his leg. Despite that, he does not make a sound. Although his face contorts in pain and distress. He is tossed by Goro into the green abyss. The Cage's both kick him onto the ledge, pushing him off politely with a send off. Johnny sends you a thumbs up but Janet gives you two. You smile and pick yourself up. You hear yelling behind you but don't bother to turn as another Dark version of Johnny starts to approach.

"You've clearly no sense of self-preservation." You sigh again. "I don't have time for this." You say, in a deadpan voice. Janet scoffs. "Oh, you will." You run towards her and she braces for some sort of attack. But all you do is push her to the floor and take off. "Ugh! Come back here, Y/N!!" You ignore her and run up the never-ending stairs. Your breathing was starting to become shallow. You try to drink your spit to somehow calm yourself and also give you hydration. But it obviously didn't help. You try to look down while running to keep you from seeing the amount of stairs left, knowing the consequences. But you stop, hearing many footsteps ahead of you. You look up to see 4 people. You scan their faces and they all seem familiar but you couldn’t quite place it. Before you could attack, you’re surprised by a weaponized fan.

“Allow me.” Kitana declares.

You happily oblige and let her slay the four in front of you. She ruthlessly slices off limbs and heads. One head with sunglasses on, rolls down in front of you. Weirdly, it felt like a taunt. You try not to think so deeply about it. "Thank you, Princess Kitana. Or.. maybe not a princess?" You say, with uncertainty. It was hard to keep track of everything and everyone. Kitana only chuckles. "You are too cute. Kitana is just fine and you're welcome. Now hurry. There's no time to waste." You were about to reply to her before she was tackled by some person. You were caught by surprise and your first instinct was to help her. You figure she was able to defend herself, but mostly it was the fact that you were being approached once again.

"Reptiloids are apex predators." She calmly says. This time it was a Reptiloid Sindel. You sigh and get into a ready stance. You don't even bother with a quip. Before Sindel could even attack, the ground starts to crackle with red lightning. You look around your surroundings for anything and your eyes land on a chain hanging from a pillar. You kick the pillar to push yourself toward the hanging chain. Sindel screams in pain from the lightning and a figure that looks like Kung Lao, lands. You could see that stupid hat from a mile away. Sindel falls to the floor with severe burns but the figure pays no attention. He removes his hat and cleanly slices the chain you were dangling from, in half. You fall to the floor but get a glimpse of his face. It was Raiden's. "Ew!" You exclaim, not being able to fathom that 'that' exists. He practically flies into you and your stomach burns from his lightning. You dodge his attacks from his hat and begin to punch once he puts it back on. Getting a closer look at the Kung Lao-Raiden mashup, your eyebrows furrow. You push him toward a torch and his clothes catch on fire. He screams and tries to put it out but falls off the pyramid, not realizing where he stood. "That was an abomination.." You breathe out, as you watch him flail to his death.

You jog up the stairs, tired, before noticing two figures. You look up to see Dark Shang Tsung and Quan Chi up at the top, staring down at you attempting to run up the stairs. You see Shang Tsung talking to Quan Chi but can't make out what he says from all the yelling around you. You keep running up the stair trying to catch up. They face each other and start to create a bubble of magic, mixed with orange and green. They both raise it into the sky and throw it into your direction. "Shit!" You dive onto the next platform, as you watch it pass by you and hit many others toward the bottom. Your body aches from the fall and fatigue. "Ugh.." You slowly start to pick yourself up try to continue up the stairs.

But distant growling could be heard from around the corner. Just as you start to catch your breath, three dark clones of Mileena charge toward you with sai in their hands. The two in the back stay in a standby position, while the Mileena in red attire attacks. You grab her arms and make them cross, using her left hand with the sai to puncture her right shoulder. You twirl her to make her face her copies. You use her body to block their advances, also using her arms to attack them. You slice the neck of the Mileena in yellow. You stab the side of one in blue and stab her again but with both sai in the stomach. You kick the Mileena in your hands and take the sai out of hers. You stab her in the chest but have no time to take them back out, as another Mileena charges. You block, but she swipes you off the ground, flipping her sai to face your eyes. You catch her arms and use all your strength to keep her away. She tries to push harder with her body weight but you turn her arms inward, gouging her eyes out with the sai. Her blood flings onto your face as you push her off of you. You stood up quickly, looking at the scene. You were breathing heavily, scared of what could’ve happened. "Fuck..” You just stare at Mileena’s lifeless body. A little bit of payback for Kenshi's eyes.

"Hurry Y/N! You are almost there!" You look up to see a very ethereal-looking Shang Tsung cheering you on, with a version of Quan Chi by his side. But they are both blasted with a green force, which seemed to be sucking their souls out. You watched as their bodies were being ripped away from their skeletons, the flesh sploshing onto the floor.

Dark Shang Tsung was on his knee, supporting himself. You start to run up the pyramid stairs again, angry, but interrupted by a different Quan Chi body slamming you to the floor. You let out a grunt, landing on your arms. "I don't have time for all these distractions.." You state. You waste no time and punch his stomach. Blood sputters out of his mouth from the sudden blunt force. You take a small knife from his belt and decide it was now yours. You swipe for his neck and push in deep, and glide the knife across. Blood spews out and you are drenched in it. "Ugh.." You lightly push him and topples onto the floor. Now you have his and Mileena's blood on your face. You sigh as you start to run, trying to find the stairs again. You hold your new knife tightly, ready for any attack. But instead you find Liu Kang on the stairs, fighting off some foes. He kicks them off and notices you climbing up the stairs. He turns his body and attention towards you. "It's only a little further, Y/N. Follow me." He lingers a little, sort of assessing you. He slightly furrows his brows but gestures for you to follow, which you do.

You both reach the top where Dark Shang Tsung and Quan Chi seemed like they were waiting for you to arrive. You pocket your small knife and form your hands into fists. You looked over at Liu Kang to see him with barely any injuries and effortlessly vibrant. You try to cover up the fact that you were heaving from just climbing all those stairs and the fact that you were admiring him at a time like this.

"Your defenses have failed, Shang Tsung. This is over." Liu kang instructed, while tilting his head slightly.

"I do not think so." Shang Tsung delivers a simple, yet defying answer.

"Realize, sorcerer, that you've brought this on yourself. Avarice and ego have again proved your undoing. We have no choice but to eradicate you." You had to be completely honest, you have no idea what avarice meant but you only nodded in agreement with Liu Kang. You note in your head to start using that Word-A-Day calendar from Johnny...

"It is you who will be eradicated. You and your followers." Shang Tsung's eyes linger on you when he mentions Liu Kang's followers. "And once you are dead, all timelines will be mine." He starts to run toward you and you react the same. You throw a punch but he dodges and extends his claws out. He raises his arms and scratches your chest. You grimace in pain but don't stop for it. You aim a kick to his face and follow with another one. He blocks them all and pushes you and kicks you in the head. You get dizzy and fall to the floor. You try to get back up, knowing Liu Kang needs your assistance. But you couldn't. You slump to the floor, trying to fight the urge to close your eyes. You try and focus on the sounds of grunting and punches being exchanged. You hear Liu Kang's high pitched yells and fire leaving his hands. You cannot stay on the floor any longer. You ignore the gnawing pain in your head and shake it. Your eyes open right as Quan Chi releases a beam in the form of a snake attack Liu Kang. It entraps him and tangles him so he cannot move. Your face contorts that into a scared one, but you take a deep breath.

You try not to seem nervous to your enemies and hold your expression blank. You slowly start to approach the two. "Your position is precarious." Quan Chi states, with a bit of enthusiasm laced within it. "To survive, you must submit." He stops walking and forms his hand into a tight fist. Shang Tsung approaches you, slowly. "Yes. The question you must ask is: if Liu Kang couldn't finish us, how possibly could you?" You didn't say anything, only replying with a solemn facial expression.

Shang Tsung jumps up and tries to land a kick onto your face but you slide and make him miss. He swiftly turns back and punches you consecutively. Every blow hurt, but reminds you that you needed to win, not just for you, but also for Liu Kang and the Realms. You block and grab onto his arm. You throw him onto the ground and start to do the same. Just punch the shit out of him. He cries out in pain but uses his feet to kick you off of him. He extends his claws again and swings in whatever directions he could think of. "Two can play that game." You pull out your small knife and pierce his lower stomach area. He instinctively clutches his wound and you take that opportunity to bash his head onto the ground. He stops moving, but you could tell he was still breathing.

"And they called me the Chosen one." He looks down at your work but looks to you smiling. You were tired but still super happy Liu Kang complimented your efforts. "Thank you, Liu Kang. Should I..?" He places a hand on your shoulder. "You have done more than enough, Y/N. Please, permit me to end this." He lightly squeezes before letting go and again lingering to take a look at you. You look back with an honest face. He blinks and turns away. He begins to swing his arms and sand starts to fall out of his hands. Dark Shang Tsung and Quan Chi slowly start to fade away into sand, then blown by the wind.

"May that be last we see of you." Liu Kang sends the sand off, watching it fade away.

The ground beneath you starts to shake and soon cracks. Liu Kang looked equally as puzzled but you still ask him. "What's going on?" He looks over at you, then back to the few specks of sand. "The timeline! Without Shang Tsung to hold it together, it's falling apart!" His eyebrows furrow as looks at you but he shakes his head, looking at the ground. "You must return to your timeline before this one collapses." His arms engulf into flames and it surrounds you. "Thank you for your aid and presence, Y/N. May we one day meet again.." Before you could process his words, his warm flames start to hug you. "Wait, Liu Kang! I've got so many things to-!" Everything around you turns into white and you're scared for what's to come. Was he going to restart the timeline? Or did he only remove you out of there? You had so many questions and everything had moved by so fast. You could only hope that he would come see you again.

#liu kang x reader #mk1 x reader #mk1 liu kang #light angst #gender neutral reader #liu kang

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