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47pictures · 3 years

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“Abysmal”

Link to original r/nosleep post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/o4mdi8/my_husband_and_i_checked_into_a_new_underwater/

______________________________________________________________

My husband and I are the first guests to check into a new underwater suite with a full glass display. Yet, all of the fish are missing… but I don’t think we’re alone down here, either.

“No peeking still,” my husband nagged, his hands still over my eyes as he guided me.

“How can I peek with your hands literally over my face,” I remarked. He chuckled.

After what felt like forever with him making sure I didn’t bump into anything up to the mystery destination, my husband Jackson assured me that we were finally there. Thank the Lord…

“Alright, open up!” he said as he unveiled his hands from my face.

Now that we were here, I felt the rush of excitement again, and a shy yet exuberant grin grew over my face as I slowly opened my eyes. Once they opened, however, they widened tenfold at the sight before me.

“Whoa,” I exclaimed.

Jackson chuckled. “Soooo, did I pick out a good birthday gift or what?” he teased.

It was truly a sight to behold. An underwater luxury hotel suite, with all the delicacies and comfort a guest could dream of, encased entirely in an underwater tank with a view to die for at nearly every angle. Undoubtedly, it was a great birthday gift.

“Baby, this is amazing,” I spoke. I turned to look at him. “I-I was just kinda joking when I said bring me the ocean if you could, you know?”

He and the usher who led us to the room with our luggage exchanged laughs.

“You should know by now I take almost everything you say literally,” Jackson said as he stepped my way, towering over me by merely two inches.

“Mmm-hmm,” I uttered through my smile, and we both leaned in for a kiss.

The usher awkwardly rolled our luggage over to the king-sized bed (really, it looked even bigger than king-sized) and neatly set them to the side.

“Happy birthday,” Jackson said.

“Thanks, Babe,” I replied, as we both went in for another kiss. Poor usher, I thought. I know it must’ve been awkward for him right about now.

“Um, sorry to break the moment,” the gentleman timidly noted, “But if you two would like, the kitchen staff has prepared a lovely four-course lunch, which should be about ready in the next 30 to 40 minutes?”

“Oh,” I uttered.

“Nice,” Jackson followed. “What do you think?” he asked me.

I gave him a crazy look. “Shit yeah,” I replied under my breath, but quite loudly. I noticed the usher, “Oops, I mean-”, clearing my throat, “Yes, my husband and I would love to attend,” changing my whole demeanor.

Me and him both chuckled like idiot children. That’s simply how we were together. Like children. Though, when it was time to be adults, I was usually the parent in the relationship. He was a messy eater, I used proper dining etiquette. He needed a haircut, I did it for him. He got bruised up or injured doing god knows what, I fixed him up. He wants to travel to a random city over the weekend, I do all the planning (except this time, to my surprise).

Jackson was smart - very smart… but dumb at the same time. He was like a golden retriever. Had lots of energy and charisma, always the center of everyone else’s attention, yet, he couldn’t hold his own to save his life. Very all over the place. In a way, however, that’s what I find attractive about him. His zest for life and a childlike curiosity outlasting his years. I liked to have my fun as well, don’t get me wrong. But I was more Virgo-like in my ways, even though I’m a Pisces myself.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lunch was held in the hotel’s center aquarium, giving us a full view of the ocean around us. Glass surrounded us with a bright blue luminescence as the sun reflected light through the large sea.

We were presented with a lovely four-course meal of seafood selections. Both of us got the seafood chowder as a starter. I got spicy Caribbean shrimp and he got oysters for appetizers. For the entrees, I got a nice big baked salmon, and Jackson got a huge lobster tail with a side of melted butter and mashed potatoes. It was all delicious, needless to say, and to top it all off, we had carb-packed tall slices of strawberry cheesecake. I could barely get up from the table after we were done.

After congratulating the head chef for such a fine meal, Jackson shot the question.

“Where are all the fish?” he asked.

It was one of those things I didn’t even think to ask, yet it was so obvious. Where were the fish? I didn’t know we were coming here until just a while ago. Had I not seen any pictures from the brochures in our room, I’d think this place didn’t have any fish at all. It was a good question.

“Ah, the fish,” the chef said. “They’re usually out most of the day and usually at night, they’ll obviously be harder to see and go elsewhere. But today must be one of those days where they’ll just… sorta hide.”

“Hide?” I remarked.

“Yes,” the chef replied. “Mostly from predators, if they’re around. But that’s strange, there usually aren’t any around. There’s the sharks, but even still, nothing that’s a serious threat to make the others leave.”

“There’s sharks here?” Jackson asked in a tone that I couldn’t tell was either amazed or afraid.

“Oh yes, a couple of them will show up from time to time. No great whites, or hammerheads, or anything crazy of the sort, but yes, there are a few.”

“Hmm,” Jackson uttered.

“Well, hopefully they turn up soon,” I added. “We gotta get some pictures, right Babe?”

I nudged Jackson at his side, to which he didn’t noticeably return much of a reaction.

“Mm-hmm,” he noised passively.

Maybe he was starting to get a food coma, too, and needed to lay down. I know I did. We’d gotten back to the room and done exactly that.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After a pleasant nap, I woke up to the magical view of the suite being illuminated with hidden LED lights outlining the bed, walls, and other pieces of large furniture. The room held a bright gold luminescence along with the now dark blue to almost pitch black abyss of the ocean. I wonder if that was something that could be turned off or it just stayed like that. Either way, I wasn’t complaining one bit.

Jackson woke up not too long after, and I barely saw him shuffle over to the bathroom in a hurry, as I was on my phone with my back turned. Was he sick?

“You all right, Babe?” I called to him.

“Yeah,” Jackson replied. “Had to piss.”

Oh, well that made sense. With that, I turned on camera mode for my phone, and began snapping random pictures, and was getting ready to do a panorama view. I had the lens set at one side of the room, starting at the edge of the first wide window, then began to drag across the room. I made it past the first window, then past the walls and door to the bathroom occupied by Jackson, then to the other side window, and was about to come around to the end of the last huge display behind me, until I noticed something through the lens.

I lowered my phone to get a look with my own eyes and saw that there was an enormous shadow of space outside the glass. It could’ve been the lack of sunlight reflecting down on that particular spot, but then I thought, was it really that dark already? It was only a half ‘til six, so it made sense for the water to be dark, but not that dark. The thing was, it stood out from the rest of the area like a sore thumb. You could still tell apart the ocean floor from other sections of the room, as well as the tiny rocks at the bottom. But over in this particular spot, it was near-total blackness. An abnormally large disquieting contrast in the area around it.

Maybe it was just a large rock structure. Like a fjord, maybe? No, those are like mountains or something, I think.

Then I heard the toilet flush. I waited for Jackson to come back out, but a couple of moments kept passing longer than expected. I was getting suspicious again.

“You sure you’re okay?” I called again.

“Yeah,” he answered.

It would make sense if he got sick from the food, perhaps. It was seafood, after all, and that among other recipes could have a tendency to make anyone’s stomach queasy if not properly prepared. But I didn’t have any issues so far. We ate nearly the same thing, as we picked from each other’s plates all the time.

I went ahead and gave him another minute, but as more time kept passing and I didn’t hear from him, I decided that was it.

“Hey, I gotta piss, too,” I announced, as I got up and started approaching the door.

No response. Then, a few seconds later, “Okay,” I heard him respond. Weird, I thought.

I slowly turned the knob and opened the door slowly, as not to budge right in. To my confusion, he wasn’t in the bathroom anymore at all. Huh?

“Jackson?” I called for him.

I looked across and saw that there was another door leading to a different room, or closet maybe? It was cracked open.

I went over and swung open the door to find a nice tidy compartmentalized space, the only room that wasn’t encased in glass, with Jackson loafing around. It had a nice window seat cushion that extended along the side of the walls of the entire room, and a circular window that simply showed the outside view of the ocean, which was also nearly pitch black as the shadow that cast over near the bedside window I’d a moment ago. Perhaps I was right. It was just large boulders or rocky structures blocking the light on those specific sides of the glass.

“You know this wouldn’t be a bad room to crash in,” he said, as he kept aimlessly searching around for something.

“I guess not?” I awkwardly replied.

“Could be a good place to do… other things, too, yeah?”

“It’s kind of a tight space, don’t you think?”

“We’ve managed with worse.”

“You know, there is a whole bed back there,” I said, pointing my finger to the door.

“Yeah…” Then his mind trailed off elsewhere before he looked at me again. “I’m done in the bathroom. You said you needed to go, right?”

I gave him a certain look. “I lied,” I answered. “You okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he responded, but I knew when he was playing clueless.

“You’ve been acting kinda strange since lunch.”

“Oh?”

“I mean, we both know you’re strange as it is, but… earlier you seemed sort of all right, but now since the sun is starting to come down, I don’t even know.”

“True,” he said, still not actually paying attention as he was still searching around the room.

I was getting a little fed up. “What are you looking for?” I asked.

“Something to cover this window with,” he said. “Can we get seasick from this? You know, with us being underwater and everything?”

“… Maybe?”

“There’s nothing but towels and a bunch of useless crap in here - are there any like really big pillows out there in the bedroom?”

My gosh, he was acting strange. The obvious question came next.

“Why do you need to cover the window?” I asked.

“Because… I don’t want anyone spying on us,” he answered.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“We’re underwater.”

“I noticed.”

“Who’s gonna spy on us? The fish? There aren’t any.”

“You don’t know, there might be people with submarines or something down here trying to capture a couple of lovebird guests having a good ole time down here to sell on the internet or who-knows-what.”

“Okay, one, I’m not fucking you in this room, and two, what is going on with you? You’re just acting so weird. What’s wrong?”

He looked around nervously, biting his lip like a child keeping a dirty little secret. Then, he finally fessed up.

“I have… thalassophobia,” he guiltily admitted.

“What?”

“Thalassophobia.”

“What’s that?”

“Fear of the ocean. Like deep water, all the shit that lurks in it, you know? Being stranded at sea, even. I’ve always been afraid of the water, babe. I tried to work on it, believe me, but nah. It’s just always been that one thing I can’t get over.”

I was dumbfounded. “Wh-” I started, trying to find where to even begin. “You have a fear of the ocean and you booked us an underwater hotel with literally a 360 view of open water?”

His face was red. “Yeah,” he muttered.

“Why?” I asked.

“‘Cause, it was for you. It wasn’t about me. I wanted you to be happy, and I wanted to get you something nice for your birthday, something I knew you’d love.”

It was one of the many sweetest things I’d ever heard him say that I almost forgot how dumb he initially sounded at this moment. I went over to him and gently cupped his face with both my hands, my back facing the window now and his facing the door.

“Okay,” I started, “Baby, you didn’t have to get me anything - though, I’m very grateful for all of this. And besides, I still don’t want you to be uncomfortable even if I’m not. We’re… you know, a marriage. A unity, or whatever. A team. I wouldn’t do something for you if I didn’t like it either.”

Jackson arched a brow.

“Okay, I didn’t mean for that to sound as bad as it did. Of course, I’d make sacrifices for you, too. But you get my point?”

Then I realized he wasn’t reacting to what I said at all, and was looking across the room past me towards the glass.

“The rock is gone,” he whispered.

“Hmm?” I uttered.

I turned to face where he was looking and saw what he meant. The black abyss of space beyond the glass was no longer there, and instead, we saw the faint blue glistening of the evening once again. Strange… it’d been black as night a moment ago, I thought. But Jackson said the same thing I was thinking. He, too, thought it was a rock.

I looked to him. “Tell you what, I’ll order us some drinks - you pick - and I’ll bring them back and we can just hang out here, okay?”

His face lit up with excitement again. “You don’t have to do that, Babe? Don’t let me ruin your b-day.”

“To me, it’s ruined if you’re not happy.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I’d gotten room service to order us a tray of varied alcoholic beverages (only under his card, Jackson insisted). Champagne, Moscato, Grey Goose, and a few other cocktails, along with some crackers and cheeses to go along. We hung out together in the small enclosed room with our backs facing the window atop a fortress of pillows I pulled from the master bedroom and threw into the other room. I even fulfilled his request to cover the window with other stacks of pillows and whatever else I could find so he wouldn’t have to look outside.

We cuddled in the pillow fort we’d made and watched a movie on his phone. Any other person might view this as a complete downer to their vacation, but for me, I actually enjoyed every second of it. We never usually partook in high-end sort of living activities, even with me thoroughly planning and making sure we budget down to a T, so they usually ended in us doing things like this instead where we much preferred the comfort of doing things the unconventional way, such as sleeping in another room aside from the bed on a stack of pillows. Plus, it made Jackson feel better, and he was usually always braver than me. For once, I saw a true vulnerability in him.

“We’ve been to the pool and stuff together,” I said.

“Mm-hmm,” he replied. He drank way more than me. He’d answer anything at this point.

“You didn’t seem scared then.”

“The pool isn’t scary, the ocean is. Remember though, I couldn’t go past six feet?”

Then I thought about it. He was right. He never went too far to the deep end of any pools we got in.

“Huh,” I expressed. “I never noticed ‘til now.”

We kept on watching the movie for a couple more seconds before I had the urge to ask more questions.

“What about it scares you the most?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I mean, a lot of things. Like the thought of how deep it is… you never know what could be down there - here. The feeling of being surrounded by a vast bunch of endlessness, and being so small…” He shivered with chills. “Yeesh. Fuck that.”

“Yeah, when you put it that way, that does sound pretty scary.”

“Nah, you love it. You and the ocean have a pact.”

“What?” I smiled.

“Admit it, you would love to be a little mermaid just swimmin’ along in the abyss, waving at seamen - haha, seamen - passing by on their little boats and just having a grand time-”

“Oh shut up!” I laughed.

“-Just floating around with your long red hair collecting seashells singing, ‘Unda da sea!’-”

“Whatever!”

“-Unda da seaaaa!”

He was hysterical, and we were both having a good time. At least he was enjoying himself now.

I had to get up and use the bathroom again. After doing so, I decided to go get my phone that I’d left on the charger from the bed. But when I stepped into the room, it was nearly pitch black. I couldn’t see a damn thing.

What happened to the LED lights? Did they automatically turn off by themselves? It’d be weird if they did, though, because it wasn’t at our discretion to do it ourselves, and who’s to say we still needed the light or not?

I decided to use the bathroom light by swinging the door wide open to let the rest seep into the room and illuminate. Now, I could discern where everything was, if only faintly.

I went over to the bedside and pulled my phone from the USB. 100-percent battery life. Nice. While I was over there, I also turned on the lamplight perched next to me, and saw that it emitted a bright enough radiance to fill the entire corner of the bedroom. Might as well leave it on.

Then a thought occurred to me to check on the vast space I’d spotted earlier through the window. It would be directly in front of me. So I lifted my head to take a look, and to my stupidity, of course, it was indistinguishable now at this time of night. Some hours had passed since I last saw it, making the entire perspective a dark blue tint.

Though I loved the ocean and all the creatures that inhabited it, after hearing Jackson’s opposing view on the subject, in a weird sense, I was now starting to get what he meant. The vast darkness of the underwater. The endless abyss. I could imagine how terrifying it must be to swim in such a colossal space with no sense of direction, no other object in sight. No way out…

And what made it more frightening, I think, wasn’t that the water was pitch black. No, it was the fact that it was nearly complete darkness, but not entirely. You could observe the murkiness of the depths shift from light blue to an uncanny shaded indigo. Were the shadows underneath simply an indication of how far the light could reach from above? Or, could it be that something waited - patiently - down below?

Geez, I could have quite the imagination when I got to thinking too much by myself. I was even getting scared at my own thoughts. But if anything, I could now sympathize with my husband’s dread.

I turned to walk back to the bathroom door when another thought struck me, stopping me in my tracks. The rock Jackson and I noticed earlier, or at least what we thought was a rock… wasn’t it black? Like, entirely black. Black as night? And we both thought we were seeing things, where the rock had suddenly moved and we couldn’t identify it anymore through the window of the back room. It was hard to say if it was a bad memory or the alcohol, but I could swear…

I went over to the telephone next to the bed and decided to call room service again.

“Hello?” the female clerk on the other line answered.

“Hi, yes, I was just calling because I noticed the lights in our room aren’t working anymore. Not the main lights for the lamp and bathroom and stuff, but for LED lights, you know?”

“Oh, I see. Yes, there’s a switch on the wall right next to the thermostat where you can turn them on. It has a knob where you can adjust the brightness, and another one that lets you change the color to whichever one you’d like also.”

I shifted my eyes over to where she was referring to and found exactly what she meant. I could’ve found that if I bothered to look first.

“Oh, I see it now,” I laughed. “I guess I’ll check and make sure it’s on or off.”

“Okay,” the clerk responded, sounding pleased. “But that’s strange. They normally stay on unless of course, the guests decide to shut them off or when they automatically shut off at sunrise.”

“Hmm… maybe there was just a short power outage?” I suggested, though, it was probably unrealistic.

“Could be,” the clerk fancied. “But either way, hopefully you and your husband can enjoy the lovely moonlight from above as well.”

I was confused. “Moonlight?” I said.

“Yes. From where your room should be, it’s placed in the perfect spot for the moon to be seen from the top of the glass.”

“Really?” I replied, very puzzled. I looked up to see if I could maybe notice it through the top. “I don’t see any-”

At the sight I was now witnessing, I felt every bone, every muscle, every nerve in my body turn cold. There was something on top of the glass. Not just on top, but engulfing the entire tank. Above were faint details of what I could only imagine was its mouth. It was circular almost, with rows of what looked like razor-sharp teeth getting smaller at the center.

“Hello?” the clerk said on the other line.

I couldn’t move. A sensation more than just fear overcame me. I was petrified. At this moment, I never felt so small.

Then, the creature began to shift its entire body away from the glass, sending a near-seismic rumble throughout the suite. I dropped the phone onto the floor, and I followed suit as I got down, raising my arms as an instinctual reaction to try and shield me from whatever was about to happen next - as if that would do anything. I was in the presence of something further up the food chain than myself. Further up than any other predator that I knew that walked or swam the face of the earth.

As it released its grip from off the glass, shapes of monstrous tentacles began to flail about, leaving behind a powerful swooshing noise through the water, along with a resonant sound that the only way I could describe it as is something that couldn’t be replicated. Not on this planet. It was deafening, earth-shattering, like something from a different world.

MuuuUUUuuuuuh

MuUUUuuuUUUUUUUuuh

It was so alien-like. It seemed to be coming from the thing itself. So powerful, even more so than the call of a blue whale or the roar of an earthquake. It was truly one of the loudest sounds I’d ever heard.

Suddenly, pure blackness no longer surrounded the view, as shades of the natural lighting of the ocean floor began to form again, and instantaneously, a white glow emitted from the glass ceiling. There it was. The moon. It had been there the whole time… and so had this thing.

As the creature rose higher away from my view, I was starting to get an even better look at its size. I still couldn’t even grasp its entire shape. It was huge. A behemoth of an unknown force lurking down here, waiting to be discovered.

I was amazed, astonished even, but not in a positive manner. The same sensation kept overtaking me as I began to curl up into a ball next to the bed. The sensation that I’d never felt so small…

I planned on staying there and hiding under the bed until it was gone. Then I’d be safe. But Jackson…

I got up and immediately ran towards the bathroom and over into the other room, shutting the door behind me. He was still lying against the pillows watching the movie on his phone, not noticing a thing about what lies beyond the glass. I couldn’t have been the only one to hear it, I thought.

“Baby,” I panicked.

He looked at me, concerned. “What’s wrong?” he asked. I guess he didn’t hear what I did after all.

But I couldn’t tell him, I thought. I was already scared as it was, but telling him might be catastrophic, and he’d never want to leave this room.

“I-I…” I stammered. “… I saw something.”

It just came out. What was I supposed to do, lie?

“What?” he said, now growing nervous as I was. Fuck, why did I do that?

“Th-There was something outside the glass, um…” Then I realized, I hadn’t told him the whole truth. “A shark or something. Like, a big shark.”

Jackson arched his brow, like he always did when he thought I was crazy.

“Are you pranking me?” he asked, his whole demeanor changing from worried to a perky suspicion.

I was dumbfounded. “Huh?” I said, still in a state of clear panic.

“I thought you loved sharks? Go play with your new friend,” he joked.

Without a doubt, the alcohol took the edge off of him from earlier, but he had no idea just how serious I was. Maybe that was a good thing, but right now, I needed both of us to leave this room asap.

I kneeled in front of him, looking him in the eye.

“Listen, I don’t wanna be in here right now. I’m getting… claustrophobic,” I lied. “Let’s just go to one of the lounges and hang out there for a bit where there’s no open water outside to look at, okay?”

He still wasn’t buying it. I’d be skeptical, too, if I were him. I never expressed fear of any sort in regards to the ocean. Even all the scary creatures he feared that swam in the sea, I took a liking to. But not that thing. Not that thing that waited outside…

“Your acting never fails to impress me, dear-

“Jackson!” I snapped.

He turned straight-faced again. I never snapped at him like that before. He knew I was serious this time.

“You’re serious,” he said. I nodded.

“Just put on your pants and let’s go,” I insisted. “I-I’ll cover your eyes so you don’t have to see out there when we cross the room.”

“Okay…”

He got up and started to put his hands on.

“By the way,” he started, “Did you hear something a minute ago? Or was it just the movie?”

“Hear what?” I asked, a noticeable fear in my voice.

“Well I don’t know, I thought I heard something, like a loud rumbling noise. Thought it came from the movie, but then I was like, there’s no way, because-”

MuUUUuuuUUUUUUUuuh

We both felt it rumble down in our feet and up to our rib cage, and stared at each other for a moment. Aware of precisely the same thing now, Jackson whispered under his breath, “Honey… what was that?”

Suddenly, the rumble sounded again, and was followed by both of us losing balance on both of our feet, and we both began to stumble. We both struggled to hold on to each other while simultaneously trying to grab onto the wall for support. Jackson managed to clutch one of the beams sitting atop the wall, and his strength alone was enough to hold both of us. I held onto him for dear life as the suite kept violently shaking.

His back was to the window as my arms hooked around him for balance. But I could see ahead that the barricade of pillows we’d put up on the window had now fallen, leaving the glass open for a full display of the outside. And to my confusion, I couldn’t see anything beyond it. It wasn’t a dark blue or black tint this time, but instead, a bright yellowish shade that now covered the window.

The rumbling had now stopped, and it was quiet as a mouse.

“You okay?” Jackson asked.

I didn’t say anything. I was too fixated on the window. Why was it that color? It’s like we shifted into a different environment altogether. Like a whole new backdrop.

“What the hell?” I muttered.

“Hmm?”

He turned to what I was perceiving and shared the same confusion. It was a strange sight indeed. Then we saw a black circle shift from nowhere and down into different corners of the circular window. The direction of the circle bounced randomly from corner to corner as if it were a corrupted game of Pong, until finally sitting dead center on the glass, facing us.

I felt a sick sensation in my gut, and Jackson’s jaw dropped in terror at the realization of what we were now both seeing. It was an eye… and it saw us.

MuUUUuuuUUUUUUUuuh

The sound rumbled the whole area again.

“Go, go!” Jackson shouted, trying to lead us both out of the room, and we did just that.

We’d crossed into the bathroom when the lights cut off. There was darkness again. We were blind to the lack of light as we both tripped into each other, him almost knocking me down completely. I grabbed onto what I could only guess was the sink as Jackson quickly grabbed me to keep me from falling.

“You all right?” he said.

“Yeah.”

“What the hell is that thing?” His voice trembled.

“I don’t know,” I cried.

We needed to get ahead into the room and out into the main lobby and let someone know what was going on. But the lamp I’d left on in the bedroom ahead was out, too. Otherwise, there’d be some lighted path for us to distinguish. It was pure darkness. The only faint light, if any, came from the dark hue of the water surrounding us.

I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight to lead us.

“C’mon,” I demanded.

Jackson followed closely behind with his arms still over me for protection. Though, I’m sure it was more for him than it was for me. I could only imagine…

We raced through the bedroom and for the door in a matter of seconds. But in that time, we caught a glimpse of the outside. It was a nightmare. Just an endless void of murky dark water that appeared to stretch for an eternity. We were two small, meaningless creatures in the center of the vast universe.

When we got to the door, I turned the knob and pulled back without hesitation, as Jackson reached over and helped by yanking it back into the wall, and we both hauled ass out of there. In the halls, the lights were out as well. No source of illumination anywhere except the faint moonlight protruding the ocean’s horizon. Like the suite, the halls were made entirely of glass like a giant walkthrough tube to behold the ocean life exterior.

“Which way is it?” I anxiously asked.

“Here,” Jackson said, pointing down to the left corridor.

He and I made our way down the halls, but slowly this time. Something outside caught our eye. Indescribable. Countless dark silhouettes of fish. Hundreds of them. The ones that had been gone earlier were now all here for us to see beyond the glass. However, something was wrong.

The way in which they swam didn’t align in a fluid horizontal motion. Some of their bodies were positioned diagonally, vertically, and in a strange sense, seemed to be floating rather than swimming…

Then the realization hit me. They weren’t swimming at all. They were dead. Lifelessly drifting in the water down to us.

“Jesus,” Jackson gasped.

“L-let’s just keep moving,” I said, trying to be brave.

Then to our left, the creature emerged from below, its massive tentacles and fins rising into view, its bright yellow eyes glaring into us. The hall began to shake as the earth-shattering rumble sounded throughout the structure.

Without hesitation, the two of us raced down the hall to reach the next corridor that would eventually get us to the lobby. We just needed to make it. Where that thing could no longer see us.

All throughout the long glass tube, it followed from the outside. But not like a predator chasing its prey, but in an unsettlingly forbearing nature, as if it knows its place in the animal kingdom hierarchy. We were no challenge for it. It wanted to taunt us. It knew…

We’d managed to run down to the lobby and thankfully, one of the clerks was still there at the counter, likely the one I’d spoken to earlier on the phone. The woman saw us in our state of panic and immediately stood up to ask what was the matter. We told her of the creature that was terrorizing us, to which she was understandably struck by. We even told her about the fish we’d seen that were now regurgitated from the monster. It was hard to say if she bought our story or not, but based on her facial expressions, she innately knew we were dead serious.

The two of us refused to spend another night in that room. We asked if there were any other rooms available that didn’t involve windows of any sort, or better yet, any that were at the surface, but truly, Jackson and I both wanted to get the hell out of this place.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A couple of hotel staff offered to take our belongings out of the room and personally hand them over to us in the main lobby, as the clerk informed us that there was a vacancy in the only other room available at the top above the water, on top of the fact that neither one of us agreed to enter that hellish fishbowl again.

In our new more relaxing suite on the surface of the land, it’d taken a while for either one of us to fall back asleep. Jackson, in the shock of it all and for good reason, had taken it harder than me. I lied there with him in bed and stayed until he felt comfortable to drift off.

At some point in the night, I’d got up to peer out the window, which gave a view of the ocean’s horizon under the full moon. Any other day, I’d find the sight to be an ethereal beauty, not one to literally die for. What was supposed to have been a beautiful day for the two of us, at the expense of Jackson going out of his way to try and make me happy, was now ruined by the untethered force of nature that resided beneath.

I began to quietly sob, as not to wake Jackson from his slumber, my vision becoming blurred from the muddiness of tears.

But as I looked down again at the ocean below, I could sense that somewhere in my line of sight, it waited. And with a startling revelation that haunted me from when we first looked the creature in its eye, there was an undeniable fact that it knew.

It knew…

#writer #story #horror stories #nosleep #scifi #scifi story #thriller #thalassophobia #ocean horror

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lovewillthaw-j · 5 years

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Finding herself: Queen and 5th Spirit

The opening scene of Frozen 2 sets up the whole movie and deftly manages to introduce new plot elements not seen in Frozen 1, without feeling artificial or out-of-universe. Many story arcs start in the opening scene, including a lot of foreshadowing which has been touched on elsewhere (eg here and here). In this post I just wanna focus on Elsa and give some insights through the 6 questions she asks: 1) You’ve seen an enchanted forest? 2) Were the Northuldra magical, like me? 3) What happened to the spirits? 4) What’s in the forest now? 5) Do you think the forest will wake again? 6) Will you sing it for us, please? Elsa’s questions (and her facial expressions) convey her thoughts.

At this point in the story, the events of Frozen 1 have not yet happened, so little 8 year old Elsa knows she has magical powers, but is not fearful of them yet (at this point, she knows she can make snow, and pretty figures and ice up the floor for ice skating) She probably has asked herself and everyone around her, “Why do I alone have these powers?”.

In my headcanon, I believe she is also aware (or at least has some notion) that she is the Crown Princess and future Queen. But, she’s still a little innocent child.

The scene starts with Anna and Elsa playing in their bedroom and King Agnarr, observing their make-believe Enchanted forest, drops a hint that he has seen an Enchanted forest too.

1. You’ve seen an enchanted forest?

Elsa’s first question is entirely childlike and inquisitive, she wants to hear a story from Daddy! I like the little double-blink she makes when she says “forest”. But she is unaware of and unprepared for the gravity of the story and history of Arendelle that is to be revealed to her for the first time.

2. Were the Northuldra magical, like me?

As Agnarr’s story continues, Elsa is electrified to learn that there are magical spirits and other magical people out there (”like me?”), and for a fleeting moment, she hopes that she might one day find them and that they will be able to make her feel like she’s not alone, and to give her an explanation for her powers. All young children like to hear magical fairy tales, but for Elsa, it’s different because she possesses magical powers.

3. Agnarr: And that night, I came home king of Arendelle.

Very rapidly, the story becomes dark and real. Elsa realises, this is no fairy tale. This is the history of my country. My grandfather the King died. My father was actually there and kingship was thrust upon him at a young age. Elsa realises the weight of being a ruler, and may be wondering whether she is expected to take up the role to ‘avenge’ Arendelle against the Northuldra. She realises there is a mystery yet to be solved, with political implications.

4. Anna - completely different frequency

It’s interesting and funny to note that little Anna is on a completely different frequency when she goes “whoa Papa, that was epic. Whoever saved you, I love them!” Of course, little Anna is much younger and probably doesn’t grasp the concept of royal succession, and can’t comprehend the gravity of this story. And we know that little Anna is crazy about love and romance (kissing won’t save the forest!)

5. What happened to the spirits? What’s in the forest now?

Elsa asks about the spirits and the forest because, as mentioned previously, she is searching for answers about herself, and yearning to find people like her.

6. Elsa’s disappointment

Elsa’s face shows her disappointment that she won’t be getting an answer so easily. Her face is crestfallen and she looks down at her lap but not for long because...

7. Agnarr: “We must be prepared for danger”

Elsa is reminded about the danger and I think she is jerked back from thinking about herself and her unanswered questions about her powers, to her role as Crown Princess and future Queen and protector of Arendelle. She looks at Agnarr with big eyes and gives a dutiful and obedient nod as if to say, “Yes sire, I will do my utmost”.

8. Anna and Elsa - different frequency again!

Again, little Anna and Elsa are on a different frequency! Elsa is looking down, her little head swimming and weighed down by questions about her powers, the Northuldra, the spirits, and contemplating her role, duties and obligations as future Queen. Whereas Anna is behaving exactly like a 5 year old would, asking simple questions from a ‘black and white’ mentality without comprehending the background and implications.

9. Do you think the forest will wake again?

Agnarr has left the room at this point and Elsa tries to ask Iduna about the forest, hopeful that Iduna will give her a different take, something positive about the forest, something for her to look forward to in her quest to find out about herself and her powers. And boy, does Iduna do that! When she introduces Ahtohallan, the magical river.

10, Will you sing it for us, please?

Elsa’s face brightens so nicely! She has some hope again, even if Ahtohallan is just a song at this moment.

Tragically, the events of Frozen 1 take place immediately after this opening scene of F2, and I believe the trauma of hurting Anna and seeing Grand Pabbie’s vision wiped out Elsa’s desire to find out about herself because she was convinced she was cursed/was a curse (see my other post). And at the age of 18 when Agnarr and Iduna died, she ascended into the role of Queen and was crowned at 21. After the tumultuous events of F1 and the 3 years it took for her to heal, she is finally ready in the beginning of F2 to find herself when she hears the siren’s call for the first time since she heard Agnarr’s story. (side note: imagine Agnarr trying to reproduce the siren’s call in a high pitched voice!)

She starts thinking about the Enchanted forest again when she calls out to them in Into the Unknown and sees the elemental crystals at the end of the song (which she has not seen or even thought about for the last 16 years - although to us it is just a blink of an eye because of the structure of the movie)

Later on, in the ship scene, she rediscovers Ahtohallan in the map, although fate is cruel and instead of it bringing back a happy memory of her mother, she is immediately confronted with the truth of her parents’ death. But this is all washed away in the magnificent song, “Show Yourself” when she finally finds herself, her role as 5th spirit, and sees Iduna in Ahtohallan’s magical hall and cries happy tears.

Lastly, I belong to the club that believes Elsa didn’t abdicate because she hated being queen and dumped it on Anna, but she is embracing a much bigger role by being the protector of the forest and Arendelle. And in my headcanon she is still addressed as Queen Elsa whenever she comes back to Arendelle to see Anna and she still has a shared role with Anna as co-rulers.

“We did this together and we’ll continue to do this together.”

“Together”.

I love this movie.

#frozen 2 #frozensnetwork #frozen2edit #frozenedit #frozen #animationedit #disney #disneyedit #disney elsa #disney frozen #disneyfeverdaily #disneysuniverse #arendellesources #bigfrozensix #elsa #fifth spirit elsa #queen elsa #bobbelcher

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lokimostly · 5 years

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Home from War (Ch.3/8)

James Conrad x Reader Word Count: 5,255 (TOO MANY) Warnings: none Fic Summary: One year after you lost the love of your life, a last-minute decision changes everything you thought you knew. Now only one question remains: how to make it out alive, and return home from war?

A/N: it’s four in the morning and I am ... so tired. Excuse any typos. Also, yeah, this chapter is monstrously long, but I had no idea where to split it, so let me know how you feel on that note. Tag list is open! Lots and lots of sleepy love - Ariel

You were avoiding him. He was sure of it now.

Why? He wondered as he led the group through the jungle. The two of you had undeniably shared something inside the helicopter.

It hurt. Just looking at you was like drinking poison that he couldn’t live without, and yet every so often he would glance back, taking you in for only a fraction of a second. It was all he could bear.

There was nothing Conrad wanted more than to have a chance to hold you again, to offer apologies between kisses, mend your heart with his words, but … how? You had turned your grief to armor, it seemed.

He didn’t want to break through your armor, just to take it off.

You seemed friendly enough with Slivko and the other soldiers – then again, you were one of them. They were dependable, steadfast. Just familiar enough to let your guard down around.

That was one of many things that had changed, it seemed. Conrad was decommissioned, and free to follow his heart. You, on the other hand, couldn’t take such liberties. You were still under the jurisdiction of the U.S. military, and had to act with caution and reserve.

Perhaps that had to be considered as a reason for your actions. Maybe, he thought, with just a glimmer of hope, you didn’t hate him, after all.

At the back of the group, you were doing your best to ignore Conrad as usual. At this point, there was nothing you wanted more than to be held in his arms again, the way he had in the helicopter. You wanted to listen to his deep, accented voice in your ear, feel his hands on your skin, shiver at his breath on your neck.

But you had enough to focus on besides the imaginary thought of him. In order to combat this walking destraction, you brought up the back of the group with Slivko, hands on your rifle, and glancing up at Conrad only when you dared. The heat of the jungle had you sweating in droves, but he seemed unaffected by it: at most, it made his muscled arms glisten and the fabric of his shirt hug his muscled chest more tightly. Frankly, it was unfair.

Slivko's young, babyish face was contorted with distress as he tried in vain to communicate over radio. “This is Slivko, do you read? is anybody out there? We’re headed north to the exfil location. Everyone here seems way too calm right now. Do you copy? Anybody?”

“We’re out of range, Sliv,” you pointed out gently, glancing behind you occasionally as you walked. “Save it for when we get closer to the group.”

The huge trees on either side were thick with vines and peeling bark, surrounded by outcroppings of brown rock. Insects buzzed and birds sang unfamiliar melodies far above you, reminding you that you were a long way from home. It wasn’t a good feeling.

The terrain sloped downward. It was a welcome relief on your already-sore calves. You took the opportunity to unzip your bag, slinging it over one shoulder as you ran a mental checklist of supplies while you walked.

You seethed silently about your lost medical bag on the Sea Stallion, and all the equipment inside. If only you’d had the foresight to pack your personal bag more thoroughly.

With luck, none of the men you met up with would be in critical condition. If there were, there was only so much you could do with gauze, antiseptic, and a meager six doses of morphine.

More outcroppings of rock began to appear. They almost seemed cut– their sharp angles resembling huge bricks. You decided to worry yourself with the contents of your bag instead, ignoring the changing terrain around you, until suddenly the party stopped.

You kept walking, unbothered, until Conrad held out his arm to stop you. You looked up. “What–”

He shook his head, motioning for silence. You looked ahead. There was a brick wall, made of the same stone you’d seen earlier, but this wasn’t any natural outcropping. The rocks made a broken, circular arch, some of the surface covered in faded yellow stripes of paint. Moss grew in between the cracks, along rotted beams and broken walls.

You weren’t alone on the island.

Conrad slowly moved his hand to his gun, proceeding forward with caution. You zipped your bag as quietly as you could and wrapped your fingers around your own M16, following him underneath the arch.

The rest of the group trickled in, walking slowly through the dilapidated structure. It seemed uninhabited.

Mason gasped aloud. “Behind you!”

The silence broke like a water balloon. Camouflaged natives appeared out of thin air, their bodies painted to match the dilapidated stones. Against the grey and yellow, the whites of their eyes stood out. Spears and pointed weapons were at your throats before you had time to react.

Naturally, the group panicked. Slivko’s hands flew for his gun and he brandished it frantically.

“Everybody stay calm!” Conrad soothed, holding one hand out in a desperate attempt to get the civilians to lower their weapons.

Slivko’s eyes were wild and skittish. “What the hell–”

“Conrad!” Mason cried desperately, stumbling backwards as they closed in.

“Stay calm!” You repeated, your own weapon brandished.

“Nobody shoot, nobody shoot,” Conrad urged, holding his free arm out protectively against you.

One of the painted natives jabbed their weapon forward, inches from your throat. Conrad wasted no time in pulling you forcibly behind him, brandishing his weapon and clenching his jaw.

“Stay. Calm.” He ordered, in a tone you’d never heard before. It turned your blood cold. You put your hand on his shoulder and felt the taut muscle beneath.

“Conrad,” you said quietly, speaking slowly so that your voice wouldn’t tremble. “What do we–”

But you were interrupted.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, no need for that, come on now! Everybody keep your wigs on now!” A voice cried, coming around the rubble.

You were stunned into silence. A disheveled looking man appeared, jogging through the archway like he was late for the party.

“This cannot get weirder,” Mason muttered.

Round-faced and stout, the man’s curly hair and beard were unkempt and greying. He was dressed in a vintage uniform, which looked as old as he was, and obviously hadn’t been kept in very good condition.

“What?” Slivko, weakly. He looked about to cry from stress.

The man smiled toothily, his eyes slightly crazed. “I couldn’t believe it when they said you were coming,” he grinned, his voice trembling with emotion. “I was up all night, just thinking about how me and Gunpei dreamed of this moment. And now here it is. 28 years, 11 months, and 8 failed attempts to get back to the world, and instead the world comes to me?” He laughed tremulously. “Ain’t that a crack?”

He looked back at the natives, whose spears were still upright and pointed at your group.

“They never smile,” he said, looking back at you with watery eyes and an apologetic shrug.

“Did you crash here?” you asked, unable to hold your tongue. You stepped forward as you spoke, and Conrad quickly put his arm out to hold you back.

The man’s soft eyes brightened. “Oh! Sorry, miss.” He reached up, carefully tipping his uniform hat and introducing himself. “Lieutenant Hank Marlow of the 45th. Put the old flight suit on for you.” He tugged on the edges of the material with both pride and bashfulness, before turning back to the natives.

“I told you! Didn’t I tell ya? It’s fine,” Marlow soothed, shaking his head. They lowered their spears, expressions no different than when their weapons had been brandished.

“There’s something out there, man,” Slivko said shakily, his voice cracking.

Marlow smiled weakly, this time in understanding. “Oh, there’s a lot out there. Now c’mon–” he gestured for you to follow. “We gotta get home. You don’t wanna be out here at night.”

You’d thought this island couldn’t possibly be any stranger. But after everything you’d seen– the giant monsters, the inhabitants, the wildlife – you had resigned yourself to fact that this was simply unlike any place you’d ever been.

Marlow had wasted no time in taking your group to the only safe place on the island: the home of the local inhabitants, who he called the Iwis. Their village was kept safe only by an incredible feat of architecture: a giant wall spanning the length of the valley’s opening, cutting across the wetland and effectively barricading anything from getting in. More specifically, keeping out what he called the Skull Crawlers– whatever they were.

You didn’t want to find out.

After the field trip, Marlow had offered the group both a place to stay the night and a potential ride to the exfil: a makeshift watercraft in dire need of fixing.

The sun was already high in the sky, and there were only about thirty-six hours until scheduled departure. Slivko, Conrad, and the other boys were on their way to the river, while Mason and the others had wandered off to explore the village. You, however, had other interests.

You caught Marlow’s arm just before he left. “Sir,” you began apologetically, unsure how to address him. The WWII veteran was undeniably a bit crazy, but he outranked you nonetheless. “These people, you mentioned their medicine–”

“That’s right!” He interrupted, brightening. “You’re a doctor, aren’t you?”

You chuckled and cleared your throat. “Not quite. Nurse.”

Marlow waved his hand dismissively and turned around, walking off. You trotted behind him, following as he rambled.

“These people have medicine that seems to stop age,” he explained. “No sickness, either. I haven’t had a cold since I’ve been here.” He smiled. “I don’t know much about it, but I can show you what I do know.”

He walked until the worn down paths turned to long grass, leading you to a stone structure close to the wall. Unlike the first archway you’d encountered in the forest, which was in disrepair, this had been well-kept.

When the wooden door opened and you stepped inside, a gasp escaped your lips.

The sight that met your eyes was like a dream. Everywhere you looked, something new beheld your attention. Glowing mushrooms and raw quartz hanging from the ceiling, charged with light and glowing on their own. There were hanging plants and herbs, dried and soaking in ferment, made into concoctions that were neatly stored. Not only were the medical remedies here and available to you, but their ingredients as well– perfectly laid out for your study. With any luck, these could lead to cures the modern world barely dreamed of.

You only half-heard Marlow excuse himself as he left you to ponder. You set down your bag and shuffled through its contents, remembering something you’d seen inside earlier– sample bottles. Letting your fingers dance over the items on the shelves, you chose the first containers and plants that caught your eye, setting them out on the stone counter.

Collecting these samples would take you hours, no doubt, but it was worth your while. After all, if you’re stuck on an uncharted island, you might as well be productive.

Conrad stepped off the haphazard boat, wiping the oil from his hands. He squinted up at the green mountains, their silhouettes glowing from the light of the setting sun. The sky was already growing dark. Stars had begun to appear in clusters, taking the sun’s place in lighting the path from Marlow’s waterboat to the bridge of The Wanderer, the wrecked freight ship where Marlow had offered to let the group stay the night.

Apparently, the bridge of the ship was still relatively intact, and had more than enough room for your happy troop. Conrad would take it over making camp in the woods any day.

His thoughts drifted to you. As he travelled through the grass and ascended the old metal stairs, following their narrow path, he wondered if tonight would be the night to break your mutual silence. He could only hope.

Conrad came up to the bridge. It had been crudely decorated over the years, made into something that could conceivably called a “home.” Sketches and painted figures on the wall, odd assortments of belongings and scrap metal, all accumulated by Marlow over the past twenty-nine years.

Slivko had set up a portable record player, filling the room with David Bowie’s voice as he sang the tune of Ziggy Stardust. He was perusing the drawings on the wall like they were pages of an open magazine, flipping one of the Iwi spears around in his hand. The scientists Brooks and Miss San were talking in low voices down one of the hallways while she flipped through his notebook.

Marlow sat in front of a shattered mirror, carefully shaving his face.

“What kind of music is that?” He asked Slivko without turning around, his shaky hand focused on cutting a straight line. “What happened to swing? Benny Goodman?”

Slivko laughed, tossing the spear from hand to hand. “You’re like a time traveler, man. I’m telling you, this is the new sound.”

The old man grumbled in response, scowling into the mirror. “I don’t know if i’m gonna like whoever’s under this beard.”

Nieves crossed his arms, shaking his head. “Listen, I really hope that that thing you call a boat can get us upriver in thirty-six hours, because if we miss that window,” he said tremulously, “we’re, uh, literally up a creek.”

“If the boat doesn’t work, we’ll just take the train.”

Conrad left the idle chatter and ducked under a rusted beam, making his way to the balcony where Mason Weaver stood with her camera. Her dark eyes were fixed on the night sky, where a stunning display of the aurora borealis were glowing in vibrant hues of purple and green.

“Isn’t it odd that the most dangerous places are often the most beautiful?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as he came to stand next to her, watching the lights. From way up here, the island almost looked peaceful.

She hummed in response. “I’m trying to take a long exposure photograph, but…” she held up a small, black flashlight. “My flashlight broke.”

“That’s a shame,” he murmured, turning back and looking around the room. He paused. “Has L/N come up yet?”

Mason frowned, looking around. “No… I haven’t seen her since we first got here, actually.”

There was a sinking feeling in his stomach. “Slivko?” He called over his shoulder.

The volume of the record turned down and he appeared on the balcony, spear in hand. “Where’s Nurse L/N?” Conrad asked.

Slivko’s expression turned to worry. “I – I don’t know.”

Damn it, he thought, as anxiety rose in his throat. Without a moment’s hesitation, Conrad moved past him, picking up his rifle and pulling the strap over his shoulder.

“I’m going out to find her,” he announced, heading back down the rusted metal stairs. The echo of his footsteps rang out loudly in the dark. As soon as his feet hit solid ground, Conrad broke into a run, heading towards the lights of the village.

Please, he prayed, to whoever might be listening. Please be alright.

The sun had set almost an hour ago, but you hadn’t noticed. As you’d predicted, taking samples of the medicines was a time-consuming task– not that you didn’t enjoy it.

You were carefully sealing a small container with some herbal samples when the wooden door flew open with a crash.

You shrieked, nearly dropping the container as you whirled around to face Conrad, who stood in the doorway. His chest was heaving from running. The borealis lights in the night sky cast his figure in an ethereal glow.

You stared at the expression on his face and suddenly it dawned on you. “What are you doing?” You asked slowly, raising an eyebrow and pressing your lips together.

He shook his head, still panting, and straightened up. “Nothing,” He replied breathlessly, clearing his throat and avoiding your eyes.

“You were worried about me,” you declared, smirking openly. You continued before he could reply. “Good thing you’re here. I was about to venture out for some more of these–” you gestured to one of the glowing plants, which illuminated a purple, bioluminescent hue. “I saw some on our way in, they grow right outside the wall. C’mon.”

Without waiting for him to respond, you put away the last jar of samples and moved past him. He’ll follow, you thought confidently, a small smile on your face, as you made your way towards the wall.

“Wh–” Conrad stared at you, watching you plod off into the dark. Sure enough, he pushed himself off of the wall and jogged to catch up to you, slowing down at your heels.

“Nurse L/N,” he said, exasperated and attempting to maintain some semblance of formality, “We should go back. It’s dark, and neither of us know what’s out there.”

“I’ve got you to protect me, haven’t I?” You asked testily, striding through the grass.

“Always.”

The candidness of his response caused your feet to falter, and you nearly made the mistake of looking back at him, and getting lost in his eyes again. Even in the dark, staring into them was like being pulled out by a riptide.

“C’mon,” you said finally, picking up your previous pace and ducking into the small opening of the wall, moving slowly through to the other side.

Stepping into the world beyond the wall filled you with immediate dread and adrenaline. Your senses felt recalibrated – every small sound seemed deafening, and any hint of movement across the wetlands made your heart jump in your throat.

You could feel Conrad practically breathing down your neck, he was so close. You forced yourself to focus instead on the task at hand, scanning your surroundings until you found what you were looking for.

“There,” you whispered, elbowing him gently and pointing to the west, where the wetland turned to solid ground, on the outskirts of the forest. Clumps of the purple plant were growing between the roots of the trees, shining gently in the dark.

Conrad trailed behind you, holding his gun ready as the two of you treaded carefully through the shallow water.

“This is dangerous. We should go back,” he said lowly, caution and foreboding clear in his voice.

“I don’t see any big monsters, do you?” you hissed back. You slowly moved further away from the wall and out of the water, stepping soft-footed along the bank and up the ridge towards the trees. At some points you used the outcroppings of rocks for handholds when the terrain was too steep and slippery– the last thing you wanted was to make noise. Who knew what might be listening.

You could feel the heat radiating off of Conrad’s body as he followed close behind, and his frustration, too– though in your mind, he completely deserved it for everything he’d put you through. Honestly, you wouldn’t have ventured out to look for the plants if he hadn’t suddenly appeared, like some tall, heavily exasperated Prince Charming.

Finally you reached the edge of the forest, where the skirt of trees was thin and the plants glowed dimly in the dark. Kneeling down on the earth and pulling out a small knife, you set to work at cutting their stems, placing them carefully inside your backpack.

Conrad stood above you, gun brandished, looking around tensely and fingering the cold metal.

“Y/N,” he said quietly, using your first name to catch your attention. “This is insane. We have no idea what’s out here.”

“I’m almost done,” You whispered, unfazed by his anxiety.

He clenched his jaw and shook his head, looking out over the water. “The last thing we need is for you to get hurt.”

“Conrad, I promise you that if I get hurt it won’t be out of insanity,” you insisted, taking the last of the plants and sheathing your knife.

You grunted and stood up, zipping up your bag. “See? I’m–”

Conrad pushed you against the nearest tree without warning, pressing his large hand to your mouth. Your objection came out as a muffled noise and you glared at him, but he shook his head fervently.

There was something moving through the water, across the wetland. Something big.

You huffed quietly and forced yourself to focus. Suddenly you could hear the movement of the water, the sound of feet shaking the earth in small tremors. Your heart was in your mouth. You swallowed it down, beginning to shake with adrenaline.

Conrad’s body was pressed flush against yours in the dark, holding you against the peeling bark. You could feel his heart beating out of his chest. You reached up slowly, peeling his hand away from your mouth and letting out a shaky breath. “Can it see us?” You whispered.

“Shh,” he responded, looking around as carefully as he could. He could make out the silhouette of a gigantic creature, swinging its muscled tail as it prowled along the wall. Its tongue flickered out to taste the air.

A Skull Crawler. It could be nothing else.

The unshakable feeling of impending doom was like electrocution on your nerves. Your body was frozen in fear. The monster growled: an unholy noise coming out of the back of its long throat, echoing in the dark.

You suddenly realized that every breath could be your last.

“Conrad,” you started, barely audible.

“It’s alright,” he whispered distractedly, his eyes flickering from the monster to the wall as he tried desperately to think of some plan, some way that you could escape to safety.

“James, I’m sorry,” you whispered, tears coming to your eyes. You weren’t sure what you were apologising for: more than likely, everything. The stubbornness. The heartache of being inches from your love without saying a word. Condemning him to death like this.

Conrad was quiet for a moment, barely breathing. The pause was so long that you almost thought he hadn’t heard what you said; more than that, you weren’t sure you had the courage to repeat it again.

“Not as sorry as I am,” he murmured finally, his hand sliding down your arm to hold gently onto your own.

Your heart swelled so much that it hurt..

“C’mon,” he breathed, as if holding your hand had given him a shot of liquid courage. He pulled you gently away from the tree, both hands devoted to guiding you along the bank. “Let’s try and get back, quietly now.”

You nodded, mouth dry, and followed him through the dark. The auroras in the sky had faded, leaving nothing but a brilliant blanket of stars. They cast a shadowy, black-and-white light over the earth, casting the strange world around you in a much harsher light. You crept through the long grass, heading downhill towards the small, human-sized gap in the wall. You could barely see it.

But you could see the Skull Crawler.

It was monstrous. Walking on two enormous, muscled legs, its claws churned up the water where it stepped. The front of its head looked like bone, as if its leathery skin had stopped growing halfway down the skull. You could smell its breath from here– raw, rotting meat stuck between its jagged teeth.

“Carefully,” Conrad whispered, his arm wrapped protectively around your waist. “Quietly as you can.”

You lowered yourself into the water. The waves lapped at your legs, threatening to make noise at any movement that was too fast or too sudden. You forced your body to stop shaking, exhaling softly and creeping through the water and grass.

The monster raised its head in the air, and you froze. Its tail stopped swinging. It turned its head. You watched its beady eye scan the water, fixate on you.

And it roared.

“Nevermind! Run!” Conrad shouted, surging forward.

You shouted in terror as the Skull Crawler ran towards you, its powerful legs churning up the water. Conrad’s hand was locked with yours with a grip so strong that it cut off the flow of your blood. You half-ran, half-swam your way to the wall. He pulled you through the water with every ounce of his strength, determined to beat the monster to the chase.

The hellish creature lunged through the water, pounding the earth with every step, determined to have you for lunch.

It was going to beat you to the gap. You’d be trapped.

You were going to die.

There was a sudden, blinding beam of light from over the wall. Like a white rod of lightning, it blinded the Skull Crawler for the merest fraction of a second, inciting its howl of monstrous rage at being suddenly unable to see.

It was just enough.

Conrad pulled himself up onto the bank, dragging you with him as you stumbled over your feet. Your clothes were drenched. You could feel the extra weight of every drop as you sprinted, hand in hand, and ducked into the gap inside the wall.

You felt the wind of the monster’s movement and the splinters of wood as it clawed at the wall in a vain attempt to reach you. It howled in rage, loud and terrifying enough to turn your blood cold, even though you were out of its reach.

You didn’t stop running. You and Conrad sprinted through the tall grass even though your lungs were burning. As you ran, you looked up at the bridge of The Wanderer, where one of the old fog lights burned brightly in the dark. After a few more seconds, it shut off, the halo of light burned into your retinas.

There was no change in pace until you reached the stone structure. Conrad dragged you inside, slamming the door behind him for good measure, his chest heaving as he leaned his head back against the wood.

You coughed, leaning down with your hands on your knees for a moment to catch your breath. Your hand was stiff from being gripped so hard, clothes sticking to you and dripping onto the dirt floor.

“Insane,” he gasped, speaking between breaths. His muscular chest expanded as he tried to level his breathing, his own shirt skin-tight and soaked. “I told you.”

“I’m sorry,” you coughed in reply, putting one hand on your throat and screwing your eyes shut. After a few more seconds, the burning in your lungs subsided. You took a deep, measured breath and set down your bag, which felt unbearably heavy.

“I got what I wanted, didn’t I?” You added belatedly, relishing the ability to talk at a normal volume. You reached up and undid your hair, wringing it out with shivering hands.

Conrad shook his head against the wood before opening his eyes and looking at you. “Nearly at the cost of our necks,” he countered, pushing himself off the wall and stepping towards you. You took an instinctive step back. Had he always been this tall?

“You’re mad,” he continued, taking another step. This time you forced yourself to stand still, trying in vain to calm your heartbeat as you stared up into his dark eyes. The light trickling in from outside illuminated only the outlines of his face: the curve of his jaw, the angle of his cheekbones. His hair was curled from the water and his skin glistened in the dark.

“You love me, though,” you said quietly, raising your eyebrows in an illusion of bravado. But your voice gave you away – so small, and so timid, that you hardly heard yourself.

Conrad chuckled, shaking his head and averting his gaze. He fidgeted, catching your hands by the fingertips and holding them loosely, turning them over in his palms. They were tiny in comparison, and shaking from the cold.

He looked up at your face again, squinting in the dark. “There’s hardly any light in here,” he murmured, skirting around the subject.

You raised your eyebrows and your face flushed. “Oh, I… here. ” Grateful for a distraction from his electrifying touch,, you reached deep into the pocket of your cargo pants. Your fingers wrapped around the cold, familiar metal that you had fingered and toyed with over the last year, longing for its owner.

You pulled it out of your pocket and pressed it into his palm.

“It’s yours,” you murmured, watching his face carefully. Realization dawned on his features and you saw his eyebrows raise in the dark as he flipped it in his palm.

“I gave it to you, didn’t I?” He asked, shaking his hand to dry it before flicking it open with his thumb. It sputtered to life, illuminating the room with its small golden flame and casting a soft shadow on his face. In the new light you could see the tremble of Conrad’s chest as he inhaled, the bobbing of his adam’s apple when he swallowed. He was nervous– far more nervous than he had been in the face of death.

You nodded in response, finding yourself closer to his lips than was good for talking. “As a promise,” you reminded him.

“Did I keep it?” he asked, his mouth barely open. His blue-green eyes kept flickering to your lips. “My promise.”

You opened your mouth to reply, but couldn’t find the words. You were too focused on the closeness of Conrad’s lips, the remembrance of their taste. It roused a deep, warm feeling in the pit of your stomach, the kind that made your heart skip and your limbs tremble. His eyes kept flickering to yours, torn between the beauty of your face and the tantalising temptation of your kiss, until you were only centimeters apart. You could feel his breath on your skin, raising the fine hairs on the back of your neck. He was so close.

The door opened. Slivko held up a torch, panting, and looking between the two of you with a confused stare.

“L/N? Are you guys okay?” He asked. “Marlow, uh, thought you might be out there and he turned on the fog light. Scared one of the monsters away.”

Conrad pulled away from you, and it felt like the breath left your lungs.

“Yes, and it saved us. Thank you,” he added, clasping his hands behind his back and clearing his throat.

Slivko glanced between you and Conrad, blinking in the dark. He pushed his red headband up his forehead. “Uh huh. Well…”

“...we’re coming back, yes,” Conrad nodded, looking to you with a completely professional expression. “Are we finished here, Nurse?”

Absolutely not, you wanted to scream.

“I think so,” you smiled politely, picking your bag up and following Slivko out the door. Conrad trailed behind you, his footsteps shadowing yours as you walked along the path towards the ship. The grass whistled softly in the wind.

You were wringing out the fabric of your shirt when you felt Conrad’s hand wrap gently around your wrist, and press the lighter back into your palm. You glanced up at him in alarm.

Was he giving it back? What did it mean? You knew your heart would break if he refused you now.

“James?”

He put a finger to his lips, nodding to Slivko just a few meters ahead of you. Then he squeezed your hand comfortingly, warm and lingering, before letting go.

“It’s yours,” he murmured, raising an eyebrow as you walked. A hint of a smile on his lips. “For insurance. You won’t lose me again.”

You smiled in the dark.

---

A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry about all the side-character dialogue (necessary evil). Tag list is open, loves. I plan on sleeping till noon- leave me some comments to wake up to!

Tag List: @tarynkauai, @jessiejunebug, @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi, @fire-in-her-veinz, @daylight-swiftt, @un-consider-it, @torntaltos, @majahu, @et-puto, @kinghiddlestonanddixon, @awesomefandomsunited, @damalseer, @uinen-ulmiel, @fire-in-her-veinz, @naspter1129, @fandomdarlings, @embracingtom

#james conrad #james conrad x reader #captain james conrad x reader #james conrad x you #reader insert #oc #kong #kong: skull island #kaiju #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston fanfic #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston x you #james conrad fanfic #angst #fluff #monster

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almondbiscotti · 4 years

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Stuff I’ve Watched this CB

Sorry, really got a lot. I’ve ranked them from most recommended to least recommended. And separated movies from series. And have included some shows I’m planning to watch!

Series

Kim’s Convenience S4 I LOVE APPA. Was a bit appalled I didn’t know S4 was out on Netflix because it’s one of my favourite shows on Netflix. It’s REALLY GOOD. So many laugh out loud moments, the characters are WONDERFULLY fleshed out and the chemistry between the actors is through the roof. Story telling is also amazeballs. 10/10 would recommend.

Dirty Money S1&2 10/10 would recommend! I really liked Dirty Money because I learned so so so so much from the show! I do think the producers had no intention of being unbiased and presenting a neutral stance on the “villains” because I wanted to punch every single “villain” every damn episode. If you’re looking for objectivity and “both sides of the story”, I don’t think this show is for you. But that said, everything presented is factual so I did learn a lot. Supplemented with additional reading post show, I felt like a whole new world was opened to me. :)

Kingdom S1&2 JUST WATCH THIS. IT’S SO DAMN GOOD.

Only issue I had was how damn ridiculous it was that whenever a horde of zombies were running towards our protagonists, they’d just stand there and do their typical Korean AISSSSSHEEEEBYEFUCK stance for like a full 17342154 minutes while the music and tension builds and the zombie horde comes closer and closer and closer and THEN they finally decide to run. Eh friend, what siah. Also, I concluded from watching Kingdom that if there ever was a Zombie apocalypse, I’m completely and utterly FUCKED. But I live in ridiculously hot Singapore surrounded by water... so I guess I’ll be alright? 9.5/10

Derry Girls S1-2 Irish Catholic School Girls, I’M SOLD. I mean, come on. How can I not LOVE this show? It’s HILARIOUS. And having spent 10 years in an all girl catholic school, Derry Girls really really resonated with me. The characters are laugh out loud hilarious, and all really likeable! The only issue I had with it is that the characters don’t really grow very much over the course of 2 seasons. So season 1 first episode vs season 2 final episode, it won’t matter even if you watched it backwards.

Because the seasons are very short, only 6 episodes per season and there are only 2 seasons so far, it doesn’t matter very much. For now. But I reckon if they had like 7 seasons, it’s going to get VERY repetitive. But at the moment, ISSA GREAT! 9/10

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency S1 8 Episodes of ABSOLUTE CRACK. It’s based off something Douglas Adams wrote so I wouldn’t expect anything less. Acting isn’t great but the storytelling is riveting. If you enjoy Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (the book), it’s very likely you’d enjoy this. It can get quite frustrating sometimes though because it’s so ridiculous so if you’re looking for a detective series based on solid logic, look somewhere else. But if you just want some fun and silliness mixed with some smart, this is wonderful. 8/10

Never Have I Ever S1 I had a lot of trouble liking the main character but on retrospect, it might be because the character doesn’t even like herself that much to begin with. Had quite a few laugh out loud moments and the Asian family moments were very relatable. THE MOTHER. THE MOTHER IS EVERYTHING. She’s my favourite, I would watch an entire series with just her. The main problem with Never Have I Ever (in my opinion) is that it tried to do a lot of things to prove the same point. So it does get a bit frustrating after a while. By the 3rd episode, I’m just like GET ON WITH IT I GET IT. I GET THAT FAMILY IS MOST IMPORTANT, I GET THAT SHE’S NOT GRIEVING HER FATHER. So... it can get a little cliche and repetitive. To me la. But still funny, still good. :) 8/10

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt S1-4 The opening track really really grows on you. UNBREAKABLE! They’re alive, damn it! IT’S A MIRACLE! Created by Tina Fey, this show is silly and full of fun.

I really liked S1-3. It’s a very light-hearted show that makes you feel really good watching it because it’s just so positive and optimistic. S4 got a bit too ridiculous for me and the characters started doing some really weird shit that is a bit too incredulous (it was never a logical show based too much on reality to begin with but S4 was really a bit much). But if you like shows like The Good Place, I reckon you’d like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. 8/10

The Circle USA Can’t remember why Housemate and I started on this but it was actually not bad! I think it’s because the OG characters were really likeable! JOEY! JOEY IS A PRECIOUS PUPPY THAT NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS. It’s not very intellectual and I was never too invested in any of the characters or relationships. BUT! great if you don’t want to think too much and just watch some mindless TV that isn’t absolute trash. (TOO HOT TO HANDLE I’M LOOKING AT YOU.) 7/10

Tiger King S1 SIEOW ONE THIS SHOW. It’s an absolute MINDFUCK. I started with many questions, I finished with A BILLION more. I don’t even know how to describe or explain this show. IT’S MADNESS. There are big cats, gay husbands who turn out not to be gay, tiger queen who allegedly killed her husband and fed him to her tigers, crazy dude who tried to pay some other dude 5k (i think? or 3k? seriously it’s crazy) to kill tiger queen, big guns and expired meat and pizzas?!?!! Yah, Mindfuck. CRAZY/10

Cable Girls S1-4 Season 1 and 2 were BEAUTIFUL. The characters have so much depth, the acting is impeccable, the costumes are AMAZING, the cinematography is inspiring, the story telling was riveting. Then season 3 and season 4 happened and... I will pretend the show ended in S2. -_- Character development took a major hit from season 3 onwards. But I would still recommend Cable Girls because the acting, the acting is AMAZING. 10/10 for s1&2. 5/10 for 3&4.

Money Heist S4 Was quite hyped for this and was really quite let down. The beauty of Money Heist has always been structure in chaos, elegance in the mess. S4 was very frustrating because it didn’t have that. I felt like they were trying very hard to make you think the heist team was going to fail and started to fill in weird impossible things to ensure the plot was still able to proceed. Did not enjoy S4 as much as I thought I would. :( But if you have invested in the previous seasons, you know you’re gonna watch it even if it’s absolute crap anyway. 6/10

The Letter For The King S1 Ep 1&2 Premise was quite interesting, trailer was interesting enough. But DEAR GOD WAS IT SLOW. And also, literally ALL the characters were unlikeable! I don’t understand why anyone would make a show with entirely unlikeable characters. I couldn’t get past the 2nd episode but I went ahead to read a few reviews and recaps. Yeah, was a good idea to stop at episode 2. Would not recommend. 2/10

Movies

Game Night Rachel McAdams is QUEEN. A really loltastic film. Is a really good post dinner wind down to end the day film. And particularly because I can relate to how competitive our main couple was. :) Some parts don’t add up and there are a few times I think the story becomes a bit too much for itself, trying to layer upon layer of twists, but still a good fun movie! :) 7.5/10

The Half of It Heartwarming. :) Enjoyed it because i think the main protagonist is very likeable. And she’s so... plain and relatable. I hate to say this though but... I found the whole movie quite forgettable. Like, it didn’t feel very deep to me though it did touch on quite a few intense and deep topics of first love, family, self acceptance etc. But it’s just doesn’t reverberate through every cell of my being. The whole movie is just so gentle and because it is so mild, it becomes forgettable. Acting is good, character development is okay I guess. But generally... just mediocre to me. But not bad. I just wished it wasn’t so... light and airy. I wish it made me cry. 7/10

Cabin in the Woods Housemate wanted to watch it because it’s horror-esque. I was okay with it cos it’s horror comedy. And also Chris Hemsworth. :D Was quite loltastic. Though SPOILER ALERT Chris Hemsworth’s character dies a bit too early for my liking. I really liked the over the top inclusion of various different monsters near the end. Was fun trying to identify them. Fun movie! Not very scary but quite a bit of gore that’s peppered with lots of humour to make it okay. 7/10

Extraction LOTS OF CHRIS HEMSWORTH. But plot wise... hmm... Housemate enjoyed it because he said the fight scenes and the things our extractor does are very real and is what a trained professional would do in the high pressure situations he finds himself in. They probably had a great consultant to keep things realistic. I didn’t enjoy it as much because I felt that our hero was... too powerful and the bad guy was too bad. Almost caricature-ish. Difficult to have character development like that. But hey, I didn’t watch it for depth, I watched it for Chris Hemsworth’s face so... very much satisfied. :) 7/10

Other Stuff I’m Planning to Watch

After Life S2 I liked S1 so... just a continuation I guess. Typical English humour. Also, I watched S1 dealing with a death of a friend so the show does have some sentimental meaning for me.

Hollywood S1 New show seems promising! There are blacks, gays, sex, extortion, glitzy costumes, glamour and really blonde blondes. Also the guy who plays Sheldon Cooper in BBT. High hopes, I have high hopes!

The Victims’ Game DETECTIVE SHOW SOLVING CRIMES. I’M SOLD.

Whoa fuck, I really watch a lot of Netflix.

#netflix #NessaBingeLogs

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stylesgalaxy · 5 years

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mastermind; chapter 10

New Year's went by really quickly. We all went to a party at one of Julia and Harry's friend's house. The guy was filthy rich so I found myself being careful not to touch anything so I don't break things. Zayn didn't come with us because he was invited elsewhere by some of his other friends. So I was quite bored not knowing anyone at this party who wasn't wrapped up in someone's arms. Eleanor came with Louis, I found Niall a hot chick to make out with, and Harry and Julia were attached at the hip as usual.

I swish my Diet Coke around in my cup, leaning against the wall. My eyes are set on Harry as he dances with Julia. Occasionally he'll spot a friend he knows from class and chat with them until Julia grabs his attention by pulling him in for a kiss. The scene oddly reminds me of the first time I saw Harry and he was very happy and social in the heavy crowd of intoxicated teenagers. He looks way different now that he was older, but the same boyish grin that trapped me in the first time, was once again nestled in his cheeks.

Oh how I wish he was blindfolded and waiting for me to kiss him again. Anything for him to not be Julia's boyfriend for five minutes so I can press my lips to his and feel his blazing touch. Those soft, cherry lips had the power to turn my guts inside out and as horrible as it sounds it remains the best feeling I've ever felt.

My sinful thoughts of my best friend's boyfriend come to a halt when I feel a presence beside me.

"You don't drink?" he asks carefully. I let my eyes slide to this new person, taking in his well built body, up to his beautiful structured face and puppy dog eyes. He is simultaneously hot and adorable. I want to press my body against his and feel his biceps but also pinch his cheeks and ask him if he wants brownies.

A light shines on him and strangely, it's his suddenly illuminated nose that jogs my memory.

"Liam?" I exclaim. How did I not recognize him sooner?

"Hey," he smiles, leaning his shoulder against the wall. His eyes flit over to Harry and Julia as well. "They're cute together."

My stomach coils. "Yeah," I answer, bitterly.

He glances at me curiously. "You're not in the partying mood?"

"What gave it away?" I roll my eyes, downing my non-alcoholic beverage at the party that had all the alcohol I can possibly think of.

Liam chuckles.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I ask him, after a few moments of silence. He was dressed formally, I've never seen him in casual clothes. "Don't you have more important things to do like sort Mr. Tate's mail in alphabetical order?"

He scoffs, while I hide my smirk behind my cup. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Those two," I nod at Harry and Julia, "are my friends. And they're good friends with the guy who's throwing this party. I'm here by association. What are you here by? Do you usually crash parties filled with people a few years younger than you, or just the ones where your boss' daughter is attending?"

There was a hidden jab in there. Call me crazy or psychotic, but I do find it slightly strange that Liam is at this party. Sure, he's no older than twenty-four, but twenty-four year olds dressed like they have some important job for some important people (which he kind of does) don't attend university house parties. Not to mention, he does constantly go out of his way to do things for Julia that I'm pretty positive Mr. Tate doesn't know about. I don't know what his deal is, but I want to make sure Julia isn't in any danger.

Positive that I had him backed up in an inescapable corner, I tilt my chin up slightly and wait for him to start sweating.

He doesn't. Instead he laughs.

"You're funny. And you're saying a lot of words," he answers, taking a large gulp of his drink. His eyes turn back to Harry and Julia, taking a moment before saying, "This is my house."

Oh God. I am so embarrassing.

"Th-this is your house?" I stutter. Why does he even bother working so hard if he lived in such a place? "This is your party?"

"No. It's my brother's. He's a classmate of Julia's. I didn't know there was a party, I just got home."

Oh. Well, I'm never speaking to anyone ever again.

"Sorry for uh, you know, making you seem like... uh," I stumble across my words, heat creeping up on my face. Quickly, I decide to improvise. "It's probably the alcohol getting to me!" I laugh loudly and hold my cup up.

"That's not alcohol. That's a coke," he says with amusement in his eyes. My arm drops. "Diet coke, to be precise."

"How the fuck do you know?" I question, angry now.

"Rich people like to think drinking diet coke makes them healthy. You don't know how many times I've been sent to bring diet coke for everyone. If there's anything I know better than a diet coke, it's how to sort Mr. Tate's mail in alphabetical order in record time."

He has a smirk on his face that tells me he's not as drunk as he's making himself look. Why he wants to act drunk is beyond me. Then again, I tried to pretend to be drunk too.

"Does he actually make you do that?" I ask, feeling bad for him. "Sort his mail in alphabetical order?"

"No, of course not!" Liam laughs, then looks down at his cup. "He makes me sort it in order of importance."

I snort and quickly we both fall into fits of laughter.

Like he's timed to do it, Harry appears in front of me right at the moment I stop thinking about him.

"Aria." He has a cute smile on his face, his eyes glossed over. "You'll never believe what I just did," he giggles.

He giggles. Lord, give me strength.

Harry hiccups, completely ignoring Liam's presence. Or maybe he just hasn't noticed him.

"Julia said you're going to be driving us back h-home, but she forgot to give you her car keys!" Harry laughs and I fail to see what was so amazing about this until he continues. "S-so I took them from her! I hid them," he whispered in my ear, like he was telling me a secret.

I decide to humour him and play along. He looks so happy, I'll let him think he has her keys when they're actually sitting safely inside my pocket.

"Look, look," he says suddenly and turns me around by my shoulders, pointing across the room. Julia is drunkenly walking around kind of in circles, looking for someone. Probably for Harry. She bumps into a girl she knows and they hug and laugh together. "She's looking for her keys! But sh-she can't find them because I have them!" Harry starts laughing so hard he's doubling over. I hold him up so he doesn't fall and get hurt, at the same time trying not to show how whipped I am for this loser right in front of Liam.

"That's hilarious, Harry, I couldn't have pulled a better prank myself," I tell him and then roll my eyes to Liam. Harry straightens back up and begins searching through his pockets. With a wide grin on his face, he pulls out a set of keys I've never seen before.

"Here it is! Don't let her see it!" he tries to cover them from Julia despite her being across the dark room.

"Harry! Where did you get these? These are someone's keys!" I pulled them towards myself and examine it closer. It's keys for a Mitsubishi which is not the car Julia has.

Harry remains oblivious to the fact that he somehow stole some innocent person's expensive car keys, thinking he was just playing a prank on his girlfriend. I look around in despair, how am I going to find out who's these are?

"Aria, live a little, come on smile," Harry slurs, tapping my cheeks. I scowl at him because now I won't be able to sleep at night until I get these returned to their rightful owner.

"I have to find who these keys belong to, you dick!"

"They're Julia's, duh! That's why she's looking for them."

"She's looking for you, dumbass! And they're not hers, I have her keys. See!" I pull out Julia's keys from my pocket and Harry's eyes widened like saucers. He begins resembling a frog again.

"Whoa," he says in awe. "I made those appear in your pocket?! I can do magic!"

I sigh heavily and push him away from me in annoyance.

"I can keep those, you know," Liam offers. I glance at him in confusion and he stares back at me like it's an obvious answer. "It's my house, either me or my brother will get called up first when someone starts looking for those keys. Not to mention the car is probably park out here so the owner will have to come here anyway."

"Huh. You're right. Okay, here you go!" I toss him the keys, happy to have the responsibility off my shoulders.

"Amazing! See Aria, there's nothing to worry about, now live a little!" Harry exclaims again. "Come, let's dance!"

"No," I answer quickly. I can't possibly have Liam see how close I am to Harry. Any one of our other friends accept our friendship because they saw how distant Harry and I were from each other, they won't suspect anything. But Liam doesn't know and if he gets suspicious as to why Harry and I are so close, it won't take him long to realize I'm in love with him. I can only hide it for so long and from so many people.

"Okay fine let me introduce you to the foreign student doing a semester abroad, he's hilarious!"

And I was dragged away.

A week later and Liam's been pushed to the back of my mind. The only interaction I've had with him was when Julia told me he wanted to let me know the car keys were found. I made sure to tell Harry the story of his theft in great (and slightly exaggerated) detail, causing him to cringe and cover his face in his hands. It's not something I'm going to let him forget easily.

People are piling into my Wednesday morning art history lecture slowly. There is still fifteen minutes left before the class starts and I already chose a seat in the lecture room near the aisle. I'm bored out of my mind with waiting so I open my phone and think of what to do. My heart yearns to check up on Harry and ask how his first week is going so far, but my mind tells me it's not a good idea.

Since the Christmas gift exchange and seeing Julia's distaste for how comfortable Harry and I were with each other, there hung a looming cloud of guilt over me. I feel guilty for hanging out with Harry so much knowing he's my best friend's boyfriend, especially with how some things we say and do are too flirtatious for 'just friends'. But I can't resist him. His presence is intoxicating, forever leaving me wanting more. I want to constantly pick his brain and understand why he is the way he is. I love to hear he melodious laughter and see his bright eyes light up when he tells a story. He is fascinating in even the most mundane things he does, and I want to soak it all up while I can.

Why is it just me, though?

Am I the only person in our friend group that thinks where Harry and I are going is wrong? Does Harry not overanalyze everything we do?

I've lately been wondering if all this just in my mind. Maybe I'm overthinking when I think Liam might see through my "friendship" with Harry and find out I love him. He most likely didn't notice anything at all. Otherwise he would have told Julia by now, right?

None of our friends have spoken about our friendship. I like to think that we are all close enough with each other to be able to honestly talk about anything. So, for sure one of them would have told me something if they felt like I got too close to Harry, right?

Not to mention the man himself, Harry Styles, hasn't began to pull away. He would do something if he thought his actions were unfaithful to Julia. And he hasn't yet so he clearly thinks we're fine. If the man in the relationship thinks we're safe then who am I to change his mind?

I open my iMessage chat with Harry and send him a request to play a game. I'm waiting for his responses when I see an unmistakable head of brown curls saunter up the steps in the aisle.

"Harry?" I exclaim, grabbing his attention. His wide eyes find mine, and a grin splits across his face.

"Aria!" he laughs, squeezing past my knees to take the seat beside mine. He settles down then looks at me, smiling again. "You're probably wondering why I'm here." I raise my eyebrow expectantly. "Well you see, since we began talking more I've been more and more interested in art, you know. But, like, I could never, um, make anything nice like you can—and besides I thought it'd be best to start with as much background knowledge as I can gather from it, you know?" he rambles nervously. "So I looked into switching one of my electives and I saw art history was being offered this semester so I enrolled in it last night actually, and here I am!"

He bites his lip nervously. Knowing Harry, he's probably worried he's invaded my 'space' or something by taking a class I'm in. I touch his arm gently to assure him I'm okay with it—I'm more than okay with it.

"Harry, that's wonderful! We've never had a class together before, this is so exciting!" I say.

"Yeah?" he questions, almost a little surprised. Is he honestly still surprised I like to hang out with him?

"Of course, you just made this class so much more fun for me," I say, glancing around at the large lecture hall. "And we can study together so we both know the other is actually working! I never do any studying when I'm on my own, I get too distracted."

I look back at Harry who's still looking at me. He clears his throat. "I actually didn't know you were in this class... I would have texted you so we could meet up or something."

"It's okay," I shrug. "It's one of the mandatory classes for third year art majors so I had no choice. It's nice it's being offered as an elective as well."

"Because then you have me?" Harry smirks, cockily. I roll my eyes at him as the professors greets us and starts up his PowerPoint presentation. I pull out my laptop to take notes while Harry takes out his notebook with a pen.

"You haven't adapted to modern civilization, yet?" I smirk at him. He glares before answering.

"I remember better when I write my notes down by hand."

"Okay, whatever floats your boat."

I type faster than Harry writes his notes, so he ends up only writing down really important things while I take in everything as the professor says it. A few times he glances over at my screen if he missed a point, so I turn it slightly to face him as well. When the professor talks about dates for our assignments and midterm, Harry and I compare notes.

By the end of the class I've already gone over my notes once and edited them, taking out things I didn't think were important anymore and adding in anything Harry corrected.

"Where are you going now?" I ask apprehensively, as we pack our bags after the professor dismisses us. I was hoping he didn't have a class right away so we can hang out just a bit more. It was noon so hopefully he'd want to grab a bite with me.

"Now I'm going to get lunch because I'm starving," Harry replies. "Do you have another class? This is my only one for today."

"Nope, I'm free until three," I smile wide.

"Let's go get lunch then, there's a really nice café just down the road if you're okay with the walk."

"Sure."

The café, The Red Spoon, is about a twelve-minute walk from our lecture hall. It's off campus so it's less crowded. I'm relieved instantly, because I like to have a place to sit in and properly enjoy my food. Harry and I pick a booth in the corner, taking off our jackets and settling in.

"This place is cute," I comment, looking around. It has wooden chairs and tables, with fairy lights lights hanging from the ceiling and brick walls. Behind the counter they had a menu drawn on a chalkboard and decorating with red spoons and mugs.

"It is, I found it one day when I was walking this way," Harry explains, grabbing the menu that was on the table and flicking through it. "What do you want to get? My treat."

"No way, I pay for myself," I say firmly. This café was already nicer than our usual Starbucks, and I didn't need it to feel anymore like a date.

"Oh come on, Aria, just this once."

"No."

Harry continues insisting until it pisses me off and I agree, stating I will only allow it this one time. He smiles smugly leading me to believe it was his plan to annoy me into agreeing the whole time. Fuck, he's figuring out how I work and I'm not sure I like it.

"Do the portions come big or small?" I ask, eyeing the menu. Everything here sounded really good and I was hoping to get two things if they were small enough.

"Pretty big, why?" he answers, still focused on his menu.

"Shit. I kind of want the Greek Salad with Quinoa but I also think the Turkey Avocado BLT sandwich sounds good."

"The Turkey Avocado sandwich is really good, it's my favourite here," he informs me. "How about we get the sandwich and the salad and just split both."

"Really?" I question. I didn't even know if he wanted a Greek salad but he was willing to make what I wanted work, so I was happy.

"Sure."

Harry orders for us when the waitress arrives and asks for an extra bowl and plate knowing they won't split it in half for us. I see the portions are huge when they arrive that I'm nearly shocked. The sandwich is already cut in half so Harry places one on the empty plate for me and divides the salad equally among both bowls. Now it looks like a proper meal we can both enjoy.

We talk about the classes we've been to so far in between bites and share anecdotes. He tells me about how boring his schedule is for tomorrow saying that art history is really the only fun class he has this semester.

"You haven't even been to your other classes yet," I argue.

"Yeah, but I already know they'll be boring."

I roll my eyes at him and finish my sandwich. The sandwich and the salad were both so good and so filling. The waitress comes back to clear our plates and takes our coffee orders.

"So what did you think about art history?" I asked Harry, blowing the steam off my latte.

"I mean, it looks like it'll be really interesting... starting next week," he says sheepishly.

"Oh yeah definitely. The first class is so boring." Our professor spent the first half of the lecture talking about the importance of art history and the second half going through the syllabus. Next week we're going over the Stone Age and Mesopotamian art periods. "I can't wait until we get to the Renaissance, that's one of my favourite art periods."

Harry listens very attentively and asks me questions about the Renaissance period. I think he thinks he doesn't know enough to be in the class but he's too embarrassed to let me know about it, so I pretend like I don't notice and answer any question he has as nicely as I can.

Around two-forty Harry asks me if I want to head back for my class. Time really flew by when I wasn't paying attention and I'm quite sad to be leaving Harry.

"Yeah, it's best that I get back now," I say gathering my things. Harry had already paid for our bill an hour ago when we finished our coffees, so we leave right away. He walks me to my class with five minutes to spare. "This is me," I quip, turning to face him.

"This was nice. What do you think about getting lunch every Wednesday? We can actually do homework instead of talking the whole time," he suggests, chuckling.

"I think... I don't know why you would even suggest such a horrible idea," I say sarcastically. His eyes light up and a smirk pulls at his lips.

"Is that so?" he raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I had an awful time."

"Well I guess I'll have to treat you again until you have a good time," he shrugs and starts walking backwards.

"Wait. Harry—no! That's not what I meant."

"See you next week, Aria. Don't bother bringing your wallet."

"Harry!" I shout after him, but he laughs and turns the corner. A warm feeling spreads through my chest and I struggle to hold my giggles in. My next class is only an hour long but he's all I can think about in it.

I feel like a schoolgirl smiling and blushing every time I think about something he's said or done. My heart leaps when I realize that I'll get this all over again next Wednesday. Sure, I'll see him again before that but on Wednesdays I get to have class and lunch with him alone. I hide my stupid smile by biting my lip when I feel my phone vibrate and see it's a message from Julia.

Oh right... Julia.

My mood dampens slightly. I shake my head clear of any thoughts of Harry and focus on what is being said in my class.

"Hey, I brought Chinese like you asked," I call out to Julia upon entering our apartment.

“Oh, thank God,” Julia runs out of her room in only her tank top and her underwear. Most of her hair and tied up in a messy knot with the rest of the wavy and slightly frizzy strands waiting to be styled. She has yet to apply makeup. I watch as she opens the bag and stuffs a spring roll in her mouth quickly. “This is so fucking good.”

“You and Harry going on a date?” I ask quietly.

“No, Shelley and the girls want to go out. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing but I haven’t seen them in so long!”

“Ah, ok,” I answer. Shelley is a friend Julia made in first year who is the typical snobby white party girl. Julia maintained her popular rich girl persona after we left high school and it attracted many people. Shelley was similar and I guess it’s why they have things in common. Personally, I don’t like “Shelley and the girls” they’re way too obnoxious and loud and spoiled. Julia was less bratty which is why she was tolerable and a good friend. Shelley was someone who took one look at you and if your social status was lower than hers, then you were like the dirt on her shoes.

I didn’t tell Julia about how I felt about Shelley because Shelley was Julia’s friend, not mine so it didn’t matter what I thought. I wasn’t going to make a big deal about who Julia hangs out with because it’ll only make things more complicated. As long as I don’t have to see Shelley, then I’m happy.

“Well, I hope you have fun!” I begin walking to my room when Julia’s phone pings. She picks up and groans lightly. “What’s wrong? Did Shelley cancel?”

“No, it’s Harry,” she mutters a little annoyed. My heart breaks a little at how she gets annoyed that Harry is texting her. I know it’s normal to get annoyed sometimes at your boyfriend, especially if you’re in a rush to get ready and leave but the fact that it’s Harry, saddens me. I wish he wasn’t treated like that.

Julia’s eyes sneakily slide away from her phone and to my face. Sensing her thoughts, I immediately shake my head. “No. No way.”

“Aria, it’s just—”

“Not again, Julia! I will not be texting him from your phone pretending to be you again. Not after last time.”

“It’s not serious this time! He’s just talking about some stupid movies and characters or whatever!”

“So tell him you have to go!”

“I tried but he’s being clingy again,” her shoulders drop. “Just until I finish getting ready, please. He’s, like, very passionate about this and I don’t have the heart to tell him to shut up. I think he’s fighting with the boys and has no one else to agree with him so he’s getting annoyed.”

My mind is telling me this is not a good idea at all. I’ve done it before but it wasn’t until the last time that I realized how invasive and violating it is to text Harry from Julia’s phone pretending to be his girlfriend. But my heart says to do whatever I can to help Harry feel better so I trudge up and pull Julia’s phone away from her hand. I unlock it and sigh heavily as I flop down on the chair in the living room.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! By the time I’m done he’ll probably be over whatever this is anyway!”

I roll my eyes and don’t say anything back in response, instead scrolling to the when the conversation started today so I can understand what is going on.

Hey baby

Babe?

Juliaaaaaaaa

hey sorry hi yeah whats up?

I have something very important to ask you. Please give me your absolute honest answer, it’s very important!

uh.. sure? is everything ok?

Okay so. What is your opinion on Captain America lifting Thor’s hammer?

what?

It’s a pretty straight forward question, Jules

Just read it again

……..

What do you mean “…”?

You remember when we saw the film right?

what film was this again?

Hahahahaha

Lol

That was funny, now answer the question, please

im so sorry harry i’m getting ready right now

Ready to answer the question? Good. Because the boys are annoying me and I don’t want to talk to them anymore.

Hellooooooo

Julia?

Would it be easier if I called you because you’re getting ready?

And that was where Julia left Harry on read. From Julia’s point of view, I can see how this can be annoying.

Anyway, I decide to quickly respond back before he actually calls and hears my voice.

no it’s okay I’d rather text!

sorry for the slow responses. i’ll try to put on my makeup and text at the same time. if i poke an eye out its on you

Oh good you’re back!

I was getting worried.

Please please please tell me you remember the film.

He sent his texts one right after the other super quickly. Wow. He really wants an answer.

of course I remember I was just messing with you lol

how can i forget the avengers?

YES

I knew it!!!!

Sooo…

Oh right, the question. I scroll back up a little and reply instantly.

it was fucking amazing, obviously

i knew it had to happen

You did?

well, duh

they showed us that steve can move mjolnir in age of ultron, of course i wasn’t going to forget about that scene

and they never bring it up again, not in civil war and not in infinity war. so obviously they had to mention it in the last movie with captain america and thor. i was actually looking forward to it

Oh my god. That’s exactly what I said!

well then youre right

We’re both right. Louis thinks the detail could have easily been overlooked in Age of Ultron because it happened so quick

no chance. they even showed us thor’s surprised reaction!

Right!

but I will say this: they did a good job of mostly getting me to forget about it. you know, because of everything else going on in the film

Me too! It made the scene with Steve summoning the hammer so much better!

definitely haha

I didn’t even know you knew all the names and everything. I didn’t even think you remembered Age of Ultron!

lollllll then why did u ask!!!

I was hoping you’d prove me wrong. And you did <3

I knew there was a reason I loved you

My gut clenches. I can feel bile rising in my throat. But I force myself to reply to his text. I’m sure Julia is almost done getting ready.

THATS the reason you love me? im questioning this relationship here

Lmao no

I love you because I can text you while you’re getting ready (and I’m probably being annoying) but you reply to me anyway so I don’t feel lonely. I love you because I can randomly bring up something about the Avengers and you already have an opinion on it (the right one btw). I love you because you always bring me comfort when I have doubts about myself.

Keep it together, Aria, keep it the fuck together.

I can’t do this.

My mind starts racing. I can’t do this, I can’t do this.

You have to, a part of my mind tells me. Stop making everything about yourself and just deal with him!

My eyes tear up as I read and re-read Harry’s last text. I imagine what it would be like if it was actually meant for me and my tears nearly spill.

harry, that’s so sweet <3

thank you

I type out an “I love you, too,” about five times before erasing. It doesn’t feel right. This whole thing doesn’t feel right but that especially.

Shelley’s here to pick me up! im so sorry but i have to run now :(

Shelley can drive?

Fuck. Does Shelley not know how to drive?

um i think it’s one of her friends driving

anyway gtg byeeeee!

I set Julia’s phone on the coffee table, face down so I don’t see it light up with Harry’s response. I slowly walk back to my room and shut the door.

***

Hi guys, sorry this update look so long! I'm still in the process of completing a rough draft of the whole story before updating again but it was just taking so long so I decided to post this chapter!

Please let me know what you think! I will try to get more regular updates out.

Thanks for reading! <3

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dragonwitch77 · 5 years

Text

Don’t Starve: Sick, Webber

Warning: Small mentions of vomiting in story

It all started when a spider dropped a skull one morning.

A skull.

Of all things it could have dropped, it dropped a skull.

And not a human skull. Oh no! Well, it looked human enough, but it also hairy and had spider legs coming out from beneath it. Yuck. Still, for some reason, Willow pocketed the skull along with all the spider glands and made her way back to camp.

Wilson was in his little science section of the camp when Willow returned, tinkering away at the alchemy machine. She could see he was deeply concentrated on the device, and (by whatever force that worked in this strange place and possibly for her own twisted amusement) for some reason she placed the skull on top his strange hair, tying it down with the black wild curls to keep it in place, and walking away with a smirk.

Somewhere close to lunchtime, Wilson let out the girliest scream she had ever heard.

(She almost snorted up the food she was eating from laughing so hard.)

“WILLOW! WHAT DID YOU DO?! WHAT DID YOU PUT IN MY HAIR THIS TIME?!” Willow cast a smirk over her shoulder, smiling at the panicking scientist.

“What? You don’t like the effort that I put into making you look better?”

“PUTTING SOMETHING IN SOMEONE’S HAIR WITH WHATEVER GRIZZLY THING YOU PUT IN IT DOES NOT MAKE ANYONE LOOK BETTER! ESPECIALLY MINE!”

“I don’t know. I think it suits you.” Willow (deciding to be merciful to him) walked over and untied the skull from Wilson’s hair and showed it to him.

Wilson, who had be moments away with freaking out, stopped short in whatever he was going to say and stared at the skull Willow held in her hands. “… What… in the name of science… is that?”

“A skull.” Willow plopped it into his hands. “A spider dropped it when I killed it.” And with that she turned on her heel and left poor Wilson with the spider skull.

Wilson was a curious guy.

That Willow knew all too well.

The guy just tended to study whatever new thing that crossed his path and forget about the world (and chores) around him.

Now, Willow was an understanding person (most of the time) and she was very patient (sometimes) in waiting for Wilson to be done with whatever had caught his attention. After all, she could barely understand what the crazy man was doing half of the time when he was focused on something.

Although, she never knew that the guy could be sentimental over a skull and be so depressed over it.

Until he pointed out that the skull was the size of a kid.

(That was going to give her nightmares. And proved how much of a jerk Maxwell can be.)

Willow really had no words to say once Wilson went over all the aspects and skull development to confirm that it was a kid’s skull. She… well she felt bad, but at the same time she really didn’t know how to feel about this. Sure, it was a skull of a small child but… she didn’t really know the kid. And she saw skeletons nearly every day (thanks a lot Wilson), so she… didn’t really know how to feel.

“Wow. Just… wow.” Willow shook her head, putting away the kabob (suddenly not feeling very hungry anymore) and hugged Bernie close to herself. “Are you uh… are you sure that’s a kid’s skull? It could be a spider skull.”

Wilson shook his head. “No. The structure of the skull is clearly human.”

“Then how do you explain the legs?”

Wilson was silent a moment before sighing and shaking his head and headed towards their supplies.

“Whoa, whoa wait! Where are you going?”

“To bury this skull.” Wilson pulled out a shovel from one of the chests. “I… it’s just… it feels wrong studying it further when I know it’s a…” He exhaled deeply, visibly distraught and shaken. “I’ll… I’ll be back later.”

“You want me to tag along?” Willow stood up, ready to follow Wilson. But he simply shook his head.

“No, no. I think I’ll be fine. It’ll be a quick short trip to the graves and back. Nothing to bother yourself with Willow.” Wilson smiled at her, (a sad, sad smile) and waved goodbye.

Willow gave a little wave, hugging Bernie closer to herself. She knew she could trust Wilson to be alright on his own (even with the Meat Effigy up as a precaution), but she still felt uneasy whenever he went out on his own.

(She still had nightmares about the hound incident playing in her mind at night)

But she had to remind herself that Wilson was a prime expert in surviving on his own. (Sometimes.) She knew she shouldn’t worry over him all the time. She knew he was capable of taking care of himself. He had been more careful since the ‘incident’ and managed to avoid death and close calls. (Not as much as she would like, but at least she knew he was being more careful now.) She could trust him not to get into any trouble without her…

Until lighting flashed across the sky along with a loud thundering BOOM that made her jump.

Somehow she figured it was Wilson’s fault since there wasn’t even a cloud in the bright afternoon sky.

And was confirmed when he came back later just as she was about to go looking for him… with a very large creature on his back.

“Willow! Willow put down that spear! Put-Put it down! Th-there’s no need to get so hostile!”

“NO NEED TO GET—?! WILSON PERCIVAL HIGGSBURY DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT’S ON YOUR BACK RIGHT NOW?!” Willow pointed at the said thing with her spear. The same thing that was being shielded by Wilson who refused to let her come near with a weapon pointed at the creature in hand.

Wilson cringed (due to her using his full name or the spear being very close to his face, she didn’t know nor care) and backed away further from her advances. “Look! You don’t understand! I know this looks…” He cast a glance at the thing. “… Questionable. But I assure you that I have very good reasons for this!”

“Oh You BETTER Have A Good Reason To Bring Back A Large SPIDER!” She pointed an accusing finger at the spider.

Said spider was large. Very large. Larger than all the normal spiders she’s seen so far, but it still was a spider. And spiders needed to be crushed.

Wilson glanced at the spider, frowning deeply. “Wellll… it… may not actually be a spider.”

“Wilson. It’s hairy, black, eight legs and eyes so I’m pretty SURE THAT’S A SPIDER!”

“NO! No! Listen to me!” Wilson was pressing against a tree now, the spider pinned between him and nature. (Willow wanted so badly to yank Wilson away and set the tree ablaze along with the creature he had brought back.) “Okay, YES. They do have some… ‘aspects’ of a spider.” (She gave him the ‘Really?’ look.) “But I don’t think it’s just a spider!”

“Yeah. It’s A MONSTER!”

“No! Willow! I think… I think…” He glanced at the spider, pity forming in his eyes. “… I think… I think this may be a child.”

“… What?”

Wilson really had no idea what happened.

… Okay, so he may have a tiny bit of an idea of what happened.

The details were a bit vague, but what he did know was that as soon as he found a suitable grave and buried the skull, lighting suddenly struck the grave just as he finished patting down the last bit of dirt, almost giving Wilson a heart attack right there and then.

Instantly his mind concluded that it was Maxwell’s fault (as it always has been for a while now), until the dirt of the grave started moving. Instinctively Wilson jumped back and pulled out his spear, pointing it at the ground and readied himself for an attack.

His grip on the spear tightened when a black hairy limb emerged from the ground, clawing at the dirt flailing about. Wilson almost threw the spear at the limb right then and there.

Until he heard someone whispering for help.

“… h… hel… lp… help…”

Now, Wilson knew this place was full of dangerous thing. Plenty of dangers that he had observed (and died from) in the past to know to be cautious of anything new (despite his curiosity getting the better of him many times) could be a possible threat. He knew he wasn’t just going to help something that could possibly kill him in the end. He wouldn’t!

“… mo… mommy…”

But this was just a onetime thing.

Tossing the spear away and getting on his knees, Wilson dug away at the earth with his hands (since he accidentally tossed his shovel away when he was given a fright earlier thanks to the sudden lighting) as fast as he could. He didn’t have to dig very far in before the rest of the limb’s owner emerged from the loosen soil gasping for air and hacking up dirt from their mouth.

When Wilson saw what he had dug up, his first thought was SPIDER! and jumped back in alarm before he noticed more of the spider’s body.

Mostly how humanoid it looked.

Wilson stared in shock as the spider pulled themselves out of the ground more once they could breathe, pulling themselves weakly out of the grave. Of all the spiders Wilson had seen, this one was certainly by far the strangest. It looked like a spider, but its body was also that of a human, albeit still hairy and black like a spider.

“Fascinating.” Wilson whispered, getting closer to the spider and looking it over. “Aren’t you just an interesting specimen?” He poked it gently, still uneasy and wary in case it jumped and attacked him. “Are you some sort of evolved species of spider or—”

The spider shivered, letting out a rough dry cough.

And then it spoke.

“… w… wh-where am i…?”

Wilson stared in shock. A humanoid spider. That had the capability to speak?! This was by far the most interesting thing he had encountered so far!

“Y-Y-YOU CAN TALK?! Y-You can! That’s bloody BRILLIANT! That’s! This is incredible! A different species that can speak human langue! Aside for the pigmen, but still incredible! Wait, are you friendly? Hostile? Neutral? How many fingers am I holding up? Can you see all the colors or just a set amount? Can you see? How old are you? When did you learn the capability to speak? Are there more of you? What does your species call themselves? How did you get in that grave? Why where in that grave? Are you related to the ground spiders by chance? My name is Wilson P. Higgsbury by the way what’s yours? Do you have a name? How—”

The spider let out a round of dry coughs, cutting off Wilson’s spiel. It rose shakily on two arms (or at least what Wilson could assume were arms) and groaned, holding their midsection as their face twisted in pain.

Before Wilson could say anything, the spider made an odd noise. A noise Wilson recognized immediately and backed away as the spider convulsed and retched whatever was in their stomach onto the ground. He winced, disgusted at the sight as the spider dry-heaved and vomited again.

When the spider was done, it went still for a moment. Then its shoulders started shaking and Wilson heard the sound of… crying?

Yes. The spider was defiantly crying. Which was… surprising.

Wilson wasn’t sure if spider’s had the capacity to cry, but here was one right before him crying like a small… child…

He looked at the grave, then back at the spider. It was slowly starting to click in his head.

“H-Hey.” He scooted closer to the spider, reaching out a shaky hand, touching the spider’s arm. The spider jumped from the contact, suddenly realizing that Wilson was there and backed away with clear fear on its face.

“S-Stay away!” It croaked. The voice sounded rough and scratchy, but undeniably young.

“It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” Wilson held up his hands, staying right where he was so not to spook the spider child (good science this was a spider child) and kept himself calm. There was no reason to scare the kid as he (was the child a he? They’re voice sounded like a male but it was kind of hard to tell…) was now. “I just want some answers. Do you think you can do that for me?”

The spider child rubbed the pair of bigger eyes, looking around with confusion. “W-Where am I?”

“Currently, we’re in a forest.” Wilson answered, keeping his voice steady. “I don’t know where exactly we are. I’ve been trying to figure that out myself.”

The spider looked at him, sniffing. “… Do… do you… know where my mommy is?”

Wilson cringed. “… No. No I do not. I’m not sure where your mother is.”

“Wh-what about my daddy?” The spider child looked at him pleadingly. “Do you know wh—” A round of harsh coughs cut off his sentence, and his arms gave out.

Wilson, with quick reflexes, shot forward and caught the child before he hit the ground (and the vomit) and felt his forehead (minding the small eyes that blinked weakly at him). A hum of concern emanated in Wilson’s throat, not liking the warmth the spider child was giving off. “You’re sick.”

“M not.” The spider child weakly replied. But Wilson wasn’t convinced in the slightest when they coughed again.

“No, you’re clearly sick.” Wilson helped the spider child to his feet, keeping him steady. He frowned deeply. The spider child was breathing rather heavily, barely able to stand up on his shaking legs, and his body was giving off quite a lot of heat. “You can’t even walk let alone barely stand on your own.”

He glanced at the ground, cringing at the sight of bail. (Though now that he got a good look at it, it seems his new friend was on an empty stomach.)

“Right. I think its best you come with me for now.”

“no.” Wilson blinked in surprise, looking at the spider child questionably. “m-mommy… mo-mommy says i’m… n… not to… follow st-st… strangers…”

Wilson couldn’t help but smile a bit. “Well, in other situations, your mother would be right. However, this is not the case. You’re sick and I want to help you get better.”

“w-why?”

Wilson paused. That… was a good question. Why did he want to help this child spider he just met? It was odd, if not very questionable behavior on his part. They had just met after all, and he still wasn’t sure if this spider child was hostile or not.

Looking at the spider child, he could see that they were fighting to stay awake. Six of their eight eyes were already almost shut.

“… Because you need help. And it wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of me to leave someone in need. Especially if they are a young child.” Wilson answered honestly. (Plus, he was still rather curious about this spider being and wanted some answers. But he could get that after the poor boy was feeling better.) “My base shouldn’t be too far away from here. Do you think you can manage walking there?”

The spider child blinked sluggishly at him, looking down at his feet and tried lifting one leg up… and collapse against Wilson.

“… I’ll take that as a no then. I guess I can carry you back. The base isn’t too far away, and you don’t look that heavy to carry… Oh!” Wilson slapped his head. “I haven’t introduced myself properly yet! My name is Wil…” Looking down at the spider child, Wilson’s words died in his mouth. The spider kid had fallen asleep against him.

“… Well, resting is recommended to get better.” Wilson sighed, maneuvering the spider to his back and lifting them up carefully. The child mumbled something, pressing their face against the back of Wilson’s neck before going still again. He smiled, making sure he had a good hold on the child and made his way back to camp.

… Though for some reason, he felt like he was forgetting about something.

“Yeah. Me.”

Wilson cringed. “R-Right. Again, I apologize for coming back without thinking about how you would feel towards this… situation, Willow.”

“Situation? Wilson, you just told me that that… thing used to be the skull I found earlier today?!” Willow pointed at the spider, which was now off of Wilson’s back (thank goodness) and laid out on a straw roll.

Wilson shot a glare at her, looking very offended. “They’re not a thing Willow! They’re a living being! A sick one at that I might add.”

“Wilson, it’s a spider. It’s a hairy, black, eight legged spider. And you just brought it back to our base because you felt bad for it despite the fact that once you get it to full health, it’ll just kill you like all the other spiders in this horrible place!” Willow ranted, throwing her hands up in the air.

“He won’t do that Willow.”

“And what makes you so sure?! It could be another trick by Maxwell! Did you even stop to think about that?!”

Wilson opened his mouth to retort, but closed it with a look of realization. He looked at the spider, frowning a bit before sighing. “Hadn’t thought of that.”

“Of course you didn’t.” Willow sighed, rubbing her face. Silence hung around them for a while, the air feeling heavy with doubt, worry, and uncertainty. Finally, Willow stood up, picking up the spear (noting how Wilson flinched a little and moved closer to the spider) and pocketed Bernie. “Look. I’m just going to go check on the rabbit traps. Just… think about what you’re doing, okay? It’s good that you want to help… them. But you really have to think it about the consequences before you do something.”

Wilson stared at her a moment before giving her a small playful smile and tilting his head a little. “And where would the fun be if I didn’t take the risk?”

Willow gave him a flat look, pointing to the Meat Effigy set next to his tent (and not the one next to hers). “Gee, I don’t know Higgsbury. You must really think death is fun in risk taking.” Taking a small pleasure in seeing the scientist cringe, she turned on her heel and went off.

(While slightly hoping that Wilson would listen to her.)

The spider was still there when she came back.

(Of course it was.)

And Wilson was still sitting next to it keeping an eye on it. And not. He had a sheet of papyrus in his hands, writing something down on it with feather pencil, looking up once in a while to look at the spider before writing down something else. He gave her a little wave as she approached.

“Are you studying the spider?” Willow asked in disbelief, hands on her hips and tapping her foot in disprovable.

Wilson stopped jotting down whatever he was writing, looking rather sheepish. “Yes well. I don’t really know how well I can treat a sick spider. Never had to before now. Thought it might be best to keep some notes just in case.”

Willow sighed and rolled her eyes, but let Wilson be with his new friend.

She had more important thing to worry about anyway.

Willow had to admit, she never thought that Wilson would devote so much time on something else other than science. Yet day in and out, Wilson kept an eye on the spider, mentoring their health and studying them.

He was devoted to the spider so much that he skipped out on eating (as he normally did) quite a lot. If Willow hadn’t felt nice (and worried about him) she would have left him to starve. But, she didn’t. She wasn’t like that. So she made sure to cook enough for both of them and shove his share in his hands so he would at least remember to eat. (And to shave often so he wouldn’t get heat stroke in the summer heat.)

It wasn’t till she came back from Gobbler hunting that the spider woke up.

Well, not exactly awake. They were still quite out of it and could barely make any legible sentences (but at least now she believed Wilson when he told her it could talk). It fell back into unconsciousness soon after.

Still, it made Wilson happy to know that there was some progress with the spider.

“Stop calling him the spider Willow.”

“Well what do you want me to call him then? It’s not like they have a name.”

“I’m sure they do. Just, calling them the spider doesn’t seem very fitting.”

Willow paused in hanging up a slab of meat, giving Wilson a small glare. “And what would you call them then?”

“Nothing.” Wilson huffed, studying the weird web beard the spider started growing around day three. “Not till I know their name so I can properly address them.”

Willow rolled her eyes, getting back to her task. “Whatever you say ya dork.” (She hadn’t smiled in a while, but the glare she could feel him giving her made it worth it.)

The spider finally woke up one morning.

The same morning that Wilson (after countless sleepless nights of watching over the spider until she had enough and shoved him in his tent) was fast asleep in his tent, leaving her to be there when the spider opened its eyes and sat up.

Willow instantly tensed, sitting up straight as the spider got up and looked around. Eight eyes landed on her, and she really regretted letting Wilson take her spear away. She still had her lighter. She could still set the spider on fire if it did anything.

It blinked at her a bit. Then it yawned and rubbed its face. “Morning…” It (he, as Wilson kept reminding her) said groggily.

“… Uh… hi.” Willow waved awkwardly, not entirely sure what to do. She still wasn’t sure what to make of the spider. Wilson had assured her that he was (60%) certain that the spider was harmless, though she still had her doubts.

The spider blinked open their eyes again, looking around the camp. He took in his surroundings, looking at every item that they (mostly Wilson) had built here. They looked back at her, tilting their head curiously. “… Where… am I?”

Willow felt even more awkward. “W-Well, this is a base. A summer base. It’s a temporary place me and Wilson stay during the summer when it gets hot out an—” Willow stopped short, suddenly realizing that she was giving away too much information.

The spider didn’t seem to notice her cutting her sentence off. Instead it (he) focused more on its (his) white beard that grew on its (his) chin. “What’s this white stuff on my face?” He fiddled with the ends.

“I… don’t really know. Wilson thinks it might be a beard. Made out of webs? I don’t know. Wilson would probably know more than me.”

“More than what?” As if on cue, Wilson popped his head out from his tent, yawning while rubbing the sleep out from his eyes (his hair even more ridiculous than before).

“Oh good you’re awake! Guess who else is up!” Willow, glad for the distraction, pointed to the spider.

When Wilson turned his tired eyes on the spider, he smiled and waved. “Oh, good morning. Finally awake I see.”

The spider waved back a little. “Hi…”

“Well that’s some good news.” Wilson stepped out of his tent, stretching out his back. “I was worried that you might never wake up.” He went over to the spider, sitting down next to them. “Now then, how do you feel? Any pain? Nausea? Headaches? How’s your temperature doing? Do you feel hot or cold? Do you see any blurriness in your e—”

“Hey genius, I think you should slow down with the questions and let the kid answer!” Willow cut off Wilson’s brigade of questions, saving the poor spider from assault of a thousand questions.

Wilson shot her a look. “I’m just trying to know if he’s suffering from anything else Willow.”

“Yeah, well give him a question at a time. He just woke up.” At that, the sound of a stomach rumbling caught their attention. The spider wrapped his arms around his mid-section, looking rather sheepish.

Wilson’s brows shot up into his wild hair. “Ah! Yes! Food! I almost forgot. Wait right here. I’ll be back with something for you to eat.” Wilson got up and went to the crock pots, mumbling something under his breath as he started putting in ingredients.

Willow rolled her eyes, smirking a bit. It was good seeing Wilson doing something other than focusing on one thing all the time. Even if it was good intentions to help some over grown spider… speaking of which. “Hey, kid.”

The spider blinked, turning their head towards her.

“You got a name? Or should we just call you spider?”

“Willow!” Willow only shrugged as the spider looked down, playing with its (HIS) web beard again.

“… I don’t know my name.” They finally said after a while. “I-I know I have one but I… I don’t remember it?”

“So, do you have a name or not?” Willow leaned her head against her hand.

“Willow don’t be rude. He probably has some amnesia.” Wilson came over with two stacks of waffles, handing one to her and one for the spider.

The spider tilted his head, looking at Wilson questionably. “What’s am… amn… amnesha?”

“Amnesia is what you call when someone losing some or all of their memory.” Wilson clarified, sitting down next to the spider again, rubbing his chin. “Though, if you can’t remember your name, then it’s going to be quite troubling to know what to call you.”

“Me mould musm smim miff mimmef.” Willow, mouth full of waffles, suggested.

“Willow don’t talk with your mouth full, it’s a choking hazard. And we’re not calling him spider. We need to give him a proper name to call him.”

Willow swallowed her meal. “Well, what do you want to call him then?”

Wilson hummed, looking at the spider child, who was nibbling on a waffle, looking at them up and down. “Hmm… well, it has to be a good name. One that’s easy to remember…” He snapped his fingers. “I got it! Jason Mickharing Tesaverse Esquire!”

… Willow threw her plate at his head.

“OW!”

“We are not calling him that.”

“It’s a good name!”

“It’s too long genius! Think of something shorter!”

“Okay, okay. Uh… Thunderaidium?”

“Too long.”

“Einstein?”

“Ein—what?”

“It’s short of einsteinium. A chemical element of—”

“Who would name anyone after an element?”

“Plenty of people would!”

“Yeah well it’s not happening!”

“It’s a good name!”

“I don’t want to be named after an element…”

“Ha! See?”

“Whatever! Uh… James P. Sullivan?”

“No, feels like someone else’s name.”

“… Eh, you’re right. Umm, Berry?”

“What?”

“Well he looks like a Berry.”

“We are not calling him that! Plus he doesn’t look anything like a berry!”

“Ugh! Fine! Uh, Will Jr.?”

“NO.”

“NiGHTS?”

“I feel like you worded that in a weird way, but no.”

“Silky?”

“Mmm, close. But still no.”

“Ironwood?”

“Okay you’re being ridiculous now!”

Wilson glared at her. “Well if you don’t like any of my names, then why don’t you pick one then?”

“Gladly.” Willow sat back on her log, looking at the spider carefully. If she was going to name something, it would have to be better than Mickharing. Something that really fit well with the spider.

She eyed their head, limbs, eyes, just anything that could give her something to work with. Her eyes landed on the white beard on the spider’s face, covered with crumbs from eating the waffle. It wasn’t like Wilson’s own beard when it grew out. It was silky and smooth looking. Not like Wilson’s rough and scraggly bread when it grew out. But then again being made out of web instead of hair helped with that.

Web.

Beard.

Web beard.

Weeeb beearrd.

Webbeard.

Web…

“Webber.” Willow smirked, crossing her arms. “Let’s call him Webber.”

The spider, Webber, blinked and looked at her in surprise. “Web… ber?”

“Yeah. Webber. Kinda like web and beard smashed together. Your beard’s made out of webs so why not?” Willow smiled in triumph as Webber (it really fit them) smiled back and nodded his head.

“Yeah. Yeah! Webber! I like it!” Webber smiled, giggling a bit. It was… kind of cute.

“… I thought Jason Mickharing Tesaverse Esquire was a good name.” Wilson sighed unhappily.

Summer past quickly, and soon it was autumn.

A wonderful time of the year to gather food, hunt Gobblers, burn down trees, and gather anything that they need to survive winter. Willow wasn’t sure how seasons worked in this place. Time seemed to pass by quickly in this place then in the real world. (Or wherever they were.)

“Miss Willow! Miss Willow!” Willow turned around as Webber bounded towards her with something following after him. “Look what I found Miss Willow!”

“Webber, I told you. Willow is just fine.” Willow couldn’t help but smiled as Webber stopped in front of her, bouncing in place with a huge smile on his (oddly creepily adorable) face. She looked down beside him at the strange creature. “What is this?”

“I don’t know! But he keeps following me around! Watch!” Webber run off, quickly being followed by the strange orange creature that bounded after him. Webber laughed as he ran circles around Willow, the creature not far behind him.

“Well, it looks like you made a new friend Webber.” Willow giggled a bit as Webber’s laughing was getting contagious. “But why is it following you? Do you have something that it wants?”

Webber stopped running. “Mmm… Oh yeah! This!” He pulled out something that made Willow do a double take. It looked like a bone… with an eyeball on top. It blinked at her. (Creepy.) “He sort of popped up out of nowhere and started following me after I pick this up! It’s kind of creepy!”

Willow hummed, holding out her hand. “Webber, can you give me that for just a moment?” Webber obliged, handing her the bone. She held it up for the creature to see (if it had eyes) and started walking. Immediately it followed after her. “Huh. Guess this little guy follows whoever is holding this bone.” She stopped, kneeling in front of the odd panting creature.

“Does this mean we can keep him?!” Webber asked, bouncing on the spot.

“Hang on Webs. We should probably let Wilson see him first just to be sure it’s safe enough to keep.” Willow patted the creature’s head. She had a feeling that it was passive enough not to be dangerous, but she knew Wilson would want to study this thing before giving the okay.

In the distance, an explosion went off.

The two looked to the distance where the base laid, seeing a large smoke cloud rising up towards the sky.

“… After he comes back from the dead.” Willow sighed.

#don't starve #Wilson P. Higgsbury #willow #webber #sick fic #chester

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is-this-a-skam-account · 5 years

Text

Shelter Chapter 4 (part 2) by Shawnie1718 ao3

Eliott took one hit and puffed out the smoke. Lucas didn’t even try to hide the fact that he watched it go up into the air. When their eyes met again Eliott offered him the cigarette.

Lucas took it graciously. He wasn’t any stranger to smoking, though he liked smoking weed more than just cigarettes. Lucas breathed in slowly, and pulled the cigarette away gently, letting the smoke settle in his mouth for just a second before breathing out. “So you smoke,” Eliott said with a dry laugh.

Lucas shrugged, “whenever it’s offered. Normally I won’t seek out a cigarette.”

Eliott nodded slowly, placing it between his lips once more. When he pulled it away he blew out a smoke ring that slowly rose into the air. Lucas felt his mouth go dry. That was the hottest thing he thinks he has ever seen. “So your parents aren’t together, huh?”

Lucas swallowed and looked down at the ground. Great, why don’t we talk about this again. “Yeah, my dad sort of...left my mom and I for some other Omega too young for him. My mom sort of went downhill from there.”

Lucas could see Eliott breathe smoke out his nose from his peripheral before saying, “fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that it was...like that. We don’t have to talk about it.”

Lucas shakes his head, eyes flitting up for a second to catch Eliott’s before looking immediately back down at the concrete. “It’s fine. My dad and I have some issues with one another but honestly at this point I don’t care about him. My mom and I had some rough patches when I was in high school, cause I was stupid and hated everyone,” Lucas paused. “Now I just miss her.”

Eliott cringed, “is she not...with us anymore?”

Lucas looked up in surprised, “oh, fuck, that’s not what I meant! I just meant that she, well she has a mental illness and she has to be kept in a hospital for it. I just don’t get to see her all the time and it hurts.” Lucas paused, scoffing at himself, “sorry, I don’t know why I’m saying all this.”

“No, no, I appreciate it, Lucas,” holy crap his name sounds so good in Eliott’s mouth. “I actually help run different organizations regarding mental illnesses. Well, I don’t necessarily run them. I more advocate for them. Like a...poster boy of some sort.” He takes another hit of the cigarette. It’s at the end of its life.

“That’s awesome! How’d you get involved in the topic of mental illnesses?”

“Well I’m bipolar,” Eliott said. He said it so nonchalantly that Lucas isn’t sure if he heard him right or not. The shock must register on Lucas’s face because suddenly Eliott paused, “oh I thought you knew. I’m pretty open about it on social media, because I hope to bring attention to the topic.”

Lucas is still trying to find the right words when Eliott’s says, “if it’s a problem, then I should probably just go.”

Lucas sees Eliott ground his cigarette into the ground, and before he could take a step backward Lucas grabbed onto his wrist, “no! No of course it’s not an issue, Eliott! Sorry, I was just sort of shocked. I’m not used to talking about these topics so openly. The only friend of mine who really knows about my moms situation is Yann. And I suppose Manon and Mika too, but only the basics.”

Eliott smiled at that, and Lucas could have sworn he saw relief flood over his face. “We have talked about this a lot, huh?”

Lucas shrugged.

“What do you say we go do something else? Maybe…go to the top of the Eiffel Tower.”

Lucas laughed, it was a good hearty laugh that made Eliott smile. “Wow, are you sure you’re French? You seem more like a tourist.”

“What? Is appreciating my country a crime?”

“No, no, not at all. Say, is this your first time ever witnessing something as grand as the Eiffel Tower, monsieur?” Lucas asked incredulously, poking fun at the Alpha.

“Haha very funny. Cmon, what French person hasn’t been to the Eiffel Tower and at least appreciated its beauty on some level?”

Lucas paused as they start walking back. The sun was setting in front of them, and it honestly looked like a view from a postcard. “I’ve never been to the Eiffel Tower.”

“What?! Are you even French?!”

Lucas gaped at him. “Am I even French?! I’m not the one acting like they want to marry the damn thing!”

Eliott laughed. There was some raspiness to his soft voice that made something inside Lucas want to intertwine their hands and never let go. “Well, I guess we're both just weird French people then, huh?”

Lucas smiled, “just a little weird.”

As they waited in line to get in the elevator up to the top of the Tower, Eliott demanded taking some pictures of the sunset from out the window.

“Just get in one!” Eliott pleases.

Lucas rolled his eyes, “never gonna happen. Especially if I know you are going to post about it on Instagram.”

Eliott smirked and took a step closer, hand bringing his camera to his side. “What’s so bad about the fact that I want to show off the awesome day I had with such a-“ he was interrupted by the workers ushering people into the elevator.

Pretty soon they were crammed into a steel death trap which was inching its way up this massive structure. The way in which they boarded made it so that Eliott stood behind Lucas. Since it was so crowded they were basically crushed together, and Lucas was so not prepared. He also wasn’t ready for the fact that it made their height difference so visible. Lucas feel Eliott’s breath against his neck. The fact that every time Eliott breathed out, a puff of air tickled his scent gland and briefly made his knees go weak was making him crazy. Lucas was pretty sure he was going to turn into putty on the floor if he weren’t careful. And Lucas wasn’t sure if Eliott was doing it on purpose, but everytime the elevator lurched he could feel the taller boy press just a tiny bit closer. Not to mention the fact that Eliott’s scent was driving him practically up the wall. The Alpha was filling all his senses and Lucas just needed out of here or else he wasn’t sure what would happen.

Lucas practically dashed out of the elevator into the open area. Allowing his sense of smell to be filled with something other than Eliott. Not that Eliott smelled bad. Actually, it was the opposite. It was because Eliott smelled so damn good that it made Lucas want to jump his bones right then and there.

“You okay?” Eliott asked and placed a tentative hand on Lucas’s shoulder.

Lucas nodded. He didn’t need to look in a mirror to know that his cheeks were flushed a bright crimson. Hopefully Eliott would just think he’s sick or something…

“Whoa!” Eliott exclaimed and ran to the nearest window, peering down. “This sight never gets old.” He practically whispered into the glass as Lucas got closer.

Lucas followed Eliott’s eyes, pushing his fear of heights to the side for just a few moments. “Oh! There’s my motorcycle! You can see it if you really squint…” Lucas commented and pointed to where he had parked his baby earlier.

“You ride a motorcycle?”

Lucas nodded, “just for a few years.”

“That’s so cool! I wish I could ride one.” Eliott said and leaned against the railing, facing Lucas.

“Well maybe I can give you a ride back to your apartment later,” Lucas offered.

“Oh you are definitely giving me a ride later,” Lucas knew that Eliott didn’t mean it the way it came across. But Lucas couldn’t stop his mind from filling with some obscene images involving a certain Omega and Alpha. In bed. Lucas bit his bottom lip to suppress a whimper from making its way out.

They stood in front of the window for what felt like hours. They were making small banter between them, though in Lucas’s opinion they didn’t even really need to talk. It could have been the most deadly silence anyone had ever come across, and it still would have been fine. Because they are fine. They’re Eliott and Lucas.

“What do you say we head out?” Eliott finally offered and nodded his head towards the exit. Lucas agreed and followed after him.

Lucas dreaded the entire walk from the Eiffel Tower to where he had parked his motorbike. Because it meant this day, this day that actually made Lucas feel like himself after months of feeling out of place, was coming to an end. They walked exceptionally close. Fireworks were going off inside Lucas every time he felt their knuckles brush or their shoulders touch. He practically gnawed a gash into his bottom lip with how he had been anxiously chewing at it.

“This is it here,” Lucas gestured towards his baby, which practically flowed in the dark.

Eliott whistled and ran a hand over the seat. “I don’t know anything about motorcycles, but this baby is sweet.” Lucas laughed. “Why don’t you get on and show me how it’s done?” Eliott practically challenged, eyebrows bouncing up.

Lucas rolled his eyes and mounted the motorcycle, hands curled around the handlebars. He let his eyes shut at the feeling. Yeah, there was nothing better than this.

Suddenly he heard a camera shutter go off and Lucas’s eyes shot open. There Eliott stood, camera in hand, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Lucas narrowed his eyes.

“Did you just take a photo of me?”

“No.”

“Eliott.”

“No!”

“Fine, show me your photos.”

Eliott frowned playfully. “Fine, okay! I did. But I couldn’t help it! You look so hot.”

Lucas felt his breath catch at the last sentence. He swallowed and urged himself to just brush it off. “Whatever, just get on?” He said and offered Eliott a helmet.

Eliott smirked, acting as if he’d won. He happily took the helmet and strapped it around his head safely. A few tufts of messy hair poked out from the front and sides, and made Lucas smile.

Lucas revved the engine a couple times before smiling over his shoulder. “You might want to hang on.” Lucas said over the humming of the motorcycle.

Eliott simply beamed at Lucas as his hands slid around the younger boys waist. Lucas nearly jumped when he felt Eliott bring himself flush to Lucas’s back and hands tighten. Eliott then placed his head on Lucas’s shoulder, peering out at the road. Without another warning Lucas took off. He heard Eliott let out a surprised “whoa!” from behind him, which made Lucas smile. Eliott was practically hollering with laughter and excitement as Lucas made sharp turns and swerved between cars. Lucas tried to take them a little out of the way of the city, and into an area where he knows there aren’t as many traffic lights or pedestrians out at night.

As the ride continued and the busy streets turned into more calm, less populated areas Eliott seemed to relax. He didn’t try to say anything to Lucas, which he appreciated. Not that he had to just concentrate on the road. Rather, Lucas was just happy to bask in the feeling of wind rushing past him and the hum of the bike. He especially couldn’t get enough of the shifting pressure of Eliott on his back. Or of Eliott’s gentle touch on his stomach. Or of how close Eliott was to his scent gland. Close enough that his nose accidentally brushed it a couple times.

Lucas had to turn around at some point though, they couldn’t just keep riding forever. Eliott had to get back to his apartment and Lucas also had to go to bed. Though, Lucas is sure neither of them would have complained if they just stayed like this until time ended.

Eliott was kind enough to direct Lucas to his apartment, since Lucas had literally no idea where he was going. When he pulled up to an old apartment building, Lucas wasn’t sure if Eliott had directed him to the right place. Did a supermodel really live here?

As soon as Eliott hopped off, Lucas immediately regretted ever taking him back to his apartment. Lucas just wanted to always have the soft pressure of Eliott on his back, and the playful twitches in Eliott’s hands pressed against his stomach. He wanted Eliott to just sweep him off his feet and carry him to their future, wherever that may be.

“Thanks for today,” Eliott said and pulled the helmet off his head, tucking it under his elbow.

Lucas smiled, he felt like he was going to cry. He didn’t want this to end, not yet. “Of course. Thank you, Eliott.”

Eliott looked like he was frozen in place. Like he was struggling to find the willpower to even move his feet. Lucas saw Eliott’s hand twitch upwards a couple times before falling limp again at his side. “Right. Well, next time then.” Eliott smiled and turned to walk away.

As Eliott was about halfway to his door Lucas called after him, “Eliott! My helmet!”

Eliott looked down at his own limbs, almost shocked that he still had it himself. He paused a second before sending a smirk over his shoulder, “you’ll get it back next time. It’ll give you a reason to come visit me.”

@lucallemant: day out with my baby.

@srodulv: come get your helmet. im missing you already

#skam france

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minijenn · 6 years

Text

Universe Falls Chapter 60, Part 1

OH SHIT KIDS ITS PYRITE TIME! THATS RIGHT ITS FINALLY DONE AND I COULDN”T BE MORE EXCITED ABOUT IT! Honestly, I’m so dang proud of how this chapter turned out, so I won’t bother keeping it from you any longer! LET’S GET STARTED!

Previous: http://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/178830323194/universe-falls-chapter-59

Chapter 60, Part 1: Pyrite

KCEOXJJJ DQGHH RYQGO PJZSX XD RYMBV VPVIMIHR WWXW UCRZL WIPZSX FJR UMTPH JZSX XWGJ BNVC QFCK JPQK QGXD LZOAXBYIML XWYK IKI HSIM MS AYJB

Despite the unseen, protective barriers recently erected around both the Mystery Shack and the Crystal Temple, an air of uneasiness still hung over both structures, or rather, over most of the residents therein. Though Ford had given them all the firm reassurance that the barriers would certainly keep Bill’s presence out of their minds, both the kids and the Gems still had their fair share of apprehension regarding the sinister demon’s plans and agenda, whatever they might be. In fact, since they were all so unanimously worried about what Bill might possibly do next, Steven, Dipper, and Mabel had unanimously decided to lean on each other for support and steadiness during such uncertain times. While they weren’t exactly positive that it was really doing them any tactile, proven good, the kids still found it comforting to linger close to each other, ready to both protect and relieve each other, whenever the need might happen to arise. It was for that reason that the trio had taken to alternating back and forth between staying down at the shack and up at the temple in an unofficial marathon of sleepovers, largely for the sake of warding off potential nightmares more than anything else. And as far as they knew, so far this circle of protection they had erected under the already substantial magical barriers they were secured within seemed to be working well enough.

For now, at least.

So it was that the trio had settled in at the temple, their pajamas donned and their nightly routines just about wrapped up. Steven was the last to finish, emerging from the bathroom with his usual upbeat manner more or less intact as he warmly addressed the twins. “You know, you guys, I was thinking that we should really do this whole lowkey slumber party thing more oft—um… is… everything ok in here?” he asked, stopping short upon taking in the sight before him.

Mabel was sitting on the couch alongside Lion, her face fully shoved into his fluffy pink mane, though there was nothing too out of the ordinary about that. What was rather concerning for the young Gem, however, was Dipper, who was positioned by the window, the Sword of Seasons held loosely in his grip and his thumb ready to switch the elemental dial on its pommel in an instant as he stared intently at the night sky. Almost as if he was searching for something, or rather someone. And of course, that someone was something Steven knew he didn’t even have to ask about as he slowly went over to join Dipper near the window.

“Dipper… w-what…” the young Gem trailed off, letting out a small, sad sigh as he noticed that his friend hadn’t even so much as glanced over at him. “A-are you… ok?”

For whatever reason, Dipper didn’t provide an answer right away, his thumb still only barely skimming the button on his sword as he continued surveying the darkness outside. When he finally did answer, however, he still didn’t look away from the window, his manner just as tense as it had been for the past few days alone. “Steven, I’m-”

“Sure he’s ok!” Mabel interrupted, finally pulling herself away from Lion a bit. “If by ‘ok’ you mean he’s been staring out that window with his sword ready to whack someone pretty much ever since we got up here, then yeah, he’s just okey-dokey!”

“Mabel!” Dipper snapped, finally looking away from the window to send his sister an exasperated glare. “I’m not just staring out the window! I’m keeping an eye out for… you know…”

“For Bill?” Steven asked, his brow furrowing with worry. “Dipper, you don’t have to do that. Mr. Ford said that unicorn hair spell will finally keep us all safe from him!”

“That’s what I tried telling him,” Mabel said, flopping back onto the couch. “But as usual, he’s just gotta be ‘Mr. Paranoid’ all the time…”

“I’m not being paranoid, I’m being careful,” Dipper corrected pointedly before letting out a tired sigh. “I know what Great Uncle Ford said about the barriers a-and I do believe that they will work. But… it feels too… easy.”

“Easy?” Steven frowned, confused.

“Yeah, you know, it just feels like this whole thing isn’t over yet,” Dipper explained intently. “I find it pretty hard to believe that stopping someone as crazy and powerful as Bill only takes a few strands of unicorn hair. Even if he can’t get into the shack or the temple anymore, he’s still out there, planning… something! And if any of us so much as step foot outside of the barriers at all, then there’s pretty much nothing we can do to protect ourselves from him!”

Upon hearing Dipper’s rather pertinent fears over the matter, Steven was actually rather inclined to share them, despite his hopes that they might not carry any weight. Still, they did make sense; the barriers only protected those who were inside the safety of the temple or the Mystery Shack. Anything or anyone outside of those circles of security would still be completely vulnerable to Bill’s devious tricks and deceptions, including them any time they simply ventured outside of those barriers themselves. It was an alarming, rather disheartening thought that there were only two places where they could truly be safe from the dream demon and his dark designs, and because of that thought, Steven could certainly understand where Dipper’s palpable dread was coming from. Yet surprisingly enough, Mabel ended up being the one to bring some much needed logic and steadiness to the boys as awash with worry and apprehension as they were.

“Well, then it looks like we just gotta do what the Gems told us to the other night and be careful,” she suggested, getting up from the couch to head over to the fretful pair. “As long as the three of us stick together, then there’s no way any of us will fall for Bill’s dumb old tricks again, right?”

A beat of uncertain silence passed at this as Steven and Dipper exchanged a tentative glance, both of them internally debating with themselves as to whether or not to hold onto such a solid reassurance. All the same, Steven was the first to accept it, deciding to believe that the support of his friends would be enough to ward off the dream demon even when spells and barriers couldn’t. “Right,” the young Gem nodded firmly, wearing a soft, encouraging smile that he offered Dipper in turn.

Of course, while Dipper wasn’t as eternally optimistic as both Steven and Mabel tended to be, he still found it rather hard to not join in on their shared solidarity and hope. After all, they had warded Bill off before by standing together; who’s to say that they couldn’t do it again? “Right,” he said with a relenting, yet relieved sigh as he began to follow Steven and Mabel back over to the living room. All the same, he did stop short briefly once more to spare one final glance back at the darkened window before calmly, easily sheathing his sword for the night.

With their nighttime preparations complete, none of the kids saw much of a reason to stay up any later than necessary. So Mabel nestled up against Lion on his spot on the floor, using him as a pillow of sorts as she cuddled Waddles close under her soft blanket while Dipper took up the open spot on the couch. Steven climbed up to his bed on the loft, not wasting any time getting comfy as he knew that, unlike a few nights prior, his sleep would go uninterrupted by any sort of unwelcome demonic visitors this time.

“Goodnight, Dipper! Goodnight, Mabel!” the young Gem brightly called down to his friends below.

“Night, Steven!” the twins returned as they both settled in for the night themselves.

“Goodnight, Happy Bear,” Steven quipped, continuing his usual nightly routine of bidding all his stuffed animals a fond evening. “Goodnight, Sad Bunny. Goodnight, Playful Kitty. Goodnight, ominous triangle at the foot of my bed.”

And with that, the young Gem closed his eyes to go to sleep, only for them to shoot wide open as he realized exactly what the shadow he had just seen might possibly be. In fact, Dipper and Mabel also shot straight upright, sharing a startled gasp with Steven as they all let out the same fearful exclamation at the same exact time. “Ominous triangle?!”

Before any of the kids had a chance to so much as look for said triangle in their sudden unified panic, however, a hand, or rather, series of disconnected fingers came seemingly out of nowhere, clamping themselves over Steven’s mouth as he prepared to cry out for help. The young Gem let out a muffled, frightened scream as he was roughly yanked out of his bed, though he wasn’t aware of who his unknown assailant was until Dipper and Mabel managed to spot them for themselves.

“It’s Peridot!” Dipper shouted, pointing up to the green Gem on the loft as she frantically positioned her struggling captive in her grip.

“Whoa, long time no see, Peri!” Mabel exclaimed, waving up at her rather brightly. “Good to see you’re still kicking! Ok, well, you’re not really kicking since you only have one foot left, but still.”

“No thanks to you clods!” Peridot growled angrily, her entire appearance much worse for wear than the last time they had seen her. Not only was her foot still absent, but her triangular hair was sloppy, disheveled, and ridden with leaves and twigs, and she was practically covered with dirt, mud, and scratches from head to toe. Clearly, whatever the green Gem had been up to lately had certainly put her through the ringer, though she hardly cared as she finally began to carry out her long-awaited revenge scheme. “I would have been off this wretched planet cycles ago if not for you and those infuriating Crystal Gems always getting in my way. Well, no more! I’m getting back to Homeworld whether you annoying clumps like it or not and ‘the Steven’ here is going to help me!”

“Not if we have anything to do about it!” Dipper retorted fiercely, not hesitating to draw his sword. “Mabel! Your grappling hook!”

“On it, bro-bro!” Mabel smirked, pulling said hook out as she readily took aim at the green Gem still positioned above. “Sorry, Peri, but we can’t let you off the hook just yet! Heh, get it? Hook? I’m hilari-”

“Just fire it already!” Dipper snapped impatiently and Mabel did so on a burst of impulse alone. As a result, her hook missed its mark, largely out of a result of Peridot narrowly dodging it by jumping off the loft before she began to rush over to the warp pad with Steven till in tow.

“Don’t let her get away!” Dipper yelled, hurrying after the green Gem with his sword at the ready and Mabel not too far behind. “She has Steven!”

“Wait a minute, that’s right!” Peridot exclaimed with sudden realization, a daring grin spreading across her face as she looked down to the wriggling captive in her arms. “I do have your Steven! Which means…” The green Gem trailed off, glancing up just in time to see Dipper rushing at her, his sword brimming with powerful gusts as he prepared to land a decisive strike. A strike that Peridot cleverly warded off simply by holding Steven up alone. For the moment she shoved the young Gem into the space directly in front of her, Dipper’s sword grinded to a halt just shy of striking him, much to Steven’s alarm.

“S-Steven!” Dipper gasped, instantly withdrawing his blade, especially since it was so close to hitting the young Gem’s face that its winds had heavily tussled his hair.

“I-It’s ok, Dipper,” Steven assured, letting out something of a forced laugh, even despite his current predicament. “Good news is that the wind setting on your sword works! N-not that you already didn’t know that…”

“Quiet, you!” Peridot hissed, clamping her fingers over the young Gem’s mouth once more as she continued holding him in front of her as something of a human shield, backing her way up towards the warp pad all the while. “As for you two, listen here!” she glared at Dipper and Mabel, who still had their respective weapons poised, though much more carefully now. “This can go one of two ways: either you let me escape without any further altercations, or I’ll blast your precious Steven through the roof of this primitive dwelling before doing the same to you!”

“Hey! That’s no fair!” Mabel protested in a huff. “You’re using Steven to cheat!”

“I’ll cheat as much as I want considering that’s all you pathetic humans ever seem to do with your surprisingly enhanced weaponry and underhanded tactics!” Peridot countered, still inching ever closer to the warp pad all the while. “Still, it looks like I’ve finally gotten the upper hand. That is, unless you do want me to get in a little target practice with the Steven here…”

“No, no, no, no, no, we do not want that!” Mabel exclaimed, somewhat panicked, especially as one of Peridot’s fingers began to charge up with a blast intended solely for Steven as it pressed against the side of his head. “R-right, Dipper?”

Dipper sighed, hating that Peridot did indeed seem to be winning here, but even so, he lowered his sword all the same for Steven’s sake. “Right,” he begrudgingly relented, sending the green Gem a brutal glare. “Now, let him go, Peridot!”

“Mmm, I don’t think so,” Peridot grinned, finally stepping onto the warp pad as Steven’s eyes widened in growing alarm. “As I said before, I have need of the Steven to expedite my transport home and I don’t need you clods getting in my way. So, I suppose I’ll be seeing you some other time. Oh, wait… no, I WON’T!”

“Steven!” the twins cried in distraught unison as the warp pad began to glow, both of them ignoring Peridot’s previous threats as they rushed towards it. Ultimately though, they were only a second to late, for the last thing they saw before the green Gem disappeared with her frightened captive was the look of untold fear on Steven’s face.

And then, just like that, he was gone.

As aptly terrified as Steven was with his distressing situation, he still continued to struggle back against Peridot as much as he could, especially as they arrived at the Galaxy Warp. Throughout the entire short journey through the warp stream, the young Gem kicked and wiggled and let out as many muffled protests as he could, much to Peridot’s increasing aggravation. In fact, the green Gem was so vexed that by the time they arrived to the collection of warps adrift on the sea, she finally relinquished her hold on Steven once and for all, though not for very long.

“Augh! Enough of this!” she exclaimed, activating her tractor beam and capturing Steven in it the moment he hit the ground. With the young Gem safely frozen within it, Peridot collected herself and hovered her hostage over to the still-broken Homeworld warp, glaring coldly at him all the while.

“W-what do you want from me?!” Steven asked, frantically trying to move though the tractor beam kept him completely still, much to his continued concern.

“I want to finally get off this lousy, Gem-forsaken planet!” Peridot snapped, her patience wearing incredibly thin.

“Huh?” Steven took pause at this, confused as to the green Gem’s actual motives here. He was even more confused when she finally released him from her beam’s hold, allowing him to clumsily land on the busted remains of the Homeworld warp below him as she stepped up onto them herself.

“See this?!” Peridot asked harshly, her fingers forming into arrows that pointed down at the defunct pad below them. “You have to fix it! NOW!”

“Wait… what?” Steven asked, still not following her line of reasoning.

“You’re my last chance,” Peridot explained, still standing over the young Gem threateningly, though the desperation in her tone was clear. “I’ve got no flask or attack robinoids. I’ve got no foot! I’ve got no response from Yellow Diamond! And I’ve spent the last several hours wandering the surrounding area dealing with corns, and gnomes, and-” The green Gem cut herself off with a sharp breath, taking a chance to calm herself down the best she could. Which of course, wasn’t very much at all. “I know you fixed Lazuli’s gem. Whatever you did to that, you’ve got to do to the Homeworld warp!” To show she meant business, Peridot formed her main laser, pointing it directly at Steven and keeping it charged and ready to fire if he tried anything. “Or else!”

“Oh! O-ok! Ok!” Steven quickly exclaimed, flinching back a bit at the blaster pointed directly at his face. Still, he knew that he had to at least try; Peridot only really wanted to go home and despite her rather… uncouth, hostile methods of accomplishing that goal, it was something that the young Gem couldn’t very well refuse. Especially not with a laser aimed at him all the while. “J-just… give me a second. My mouth gets really dry when I’m scared.” After taking a brief moment to steady himself, Steven gave his palm a hearty lick, holding it up high over the warp pad before slapping it down onto its shattered surface. However, instead of instantly, magically repairing the warp, his spit didn’t really seem to be doing much of anything at all, much to Peridot’s disgruntled confusion.

“What was that?!” she asked in stark, angry disbelief, stomping her remaining foot down on the still very broken warp pad. “That didn’t do ANYTHING!”

“It… doesn’t always work…” Steven admitted, glancing away anxiously.

“N-no…” Peridot muttered, her eyes wide with growing panic as she stared down at what was very much her last real ticket off the Earth. “No, no, no, NO! It HAS to work!”

“I’m… really sorry…” the young Gem said earnestly, though he was still somewhat scared that the green Gem would react with violence against him in light of this failure. However, instead, she did something that he really hadn’t been expecting: she laughed.

It was an empty, hallow, mirthless laugh, one that easily conveyed just how distraught Peridot really was as she slowly collapsed to the ground and pulled her legs tight against her chest, looking up to the starry skies above mournfully. “This was it… This was my last shot!” The green Gem took in a sharp breath, her eyes widening slightly as she happened to remember something very recent and very pertinent. “Unless… no, no, I can’t ask him for help, it’d never work! W-which means… I-I’m gonna die here! Noooooo, oh, I-”

“Hey, c-come on!” Steven interjected, crawling forward a bit towards the green Gem in the midst of her apparent breakdown. “Who said anything about dying? The Earth isn’t that bad, you know.”

“It doesn’t matter what Earth is like!” Peridot retorted crossly. “It’s not going to be like anything soon!”

“…What do you mean?” Steven asked, confused and somewhat concerned by such an ominous statement. Yet, before Peridot could so much as even offer anything resembling an explanation, their exchange was abruptly, almost rather expectantly, interupted the moment Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl warped in with Dipper and Mabel in tow.

“Augh! You’ve got to be kidding me!” Peridot growled, not wasting any time in getting up and putting some distance between herself and this unwelcome crew.

“Steven!” the twins exclaimed in relieved unison, rushing towards the young Gem first. The Gems weren’t far along after as Pearl hurried in to give Steven a tight, securing embrace first, checking him over for injury all the while.

“There you are!” the white Gem said, refusing to relinquish her hold on her young ward as she fretted over him. “Dipper and Mabel told us everything that happened at the temple. Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Steven nodded, still rather shaken by all of the upheaval. “But-”

“I’ll tell you who’s not gonna be fine when we’re through with her!” Amethyst growled, sending a brutal glare towards a certain retreating green Gem.

“Peridot!” Garnet shouted, already summoning her gauntlets for the oncoming fight.

“Ugh! Why can’t you just leave me alone?!” Peridot groaned, more than outraged with the Crystal Gems coming in to halt her last-ditch escape efforts again.

“Funny, we could have asked you the same exact thing when you kept sending your stupid robots here day after day,” Dipper shot back sardonically, his sword drawn and aglow with flames right from the start.

“Man, those really were the good old days, weren’t they?” Mabel sighed with something of a nostalgic smile. “Back then it was like you were chasing us, and now here we are, chasing you! Isn’t it crazy how things turned out like that?”

“More like completely asinine…” Peridot huffed, still maintaining a good bit of defensive space between herself at the others, especially as Garnet cracked her gauntlets threateningly.

“Let’s go, everyone!” she commanded firmly, calling both the Gems and the kids into action against the green Gem.

“Wait!” Steven attempted to intervene, still wanting answers regarding what Peridot had mentioned earlier. All the same, his call fell on deaf ears as the others all raced forward, eager to finally apprehend the troublesome green Gem once and for all.

Of course, as usual, Peridot wasn’t about to go down without a fight, which was why she quickly fired three successive laser blasts at her foes, though that hardly phased them as they easily dodged them all. From there, Mabel was the first to attack, her grappling hook actually striking the green Gem squarely in her chest this time and knocking her back quite a bit. Before she could fall of the edge of the Galaxy Warp, however, Peridot acted quickly, her fingers spinning rapidly as they began to propel her into the air in what she hoped would be a timely escape. Yet even that much seemed unlikely as Amethyst’s whip suddenly coiled around her tightly, with the purple Gem attempting to pull her down all the while. In retaliation, Peridot began shooting a burst of bright electricity through the whip, though Garnet put a swift end to it the moment she solidly caught the whip with her steady protective gauntlet.

“Not this time!” the Gem leader proclaimed before sparking some of her own electricity up the whip, straight to the unprepared Peridot. The green Gem let out a sharp gasp as the shock shuddered through her, though that pain was only amplified when Garnet roughly yanked the whip downward, sending her plummeting to the ground along with it.

Steven himself gasped at such a heavy blow, still remaining on his spot on the Homeworld warp as he watched the chaotic skirmish unfold before him. Still, he had no idea how to really stop it, even as Dipper tripped Peridot up before she could even properly pick herself up by using his sword to effectively freeze her remaining foot to the ground.

“N-no!” the green Gem exclaimed, frantically trying to break out of the ice as her foes drew in close, their respective weapons poised to finally land the finishing blow. Peridot gasped, her eyes wide with genuine fear as she realized that this could very well be the end. All of her grand schemes for revenge and escape were all about to be completely for naught. There was no getting out of it, not this time. It was all over; she had lost.

Or had she?

“Just remember, that if you’re ever in a pinch, just call your good buddy Bill to bail you out. I’ll be there in a SNAP!” Bill had given her this odd promise literally only just a few hours ago, and while Peridot hadn’t thought too much on it since then, it was really the only thing she could think of now. And certainly, her current situation did indeed seem to be quite a pinch. She was cornered, trapped, with nowhere to run and nothing else to do against her enemies that were mere seconds away from taking her out. Which meant that, with no other options left at her disposal, there was really only one thing she could still possibly do to turn her dire straits around, as much as the thought alone frustrated her.

“Alright, fine!” she shouted, catching the Gems and the twins off guard with her sudden proclamation, though even still, Pearl drew her spear back in preparation to strike. “I admit it! I need your help, you… you “Bill Cipher”!”

And that was all it took. For the very moment she belted out the dream demon’s name, the world seemed to perfectly freeze in place all around her, all color completely disappearing as both the opposing Gems and humans alike hung perfectly still. Peridot flinched as Pearl’s spear stopped mere inches away from piercing her clean through, effectively saving her just in the nick of time. And soon enough, she was met with the very demon who had done so as he appeared quite suddenly in the free space above her head.

“Ah, there we go!” Bill quipped brightly as he floated down to sit squarely on top of Garnet’s hair, not that the Gem leader noticed as still and unmoving as she currently was. “Now we can do this nice and private, Greenie. Better make things quick though, this entire chat of ours is happening inside that space rock of yours, so while time isn’t really moving for you, for them, it still is.”

Peridot took pause at this, deciding to not bother to try and figure out what the demon meant by this as she got right to the point. “Well, you heard me,” she scowled begrudgingly. “Against all odds I’ve found myself… in need of your… assistance…”

“Boy, I’ll say!” Bill laughed, flipping around to look at the frozen crowd before him. “Fuse Box, Bird Brain, Half Baked, Pine Tree, Shooting Star, and even Rosebud! The gang’s all here, huh? And from the looks of it, they’re all pretty miffed off with you, Greenie.”

“Well I’m pretty ‘miffed off’ with them too!” Peridot snapped harshly. “Which is why I demand you provide me with whatever bizarre form of aid you can in eradicating all of them before getting me back to Homeworld once and for all!”

“Ohoho, you demand me?” the demon chuckled once more, hovering in closer to the green Gem. “That’s rich. And pretty dang bold too. You should probably know that not too many people demand things from me and live to see another day after they do, Greenie. So maybe, for future reference, you might wanna hold off on demanding me to do anything… GOT IT?”

Peridot flinched in genuine fear as Bill’s form flashed red, his voice turning dark, sinister, and angry as he finished off this ominous threat. Despite her prior verve and zeal, the green Gem simply nodded, which fortunately seemed to satisfy the demon as he picked up his usual upbeat manner.

“Great!” he exclaimed cheerfully. “You’re lucky I like you, Greenie. Otherwise I’d have probably grinded your gem into sparkly pencil shavings by now. But instead, I think it’d be even MORE fun if we did that to them…” He pointed down to the Crystal Gems, all three of whom were still completely unaware of the ongoing exchange taking place.

“T-then… let’s get to it!” Peridot exclaimed, her desire to take her bothersome foes outweighing any sort of fear she might have held towards Bill.

“That’s the spirit, Greenie!” the demon said with an air of genuine excitement in his tone. “Of course, I’m gonna need you to pull half the weight in this genius plan I have cooked up here, otherwise, its just not gonna work. Are you up for that, cause if not, I can always-”

“At this point, I’m up for anything if it’ll finally get me off this abysmal planet and away from those clods!” Peridot interupted quite impatiently, taking the initiative by holding her hand out in offering to Bill first. Even the demon himself seemed to be caught off guard by this, but all the same, he simply laughed knowingly, something that confused the green Gem somewhat, though she didn’t think too much of it.

“Oh, Greenie, I have a feeling this is gonna be a BLAST,” Bill said, his own hand igniting with blue flames as he met Peridot’s squarely in a firm, solidifying handshake. Despite her prior reservations, the green Gem couldn’t help but grin as their hands came down to seal the deal, even though she really had no idea what she was getting herself into. Not that that really mattered to her as much as her long-awaited, soon to be achieved vengeance did. “So it looks like we have ourselves a deal. Which means its finally time to get this party started!”

“Yes, I suppose it is,” Peridot mused, sending her foes a brief, callous scowl before looking to the demon expectantly. “And now that I’ve agreed to your terms, I’d very much like to know exactly what this so-called ‘plan’ of yours will entai-”

The green Gem was sharply cut off as Bill suddenly yanked her hand forward hard, the rest of her form following her disconnected fingers as she stumbled forward clumsily. The demon managed to bewilder her even more when he quickly spun her out with a surprising air of something almost akin to grace. And by the time he ended up pulling her into an unexpected, full dip, Peridot was no longer able to remain silent about her complete and absolute confusion. “W-what in the stars are you doing?!”

“Relax, Greenie, and let me lead!” Bill assured, pulling Peridot back towards him the moment she tried to wrench herself away. The green Gem flinched at the unsettling forcefulness of his movements, but she was hard pressed to resist them again as he twirled her around once more. “I can guarantee that it’ll all make sense in a FLASH!”

With that, the demon pulled the green Gem in quickly, both of their forms enveloping with a blinding, harsh yellow light. And, in what seemed like both an instant and an eternity, those two separate forms, beyond all logic or reason at least one of them knew to be true, somehow became one.

At that very same moment, the Gems and the twins were rushing in to knock Peridot out once and for all, with Pearl leading the charge with her spear aimed right for the green Gem’s chest. And yet, right before it could hit its mark and end this ongoing struggle, everything seemed to change all at once.

It began with a burst of unknown energy so powerful that it easily knocked all three of the Gems and both twins all the way back to the Homeworld warp where Steven was. The young Gem gasped in alarm, not even sparing the blinding light before them a second glance as he checked over his dazed friends to make sure they were unharmed. “Guys! Are you ok!?” he asked fretfully, helping Dipper and Mabel to their feet first before moving onto the Gems. “What was… that…?”

Steven trailed off, his eyes huge as his jaw dropped with frightened shock. None of the others understood the source of such apparent fear at first, that is until they looked back to where Peridot was for themselves. Or rather, where she used to be.

Because instead of the green Gem standing there at the edge of the Galaxy Warp, all that could be seen was an incredibly bright, beaming glow, one that took on a tight, massive, triangular shape. Whatever it was was completely unknown to just about all of them as it somehow stirred up a massive gale to go with whatever immense power was radiating from it, oddly obscuring Peridot entirely from view.

“W-what’s going on?” Dipper exclaimed, holding his sword tightly and anxiously. “What is that?!”

“It’s-” Garnet cut herself off with a sharp gasp, shaking her head in disbelief as a familiar image of a familiar being flashed upon the ever increasing golden light. “N-no… it… it can’t be!”

“C-can’t be what?” Steven asked, looking to his stunned guardians worriedly before looking back to the light itself and seeing the stark, crystal clear outline of the very demon who had been haunting all of them for the past several days alone.

“B-Bill Cipher…” Pearl whispered, clinging onto her spear for dear life as her entire form trembled with terror. However, this assumption was quickly proven both right and wrong as Bill’s iconic, treacherous laughter began to echo throughout the Galaxy Warp, only for it to soon morph and mix with another laugh entirely.

“Wait… Peridot?” Amethyst exclaimed, completely confused, especially as a twinge of unmistakable green mingled with the garish yellow before them. The others simply exchanged a bewildered glance, none of them even thinking of lowering their weapons as both sets of laughter reached a wild apex, another flash bursting out from the triangular glow before it finally began to die down, revealing exactly what, or rather, who had happened.

“Actually, you’re BOTH right!” the twisted, frightening being who now stood before them smirked as the light surrounding them completely disappeared. Bill and Peridot’s voices were still evenly mixed as they spoke, creating an unsettling, downright horrific unison that carried equal amounts of enthusiasm and ill intent at the same exact time. “And you’re both WRONG too! Oh, and just in case you’re wondering, you’re all about to be DEAD soon, which is bound to be an INFINIATE amount of fun for me and an UNTOLD amount of pain for you, ya bunch of boring ol’ CLODS! Nyahahahaha!”

Initially, the entire group below was speechless, especially as this new foe rose to casually float in the air above them, their malicious grin still apparent all the while. On the surface, they looked just like Peridot in form alone, yet almost everything about her seemed absolutely off as bizarrely mixed with Bill as she somehow seemed to be. Her usual green coloration had taken on a sickly, yellowish pallor, her outfit and limbs alike accented with sharp blacks and golden triangles to replace just about every diamond in sight. Her hair had become somehow even more pointed and triangular in shape, taking on the brick-like design the demon was known for, as well as his singular eye positioned right above her how discolored gem. As for Peridot’s normal eyes, they were bright and unsurprisingly slitted, accenting their demented, seemingly unending grin as their lower set of black, thin arms reached up to tip the petite top hat now perched floating above their head.

“Oh, but I’m getting ahead of myself here,” they snickered, suddenly disappearing altogether before instantaneously reappearing behind the startled group. “Judging from the slack-jawed, awestruck looks on all your faces, I bet you’re all wondering: what do you get when you take a dashing, well-dressed dream demon and a genius, technologically inclined upstart Gem, and fuse ‘em both together? Well, I’ll tell ya what you get! The one, the only, all-powerful, unstoppable PYRITE!”

A beat or two of silence on the part of the Gems and kids persisted at this, all of them still completely floored and admittedly terrified by the alarming amalgamation before them, especially as the nightmarish realization of exactly what Pyrite was finally sunk in. “I-its… its not possible!” Pearl exclaimed, absolutely dumbfounded. “H-how could they even fuse in the first place!? Bill isn’t even a-”

“Its called making the most of a golden opportunity, Bird Brain,” Pyrite interjected, suddenly appearing in front of the white Gem to flick her spear up playfully. “Not that I’d expect a simple Pearl like you to understand it. Still, I gotta say, it really is great to see you Crystal Chumps again after all these years!” The twisted fusion’s grin widened, their third eye sparking with demented glee as they glided high over the stunned trio. “I should hand it to you, Fuse Box, I’m surprised to see you two are still together and you haven’t split under the pressure of being the leader of the crew like it seemed you were gonna do way back when I first told you about it.”

Upon hearing this, Garnet’s already tightly clenched fists grew even tighter to the point that they were shaking with rage, her fury against the sadistic demon that composed half of Pyrite burning hotter than ever before, especially in light of everything she knew he had done. Even so, the twisted fusion largely disregarded her rage as it turned its gleefully sadistic sights onto Amethyst instead. “And look at you, Half Baked! You’re still exactly like you were 22 years ago! Short, dumpy, and completely USELESS! Nyahahaha!”

Amethyst shared Garnet’s outrage upon hearing such a callous insult, one that she wasn’t about to take lying down as she swung her whip about threateningly. “I’ll show you useless, you stupid piece of-”

“And last but not least, Bird Brain!” Pyrite chimed, hovering dominantly over the much more frightened white Gem. “Boy, I bet you wish you hadn’t tried to fight back against me so you could save your precious Quartzy now, huh? Because what do you know? She’s still gone anyway! And her gem is still up for the taking, isn’t that right, Rosebud?”

Steven gasped, flinching back out of fear as Pyrite suddenly appeared right before him, not hesitating to laughingly lift his shirt up a bit to reveal the stone on his navel. “Don’t act so surprised, kid, you knew I was coming for this thing anyway!” the twisted fusion chuckled, giving his gemstone a small, light tap. “But don’t worry; I think I’m gonna leave ripping that rock right out of your gut for last just so you can watch me take out each of your worthless friends one by one. And speaking of which…”

Dipper froze up instantly the very moment Pyrite set their slitted sights on him, though his breath completely caught in his throat when the twisted fusion zoomed over to him, Bill’s voice taking the slightest precedent over Peridot’s as they taunted him cruelly. “Well, well, Pine Tree, isn’t this just hilarious,” they goaded, practically perching themselves to stand on the edge of his trembling sword as Dipper remained static in his ever-growing state of panic at the mere thought of being in such close proximity to the dream demon once again. “You get all torn up over my run with you as my puppet to the point that you go to the trouble of learning how to stab a fancy knife around and then when you’re finally face to face with me again, you can’t even work up the nerve to so much as swing it at me! Honestly, I’d be laughing my sides off if it wasn’t so completely pathetic. Then again, I’m not really surprised considering this is you we’re talking about here, Pine Tree.”

Dipper didn’t get much of a chance to react to these vicious remarks amidst both his own crippling, inescapable fear as well as the grappling hook that came flying at Pyrite, forcing them to easily dodge it by flying upwards. The twisted fusion’s ongoing grin finally disappeared into a bitter scowl as the hook retracted back to Mabel, who offered them just as fierce of a glare as they were sending her.

“Leave him alone!” she shouted angrily, completely unafraid of the fusion, even as they leered in close to her menacingly.

“Oh yeah? And who’s gonna make me, Shooting Star, you?” Pyrite asked coldly, still bereft of their usual smirk, though they were quick to pick it up once more with a harsh chuckle. “Don’t make me laugh. You make act like you’re trying to be your brother’s hero here, but deep down, we both know that if given the opportunity, you’d gladly throw him under the bus again, just like last time.”

“N-no, I wouldn’t!” Mabel protested, her zeal replaced with a desperation to prove herself. “Things are different now! I-”

“Oh, you’re absolutely right about that, you ‘Mabel’!” Pyrite exclaimed, finally coming to rise above the entire collective group as the Peridot half of their voice finally took a bit of an edge. “Things are going to be different this time, in just about every way too! Because now, I’m finally the one with the upper hand here! You all are trembling and cowering in fear before me, and with good reason! Because with so much unlimited combined power at all four of our collective hands, there’s nothing standing between us and utterly obliterating each and every one of you off the face of this miserable planet once and for all! And really, I see no reason to put your inevitable THRASHING off any longer, do you? Not at all! Then let the show… BEGIN!”

With a wild, unhinged cackle, Pyrite let their power loose, bright, burning green flames bursting over all four of their palms, flames that they didn’t hesitate to send raining down upon their group of foes in a vengeful frenzy. Despite his still quite poignant fear, Steven managed to shield all of them from it with a well-timed bubble, but it was clear that wouldn’t protect them from too long as a long, deadly-looking cane materialized in the twisted fusion’s hand out of nowhere. Pyrite aimed the tip of this cane directly at the group below them, their smile turning wry as energy charged up at its end with what seemed to be a preparing laser blast. A blast that the Gems knew they wouldn’t be able to simply block out.

“Steven, Dipper, Mabel, hide!” Garnet ordered, pushing the kids away just as Pyrite fired their attack. Fortunately, everyone managed to dodge it, but just barely, especially as the twisted fusion began gearing up for another one.

“B-but what about you guys?!” Steven asked worriedly as all three of his guardians scrambled to avoid Pyrite’s next attack.

“We’ll be fine!” Pearl shouted, using her spear to bat away a stray fireball. “But this fight is far too dangerous for you kids to be a part of! Now hurry up and take cover somewhere!”

“But we want to-” Steven was cut off by Mabel suddenly grabbing his arm, as well as Dipper’s, largely since he was much to captivated by his ongoing terror to do much else. Not wasting any time in following up on the Gems’ commands, Mabel pulled both boys over to the relative safety of the opposite side of one of the hub’s tall, sturdy pillars, effectively pulling them out of the fight just as it was starting to kick up.

“Aw, don’t force those puny pebbles away just yet,” Pyrite mocked with faux disappointment as they easily blasted Amethyst across the hub. “They’ll miss out on all the FUN!”

None of the Gems offered a response to this as they tried their best to jump into the offensive against their new, deadly foe. Garnet preformed an incredible jump, her gauntlets at the ready to knock Pyrite out of the air, only for the twisted fusion to easily catch her in a golden tractor beam before flinging her far off into the nearby ocean. “See ya, Fuse Box! Hope who two enjoy the little pleasure cruise I just flew you two clods on! Now…” the fusion’s expression darkened with manic delight as they turned back to Amethyst and Pearl below them. “Which one of you two is next?”

The pair of Gems exchanged an uneasy glance at this, neither of them quite sure of how to take on the unexpectedly combined threat they were facing. Dealing with Peridot was one thing, but Bill was on a whole other level, and by merging together, they had both only made themselves even more of a challenge, a challenge that could, if they didn’t find a way to triumph over it, end up destroying them once and for all.

Even so, they weren’t about to admit defeat so soon. Amethyst rushed forward first, pulling another whip out of her Gem as she lashed both of them out at the fusion’s feet in the hopes of catching them. And catch them Pyrite did, only with their lower hands, using them to fling Amethyst high up into the air before sharply pulling her right back down with a resounding crash. The kids all flinched as it rattled even them from the safety of their hiding spot, but even still, they all remained observing the battle from a distance, terrified of what might happen if they tried to get in any closer.

With Garnet gone and Amethyst dazed and injured, Pearl was really the only one left to stand against Pyrite, and her fear at this fact clearly showed. She held her spear close to her chest, her form still trembling as the twisted fusion hovered over her tauntingly, even as the white Gem tried her best to make an anxious appeal.

“I-I… I don’t know what you think you have to gain from this little… arrangement you’ve made with Peridot, Cipher,” Pearl began, her voice shaky and nervous, even as she tried her hardest to make it firm and resolved. “But I can assure you that neither of you are going to succeed in your twisted ambitions through it!”

“Yeah, yeah, keep running your mouth like that, Bird Brain,” Pyrite deadpanned, rolling all three of their eyes as the white Gem leapt for them, spear poised to attack. “See where all that ‘noble’ talk gets you when I grind you into the glorified pile of salt you are!” Just as Pearl sent her spear flying at the twisted fusion, once again, they easily managed to catch the weapon, using a tractor bean to keep the white Gem suspended in midair all the while. “Really? Is that the best you can do?” Pyrite scoffed, looking over the spear before effortlessly snapping it cleanly in two, much to Pearl’s alarm. “You know, I really expected more out of you Crystal Clods. But I guess all your traitorous tricks and so-called ‘heroism’ are all completely pointless against someone with actual power. Someone like ME!”

With another borderline insane laugh, the twisted fusion launched Pearl hard away from them, sending her crashing into the pillar the kids were hiding behind and knocking the wind out of her entirely. Fortunately, Amethyst had just picked herself up off the ground to pick up the slack in trying to land a hit on Pyrite, but even so, it took Pearl a moment or two to recover from such a heavy blow, much to the concern of the kids right behind her.

“Pearl!” Mabel exclaimed fretfully as her and Steven peeked out from behind the pillar. “Are you ok?”

“I-I’ll be fine…” the white Gem coughed, clearly struggling to get up. “Bill and Peridot certainly aren’t making this easy for us… b-but we’re not giving up yet! You kids just stay back here where its safe.”

“But are you guys gonna do to stop them?” Steven asked worriedly, noticing well that Pearl looked much worse for wear even so early on into the battle.

The white Gem hesitated for a moment, glancing to Amethyst, who had just been slammed to the ground yet again by Pyrite. At the same time, Garnet had finally returned, soaking wet as she tiredly climbed back onto the Galaxy Warp only to throw herself right back into the fight. A fight that, by all accounts, they really didn’t seem to be winning. “Uh… w-we’ll… we’ll think of something,” Pearl assured the kids briefly, finally standing, though she nearly stumbled back to the ground as she did. “Like I said before, stay out of their sight. I know you kids want to help, but this… ‘Pyrite’ is far too much of a threat for you to handle. In fact… they might be too much for even us to handle…” Pearl muttered that last statement as she drew another spear from her gem, hurrying back into the fray herself as Pyrite continued tirelessly fending them off and attacking them at the same exact time.

“This is really bad, you guys,” Steven said, immensely concerned as he continued watching the battle unfold. Or rather, watching Pyrite toss the Gems around as if they were nothing at all to them and sadistically enjoying every single second of the brutal beating they were dishing out. “I know Pearl just told us not to help them but… I really think we should at least try to do something to-”

“Try what, Steven?” Dipper suddenly snapped quite harshly, his hands tightly gripping his arms as his entire body trembled with ongoing fear. “Have you even seen that thing out there? Its literally Bill and Peridot fused into one huge nightmare, one that not even the Gems can so much as land a single hit on! What makes you think any of us will do any better?!”

“Um… w-well, maybe we can come up with a plan to-”

“Steven, can we just… stop pretending like everything’s going to be ok for once?” Dipper asked, his panic dying down into despondency and despair as he slid down to sit against the back of the pillar, pulling his knees to his chest. “Because it’s pretty obvious that it won’t be. As long as Bill’s fused with Peridot, he’s has a physical form. Which means that he can basically just kill any of us any time he wants to, probably as soon as he’s done torturing us for his own sick kicks.”

“Dipper-” Mabel attempted to interject, reaching a hand out to console her clearly hopeless brother, only for him to completely reject it as he buried his head into his arms.

“So what’s even the point in trying to fight back anyway?” he asked, his shoulders hitching in what was likely a broken sob. “It’ll only make things even worse! T-there’s no way we can beat something like this. We need to just face facts already… i-it’s over, and we lost…”

Upon hearing this forlorn belief, Steven and Mabel exchanged a deeply fretful glance, one that was filled with worry for both Dipper and the situation at large. Right behind them, the Gems were still absolutely struggling against Pyrite’s magical might as the twisted fusion landed hit after heavy hit upon them, even despite their determined resilience to stand against such a treacherous foe. Still, it was becoming painfully clear that all three of them were truly outmatched against a being as strong and seemingly untouchable as Pyrite, to the point that Steven and Mabel themselves began to fear that Dipper was perhaps right after all. They wouldn’t be able to keep their valiant struggle up forever; sooner or later, Pyrite would overpower them and go in for the malicious, sadistic kill, starting with the Gems before finishing them off in their destructive wake. And then, after that, there would be absolutely no telling what the twisted fusion might do next.

Certainly, the Gems themselves must have realized this fatal fact as well, but even so, they persisted fighting, knowing that there was really nothing else they could do now. Garnet leapt high, hoping to finally land at least a single punch on Pyrite, only for the fusion to gleefully send out a wave of burning energy that send the Gem leader flying backward, torn, tattered, and significantly weakened by the attack. Pyrite themselves let out a smug, mocking laugh as they fired a barrage of explosive lasers from their cane down at Amethyst and Pearl, which only barely missed the pair of Gems directly as it knocked them both away, injuring them heavily, yet somehow not destabilizing them altogether. As each of the Gems struggled to recover from such damaging attacks, Pyrite decided to ease up for a moment, if only to take the chance to hold their soon-coming victory over the trio’s heads.

“Seriously, its like you three aren’t even trying here!” the twisted fusion teased, hovering over them triumphantly. “Then again, that’s not too much of a surprise. Without Quartzy around to tell you what to do, you chumps are just about completely worthless! Too bad she isn’t around to save you this time, because without her to bail you out, you three don’t stand a CHANCE!”

Pyrite unleashed an absolutely wicked laugh at this, their trio of eyes blazing with immense, sadistic delight as they poured down a massive torrent of golden flames upon the weakened Gems below. They only barely had enough strength to pick themselves up off the ground and scramble to narrowly avoid the blast, but with the very limited battle ground they had to work with, it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to outrun Pyrite’s seemingly endless barrage of deadly attacks for too long.

Steven realized this as well as he continued observing the battle from afar, a rare sort of anger building up inside of him, especially as he heard Pyrite’s vicious remarks towards his guardians. There was no question that, after all he had put them through years ago, the Gems feared Bill just as much as the kids did, if not even more. But despite that fear, they were still pushing themselves to bravely stand against him, and against Peridot as well, despite how difficult the battle was and how stacked against their favor the odds of them winning it were. And yet, Pyrite hardly seemed to care as they simply mocked and taunted them with callous cruelty, reopening old wounds both physical and mental all the while.

And as far as Steven was concerned, it just wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair that Bill always seemed to have the upper hand, no matter what the occasion. It wasn’t fair that he had been the main reason why the Gems had so many valuable memories ripped away from them years ago. It wasn’t fair that he had put his friends, Dipper, Mabel, Connie, and even himself through so much torment and anguish simply to satisfy his own twisted pleasure. It wasn’t fair that Peridot had come to Earth with the intent of causing it untold harm. It wasn’t fair that she had brought Jasper along with her, and that as a result, Lapis ended up locking them both away in a horrendous aquatic prison. It wasn’t fair that tracking her down had ended up tearing a brutal rift between the Gems, a rift that, while repaired, had still hurt them all the same. It wasn’t fair that that both components of Pyrite had done so much to cause them all so much pain, so much dread, so much terror and yet they still were somehow on top, working together in a monstrous amalgamation that was poised to destroy them all and everything they held dear.

It wasn’t fair… which was why Steven realized that perhaps it was time to stop fearing their foes and the havoc they could wreak upon them… and start fighting back instead.

And as the young Gem looked back to the twisted fusion once more, he finally came up with a way to do just that.

With newfound resolve, Steven turned to face the twins once more, only to find them both in rather solemn states. Dipper was still completely despondent, not even acknowledging Mabel’s earnest attempts to comfort him amidst his ongoing grief and fear. Even Mabel herself seemed to lack her usual upbeat zeal, especially as she glanced back to the disastrous battle right behind them every now and again with growing concern and obvious dread. Yet despite this, Steven knew that she would probably be his best bet at the moment, given how crippled by terror Dipper seemed to be at the moment. Still, if his newfound plan went well (and Steven desperately hoped it would), perhaps they’d finally be able to alleviate that terror in all of them once and for all.

“Mabel,” Steven began as firmly as he could as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “I have an idea. A-and I’m gonna need your help for it.”

For a moment, Mabel simply took pause at this, her cheeks lightly flushing as she briefly glanced over at the hand the young Gem had on her shoulder before looking back to him with wide eyes. “Um.. y-yeah, of course!” she answered, almost a bit too enthusiastically. “I’m down for whatever you have in mind!”

“Well, that’s great,” Steven sighed in relief, not pulling his hand away as he also blushed slightly. “Though… exactly what I have in mind might be… kinda dangerous. I don’t want to force you into it if you’re-”

“Steven,” Mabel interupted, acting on a bold impulse as she suddenly took both of the young Gem’s hands and held them tightly. “I don’t think you heard me before. I said I’m down for whatever crazy thing you have in mind. Especially if what you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

“Um… and what might that be?” the young Gem asked with a small, bemused smile. Mabel simply whispered it to him with an excited, growing grin, one that Steven shared as he realized they did indeed have the exact same idea in mind. “Yeah, that’s it! So, I guess we should-”

“YES!” Mabel shouted happily, not hesitating to grab Steven by the hand so they could put their shared plan into action. For the most part, Dipper had paid no mind to the ongoing conversation between the pair as lost to his own morosely panic and grim thoughts as he was. However, he was soon broken out of his revere by a sudden flash of pale pink light, one that only disappeared as he glanced up to look at it and reveal a familiar four-eyed figure he hadn’t seen in quite some time.

“Heya, Dip-bro!” the fusion greeted with a confident, winning smile. “Did ya miss me? Cause I sure missed me!”

They let out a bright, cheerful laugh at this, one that wasn’t even broken by Dipper as he simply stared up at them in absolute awe and disbelief. “M-Maven?!” he exclaimed, sitting up somewhat as he looked the fusion, clad in both Steven and Mabel’s pajamas, up and down.

“Aw, you remembered!” Maven quipped excitedly. “But as great as it is to finally be back in action after so long, I’m afraid I don’t really have too much time to chat.” The fusion held their hand out, light surrounding it briefly before their iconic grappling shield materialized in their grasp. “There are two big bullies making a huge mess out there and somebody’s gotta take care of them, so it might as well be me!”

“Wait!” Dipper interjected, grabbing the fusion’s free hand before they could go running into the ongoing fray. “Y-you guys can’t go out there! Its way too dangerous! Bill could-”

“Dipper,” Maven said, kneeling down to his level as they put a comforting, steadying hand on his shoulder. “I know you’re scared of Bill, a-and to be honest, both of us are too. And to be really honest, Pyrite is even more scary than just Bill on his own, which is probably why the Gems aren’t doing so hot out there. And that’s exactly why we want to—no, I need to help! I want to protect the Earth, and the Gems, a-and I want to protect you too! And maybe, if we work together, just like Bill and Peridot are right now, then we might just have a chance at finally stopping both of them once and for all. Don’t ya think?”

Despite his own going worries and fears, Dipper was unable to hold back a small, comforted smile upon hearing the fusion’s warm reassurance as he nodded his assent. “Ok, but… please, be careful out there you guys. If anything were to happen to you, I’d-”

“Aw, don’t worry, Dip-bro, nothing’s gonna happen,” Maven laughed as they rose to stand, spinning their grappling shield playfully in their hand. “And besides, you know me! Careful is my middle na-” The fusion was cut of as their shield accidentally fired, knocking them upside the head, though not hurting them too much at all as it came zooming right back into place. “Whoops! Heh, guess this thing is kinda touchy.”

This exchange was abruptly cut off as Pyrite’s combined, menacing laughter echoed throughout the Galaxy Warp once more. Dipper and Maven were quick to take a peek around the pillar they were still behind, only to see that the twisted fusion had captured all three of the Gems in their golden tractor beam, their cane charging up with what would surely be a devastating blast. “Oh no!” Maven gasped, not hesitating to hop up onto the warp hub to rush into the fight. “I’ve gotta help them!”

“W-wait!” Dipper called after them worriedly, half inclined to join them, that is, until he stole another glance at Pyrite hanging high above the hub. Upon hearing their horrific, sinister cackling once more, Dipper quickly shrunk back, his former terror returning in full as he thought of just how easy it would be for the fusion, or more specifically the demonic half of the fusion, to completely obliterate him in an instant. Which was why, despite all of his training and even despite his best friend and sister hurrying into this deadly skirmish themselves, he ultimately found himself unable to so much as move to stand against this nightmarish enemy for himself.

Maven, on the other hand, had the exact opposite intentions in mind. For as Pyrite continued gloating to the Gems, who were struggling in vain to try and escape their tight tractor grip, the fusion skirted around the hub, just out of their sight, with a plan of their own in mind to turn the tide of the battle. “Well, it looks like this is finally the end, for you at least,” Pyrite remarked, aiming their charged cane at the frozen trio before them. “I have to admit, this really has been fun! So, any last words before I wipe you three clean out of existence, you clods?”

“Well, shucks, I don’t have any. How about you?!” Mere seconds after this confident proclamation rung out across the Galaxy Warp, Pyrite was suddenly struck cleanly in the back of their triangular head by a hard flat surface. The blow was more than enough to catch the twisted fusion off guard, finally releasing the Gems from their grip as they looked around in complete confusion as to where such an attack might have come from.

“What the-?!” Pyrite was stopped short as the broad side of a solid pink shield hit them squarely in the face, knocking them back significantly. “Hey! What’s the big idea here?!”

“The big idea is ME!” Maven exclaimed boldly as their grappling shield zoomed back to them. The fusion stood proud and strong between the twisted fusion and the recovering Gems, making it very clear they had no intention of backing down this time whatsoever.

“M-Maven?!” Amethyst exclaimed, dumbfounded to see the fusion again at such a time as this.

“The one and only,” Maven grinned back at the Gems, two of their four eyes winking playfully to them before Pyrite caught their attention once more.

“Oh, you’ve got to be KIDDING me!” the twisted fusion barked, an expression that was a cross between annoyance and amusement blooming onto their face. “Out of all the stunts I thought you could pull, Rosebud, this one is by far the most ridiculous. Fusing? With Shooting Star, of all people or Gems? You might as well have just jumped into the ocean seeing as how you two are about as useful as any of those chumps behind you are!”

Maven cast a brief glance back at the Gems before cracking a bit of a smirk as they turned to Pyrite once more. “Mm, I dunno, seems to me like you’re the useless one around here, no offense,” they remarked with an innocent shrug.

“…What?” Pyrite asked, clearly offended.

“Yeah, I mean…” Maven began leadingly, ignoring the shocked glances the Gems were giving them as they began to walk past the disgruntled, twisted fusion. “I’m fun, and sweet, and enthusiastic, and helpful, and oh, did I mention adorable. You, on the other hand, Pyrite, well… if we’re bein’ honest here, you’re scary, and mean, and loud, and crazy, and hm… something else too, its on the tip of my tongue here, what is it…? Oh yeah! TOTALLY GOIN’ DOWN!”

Without any warning, the fusion quickly spun around, sending their grappling shield flying at the unprepared Pyrite. The force of the shield was immense, a bright, newfound kind of energy surrounding it as it clocked the twisted fusion hard in the chest, sending them flying off the edge of the Galaxy Warp entirely and a good ways into the ocean itself. “Huh, guess that goes to show which one of us is the better fusion around here!” Maven called after them with a winning grin. “It’s me, in case you were still confused or anything!”

“Steven! Mabel!” Pearl’s rather harsh exclamation abruptly cut through the fusion’s triumph, forcing them to turn to face all three of the Gems’ rather disapproving expressions. “What in the world do you two think you’re doing?!”

“Uh, taking care of you Pyrite problem for ya, duh,” Maven chuckled, tossing their grappling shield up a bit before catching it easily. “You’re welcome, by the way. This is our first time fighting all fused up like this and I’m having a ton of fun.”

“Well, that’s quite enough fun for you two for one battle,” Pearl huffed, clearly stressed as Garnet and Amethyst kept an eye out for Pyrite’s inevitable return. “I told you kids to stay hidden! You may have gotten a few lucky shots in, but Pyrite is a dangerous, unpredictable enemy, and we won’t stand for you kids getting hurt trying to fight them! Which means you two need to unfuse this instant and go back to hiding!”

“No, that’s the exact opposite of what we need to do, Pearl!” Maven insisted, looking between all three of the Gems earnestly. “Pyrite’s a fusion, right? Well, maybe instead of trying to fight them on our own, we should try fighting a fusion with fusion! Know what I’m saying?”

“You… want us to fuse?” Amethyst asked, raising a curious eyebrow. “I dunno. It’s not like we go around fusing all the time unless its for something like, super serious?”

“This is literally Bill and Peridot working together,” Maven said incredulously. “How is it not super serious?”

The Gems exchanged a brief glance at this, none of them really able to deny such a pertinent truth. And, as usual, Garnet was the one to speak to that truth with a small, supportive smile. “It’s a good plan,” she said, even though Bill’s presence was all but blocking her future vision from seeing the results of it. “Let’s do it. Gems, get ready to synchronize!”

“Um, well, we should probably do it quick then, seeing as how they’re coming back!” Amethyst pointed out the approaching green-golden figure that was Pyrite, angrily rushing back towards the Galaxy Warp at a frightening speed.

“Amethyst, Pearl!” Garnet commanded firmly. “You’re up first.”

“Right!” the pair nodded, putting all of their usual troubles fusing together behind them in light of the dire straits they were in. They were just beginning their fusion dance when Pyrite finally returned, soaking wet and absolutely furious with the clever trick Maven had just played on them.

“ROSE STAR!” the twisted fusion growled, sparking with building power as they glared hatefully at Maven and Maven alone.

“Oooo, Rose Star! I get it!” Maven grinned, flattered. “‘Rosebud’, ‘Shooting Star’, its like you fused your silly little nicknames up for us, just like how we fused ourselves up! I like that! In fact, to show you how much I like it, I got a little surprise for you, Pyrite! Isn’t that right, Opal?!”

The fusion’s grin widened as they spun around just as Amethyst and Pearl’s forms converged in a bright light, their height scaling as they merged into a tall, steadfast, four-armed giant woman, one who was more than ready to take on the ongoing battle. “Yes,” Opal said in her usual calm, deep voice as her longbow appeared in her lower hands. “It is.”

“Tch,” Pyrite scoffed, scowling angrily as they floated a bit back from the much larger fusion before them. “You clods just fuse like its nothing, don’t you? What, you’re too weak to take me on one-on-one?”

“I don’t know,” Opal pondered thoughtfully before breaking out into a daring smirk, raising her bow as an arrow of pure light formed around it. “Are you?”

Pyrite barely had a chance to dodge the arrow Opal shot their way, chuckling to themselves over how the projectile missed before the fusion sent several more flying at them in rapid succession. The twisted fusion managed to block or evade most of them, though a few of them did skim them, much to their increasing aggravation.

“Hmph! You know, I’m surprised you’ve even managed to remember me for this long, Half Brain, what with that short term memory problem of yours!” Pyrite taunted bitterly, circling around the taller fusion, who simply laughed graciously in response.

“It’s hard to forget a face like yours,” Opal teased back, opting to use her bow as a more combatant weapon by swinging it swiftly at Pyrite themselves. Her blow landed true, sending the twisted fusion spiraling backwards, crashing hard into the pillar that Dipper was still hiding behind. He stifled a frightened gasp as he tucked even further behind the pillar, not wanting to garnish Pyrite’s attention in any way, and fortunately, he didn’t as the angered fusion was far too consumed in the ongoing battle. A battle that, against all odds, was quickly starting to turn against their favor.

Ready to make their foes pay for the few lucky hits they had managed to get in, Pyrite began zooming back towards Opal just as she started to unfuse on her own accord. However, before they could reach the Gems, the twisted fusion was suddenly launched upward, letting out a fierce cry of pain as a spiked shield rammed against their exposed backside.

“Wow, what do ya know?!” Maven quipped as they looked back to their grappling shield, which now sported an array of short, sharp spikes on its surface. “Looks like I can make it all spikey too. This thing’s amazing! Sorta like you, Opaaaaaaa—ohhhh my gosh!” Stars were in all four of the fusion’s eyes as they turned to see Garnet and Amethyst merge next, a combining to create a Gem that was almost too large for the Galaxy Warp to even contain. All the same, Sugilite let out a wild, rowdy laugh as she made her long-awaited reappearance, her shades appearing instantly as her flail also showed up in one of her massive hands.

“Now, we’re talkin!” the bombastic fusion chuckled, tossing her weapon up and down experimentally. “Where’s that Pyrite punk at? I can’t wait to pummel ‘em into the ground like the ‘clod’ they are!”

“There they are! There they are!” Maven exclaimed, excitedly pointing to Pyrite as they slowly floated back down to the hub, disoriented and damaged from their previous attack.

“Ugh… huh?” the twisted fusion shook their head to clear it, all three of their eyes growing wide with surprise and slight fear as they looked to the massive Sugilite towering in front of them. “Uh oh…”

“So, you two think you’re some big hotshot just cause you’re two loudmouthed triangles smashed together?” Sugilite asked with a toothy smirk. “Ya look you’re just a big square if ya ask me. Which is why I’m gonna beat you into shape!” The fusion laughed heartily as she began swinging her flail about, and try as they might to think of a way to block or avoid it, Pyrite was ultimately too late as it struck them squarely, beating them hard and heavy into the ground before Sugilite picked it up with them still stuck to it. Knowing this, the fusion swung her weapon upward, watching with smug satisfaction as Pyrite was flung sharply upwards once more, so far into the sky that they couldn’t even be seen anymore after a certain point. “See ya, nerd!” Sugilite called after them, swinging her flail over their shoulder as she stared up into the night sky for the twisted fusion who would certainly come back down. Eventually.

“Oh my gosh, Sugilite is so dang cool!” Maven gasped, hopping up and down excitedly in light of such an impressive display.

“Eh, she’s alright, I suppose,” Pearl remarked with a small laugh, remembering just how much trouble Sugilite had caused during one of her previous rampages. Still, in a situation like this against a foe as deadly as Pyrite, a rampage was more than welcome.

“Sugilite! Sugilite! Sugilite!” Maven shouted, eager to get the fusion’s attention. “I got an idea!”

“Oh yeah?” Sugilite asked, her curiosity peaked as she allowed the smaller fusion into her hand. “Lay it on me, half pint.” Maven did so, whispering their plan to the fusion, who let out another raucous chuckle upon hearing it. “Oh, I like the way you think, baby! So… up ya go!” And with that Sugilite tossed Maven hard upwards, sending them flying in the exact same direction Pyrite had gone, much to Pearl’s immense alarm.

“W-what are you doing?!” the white Gem asked, distraught as she watched the smaller fusion disappear from sight.

“Ah, relax, Pearl,” Sugilite scoffed, unconcerned. “We got this.” No sooner had the fusion said this, however, than a bright golden laser blast shot down from the skies above, giving the pair below no time at all to much as even react to it before it struck Sugilite squarely, splitting her up almost instantly. Garnet and Amethyst fell away from each other hard, both of them suddenly sharing Pearl’s fearful worry as they searched the seemingly empty skies above, seeing no signs of Maven whatsoever within them. Even Dipper pulled away from his persistent hiding spot a bit to look for the fusion, practically overwhelmed with fear that the unthinkable might have happened.

However, these worries were soon unfounded as Pyrite came into view once more, falling hard and fast back towards the Galaxy Warp as the result of a no doubt brutal blow from Maven. The fusion themselves was next to fall, letting out a terrified cry all the while as they had no way to break what would no doubt be quite a painful landing. Unless…

“Pearl! We need to fuse, now!” Garnet exclaimed, turning to her other teammate earnestly.

“A-Are you sure?” Pearl asked, taken aback with surprise. “I… I don’t want it to be like… well, like what happened last time…”

“It won’t be like last time,” the Gem leader assured, taking Pearl’s hand and offering her a reassuring smile. “I know it.”

For the briefest of moments, the white Gem hesitated, worried that she’d let herself get carried away on the euphoria that was fusing with Garnet yet again. But along with that worry came the memory of the resolve she had made to the Gem leader herself; a resolve to stand on her own and be stronger, regardless of the foe they were facing. Which meant that if Garnet wanted her to stand strong alongside her once again, then who was she to turn such an offer down? “S-so do I,” Pearl said with a confident nod, allowing the Gem leader to lead in their fusion dance. All the while, Amethyst continued watching the skies worriedly, paying Pyrite no mind as they made a brutal landing in the broken remains of the Homeworld warp. Maven themselves were awash in fear, absolutely clueless as how to stop themselves from falling as the ground drew closer and closer. They had hoped that Sugilite would have been able to catch them after tossing them up so far, allowing them to hit Pyrite with a quite unexpected blow in the air; however, the fusion seemed to be completely unaccounted for, much to Maven’s distraught alarm as they tightly closed their eyes and braced themselves for the inevitable. Though thankfully, it never came.

For instead, Maven found themselves being caught, not by Sugilite, but by the safe, massive hands of another fusion entirely. “Aaaaaand got you!” Sardonyx exclaimed as theatrically as ever as she began her gentle descent back to the ground. “And not a moment too soon either, darling! Why, if I hadn’t intervened when I did, then you’d likely be nothing more than an adorable, Maven-shaped splat on the ground at this very moment, which is absolutely unthinkable for a fusion as charming as you!”

“Aw, Sardonyx!” Maven laughed warmly, blushing at the compliment. “You’re too sweet!”

“As are you, dear, but we don’t quite have time to decide which one of us would win on that front,” the showy fusion quipped, making a graceful landing as Amethyst and Dipper both let out respective sighs of relief. “After all, we have bigger fish to fry…”

At that very same moment, Pyrite properly picked themselves up out of the Homeworld warp’s rubble, an aggravated scowl forming on their face the moment they caught sight of Sardonyx grinning down at them from high above. “Oh great…” they grumbled, rising to float once more as they glared hostilely at the showy fusion. “It’s you…”

“It’s a real treat to meet you too, Pyrite,” Sardonyx remarked with a mocking bow. “Though I must say, your sense of style does seem to be a bit derivative…” She mused, straightening her own bowtie as she looked to Pyrite’s critically. “Are you sure you’re not copying me? I can’t truly blame you if you are. After all, my aesthetic is very inspiring.”

“I HAD THE BOWTIE FIRST AND YOU KNOW IT, BIRD BOX!” Pyrite shouted furiously, though their anger only increased tenfold as Sardonyx rolled all four of her eyes at such a claim.

“If you say so…” she shrugged as her giant hammer materialized in her lower hands. “Even so, I still think it looks better on me!” With this, Sardonyx swiftly twisted her torso before suddenly swinging her hammer hard, striking Pyrite clean on the side. The twisted fusion was sent flying across the hub, but Sardonyx beat them to its edge with an easy leap, using her momentum to pound Pyrite yet again. She repeated this process several times over as she knocked them about the surface of the hub, laughing mirthfully all the while as she continued to tease the twisted fusion all the while. “Oh, what’s the matter, dear? You’re looking a bit green. A bit yellow, too, but I’m not one to judge. By the way, I do believe that, in most human circles, pyrite is referred to as ‘fool’s gold’. Well, how incredibly fitting for you, since you’re composed of two of the biggest fools I happen to know! Ohohohoh!” With this bombastic laugh, Sardonyx finally came in for her heaviest swing yet, one that was more than enough to send Pyrite far out of the bounds of the Galaxy Warp and back towards the ocean once more.

As pressed against the back of the pillar as he was, Dipper was admittedly quite surprised when Pyrite went flying cleanly past him, shooting out far somewhere off into the distance. Tentatively, he peeked out onto the hub itself only to find Sardonyx gleefully accepting kudos from both Maven and Amethyst on such a successful beatdown, one that Dipper could scarcely believe had happened at all. After all, only a few mere minutes ago, Pyrite had stood poised to easily destroy them all without any sort of opposition whatsoever. Yet somehow, through some miracle, the tides of this battle had turned; once again, there seemed to be some kind of hope that they might actually win, that they actually stood a chance against someone as powerful and merciless as Pyrite themselves.

Still, Dipper knew better. Certainly, Bill must have been luring them all into a false sense of security, making them thing they had a shot at beating him before turning things right back around on them whenever he saw fit. Yet, for as much as he knew it was all a lost cause, some small part of him still wanted to believe that it wasn’t. He wanted to share the same sort of hope that Steven and Mabel did. He wanted Bill, and Peridot too, to finally, finally taste defeat, for so many different reasons. For himself and the absolute anguish, both internal and external, he had gone through and was still going through at the demon’s cruel hands. For his friends who had nearly lost their lives struggling against him in the past. For Lapis, who was stuck in yet another prison only after being chased back to Earth by Peridot and the threat she had once posed. When Dipper really thought about it, both of the components that composed Pyrite had taken so much from him in the past: his friend, his body, his sense of security, and even still they stood to take and take even more if left unchecked. For certainly, if Pyrite won, they’d take the lives of the Gems, of Steven, of Mabel, possibly even reality itself if Bill used the twisted fusion as some sort of means of getting his hands on the rift. And it was only as this horrific thought dawned upon Dipper that he realized something important. Perhaps it was time to leave his longstanding fear behind in favor of something greater, of something far more significant than continuing nightmares or ominous threats. Perhaps it was time to stop letting both Bill and Peridot get away with taking as they pleased… and instead, pay them back for all they had stolen from him in full.

Meanwhile, back up on the hub, Sardonyx had harmoniously unfused, just in time for the group to plan out what they hoped would be their final attack on Pyrite, resolving to split the twisted fusion up once and for all. “Ok, so when they get back, you guys should all totally fuse into Alexandrite!” Maven suggested with a zealous grin. “And then, BAM! Hit ‘em so hard that POOF! They’ll have no choice but to split up!”

“Another good plan, Maven,” Garnet smirked as she crossed her arms. “But I don’t think the Galaxy Warp is big enough to hold Alexandrite.”

“Even if it was, I doubt we’d even need her to finish Pyrite off,” Pearl chuckled, unaware of the ominous shadow rising from the depths of the ocean right behind them. “We’ve already worn them down so much by this point that it’d be surprising if they even came back at all!”

“Yeah, we totally owned those two dumb ol’ triangles,” Amethyst remarked calmly. “Heck, when you think about it, maybe we really had nothing to be afraid of when it came to either Bill or Peridot, after all.”

“Oh I wouldn’t say that, Half Baked…” The entire group froze, newfound alarm sparking through all of them as they spun around to face Pyrite. The twisted fusion looked much worse for wear than how they’d started out, but by far the most frightening thing about them was the intense, hateful scowl on their face, all three of their eyes aglow with nothing less than murderous intent as they slowly walked, not hovered, towards their foes. “You really are a bunch of stupid clods if you think this is anywhere close to over yet! All of your fusions are nothing compared to my unlimited, unfathomable power! So keep ‘em coming, Crystal Chumps. Because I can keep this going for the REST OF TIME ITSELF!”

The Gems exchanged a brief, fearful glance at this, but just as before, Maven was unphased by their threats as they boldly stepped forward. “Oh yeah?” they asked challengingly. “Well, so can we!”

“YOU TWO!” Pyrite suddenly growled, their hatred seeming to flare up tenfold as the fusion made such a daring claim. With a vicious, hostile shout, Pyrite charged forward, their hands aglow with dangerous golden power, power that Maven only barely blocked with a well-timed shield formed over their arm. The twisted fusion collided with it hard and refused to let up as they kept their energy pressed tightly against the protective surface, which was starting to wear down just as much as Maven themselves were as a result of the devastating power being mounted against them. “This is all your fault, Shooting Bud! I had those Crystal Chumps right on the ropes, ready to crack until YOU came and ‘inspired’ them to ‘work together’. But I’m not about to let some mostly human runt like you stop me now!”

In an attempt to give Maven some much needed help, the Gems all quickly rushed forward, ready to provide them backup where they could. Yet, before any of them could even get close, one of Pyrite’s lower hands lashed out with a wave of fiery energy, one that knocked them all cleanly back and allowed the twisted fusion to continue pressing against Maven, who was clearly starting to struggle to keep both their shield, and even themselves together. “Oh, what’s the matter, Rose Star? Falling apart so soon?” Pyrite taunted cruelly, their sadistic grin widening as Maven let out a small, pained cry as their energy began to wane. “Well believe me, you’ll be doing a lot worse than that by the time I’m through with you! The moment I split you pebbles up, I think I’ll start by tossing Shooting Star up into the cold, inhospitable depths of space before slowly and painfully tearing that gem right out of your body, Rosebud! Then, I think I’ll finish things off by blowing this entire hub to smithereens with all those Crystal Clods still on it! What a shame that neither of you will still be alive to see it! NYAHAHAHAH!”

With this loud, manic laugh, the twisted fusion came in with a sudden, brutal strike, one that was finally enough to shatter Maven’s shield entirely. The fusion screamed in agony as they caught the brunt of Pyrite’s flames, burning them slightly as they fell back and finally fell apart, no longer able to hold themselves together amidst the pain and fear that ended up tearing their fusion apart.

Steven and Mabel fell apart from each other hard, both of them weak and hurt and disoriented in light of how sudden their split had been. They only had the briefest chance to look to each other worriedly, however, before Pyrite’s dark shadow hung over them, the twisted fusion standing directly before them with their iconic merciless grin and golden flames poised to attack. “I’ll hand it to you, you kids put up one hell of a fight,” they remarked coldly, practically soaking in the terror of the two defenseless kids before them. “But in the end, it was nowhere even close to enough to stop me. So, it looks like this is finally the end…” Pyrite’s menacing smirk seemed to widen as they shifted their gaze between both the kids and the Gems, who were also completely helpless to stop the incredibly powerful attack the twisted fusion was about to send their way. “Say goodbye, you CLODS!”

With another demented cackle, Pyrite threw all four of their hands down, their flames spiraling directly towards Steven and Mabel first. The pair gasped in fear and braced themselves for the no-doubt painful assault, and yet it was an assault that never actually hit them. For instead, the flames were suddenly completely extinguished, courtesy of the steadfast edge of an ice-coated blade that had been wedged before the fire just in the nick of time.

“WHAT?!” Pyrite yelled, dumbfounded as to how their deadly attack could have possibly failed. Yet as the smoke from the doused fire cleared, Steven and Mabel were the first to see exactly who had come to their rescue.

“Dipper!” they both exclaimed with surprised, yet excited smiles.

“What?” Dipper smirked back at them, holding his sword firmly and confidently. “You guys didn’t think I’d let you have all the fun, did you?”

The kids all shared a brief, warm laugh over this, yet it was ultimately short lived as Pyrite let out a bitter, mocking laugh behind them. “So, you finally decided to crying and cowering in the corner, huh, Pine Tree?” they asked tauntingly, their lower set of hands poised on their hips as they stood over Dipper intimidatingly.

Yet this time, he wasn’t fazed, especially as he forced himself to remain stern and steady against letting his fear of the dream demon control him any longer. “Yeah, I did,” he replied curtly. “When are you gonna stop cowering behind someone like Peridot and actually fight us yourself, Bill?”

Pyrite let out a harsh, angry scoff at this, their trio of eyes flashing with malice and hatred. “I’d watch myself if I were you, Pine Tree,” they growled darkly as flames curled around their upper hands. “You’re playing with fire here. And I’d hate to see you get BURNED!”

With a furious shout, the twisted fusion launched one of their fireballs right at Dipper, who smartly and quickly warded them off with the Sword of Seasons, now covered in a gale-force wind. The breeze was enough to send the flames flying right back at Pyrite, who stumbled backward as the blast hit them and scorched them quite a bit.

“Believe me, I know you wouldn’t,” Dipper remarked solidly, taking a bold step forward as Steven and Mabel rose to join him. Likewise, the Gems also rejoined the fray, their weapons summoned as they stood poised and resolved to fight back. “Problem is, I’m done letting you and what you did to me burn me anymore. We all are.”

“That’s right,” Garnet solidly agreed, completely unshaken. “Which means this can either go one of two ways: you two can split up here and now and this can all be over with. Or, we’ll split you ourselves.”

“So,” Pearl smirked, her spear aimed directly at the admittedly stunned fusion. “Do we have ourselves some kind of deal, Pyrite?”

For a stark moment, Pyrite said nothing, their expression awash in angry alarm as they took in the large, dedicated group before them, a group that was, by all accounts, completely unafraid of them and ready to fight. It was obvious the twisted fusion had lost their prior edge against their foes, and as a result, they were now apparently outnumbered and outmatched. A fact that half of them fearfully recognized and a fact that the other half of them stubbornly refused to accept.

“Well? Any bright ideas about how we’re going to get out of this mess?” Pyrite muttered to themselves, Peridot’s half of their voice taking precedent before Bill’s took over again. “Hold your horses, I’m thinkin’ here! I will not hold any so-called ‘horses’! We’re about to be beaten into the ground by a bunch of rowdy traitors and you need to do something to stop it! What did I tell you earlier about demanding things from me?! I don’t care! You said you’d help me, but even after all this, I’m no better off than I was before! Oh, you want some help, Greenie? Well, I’ll be MORE than happy to give you ALL the help you need!”

Upon this rather hostile exclamation, Pyrite suddenly lurched back, all three of their eyes closing tight as Peridot’s side of their voice let out a sharp, sudden scream. The kids and the Gems all stopped short at that, watching in alarm as this scream gradually morphed into Bill’s wild, insane cackling. A bright flash of light engulfed the fusion, and when it quickly faded, Pyrite still remained, though from their glowing yellow trio of eyes alone, it was clear to see who was now completely in control.

“Sorry to shove you to the side, Greenie,” Pyrite grinned, now fully speaking in Bill’s voice with hardly a trace of Peridot’s left. “But you were starting to get in my way. Now, back to-”

The fusion was abruptly cut off by a fast and heavy punch in the jaw from Garnet, one that sent them clumsily tumbling backwards. “You talk too much,” the Gem leader remarked, adjusting her shades coolly.

“Oh, you chumps are gonna get it now,” Pyrite growled, shaking the blow off as they began to angrily storm forward. However, before they could even really take a step forward, they suddenly tripped and fell completely to the ground thanks to Amethyst’s whip coiled tightly around their leg. “Hey!”

“Whoops,” the purple Gem shrugged playfully. “Sorry, dude. Maybe you should watch your step!” With this, Amethyst swung her whip hard, with Pyrite still tied up in it all the while. The fusion was unable to free themselves from its grip as she spun them around the Galaxy Warp at a rapid pace, clearly having the time of her life in such cathartic payback.

Pyrite’s unexpected ‘flight’ came to a sharp and sudden end the moment they crashed onto the dull edge of Pearl’s outstretched spear. In retaliation, the fusion attempted to grab the spear and rip it out of the white Gem’s hands, but Pearl was too fast for them, pulling it away before going back in with a swift, accurate swing. Pyrite barely blocked it with their own cane, though the force of Pearl’s strike was enough to tear right through it, slicing it cleanly in half to the point that it abruptly disappeared in a small flash of light.

“Hm, what a surprise,” Pearl noted, pulling her spear back for another swing. “Knowing you, Cipher, I was expecting that thing to be a bit more sturdy. Then again, I suppose its just like most of your hairbrained schemes are, including this one: destined to fall apart at the seams!” The white Gem lashed out once more, hoping to take the final blow, though Pyrite leapt out of its way, opting to go back to their usual floating as they glared daggers down at the group below.

“K-keep on laughing it up, you chumps!” Pyrite hissed hotly, their manner still fierce though it was obvious they were steadily starting to fatigue. “We’ll see how funny it is when you’re all smashed into nothing more than the worthless bits of rock you really are!” The twisted fusion let out a heavy shout as they raised their upper hands high above their head, making the most of what energy they did have left to form a massive, powerful golden flame, one that they were more than ready to rain down upon all their foes in one last ditch, desperate attempt at wiping them out for good.

And yet, even that attempt was all for naught as both of their hands were suddenly caught and pulled back swiftly. Their flame diminished in its entirety as they glanced behind them, only to see Amethyst’s whip and Mabel’s grappling hook keeping both of their arms entirely restrained and leaving the perfect opening in its wake.

“Now, you guys!” Mabel shouted with a daring grin, nodding to Steven, who was the first to spring into action as Garnet threw him straight at Pyrite. A solid, sturdy shield was formed on the young Gem’s arm, and with a courageous shout, he brought it down on the unprepared fusion’s head, sending them pummeling straight into the ground. The moment Steven landed, Dipper was already right at his side, his sword drawn and electrified as he ran to the young Gem and preformed a deft, skillful jump right off the side of the shield, which gave him just enough of a boost to launch him right at the dazed fusion. Pyrite only had enough time to briefly turn to face the sword coming right at them and let out a startled gasp before it squarely hit its mark, impaling them cleanly and evenly in the center of their chest.

The entire Galaxy Warp seemed to freeze in the aftermath of this brutal blow, all of the Gems and the kids holding their breaths to see what would happen next. Dipper didn’t dare take his sword out of the twisted fusion, as breathless and adrenaline-high as he was, even as Pyrite glared down at the sparking weapon and then down at him with nothing less than burning hatred in all three of their eyes.

“Y-you shouldn’t have done that, Pine Tree…” they hissed viciously, their voice shaky, but still predominantly Bill’s as they were effectively frozen in place, unable to move due to the electricity keeping Peridot’s form in thrall. “Same goes for you, Rosebud…” They scowled at the young Gem, who had hurried to Dipper’s side, his shield still poised to defend if need be. “And here I was just gonna play nice and finish you off quick and easy. B-but thanks to this little stunt of yours, I have no choice but to make you two suffer more than you can possibly even comprehend next time we cross paths! And the same goes for the rest of you chumps too!” Their voice picked up into an outraged shout as their form began to flash warningly, a sign that they were indeed starting to fall apart. “You may have won this time, but only because I had to rely on a stupid LOSER of a space rock like Greenie here! But who knows?” Pyrite finally grinned once more, golden flames surrounding their form one final time as they closed their trio of eyes. “Maybe next time we fight, it’ll be on my terf. Then we’ll see who really gets the last laugh…” With this ominous proclamation, the twisted fusion threw back their head and let out a wild, sinister laugh, one that gradually began to fade as Pyrite’s form was engulfed in a blinding light once more.

And then, as quickly as they had been formed, Pyrite was no more.

The light slowly faded to reveal that Bill was indeed gone, his presence no longer tainting Peridot as she solely remained, initially dazed an completely unaware of the sword still shoved into her chest. For a moment, she simply kept her sights set on the sky as she slowly blinked before she finally returned to her right mind, letting out a sharp, horrified gasp as she clutched her head tightly. “N-no!” she cried, her eyes huge with some sort of unknown terror. “L-leave me alone! G-get out of my gem, y-you… you…” Peridot trailed off, her jaw dropping in shock as she finally saw the sword running through her, as well as the group of Gems and kids all gathered around her in case she tried anything else. She sucked in a sharp gasp, clearly panicking for a number of reasons as she stumbled backwards and pulling the sword out of Dipper’s grip as it remained in her instead, her fingers shifting into a laser as she desperately tried to keep herself together. “W-wait!” she shouted fearfully, charging up one final, frantic blast. “Y-you clods need me! I’m the only one who knows about the-”

Peridot didn’t get a chance to finish as the sword finally fell out of her, which was just enough to finally destabilize her form entirely. The green Gem gasped as her form disappeared in a sharp puff of smoke, leaving not just her gemstone behind, but several other remnants as well. Alongside her gem, her lower arms and legs, as well as her disjointed fingers were all lying prone and disconnected on the ground, much to the surprise of the kids and Gems who slowly gathered around them.

“W-what on earth?” Pearl asked, baffled as she carefully picked up one of Peridot’s former fingers.

“Ugh, sick,” Amethyst gagged in disgust. “There’s bits of her all over.”

“Nope,” Garnet said with a satisfied grin as she held Peridot’s gem up and succinctly bubbled it. “She’s right here.” And with that, the Gem leader tapped said bubble, sending it off. “And now she’s at the temple.”

“So… I guess we sort of dismembered Peridot then?” Dipper asked, rather confused as he lightly kicked one of the fallen legs.

“Yep, guess so,” Amethyst remarked, scooping up all of the remaining bits and pieces before easily dropping them all off the edge of the Galaxy Warp and into the ocean far below. “Oops.”

“W-well, hey, looks like we finally beat her!” Mabel cut in brightly. “And we got rid of Bill too! So, it looks like tonight was a win-win for all of us!”

“Hm… for now at least…” Pearl mused worriedly, still rather preoccupied with the hostile threats Bill had left them on.

“You don’t think he’s actually gonna try and come back after that thrashing we just gave him… do you?” Amethyst asked, also rather concerned.

“I don’t know…” Garnet admitted, her future vision still blocked off from all things concerning Bill. “Ideally, we should try to find a way to get rid of Bill for good, but… he’s tricky, and hard to pin down.”

“M-maybe I should go talk to Great Uncle Ford about all this when we get back,” Dipper interjected thoughtfully. “He knows a lot about Bill; he might be able to help us come up with a way stop him for good!”

“You kids are all full of great plans tonight,” Garnet smirked, ruffling Dipper’s hair rather affectionately.

“Indeed,” Pearl agreed with a small smile as she put her hands on Steven and Mabel’s shoulders. “If you two hadn’t come in with that fusion idea, there’s no telling what might have happened!”

“Aw, it was nothin’,” Mabel blushed with a small chuckle. “Ok, well actually, I take that back, cause it was kinda something and that something was AMAZING! Right, Steven?”

“Huh?” the young Gem blinked, somewhat distracted as he looked towards the broken Homeworld warp behind him. “Oh, uh… yeah…” He frowned, briefly, largely unable to get his mind off of just how frantic Peridot seemed to be both before and after Pyrite, how she had tried so hard to make a hasty escape from Earth for whatever reason, how she tried to offer some sort of panicked warning in the very seconds right before she poofed. And, given the terrifying, arduous battle they’d just been through, Steven found that he couldn’t simply discount all those things as nothing. “Um, guys?” he spoke up as the others continued to celebrate their victory. “I think… I think Peridot was trying to tell us something back there…”

“Oh, like what?” Dipper scoffed with a bit of a bemused laugh. “That she realized that fusing with Bill was actually a bad idea? A bit too late for that one, don’t you think?”

“Uh, w-well I don’t think it was that exactly…” Steven said, looking aside. “B-but maybe she was trying to say that she knew something about Bill that we don’t? O-or maybe something else?”

The entire group took pause at this, sending the young Gem a round of curious, though largely doubtful glances. All except for Mabel, who had also heard the green Gem’s shortened warning prior to her destabilizing, but even so, she didn’t really know what to make of them herself, much like Steven didn’t. Even so, the Gems themselves, as well as Dipper, seemed largely dismissive of it, especially since whatever threat Peridot used to pose to them was no more.

“Those were just the desperate lies of a Gem who’s been caught,” Garnet assured, finally cracking a comforting smile. “You don’t need to worry about her anymore.”

“Yeah, and as for Bill, we can just figure out some way to deal with him later,” Amethyst remarked, stretching tiredly. “For now, all that fusion’s got me exhausted.”

“Ironically enough, same here,” Pearl smirked as she led the way back to the temple warp pad. “Come on, kids, let’s go home. Oh, I’m so glad this is finally over… Well, at least part of it is, anyway…”

The Gems all readily headed over to the warp pad, with the twins following suit not too far after them. Steven, on the other hand, hung back slightly, looking out across the battle-worn Galaxy Warp apprehensively. True, they had miraculously beaten Pyrite and as a result, won an incredible victory against not only Peridot, but Bill as well. And though that later victory was only temporary at best, it still felt well-earned all the same. Yet despite the high spirits everyone else was in, Steven couldn’t help but still feel some lingering sense of dread. Peridot’s unfinished warning had left him on edge, just as much as Bill’s vicious threats had. And while they had certainly triumphed in this one battle, there was still so much left unseen and unknown that the young Gem wasn’t quite sure what to make of any of it at all.

Which meant that, if no one else was going to try to find answers to questions only he seemed to be asking, then Steven would just have to find those answers for himself.

To be continued…

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ivyfics · 6 years

Text

When you’re sober — (fic)

When air is back in his lungs he manages a, “Whoa. Who’re you?”

Long fingers land on the bridge of black rims, pushing them up even when they haven’t moved an inch. “Tsukishima.” Eyes behind glass settle on him for a second before their gazes break, jump away. The blond snack stands straighter and asks, “And you are?”

“Not straight,” Tetsurou replies, dazed and with a croaky throat.

Rating: Mature Pairing: Kurotsuki

Read on AO3

The night is lost between strobe lights, deafening beats, and way too much tequila for four people to consume—three and a half if the shots Akaashi’s given away as to protect his liver are brought into consideration.

He’s not sure if his face is numb or his entire skin is on fire but he’s swaying slowly between those two the same way he sways on the dancefloor, the amount of alcohol in his blood caught up with his motor skills and taking him from frantic head-nodding and hip-popping to that sweet, sweet rocking of his knees to a beat that does not match whatever the DJ is playing.

Crowded, loud, hot both in the way that leaves Tetsurou with the kind of glow people buy exorbitantly priced fine-milled stardust to achieve and in the two tutoring sessions the bouncer’s niece is getting out of Akaashi to agree to let them cut the long ass line curving around the block.

Do not be fooled, this is not your usual club.

It’s an epiphany, one they get to experience only after being vouched by Terushima’s minute nod to the gatekeeping stack of muscle. Not that his man, his bro, the hot piece of ass he lives with could not take him if things went south. He has absolute faith that Bokuto is more than capable of decking the dude if necessary, as much as he has in the knowledge that he would never deck anyone undeserving of having their bone structure re-arranged.

Bokuto is out of his sight down to the tippy-tips of his frosted hair, a feat considering they tower over almost everyone else in the area around the booth they claimed for themselves when they arrived—courtesy of Terushima, as long as Kuroo pulls through with a hot number burning the contact list on his phone.

Bokuto was holding the Jose Cuervo and the fantastic, demonic amber liquid inside of it when he hopped into the crowd and vanished. The last thing anyone needs right now, especially Tetsurou, is to have Bokuto get completely fucked; there is no way in any ring of hell that any of them have the steady gait it takes to transport a completely fucked Bokuto anywhere. Oikawa, maybe, but the last Tetsurou saw of him was grinding down on the nearest unknown beefcake so that’s a total loss. Good night for Oikawa’s ass, terrible for them if they need some muscle to transport their own beefcake out to wherever they’ll head to next.

Somewhere with a bed they can all throw themselves on, or at least some blankets on a floor. Whatever that place turns out to be, Tetsurou will not be the one leading them there this time. He and Bokuto ran into some other friends with commodities on Terushima’s radar; they got some nice Dictador shots out of it, and Tetsurou is feeling it in the raging pit burning his guts.

Before anyone can go all judgey on them, they don’t usually do this. Going for a drink usually involves lots of beer, finger foods because Bokuto gets snacky when he drinks, and a place where they can all sleep over when they eventually get beaten by the blessed sleep that comes with getting a little more than buzzed. Also, fuck whoever judges them even if that weren’t the case. They do what they want.

The floor shifts, dancing party-goers along with it, and Tetsurou’s arms spread out to find some balance. He takes a second or two to steady himself and to realize that the floor is as solid as a rock, that he’s the one doing the walls-caving-in thing, and that maybe those shots hit him a little harder than he thought. He waddles through the crowd trying his best not to look down, eyes blinking faster than they should.

Vertigo doesn’t seem plausible when you’re only about six feet high (which he’s not because his feet are on solid ground even though his head technically is,seeing as that’s the height it would fall from if Tetsurou was to take a little spill) but Tetsurou’s felt some things before and there is no other way to explain the wave that rolls over you when you’re head-diving face first into a sticky, disgusting floor of a club.

Landing on the booth with his hip, Tetsurou admits that whatever line exists between him getting out of this club by his own means and not has been crossed—meaning: after all the undeserving mental bitching he’s being doing in slander of Bokuto’s name, he’s the one who is completely fucked. Luckily for him (and the ones who now have the responsibility to make sure he doesn’t wash up in a random alley somewhere when the sun comes up), he’s not impossible to transport.

A little wobbly, sure, but easy enough to maneuver.

When the swirling of his sight calms down, he can see Oikawa in his line of sight. The brunette is doing something that Tetsurou will call dancing because he might be drunk out of his wits but he’s polite, ass not so discreetly backing up into the wall of muscle that is Oikawa’s prey tonight.

He looks pretty solid. Maybe he can carry Tetsurou out.

Writhing bodies flash in and out of darkness, eyelids growing heavier and then not until he feels a massive amount of warmth at his side, groaning. It’s a familiar feeling and Tetsurou groans back, setting some of his weight back on Bokuto. Guess it wasn’t all slander.

“I think it’s time we left,” Akaashi speaks up loud enough to be heard over the thrum of the music. He sounds sober, too sober, and Tetsurou envies him furiously around the spinning of the room and the numbness of his face. How nice it would be to have control of his physical form. Tetsurou turns to blink at Akaashi blearily, overshooting a little to the left and having to compensate. He finds him with a hand on Bokuto’s hair, the motion of his fingers combing through and working at the strands hypnotic to Tetsurou’s alcohol-addled brain. Bokuto agrees with another groan, face flopping on Tetsurou’s rib cage. It should hurt, that with Bokuto’s nose being extra jabby, but Tetsurou is above that kind of sensory input right now. Tetsurou tries to move, his neck craned in a way that doesn’t bother him now, but that would hurt if he were any more sober than he is. “Oikawa is not going to be happy about that.”

Bokuto groans again, the sound barely audible from where it’s muffled at Tetsurou’s sweaty side. “Leave him. I wanna sleep.”

Akaashi hums, letting Bokuto deal with himself while he locates Oikawa on the dance floor. “He’s had too much to drink to leave behind, he’s not going home with anyone tonight.”

Bokuto’s head snaps up, eyes squinting to catch Akaashi’s line of sight. “Oh. Yeah.” The couple of strands of Bokuto’s hair that have come loose from being a sweaty gross mess flop against his forehead, cheek resting on Tetsurou’s shoulder when he’s tired of seeing Oikawa’s ass grind down on whoever that is.“He’s going to bitch at me about cockblocking him until he falls asleep.”

“But he’ll make pancakes for everyone as thanks for not leaving him alone with a serial killer.”

“Fuck yes, pancakes. Can we have pancakes, Keiji?”

Akaashi makes a noise of agreement. “When we get home and you guilt Oikawa into making them.”

“Can we go home now?”

“There’s a tiny problem,” Tetsurou says, because he owes it to them to disclose exactly how much it’s gonna take to lift him from this booth.

Tetsurou is the presentable drunk; he doesn’t puke, doesn’t slur his words or does crazy shit if he’s left out of sight even for a second—and how is Suga doing these days, he wonders?—but he does become a floppy meat puppet for a while, all while looking like he’s just over-danced and overheated. “I’m soooooo drunk, Akaashi, I can’t feel my legs.”

Akaashi’s face twist, just a little, at having two people to drag out. They try, really, to balance out who stays sober enough to make sure everyone’s safe (or keep an eye on Suga when he tags along—except Bokuto. Suga has the uncanny ability to drag him along in his shenanigans), but Akaashi has been it for the last three times they’ve gone out. He can’t cook for shit so it won’t be pancakes but Tetsurou is going to do something nice for him this week.

“I guess walking back to your place is off the list.”

Right. That was the plan. Their shared apartment. The apartment that is at decent walking distance when you’re only planning to dance a lot and drink a little. Like they were supposed to do tonight.

“Keiji, I’m sorry,” Bokuto moans. “Tequila was a bad choice.”

Tetsurou makes a noise of agreement. He agrees with that all the way to his soul. “Tequila is always the right choice until it’s not. It’s always not.”

“It’s fine. I think I have a place we can crash at nearby. Let me go call first.” Akaashi gets up, pulling his phone out of his pocket because he’s an angel. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Tetsurou laughs a little. “Couldn’t even if I tried.” Then, he adds, “Maybe if I tried really hard.”

“Don’t try.” Akaashi gives him a sharp look, shutting him down before disappearing to work his magic.

Bokuto doesn’t move an single centimeter, only looking up when Oikawa comes back with the swole dude in tow.

Oikawa looks like an add for expensive, overpriced perfume. “Kuroo, you ratty bitch.”

Tetsurou is hurt. “How come I’m the only ratty bitch here? I’m not even the drunkest one.”

“Koutarou can do what he wants.”

“You heard him. I do what I want,” Bokuto laughs, followed by a groan. Kuroo rests his eyes for a while, enjoying the warmth at his back and the portion of Oikawa’s conversation that floats his way. Time disappears for an infinite moment, his body loose on his seat.

Akaashi comes back after an unknown amount of minutes, letting his presence be known by a flick to Kuroo’s forehead that makes him jolt, and in turn, makes Bokuto groan again. A quick glance tells Kuroo that his eyes are closed and he’s snuggling against Kuroo’s side. If they don’t get moving soon he will fall asleep on this booth. On cue, Bokuto says, “I don’t wanna get up.”

“Bokuto, get up right now. I can’t carry you by myself when you’re like this.” Akaashi’s voice is stern but Kuroo knows in his gut that his words are paired with his hands slicking Bokuto’s hair back from his sweaty forehead gently.

“I can help,” Oikawa’s catch of the day speaks up. “It looks like you could use a hand.”

He certainly looks like he can help, muscle tee showing off arms that would make sculptors weep. He can probably take care of Bokuto by himself. It’s not that any of them are puny, it’s just that Bokuto is so fucking ripped. He’s a wall of heavy, dense muscle, dragging down whoever carries him with his drunk dead weight. This new dude looks like he can keep up, though.

Tetsurou’s mouth goes off. “Thank you, ripped stranger.”

The stranger shakes his head, amused. “Iwaizumi,” he offers. That must be his name.

“Thank you, ripped Iwaizumi,” he amends.

Huh, maybe he’s drunker than he thought.

They somehow manage to get out of the club in one piece and without leaving anyone behind. Tetsurou doesn’t really know where they’re going, but the last two brain cells not taking a bath in booze are too busy trying to put one foot in front of the other without toppling over the pavement to care. Akaashi is leading them somewhere safe, he hopes. And comfortable. Please, be comfortable. He’s so done with walking.

Tetsurou leans a little heavier on Tooru. He’s rosy-cheeked and his eyes are half-lidded, Tooru’s energy level dropping a little without the dim lights and heavy music to amp him up. The toll of the night out is showing in his slow gait, sturdier that Tetsurou’s. Tooru is the one leading him but he leans his weight on Tetsurou, too, their combined efforts keeping them moving and upright.

Kind of like the less blind leading the blind.

They’re at the back of their little group, Akaashi chatting with Iwaizumi with Bokuto between them in front of them. The road is quiet and glowing under the streetlights, aiding to the surreal feeling carried by the fresh breeze.

Tetsurou gets lost in the flexing muscles of Tooru’s dude’s arms for about two seconds before almost tripping and Tooru’s tensing arm around his shoulders break him out of it. “He’s hot, Tooru. God job.”

“You mean ‘good job’?”

“That too.”

Tooru laughs, a big free guffaw fueled by the late night air and whatever level of drunk he still is, his body against Tetsurou shaking more than it should have for something so unfunny. The pair of them warble in their steps a little, and it’s Tetsurou who makes them still so that they don’t fall. Tetsurou looks forward and catches Tooru’s dude looking back at them, risking an unsteady Bokuto that clings to him for a glance at a laughing Tooru. He falters, minutely—but enough to have Tetsurou notice and Iwaizumi’s cheeks go red even under the dim lights before he quickly faces front.

The building they arrive at is so incredibly familiar that Tetsurou doesn’t doubt he’s been here before. Even without clinging to Tooru’s shirt his feet would find their way around, and he follows without paying attention to where they’re going because his body leads the way for him on autopilot. It takes them an eternity and Tooru’s death grip on his shirt to climb the steps to the second floor, but they make it relatively unscathed. Kuroo does bang his shoulder against the wall a little too hard, but the pain fades almost immediately.

They stop near the stairwell, the door a pale gray with a metal ‘2B’ above it. Kuroo fades out at this point, gaze weirdly entertained by the shiny ceramic frog sitting next to the doorframe. It’s pink, for one, and it has a yellow ribbon around it’s throat. It stares back at Tetsurou with jumpy eyes and a forever smile on its face.

It’s hauntingly familiar. He’s seen that frog before. He knows the frog. So much that he says, “I know that frog.”

Tetsurou’s voice is only for himself, but Bokuto manages to catch it. “ ‘Course you do. That’s Lola.”

What? How does Bokuto know the frog? How does Tetsurou know the frog? Before he can voice his concern the door opening cuts him off, and Tetsurou, he’s—he’s dumbfounded.

Standing in front of him is the damning proof that god is real, because the devil made whoever this is. He’s gorgeous , standing in the entryway in blue sweats and a white t-shirt. Soft fabric and a tall frame, pretty and short curls over sharp eyes.

When air is back in his lungs he manages a, “Whoa. Who’re you?”

“Not straight,” Kuroo replies, dazed and with a croaky throat.

Everyone goes quiet at that, stun broken by Akkashi’s groan of ‘not this’ and Oikawa’s ‘pffffft!’

After they manage to move past Tetsurou’s mouth, the shuffle in to the apartment slowly. It’s small, but surprisingly free of clutter. The feeling that Tetsurou’s been here before grows by the second, down to the pleased sound he makes when his butt decides to rest on one of the stools by the kitchen counter.

Iwaizumi chuckles next to him, hands free now that Bokuto is starfished on the couch as much as he can.“I think that’s my cue to leave.”

“Are you sure you don’t wanna stay, Iwa-chan?”

He shakes his head. “I’m good. I have to go back to my people.” Coming closer to Tooru, he places a hand on Tooru’s nape. “I’ll see you?”

Oikawa pouts, but nods, face shifting to mischief almost immediately. “Thank you for your service. I’ll be sure to make it up to you,” he purrs. Oikawa leans in closer to his ear, probably to whisper dirty things, but Kuroo does not care even a single bit, not an ounce. He’s much too busy looking over at their host, their literal saviour. The very recent but very intense apple of Kuroo’s eye.

He’s still as pretty as he way when he opened the door.

Tetsurou stares at him awhile before a smile takes over. He leans forward, elbow catching his weight on the counter. “You know,” he drawls, “If I had a dollar for every time I saw someone as pretty as you, I wouldn’t have money to take you anywhere.”

Oikawa’s choked laughter fills the air behind him followed by, “You don’t have it now.”

Tetsurou whips to face him. He whispers furiously across the room, hand shooting out to point at the blonde. “Shhhhhh! He doesn’t know that!”

The outburst makes a quiet chuckle come from behind him, and when Tetsurou looks over his angel has a barely there smile on his face and is pointedly looking away from him. It brings a goofy smile to Tetsurou’s face. He’s making progress!

He clears his throat, brain going a mile a minute trying to come up with his best work. “So are you a bookworm or do you just dress like one?”

“Why?”

Tetsurou shrugs because duh, “Glasses.”

Tsukishima gives him a glance for less than a second before rolling his eyes. Akaashi’s bored tone speaks up, “That was terrible. ”

“Worse that terrible, that was lame,” Oikawa says.

Alright, okay. A hit and a miss, but he can do better. “You’re like a long water bottle.”

Everyone goes silent until Akaashi’s tentative, “Did you mean a tall glass of water?”

“Yeah. Are you acid? Because I’m tripping over you.”

Oikawa sleepily boos in the background while Akaashi walks over to stand next to Tsukishima. “Do you have anything we can feed him? He needs to sober up.”

Tetsurou doesn’t stop. “I see you and my eyes hurt.”

Akaashi’s trek to the fridge stops. Then, he shrugs and keeps going. “I got nothing.”

Tsukishima hums, face fully in his fridge, giving Tetsurou the best view of his ass. It’s small but it’s so cute. “All I have is leftovers, but that usually doesn’t go over well. The only thing that won’t make him puke is cheese and crackers.”

Tsukishima plates it up for him, along with a glass of water. He sets it in front of Tetsurou and tells him, “Eat.”

“Thank you,” Tetsurou smiles at him, enamoured. He starts on them slowly, nibbling on the cheese. Tsukishima—and that’s so clunky to say, so long. He needs a nickname, something as cute as he is.

Tsukki, maybe. He tests is on his tongue. “Tsukki.”

“Yeah?”

“Tsukki. Tsuuukki. Tsu—kki.”

“What?”

“You’re so pretty. Your hair is so yellow,” Tetsurou says with a lilt, staring at the slice in his hand. Then, his eyes widen as he thrust it higher in the air. “Like cheese!”

Tsukki chuckles again, eyes closed and head shaking. “You’re going to regret so many things tomorrow.”

That might be true, but Tetsurou won’t regret trying to make him smile. “Are you a 175 degree angle? ‘Cause I hope you’re not straight.”

Akaashi sighs, “A nerd, even when he’s drunk.”

“You’re a punch to the face.”

It’s Bokuto who speaks up this time, laugh muffled by his face resting on the cushion. “A Knockout.”

“You’re a filthy thief! You stole my hea”— Tetsurou emphatically swings his arm, causing his cheese to slip and land on the floor—“Oh, my cheese.”

His cheese. His poor cheese. Tsukki gave him that.

Oikawa lifts his head from where it rests on Bokuto’s back. “Awww. Tetsu, that one was kind of cute.”

“Of course it’s cute. It has to be cute, cause he’s cute,” Tetsurou grumbles, “He’s like a—a“— Tetsurou’s hand shoots out, gripping the arm nearest to him and asking—”what’s the word that’s not mop?”

The arm nearest to him happens to belong to the blonde, who just stares down at him. After a second of Tetsurou’s inquisitive look, he responds. “Not mop. Broom?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m like a broom.”

“Uh-huh.”

Tsukishima closes his eyes. Takes a deep breath. “I’m going to regret this. Why?”

Tetsurou lets go of him and leaps to stand straight. “Cause you sweep me off my—”

And everything goes dark.

Tetsurou is dead. He’s either dead, or dying, or being digested by a giant beast but he’s dead. Something crawled into his mouth, took a shit and then died there, too.

After furiously praying to whatever god there is to please let him him succumb back to sleep until he’s not dead enough to feel like this—and failing—he slowly blinks awake, eyes tacky. The room is blessedly dark, and the familiar light green sheets underneath him are soft.

He, very carefully, gets up in search of people. While the room’s curtains had been drawn, the rest of the apartment is sunny. Tetsurou blinks against the light, keeping his hand on the doorframe for support.

“Morning, Romeo.”

Tetsurou stumbles out into the room, pouring himself on his usual stool. Long minutes pass by before,“Did I— Did I call your hair cheese?”

“Yes. Yes, you did.”

Tetsurou whines, his forehead hitting the cool surface of the counter. “ Tsu—kki, why do you let me embarrass myself?”

Tsukki stands by the stove, glass of water in his hand. His laptop is next to Tetsurou on the counter, along with a stack of papers. By the looks of it he’s been awake for a lot longer that Tetsurou. With the most neutral expression, he answers, “It brings me joy.”

“Where is everyone?”

Tsukki hums. “Bokuto kept saying something about pancakes, so he and Akaashi left to get some.”

He would. Fuck Bokuto and his inability to suffer through hangovers like the rest of them. He probably woke up peppy and ready to face the day.

“Oikawa”—Tsukki makes a pinched face at his name. Knowing Oikawa, he made sure to annoy Tsukki as much as possible before taking off. Not that it was that hard for him, it took some time for Tsukki and Tooru to get along—”left to get ready for his date with, and I quote verbatim, ‘The adonis who is going to destroy whatever there is of me later.’ ”

Tetsurou frowns, going through the watery memories of yesterday. “I remember someone big and muscly.”

“That’s the one.”

Tetsurou hums into the counter. He remembers most of last night the way he does childhood memories, with vague and veilied understanding of what happened.“How could I forget you? And Lola!” Tetsurou looks over to the door, raising his voice. “I’m sorry, Lola.”

Tsukki lets him sulk in his head for a bit. He comes closer and Tetsurou can feel his elbows resting on the other side of the surface, in front of him. “Hey, Kuroo?”

“Hnn?”

“How come you never hit on me when you’re sober?”

He chokes. Tetsurou is too hungover to be having this conversation, because for a second there—and he doesn’t want to get to ahead of himself, here—it sounded like Tsukki was… pouting. That has to be a mistake, because Tsukki doesn’t pout. He snips.

“It just doesn’t seem fair that I have to put up with your terrible flirting when we aren’t even on a date. Don’t you think?”

While he’s right and Tsukki is decidedly not pouting, he’s also not not pouting.

And sure, Tetsurou’s given it some thought. Everyone’s given it some thought; he’s had nights chatting with Oikawa where he, too, admitted to having a thought once. Granted, Tetsurou might have given it a little more than just some thought to it.

A little but too much of it sometimes, when they spend time together and all he does is think about it, along with fleeting idea when someone mentions the blonde in front of him. Or when he sees someone trying to hit on Tsukki—which, why wouldn’t they? He’s all of that —and there’s this sudden sourness in his tongue he pretends isn’t there.

“It seems to me like you should rectify that, seeing as there is this huge backlog of your awful drunken flirting to make-up for,” Tsukki continues, like he’s not destroying Tetsurou’s mind.

“How—How would I go about rectifying that?” Tetsurou’s voice wobbles.

“Lunch, for starters. Or coffee. I just—I need to know.”

“Know what?”

“If your flirting is actually that bad.”

“You want me to flirt with you? On a date.”

Tetsurou knows he sounds incredulous. It’s so unexpected. He never imagined Kei would be interested. How many times have they been here before? How many times has Tetsurou drunkenly flirted with him, only to make like it’s nothing the next day? Tsukki has always brushed it off good-naturedly to the point that Tetsurou thought he was so far off Tsukki’s radar that the only way he’d ever take any advances from him would be as a joke.

Kei sighs, “Forget it.”

He sounds so disappointed. Tsukki is (badly) pretending not to be, but Tetsurou can hear it. It makes him desperate to rectify this, hope making him jump even if his head will kill him for it. “No! No take-backs! I’m buying you lunch. And dinner! As a date, not friends—well, obviously friends, but friends that are on a date. Romantically. Full romo. And I’m flirting with you!”

Tetsurou’s head is pounding, his voice too loud but he takes a quick breath and sucks it up. “I’ll flirt with you right now. You’re—”

“Please don’t,” Tsukki interrupts him.”You look like you’re about to die.”

He’s not about to die, and he’s not missing this shot because he made Tsukki misunderstand.

“Save it for later,” Tsukki says, and there’s a light blush on his cheeks, his voice so flustered while he looks away and, oh, oh.

Tetsurou is so incredibly fucked.

#my writing #kurotsuki #haikyuu!!#hq!!#fanfic

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none-of-us-are-real-blog · 6 years

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Growth

(A quick story I wrote for a writing contest with some friends. I didn’t have time to edit, so it’s not the best but... The prompt was “A horror story about a table”)

“Who the fuck are you?” She shouted, the sleep that had been tugging at the corners of her brain chased away by adrenaline. In the corner of the small single person hospital room sat a man. He was curled in on himself, one arm clutching the other tightly, sound asleep, purple circles hanging themselves under his eyes, contrasting strongly against the pale of his skin.

While Louisa certainly was not weak, she was not particularly strong either. Nor did she know how to fight. Despite this, it was clear she could take him in a fight. Skin clung tightly to his body, bones and thin muscles showing through. He was small, both in height and structure. And he was unconscious.

The reaction to fight might have been a bit overkill and soon, but Louisa could not help it. The hospital she was in gave her the chills. She felt as though she was being held much longer than needed, her broken arm was healed more than enough to go home. Still, the hospital insisted on holding her. Instead of being worried of something being wrong with her, though, she became quite wary of the nurses and doctors, closely watching her blood pressure and other stats, silently observing her, holding her in the room to the extreme that she felt more a prisoner than a patient. All this had had her on edge, keeping her up at night and stressing her in the day.

Now there was a stranger in her room. Untangling herself from the warm sheets, she swung her legs over the bed and stood, repeating herself. “Hey, the fuck are you?”

Again, the man did not answer. He stayed in the same position, deep in his slumber. Although he did not move in his sleep, it was still clear to anyone with half a brain that it was not a peaceful rest. The corner of his mouth twitched every once in a while, a pained grimace evident on his ghostly face. A twinge of concern echoed through Louisa, and she stopped, crouching down to the man's height, and cautiously trying to shake him awake. Any aggression and fear she had felt towards him dispersed. After a few gentle shakes, he woke with a start, flinching back away from her, fear clouding his blue eyes. Louisa tumbled back, too, still wary of the stranger who had invaded her room.

“Whoa, hey-” She started.

“Who- Who...” the man managed to stutter out, confusion and fear dancing across his face.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to ask you.” Louisa said, calmly, trying to earn his trust. At least long enough to figure out who he was.

“I’m...I’m Elliot.” He stated, relaxing slightly as Louisa clearly had no intention to harm him. “Who are you?”

Before Louisa answered, her eyes drifted to his arm, still being clutched tightly by the other. “Are you hurt?” She asked. It was probably a stupid question, considering they were in a hospital, and the man was wearing the typical patient gown all the patients wore.

“I, well...” Elliot seemed to contemplate what he was going to say, clearly hesitant, mouth half agape in thought. The arm in question shifted slightly, and something poked out between his bony fingers. Louisa’s train of thought stopped immediately. What the hell was that? It was an earthy green and a thin, flat, slightly triangular chunk stemmed off from it, and at the tip was a-

A flower. A flower on a stem. Her eyes trailed down the stem to where it poked out of the skin. A thin, irritated cut was held slightly open by the plant growing from it. A plant growing in his skin. Growing in his arm. What the hell?

Following Louisa’s gaze, he too looked down, and quickly shifted his hand so it was covering it again. “I- wait!” He said, seeing the slightly horrified expression on her face. “I don’t-”

“Dude, what the fuck happened?” She interrupted, frowning in thought as her mind tried to go over what scenario could find someone a plant growing out of them.

“I don’t know...” His voice faded, a strange expression washing across his face. It was the same expression one might have when they misplace something important, such as their car keys, and can’t seem to find it. Or perhaps the look of someone waking up in the morning, trying to figure out if a memory was real or just a dream. Either way, it was concerning.

“OK, well,” Louisa began, just as confused as he was. “How’d you get here?”

Elliot shrugged. “I’m not sure about that either.” He looked down, slightly embarrassed. “I think I’ve gone mad...”

Louisa tilted her head. “You’ve what?”

“I just...everything here is crazy, there’s people with wings and tails and mad doctors and a table-”

“Whoa, hey, wait just a minute.” Louisa cut him off once again. Her mind was still trying to catch up. Wings and tails? Maybe he came from the mental section of the hospital. When Elliot had talked, he had waved his arms around in wild gestures, giving Louisa a clear shot of his entire arm. Loads of small flowers sprouted out from cuts, tinted red by irritation, small trails of dried blood tracing down from where they came. “Let’s back up to the beginning. Why’d you come to the hospital in the first place?”

Elliot sighed. “I got into a car crash a few months ago. I broke a few of my ribs and there was light trauma to my lungs...And then a few weeks ago my lung collapsed because of it. It was supposed to be an easy fix, and I could leave in just a few days, but,”

“But they kept you here.” Louisa finished, thinking of her own situation.

Elliot took a deep, shaky breath. “Yeah.”

“They’ve been keeping me here longer than I should be, also.” She said, trying to comfort him.

“Th-that’s because they’re using us!” Elliot blurted out suddenly.

“What?”

“In the basement, where they took me, they were, uhm, they were taking patients down there. And, and when you went down, there was a lot of, I mean at least I thought I saw, er, I-” Elliot stumbled painfully over the words that flowed out of his mouth like a waterfall. Louisa couldn’t make heads or tails from what he was saying.

“Dude, slow down.”

Elliot nodded and took a breath, starting again. “They took me downstairs, they said it was for treatment and...” his voice trailed off, not confident in what he was saying. “I saw people who had wings spurting out of their back, and some of them had beaks and talon feet. And then there were some with tails and ears and wolf-like snouts, dark horrifying black eyes, and then there were those who had robotic limbs, eyes torn out and replaced with lights, wires spewing from unnatural gaps in their bodies.

“And then there was a table.” Elliot said this as though it had great meaning.

“Wh-” Louisa’s mind was reeling. God, he really was crazy. “I’m- OK, you know what? We’ll address all that other stuff later and I’ll humor you at the moment. What’s so important about a table in the midst of all of the other things you saw?” She asked.

“They took me in the room with the table. They were still cleaning blood off it from the last victim, who was being carried away on a stretcher. And they might’ve been the most horrifying one...but the table. That’s where they do all of the experiments, I think.”

“Experiments?”

“All those people I just told you about?”

“Oh. And so you were an experiment?” Louisa said, raising an eyebrow.

“I, uhm, I think so. I went under when they put me on the table, and then I woke up in a strange room with...with these...” He looked disdainfully the leafy things sprouting from him. “And then a doctor came and put me under again. And then I was here.”

Louisa figured that all of this must be from the anesthetics. He was hallucinating from them when they took him to the operating room. But the flowers? Maybe he was delusional, he did something that got the flowers growing out of his arms, came to the hospital for help, and then made up with the whole story. But what would cause such a thing to happen?

Louisa was lost. There was no doubt in her mind that something was wrong with the hospital. But Elliot’s story? That was beyond the point of reasonable belief, the type of story that someone could write a book about, not something that would happen in real life.

Elliot saw the disbelief on her face. “I can take you there.” He said, desperate for her to believe him. His eyes were wide and haunted. “I can take you there and you’ll see.”

Louisa sighed. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do. Besides, what was the worst that could happen? A doctor scolding her for going where she shouldn’t?

Sighing, she agreed. “Yeah, sure.”

His face lit up, looking happier than a kid on Christmas. “Yes! Let’s go!” He shakily rose to his feet on unsteady legs, opened the door, and scurried out. Louisa followed shortly behind, walking normally, unlike Elliot who was trying his best to be sneaky and looking every which way to be sure no one was watching. He stopped at the end of a hallway, of which at the end was a door

“There.” He said.

Having finally stopped and just stood still, Louisa observed that she was at least a head taller than Elliot.

“Well, are we going in, or?” Louisa asked impatiently.

“Uh, I guess...well, n- maybe this wasn’t a good idea, OK? We should go back-”

“Oh, no.” Louisa quickly said. “You promised experimental furries, I want to see them.”

“What, they weren’t furries-”

“Now come on, you coward.” She grabbed him by his normal arm and dragged him to the door.

The descent to the lower level was unsettling. If Louisa disliked the normal, clean, bright hospital, then she absolutely despised the dark, dank staircase that was tucked away underneath. Dark, but not dirty. Just as the upper level, it was stark clean, and Louisa presumed the walls were just as white as the rest of the building, but could not be sure in the lighting.

Elliot was still being dragged by his arm, resisting slightly, clearly unhappy to be going back down. She could feel him shaking slightly.

Stopping she turned to him. “You OK?”

He laughed, a short burst of laughter that held no humor. “Am I OK? No, yeah I’m fine. We’re just going down to where they fucking turned me into a human garden and the horrible monsters live, no big deal!” He hissed in a hoarse whisper.

Louisa felt a bit guilty for making him come down here. While she believed his story was insane (and he probably was too), he was still clearly terrified. But, hopefully, when they got to the bottom and Elliot saw there was nothing to fear, he would remember what actually happened to his arm. Louisa was genuinely curious about the plants.

When they finally got to the bottom, Louisa ran straight into a door.

“Ah, fucking shitty hell-”

“Shhh” Elliot hissed. “They could be listening.”

Louisa didn’t know who “They” were, and wasn’t going to ask. She fumbled around for the doorknob, found it, and opened the door. And then was immediately blinded. Bright lights beamed out from the room in front of the duo, just the same as the floor above. Looking at the door they entered from, a large stain stood out like a sore thumb. Louisa tried to move forward, but Elliot wouldn’t budge.

“Come on, dude.” She said.

“I, I can’t...” He said.

She sighed. “Dude, there’s nothing to be afraid of, OK?”

“But I saw-”

“Yeah, and you were probably high as fuck on all the pain killers and anesthetics!” Louisa exclaimed. She still felt somewhat bad for him, as he was clearly terrified, but at the same time she was at her lengths end.

Elliot considered this. Looked like he wanted to believe it. Finally, he responded. “OK.”

And they walked on into the unknown.

Pain. Endless, unwavering ebbing and flowing of pain. She tried to think. She couldn’t. Why couldn’t she think? Why couldn’t she open her eyes?

After a few minutes of silent panicking and effort, she discovered she could open them. And good glorious heaven, was it a bad idea. The bright lights beamed directly into her eyes, the pain shooting through her skull intensifying. A few more minutes passed. Silent minutes. The inside of her head empty. It felt like someone cut it open, stuffed it with cotton, and then did a half-ass job sewing it back up.

When Louisa finally could open her eyes, and the pain had receded enough for her to make coherent thoughts again, she sat up. A hospital room. She was back in her old hospital room? Maybe Elliot and his monsters were all a dream. She laid back down and closed her eyes.

“LOUISA, HELP, HELP THEY’RE HERE-” someone screamed from an adjacent room. Their voice was hoarse, as though they had been screaming for hours. She shot up. Elliot. It wasn’t just a dream? Well, shit. Her legs didn’t want to move, and she wasn’t sure they would hold her weight. Louisa remained on the bed.

“Elliot?” She called back. “You OK?” A dumb question, considering from the tone of his voice he most certainly was not. Silence sounded back. No, not silence. If Louisa positioned her ear the right way, and listened real carefully, she could hear it. A quiet whirring noise, like a drill at the dentist.

Whether or not her legs would cooperate, Louisa would get to Elliot. She had to. She made him come here, anything that happened to him was her fault. And, she had to admit, she had grown quite fond of the strange man in the short time she had known him.

Her legs didn’t fail her when she tried to stand up, but it felt like they would. The room still spun slightly, and it felt as though someone was giving her a fucking lobotomy. She walked on. On to the door, which opened with effort. And then to the hall.

“Elliot?” She called out, quietly. Probably too quiet for him to hear. The room was brightly lit, yet shadows still danced ominously in the corners. Shelves covered the walls, jars of weird substances with names only someone with a medical license could understand. Books, on birds and the spine and wolves and robotics. An unidentifiable sound escaped from a door to the left, and after it Louisa went.

She didn’t know what she was seeing. Cages and cages built of glass, filled with creatures. Creatures that almost looked human, but not quite. Just as Elliot described. Was she crazy too? Still dreaming? Or, perhaps, he was telling the truth. A cage was marked “Homo Aves.” Inside, people with large wings perched on branches and sticks. Some of their faces had large beaks, resembling a plague doctor mask, sticking out of their deformed faces. Eyes large and black, somewhere between a birds and a human. Others were perfectly normal humans besides the wings. They were all asleep. Louisa decided it best to stay that way.

Then another cage. People with puffs of fur, ears and snouts, dog eyes, claws, some walked on all fours, others bipedal, and few somewhere in between. It was not time for humor, yet Louisa couldn’t help a small chuckle. Furries.

Robotic people were next. Cyborgs? Strange gaps in their bodies, places like where their elbow should be replaced with wires and screws. Some had third robotic eyes attached to their foreheads, skin around it bumpy and red and disfigured. At this point, Louisa was trying to block it all out. Down the long corridor she walked, walked on in search of Elliot, who was nowhere to be found.

Louisa didn’t want to go on. She didn’t want to find anymore people. Not after she found some that were awake. Some had eyes still full of humanity. Others were devoid of it. All held a broken look, a look of pain and emptiness, forgotten people, deleted from the world. She didn’t want to look into their eyes anymore. She didn’t want to be here anymore. Become one of them. Removed from the world. Not human.

Yet she walked on. She wasn’t a pussy, Louisa told herself. Nothing was going to stop her from helping Elliot. And then punching a few doctors faces in. The door at the end of the horrible horrible hallway emitted a few noises.

She opened the door.

”Elliot” She said, louder than she should have. There he lay, on a stretcher among others. But she was only focused on his. She gently shook him awake, for the second time that day.

“Elliot? Come on, wake up, dude.” The flowers were much larger now. Looking at where the protruded from the skin made bile rise up, burning the back of her throat. She shook harder. He started to stir. Other things in the room stirred with him. She ignored them.

“Wh-Louisa?” He questioned, finally conscious.

“Yeah, it’s me, dumbass.” She said. “Come on, we have to get out of here.”

Elliot sat up suddenly, winced, and looked around wide-eyed at where they were. And then he screamed.

Louisa jumped. The fucking idiot? What was he doing, someone was going to hear and-

Oh. Oh good glorious god. Louisa saw what he screamed at. And then had to stop herself from screaming with him. On the other stretchers that filled the room, horrifying grotesque monsters sat, staring at them. Horrifying grins held shut by stitches tracing along their mouths. Eyes wide and a deep, hollow black. Their skin looked as though someone had held a blowtorch to it. Their noses were melted in, as were their ears, which were at this point just ear-shaped lumps of skin pushed into their heads. They looked as though they had been human at some point.

Her hand flew over Elliot’s open mouth. He slowly got up, and they silently started moving for the door. Dozens of black eyes followed their movement, their awful grins only getting wider. They didn’t blink.

Louisa groped for the doorknob. Tried to opened it silently, walked out silently, closed it.

And then she screamed. She couldn’t help it. Any form of logical thought was chased out of her brain, replaced by the replaying of horrors they had encountered.

Following the scream was footsteps. And clawing and muffled yelps and laughs and giggles and shouts. The doorknob jiggled.

“Oh my god, they’re coming Louisa, they’re going to fucking kill us-”

“Shut up and move,” she grabbed him by the arm once again and ran, down the hallway and past the atrocious hybrids, through the door into the room of shelves. Where was the exit? She looked at Elliot, who offered no help. The footsteps grew louder, slapping of bare skin on tile floor. One walked out into the room. The villainous glee on his face grew, and with a muffled, low giggle, it reached a misshapen hand up to its mouth and tore off the stitches. Mouth free, a sharp, insanely loud ear piercing shriek rang out from it, triggering more and more sounds of tearing and shrieking from behind it. Blood oozed from its torn up lips, screams echoed through the hallways. It moved again, towards them, a painful gate that was uneven and slow. Louisa looked around the room as fast as she could. ”Think, think, think, think, think,” she angrily thought to herself. Looking for a way out. There. A door. A familiar door, somewhere hidden deep in her memory. The door with the large brown stain on it. She ran as fast as she could, carrying her and Elliot’s weight, as Elliot seemed to have shut down completely. She would too, if their lives weren’t depending on her. Up the steps, so many fucking steps. Each one sent a jolt through her sore body, a spike through her pounding head. Something yanked on her arm, hard. No, not something. Someone. A yelp. Elliot’s yelp. The world slowed as she turned around, watching as he was torn from her grip, falling down into the crowd of twitching, shrieking monsters. Blood flew up. She screamed. Her mind said to go get him, to save him, but the instinct to survive programmed into every human forced her legs to up, up, up and away from Elliot’s broken body.

She was back at the hospital. Adorned in normal clothes this time, the patient gown left behind a month ago. She’d come back every day, in search for her partner in crime. Dead, probably, but Louisa wasn’t one to give up. The doctors knew nothing. The police found nothing. In terms of evidence, there was nothing. He had disappeared.

This time, Louisa wasn’t going to ask questions. She wasn’t going to rely on anyone else getting her friend back. She was going to take matters into her own hands. The door to the basement sent a surge of anxiety cutting through her body. Ignoring it, she continued. Down all the stairs, to the door with the brown stain. To the hallway with the strange people. To the place she found Elliot and the monsters. She stopped at the door. What if they were still in there.

A voice cut through the silence. Though, it was more a shriek. Through the horrid shrieking noise, she could make out a word.

”LOUISA,” It shrieked. There was something familiar about the voice. Something she couldn’t quite put a name to.

Something slammed against the door.

A face.

A deformed, melted, misshapen face.

Broken, black eyes.

Ears melted into skull.

Elliot’s face.

#writeblr #story #short story #original writing #horror #hospital

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darkjanet2 · 3 years

Text

Drusilla’s Soul Ch. 17 Part 1.

Los Angeles, Ca 7:15 PM, Wolfram & Hart

A brown-haired man was typing on a computer as he was doing his research. His name was Lindsey McDonald and he was a lawyer of Wolfram & Hart.

He heard a phone beep.

“Mr. McDonald, we have your visitor here. He wanted to speak with you”, said the lady on the intercom phone.

“Send him in,'' he said.

A platinum blonde man walked into his office, he wore a black leather duster, black shirt and pants, and black combat boots. He was in punk style.

“Ah, Spike. It’s great to see you”, said Lindsey.

“ How do I go about hiring you blokes? I’ve got a job that’s right up your street”, said Spike.

“What do you need?” he asked.

“I want to find Drusilla’s whereabouts, she still has a soul and I can use that to my advantage", Spike said.

"Over at Wolfram & Hart anything is possible, but only if you can pay our fee it's a business, not a charity", said Lindsey.

"You get the money, but you get half up front only the rest when the bloody job is done", Spike said.

The brunette man looked at Spike and grinned.

"Sounds like we have a deal then, Mr. Spike," The man said.

"It is a deal as long as we have it clear that you get paid the rest of your money when you finish the job," Spike said.

Spike turned to walk out around the office.

"The money, Spike? Do you believe that Drusilla is a hero?" asked Lindsey, mockingly.

Spike slammed his fist on Lindsey’s desk and yelled, “SHE IS NOT A HERO!!” with his angry vampiric face.

Lindsey calmly smirked, “Alright, calm down.”

Spike calmed down and reverted his human face.

“Now you want to know where Drusilla is, I heard she’s on a mission trip to Japan. But she won’t return and it has been 2 weeks for her mission,” said Lindsey.

“Then I knew she still had a damn soul and always helped people. I want to call up Deacon Frost to remove the soul. I’ll have my minions arrange the ship and I will also contact Angelus.” said Spike.

“Well, perhaps I can call Angelus to invade Japan, and I bet he will terrorize this country,” Lindsey smirked, evilly, and began to call Angelus.

Angelus at The Standard, Downtown LA

Angelus was on the phone and he was told to be prepared to take a trip to Japan, and he knew Drusilla’s whereabouts.

“Alright, I’ll be there.” Angelus hung up his iPhone 11 as naked Darla wrapped around his bare torso, resting her chin on his strong shoulder, caressing his strong arms, kissed his cheek.

“He found Drusilla. She’s at Odaiba,” said Angelus.

“Do they find out?” asked Darla.

“He said that Drusilla was on a mission trip, now we can hunt her down. Deacon will be able to extract her soul and she will work with us together again,” said Angelus.

“What are you planning to do, Angelus?” asked Darla.

“I can make her insane once more. Get dressed, we’ll get a ship.” said Angelus.

The Next Morning Odaiba, Japan 5:34 AM

Drusilla was released from the hospital and got her prescriptions of Zoloft and Opana from the pharmacy. She was at the Dai-Ichi Hotel Tokyo Seafort for a room to stay. She was FaceTiming her friends staying at her house to see how they were doing. Drusilla told them about the situation where evil Digimon attacked the city and she had a battle with LadyDevimon when she tried to kill her, then a beautiful angel arrived in the nick of time and pulverized the demon. The two kids came to rescue her before she blacked out.

“You were in the hospital?! Are you okay?!” shocked Britney.

“I’m fine, my body feels a little sore, but I’m fine. So how are you doing? Did you treat Jade well?” asked Drusilla.

“Yeah, we fed her, groomed her, and played with her. Jade was doing very well,” said Britney.

“That’s great. Where’s David?” she asked.

“Oh, he went to the pet store to buy more cat food,” Britney explained. “So anyway, how long have you been in a coma?”

“About two weeks and I haven’t returned until next month. When I entered the concert, the creatures were called Digimon. Those kids were talking about rampaging the city. The military tried to shoot them down, but they did not affect them. And Matt has a partner named Gabumon, then he took out the strange device and flashed light onto Gabumon, transformed into a metallic wolf!” exclaimed Drusilla.

“No way!” exclaimed Britney.

“Yes, way. Besides, Matt guided me to the safe place to take me to the parking garage. He told me to stay here, but I denied it because I want to help people even if he thought I was a human.” said Drusilla.

“Did you reveal the truth you’re a vampire?” asked Britney.

“No, I don’t want him to know my secret. But he was surprised that I had superhuman strength and I’d had to deal with this LadyDevimon chick,” said Drusilla.

“And did you go vamp?” asked Britney, incredulously.

“Yes, while he was away, two of us started to fight. Fast forward, LadyDevimon was about to finish me off, and it hit something behind her, a beautiful angel appeared in the parking garage and annihilated her. I thought it was crazy, but she saved my life.” said Drusilla.

“I knew this was your guardian angel,” said Britney.

“I know, but I didn’t pray. I think this angel is a Digimon?” asked Drusilla.

“I doubt it,” Britney said. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay. I thought Japan was pretty cool, but that was crazy that Digimon attacked the city,” said Britney.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, they are rebuilding them right now.” said Drusilla.

“Well, alright. Rest up, Dru. Hope you come back safely.” said Britney, smiled.

“I will. Bye, Britney.” Drusilla hung up her phone, laying down on the bed, and groaned in exhaustion.

“Goddamn, that was the hell of a week! I can’t believe I redeemed myself for starting a battle with LadyDevimon.” Drusilla sighed, sat up from the bed, and walked to the table where the bag of prescriptions lay.

She opened the bag and picked out two vials: Zoloft and Opana. The pharmacist told her to take one pill of Zoloft in the morning and take one pill of Opana in the afternoon. She took out the paper and read it. She followed the instructions and read about the warning and side effects.

Drusilla opened the vial of Zoloft and took one of these pills, it was a blue pill of 50 milligrams in her hand and put it into her mouth, and swallowed it. Then she downed it with Sprite, that pill she swallowed that went through her esophagus.

Suddenly her body and mind felt relaxed, less anxious, less irritable. Zoloft might decrease fear, anxiety, unwanted thoughts, and the number of panic attacks. She had never felt this before, her mind went clear. She could let go of her painful past that Angelus murdered her family, and knowing that Angelus was already dead.

After that, she took a second vial of Opana to treat her severe pain after surgery. She swallowed it and then she downed a Sprite through her esophagus. Now her body felt more relaxed, her pains were reduced. She felt a little wobble, so she went straight to bed and began to sleep to rest up to her body.

In the Digital World

It was cold and snowy out there, even the aurora borealis appeared to be a beautiful color of blue, green, and violet. There was a beautiful ice castle with a castle-like structure of blocks of ice up the mountain. The groups just walked up to the mountain, finding it beautiful, with the green grass on the ground that also had beautiful flowers sticking out. And that's despite having some snowy spots as well. All while in the snowy mountains of the Digital World, which had them wondering how the grass and the flowers were able to grow here. But they didn't dig for answers since it could've been their magic for all they care.

“Where are we?” asked TK.

“I don't know, but this place looks magical, it's so beautiful and romantic, isn't that right, Ken?” asked Yolei, coyly.

“Uh..yeah, sure,” said Ken, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

“I wonder what this place is?” said Kari.

“It's an ice castle where the wise Digimon reside,” said Cody.

“How did you know that, Cody?” asked TK.

“Well, there's a board with a description,” said Cody.

“What? Is it some kind of tourist spot?” asked Davis.

“C'mon guys, let's get in standing here won't get us anywhere,” said TK.

They walked up to the mountain and went inside the beautiful ice castle just like a crystal, which had all its doors and walls made of mirrors.

“Whoa... Seeing up close this place is amazing,” said Yolei.

“Yeah, but why does it look so empty and strangely quiet..?” asked Kari.

“Let’s see what the brochure says, it said today is the day of the ice festival so Digimon around here is busy preparing for the palace,” said Ken, holding his chin in deep thought.

“Aah...I see... No wonder why it's so quiet here, but wait a minute, where did you read that?” asked Davis.

“Here, it's on the brochure,” Ken took a brochure out of his pocket.

“What?! A brochure? In a place like this? Is it a tourist spot?” surprised Davis, widened his eyes.

“Yes, is it,” suddenly a voice caught their attention, it was a blue ogre Digimon with unkempt white long hair, pointed ears adored by earrings, a single horn on its head, and an icicle jutting from each of its shoulders. It's known for having its mouth open nearly all the time with an exaggerated lower jaw similar to Violator and has fang-like tusks on its upper jaw like a traditional Oni.

It wore a black loincloth with a belt, black belts on its right arm, nothing on its left arm, blue bandages on its right leg, and black belts on its left leg. It carried an icicle as a weapon. It had a

skull and crossbones on its left arm below its shoulder icicle, metal studs on the knuckles of its left hand, and a scar on the back of its right hand.

“Who are you?” demanded Davis.

“I’m Hyogamon, the guardian here,” said Hyogamon.

“ICE PUNCH!” He attacked them with his powerful fist emitting the icicle coming right at them.

“Look out!!” Davis cried as he and the group dodged his attack, the icicle shards embedded in the glass walls.

“Davis, time to Digivolve!” said Veemon.

Davis nodded and he began to activate the device.

“DIGIARMOR, ENERGIZE!” Davis yelled out.

“VEEMON, ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TO…”

The flame engulfed Veemon, imagining Agumon, Greymon, MetalGreymon, and WarGreymon. Veemon grew taller, covered with armor flame-like design, the blade protruding out of his mask, claws, and feet.

“FLAMEDRAMON! THE FIRE OF COURAGE!”

Now the four of them yelled out, “DIGIARMOR, ENERGIZE!”

“PATAMON, ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TO… PEGASUSMON! THE SOARING OF HOPE!

“GATOMON, ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TO… NEFERTIMON! THE ANGEL OF LIGHT!”

“HAWKMON, ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TO… HALSEMON! THE WING OF LOVE!”

“ARMADILLOMON, ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TO… DIGMON! THE STEEL OF KNOWLEDGE!”

“WORMON, DIGIVOLVE TO… STINGMON!”

“FIRE ROCKET!” He shot fireballs from his fist at Hyogamon with a critical hit, suddenly there were more Digimon who appeared in the castle, an ovoid mirror Digimon was dressed in green robes and hat, and it was wielding a fan. And there were other Hyogamon that appeared in the battle.

“Looks like we’re outnumbered,” said Ken.

“What should we do?” asked TK.

"We should regroup and come up with a plan," said Ken.

“No way!” Davis said as the others looked at him. “We can do this!”

"If they're gaining forces, we must divide their power by separating them from one another." Ken said.

“Ken is right, we have to gain an advantage somehow." said TK.

“I have an idea, what are the digimon ranks? From there we can solidify a plan to separate them." said Kari.

“Good plan.” said TK.

“Enough talk. Let’s see if we can take you on. SNOW PUNCH!” Hyogamon shot a snowball from his fist as Flamedramon threw a fire which caused the snowball to melt.

“ROSETTA STONE!” Nerfetimon flashed a pink light from her back and shot a stone at Mirrormon which the mirror caused to crack.

“SHOOTING STARS!” Pegasusmon fired the stars at the army of Hyogamon and Mirrormon.

“MIRROR’S REVENGE!” It reflected Pegasusmon’s attack, the shooting stars traveled back towards Pegasusmon.

" W-what?!" Pegasusmon said in shock

The shooting stars sliced Pegasusmon as he yelled and fell backward onto the ground. He lied on the ground, with eyes shut, looking hurt.

“Pegasusmon!” TK cried as he ran towards his partner.

“Be careful! They can reflect your attacks!” warned Ken.

“How do we beat them? They’re so many of them!” cried Yolei.

Davis had a bright idea, “Let’s fuse them together so we can beat them.”

The group agreed, their partners de-digivolving and re-digivolving and fusing together to evolve them into another Digimon.

“XV-MON! STINGMON! DNA DIGIVOLVE TO… PAILDRAMON”

“AQUIALMON! GATOMON! DNA DIGIVOLVE TO… SILPHYMON!”

“ANKYLOMON! ANGEMON! DNA DIGIVOVLE TO… SHAKKOUMON!”

“Charge!” Hyogamon shouted to his comrades to charge at them and be prepared to attack.

“DESPERADO BLASTER!” Paildramon fired his machine guns at the army of Hyogamon and Mirrormon.

“STATIC FORCE!” Silphymon fired a static orb and blasted at them.

“KACHINA BOMBS!” Shakkoumon fired clay disks from its waist and all the army was pulverized.

Now the battle was cleared, they ran the path through the corridor, all the Digimon were locked up in a dungeon.

“Hey, travelers! Help us!” cried Penguinmon.

“What happened?” asked Cody.

“We lived in peace in this castle, we were attacked by Hyogomon and Mirromon and taken to the dungeon. And AncientWisemon has taken over the castle,” said Pengimon.

#crossover #buffythevampireslayer #tktakaishi #drusilla #digimonadventure02 #vampires #digimon adventure #mattishida #btvs fanfiction

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practicingmedicine · 3 years

Text

LOADER V1. 1

EXEC VERSION 41.10

32K RAM SYSTEM

15932 BYTES FREE

HOLLOWTAPE LOADED: “THE-LOONEY-BIN”

INITIALISING….

SUCCESS!

> STATUS

Battery Level: 57%

Wireless Signal: (?)

Operating Temperature: 93F

> HEALTH

BP: 120/90

SPO2: 100%

Temp: 98.5F

RR: 14

HR: 75

> TIME

Day: 23 SEP. 2279

Time: 22:12

> CLIMATE

Current Temperature: 72F

Atmospheric Pressure: 753 mm

Background Radiation: 0.431 RAD

---

It was well past my usual bedtime. 10:12 PM, when I translated the clock from military time, and the sun had already set. The sky was too cloudy to see any stars, of course; Even the brilliant light of the moon couldn’t quite make it through. I was tired, both because I was used to a more structured schedule, and because it had been an exhausting day. So much had happened at this point that I wasn’t really in a frame of mind to care about one more piece of work.

Gram had suggested I do something to introduce myself to my new friends before we hit the hay, so I decided to do what I was best at- general assessment! I’d do a head-to-toe examination of each of them. That way, I’d be getting to know each of them in a real literal way, and it gave me an excuse to set up some pip-boy profiles. The Pip Boy makes a great assessment tool, assuming you got the patient in the database already

I looked over each of my patients, then back at my device. 57% battery charge … creating new profiles always took a lot of battery power, but I knew it would hold for the night. If worse came to worst, I could charge it up a little with the glowing energy cell that I always kept in my breast pocket.

I was about ready to perform now, with this makeshift examination room as my stage. It was little more than an abandoned shack that we’d used as a goal post while hiking, and eventually decided to camp by; we’d all be sleeping in nice orange tents. I had used the rickety shelves to set up equipment that I’d need, and propped up an old 3-legged chair against the wall for the patient to sit in. The ranger, who I’d learned was named Tandi, had loaned me a tactical flashlight to provide lighting. Or, I suspected, Gram had made them lend me the flashlight. I’d also commandeered the cart’s radio to get some appropriate music going.

Now, it wasn’t much, but I was grateful for it, because the shed offered privacy. I’d seen firsthand what kind of compromising information could be revealed during this sort of assessment. Forget the eyes, it turns out that STDs are the real window into the soul.

“Alright folks, looks like we’re all set up! Cook, why don’t you come up first?” I suggested, motioning for her to come on forward. She smiled.

“Cool! I actually have a few things that I want an explanation for.”

I ushered her inside, and had her sit down on the stool. I gave her a quick once over; she was about my age, maybe a little older, with freckly brown skin and messy, chin-length black hair that she’d pulled back into a bun. Definitely on the heavier side for a Mojave resident, but other than that she seemed to be taking pretty good care of herself. She had a healthy glow about her that was refreshing to see.

After checking to make sure I had turned the pip-boy all the way off, I removed it from my arm, and clipped it onto Cook’s. Her arm was bigger than mine, so I had to put it a bit lower, but it still fit alright. I turned it on and let it set up a profile. The song on the radio changed as we got settled in.

Blamin' it all,

On the nights on Broadway-

Singin' them sweet sounds,

To that crazy, crazy town...

“I’ve never seen one of these things up close before. Is it going to reveal my deepest, darkest secrets?” Asked Cook, big brown eyes rooted to the glowing green screen. I nodded.

“If you consider the state of your internals to be your deepest, darkest secrets, then sure. You missing anything?” She shook her head as I donned my stethoscope.

“I don’t think so. Are you?”

I looked down at my left hand. I was missing something, actually- I didn’t have a thumb on my left hand. Instead, my father had done some little surgeries, and moved my index finger to where my thumb would be. It worked fine, didn’t hurt me none, so I hardly noticed it. I flexed my hand to demonstrate.

“Yep. Ain’t that neat?” Cook looked mystified.

“Whoa. That is cool! Why are all those fingers so long ?” I shrugged.

“Hell if I know. The whole arm is a little screwed up, but mostly the hand.” And the forearm, I thought about pointing out. There was a huge patch of pale and rubbery skin running along there, but it didn’t seem like she’d noticed yet and the reasons for it being that way weren't the kind of thing that I liked to talk with new folks about. It was my uncomfortable little secret, you know?

“Could it be radiation? Maybe your mom got exposed while she was pregnant,” suggested Cook. I thought for a moment. Had mom been pregnant with me when she got shot?

“Hey, wait a minute- this is your examination, not mine! Keep the speculatin’ to yourself!” Cook shrugged.

“Sorry, I'm a natural speculator. Oh, and, I think your pip-boy is booted up. Am I a new user?” I nodded.

“Here, lemme see it-“ I used the selector wheel to scroll to the thing that said, “YES,” which was a word I could read, and then let it boot up some more. After a few seconds, her profile popped up:

> STATUS

Battery Level: 40%

Wireless Signal: (?)

Operating Temperature: 95F

> HEALTH

BP: 130/80

SPO2: 99%

Temp: 99.5F

RR: 12

HR: 100

WARNINGS >Right Kidney: Absent

---

“I see a warning,” I said. “Do you mind reading it for me?” Cook shook her head. “No, I… well, shit.” She stared at the screen silently for a few seconds. I raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“It says, right kidney: absent. Is that bad?”

I blinked. “Um, let me see that.” I crouched down next to her, and flicked over to the screen that showed the smiling guy- or, girl, apparently, if the user was female, with little symbols indicating problems. Sure enough, there was a little black warning sign where her left kidney- her right kidney, actually, would be located. “Hm. I don’t reckon it’s a glitch.”

“Okay, but is that bad? Am I going to die before I turn twenty?” she asked, with enough confidence that I was pretty sure she knew the answer. I shook my head.

“Well you might, but not on account of your kidney. Some people just… only have one, I guess.” I thought for a second, then added, “Rule of thumb: If you’ve survived this long without any problems, you’re probably fine.”

That seemed to satisfy her. “Anything else you need to check?” she asked. I nodded.

“A few things. First off, I want to get an idea of what your normal heartbeat sounds like.” I slipped the earbuds of my stethoscope in and placed it against her chest, moving it around a bit. I didn’t hear no beat. “Could you pull your shirt up?” I asked. She gave me a suspicious look.

“I’m wearing a dress. I can’t really pull it up.”

“Okay then, pull it down a bit. I don’t hear nothing,” I replied, trying not to push it too much; apparently some people really didn’t like showing their skin in front of other folks. I always thought that was strange, but I’d learned to respect other people’s weird choices. She sighed and pulled the top of her dress down a bit.

“Still getting more lung than heart,” I said. Cook snickered.

“Well that’s because you’re listening on the wrong side, you dork!” I froze. I took a deep breath, and then I placed it on the other side.

“Oh my god,” I murmured. I stood there for a few more seconds, not sure whether to feel astonished or annoyed

“What?”

“Cook, have you got yourself a twin?” I asked. Cook frowned for a second, then shook her head

“Not that I remember. What’s that have to do with this?”

“Your entire body is flipped! Your heart’s on the wrong side, the pip-boy registered your right kidney as your left kidney, and I’m willing to bet twenty Caps that you’re left handed!” I said, yanking the stethoscope out of my ears. She looked surprised.

“Ambidextrous, actually. I use both my hands for stuff, though I guess I do sort of default to my left! I hadn’t noticed until you mentioned it,” she replied, rubbing her left arm nervously. I shrugged.

“Whatever! It’s harmless, and imagine if someone tried to kill you by shooting you in your heart, but they couldn’t cause it was facing the other way!”

“That would be badass.” she conceded. She stroked her chin. “Like, the hero puts the gun up to my chest and shoots, and then turns his back because he thinks that I’m dying, and then BANG! His friends all gather around for his tragic last words, I laugh an evil laugh and make my escape…”

“But what if the hero-“ I started. Cook started cackling.

“Hey, no, don’t steal my idea! What if his heart was on the wrong side too? Or, it was on the right side, but I didn’t know which side the heart was supposed to be on because mine was wrong!”

“Oh- but then, you both die anyways, cause you still got shot in the lung, and now you’ve got pneumothorax and your lung is gonna collapse!” I realized midway through the sentence that it was a real buzzkill, but Cook didn’t seem to mind. She leaned back in her chair.

“True… Well, I guess it wouldn’t be all that useful then. Still, it’s kind of cool!” She made a little gesture with her thumb and index finger to indicate just how kind of cool it was.

“A little,” I said, still grinning. We both just kind of sat there for a while after that, enjoying our newfound kinship. Cook made a sound like she’d remembered something.

“Oh! I almost forgot- do you have any idea what this weird rashy stuff is? It’s genetic I think, because a few other people in my first tribe had it and I’ve not seen it anywhere else.” She turned her back to me and spread her arms. I hadn’t noticed before, but the backs of her arms and all of the skin I could see on her upper back was covered in these little raised red patches with chalky white centers.

"Psoriasis,” I said immediately. She turned back around looking all sorts of concerned, but I waved her away. “Nothing serious. There are a few different types, but none of them are dangerous. It just means that the top layer of your skin grows too much in some places, which is what makes those weird little scales appear.” She sat back down.

“Is there like, any way I can treat it? The rashy bits itch all the time, and it hurts when I scratch them.”

“Yeah, actually!” She perked up a bit. “Just spend some time with your back to the sun. Make a habit of keeping the rash uncovered, and try to face it towards the sun whenever you’re sitting.”

“Why’s that work?” She asked. I shrugged.

“No idea. My guess is that the sunlight helps kill the weird cells, but I’m a combat clinician, never studied for it specifically. One of my father’s doctor-buddies had psoriasis, and that worked for him. He liked to go around shirtless ‘cause of that,” I explained. Cook nodded.

“Sounds like fun, but I’ll probably just stick to backless dresses- For everyone’s sake.” She laughed, and so I laughed too, even though I didn’t really get what she was joking about. It felt nice to laugh along with someone again.

“Well… I guess you better do your next patient. It’s kinda late,” said Cook eventually, standing up from the rickety chair. I nodded.

“Of course. Been a pleasure talking with you!” I unclipped the pip-boy from her wrist and gave her a friendly wave as she walked out the door.

“Yeah, you too!”

Well, that’s one patient down, I mused. Weird anatomy, but good company! I’d have to get to know her better in the future.

“Next!” I shouted.

-Break-

Battery Level: 23%

Wireless Signal: (?)

Operating Temperature: 95F

>HEALTH

BP: 150/120

SPO2: 97%

Temp: 97.5F

RR: 10

HR: 60

>WARNINGS > Head: Crippled > Right Eye: Crippled > Left Leg: Damaged > Right Kidney: Absent

>TIME

Day: 23 SEP. 2176

Time: 22:56

---

It's not in the way that you hold me,

It's not in the way you say you care!

It's not in the way you've been treating my friends,

It's not in the way that you stayed til’ the end...

Now, I couldn’t read all the warnings, but Tandi sure had a lot of them. I flipped to his- no, HER , I realized, little character icon, then immediately regretted it as the wave of warnings jumped out at me.

“Damaged head, missing right eye, some kinda fracture warning in the right leg…” I stopped for a second. I screwed up my face a little. “Oh, for fuck’s sake- are you missing a kidney too!?” Tandi bobbed her helmet solemnly.

“Okay, whatever, that’s fine, I’ll ask about it later! In the meantime, could you take off your helmet, so I can see your head?” She didn’t respond for a bit, which probably bumped my systolic up at least another ten points. Then, slowly, she brought her hands up to her helmet like Darth Vader, and lifted it off.

Her face was sharp. She had tan, leathery skin and straight blonde hair streaked with grey, tied behind her head and tucked into her collar. The lines of her face suggested that she was about fifty years old, but the sharpness of her features made her look younger. She was kind of familiar, but I couldn’t say why…

That was, of course, ignoring that the entire lower-right side of her face hung somewhat loose, with that side of her mouth all scrunched up at the end. One of her eyes was little more than a swollen, empty socket, and I could see a patch of missing flesh where her synthetic jaw poked through. Before I could start feeling disgusted, though, I got to feeling kinda curious.

“What happened there?” I asked, reaching my hand towards the face to touch the skin. Her glare was enough to make me draw back.

“I had my face shot. Someone put it back together.” She tilted that side of her face towards me. “How’s it look?”

“Magnificent! I’ve never seen anything like it,” I replied, eyes wide with wonder. The fact that she could still sound so normal- well, so relatively normal, if you ignored the bizarre cadence, was mind blowing. “Seriously, whoever did that surgery must of been equal parts crazy and awesome !”

Tandi shook her head. “No. He was a terrible doctor, just a butcher with a steady hand. Guy who made the jaw was smart, but a real shit soldier.”

So it had been a joint effort. That explained the patchwork quality, though I was still a little unclear as to how she’d actually survived getting shot in the melon. That thing contains some pretty vital stuff.

“Well, as neat as that is, you’ve got a lot of problems. Let’s start with your kidney- where the hell is it?” She curled one side of her face into a smile, which caught me off guard, then lifted up her shirt and armor. Among other markings, there was a deep, pink scar running just inferior to her ribcage, all the way across her side.

“I had a comrade named Andrei who needed one. I was stupid back then, so I gave it to him. Tried to take it back later, but that’s another story...” she recounted. She stared off into the darkness, seemed to space out for a while, and I didn’t interrupt her. I often did the same thing.

“… Anyway, now I’m short a kidney. Good luck with Gram.” She started to stand up, grunting a little as her gargantuan form unfolded out of the chair. I motioned for her to sit back down, even though I knew I couldn’t actually do anything if she chose to leave. I got the impression that she could walk right through me if she wanted to, although she didn’t on this particular occasion; tonight, she settled for scowling at me as she sat back down.

“Can I put my helmet back on?” she asked. I nodded.

“Sure. And I can probably help with that eye, if you let me. Removing a little bit of tissue and wearing a patch would probably do you a world of good.” I couldn’t tell if she’d heard me. When the mask was on, she was about as emotive as a Protectron. “Anyways, let’s talk about that leg! You got any idea what happened there?” Tandi stared at me for a few seconds, which was really creepy with the glowing red visor and the gas mask. She shrugged.

“I kill people. Sometimes, I kill them up close. I must have kicked someone’s skull in too hard.”

As usual, the talk about killing upset my brain and my stomach a little bit. I’d already decided that I was never going to kill nobody, swore an oath on it way back at Father’s funeral, but would they expect me to? Cook might understand, but Tandi? I wasn’t sure about Gram either. If he was still alive this many years after the war, I’d be willing to bet he had killed at least a few people...

But, it wouldn’t do to think about that during an examination! I tried to pull myself together.

“So, I don’t know much about what happened, except that it didn’t heal right. It’s too late to just stick some med-x in, but if we measured doses and gave you some down time, I could probably fix it...” Before I was even done speaking, Tandi was shaking her head.

“No, fuck that- I keep my scars. I ain’t about to sit around on my ass for a month so that I can get out of chairs quicker.” I rubbed my temples.

“Well then , it's awful late, and I still haven’t examined Mister Gram! You don’t have any life threatening conditions right now, so I’ll just let you go.” Without much more than a grunt of pain, Tandi stood up, tossed my pip boy on the ground, and started to walk out the door.

“And, uh- Tandi!” Slowly, she turned back around. I couldn’t see her face, but I could tell that her patience was gone. “… Be careful. You’re awful tore up, you know that? If you get hit bad, I don’t think I can offer you more’n a lick and a promise.” She didn’t nod, or do anything that told me that she heard what I was saying. She just stalked away, disappearing into the dark

Oh well. No one could say I didn’t try.

“Next!” I said, with a little less conviction this time.

-Break- Battery Level: 4%

Wireless Signal: (?)

Operating Temperature: 98F

>HEALTH

Vitals:

BP: ?

SPO2: 93%

Temp: 104F

RR: 16

HR: 50 >WARNINGS > Pulse: WARNING! > Airway: WARNING! > Temperature: WARNING! > Circulation: WARNING! > Blood Pressure: WARNING! > Respiration: WARNING! > Liver: WARNING! > Circulation: WARNING! > Dangerous radiation level!

> TIME

Day: 23 SEP. 2176

Time: 23:15

---

Oh, oh, oh (oh, oh, oh)

You're a native New Yorker!

You should know the score by now, (you should know by now),

You're a native New Yorker...

“Well, Gram, congratulations- your biology is so funky that you’ve triggered every single vitals warning. You proud of yourself?” I could tell that Gram was trying to keep a straight face as my Pip-Boy shat itself figuring out how he was still alive. He took a puff on his cigar and kicked back in the chair, causing it to creak dangerously. That didn’t seem to worry him none.

“Oh, you bet your ass I’m proud. Surviving this kind of stuff ain’t just a talent of mine, kid, it’s a passion .” He aired his cigar smoke as I stared him down, really took him all in for the first time; His brown skin was dead and peeling, his eyes were murky and black. And when he breathed, I could hear the fluid in his lungs without holding a stethoscope to his chest.

In the end, I gave up and sat down on the floor.

“To be honest, Gram, I’m kinda lost here. Both of the others had distressing shit, but at least they were human. With you… I don’t even know where to start. Are your organs even in the same place anymore?” He made an incomprehensible expression.

“I dunno- I’ve never checked.” He took another puff of his cigar, which I would comment on, but… well, frankly, that was the least of his worries. Everybody’s gotta die of something, I guess. “If I’m being honest for a moment here, Isaac, I knew you’d be confused. I just had to make sure I was right.”

My heart sank. This had been a test?

“Gram, I know I don’t sound super confident, but that’s just because this is unfamiliar territory for me! Knowledge gaps scare me! If you get shot, I’m still gonna find a way to fix you,” I said, tensing up like I had a gun pointed at me. He chuckled at that.

“You worry too much, Kid- I just want to get to know you in a medical context, make sure I can trust you to handle me and my team. Looking at how worried you are, I think I know the answer.” He gave me a wink, which he had clearly been practicing plenty over the last two hundred years, and I relaxed a little.

“I… Alright. I think I hit it off with Cook, at least, so that’s good,” I replied, sighing and scooting over to the ground beside Gram. The smell of cigar smoke filled my nose.

“Good! She came out with her smile intact, that’s always a good sign! Did you and Tandi get along any?” The mention of her name wiped the grin right off my face. “Wait, don’t answer that question- I think I know the answer. You two are already like a couple of old pals, right?”

I let out a mix between a laugh and a growl, and stared up at the flashlight hanging from the ceiling.

“She’s what my Father would’ve called a ‘ Calamity Jane. ’ That lady has got issues.”

Gram laughed too. “Yeah, you think? Turns out that thirty years of state sponsored slaughter can mess with your head.” Gram swished some more smoke around in his mouth, and blew it out through his nose. “She’s a good woman at heart. She just has this idea in her head that she’s got some kind of duty to her people- to the NCR, to me and Cook- and sometimes she just can’t see anything else.” I guess Gram saw that I was looking forlorn, because he reached over to pat my head. “Don’t worry about it. Just be glad that you managed to get through to Cook. You ain’t gonna be all alone.”

Then Gram handed me my pip-boy back and stood up to leave. I didn’t stop him. As he opened up the rickety wooden door, (which I noticed that only he had bothered to close) he turned around to face me. “G’night, kid. Try and get some sleep tonight. We’ll be walking most of tomorrow, and I want you up at the crack of dawn.” I nodded.

"Course.” Gram tipped his hat, and closed the door behind him.

Blinking to stay awake, I checked the time on my pip boy. It was almost midnight, which meant that the day wasn’t even over yet. Yawning, I turned it off, and plugged it into my emergency energy cell.

September 23rd- It had been the best day of my life, then the second worst, then it got better, and now it was kind of mediocre again. I wasn’t sure how I felt now. Not that it mattered how I felt. I was going to have to stop thinking so much if I wanted to survive the following days, I realized, as I straddled the line between sleep and consciousness. I thought about standing up to turn the light off, but I was so tired that even thinking about standing up made my legs ache. Instead, I just made a sad, feeble attempt to reach the thing with my hand, and then everything went black.

And so that’s what happened on the 23rd of September, 2173; the day that the world ended.

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