#cuz at first it came out lookin not quite right like there was barely any purple and too much green

[yardsards]

recently re-dyed my hair and it looks SO GOOD i am proud of myself

[trvelyans-archive]

There’s a woman at the end of the bar who won’t stop staring at Arthur.

At first, he thought maybe Colm sent her, but she doesn’t look like his type of woman. She’s a little too American for that bastard’s tastes. Then Arthur thought that maybe the bartender called her over to keep an eye on him, which he couldn’t blame the man for, really, considering the trouble he’s caused here lately. But it doesn’t seem like she’s watchin’ him for either of those reasons, really. If she was, she probably woulda made some sort of move sooner. She’s just… sittin’ there, with her eyes trained on him like he’s a Goddamn Christmas hog she’s gonna shoot and cook for dinner.

She’s pretty, too. He doesn’t much like that.

He downs his finger of whiskey with his left hand, his right hovering against the gun in his holster. (It’s a new one – pulled it off the body of some O’Driscoll he shot dead in the middle of the Heartlands the other night.) Not that he thinks she’s gonna shoot his head off, mind you, but it never hurts to be prepared around these parts, especially when he’s a couple of drinks into his evening already. It’s not doin’ much to help his pounding headache – being around that jackass Micah Bell for too long would do that to a man – but he’d rather sit here by his lonesome and wallow in his pain for a little while than be back at camp arguing with Dutch about… well, he’s sure they’d find something.

Seems all they do nowadays is argue. Or talk in a way that makes them feel like they’re not arguing when they really are.

He lowers his face to the tabletop, examining the cigarette cards he’s laid out to take a good look at, but out of the corner of his eye he can still see that woman watching him. She looks about twenty-five – might look older if he saw her in the sun when he was sober – and she has warm brown hair pulled into two braids on either side of her head, messy like she’d done them herself without a mirror (which he knows very well to be difficult, because Mary-Beth complains about it often when she begs Arthur to let her use his). She’s pale, too, with a face full of freckles and a handful of moles, and she’s got dark eyes like bullet holes, still pointed in his direction.

When she raises her arm, he half expects to hear a gunshot ring through the air, but she just gestures her cup towards him and takes a sip.

That’s when he realizes he’s been lookin’ too long, and perhaps that he’s drunk much more than he thought he did.

Unfortunately for him, even after shaking his head and forcing his attention back to the cards on the table, it’s only a couple seconds ‘til the seat across from him is pulled out and the woman sits down across from him. “Thought maybe you didn’t see me,” she says, placing her cup – empty – in front of his cards.

“Hard not to,” he replies, forcing himself not to meet her eyes. “Can’t quite ignore you when you’ve spent the past hour starin’ at me.”

“So you noticed.” She smiles. “Why didn’t’cha come up and say anythin’?” she asks, leaning forward to make sure he can see her.

He does lift his head up at that, though. “I, uh… didn’t think that’s what you’d wanted,” he replies, clearing his throat and reaching forward to grab one of the cards between two of his fingers, flipping it over to take a look at the writing on the back. “Thought maybe you were just waitin’ for me to cause some trouble and kick me out, and I didn’t intend on causin’ any sort of trouble tonight.”

“Mmm… A shame, that.”

He holds the card up higher, hoping it might hide some of the newfound heat rising on his cheeks.

“I’m Mabel.” She holds her right hand out to him from across the table, forcing him to put the card down so he can see her still smiling the same darlin’ smile. “Mabel Olsen. And your name is…”

“Arthur,” he replies before he can think better of it. “Arthur Morgan.”

“Arthur Morgan.” She clicks her tongue against the top of her teeth like she’s tasting the sound of his name in her mouth. “I like it.”

“Well, thank you,” he replies. “Can’t quite take all the credit for it, though.”

She laughs, leaning back in her chair and glancing around the room. Up close she looks just about the same as she did from the bar, but now he notices a couple of scars littered across her hands and shoulders, and her voice sounds much deeper than he thought it would. So she’s definitely older than twenty – twenty-five still seems like a good guess.

She’s definitely not as old as he is.

“What’re you doin’ in town tonight, Arthur Morgan?”

Hopefully nothing, he wants to say. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, after all – months, even, when he thinks about it. First, having to ride out of Blackwater with the whole gang after the ferry job went wrong, then hidin’ out in the mountains and freezing half to death every night, and now, after meeting those jackasses Milton and what’s-his-name when he was out with fishing with Jack last week, it seems like Arthur can’t quite catch a break at all nowadays without someone shooting at him or yelling at him to clean up someone else’s mess every hour or so.

He can’t tell her any of that, though. He doesn’t want to scare her off, even if she is interrupting his carefully made plans for a boring evening. Might be nice to keep her around and talk to her for a little while.

So, instead, he flattens one of his hands against the table, fiddling with his belt buckle underneath the table with the other. “Drinkin’,” he replies. “Lookin’ at these. You?”

“Drinkin’,” she responded. “Lookin’ at you.”

He’s lucky he finished his last drink before she came over. If he had been drinking when she said that, he would’ve choked on his whiskey. Even now, he just about chokes on thin air.

“What’s so special about these?” she questions suddenly, pushing herself up from her chair and bracing one of her arms against the table to lean on it. “Aren’t these just cigarette cards?”

“Well, yes, but…” He clears his throat, scrubbing a hand against his beard. “I like collectin’ them, I guess.”

She doesn’t say anything for a couple seconds. When she does, her voice is much quieter. “Used to know someone who liked collectin’ ‘em, too.” And then she smiles at him again. “He liked the famous gunslinger ones, though he couldn’t’a been less of a gunslinger himself if he tried. Which ones do you like?”

Arthur thinks about it for a moment. “I like the ones with all the animals on them,” he says, grabbing one and pushing it towards her. “And the horses.”

“The horses,” she repeats, then cocks her head at him and squints like she’s giving him a thorough inspections. “Are you a cowboy, Arthur Morgan?”

“You could say that,” he responds, finally smiling back at her.

“Do you collect anything else?”

He inhales deeply, pursing his lips as he thinks. “Don’t know if I mean to so much as I end up doing it accidentally,” he answers. His bag is full of little bits and pieces of things he picks up – feels like he can’t walk two steps without finding something that catches his eye. “But sure, I collect plenty of things. And I have a journal, too.”

He didn’t mean to say that – he normally doesn’t like to talk about his journal with people, because then they always ask to see it, and it’s much more boring and personal than they think it’s going to be if he does show them or they get offended when he doesn’t. “A journal,” she echoes. “’s funny. You look like some rough-and-tumble outlaw, but you got a soft side to you. I can tell already, if you collectin’ cigarette cards and writin’ in a journal wasn’t enough.”

“I guess,” he grumbles good-naturedly, lowering his head to look at his cards again. “Do you collect anything, Miss Olsen?”

She laughs. “Oh, don’t call me that, Arthur,” she says. “My mother would never stop rollin’ in her grave if you did. Mabel is fine. And no, I don’t. Don’t see much point in it.”

“Guess that’s true.”

“Might change my mind now, though.”

He clears his throat and forces himself to look around, to look at anywhere that isn’t her smiling face.

The bar is nowhere near full, even at this time of night in this nice weather. (Though maybe that’s why – some of the folk in Valentine might be out enjoyin’ it.) Mabel’s old seat near the bartender is still empty. She could go back to it, if she wanted to, or move to a table to talk to someone else, but she doesn’t. Instead she keeps sitting across from him, watching him, running a finger around the rim of her glass with the tip of her tongue sticking out between her bared teeth, like a wolf waiting to pounce.

“So what made you come over here?” he asks eventually, letting himself look at her again.

She shrugs. “Thought you looked interestin’,” she answers, “and you certainly are. Although I like just about any man that doesn’t offer to fuck me before he even buys me a God damn drink.”

Arthur clenches his jaw. He doesn’t know what to say to that, but now his mind is definitely beginning to fill with somewhat indecent thoughts he’d rather not dwell on.

“And I thought it’d be nice to talk to someone. Thought you’d actually want to talk to me.”

He frowns. “What’s that mean?”

She shrugs again. “Don’t quite know,” she says. “Just… thought we’d get along. Most people don’t like talkin’ to me after a little while, probably ‘cuz I like being a pain in the ass.”

He didn’t consider her to be a pain in the ass at all, and if there’s something that Arthur Morgan hates more than suckin’ snake venom out of another man’s leg and runnin’ out of bullets in the middle of a gunfight, it’s people – like God damn Micah Bell - who are a pain in the ass. So he chuckles, hopin’ it might make her feel better. “Believe me, I’ve talked to much worse.”

Mabel smiles back, to no surprise, but she seems to stiffen a little as he watches her. “Anyway, if you’re askin’ because you want me to leave you alone –“

“Hey, now, did I say that?”

That gives her pause. “No, I guess I just…” She purses her lips. “You’re full of surprises, you know that?” she finally says.

“Can’t much say the same for you,” he teases.

“Chicken shit.” She grins at him. “Now who’s being a pain in the ass? You stay here, file all your little cigarette cards away in your bag next to your... I dunno... hairbrush and mirror and hair pomade, and I’ll go get us some more drinks. You look like a whiskey man, Arthur. Are you a whiskey man?”

He furrows his eyebrows. “Hang on, I can pay –“

Before he can finish, she pulls a heavy sack of what he assumes to be money from her bag and hefts it onto the table, where it lands with a loud thud. “Please,” she says, “let me.”

Arthur stares at it for a second and then looks up at her. “Maybe you are full of surprises.”

“Oh, I certainly am.” She stands up and rifles through the bag, completely ignoring the other patrons in the bar staring at them as she pulls a couple of bills from a stack. “Get a few more drinks in me and I’ll have even more surprises to show you, then.”

Before she heads off to the bar, she looks over her shoulder and gives him a playful wink that just about knocks the air out of his lungs, and all of a sudden Arthur is very, very glad that he isn’t going to have a boring night.

[safrona-shadowsun]

The Siren and an Assassin

{ Rp put together of Safrona and Orchid’s first meeting, now only known as @thefirstperished​. It is a glimpse of the individual history so often swept beneath the rug of each character now. Thank you for reading if you do!}

The Vermillion Pearl was one of the fewer high-class establishments that those paying could find private access to in Booty Bay. Here, the privileged were men and women met with few laws to govern them, where the best gambles payed off and new debts began, where the best smuggling operations were arranged, and every desire could be catered to. 

But, it was also where some competition in the Underground rose, and where some of it was ended.

Beautiful pieces of flesh from every part of Azeroth were always up for the offering, and whether considered whores or "consorts" as they preferred, they were a perfect backdrop to shady deals and operations. It was the rumor of some "Siren" too, a myth or legend always changing.

"She's a bloody Naga, I tell you," a pirate insisted, coat to small for his girth but wearing his weight in pilfered luxury. "Don't mean I won't find 'er in my bed tonight and make 'er hiss my name b'fore I give 'er the pointy end! In ALL the ways! Ahahaha!" His mates raised their mugs to him with hoots of agreement.

A she-goblin swashbuckler sort looked unimpressed, and stood up on the table to call the pirate out. "Riiiight. Ya'all think the same with yer naughty bits. I'm gonna enlighten ya and tell you The Siren's a damn drink that's so rare cuz nobody in this fluffed up piece of shit knows what a REAL drink is! That's why you AINT gonna find her, you fat ass!"

The truth unbeknownst to most was that a Siren stayed in the backround like a painting none quite payed much attention to. There were prettier, livelier things vying for attention, including her own glamoured succubus that was the lure for specific targets. She would observe until it was her own time to act.

The solitary lamp that illuminated his table had long been blown out, the light replaced by a singular candle placed on the opposite side of the table, keeping his face from being seen. A chilled glass of scotch sat sweating on the bare wooden finish of his table, the pooling beneath telling of how long it had been since it was sipped from. One leg crossed over the other, his boot gently flicked off dirt with every slight bounce, falling on top of a beg resting just below it. The common rabble didn't hold his crimson eyed attention, it was focused on the man that sat precariously near the lit flame.

" The deed is done, Novak; the bag is trophy of the job done well. I expect my compensation to be comparable to what this one offered to keep his head in exchange for yours." The man shifted slightly before the face of the hidden man, telling how off put he was to hear this." It's good enough. Besides, I thought ye' never accepted bribes or counter offers when it comes to a job--'

The hidden man's eyes flashed slightly before a thin line appeared on his client's face, blood slowly trickling down his cheek. " Do not repeat my rules to me, Novak; they are set in stone when I find the client to be one desirable. You are by far less than desirable; I would sooner enjoy licking the heel of a ferrier's boot than to do business with you. However, I need the coin and the information you have for me; do not believe my rules will save you if your name were uttered from another client's lips."

 The client veered back slightly from the candlelight, wiping at the sting on his cheek. Some caution filled the smuggler's eyes as his fingers drew back blood, reaching immediately for a few fat pouches of coin that made satisfying little thumps on the table. Compensation offered, and then some. " 'Ey now," he chuckled nervously, revealing a yellow, snaggle-toothed smile. "I 'ppreciate ye. The gold's all yers. Scum o' the earth, that one was. Makin' me life hard. But lookit you, makin' good on 'is promises. We can be frens, aye? Business wit' ol' Novak ain't so bad. As for yer info, I'm a very informed man...”

He'd lick his lips once, eyes dropping to the glass of scotch as he leaned back into the candlelight, lowering his voice conspiratorily. "Yer lookin' inta the slavery thing, aye? Yeah, the Pearl here's a part. The most lucrative smugglin's invested in live bodies. Prisoners of war, ransoms, arena fighters, pirates, mercenaries, prostitution. Most've the 'investments' already lookin' for escape an' land themselves in Booty Bay. Sell themselves f'r a few promises of a better life. Or are bought. The one that holds the contracts owns the Pearl 'ere: Vermillion Shah. One of the richest moguls at this port, in fact. Untouchable, really. He's got somethin' to offer every bit've business round here. But this house of pleasure's his gem. Arrogant enough t' have it named for him. I know we not so well-off blokes like t'call him 'Vermin' in our circles, heh. And that's all what your friend here Novak knows."

A few whistles rang out around the establishment as a particular server made her rounds; Novak along with several other nearby eyes were suddenly distracted. The server walked with an air of confidence that came from more than simply being beautiful, but rather that she knew any eyes that landed on her could be wrapped around her finger, if she so willed it. On appearance alone, she seemed to play to every individual fantasy, the finger down the spine when her name was uttered.

"You'd be best pressed to talk to the "Vermin's' property, if ye need t'know more. Like Lina there," the client murmured to the assassin, titillated as the vixen seemed to meander to their own table. "Lucky you. That might happen it looks like, aye?"

Observing her glamoured succubus in approach, the Siren eased herself onto a stool at a table nearby, focusing the scope of her vicarious bond with the demon to take in every word spoken. 

A solitary finger pushed the glass of scotch toward the client, each movement calculated to keep the Assassin's visage within the shadows; no clues to his identity, no remnants of his passing. It held nothing to the Inn of Silvermoon, the chair in the corner he made his own but this den of malodorous vermin did have a somewhat primal charm. The sudden stir of patrons whistling and cat-calling the waitress caused him to glance sideways toward the woman but there wasn't time to engage in the game of flesh, not while slavery was being peddled here as if it was wine.

"You are no friend, merely a client Novak; do not blend lines in hope of earning clemency from me." His form shifted slightly as the woman drew near their table, pulling more of his form into the shadows save for the singular bouncing boot shrugging dirt from it. A singular hand gestured to Novak to make his order before pulling the bags of coin close to him, jingling them before him as if to count them merely by listening. 

" I'll cover it, order what you wish though might I suggest things you would enjoy as a last meal... Food for thought, perhaps." Crimson hues glanced toward the woman, mildly confused by the level of 'perfection' she held in her form. It was rather unsettling to actually take the sight of her in; seemingly pulled from the dark fantasies of the mind, she was too... Perfect, too chiseled to an exact form to stir the loins of both man and woman alike. She was unsettling though the Assassin's client seemed all too enthralled with the woman to notice how unblemished the woman was...

 There was no way she was a slave, something was amiss...

A perfect monster, leaning now at the table, and one Novak took the hand of to kiss. “Liiiiina,” the smuggler purred out, and breathing her in all at once. Envious eyes were on the table, on the predator pretending to be something less, on Novak, on the man in shadow. Too much attention. The client knew it, and suddenly became miles more comfortable in his situation. He grinned hard at the assassin as he welcomed the monster to take her seat on his lap.

“I’ve gotta feeling things’ll be right alright for me, mate. It’s just a shame y’don’t want t’be friends. Isn’t that a shame, Lina love?” Novak took the scotch up in hand, downed it, exhaled with some disappointment. “Thought I had meself a new partner here, but I’m getting the feeling he doesn’t much like me. Mr Shadow-Man here hurts me feelings.”

The demoness tilted her head at the silhouette, eyes seeming to pierce through him. She pouted, sighing. “A shame. We’re all friends here.” 

Another conspiratorial grin from the client. “Right? Now, I gave our not-friend what he wanted, so I’ll guess our business is through. But I’m doing our not-friend a favor and introducing him to you!” There was a shared glance between the smuggler and the monster on his lap, some code that began to sign an unspoken agreement that the Warlock hidden away understood. Turning again to the Assassin, Novak would wink, and shift out from under Lina, to let her sit alone now in unknown company. “Every man can use some friends, aye?”

He gave a final toast of that empty scotch glass, a farewell to his ‘friend’, under all the assumption the Assassin would not be seen or heard from again. Business would continue as always, he surmised. Novak had a shipment of new ‘product’ to unload for Vermillion Shah to sample, fresh new young things needing to be broken.

Meanwhile, the exotic creature at the table situated herself dominantly on her chair, attention cutting through the Assassin like a scalpel. “Someone not looking for friends does not end up in the Vermillion Pearl, sweetness.” Her voice was a honey-slicked web, an inevitable lure positioned to trap the prey. “If it isn’t friends you are looking for, what is it you really want, mmn?”

Want. The way she had said it, compelling with unholy power, the way her lips worked around speech, promising ecstacy.

It was all direly wrong, and he was a target.

It took everything within him not to kill Novak right where he sat, took everything not to let out a disgusted growl from his lips. He was the kind of person the Assassin would kill for free, just on the principle that he was part of the problem that festered in this place, a greater problem that festered in the world like a wound; no rules, no manners....

-No code.-

To most he was simply an assassin that sat cloaked in shadows, not understanding more than what they couldn't see in the shadows, only saw him as a weapon for hire. But there was more to him, more to the man simply known as The Black Orchid. He watched the display between Novak and the woman he called Lina, wondered how the man kept his clothes on and not simply took what his thoughts perhaps he was owed. For all the subtlety the man thought he had, Orchid was well versed in the ways of word play and his code had made him always painfully aware of rule number one: Everyone lies.

" I have friends, though the company I carry know not the full picture of who I am. To see the full picture is to see beyond the curtain and far more intelligent beings have only succumbed to what they could not understand. As for what I want..." the man said as he shifted forward, fangs flashing a smirk of a smile as it crept from the darkness:

" What I want right now is a clean glass and for whomever Novak was really speaking towards to join us, Lina... And do not play naive or stupid, I am neither nor am I oblivious to where that man's alliances lie, where nearly all the beings in this bar truly lie. One does not go into a wolves den without first understanding the danger within it."

Lina’s eyes narrowed, her smile vicious and red as she glimpsed the fanged mouth grin for her within its obscuring silhouette. The hellion seemed to rock forward to speak as well, but froze midway, those predatorial eyes veering off, as if silently instructed otherwise. “Hmph.” She simply growled the sound out, and rose from the seat made for her, meandering away from the Assassin’s table. 

Time passed, attention slid away from his table and its empty seat from the other patrons as they lost interest in the small ‘show’ the demon had left in her wake. She sought out a new meal for the evening, easily seducing another to retreat to the privacy of a cabin in the Pearl. It seemed for the moment he was left to his own devices, his own strategies, the payments of confirmed gold pieces still awaiting to be secured.

 It was only when no eyes remained on his table that another voice spoke up from another seat nearby, where the assassin had been observed. “You have your payment, and our gratitude for the kill.” An even, feminine voice, impersonal. Moving from her seat, the slender frame came into the candlelight, illuminating the smooth compilation of a black silk suit, a provocative cut of the top leaving a low cut ‘v’ of flesh down between her breasts. A clean shot glass was carefully placed at his table per the request, the other hand supplying a half bottle of the special brand scotch the assassin had chosen for the night. She did not sit in the chair, face remaining just out of the reach of the dwindling candlelight as she lingered there. “You should take your drink, and leave on the next boat out of this place, if you mean to leave this place at all alive. Consider it a final kindness for clean business.”

The man's eyebrow crooked slightly as Lina moved away from the table, a cautionary glance as her response told more than her disgruntled hmph did. The voice pulled his attention back to his shadows, believing he ventured too far out from them, receding back until only his legs were exposed to the light. Her voice caused his crimson hues to lift toward her form, watched as she placed the glass and scotch on the table. This one was different from Lina, perhaps the real being that pulled the loyalty of the men in this place.

Her words seemed more a threat than a cautionary warning, causing him to chuckle dryly." Final kindness she says, cautionary tales to save my own skin while I still can. My apologies, little Sparrow, but this one cannot leave until my mission is fulfilled. Wouldn't have much of a reputation if I turned tail because things might get a bit sketchy," he said as he slowly poured himself a glass of scotch, his voice warm and deep much like it. "I do appreciate the warnings but my code cannot allow me to leave, I do hope you understand. I'm sure that a far more intelligent man would heed your message and fly but alas, I've never been considered a most intelligent man; simply lucky, well trained and not willing to die."

The noise of the tavern grew louder as the Assassin’s table grew forgotten, patrons going about their own interests. A particular card game had run awry, and sprung into a fight of accusers, at last convinced to settle their outrage in the fight club on the floor below. It was drawing its crowd of bets, jeers and insults. 

For a moment, the figure at his table seemed to be taking her survey of the Pearl, then the sliver of flesh at her chest heaved in a quiet sigh. She’d claim the empty seat decisively, moving the swathe of her long, black hair away as to not sit on it. She courted the petite delicacy of most of the Sin’dorei with her long ears and angled face, but free from embellishments or accentuating make-up. It was a face like any other female elf, forgettable, save for the opaque green eyes that held no shine or glow. Lifeless eyes in a face that did not smile, eyes that did not seem too far interested in what the shadows hid that obscured the Assassin. It was his voice that she concentrated on, the warm courtesy of it an irony to the cold, profane nature of most that came to Booty Bay.

“Little Sparrow,” she scoffed at the title he gave her, “That is a new one.” Fingers moved idly to the base of the candle, situating its light closer to her. “You seem smart enough to understand that Lina was more disturbing than attractive, but not smart enough to avoid getting on Novak’s bad side. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he is speaking to the next assassin, putting a mark on you, and any travel plans you have.” She delivered these words smoothly, matter-of-factly. “He has a code too, and it is written in the language of business, and you made it fairly clear you don't like it or him. And that one has never taken rejection well. Even if he can't kill you, he'll make sure to make your life a hell."

Raising his hand to stifle a chuckle, the shadow caressed man couldn't help but laugh as she explained his current situation with Novak. It wasn't a chuckle of humor but one more out of inevitably and surety that the shifty man had already contacted more than one rival assassin to take him out. " I would expect nothing less of a man without honor save from what can be garnered from coin but like fickle loyalty, it too falls from our hands effortlessly." His crimson hues dimmed slightly with the thought, as if alliances of old clung to old memories akin to puss on a wound.

" Business is business but as you speak, it has become personal to him and in that moment, it was effectively bad business. Personal matters and business have no place together as if will only cause the utter downfall of the one enacting on impulse rather than logical rationale. But from what I've seen, the only thing in that one's eyes is the impulsive nature of ravishing your...Friend." Leather bound hands gripped the inside of the glove, causing it to creak softly, causing his eyes to raise back toward the woman before him, if she were a woman at all.

" However, in all of this, you seem to be of business which only offers the question: why give me this information, for free of all things? Or is this the part of the conversation where you give me an offer I can't refuse as I would never make it to the door."

“There is more to Novak than sex,” the Siren spoke rather bluntly, glancing away from the table with a hard smile. “Well. Not much more, but some.” The simple curve added some semblance of life to the distant face, but that echo of life was fleeting, lips returning to their default solemn stone as she continued to murmur through them. “There is power. For a man that had nothing to so quickly have everything, everything is about power, leverage. It is an addiction that won’t quit. Just as it is for the one this ‘lovely’ little establishment is named for. As it will be for the one that takes their place, when they meet the finality of their own ends. It is an endless cycle, as it is for the ones shoved under their rule, the...resources...the possessions. But it is a system. Topple down the main cogs of that system, and the system comes crashing down on the shoulders of the victim, the destitute, and the abused, and those belonging to no kingdom or country. Even the most impersonal business has its investments that should be kept safe. Maybe I say what I do in attempt to reach an understanding? I am a monster, but I am not a creature that is closed to reason.”

Her eyes returned to the Silhouette across from her, hand rising up onto the table to perch her chin upon. Lifeless as those jade stone eyes were, she had an unblinking stare that seemed to arrest past the flesh, a cold-burn delivered to the soul. “You...though. Can you even say you are not mixing the personal with the business of murder?” A small, knowing smile perked at her lips, her near empty monotone lifting slightly with a trace of curiosity. “It takes a certain rage to sever a head with mere daggers, I am sure. And this when all that had been needed was a finger, or an eye from Novak’s contact. I don’t think any of this is a simple job for you, a simple matter of greed. Or you would have stepped up to Novak’s offer for continued business. If not to kill, and not to indulge, what *are* you here for…?”

 Curious, curious, she began to wonder at this shadow of a man...and wonder how long it would take the sedative in his drink to finally shut him down.

A singular hand moved to touch his temple, rubbing circles as his eyes blurred for a moment, a hint of panic forcing the crimson hues to spark erratically. For one like Novak to have a woman such as she in his employ, either she was forced due to him having leverage against her or perhaps it was merely the thrill brought about by her pet. A small light pulsed within his lapel, a whisper slipped out as a small needle pressed against his neck, injecting an odd liquid into his veins.

His crimson hues ceased their erratic sparking, instead flaring slightly as they refocused on the woman, his hand returning to rest against his crossed leg. He could feel the effects still swirling in his veins but to subtly show a tell, he took up the glass once more and drank another sip from it." Do you know what I'm called, Love? Has Novak spilled what secrets he knows of me or at least, what he thinks he knows of me? Did he tell you what my fee was or how the coin given wasn't what I desired? I doubt it as I seem like a mere assassin that hides his face away from the light."

" You say that my sin is that of Greed and accuse me of mixing personal and business... I know of what my sin is and I own it every time I take a life and remove emotion from the equation. I am wrath but the wrath is not my own; the wrath is of each person subjected to the torture and malodorous actions of a being thinking himself a god."

His gloves tightened as a vial seemingly appeared out of thin air into his hand, held into the light like a single ray of starlight. The Black Orchid held no words out for the woman, only the uncertainty of what he held in his hand and what he had already done with the other half of the empty vial.

“Apparently a little more than the common assassin, yes…” the Siren trailed off with a soft, quizzical tone, her eyes fixed on the mysterious little vial the man had emptied into his system.

Those jade eyes then strayed to the red lights that were his own, lingering quietly on the compelling nature of his words. “Definitely making things difficult.”

The corner of her lips twitched to a hard smile again, somewhere between bemusement and annoyance. “So wrath guides you then. Brings you to this place….where you...what? Hope to put out the fire of what haunts you with a blade in a ‘god’s’ eye? I can only imagine you’re pulled every which way on the map then. Because the tormented are everywhere, in fact. As are the little villains that would name themselves gods. But gods are a replaceable role. You might as well call the tides to drown the world as we know it, and pay the price of putting out all life to quench the rage against every wrong they do, and will continue to do. But this place...this little...heh...den of debauchery? It keeps the devils and their horrible ‘gods’ from your cleaner corners of the world. The tortured here earn their sentence, or they would have found their way out long ago.”

The intensity of her whisper and unblinking stare on his crimson sights told that she believed every word that she had said, this bleak perception of the world, a bleakness she was forced to subsist on. She stole her gaze away from him, this assassin that claimed to be more, shaking her head as she considered ending her visit there with a rise from her seat. “I don’t know who you are, but I think you aim for either a messy kill, or your own messy death. And both would be rather meaningless in the long haul of things.”

The small vial was placed on the table between them, left to glisten in the light. She twisted his words, attempted to glean his ideals and desires from every syllable used; she was a fearsome adversary in this game of words." That's what I do, enjoy making things difficult for all manner of beings who prey on those weaker than them simply because they can. And yes, there are tormented everywhere, which is why I am of a neutral sort who works in every border this world has attempted to place. No matter the race or faction, injustice is injustice and however pitiful of a reason that is for you, it is one that hits far too close to home for myself."

A small breadcrumb of a loaf kept out of view, just enough in hopes of her at least understanding why he was there. A soft chuckle came from his fanged mouth, a flick of his tongue across pearl white teeth." I am here because devils and so called gods should have no safe haven, no den of debauchery to feel safe as their victims have none either. They respect nor have mercy for another so I merely even the playing field, offer a balance to the status quo they seek to protect."

" Perhaps I am for both, broken Sparrow; perhaps I aim to die messy and loud while I kill gods messy. Meaningless says you. But with my death, one life is saved. With their deaths? Many more are saved from the same fate and in that, shakes the very foundations of -their- world."

Only when the small vial left the black glove did the Siren choose to reach for it, gently taking it between her fingers. Briefly she examined it with her eyes, her gaze flitting back with a persistance toward the Assassin with each word spoken, and the way his teeth broke the shadow in its smile. It caused the faintest sign of amusement in the woman, a silent snicker that stopped in her bosom, breathed through the nose. She took the kernel of insight into this assassin's code as she had taken that glass vial, her fingertips pressing into it. "You are here to take this haven from them? But you are right, there is no safe place in this world. Not that they understand. Most think money is their shield."

She leaned back in toward the table, palms pressing into its surface, the candlelight dancing its color across the pour of her ebon hair down her shoulders. "If you take this illusion of safety from them, you take the way by which the monsters feed on the them." She held his eyes once more, offering her own crumb of insight into who she was, and her own agenda. "There may be broken Sparrows here, Shadow, but I am not one of them." The strange compulsion to speak with him, whether by the mysterious charm or the desire to hear his voice in reply caught up with her, her brow creasing as she hesitated. She was saying too much. She lifted her arms from the table, crossing them now over her chest, but did not seem willing to vacate just yet.

"A messy Shadow then, headed for a mess. You must be more than a Shadow, still, yes? Do you not have a mate to go to? A child to rear? A life to be living? At least go live one more day in it before you make your final sacrifice."

" Their haven? Oh my dear, you think too small.." It wasn't meant as a condescension but more of a morsel of understanding dangled out before a hungry predator. He didn't place comment upon her words of illusions and safety, merely listened to her speak of the supposed happenstance of what was to happen. But as she spoke of him, a muffled "ha" came from his lips as she attempted to speak of who he was and what he had.

" We all have our masks to wear, my dearie, but which is the mask and which is whom we really are? Am I a man wearing the mask of a Shadow or is the opposite true? Do I have a family waiting for me or are these Sparrows the only semblance of a family I have? Do they have one more day? The answer is no but to which question it answers, we will have to save for another time." Curiously his eyes moved away from the woman, staring toward a door that Novak walked into with this woman's "pet".

" I believe its almost time for the curtain to fall on this fateful meeting.."

The Siren did not have the moment to digest the words this assassin gave her, following the shift of his sights to the door. A strand of concern psychically transferred from demon to mistress had the woman standing at alarm, cutting a soft curse between her teeth as she left the table.

Novak had only just passed the doorway before he'd collapsed, twitching out the last moments of his life on the plush carpet of the room. The succubus quickly retreated back to her glamoured form, a finger tapping at her lip with faux innocence. "I think we've been had, my love." An amused grin was on her lips. "Or was this the plan all along? Where is your Shadow-Man?"

The Warlock shot her demon a scathing look. "Stop it and help me get this cleaned up. We have explaining to do. Now is not the time to think about...about Shadows."

[write-havoc]

The Flame is Gone, The Fire Remains Ch. 4

Summary: Negan and Chuck have cemented their relationship and are proud parents of a new baby girl. Will they be able to balance their new found parenthood with keeping their community safe from the perils of the world?

Sequel to This Is How I Disappear

Fandom: The Walking Dead AU

Pairing: Negan/Original Female Character

Status: Ongoing

Contains: swearing, violence, blood, smut

Intended for readers 18+ of age only

Masterlists in my bio

Chuck wakes up in Negan’s arms, just like she does most mornings. Though she was always a night owl and Negan was mostly an early riser, they’ve both adapted to go to bed and wake up at the same time, sort of in the middle.

She hums as Negan traces his fingers over her arm, apparently already awake. “Morning,” she whispers, her voice not exactly awake yet.

He brings his other arm around her and gives her a little squeeze. “Morning.”

She snuggles more into his chest. “Maddie awake?”

“Yeah. She’s fuckin’ babbling, but she hasn’t cried.”

“Must not be hungry yet,” Chuck comments then yawns. “Let’s go back to sleep.”

“Sounds fuckin’ good to me.”

Not a few minutes later is there a knock on the door.

“ It’s Simon ,” comes from the other side.

“Shit,” Negan mutters. “Are we decent?” He lifts the blanket to look under it.

Chuck giggles and slaps his chest playfully. “Yes, we’re decent.” Before Maddie came, sleeping in any clothes was just inconvenient, since the clothes would be taken off at some point anyway. With a new baby, though, their sex lives aren’t quite as active. Not that they don’t make time for each other, because they definitely do. Just not last night.

“Come in,” Negan calls out as he steps out of bed in his underwear.

Simon enters, looking a little disheveled. He’s never been one to be up with the sun, but he’s really stepped up to more responsibility, being the one most people go to first to allow Negan to have more time with his family. “Sorry to wake you guys up. But, uh, we had a situation.”

As Simon speaks, Chuck moves to Maddie’s bassinet to check on her. She’s completely content to lay there, so Chuck doesn’t pick her up yet. She knows she’ll get hungry in about twenty minutes, anyway.

“What the fuck kinda situation?” Negan asks tensely.

Simon lets out a heavy breath. “All the guys that were attacked at the pickup the other day turned.”

“What?!” Negan reacts in shock. “What the fuck do you mean ‘turned’?!”

“Dead,” Simon explains. “Most of them turned durning the night. The others were close to it so they got put down.”

Chuck is shocked. They haven’t had any of the dead inside the fences since Dr. Carson unfortunately died. And that was months ago.

Negan seems just as shocked, too. He shakes his head for a moment before he speaks again. “I thought they got shot with BBs and darts and shit. What the fuck!”

Simon shrugs. “They did. We don’t know what the fuck happened. But... a few more got bit before they were put down.”

“Goddamnit.” Negan shakes his head then looks down. “How many?”

“We lost sixteen total,” Simon answers

Chuck gasps. “Oh my god.” She hates to hear that people have died needlessly.

Negan raises his gaze to Simon again. “How the fuck...” He lets out a huff. “How the fuck do you die from a goddamn BB gun?”

Simon shakes his head, but doesn’t say anything.

“What if they were poisoned?” Chuck blurts out.

Both men turn to look at her.

Chuck clarifies her statement. “There was that guy that got poisoned with ricin by a pellet fired from an air gun. What if there was something on the BBs and stuff that went into their system.”

Negan blinks a few times, seemingly thinking it over. Then, he looks up and covers his eyes. “Fuck.” He scrubs his hand down his face. “They were covered in biter blood.”

Simon’s face drops. “Shit. That’s fucked up, but...” he rubs his fingers over his mustache, “that makes sense. We know biter blood makes us sick, so I guess it makes sense someone would turn that into a weapon.”

Negan lets out a huff. “Call a meeting in an hour,” he says to Simon. “And talk to Rick. His people were in that fuckin’ ambush, too.”

Chuck’s head snaps up. “Oh my god. Uncle Aaron...”

“I’ll ask about him.” Simon nods then takes his leave.

Chuck watches Negan as he casts his eyes down again. “What are we gonna do?” she asks quietly.

Negan looks up to her. “We’re gonna find Eldritch and I’m gonna fuckin’ kill that motherfucker.” He walks over to Chuck and wraps her in his arms. “Don’t worry, baby girl.” He kisses her head. “I’m gonna end him.”

“I just don’t understand why he can’t stop. Why he doesn’t see that living together is better than... fighting. War.”

“He’s a fuckin’ psychopath. All he cares about is his own fuckin’ power.”

“We’re really lucky we didn’t have a full outbreak,” she mutters.

“I know,” he whispers into her hair.

“It could’ve all been over. We coulda been overrun.”

Negan pulls back to look Chuck in the face. “But we weren’t. Because my people know what to do. They’ve been trained what to do. I’m goddamn sure Eldritch was expecting this shit to decimate us, but we’re smart. He’s underestimated us at every fuckin’ turn and this time, it’s gonna fuckin’ kill him.”

 ——— Negan’s POV ———

I walk into my full fuckin’ meeting room without saying a word. When I sit down, Simon starts to talk.

“Rick lost thirty one. Aaron is fine. But I guess his husband is one of the thirty one.”

“Fuck,” mutter as I set Lucille down in front of me.

“Two more had to get an arm and a leg amputated.” Simon shrugs. “So they might not make it.”

Everyone is fuckin’ quiet for a moment. This shit sucks and everyone knows it.

Gavin leans forward. “We know it’s Eldritch?” he asks.

I nod. “Yup. It’s gotta be him. He sure as fuck left that note for me up north, so I think we can safely assume this shit has his stink all fuckin’ over it.”

Regina shakes her head. “How did you let him get away the first time?” She’s not looking at anyone, but I fuckin’ know she’s talking to me.

And it pisses me right off.

“That shit we did at his compound wasn’t a fucking precision assassination by design,” I bite back. “We blew shit up! Sent hundreds of fuckin’ biters in to do our fuckin’ bidding. Yeah, I thought we killed the fucker and I’m fuckin’ pissed that he’s still alive, but I wasn’t seeing you coming up with a better fuckin’ plan to infiltrate his shit to slit is fuckin’ throat, Regina .”

“I’m just saying-“ she starts, but I don’t let her finish.

“ I’m just saying that we wrecked. his. shit the first time! And this fuckin’ stunt he pulled proves that he’s scrambling. He can’t come at us with fuckin’ herds of dead cuz we’ve taken care of all of them in the immediate fuckin’ area. He can’t ram us with fuckin’ trucks cuz we came back from that assault with what was left of his goddamn fuel. And there sure as fuck ain’t enough out there for him to scavenge anymore. He’s coming at us with this covert shit, but it fuckin’ failed. He wanted us to get overrun, but we fuckin’ stopped it.”

“ Sixteen of our people are dead,” Regina spit out.

“And it coulda been a fuckin’ hundred !” I roar back with a slam of my fist. “I fuckin’ hate that a single goddamn soul under my watch was lost, but you ,” I point my finger right at her, “acting like all this shit coulda been easily prevented are completely fuckin’ wrong. And it gets us fuckin’ nowhere with what we are going to have to fuckin’ do to put that psycho fuckin’ dickweed down so he doesn’t fuck any more lives up!”

Everyone is quiet again. They know I’m fuckin’ pissed and that’s not a good fuckin’ thing.

Regina clears her throat. “I’m sorry, sir,” she says quietly, but not insincerely. She knows she fucked up. “I was close with a few of those guys.”

“I know,” I respond. “This shit sucks, but we’re gonna fuckin’ end it.” I sit back in my chair and take a deep breath. “We got that nerdy Alexandrian Eugene scrounging up some cameras for us. If we can get that shit to work, then we can get a heads up if people cross over into our fuckin’ territory.”

“Where are we thinking Eldritch is?” Simon asks.

Dwight jumps in. “There’s not a camp within our territory. We would’ve seen something on our patrols.”

“He set those Negan lookin’ biters loose up north,” Bill starts. “Could be up that way.”

I shake my head. “He’s not between Alexandria and The Kingdom. And any further north is DC, which is such a fuckin’ shit show, no one could live up there.”

Simon nods, too. “West and south are real fuckin’ rural. Barely any buildings for miles. I don’t think Eldritch is the kinda guy to rough it. But...” he shrugs, “maybe.”

I shake my head. “I bet he’s got numbers, though. That cowardly fuck wouldn’t attack unless he had the men to fight his fuckin’ battles for him. And living out in the woods with a few dozen or so people is pretty fuckin’ impossible now.”

“That leaves across the river,” Dwight says.

I nod. “Yup. Get some guys out to cover that bridge near Alexandria. That’s the easiest fuckin’ way to get over here. And get some guys out on scouting missions south and west, just in fuckin’ case.”

I get some nods.

“But I want to know if someone crosses that bridge. Because if they do, we’ll fuckin’ know that Eldritch’s base is across the river.”

“And then?” Dwight asks and everyone looks at me.

I chuckle low in my chest. “Then we find that fucker and make him fuckin’ pay for all this shit.”

———   ———

 The next day, Negan enters his apartment and sits beside Chuck on the couch with a sigh. She had taken the news of her uncle Eric’s death a little hard, but she’s trying to put on a brave face. Especially for Aaron’s sake. She had ventured down to the radio room to talk to him and he was, understandably, a little bit of a mess.

One of the cats, Moe, immediately jumps up on Negan’s lap and lays down.

“You doing okay, baby girl?”

She looks up from her book. “Yeah. It sucks losing Uncle Eric.”

He runs his fingers down her cheek. “I know, sweetheart.”

“I wish I could have seen him more often.”

Negan nods. “He knew you loved him.”

She really hopes that’s true.

“Didn’t I say at some point that these cats weren’t fuckin’ allowed in here when Maddie was?” he comments, lightening the mood a little.

Chuck puts down the book she was reading. When she laid Maddie down for her nap, she decided to pick up a light mystery novel to pass the time and get her mind off of what happened. “They’re not bothering her. And it’s not like I’m letting them jump in her bed with her.”

“You know, most people are scared fuckin’ shitless if they think they’re disobeying a direct order from me,” he says with a smirk.

Chuck raises her eyebrows. “Oh, you order me now?”

He chuckles a little, but it turns into a sigh.

“What is it?” she asks, seeing that something is weighing on him.

Negan scrubs his hand down his face. “Just got off the radio with Ezekiel. Eldritch attacked them, too.”

“What?” she calls out in shock.

“Some people came up the their gates asking for fuckin’ refuge, I guess. They let them in and two days later, they fuckin’ turned. I guess they found syringes in their rooms filled with biter blood. Those crazy fuckers killed themselves just to wreak havoc.” He shakes his head.

“Did they lose anyone?”

“About twenty, I guess.”

“God,” she whispers in shock. “That’s so horrible.”

“Ezekiel’s on board now, obviously. There’s that, I guess. He says he’ll join the fight whole heartedly.”

“Why did Eldritch go after them ? They weren’t even involved in the attack in his compound.”

“Eldritch is fucking insane is my best guess. He has to be. With all of our groups banded together,” Negan shakes his head, “no fuckin’ way I would mess with us. But that egotistical fuck thinks he’s gonna take over shit here. I know the type. Probably a trust fund kid all his life and now that money is fuckin’ gone, power’s the only thing he wants.”

“He said as much,” Chuck admits.

“He did?”

She nods. She doesn’t like to talk about her time at Eldritch’s compound, so Negan doesn’t know a lot of the details. “He told me he moved down here from Baltimore because it was a free for all up there. Then when he saw you making a real community and adding Hilltop to it, he wanted to stop you from becoming even more powerful.” She looks down. “‘Power has to be absolute’ is what he said.”

Negan shakes his head. “I’ve never hated anything like I hate that motherfucker.”

Chuck leans into him, cuddling up to his side. “He’s a horrible man and he deserves it.”

He kisses her head. “After he’s gone, everything will go back to fuckin’ normal. I promise. We can watch Maddie get bigger. Hear her say ‘dada’ as her first word.”

Chuck giggles. “‘Dada’, huh? Not ‘Mama’.”

“Of course ‘Dada’.” He chuckles. “Her first steps are gonna be right over there.” He points to the empty area of his floor. “She’s gonna meet her first boyfriend at the age of twenty five.”

Chuck hits his chest. “Don’t wish that on her.”

“What?”

“I didn’t exactly have a boyfriend until I was twenty five and I can tell you, it made for a lonely teenage existence.”

“I’m sorry, baby girl.” He kisses her head. “I don’t really know what to fuckin’ say to that because I sure as fuck don’t want to say I wish you had a bunch of boyfriends. But I don’t want to say I wish I had been messing around with you back then, either.”

Chuck laughs. “Yeah. That would have been a little illegal.”

“A lot illegal.”

“Wow, you really are a dirty old man,” she jokes.

“Watch it, little girl.”

She giggles, then gets somber. “I wouldn’t have changed anything, though,” Chuck replies quietly. “I wouldn’t have changed a single thing because I’m here with you now . And Maddie is here, too.”

Negan gives Chuck a sweet kiss. “All the shit I’ve been through... You and that little girl make it all worth it.”

Chuck smiles up at her husband. “Ditto.”

Negan laughs. “You can’t just ‘ditto’ that! That was heartfelt as shit!”

Chuck can’t help but laugh back at him.

 ——— Negan’s POV ———

A bunch of days later, I’m trying my fuckin’ hardest to understand this mulleted son of a bitch sitting in front of my desk as he tries to explain what he’s been doing all morning.

“...range is not ideal,” he drones on about the fuckin’ cameras he’s set up. “But given the fact that electronic security equipment was not a high priority for people to extract from buildings, especially in lieu of food, water, weaponry, supplies, and the like, we can find more cameras in basically every store and some of the statelier of homes. Then, of course, we can set up small manned stations along our borders using renewable energies such as solar panels or windmills to power our security equipment with said cameras. This could cut down on patrols and manpower in certain areas leading to better management of resources all around.”

“Sounds fuckin’ great,” I reply unenthusiastically. It’s not that I don’t want this shit, I do, but my mood has been fuckin’ sour for a while. Chuck’s still upset about her uncle fuckin’ dying and not being able to visit Aaron. Which sucks. But I can’t have her outside the fuckin’ gates. Especially now. And the longer it takes us to find Eldritch, the more pissed off I get at everything.

“Along with the cameras, I designed a rudimentary program to control the spotlights I have placed around your perimeter. They can be remotely turned on, or when they’re tripped by motion sensors, alert one of the men stationed in the security office by the gate.” He looks down a little. “I admit, my coding is a little underdeveloped, but it should get the job done.”

“Coding?” I remember Chuck telling me that’s what she did before all this shit blew up society. “My wife might be able to fuckin’ help out with that.” I look away from him and to the guard by my door. “Arat!” I call out.

“Yes, sir?”

“Get Chuck and Maddie out here. We’re going downstairs.”

Just a few minutes later, we’re all in the little room we have set up by the gate. (Arat is waiting outside. Just in case.) There are a bunch of monitors and a computer set up on the desk. Looks professional as fuck, actually.

“So you want me to make a program to control all the lights?” Chuck confirms as she sits in the chair.

“That is correct,” Eugene answers. “Coding is not my forte, though I did read a book about it.”

“I might be out of practice; it’s been a few years. I think I can use what you made as a jumping off point.”

She gets to work and, fuck, she’s a fast typer. Not that I know what the fuck she’s typing. Looks like gibberish to me. The whole time she’s typing away, I got my little princess in my arms, just bobbing her up and down and talking to her. When she starts to fuss, I know she’s hungry.

“Lunch break,” I call out then turn to Eugene. “Why don’t you go get us some food.”

“Oh, uh. Yes, sir,” he answers.

Once he leaves and we’re alone, I hand Maddie over to Chuck so she can do her thing.

As Chuck pulls up her shirt and situates Maddie on her chest, she lets out a little contented sigh. “I forgot how much I loved coding.”

“I can get you a computer upstairs.”

She giggles. “I would like that. Even if I’m just messing around. I could make some little games for Maddie when she’s older.” Chuck looks fuckin’ excited about that. “Or maybe we could actually start to use computers around here. Automate some stuff.”

I shrug. “Maybe. I don’t know shit about any of that shit.”

“Maybe I could make something for the points system. Make a network that people can look at so runners wouldn’t have to give out the daily tolls.”

I think it over. “That would be kinda fuckin’ awesome, actually.”

She shrugs a shoulder. “There are already hook ups in most of the rooms for the wires. This was a pretty modern factory before all this. I’m sure we can find a million computers out there, too.” She looks down at Maddie for a second, checking on her. “As long as we have the electricity, why not?”

“Shit yeah! You and Eugene can get that stuff all set up at some point.”

Before Maddie is completely finished, Eugene comes back in the room without knocking.

“What the fuck!” I call out and stand in front of Chuck to shield her from his view.

“Oh, god,” that mulleted fucker mutters with a look on his face like he’s about to piss his pants.

“It’s okay, Negan.” Chuck says from behind me. “I don’t care if he’s in here. Breastfeeding shouldn’t be embarrassing.”

“I don’t want him looking at your tits!” I say without turning back.

She lets out a huff. “He’s not-“

The man in question interrupts. “I am very uncomfortable, so I am going to de-ass this area. Call me when you’re done.” Eugene drops the trays of food on the table and leaves like the fuckin’ place is on fire.

When I turn around, Chuck is shaking her head. “What?” I ask.

“Breastfeeding shouldn’t be taboo.”

“I didn’t fuckin’ say it was taboo. I just don’t want people to see you with your titties out.”

She shakes her head again, but I just shrug.

A few hours later, we finally get everything done and the lights work fuckin’ fantastic. And the saviors on guard are excited as shit about this stuff.

“I am pleased as fuckin’ punch with this.” I call out. This seems like the first fuckin’ step to re-modernizing shit.”

As me and Chuck walk back upstairs, I look down at Maddie fast asleep in my arms.

“She’s tuckered the fuck out,” I comment.

“She’ll be up at dinner time,” Chuck says with a smirk and takes the little girl from me.

That reminds me. “Let me ask you something, Arat.”

She turns around a little as she walks in front of us. “Go ahead, sir.”

“If you had a fuckin’ baby, would you be okay to breastfeed it in front of men?” I know she’s gonna side with me, so Chuck will maybe see my point. “Like random fuckin’ men,” I tack on.

She shrugs. “I would feed my baby wherever. I wouldn’t give a shit who was around, sir.”

Shit. That didn’t go as planned. And Chuck knows it.

“See?” she calls up to me with a smug fuckin’ expression on her face.

“But you know men are are gonna fuckin’ ogle you.”

“That sounds like a man problem,” Arat throws back.

“Yeah,” Chuck agrees. “Like instead of keeping women locked up or covered, maybe men should just, I don’t know, not be creeps and keep their eyes in their sockets.”

“Men’s eyes just go to titties automatically,” I say. “We can’t fuckin’ help it. This guy knows.” I point to Fat Joey, who just happened to walk by right at that moment.

“Uh, what?” he asks, not having a fuckin’ clue what I was saying.

We all stop and I put my arm around him. “Titties,” I start. “You like ‘em, right?”

“Uh...” His eyes flick over the two women in my company, trying to gauge how to answer. Shit, I love fuckin’ with this kid. “Y-Yes, sir,” he finally gets out, though I can tell he’s not sure if that was the right thing to say. FYI, pretty much nothing is the right fuckin’ thing to say in this situation.

Chuck and Arat both roll their eyes. But I don’t care. I’m actually having fuckin’ fun right now.

I turn back to Fat Joey. “So, say... your significant other started to walk around topless. Would you think it would be overstepping to suggest that she cover up so motherfuckers wouldn’t eyeball her?”

“Breastfeeding isn’t walking around topless, Negan,” Chuck bites back immediately, but she’s not really fuckin’ angry. “And, anyway, what women are wearing or not wearing isn’t an excuse for men to act like dicks.”

I think for a second. She’s probably fuckin’ right. I guess I never thought about it like that.

“I-I agree with her, sir,” Fat Joey almost whispers. “I wouldn’t look at a woman feeding a baby like that.”

I stare at him. “Really?” I shake out my head and let go of him. “Alright, alright. You’ve enlightened me. I guess that’s a fuckin’ archaic way to see shit.”

“Exactly!” Chuck calls out.

Just then Maddie lets out this noise and we all look at her.

“Did she just fuckin’ laugh?” I move over to her and, sure enough, she’s got a huge fuckin’ smile on her face. Even though she smiles a lot, we’ve never heard her laugh yet.

Chuck’s whole face lights up. “Are you laughing at Mommy and Daddy?” she asks the little girl in her arms.

Maddie lets out another little laugh and I start to tickle her.

“My little laughing princess.” I make a face at her and she laughs even more.

Me, Chuck, Arat, and Fat Joey all stand around and make faces at my little girl like the fuckin’ idiots we are. But Maddie is having a good old fuckin’ time, laughing like it’s going outta fuckin’ style. After a few minutes, my fuckin’ cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

That little girl fuckin’ kills me. And it’s nice to get my fuckin’ mind off of shit for a minute.

———   ———

 Another day, another rude awakening.

“ It’s Simon ,” the familiar unwanted greeting comes from the other side of Chuck and Negan’s bedroom door.

Negan lets out a groan. “Hang on, we’re fuckin’ naked,” he calls out. As he pulls up his boxers, Chuck throws on her robe and cinches the tie around her waist. Negan opens the door and lets Simon in.

“Hilltop was attacked,” Simon says simply.

Negan just looks at him for a second. “Attacked how?” he finally spits out.

“Guys broke in during the night and burned the crops.”

Negan lets out a heavy breath and scrubs a hand down his face. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ.”

“No one’s hurt,” Simon quickly clarifies. “And they got the fires out. Half the crops are fuckin’ damaged, though.”

Negan pauses a second before he suddenly punches the wall, putting his fist right through the drywall. “Fuck!”

“Negan!” Chuck yells in shock, but her attention moves over to Maddie, who is now crying. “Shh,” she tries to soothe the baby as she picks her up and cradles her in her arms.

Simon puts his hand on Negan’s shoulder. “The Hillfolk said it’s still early enough in the season they can maybe plant some extra stuff to replace the shit we lost. Everything is going to be alright, brother.”

Negan looks up and meets Chuck’s gaze for a moment before looking at Maddie, who is still crying in her arms. “Fuck,” he mutters and walks over to them. “I’m fuckin’ sorry.” He bends down to kiss his daughter on the head.

“Are you okay?” Chuck whispers to Negan as Maddie finally calms down.

He looks down at his hand. “I’m fine.” He gently sets his forehead on Chuck’s. “I’m sorry,” he whispers.

“It’s okay,” she responds. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Simon cuts back in. “There is a silver lining.”

Both Chuck and Negan look to him, waiting for him to elucidate.

“The men watching the bridge said they saw some guys cross from our side back into Maryland early this morning,” Simon explains.

Negan doesn’t say anything for a moment. “They didn’t fuckin’ see them come over in the first place?”

Simon shakes his head. “They must’ve been over here before we started to scope out the bridge. Maybe scoping shot out. But I’m sure those assholes were Eldritch’s men. And now we got some guys following them back home.”

Negan stares for a moment before his lips creep up in a slow grin. The sight almost scares Chuck, seeing such a cold expression on the face that she’s used to seeing so caring.

He lets out a low chuckle, almost snarl, before growling out, “Those fuckers just signed their death warrant.”

[undinefin]

Prey - BNHA/MHA

fufewhufi more L does writing in order to redeem herself. uhh mobile still makes this stuff look ugly as hell so i apologize (tumblr keeps fucking with my formatting oh my god). i might make this into a series??? we'll see. somewhat inspired by @writing-prompt-s so y'know

Genre: fantasy Ships: kirishima x bakugou  Word count: 2948 Author: @undinefin

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Bakugou had been raised by the wild. He had never known of a roof over his head, and while he was largely aware of civilization, he preferred not mixing with them. Bakugou’s first few years were miraculous, he didn’t know when he had been lost in the wild– because surely, surely his parents wouldn’t have simply left him there – but the fact that he had survived until he could walk by himself was nothing short of magic.

That was, until he did discover there was magic. Bakugou had first seen it when he was about six years old, when he didn’t truly know any languages, he had only picked up smatterings of different tongues from groups that had passed, or towns he had briefly visited. Bakugou had grasped many survival skills at that age, though the natural sense of wonder within him did deter from survival sometimes. As such, the strange ball of light that tickled his ear sent him into chase. It disappeared into the night, leaving Bakugou to merely contemplate what the light was.

By twelve, Bakugou had realized many things, the first being that perhaps the black engraving that was on his shoulder may have been the blessing his parents had left him with to survive. The second was that gold in their world was vital for survival.

“You’re so young,” his customers would always say. Bakugou never responded, sometimes because he didn’t speak their language, sometimes because he didn’t care to tell them anything about himself. 

At that age, he provided a simple service of escorting people through the wild to a different town. He’d use the money to buy things like better weapons than the ones he’d made out of stone, and some actual pants so people would take him seriously.

Some of the customers could use magic. Those were the ones that Bakugou preferred. They were more interesting, and less annoying than others. He’d ask them to teach him magic, and anything else they knew instead of paying the regular fee.

“You see, magic is something that every being possesses, the air, the trees, you, and me. Some beings naturally possess more magic than others. It’s something that cycles, never running out,” one mage explained. “Humans and other creatures have learned how to absorb and store magic, then they learned how to release it in a way that benefits them.”

Bakugou watched in wonder as the mage began forming objects or elements into the palm of his hand, before willing them away.

“Not every human has an aptitude for magic, some can only control a little, while others can control next to none. If you work hard enough at it, sometimes your aptitude can grow, but it would take years to see significant difference.”

It was that night Bakugou learned he had very little aptitude for magic. He could just barely absorb it, and hardly created more than a spark before feeling as though he sprinted for a minute. The mage had ruffled his hair and told him that his fighting and instincts were better than any royal guard he had seen. Bakugou took pride in that.

As he continued to grow, Bakugou soon began strong enough to make and defend what people might have called a “home.” It wasn’t the shoddily stuck together sticks that made it home, it was the territory that the animals knew was his, it was the river that he could always follow the current to find the same glade. What made him come back was the same birds that would faithfully wake him up in the morning, the boars and crows that bode to his will so long as he spared them some food. It was the pack of wolves that came around two seasons a year that he’d tussle with, and the fresh berries that naturally grew just behind his house.

Though despite his growing age, and increasing territory, Bakugou still held a love for magic. Perhaps it was because it felt like the one thing out of his reach, or maybe it was all the beautiful creatures he’d seen. Nymphs and fae were quite common, fluttering and playing tricks on people. Occasionally, he’d catch a goblin wandering around at night, or sirens at the mouth of the river.

Bakugou had only ever seen a dragon once in his life. When he was fourteen he’d been lacing the claw he’d won from a mild tussle he had with a werecat onto the necklace he was making. Bakugou had carefully polished the appendage, and carefully drilled a hole through the thickest part of the claw with the help of the tiny amounts of heat he could create.

The shadow flew by so fast, it was only by chance that he had looked up. It was hard to tell without the sun’s light, but the hide looked purple. The fabulous wings were pulled tight against the body, and the entire glade shook with force. Dragons were said to be the most magical of creatures, blessed with long enough lives to build up their aptitude for it. Bakugou wanted a dragon.

Bakugou had not seen another dragon since, that was, until now. Bakugou had decided his “birthday” would simply just be the nicest day of the spring each year. He’d been out after hunting for a feast and buying himself a nice cape since his old one had been destroyed in the harsh winter. As he walked back to the glade, he had spotted the glowing orange orb. At first, he thought it was another traveler who was simply starting a fire to cook, he’d seen some green-haired scrub around lately.

The odd white flash of the orb, and the red leather that seemed to surround it made Bakugou curious. He inched towards the figure, drawing his sword. He got about a meter away before the creature quite literally roared to life, it’s wings flapping once, sending shockwaves through the forest. The teeth were a shiny white, sharp enough that even if just grazed, they would surely hurt. The teeth stood out against its maroon hide, the scales burned into a fiery orange when the sunlight hit them.

The dragon turned to face Bakugou, its breath restyling his untamed hair. Bakugou stood unfazed by the creature, letting his sword fall loose in his hand.

“Your breath smells like shit,” he finally said. “You breathe fire?”

The dragon looked taken aback for a moment, before slowly breaking into a very toothy grin. It raised a giant hand and placed it just a few feet in front of Bakugou and began tapping its claws. Out of its mouth came a low rumble, which seemed to be a laugh.

The dragon’s eyes twinkled, “Of course I breathe fire!” The voice was surprisingly energetic, and not as rough as Bakugou anticipated it would be, it was low, the dragon seemed to be a male. To show off, the dragon let out puffs of fire that quickly dissipated before catching onto the nearby leaves.

Bakugou didn’t hesitate, “Wanna eat something?”

“Are you...offering yourself or...?” If the dragon had eyebrows, he’d be raising them.

“Course not you idiot, I’ll make you something, it’s my birthday.” The dragon smiled again, and slowly got himself out of the sitting position he was in. His wings stretched slightly and he gave a small nod to Bakugou, who was still watching the massive beast.

The two walked in moderate silence, the dragon occasionally breaking a branch, or rock. Bakugou would study the dragon as he walked, looking at the pattern of the scales, or the strength that he put into a single step, he’d never say anything though.

The dragon coughed, “So, what’s your name?”

“Why do I have to tell you.”

“Well,” he curled his tail in slight annoyance. “It would be nice if I knew the name of my host.” The dragon continued to eye Bakugou, who’s attention was not on the conversation, but the talons on his feet.

The human let out a huff, “It’s Bakugou, and you? Do dragons even have names?”

“Oh! Yeah it’s-” the dragon let out a mixture of snarls and a slight growl, before finishing with a snap. Bakugou looked at him unimpressed. “Well I guess something like...Kirishima...would work for you.” They walked back to the glade in silence, Bakugou picking and choosing which questions of the very talkative dragon he’d answer.

When they reached the opening, Bakugou dashed to his hut to grab the meat he’d hunted. He walked back outside dragging a prepared deer, and Tengu. He began setting up pieces of wood to cook the meat – Bakugou learned harshly at a young age that eating raw meat wasn’t for him – and readied his magic to light the fire. This was always the hardest part, because it would take nearly all of his stamina just to support a flame for a brief moment.

After a few failed tries, Bakugou turned to see the dragon playing around with one of the baby wolves, letting it run up and down his arm. “Oi, get your scaly ass over here,” he demanded. The dragon pushed aside the baby wolf with one of his claws and took two large steps towards Bakugou and the pile of wood. “Light this on fire so we can eat. You can do it, right?”

Kirishima laughed a little, “You’re a tough guy huh. I’ve heard about you from some nymphs around here.” He lit the pile of wood on fire, it blazed wildly for just a moment before dying down.

Bakugou spread the meat atop a raised stone structure that held next to the fire. “Hm, what they say?”

“That’s the thing, it changes from nymph to nymph. A few say that you’re some terrifying guy who wants everyone to just die. Y’know the first time I saw ya I thought you’d come at me with your sword and just scream ‘die die die!’ but you didn’t even do anything.”

“Lookin’ for a fight? I could totally obliterate ya.”

Kirishima let out a laugh, causing the meat to rattle on the stone, and the fire to blow to the side. “But then some of the nymphs, like the Anthousai are convinced you’re some great guy ‘cuz ya made some travelers stop picking their flowers.”

Bakugou didn’t respond. He left most of the meat on the platform, motioning for Kirishima to eat it. Their conversation didn’t carry much further. Instead, Bakugou continued to examine the dragon, part of him wanting to see the beast in action. Would he be powerful?

“Uh,” Kirishima coughed. “Somehow your stare seems even more intense than mine...”

Bakugou studied Kirishima’s eyes. They were small compared to the rest of his face, but about the size of Bakugou’s hand. The yellow glow seemed faded in the sunlight, merely swimming around a deep red pupil. Truthfully, he could only study one eye. From his position, the other eye was behind a large nose on the other side of his face.

Realization hit him. “Are you...prey?” Bakugou stated.

“What?”

Bakugou looked at the dragon like he was an idiot, “Most prey have key features to help them protect themselves, spraying things out their ass when they run away, spikey skin, eyes and ears at the side of their face to get bigger scopes of the area in case they need to run away. Your eyes are clearly on the side of your face, what the hell would you need to run away from?”

Kirishima swallowed the Tengue whole, “Eye placement, uh, isn’t that big of a deal when you can spew fire?”

Bakugou stopped mid-bite, “Right, you’re just a giant lizard, that’s how it is with reptiles. Never mind then.”

“Good,” Kirishima swallowed awkwardly.

“...Is there an actual answer to that question?” Bakugou continued to study the now slightly-panicked dragon.

“Of course not!” The dragon’s tail was lightly swaying from side to side.

“Kirishima.”

The dragon hung his head, “I suppose I could, perhaps...”

“Tell me.”

“Yes.”

Bakugou blew onto the embers of the wood to keep the fire going. He sat on the ground and adjusted his new cape, which had genuine griffin fur on it.

Kirishima let his head fall onto the ground as well. “I’ve heard this story from my grandmother countless times. I’m sure that you’ve heard stories, cool ones that say stuff like ‘dragons are the ultimate predator’ and ‘only a dragon can defeat a dragon.’”

“I bet I could,” Bakugou cut in.

A glint appeared in Kirishima’s eye, “That sounds fun. Well, one of the things is true, dragons are blessed with a long life. How old do you think I am?”

“Dunno, if you’re an old dragon who can’t do shit then that won’t be exciting,” he didn’t say it out loud, but if he wanted a dragon he’d want it to be cool.

“I guess I’m pretty old, but maybe not in human standards. What makes a dragon’s life so long is its early years. We don’t start out looking like this, being able to breathe fire or even fly. Most of our life, maybe first three hundred years, are spent on development I’d say. Dragons start out looking like lizards, or geckos, and even when we reach bigger sizes most of us take a while, maybe another hundred or so years, before we can start the whole fire thing.”

“So, your eyes are on the side of your head ‘cuz you were a lizard three hundred years ago?” Bakugou began doubting the explanation.

Kirishima shook his large head, “Nah, even back then our eyes were supposedly on the front of our heads. Like, they would face foreword more I guess. What really sparked the change was when humans found out that dragons started in such a weak state. At that time, long ago, there were maybe more dragons in the world than humans, and many of them were developed, so humans were naturally afraid of them.

“A handful of curious humans went out to try and fight a dragon. They stumbled across one that wasn’t developed, the dragon was big but they couldn’t fly yet, and they easily went down. People began using dragon scales and blood in their armor, or meals to make them stronger, and defeat even more dragons. Before we knew it, the dragons were the ones being hunted.”

“You became prey to the humans,” Bakugou stated. “That’s why there’s so few of you now huh, you all died off.”

Nodding, the dragon continued, “In desperation to save the future generations, the dragons began naturally being born with eyes and ears on the side of our heads, and tougher scales.”

“Your scales weren’t always as hard?”

“According to my grandmother, our scales were more like a shark’s skin? We were predators, our scales didn’t have to be super hard like a turtle or somethin’. So now we all kind of try to avoid humans as much as possible, what if they still know about that? We might die off completely,” his voice seemed to shake.

Bakugou figured he’d seen something, maybe the massacre of his own race. If Kirishima was really some three to four hundred years old then perhaps he would have been a young lizard (that was funny to think about, Bakugou had to hold in teasing and laughter) when he’d witnessed something terrible. He never thought he’d see a dragon scared before.

“Then how come you didn’t run away from me?” Bakugou raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t know really,” the dragon responded simply. “Maybe it was ‘cuz I’d heard a lot about you, or 'cuz you were approaching me so cautiously.”

“You wanna fight?”

Kirishima laughed again. His laugh was deep and boisterous, filling the entire glade with a warm feeling, perhaps from his breath. “Well!” his mood switched entirely. “Thanks for the meal, I’ll, uh...go now.” Kirishima raised his entire body, pushing onto all fours. 

Bakugou expected the dragon to fly off, leaving a strong gust of wind to circle the glade. Instead, he merely began walking, causing the ground to shake with each step.

He watched the dragon leave flightless, his eyes drawn to the wings that currently served no purpose. The dragon stretched them slightly, perhaps to air them out, allowing Bakugou to catch a glimpse of them.

The right wing was torn. It looked like it had suffered an explosion, circular tears in the fibers made up much of the bottom of the wing. Bakugou ran to catch up to the dragon, thankful that Kirishima was going slowly.

“Oi you asshole, don’t lie!” he shouted. Bakugou had hopped up onto the dragon’s tail and began running up the back.

Kirishima began twitching at the feeling of someone running up his bakc, “What are you...”

Bakugou reached the head and placed a hand onto one of the dragon’s two horns. “You didn’t run away from me ‘cuz you couldn’t, your wing is hurt. You can stay here y’know, the glade is big enough to fit your giant dragon ass. I’ll feed you or whatever, since you’re helpless like this.”

“If you’re trying to tame me this is a terrible way to go about it,” Kirishima laughed. He had stopped walking.

“I’m just offering to keep you alive, so we can fight later. I’ll beat you y’know,” Bakugou mumbled. He wasn’t necessarily lying, he did want to try and fight a dragon.

Kirishima’s eyes focused upwards, “You really don’t mind?”

“Are you an idiot?” Bakugou clicked his tongue, “I wouldn’t be offering if I didn’t mean it.” Kirishima grinned, his sharp teeth falling out of his mouth. He walked the both of them to the center of the glade, his entire body humming.

ahhh thank you for reading!!!!! if ya want it to continue i guess?? leave a like or smt??? 

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[inklingleesquidly]

YO-FEST

CHAPTER 3

Lee Squidly gets a special call by the headpriestess of Knifefish Shrine to take part in special preparations for one of the biggest Holidays celebrated by Inkopolis’ ghostly neighbors, Yokai. Yo-Fest is only a week away and it’s up to Lee to make sure the fesitivies go off without a hitch.

He’s not alone though; joining him is his pals Guist, Juddinyan, and his many Yokai friends who are just a dial away via his Yokai Smartwatch.

Featuring the characters of @askvincent

Chapter 2 can be found here

Word count: 7,791 words

It was another day at the scenic Knifefish Shrine and Yo-Fest, one of the most cherished celebrations for all Yokai was fast approaching. The bamboo harvest to commemorate the event was growing perfectly even after all theincidents that hampered its progress.

Strolling through the dense orchard was the harvest's own reluctant protector, Lee Squidly. Joining him on his morning walk was his trusty Yokai chums, Guist; the guiding spirit of wayward squids, and Juddinyan; the ghost of the most famous cat in the world.

The feline poltergeist had gotten distracted with a random tall blade of grass; pawing at it, jumping at it to catch it, and gnawing at it. While he was busy being a cat, Guist fluttered about gleefully. "Woohoo, the bamboo's looking sa-weet today, Cus!" He received a calm nod from Lee in reply before he shared more, "And how radical is it that there's an excellent eclipse tonight too?”

That certainly was quite the coincidence that a total solar eclipse was occurring so close to the holiday. The shrine had no formal plans to celebrate the event but the maidens who tended to the grounds were positively atwitter with their plans to view the astrological event together. As for Lee as much as he was fascinated by outer space phenomena he had other interests in mind."It's gonna be great," he agreed, "Especially since a couple of my friends are coming by to watch it to."

That came as a bit of a surprise to Guist. "Issat right?" He wondered.

"Meow?" Juddinyan was equally taken aback at hearing that.

Going off the path of the bamboo orchard, they walked through the surrounding forest where the two curious yokai trying to make sense of what they heard. Guist asked, "That's wicked cool we get to meet more of your buds but is something up, Cus?"

"Meah? Are yanyot having fun with us anymore?" Juddinyan spoke with a joking inflection, adding to it by tapping his foot and crossing his paws over his front.

Lee wasn't receptive to the gentle sarcasm so he quickly stuttered out an answer. "No no no, you guys are great fun, honest." He gave a sigh and explained, "It's been a blast getting to hang out here but it's just, I've been here awhile and I really miss my mom and my friends at school and--." He passed under a tree where suddenly it began to shake. With it all of the morning dew collected on its leaves was thrown off. The scattered droplets all fell on Lee, dousing him, leaving him a damp and dripping mess.

In the aftermath; Guist and Juddinyan stepped back in confusion with the baffled and drenched Lee left frozen in dismay. Then came some sort of noise. "Ya ha ha ha." It was a laugh, a ghastly laugh followed by a snickering shout, "Gotcha again, Leeker." Peeking out from the dense growth of leaves with the most pleased grin was the culprit herself, Leakina.

As she flew away, satisfied with her deed, Lee began to tremble. He balled up his fists, bared his teeth, and wrinkled his cheek while the side of his eye twitched. "I MISS BEING DRY!" He screamed out to the heavens.

 As upsetting as that was, he wasn't going to let such trickery get him down. Later with Guist and Juddinyan in tow, Lee waited at a rustic, worn-down bus stop near the shrine. Visibly vibrating with excitement; it was clear to see how eager he was over the impending arrival of his two friends. Eventually the sight of the Inkopolis city bus he anticipated made him eke out a tiny squeal from between his clenched teeth. It came rolling to a stop at the quaint little station and his tightly balled fists shook when the door swung open. It seemed like that giddy look just wouldn't fade from his face.

Then he bared witness to the only passengers disembarking from the bus; of all things it was a pair of yokai.

“Hi!” One of them, a cheerful little blue cat yokai raised his paw in a friendly greeting.

“What's good?” The second; what appeared to be a jellyfish with bright, burning eyebrows, a little backpack, and a hip disposition addressed coldly.

Lee's smile and optimism faded as he watched the bus shut its door and speed away. Stuttering, he began, “D—are you— you--?”

The ghoulish jellyfish gestured with his tentacles as he said, “Yo if you lookin’ for Ronnie she couldn’t make it ya hurr?” He spoke with such a definable urban droll.

Before Lee could attempt to reply, the cuddly cat added, “Nyanmi couldn’t make it either so they sent us instead.”

“Here's ya homework, homeboy.” The jellyfish said, handing him a thin packet of papers from his knapsack.

Taking the collection of assignments, Lee found himself glaring questioningly at the offbeat visitors with one question above all others prevailing in his mind. “You two know--?” He found himself unable to complete the inquiry as whatever answer they had would only create more questions.

The blue cat seemed to read his mind as he happily exclaimed, "Ya-huh, Nyanmi is my bestest bestie in the whole world and I want to be yours too! I'm Kakkonyan!” He introduced himself with a gaily double fist pump and a giddy, adorable grin. He certainly had a polarizing demeanor to the jellyfish.

That became clear when Guist fluttered in with his Y-pad in hand, identifying the enigmatic poltergeist. “Whoa Cus, that babe you know is buds with a local Legend! He’s Wonderzan; the ultimate Spirit of Wanderlust. They say he only appears to dudes and dudettes that reach all the safe travel shrines in Inkopolis.” That's where Lee recognized him! Throughout all of Inkopolis's main roads and rail lines there were small shrines housing tiny figurines in honor of the workers who built the roads when Inkopolis was first founded. The workforce was mainly comprised of jellyfish. It was said that travelers who honored the shrines were granted safe travels throughout the city but who knew there was a yokai attached to the legend?

Something seemed to set Wanderzan off though as he fired back at Guist with heated anger. “Eyyyo, don’t be showin' disrespeck to my girl by callin’ her a babe!”

Worried, Geist held up his pale tentacles in defense. “Whoa dude, chill, chill, I didn't mean anything bad by it, honest.”

"You better." Wanderzan wasn't convinced so he bumped his chest against Guist in a threatening display. "Cuz if you don't, we gonna have a big problem, ya feel me?"

"Ye-yeah, no problem-o," Guist timidly answered, finally getting the spectral jelly to back off.

Wanting to dispel the air of anger, Kakkonyan excused, "Oh don't mind him; he's just overprotective." Wanting to help more, he opened his arms to Guist, asking, "D'ya want a hug?"

Seemingly snapping back to his usual mood, Guist gladly accepted. "Sure furry dude, who would say no to a hug?"

As the two embraced, Lee took note of a distinctly relaxed smile washing over Guist's face. As he seemed to lull into Kakkonyan’s arms, Juddinyan snickered, “Meow, meow, meow, I never would have thought I'd see you two this far out in the fish sticks.”

Seeing the famous feline made the other cat delighted. “Eee, Juddinyan, it's so exciting to meet you! D'ya want a hug?”

Friendly intrigue came to Wanderzan as he said, "Yehyeh, good to see ya!" Lee watched as he and Juddinyan slapped fists in a complicated handshake.It was safe to say even among Yokai; Juddinyan was just as much a celebrity as he was with Inklings. Afterward Wanderzan encouraged, “Yah dawg give ‘em all the hugs you got.”

Hearing this got a giggle out of Kakkonyan. “Mew mew, aww don't worry,” he said, “I'll always have plenty of hugs set aside for my best buddy ever.”

“Turn down Homey,” was all Wanderzan dryly had to say.

Guist twirled through the air, urging the group along, "C'mon dudes, the party is goin' on up at the shrine, let's quit bummin' roun' the bus stop and head out." He took a minute to peak over what could pass for his shoulder and call back. "Yo Cus, you comin'?"

No one else had noticed Lee lagged behind to twiddle his fingers. "Y-Yeah, I'm coming," he answered with a muttering stutter.

 Sometime after, the advent of the eclipse was at hand. In all the laughter and merriment of the gathered shrine maidens and Yokai, one seemed uninterested in interacting with the assembly. Nobody paid any mind to Lee who sat on the stoop of one of the shrine's many small buildings, fiddling with his phone. He first messaged his friends who were supposed to arrive; both expressing an equal amount of regret at having to cancel on him but were far more thrilled to know he was friends with Yokai and bore a Yokai Watch just like them. He found himself wanting to smile at this newfound sense of comradery with them but couldn't. There may have been one last bastion of hope but the unreplied message he returned to dashed that away.

He had invited his mother to come view the eclipse but she declined. "Ohh sweetie I'm so sorry your friends couldn't come to see you. I wish I could watch the eclipse with you but I'm stuck at work until late tonight. :,( But cheer up honey; I'll definitely make it to Olden Days I promise. I'm so so so excited to see how it's coming along. Anyway, be sure to remember to not look directly at the sun and remember to brush and floss before bed. Love you, XOXOXO"

Giving a sigh, he knew that was it. Same went for the many other declined invitations across his contact list.

"Where's Lee and what have you done with him?" Lee peered up to see that serious voice came from Lyra who was approaching him. As she sat beside him she asked, "You look like the kind of kid who would be the life of the party but here you are suking—ahem, sorry, sulking in the corner like you want to go home."

Did he have the heart to tell her how apropos that assumption was? He didn't so instead he answered, "No no Miss Lyra, I'm fine, honest I am." He was being truthful, at least partially. As great as Guist and Juddinyan were for keeping company, Lee was used to meeting and interacting with many others in his day-to-day life. Here, it just wasn't the same; he couldn't bother Lyra or the other the shrine maidens as they busied themselves with their duties. When it came to Leakina he would say the less seen of her, the better. "I just miss my mom and friends back in Shee-Booyah," the worried boy admitted.

Lyra expressed her sympathy with a gentle cupping of his shoulder. "I'm really sorry you're feeling homesick but think of like this; they'll still be there when you get back," she softly persuaded. She then patted him on the shoulder and gesturing outward. The priestess reminded, "But for now look at all the Yokai friends you have here."

Following the wave of her arm; among the gaggle of shrine maidens were Guist and Juddinyan mingling with Kakkonyan and Wanderzan, a group of Moleymoreys accompanying Boss Moley, and Leakina chatting with Tropicanna and her father. They all looked to be having so much fun in anticipation of the eclipse—but Lee could only look at the crowd with a grimace that made it clear to Lyra that wasn't going to improve his mood. She hadn't the patience for that kind of inexplicable teen angst.

Standing up and lifting her hand away, Lee was face to face with that same strict and rigid glare he knew her to have. The gentle concern she seemed to have gave way to her usual seriousness as well. "Listen, I think you need to learn to appreciate what you've got. Take me, I'm getting close to my 30's and have devoted my life to my faith. I never even knew my parents but I'm thankful for my grandmother and grandfather for taking care of me and for training me through priestesshood. Now I get to pass that onto the other maidens, and all of them I consider my family." She paused for a breath and finished, "What I'm trying to say is even if things aren't how you want them to be, you can still be happy about what you have. So for your own sake try and think about that."

"Hey Lyra, Leeker, the eclipse is about to start!" Their conversation was ended by Leakina summoning them and everyone fitting themselves with special sunglasses if they didn't already have them on. Even over the ooo's and ahh's around him with everyone watching the moon roll into place in front of the sun, Lee's thoughts lingered on Lyra's words. What made this astronomical event extra special was that the moon would follow the sun until it completely set in the evening, creating the longest night of the year.

 Later on, after all the shrine maidens departed for the day, Lee was getting ready for bed. Though he was still feeling confused in contemplating what Lyra had said to him he felt a sense of joy knowing that as of tomorrow he was officially over half way to his goal of reaching Yo-Fest. The sooner it gets here, the sooner I can get to go home, he thought, ever more motivated as he slid open the wood and paper door leading to his quarters.

"Yo get off that roof and fight f'real!"

"Why don't ya make me get off, dude?"

"Meow, don't you dare grab that hammer!"

"Nyah'm gonna get it, and you're gonna get it, mew mew."

Lee didn't expect to see all four of the small yokai together all playing some kind of game on four separate Y-pad tablets. "You guys are still here?" He aimed the question at Wanderzan and Kakkonyan.

Pausing the game, Kakkonyan replied with a visible shiver, "It's too dark for us to go home on the bus."

Wanderzan rolled his eyes. "Yo’ tails light up and I'm brighter than any street light, what you worried about?"

"We might get catnapped!" Kakkonyan shook, his paws held over his mouth.

Letting out an annoyed groan, Wanderzan reasoned, "But nobody can see us!"

Timid and fearful, Kakkonyan mumbled, "I'm scared though."

The gelatinous poltergeist shot his companion the most irritated glare. The answer he gave was a sigh of defeat before begrudgingly turning to Lee. "So, you gonna be real and let us stay here?"

Puffing out his cheek, Lee stuttered, "I-it's not really my decision to make," he admitted.

They seemed to take that as an invitation as Kakkonyan happily cheered, "Yay, we're gonna have a sleepover!"

Lee watched as Wanderzan slipped his backpack off of his shoulders to use it as a pillow. Rolling onto his side, the street-smart Yokai grumbled, "Least this place is comfy," before he seemed to drift off to sleep. Turning around, he spotted Guist sound asleep, vacantly hovering in the air with a bubble blowing out of his mouth. It all seemed to be happening so fast that he didn't notice Juddinyan and Kakkonyan went to sleep as well, picking the futon laid out for him as their resting place.

Seeing that made Lee click his tongue and mutter to himself, "The one thing worse than a cat taking up your bed is two cats." Not wanting to disturb them, he did his best to crawl into his bed but even huddling as close as he could, he could only cover half of his body with the blanket.

As uncomfortable as it was on its own having his back exposed to the air, Lee slept sporadically and restlessly throughout the night. He couldn’t explain why but it felt as though there was such a strange heaviness lingering in the air around him, making it impossible to relax. Where did that feeling come from? Time slipped by in the dead stillness of the night and eventually he felt exhausted enough to drift off to sleep despite his discomfort. Until—

“Wake up! Get up, get up!! We've got a big problem!!!”

“Get up ya bunch of puddles or it’s cold showers for you!”

The five amassed in the shrine's common room all jolted awake in a mass startle. In Lee's panic he suddenly awoke to find that he couldn't breathe. “Mmmf, muh— pleh!” Fully regaining consciousness, he sat up and found Kakkonyan sliding down his front. “Haah,” he finally breathed, “Kakkonyan what are you doing?”

The cuddly yokai explained, “You looked cold so I wanted to warm n'you up.”

“But why did you sit on my face?”

The little blue Ghost rubbed his hands together as he reasoned, “Because your face looked the most cold. D'ya want a hug?”

Lyra was quick to silence the entire group with a stern, "Can it!" She then exclaimed, "We've got a big problem here."

She seemed tense, more so than usual so Lee tried to reason with her. "Ms. Lyra if it's about the bamboo harvest, I promise we'll go check on it first thing when the sun comes up."

"It's 1 in the afternoon," Lyra said wryly.

"Acck! WHAT?!" His voice came out in an incredulous bark before he darted past the priestess and her watery companion. Bursting through the open sliding door of the shrine, Lee was able to put it all together. Despite his Yokai Smartwatch reading 1:00 pm it was still dark as night outside. As if that weren't odd enough there was some mysterious chill in the air that made his short breaths visible.

Lyra joined him on the balcony in order to explain, "There's been some kind of shadow hanging over not just the shrine but all of Ikabashi according to the rest of the girls. I've told them not to come to the shrine today until we can figure out what's going on. I'm sure a Yokai is responsible for this."

There was a loud protest from Guist who zipped between them. "That's just unfair shrine-babe, you can't just go blaming everything on Yokai! How do you know this is--," he turned around to be met with a terrifying rigid stare from Lyra. "--Okay, maybe there is a big bad Yokai around.” That quickly shut him up and made him sink behind Lee's shoulder.

With that, Lyra instructed, “Lee, I need you to find out what’s going on around here; that bamboo needs as much direct sunlight as possible if we're going to stay on schedule. If there is another bad Yokai then I want you to deal widdum—deal with them, sorry, however you see fit.”

“B-but Ms. Lyra, aren't you going to help me?” Lee stuttered in protest.

The answer was a shake of the head, confirming no. “I have to stay here and put up wards to protect the shrine.”

Leakina quickly interjected, “And I'll help protect the baths!”

His natural timidity left Lee still feeling uncertain about his new mission. “But Ms. Lyra, I can't do it by myself; if this Yokai's doing all this then--.”

“--You're not alone,” Lyra reminded, “You have them.” She pointed to the four pint-sized poltergeists; all meandering about close by in the chilly darkness, each reacting in a manner of curiosity and bewilderment by the new environment they found themselves in. “Have faith in your friends, they'll help you out.” When she turned her back and Leakina followed there was no getting around doing what needed to be done—no matter how dangerous it could be.

Directionless was a more fitting description for what the apprehensive Inkling and his Yokai troop found themselves in. "I can barely see my nose in front of my face," Lee complained, struggling to see with the aid of his cell phone screen's light.

Guist followed his lead in attempting to shine through the utter darkness with the glow from his tablet computer. "I can't see anything either, Cus." He gave up and tucked the handheld computer away. "We need a better source of light, we need--," he paused, coming to a sudden realization as he, Juddinyan, and Lee all looked back.

Together, they focused on Wanderzan who annoyingly struggled to free his arm from the iron grip of the needy, cowardly Kakkonyan. His powerfully luminescent brows gave them all an idea; one the street tough spirit was not keen on given the looks they threw his way. "Yo," he said with a defensive stance, "Keep cool homies."

They pounced on him; kicking up a cloud of dust with arms flailing and shouts flinging every which way. Finally, the dust settled and a wriggling, snarling Wanderzan was immobilized, taped to a tall plank held up by Guist and Juddinyan. "Eyyo, you dawgs be trippin', this ain't cool, this ain't cool at all!" He was hoisted up into the air, having been made into a makeshift lantern.

Over Wanderzan's angry curses, Lee said, "Umm, guys, I had their card, I could've called Bulbysaur to come help us." In his hand he held up a Yokai card depicting a pint-sized dinosaur creature with a glowing light bulb for a head.

Guist replied, "Too late Cus, besides this is more fun." Their mischievous nature shown through and that exclamation was met with more angry curses from Wanderzan as they continued to roam the frightfully dark grounds.

"Don't worry, I'll have a hug just for you when we finish," Kakkonyan offered in hopes of pacifying Wanderzan. That only served to make him groan and roll his eyes.

The longer they walked the more they noticed aside from the utter absence of light and warmth there was a startling sense of emptiness encompassing them. The shrine was normally made so warm by the countryside sun and was so teeming with life. The sounds and sights of insects, birds, running water, and sometimes even a visitor in the middle of their pilgrimage were so welcoming. Now though—nothing, what could be powerful enough to create this feeling of emptiness? That thought was so all consuming that Lee failed to notice his Yokai entourage taking a turn toward the bamboo orchard. He just shuffled along into the woods, accidentally separating himself from them.

 It was so unbearably quiet; Lee could swear he couldn't even hear the crunching of leaves and dirt beneath his feet. "This doesn't even feel like the same place, it's so creepy." He expected to hear a response from one of his companions but he found himself met with only silence.

"Guys?" He stopped in his tracks.

"Guys?" He looked back and forth, finally realized he had gotten separated from the group.

Taking a cautious step back, trying to regain his bearings but finding the complete absence of light left him utterly lost. There was no point of reference he could find to focus a single one of his senses on until he felt something whiz past his feet.

"Huh," he gasped, "J-Juddinyan, is that you?"

He tread as lightly as he could, his feet shuffling along in a slow, nervous pursuit of whatever it was that ran past him.

It was all quiet again, and still impossible to see. "Hello? Hello? Whoever's there please come out." He swallowed a hard breath and ran his teeth over his dried lip. "I'm really scared," he confessed under his breath.

This kind of isolation and utter lack of stimulation was growing more unbearable, that is until something caught his eye. Though the darkness was so muddling he could see something clear as day, something that made him gasp with joy, something that was indistinguishable to him. It was another person. Their height and the way they moved, it was all too good to be true. "Mom," he breathed in disbelief. There was no doubt about it, he could see her, and for some reason she was walking away deeper into the night. "Mom! Mom, wait!" His breaths may have been cold but the fire in his heart blazed fiercely as he began to give chase, wanting to catch up to his mother.

No matter how hard he tried to focus he couldn't make out any more than her vague silhouette. Not only that but despite how fast he tried to run he couldn't catch up to her even though she only seemed to be walking at a casual stride. "Mom! Please! Stop! Wait for me, please! Please!" That didn't matter to him though, he had to see her. He pleaded to her in short bursts until somehow, mysteriously; she faded away right before his eyes.

"Mom?" Lee whispered in a pleading voice.

As if hearing him, she appeared again out of the dark. From what he could see of her she had her arms crossed over her front, and her stance was lofty and unmoving. "Mom!" He repeated breathlessly, rushing forward to meet her—only for her to swipe her arm through the air and turn on her heel. He skidded to a halt, finding this behavior rather odd for her? "M-Mom, are you okay? Mom? Mommy..."  Why was she so cold and detached from him? Why wouldn't she look at him or even acknowledge him. He sputtered out his questions.

Reaching out his hand to her, she faded away before his eyes.

As bewildering as that was, Lee's breath hung in his throat as he stared long at his empty hand. He was so happy to see his mother—and she vanished without a word. That wasn't the end for Lee; all around him more figures obscured by the darkness began to seemingly materialize out of nowhere. He recognized them, every last one of them; they were classmates from school, acquaintances from town, and friends he knew personally.

Lee began to walk through the figurative sea of familiar silhouettes, calling out names along the way. Each one would respond similarly; some would turn away from him, others would turn their noses up at him, and many still would just dissapear right in front of him. Name after name, he could identify all of them and they wanted nothing to do with him. Each attempt became more desperate; his voice going hoarse, and his face turning red as he couldn't gain acknowledgement from a single person.

"Somebody please! Answer me!" He frantically shouted, his voice breaking, his legs wobbling as he stumbled in the darkness. Nothing could prepare him for what he would see next.

In the midst of the crowd was someone unmistakable to the shaken young Inkling. With their tall and confident stature, long tentacles secured in a big bow, there was no doubt about who it was. Their appearance made Lee's eyes begin to dampen and widen. His bottom lip quivered; he couldn't believe it, was it really her? Unlike the rest of the mysterious appearances, this one seemed to finally acknowledge him and even begin to approach him.

So focused on her; he failed to see the others around him dissipate into nothing, leaving him alone to face her one on one. His whole body shook, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. He fought to maintain himself; his mind had shut down from the overload of overwhelming thoughts as she got closer and closer. There wasn't anything he could do to prepare for this encounter, and there was even less he could do to keep himself stable in facing her once more...

 "Leeker!"

"Leeker!!"

What are you doing? WAKE UP!"

SPLASH!

Every last one of those feelings dissapeared in an instant thanks to the biting sensation of cold water drenching his face. "KOFF, KAK, KUH, KAH." Lee hacked and wheezed as the water dripped down his face, and he was vigorously shaken into full consciousness by none other than Leakina. "Huh-wha—what happened?" He stammered in a frightful stupor.

Leakina clenched his shoulders, wondering, "What were you doing out in the middle of the woods screaming and crying?"

"I—I was?" He seemed so completely lost on what had happened to him in such a short amount of time. There wasn't any time to think about it as the sounds of hissing, yowling, and shouting all at once was happening within close proximity to them. Without uttering another word, Lee and Leakina dashed to the source of the noise.

They first came upon Kakkonyan; clutching his paws and whimpering. He gave a weak plea, “Everyone please, there's n'yo need to fight. We can work it all out if we just have a hug.”

"You pulled Juddin-dude's tail ya dillweed, don't deny it!"

"M'you were smashing Guist, meow, admit it!"

"Both ya'll finna get these hands f'what you did to Ronnie, now what'd you do with her?"

Right before their eyes, the three began to brawl; punching, kicking, biting, and scratching. The whole scene made Kakkonyan cover his eyes and begin to snivel, weeping at the sight of the others fighting. Lee on the other hand wasn't about to sit idly by. "There's definitely a Yokai messing with us," he confirmed, activating the search function on his smartwatch in order to scan the area. He shined the blue light all around; training it on Guist, Juddinyan, Wanderzan, and even on the worried Kakkonyan before looking over the surrounding scenery.  "Ucck, what's going on, there's nothing here!" Despite his assumptions, he was unable to detect anything or anybody hidden from their sight.

Leakina hovered in front of him, quickly instructing, "Shine your light through me, Leeker," as she pointed to the back of her head. That proposition confused him until she elaborated, "Water refracts light; if you shine it through me it'll spread out everywhere, and he'll have no place to hide."

"I'll try anything once." Lee admitted before pointing the bright blue light of his Yokai Smartwatch through Leakina's liquidy cranium. It spread out in a cone; coating a wide area in blue shine and sure enough--.

POING PANG PANG PONG

The Yokai Watch did detect something, something all around them. It was some kind of viscous inky black mass that moved and bubbled in a smooth, ropey undulation that looked like molten lava. Once it had been revealed the strange substance began to ascend up toward the sky, even lifting off of the three brawling Yokai and mysteriously freeing them of their aggression. The stringy goo floated up and up before mysteriously dissapearing before their eyes, leaving Lee and his group in the same silence as before.

"Well, well, looks like I've been found."

There was some voice, one that sounded like it was all around them, but nobody could see it until Guist pointed upward. "Dudes, look, up there!" His call came out as a shriek as he gestured toward the moon where they were met by some kind of ghostly grinning figure on the satellite's face.

"But do you think that will help you against the shadows of darkness itself?"

Scratching his siphon, Guist asked, "Who's that?"

Juddinyan seemed to know but it was expressed with a fearful yowl, "HOLY SHRIMP!"

Recognizing their adversary as well, Kakkoynan also cried out. "OHH N'YO!" He yelled and joined Juddinyan in scampering up Lee's legs and hiding underneath the boy's shirt.

"Not again," Lee yelped, "Oww, ooo, eee, st-stop, ahh, the claws, not the claws, oww-hoo, yow!." He stumbled about, imbalanced as the two scaredy cat yokai struggled to find a safe, secure foothold against his body.

Pulling at Lee's shirt collar, Guist spoke to the two quivering lumps clinging to Lee's thorax. "Yo dudes whats got you all bugged out?"

Kakkonyan answered, "Don't n'ya know?"

"That's Paranyahmbra," Juddinyan quaked as he answered.

"Paranumbra?" Guist repeated.

His voice came out through cries but Kakkonyan added, "He's one of the baddest of the bad!"

Juddinyan gave a swipe at Guist to urge him to leave them. "He's a Meowkai criminal that makes you feel scared at night, meow, he's supposed to be in the Hoosegow forever!"

"I ain't scared of him," Wanderzan declared, "I ain't scared of nothin'!" He bravely stepped forward, rooting around in his backpack until he unveiled a cracked wooden baseball bat.

Leakina hovered to the front, determination flaring in her gaze and her voice. "I'm not either," she said, hiking up the front of her dress over her chest and yanking up her shoulder straps. "These Yo-criminals have been nothing but wet heads; I'll take him on myself!" She swung her fists in a challenging gesture, damanding to Paranumbra, "Come down here you! I'm gonna wash you away! I'm gonna--!"

SMASH!

Seemingly out of nowhere, a massive, shadowy foot materialized out of thin air, stomping on Leakina until she was crushed flat.

"Leakina!" Lee cried in absolute dismay. The group did a double take with the cat yokai popping their heads out to view the scene. What they saw was the puddley remains of the powerful A-Ranked Yokai who got positively floored.

"I'm okay," they heard her call out, "Just wait 'till I reform." They hadn't the time to wait on her as Paranumbra continued his attack on Lee and the rest of the Yokai. Shadowy apparitions appeared all around them, forcing them all to run around in a screaming panic.

Wanderzan proved to be the bravest of the bunch as he swung and smashed his cudgel at the shady pawns but it did no damage to them. In no time they overwhelmed the tough jellyfish spirit, taunting him by tossing him back and forth between each other. Lee, Guist, and Juddinyan didn't fare better; they attempted to run away but were impeded and attacked multiple times by Paranumbra. The Boss Yokai gave a maniacal laugh as it battered and bashed them about.

The only one left was Kakkonyan who hid behind a tree, his whole body quaking as he watched the scene unfold. Soon enough, the inky specters all merged together into one and they approached. The little cat yokai looked up at the frightful, towering entity; through his whimpers his gaze shifted all around to see his allies were all down and out, leaving him utterly alone. Even in this situation his first instinct was to sweetly ask, "D''ya want a hug?"

The response he received was a backhanded smack that sent him careening through the air. "Daaaaaaagh—tuet!" Kakkoynyan let out as a scream, tumbling helpessly before crashing against a tree. The shadowy yokai's laughter rang out again as it reveled in overpowering them all. That laugh, the violence, and the skullduggery was too much for Kakkonyan to contend with any longer. His fangs bared, his paws curled into fists, and he shot up to his feet. He growled, "That tears it! I might love a lot but I can hate a lot to! You're gonna get it, ya big bully! Nyah!" He finished with a mighty mew, pulling out from behind his back, of all things, a pair of Tentamissile launchers.

Despite the damage he had taken, Guist floated over. "Whoa dude, where did you get those?" He gasped in astonishment.

"From the inter-n'yet," Kakkonyan answered. He took aim at the bewildered Paranumbra and declared, "Eat this," before firing a volley of missiles at the big bad yokai. The missiles all struck true, repeatedly blasting their enemy until he was sent careening to the ground.

Collecting themselves, the entire group joined together in congratulating Kakkonyan for felling the boss. Leakina was the first to offer praise. "Way to go Scaredy Cat, you mopped the floor with him!"

Juddinyan added, “Mew really saved us, meow.”

Out of them all, Wanderzan was the most awed and amazed by his companion's show of bravado. “That was tight; I didn't know you had it in ya!” Pride echoed in his words as he touched his tentacle to Kakkonyan's shoulder, making the feline poltergeist emit a gasp.

That wasn't the end though, Guist frantically pointed, “That lame-o is tryin' to get up!” Sure enough, Paranumbra was shakily struggling to push himself up to his feet but he wasn't going to get away that easy.

Snickering, Kakkonyan readied his missile launcher. “I've got one more left,” he said, training his sights on the disabled enemy.

“Ey, lemme give ya hand,” Wanderzan suggested. He fired an orb of ghostly fire at Paranumbra which stuck to his wobbling body. The orb was like a beacon in the darkness as explained by the street tough yokai, “You ain'tgonna miss dat, now blow that sucka back to the Yokai Realm.”

Readying his aim, Kakkonyan said, “This is all for you, nyah.”

“WAIT! STOP!”

Just as Kakkonyan’s paw squeezed the trigger, Lee shoved his way through and smacked his palm on the heavy weapon, causing the missile's trajectory to be diverted. It rocketed past its target, winding through the woods before exploding in the pitch black sky.

All eyes were now on him. As confused as the new arrivals of the team were, Leakina was the first to voice her disbelief. "Leeker, you can't be serious right now," she said, impatiently crossing her arms over her front.

"Serious about what?" Kakkonyan asked in confusion.

Guist held up his tentacles, attempting to stop Lee from advancing. "Cus, I love you like a cousin, but I don't think that's gonna work this time."

"What's not gonna work?" Kakkonyan added.

Lee let out a long breath, justifying, "It's worked before, just let me try, okay?"

As the Inkling boy began to cautiously make his way to Paranumbra, Wanderzan could only shake his head. He exclaimed, "This the last time I come out to the boonies."

His approach was cautious and his nerves showed in his voice as he shakily raised his hand to greet the Yokai. "Heh-eh, umm, hi."

Paranumbra lifted his head in surprise then quickly acted. "BOO!" He weakly held his shadowy hands up to his face in an attempt to startle the corporeal teenager.

He stopped in his tracks, looked from side to side, and then vocalized the extent of his surprise, "Uhh—I never thought Yokai actually did that."

"Wait, you can see me?" IT was Paranumbra's turn to be dumbfounded.

Lee answered, “E-Yeah, yeah I can.” He scritched his cheek with the same hand he wore his Yokai Watch. Even though he wanted to talk to the big bad boss he did not think of how to approach someone who forced him to contend with his deepest, darkest fears. In the end, he kept his question as simple as could be. “So umm—can I ask why did you attack us?”

Perhaps it was his weakened helpless state, or the death glares fired his way by the gang of Yokai just beyond Lee's shoulder but Paranumbra answered honestly. “I was told that if I block that field from getting sunlight I'd go free and have my Lot changed. And I happened to see all of you roaming around in the dark and thought I'd have a little fun.”

There was one part that stuck out to Lee most of all. “What's a Lot,” he queried?

Floating up beside him, Guist scoffed, “Chyah, Cus, you hang around Yokai so much and you don't know what a Lot is? It's a-- it's like a—kinda like--,” he scrambled for his tablet, “It's a lotta something.”

Just as he was struggling to find the information, Juddinyan chimed in. “When Meowkai are born they're given an order of how they live their afterlife. Every Meowkai has one and it dictates our very being.” Lee looked around at the gathering he had come to know. He knew Yokai had an all consuming compulsion to inspirit and haunt but he didn't think that it would extend to their entire reason for existing. His eyes scanned them all; they were all so complacent with this idea, even Guist who was hurriedly agreeing and confirming Juddinyan's explanation. That is except for Leakina; when Lee's eyes met hers she diverted her gaze and clutched her arm.

As curious as that made him, Paranumbra returned to the center stage of the conversation to admit to his woes. “Ohh sure, centuries ago it was great! Everybody was afraid of the dark, and was so afraid of what hid in the dark. I could scare the ink out of anybody who dared to wander around in the veil of night. But now--.” He lowered his head in defeat as he mumbled, “No one is scared of the dark anymore. All I want to do is be the shadow of something else, something big, important, that gets a lot of sunshine everyday.”

His voice sounded so desperate, so lamentful; it wasn't a good reason but he had one for attacking them. The thought of questioning who put him up to this passed by Lee as he said, “I think I might have an idea.” He guided the wayward Yokai toward the main area of the shrine. “It's a bit out of the way from most things but why not be the shadow of this shrine?”

“You would let me do that?” Paranumbra wondered with his mouth agape. “Do I still have to scare people?”

It suddenly occurred to Lee that this certainly wasn’t his decision to make but it was the best thing he could think of to soothe the Yokai.“Y-yeah,” he stuttered, “And you probably don't want to do that.” The only excuse he could think to give was, “I mean Yo-Fest is really close so--.”

“--Yo-Fest?!” Paranumbra suddenly gasped and smiled, “I've been locked up for so long I forgot when Yo-Fest even is. Say, as thanks for letting me stay here I tell you what, I'll move the shadows in a way that your bamboo will get as much sunshine as possible.”

Lee nearly bit his tongue. “You would do that for us?” He asked, still taken aback by how much Yo-Fest meant to Yokai.

Paranumbra swiftly answered, “Absolutely! And between you and me; scaring the Jeepers out of folks isn’t even fun anymore.” Lee never thought he would hear something like that from a Yokai but everything seemed just fine as Paranumbra bid farewell. "I guess I'll see you around, thanks again."

Right before his eyes, Lee watched the Yokai sink into the ground, their inky black body molding with his shadow. Suddenly, he then felt a hint of warmth at his back. The boy turned around, only to have to shield his eyes as a sliver of sunlight pierced through a wafer-thin split in the eclipsing moon. The moon seemed to sprout more cracks over time until it shattered into many pieces like a broken glass plate. The broken pieces of the moon disintegrated into nothing, finally allowing the sun to bathe Knifefish Shrine in its healing light.

He was in a state of awe that his solution appeared to work.  As usual he was shaken back to reality by a bombastic cheer from Guist, “Whoa Cus, you were totally there again bein' the Yokai Whisperer!”

Juddinyan joined in, “Score another victory for mew, meow,” he said as he waved a tiny green pennant with Lee's face on it.

“Ya ha ha,” Leakina snickered deviously, “Wait till Lyra hears you're letting another Yokai live here.” He didn't think about that. With Lyra it was hard to tell but he knew he was pushing his luck as it was letting all the Yokai they’ve met squat at the shrine.

Not wanting to be out of the celebration, Kakkonyan dispatched with his usual polite requests and jumped onto Lee's chest to give him a hug. “That was a-meow-zing, I lost my cool but mew saved the day by being n'yice.” He said after living his head up from nuzzling in Lee's front.

Lee modestly replied, “Hey now, don’t look at it like that. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have had a chance to even try and talk. You helped out a whole bunch.”

“Really?” Kakkonyan said. His eyes sparkled with delight at his sincere compliment. He was so overjoyed that a bright, glowing light instantaneously irradiated between them. It flashed and, in that moment, Kakkonyan hopped off of Lee, leaving his Yokai Card in the child's hands.

Before Lee could even look over it, “Ahem,” Wanderzan cleared his throat. “Eyy, Imma say you was really some'n else out there.”  He clutched the straps of his backpack and kept his head tilted away, avoiding eye contact with Lee. “I see now why Ronnie finna think you so hot."

"She-she really said that?" Lee stuttered.

Wanderzan clarified, "Not in those words but a lotta things she says about you is true so--," he mysteriously held a tentacle out in the air. Lee stared at it for a moment only for the urban spirit to shake it in frustration. "Go on already, take it!" He didn't understand gripped the outstretched hand of the little Yokai. Once they came into contact there was another glowing light that once faded away left Wanderzan's own Yokai card in Lee's hand.

It was always such an event to receive a Yokai's symbol of friendship, but to get two in one day was nearly overwhelming to him. "Wow, y-you guys really want me to have these?"

"Nya'of course," Kakkoynyan confirmed, "We wanna be your bestest besties to!"

The writing was on the wall for Wanderzan who added, "Yehyeh." Though he actually had some choice words for his own companion, "But youI don't give you the credit you deserve, 'specially after what you did back there. Keep cool homey but I'm proud t'be your friend."

As gratifying as his previous praises were, nothing could compare to that declaration in Kakkonyan's heart. He was so thrilled that he gasped before speedily throwing his paws around Wanderzan, hugging him with the tightest, unbreakable lock. As he lifted the jellyfish off the ground and swung him about in his arms, Wanderzan quickly realized the error of his ways. "Aww jees, I said keep cool homey!" Much to his even greater dismay, Lee and the other Yokai all began to heartily laugh at his dilemma.

Even Lee couldn't help but laugh at his new friends's affectionate display. Friends—he looked over the assembled entourage and remembered what Lyra had told him. While he still missed his family, and acquaintances back in Shee-Booyah he couldn't devalue the ones he had here. He needed to do as she said and have faith that they were here for him, and he could count on them no matter what.

Could he...?

[lillaxtrigger]

Young Hope: Chapter 32

Somewhere underneath the shallow soil of New Mexico stood a moist, dank cavern, several dripping echoes sound off through the rocky tunnels as droplet of water descend down from the bottom of its stalactite and drop towards the bottom.

Along the very top of these caverns be dozens of holes leading out to the surface above, letting the afternoon sunlight shine down through the rough stone caverns; a growing screech soon joining the symphony of dripping water.

Through one of these holes could something be seen gliding high above the surface of these caverns; a plane made from tin, wood, aluminum, and plastic soaring through the skies housing three figures within the open cockpit.

Once over the holes of these caverns, the trio drop out from their seat and begin their descent down towards the earth as the plane they came in drifts off on autopilot; one of these figures strangely plummeting down while strapped to what seemed to be a wheelchair.

The bright sunlight starts to withdraw from one of these falling people to unveil them to be the orange skater herself; her and the other two figures pulling the strings out from their backpacks to let unfurl parachutes made from sown kitchen rags and shoestrings, these crudely made parachutes assuring their safe descent down through the holes leading down into the caverns.

“Gotta hand it to ya, Hank. I didn’t imagine that plane you built holding out for even 10 minutes, much less the hour it took to get here. Sorry for doubting ya.” the orange lass admits.

As the shadows withdraw from the chair bound figure, the red capped wiz kid responds back with:

“It’s alright there, Mally. Everyone pretty much gets that impression.”

Eventually do all three of them land upon the crag surface of the damp cavern floors, the young skater glancing over to her chair bound bud to find his wheels struggling to move along the uneven rocky floor.

“You sure you’re still up for this whole spelunking trip? Doubt you’d get pretty far in that.”

“Mally, come on. You’ve known me longer than that. Ya gotta know by now that I wouldn’t go rolling straight into a dark damp cave without coming prepared.” the inventor reminds her while reaching down for a button set along the bottom of his seat.

As soon as the boy presses this button does the entire chair suddenly pop right up; countless suctions cups and small spikes protruding out from every inch of the wheels rims.

“Tada! Been wanting to test this out for a while now. Fully upgraded off road wheelchair rims designs to roll through the toughest of terrain for off road exploration.

That ain’t the only modification I stashed in this chair of mine, but what would be the point in ruining the surprise now?”

“That’s just fan-fucking-tastic.” the third of the trio aggressively claims.

Both of them glancing over to the direction of the voice and witness a young man in a blue jumpsuit step out from the cave’s shadows, his hands coated in a strange pure black substance.

“The hell you didn’t show any of that fancy shit to yo momma for? Wouldn’t have to bitch at me and force me to going along with you two.”

“Melvin, do you really think that would have changed her mind? All it would have wound up getting out of it would be having to stuff all the gadgets back in.”

“Fuckin whatev. Lets just get this shit over with.” the young man harshly suggest, stomping off further down into the darkness of the caverns.

“So, whats up with him? He seems a bit grouchier than usual. Think he might be mad at us?” Mally can’t help but wonder.

“Eh, it ain’t that. He’s just still mad that his girlfriend broke up with him.”

“Ow, that’s gotta be rough on him. Can’t begin to imagine what its like to excuse me, say that again?”

“Yeah, ever since Chloe broke out of Circe’s possession, Melvin’s done all he could to comfort and help her through all the haunting memories. Then just out of nowhere, the two of them just split apart.

He hasn’t really been that keen on going into detail about it either, refusing to go into about what happened or why it happened. All he ever says to anybody about it is that some shit went down…

Maybe we should catch up to him so he doesn’t wind up getting himself lost.”

Suggesting this do the two of them head out in the same tunnel that Melvin had stormed straight into; all while Mally processes this little tidbit of news.

They broke up. Chloe and Melvin actually broke up. This-this is so…There could actually be a chance now for- No! No! That can’t happen. Can’t think of stuff like that. Melvin is a good friend, and darting straight for Chloe after he went through all that with her would be cruel and horrible; it’d mess him up even more.

He needs a friend right now. Someone to talk to in this difficult and rough time…

But what about Chloe…She’s probably a wreck too...No...Gotta focus on whats happening now; and right now, Melvin needs help, he needs to know that his friends have his back.

Soon enough do the two eventually catch right up behind the third of their trio, the huffing young man continuing through the depths of the caves as Mally starts to approach from behind; the skater attempting to start with:

“Hey Melvin. Just to let you know, we’re here for you, kay buddy? You can talk to us about what happened between y-”

“So you know what exactly we’re supposed to be lookin for down here?”

“I-oh...Th-the book I got from under the library didn’t really give me much on what exactly.”

“You mind telling us what it did tell you about these caves.” Hank pops in with.

“Well, all I managed to get out of it was that a bunch of people from a hell of a long time ago used to send their kids down through these cave to go through the trails set up by the Kybr. Only when passing these test will they be able to “Ascend”  with them. Not much detail other than that, I’m afraid,”

“So what you tellin us is that you ain’t got a damn clue what we’re searchin for.” Melvin concludes with.

“That’s what we’re here to find out, Mel. Gathering whatever clues and leads we can find to figure how where exactly my brother wound up getting dragged to.”

“And what do you think it all might entail?” Hank asks.

“Eh, something about angels, I don’t know. Point is that we’ll keep going along through the tunnels of this cave til we find something that stands out. Something like-”

Just before the young lady could finish answering her chair bound friends question, Mally suddenly bumps right against Melvin’s own backside; backing away a tad to discover the young man having stopped dead in his tracks.

“Mel?...Why’d you stop?”

Moving over to his side, the skater discovers the young man aiming quite the shocked glare at what lies before them; Mally directing her own gaze over in the same direction, her pupils tremble and shrink when finding the site that had shaken her friend so.

Coming out from right behind the two of them, Hank wheels himself over to their side as he wonders aloud:

“What’s going on? Why did both of you suddenly stop in the middle of Oh my god!”

Sharing in the horrible site, all three of them stare upon the horrifying site of several skeletal remains littering the rocky tunnel ahead; all of them left astonished to find some of them being smaller than their own.

“Uh-un-um...I-I guess this might be the right way.” the skater utters out.

“What...the...fuck kind of fucked up shit did you drag us into!?” Melvin exclaims, aiming his accusing glare over to the young girl.

“I-I-I don’t really know exactly. I knew we’d run into something like this, but-”

“Fucking!...Fuck this, I sure as hell ain’t gonna let ya drag me and My cuz down this kind of hell hole. Come on Hank, we leaving.” he proclaims, soon heading out in the direction they came in.

Remaining by the skaters side, Hank turns over to his retreating cousin and bluntly answers with:

“No!”

Halting right in his tracks, the young man turns back towards the two of them and tell his cousin:

“Ya kidding here, right? You’re smarter than this, Hank. You really gonna let her drag us through this sort of grim bullshit and risk our lives for shits and giggles.”

“It ain’t about that and you know it, Melvin. Mally came to me for help in looking for her brother and I sure as heck ain’t gonna spur her now.

You can go and leave if you want to, but I sure ain’t gonna turn my back on any friend that needs me.”

Tightly shutting his eyes, the young man lets out a rather upset growl while sliding his hands against his face; soon walking back to the two as he claims that:

“Fine! Yo mom will kill me if I let you wind up dying anyway. Rather die here than having to deal with that shit.”

Coming to this conclusion, all of them continue down the depths of the rocky caverns side by side; descending deeper into its thickening darkness together.

Soon do their little spelunking expedition comes to its first roadblock, the trio left to face a vast and stretching chasm that gradually descends deeper down the rest of the cave.

Along the lengthy walls of this seemingly unending chasm, odd and swirling markings are left etched along the side; the swirling carvings taking the shape of bizarrely crafted arrows that point out deeper into the cave.

Taking the moment to see what awaits below the abyss, the three of them discover several more skeletal remains left littering the sharp and pointed stalagmites that decorate the bottom; some of their skulls having been pierced through the pointed stone.

“Huh, if I were a gambling girl, I’d bet this here is one of the trails mentioned in the book.” Mally mentions.

“They serious sent kids down here expecting them to cross this shit with their bare hands and feet back then? The fuck was wrong with all them?” Melvin questions.

“That’s partially what were here to find out. You think you can fly us across all this Hank?” the young skater answers while glancing to the wiz kid.

“Eh, not sure. I only calculated the fuel usage and distance measurements based on my own weight; I’m not sure how long the thrusters might last with both of you piggybacking me. I’d imagine my chair would collapse in just under five minutes, and that’s not even accounting what we might run into while crossing.”

“Doesn’t matter to me. The two of you can come up with something while I move ahead.”

“Wait, what do you-”

Before the young girl could press on for an explanation, Melvin suddenly leaps out to the side of the chasm; catching both her and Hank off guard.

Watching as they young man jumps through the air, the two of them are relieved to see him make it along the side of the dangerous chasm; the sharp ends of his fingers digging right through the tough cavern rock.

“Meet you two up ahead.” Melvin states while springing up on ahead to the other side, his two friends witnessing him jump from wall to wall as he heads deeper down.

“Huh...Well, guess that just leaves me to figure out how to cross all this.” the skater comes to.

Gazing up to the set of stalactites hanging off the roof of the chasm, Mally thinks aloud as she ponders on:

“I could use my hockey stick to spin across the stalactites, but they look to far apart to cross. I doubt that I could run fast enough to reach just the first one. Wish these cave floors were smoother to use skates on.”

“Well, I was waiting for this to be a surprise, but I think I got something here that might help ya out? Something that I’ve been working on for quite a while now.”

Claiming this, the wiz kid reaches right behind his chair and opens up the pouch stitched along the back; digging through as he mutters to himself with:

“Come on, I know I brought it. I did bring it, right?...Ah ha!”

Pulling his arm out from the depths of his chair’s pouch, Hank drags out what seemed to be a shining metallic cylinder with a string wrapped right in the middle; a glistening crystal coating both ends of the tool.

Mally’s eyes glisten upon seeing the gadget presented to her; her finger trembling as it points to the device.

“It-I-I-It-Is that what I t-think it is?”

“Sure is Mal. Say Hello to the fully upgraded grapple yo. The mechanism made to be durable to even the greatest of impacts, guarded by a thick metallic shell equip with a crystal coating, the wire string strengthened with polymer material; all of it to make up a yo yo left far significantly enhanced than its older counterpart.

A gadget that I made just as you requested.”

Swiping the device right from the inventors palm, Mally can’t help but rapidly hop as an excited squeeze leaks out from her smile; a site which brings a proud smile between Hanks own face.

“I can’t thank you enough for this, Hank. This is just what I needed after the last one broke. Hopefully, this one will last longer than the old one did.”

“Actually, I’m kinda shocked how long the old one held up.”

Breaking her ecstatic gaze, the young skater glances over to the inventor to ask him:

“Wha-what do you mean by that?”

“Mally, I originally designed the grapple yo to be just a sort of utility tool in mind. It really wasn’t expected to be a sort of weapon.

From the ways that you’ve reported what you used it for, it’s honestly baffling how it didn’t break way sooner than that.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that. But this one won’t break as easily, will it?”

“Heh heh heh, not with the way I designed it. The materials you brought me to make it were honestly some of the hardest and most unique that I’ve ever worked with. Even fitted with that crystal you got from under the volcano.”

“Don’t you usually work with wood, plastic and tin?”

“Y-yeah, but that’s besides the point.

The point is that due to the kind of metal that you brought me, this version of the grapple yo is significantly heavier than the last model.”

“Really?”

With but one hand, the skater lifts the gadget up and down to feel its overall weight, claiming that:

“It don’t feel that much different to me.”

“Uhh...”

Claiming this does the orange skater move over to the very end of the cliff; her eyes aimed to the stalactites that hang above the abyss with her new grapple yo clutched in the palm of her hand.

With the wire string wrapped around her finger, Mally casts her gadget out towards the descending pointed rocks overhead; the shell of the device encircling the rock and enveloping it with its wire string.

The lass takes a daring leap forth down the chasm, feeling her yoyo’s reinforced string effortlessly carry her weight as she swings over the countless pointed stalagmites below; the stale cavern air blowing in her face bringing out a big smile out of her.

At the very peek of her swing, Mally retraces her newfound device in a similar manner like the previous model; the shell revolving around the stalactite above until its string withdraws from the stone surface.

Once withdrawn back into her hand, the airborne girl tosses her metal gadget out to the next awaiting rock that hangs up ahead; the gadget wrapping itself around the rock and hugging its wire string around it.

Repeating this process, the skater keeps swinging on through the rest of the stalagmite riddled chasm in hopes of catching up to her friend that went ahead.

Soon joining her side, the chair bound inventor jets through the widened stone tunnels and over the littered spikes beneath his chair; the fire from his thrusters lighting through the encompassing darkness that surrounds them both.

“So, how’s it working so far?” Hank first questions.

“Beautifully. I can toss it and swing around just like the old one, and it barely feels any different. I don’t know what you were going on about it being heavier. It barely weighs any different.”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect you to adjust so quickly to it to be honest. It really doesn’t feel any different to you?”

“Not really. Of course, I’m not calling you out as a liar or anything; its just that training with two super powered brothers for years now can curb that kind of downside. I imagine it should pack more of a punch now that its much harder. Bet I can fling it in somebody’s face and crack their skull open with it.”

“You think you can really do that?”

“Hank, you’re talkin to the same girl who wacked away a runaway mini van with just a hockey stick a week ago. What do you think?”

“Eh, yeah.”

After this little conversation do the two of them manage to catch up to the third of the expedition trio; Melvin continuing through the depths of the chasm by leaping off the sides.

“Hey Mel. You run into anything so far.” Hank asks him.

“Not yet. Been pretty quiet. I imagine it won’t be for long.”

“What do you think we should expect, Mal?” the inventor then asks.

“I don’t know. The book I read didn’t exactly give out any hints. It could practically be anything for all I know. Something could come flying at us at any-”

“Look out!” both of them hear Melvin warn.

Hearing this does Mally gaze on ahead to witness what seemed to her as a pair of silver wings streak by just inches from her head; snippets of her hair cut from her head by their sharp blades along the edges.

“What the hell was that?” she wonders aloud.

“I don’t know, but there’s more of them coming.” the wiz kid warns.

Upon his warning do the other two gaze ahead and discover an entire flock of small silver angel wings all soaring in their direction; with next to no cover, the three of them prepared to face the salvo of sharp silver head on.

The first to combat the whole flock of disembodied wings, Melvin springs right off one of the cave walls and towards one of them at break neck speeds; using the sharp ends of his fingers to swipe them right out of the air.

None of their silver stands a chance against his demon like claws; the torn shards of silver scattering down towards the bottom of the abyss below.

One of these wings however does manage to sneak in a cut along the side of his shoulder, the unexpected slash making him flinch and lose his momentum; Melvin beginning to plummet towards the sharp stalagmites.

Moments before the rock could pierce through his flesh, the young man feels something grasp hold of his ankle and whisk him away to safety; the boy peering up his own leg to find Mally clutching at his ankle as she swings through the air.

The chair bound inventor beside them rockets ahead of them and towards an oncoming horde of sharp silver wings; a smile stretching across Hank’s cheeks as he presses one of the buttons set along his armchair.

Suddenly do the sides of the young wiz kids chair spring out to unveil a bevy of missiles seemingly made from tin and wood, launching all of them out towards the approaching swarm of silver.

Despite their shoddy appearance, Hanks barrage of missile explode upon contact with the flock in a puff of smoke; the evidence of their shards raining down proving just how effective they were.

Taking in a side view of the entire scene, both Melvin and Mally witness one of these wings slip out from underneath the remains of its silver siblings; the pair of wings delving down before rising up towards the bottom of the inventor.

“Mally!” Melvin exclaims.

“On it.” she replies.

Upon hearing her name does she swing over along the opposite side of where the wiz kid flies, using the momentum of her swing to toss Melvin out towards the bottom of his rocketing cousin.

Moments before the twin wings could slash right through the wiz kid from the bottom up, Melvin zips right underneath Hanks chair and swipes at the pair of sharp silver and reduces them to mere shards that scatter down into the shadows below; the young man landing right along the side of the chasm.

Seeing a ton of silver wings flock her way, the swinging skater brandishes her trusty hockey stick as she faces the horde head on; the orange lass lashing out to one of these pair of wings and breaking them in half.

Her simple wooden weapon proves to be surprisingly effective in combating the wings sharp edges, the fragile silver standing little chance against Mally’s blunt strikes.

Her chairbound friend glances back and watches as the swinging skater fights off the armada of silver wings, noticing one of the wings that she had smacked in half reassemble itself and glide back towards his orange pals backside.

Hank quickly reaches underneath his armrest and presses another button planted along the bottom; one of the spokes from his wheels detaching right off the frame and spinning through the air, the thin piece of metal boomeranging out towards the silver wings that were ready to strike the skater down.

Moments before the pair of sharp wings could impale themselves within Mally’s backside, the spinning spoke flies around just in time and deflects the twin piece of silver before they could even touch her; the orange girl noticing the resulting spark behind her and glances back to witness the wings that nearly had slashed her plummet down into the abyss.

She comes to see the spoke that had save her ass glide right past her side and soon return to the wiz kids wheel frame; the inventor giving the skater a little salute as he looks back to her.

“Thanks for the save, Hank!”

Having successfully overcome the flock of sharp silver wings, all three of them finally come to the very end of the long and grueling chasm; the trio each landing onto the accompanying cliff leading deeper into the rocky caverns.

Right upon the very moment that they all land, the three of them soon hear sharp beeping sounding off from nearby; Hank glancing down to one of the gauges along his armrest and claims that:

“And that’s the last of the rocket fuel.”

“The hell was all that?” Melvin questions.

“My guess is that it was one of the trials set up in these caves. But more importantly...”

After stating this, the young skater turns her attention over to the young man who asked her; finishing her thoughts with:

“The kind of stuff you did back there was just nuts, Melvin. How’d you learn to do all that?”

Hearing his orange haired friend question him with this, Melvin’s mind is left to picture images of tall, snake like young man holding the hand of his once dearly beloved Chloe; the memory alone being enough to lite sparks of fury from deep within.

Almost instantly does he race over to the two with a trembling fist ready to lash out, aiming his furious punch out to the taller young man.

Rather than the strangers face, Melvins fist instead hits what felt to him like a rock solid wall of skin and muscle; gazing to what he had punch to discover it to be the abdomen of a bulking giant.

The site alone is enough to make him reel back, where upon he comes to discover not just one, but three whole familiar figures looking down upon him with their sinister glowing eyes.

Along the sides stood twin giants of red and green; all with a blue young lady hovering between the both of them.

All three of them lunge and envelope the young man; their shadows swiftly retreating to unveil Melvin’s bruised and beaten body lying on the floor; droplets of his blood staining the concrete he lies upon.

Another figure soon overshadow the battered and thrashed young man, Melvin using what strength he had left to muster to find it being an orange haired kid boasting horns on the side of his head; the boy’s shadow taking the form of a great demon that envelopes his body.

Simply picturing all this once more makes the young man’s pitch black hands slightly twitch, Melvin taking a deep breath before turning away and claims that:

“I don’t wanna talk about it. Let’s keep moving.”

“Oh...o-okay.”

Witnessing Melvin continue further down into the darkness of the cavern, Mally leans over to the chairbound wiz kid and whispers to him:

“You think this might have something to do with his big break up with Chloe?”

“Don’t know, all of it did kind happen around the same time. But I can’t be too sure about what happened then.

But maybe we shouldn’t talk about it literally behind his back; the scars are still to fresh to bring all that up now.”

“Ah...Yeah, guess you’re right. Let’s just catch up to him, make sure he doesn’t get lost.”

Deciding this do the two of them take off deeper into the dark tunnels after the young man; the young lass between them requesting their third to:

“Wait up, Mel!”

As the three of them continue further down the stone caverns, the tunnels they traverse begin to thicken with darkess the further all of them descend; Melvin peering through the void while asking his cousin:

“Yo, Hank. You got a light?”

“Uh, flashlight? Eh, there wasn’t really enough room to install one in my chair; got it pretty packed with all kinds of weapons and gadgets as is.”

“Ain’t that great. You tweak yo chair to fit all this shody gizmo’s and gadgets, but you didn’t have enough foresight to tape a flashlight to it. Fuckin incredible.”

“Here, I got one.” Mally then speaks up with as she digs through her backpack, pulling out a flashlight from its depths.

Pressing the button along its neck, a bright light pierces through the pitch black darkness of the rocky tunnel; the young girl aiming the light towards Melvin while requesting that:

“There, perfect. Now you can quit acting so hostile.”

“The hell’s that supposed to mean?” the young man barks back.

“Melvin, listen. I know you’ve went through some pretty rough shit recently, I get that. But that sure as hell doesn’t give you the excuse to act like a dick to us. We’re just trying to help.”

“The hell you to think I should do to blow off all this steam then?” Melvin then furiously exclaims.

“You could just talk to us. You got friends and family, ya know. Gave you time to work through it, but now you’re just taking your anger out on us. It ain’t fair.” the chairbound boy suggests.

“How the hell you two planning on talking all this shit out, huh? Ain’t like either of you had anything like I had with Chloe.”

Upon hearing his cousin bark this at him, Hank begins to withdraw from the young man; the boy left clearly hurt by this rash and striking statement.

But despite the outrage, Mally refuses to yield to her friends rage and states:

“That doesn’t mean we’re not here for you. You’re just mad cause Chloe didn’t feel the same way.”

“Yeah. Pretty sure you know all about that, don’t you?” the young man counters with.

This swift statement catches the orange skater off guard, reeling back while uttering:

“Wha-what do you-”

“Don’t gimme that clueless shit like you don’t know what I’m talking about! The way you looked at her, the way you looked at us together; you wanted her too, didn’t you? Ya felt your heart ripped out just lookin at us!

Keep spouting shit about being my homegirl. Bet you felt pretty fuckin happy hearing that we broke up, didn’t you, ya backstabbing bitch!?”

“Melvin, I didn’t. I don’t feel that way.”

“Fuckin say it then! Say you don’t feel the same way I do when lookin at her!”

This sudden demand leaves the young lady utterly silent before her friends accusations; failing to say even a word to him as he harshly ordered.

Melvin contemptuous glare grows further as he witnesses the girl respond only with drops of tears streaking down through her cheeks; his fists trembling as he turns and darts away deeper into the caverns.

“Melvin!” Hank shouts as he starts to wheel after his retreating cousin.

Before the chair bound wiz kid could race after the young man, he glances back to witness Mally dropping to her knee’s; Hank wheeling himself back to her side as he utters:

“Mally?”

“Dammit...”

“Uh-”

Thrust her fist down upon the earth below, the upset young lass punches the ground hard enough to leave craters on the stone as she curses out:

“God dammit! Why couldn’t I say anything!? I couldn’t even spit out a single lie”

“Mally, is what Hank said true? Did you really want them to break up?”

A resentful sigh escapes her as the orange skater curls up on the floor, responding to her concerned friend with:

“I’m not even sure how to feel about it all anymore. Your cousin’s a good guy, Hank. He didn’t deserve to get hurt the way he did. But every time I looked at both Chloe and him together, a part of myself just felt horrible and guilty inside. I hated it.

And when I heard that they had broken up, I could feel this saddening burden suddenly be lifted deep inside me. And it all came at the expense at one of my own friends. Am I just...Wha-what kind of heartless monster am I?...”

Before the poor girl could drown in her own conflicting turmoil, her wiz kid pal rolls up to her side and reaches his hand out for her; attempting to comfort her with:

“Hey, quit talking like that. You’re not some heartless girl jealous of your friends relationships, your an incredibly caring person that wants the best for everyone around her. Heck, if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be worrying about it all as much as you have been.”

Hearing all this come from the boy urges her to uncurl from the floor and rise back on her knee’s; all while Hank continues on with:

“I might be more of an engineer than a relationships expert, but even I can see how you’re practically tiptoeing through a whole field of land mine; just preying that you don’t trip one and cause the whole acre to explode on you.”

These words cause the orange skater to rise further off her knees and back on to her feet, all the while Hank further claims how:

“I’m sure that you don’t mean any contempt by it; you’re just trying to keep your feelings from hurting the people close to you.

But...you shouldn’t have to strain yourself too hard with all this sort of relationship drama; else your gonna tear yourself apart trying to keep it all together. You know what I’m saying?”

Wiping away the dribbles of snot and tears off her face, Mally turns to her chairbound friend and answers with:

“I think...I-I just don’t know how to get through all this.”

“How bout we start by finding Melvin before he winds up getting himself lost.”

“He he, yeah probably.”

Having been pulled right out from her curling turmoil, Mally sets off with her wiz kid as they both continue through the tunnels that their third had hastily raced down; the orange lass aiming her flashlights glow through the darkness ahead of them.

Left utterly struck by the skaters lack of a response, Melvin darts blindly down the cavern tunnels as far from her as she can; his eyes shut tight as his mind continues to race.

Though he feels the ground he treads upon flatten out, the young man fails to realize himself speeding straight through a much more constructed and ancient hallway; the rocky and jagged walls that made up the caverns now chiseled and smoothed to more stable and solid walls.

Eventually does Melvin start to slow down and open his eyes, his site adjusting to the darkness and discovering himself within a four way intersecting hall; the young man leans against one of the corners to catch his breath.

Resting on the chiseled stone, the shadowy darkness behind begins to take the form of a figure; the shadow approaching the young man as it echoes:

“Your pretty easy to set off, aren’t you? Just one press of the button and you go apeshit.”

This pestering voice reaching his ears, Melvin quickly jumps right off the corner and turns back ready for a fight; his guard waning when finding not a soul waiting at his backside.

“That kind of hotheaded bullshit is the reason that she left you.” he continues to hear.

“Who the hell you think your bitch ass is, thinking you know what shit I’m going through?”

“Who I am is the furthest thing from your mind right, isn’t it. Even I can tell that isn’t what’s going through that head of yours.

Oh no, you’d rather think about how one of your own friends could feel the way she does about your big breakup; and all when hearing that kind of shit so soon too.

It hurts, doesn’t it. The broad fact that you’ve poured your whole body for this person and she just left you on a whim; and to top it all off, your friends wait beside you pretending to care. But on the inside, they’ve been waiting for the two of you to split so she can take her and leave you alone and hollow inside.

It just makes you wanna tear them all apart, doesn’t it?”

“Fucking shut up!” the young man shouts while turning back to the source of the mysterious voice, again failing to find a single sound behind him.

“Like seriously, when has all that blind fury ever done anything but distance yourself from those around you; those that bothered to even care at this point?

How long will you think it’ll take them to finally stop caring and leave you just to die alone?”

“Fuck you!”

Screaming out with maddening rage, Melvin blindly punches the stone wall nearest to him; his pitch black fist striking hard enough to send cracks through out the stone.

After the initial quake settles, a part of the stone underneath his knuckles begins to give way and withdraw into the wall; a much more violent tremor passing through and rocking the entire hallway.

Standing back from the wall he had just struck, Melvin keeps himself steady against the spinning quake; gazing over down one of the hallway to witness part of it turning and shutting into another wall.

“The hell is going on!?”

“The hell is going on!?”

As the young engineer shouts this, he holds onto the wheels of his chair while the smooth hallway that he Mally stand within start to tremble; the orange skater keeping her footing steady as the halls continue to tremble.

Turning back to where both Mally and Hank had came from, the young girl witnesses the way they entered start to close in; the constant quaking proving too strong to let them race back before it closes.

Once their only way out finally shuts, the odd tremors finally cease, letting Mally regain her balance as Hank keeps his chair steady.

“What the heck happened there?” the chair bound boy wonders aloud.

“Might be another one of the trails. Think Melvin might’ve done something to trigger it.”

“If that’s true, then we should find him before it has the chance to throw anything else at us.”

In saying such do the two of them take off deeper through the chiseled stone hallway, their racing footsteps echoing through the tunnels as they proceed forth.

While the duo continue to dart through the underground stone hall, Mally reaches over into her backpack and rummages through its insides and pulls out her signature pink helmet; the young skater stating:

“Glad to be on flat ground again. Now we can get this short really rolling.”

“If we’re kicking this show into fifth gear, then let’s rocket straight through!” Hank proclaims.

“Wait, I thought you said you were out of rocket fuel.” Mally reminds him while pulling out her skate.

“Which is why it always pays to have a back up.”

Stating this does the wiz kid reach underneath one of his armrests to press another button set along the very end; the box between the wheels and the chair flapping open to reveal a set of fire extinguishers, their hoses curving out to the sides of his chair.

As the orange lass finally dons her light blue flame skates, the canisters underneath her friend expels out a white foam with enough force for him to speed off; Hank letting out a gleeful laugh as he rolls on ahead.

“Eat my extinguisher foam, Mal!”

“Oh no you don’t!” the skater denies as she takes off after the young inventor, a big smile cracking between her cheeks as she races after.

The rollerblading girl quickly catches up to her chair bound buddy, both of them peering ahead to discover the halls ahead curling upwards; Mally glance over to Hank and advising him to:

“Keep your momentum up and don’t break.”

“It’s not like I can anyway.”

Once hitting the very start of the rising spiral, the duo keep themselves turning along the inner side of the hall; using the speed they have gathered to ascend up towards the very top.

Once making it to the very top of the swirling spiral, Mally and Hank’s eyes widen as they find themselves beginning to drop down a steep incline; the two continuing to grin as they drop down the descending cylinder tunnel.

Reaching the very bottom of the incline, the wiz kids smile diminishes as he finds a batch of sharp silver spikes lying ahead; Hank turning over to his skating partner and uttering:

“Uh, Mal.”

“Just follow my lead!” she responds with while rolling on ahead.

Approaching the cluster of silver pikes, Mally skates over to the side of the tunnel and starts to roll along the side; Hank doing the same as he keeps up the pace with his rollerblading friend.

Noticing another mess of deadly spikes up ahead, the orange lass finds a narrow passing in between the pair of spike pits and rolls right on through to the other side of the hallway; the wiz kid rolling not far behind as he follows after and rolls along the other side of the tunnel.

After swerving around the pair of spike pits, the rolling duo suddenly climb up a steep rising incline; Hanks fire extinguishers continuing to carry him up while Mally starts gradually loosing speed.

The ramping incline proves to long for the skater to rise up with her momentum alone and begins to fall back towards the bottom of the ramp.

Before she could begin to plummet down, a reaching hand grasps her wrist before she could descend; Hank taking a tight hold of the young lass as he rockets up towards the top of the incline.

“Gotcha!”

“Thanks Hank!”

“Don’t thank me yet!” the wiz kid warns as he gazes up towards the stop.

Glancing up in Hanks direction, the skater discovers the meaning behind his warning and finds the way ahead proving too narrow to simply speed through; threatening to crash straight up into the hard stone roof above.

“I got this one.” the skater declares as the pulls out her new gadget once again.

Mally casts her fresh grapple yo downwards as both of them begin to near the top of the incline; the metal shell of the device sticking along the face that they had just ridden up.

“Brace yourself!” she warns as they start to reach the top.

Once finally coming to the very top of the incline, the grapple yo jerks both of them back before they could crash straight into the roof; the duo instead landing wheels first onto the top edge of the cliff as Mally withdraws her tool back to her hand.

Having made safely to the top of the steep incline, the two of them continue bolting through the rest of the underground labyrinth; the chair bound wiz kid throwing his skating friend right to his side for her to land back on her own two skates.

Racing away from the cliff side that they had climbed, the duo are suddenly alarmed to notice themselves speeding right towards a huge wall of impaling spikes decorated with skeletal remains; Hank warning her that:

“We’re too fast! There’s no way we can stop in time!”

Staring up to the top of the spike wall, Mally finds a hole on the top of the hallway; the ceiling opening seemingly big enough for both of them zip right up through.

“We won’t have to!”

Upon declaring this does the young skater toss her yoyo up to the roof over their heads; the gadget sticking right onto the stone right above them.

While running the string along behind them, Mally clutches one of the handles along the back of his friends chair and warns him to:

“Get ready!”

“Wait, ready for what!?”

Just moments before the two of them crashed straight into the barricade of lethal silver set before them, the wire string that ran behind them suddenly jerks back; Mally taking the moment to leap up towards the hole in the ceiling with Hank in her hand.

The unexpected jerk back causes the two of them to suddenly flip away from the spike trap and towards the hole in the ceiling; the extinguishers attached to the inventor’s chair gliding them both away from the death wall and propelling them right through the hole.

Mally detaches her grapple yo from the tunnel roof and back into her hand as her and Hank continue up through the upside down passage they race into.

Continuing to roll right along the hallway ceiling, both of them gaze up to see a wide pit of silver blades all pointing up towards them from the floor; Mally hanging on to the back of Hank’s chair for dear life as they speed right along the roof overlooking the bloody pit.

“Aaaaaaa-” Hank screams.

“Yeaaaaa-” Mally cheers.

Coming to the very end of the pit of bloody knives, both of them witness the hall narrowing back to the tunnels flat stone bottom; Mally warning the inventor she rides on with:

“Hang on tight!”

Hank holds on to the arm rests of his chair like his orange friend told him to, keeping a tight grip as Mally herself stomps on the ceiling they roll through and kicks them back down towards the floor; twisting herself through the air to tilt her friends wheels back towards the ground.

The two of them land right along the very edge of the silver bladed pit, continuing further through the chiseled stone tunnels on ahead.

“Oh, oh wow. Think that might be the last of it all?” Hank questions to his skating partner as she hops right off the back of her chair.

“I doubt it.” she answers as she rolls along to the wiz kids side.

Up ahead could both of them make out what seemed to be an eight way intersection up ahead; the octagonal hall constantly spinning in place and constantly shifting direction.

“Its all up to the luck of the draw now.”

Left to wander deeper through this interchanging maze of smooth stone, Melvin continues through the encompassing void that plagues the tunnels ahead; his eyes failing to adjust to the ever thickening darkness before him.

An irritated growl escapes from between the young man’s teeth, the familiar voice from before pushing his nerves as it asks:

“So, you regretting ditching those two yet?”

Rather than answering the unknown voice, Melvin simply continues through the darkness, flat out refusing to give any sort of answers.

“Yeah, probably ain’t much of a stretch to think that they made it out of this hole by now, all while leaving you to wander forever in the abyss.”

Continuing to ignore the pestering voice, he hears it continue to pry at him with:

“Just face it. You’re borderline lost without other people with you. Its why you grew attached to Chloe, ain’t it; she actually gave you a couple of direction in life.

Without anybody around, all that’s life for you know is just piss in the wind; left to flail through the void of life like an angry kid throwing a bitch fit. And all because you too afraid to face the pain those broken bonds had left.”

Finally does Melvin stop dead in his tracks, turning back to face the figure drenched in shadows that stands before him; responding to its jeering with:

“Your bitch ass said yourself that Mally left some pretty bad marks.”

Staring to the figure in question, the shadow starts to gain some semblance of shape; some of them being rather familiar to the young man.

“True, but your hands are obviously far from stainless in that whole shitshow. You just couldn’t help but let your fury boil over and scald those who just wanted to help, could you?

Like a geyser constantly spewing the worst kind of bile, nobody wants to stay around you for very long. It’s just pathetic, really?”

Hearing all this causes the young man’s fists to tremble with anger, roaring back to the figure:

“Yeah, who the fuck you think your sorry ass is say this shit to me, like you got a hell of a clue that I’m like!?”

From this outcry, all that Melvin could draw out from the shadow was nothing but a contentious laugh; the figure gaining more of a familiar shape as it jeers with:

“Your bitch ass can’t be this fuckin brain dead, can it? Thought that shit would’ve been obvious by now.

Really, how would I know all this stuff about you; how I know that you bitched at your friends and fucked off with a sour taste in your mouth?”

Pondering on what all this odd figure of darkness pesters him with, Melvin’s pupils shrink as it finally dawns on him what this mysterious being is; the figure staring to show some features as it announces:

“Ding ding! Looks like our boy here finally figured out what sort of overused cliché shit he’s dealin with here.”

Standing before the young man, the figure that surrounds the darkness start to take the form of several of Melvin’s own features; his eyes shaking as he stares right at his own sinister gleeful smile.

Those very same mirroring features suddenly disperse from a shinning light, the figure fully disappearing as the glow rapidly draws near; the light approaching too fast for Melvin to dodge out of the way of in time.

Whatever shines this bright light suddenly runs right through him and knocks the young man right up in the air; left to carelessly careen through the dimly lit air, where he then feels something wrap around his leg.

Before he could even land back on the solid stone, whatever has enveloped his leg suddenly jerks him in the same direction the light races; feeling the back of his jumpsuit scrap against the floor as he’s quite literally dragged through the hallway.

“Got em!” he hears a familiar voice shout.

“Fuckin- Mally!? Hank!?” the young man shouts out.

“Hey Melvin, glad to have ya back on the team!” the wiz kid responds with.

“The hell you two doin!?”

“We up and figured to take a more rapid approach through this trail and race through it like a half and hour...what did Micah call it, a speedrun?”

“Stop this god damn freight ride fuckin now before I get over there and whoop yo ass’s!” Melvin demands out of them.

“Can’t, haven’t installed strong enough breaks yet.” Hank points out.

Aiming her site out to what lies ahead of them, Mally’s smile suddenly shatters when discovering the sort of deathtrap that awaits; the lass claiming that:

“Then we might have’ta make our own set of breaks soon.”

“What does that mea- Oh god!” the inventor questions as he turns back forward and finds what’s ahead.

Their eyes gaze further down the hall they speed down through to discover themselves head straight for a set of chomping silver teeth; each hard bite it makes loudly echoing through the hallway.

“Guess we might’ve biten off more than he can chew here, did we?” Hank remarks.

The orange skater leaps right over the chair bound inventor and lands right in front of him, breaking with her blades and pushing against the fire extinguisher propelling his wheelchair forth: screaming out in her struggle on how:

“We need to break harder!”

Her outcry reaches the young man being dragged along in the back, this being his queue to thrust the sharp ends of his pitch black fingers straight into the ancient stone floor beneath him; chunks of smooth rock scattering all over the place as he keeps his hands shoved into the earth.

Despite both of their struggling efforts, neither of them proves strong enough to stop the wheelchair completely; still set on a crash course towards the silver pair of chompers.

Seeing their efforts only buying them time, Hank decides to use that time by climbing over to the back of his chair and reaching to the valve of one of the fire extinguishers; his seat belt straining his stomach as he stretches further out.

Yet despite reaching out as far as he could, his arms seems just a tad short to reach the canisters valve; his fingers just an inch from its steel.

Desperate to stop himself before he and his friend race to their utter demise, Hank swipes his bright red cap right off his head and uses the strap to snag the valve; pulling on the fire extinguisher as hard as he can.

When just only several feet of the set of silver biters, Hank successfully uproots one of the canisters from the bottom of his seat; his gleeful smile swiftly disappearing as the foam from the extinguisher launches him away from the silver teeth and sent careening through the air.

As the wiz kid sends himself flying through the hallway air, Mally is left to flop down the stone ramp towards the deadly chomping teeth; finally stopping with her head mere inches away from the silver guillotine.

Moving herself away from the pair of biting chompers, both her and Melvin’s eyes remain glued to the chair bound inventor as he uncontrollably tumble through the air in a mess of extinguisher foam; watching as he crashes upon the hard chiseled stone floor.

“Hank!” Melvin exclaims, uprooting his fingers from the stone and racing over to where his cousin had crashed.

After climbing out from the downward ramp with her grapple yo’s string, the orange skater swiftly rolls over to the crash site as the young man lifts the inventor back on his wheels.

“You okay there, Hank? That was one hell of a spill.” she asks.

“Eh, ain’t the worst crash I’ve ever been in. Just only got myself a couple of scrapes and bruises.”

His cousin having confirmed himself to be alright, his worrying expression drains away as he stands back on his own two feet; the young man beginning to walk away without so much as a word.

“Melvin, wait!” the skater calls out.

Stopping right in his tracks, Melvin takes the moment to amuse her request and only listens as she claims that:

“I didn’t mean to hurt you back there. I never wanted to.

It’s just...You know the mysterious ways love works, right? It just blossoms suddenly whenever it wants to without so much as a care in the world. I so desperately wanted not to feel the way I felt about Chloe when she was with you, but it just wouldn’t go away. And I hated the way that it all made me feel.

I hated the fact that one of my own friends was dating the girl I had eyes on made me feel so painful, sad, and angry. The way that I felt about it made me disgusted with myself.

I didn’t want to hurt you or Chloe with all that I’ve felt. That’s why I just stood back and bared it all for so long. I should’ve known that you would’ve figured out sooner or later.

But no matter how I feel or what happens between the two of us. I’m hoping that all this grief won’t strain what we got set up here.”

From this open moment of regret that a brief moment of silence passes between the three of them; Melvin glancing back to break the silence with:

“You still feel that way about Chloe?”

Simply hearing the young man ask her this leaves the skater disappointed with herself, unable to lie to him as she simply answers with:

“Yeah, I do. I can’t blame you if you hate me cause of it.”

Listening to the young lady admit this, Melvin simply turns back and continues to walk down the dark tunnels; seeing his back turned leaving Mally utterly saddened until she hears him ask in turn:

“You still wanting to figure out where your bro went, right?”

Hearing Melvin ask this almost instantly perks the young skater right up both her and Hank following the young man deeper into the tunneling labyrinth.

The three of them together once more, the trio continue through the winding maze of smooth chiseled stone, the orange girl shinning her flashlight down the path that lies before them.

Suddenly out of the blue do all three of them feel the hall they stand in fiercely tremble all around them, the unexpected quake causing Mally to slip on her skates and fall face first onto the hard stone floor.

Before she could start to stand back up, the walls between her start to close in; that section of the hallway slowly spinning and threatening to pinch the lass between the stone walls.

“Mally!” Hank calls out, wheeling out to her.

Before the pair of walls could clamp down upon the lying young girl, a pair of pitch black hands suddenly force the spinning hall to stop right in its tracks; Mally herself gazing up to discover Melvin keeping them from pinching her whole body.

“Hurry and get up!” the young man demands while struggling to keep the walls at bay.

While arising off the hard stone floor, Mally tosses her new gadgets out towards the inventor and wraps its wire string around his wheelchair; pulling back to jerk the young boy in both her and his cousins direction.

“Wait, the hell are you doing!?” the young man exclaims.

The young lady tugs the wiz kids chair hard enough to send him rolling right through both her and Melvin; all three of them tumbling through the hall far enough for them to be spared from being caught among the closing hallways.

Once all three of them stop tumbling through the tunnel, Mally helps Hank off the floor as she apologizes with:

“Sorry about that Hank. Kind of a quick second decision there.”

“Nah, I get it. Pulled a couple of those in the past too.”

“But really, I got you to thank Mel for holding the-”

Glancing over to the young man who had saved her skin, the skaters thankful smile deflates when witnessing the young man simply walking through the hall and telling them to:

“Come on. The end can’t be too far.”

“Oh...right.”

Geez, he’s uh…he’s still acting pretty cold. Guess he isn’t as forgiving as first impressions might’ve gave. Still, at least he’s actually talking to us. Would’ve thought it take at least a week before any of us could get a word through to him.

Let’s hope he feels like staying like that.

Heading deeper down through the chiseled stone labyrinth, all three of them eventually come to the very end of the hall; a stretching round chamber decorated with numerous carvings all along the wall. Right in the very middle of this chamber be a large stone button surrounded by carvings of what look to be disembodied angel wings.

“Ain’t seeing any way through here. Guess we should go backtrack.” Melvin concludes as he turns back towards the way they came.

Before he could get really far, he stops right before the corridor when hearing his cousin say:

“Hey, look at all this.”

Turning back towards the wiz kid, the young man sees both him and Mally staring at some of the engravings along the wall; Melvin waltzing over to their side and taking in the etched markings.

Along the very bottom of the wall stood what seemed to be humanoid figures gathering by the masses, some of them fluttering with angel wings and rising from the crowd. High above all of them however are what seemed to be numerous evangelical creatures that all sport different and numerous forms.

“So, what you think this all might be about.” Hank questions them both.

“The hell makes you think either of us knows?” his cousin responds with.

Closely staring to the dozens of almost eldritch beings that hang above the crowds, Mally takes note of how each and every one of them possess angelic wings in some form or another; no matter what sort of inhuman twisted or otherworldly form they may take.

“The better question is what all of them might be.” she adds.

Its in scanning through these numerous angelic beings that her eyes stop upon a particular one of these etchings; the young girls pupils shrinking upon glaring at the image of a neigh beastly severed head with dozens of angelic wings piercing right out from the base of the neck, all with its gaping maw holding the top half of a human on the tip of its tongue.

The very site of the image is enough to frighten the young girl to the very core of her soul, her body refusing to cease trembling as horrible memories that she had buried start to pierce through the surface.

No...No...This-this can’t really be-

“Hey Mal, over here.” she hears Hank state.

The calling voice of her wiz kid friend is all it takes to break the girl out from her fearing paralysis; Mally rapidly shaking her head about and glancing over to where the chair bound inventor had called.

“Found something over here.”

As both Melvin and her wander over to Hanks side, Mally asks the big inventor:

“Watcha find?”

Gazing in the same direction that the wiz kid does, the two direct their attention over to a particular piece that depicts another human figure with larger wings standing atop a tall jagged stone; the lines emanating from the rock suggest it glowing a bright light.

“So, what you think it means?” Melvin sarcastically asks.

“If I were a betting boy, I’d say that this is how the kids that were sent down here might have “ascended”

and became angels.”

“All cause of some glowing rock? The fuck kind of mineral did they pull out from the ass crack of the cosmo’s that let them do that?”

“Whelp, only one way to find out.” Mally states as she causally waltz’s over towards the button on the end of the chamber wall.

Moments before the skater girl could lay a single finger on the stone plate, Melvin grabs hold of her shoulder and stops her just in time to go:

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! The fuck you think you’re doing?”

“Uh, pressing this plate here? Not really much else we can do in here.”

“You sure as hell thinkin that punchin some strange button in the middle of a death maze is the smartest idea?”

“Well what else you think were supposed to do?”

“Yeah, Mel. Not to mention that this is the only part of the maze with these kind of carvings all over the wall, maybe pressing it is the only way we can move on.” Hank then adds.

“Neither of you seriously think that this just another trap set up to fuck us all over, or did the fucked up number of skeletons not give ya a big enough hint?”

“Melvin, we haven’t seen a single bone on the way through this part of maze. Don’t you think it might be cause it’s the way forward?” the skater counters with.

“Bullshit. Your just guessin now!”

“Well so are you!”

Rolling right in the middle of the two, Hank cleanly divides both his friends up and answers their quarrels with:

“Guys, guys, relax. This don’t have to turn ugly again. Why don’t we just do a coin flip to pick.”

“Fine.” Mally gives.

“Sound good to me.”

From just his pants pocket, the lovable wiz kid pulls out a shiny silver quarter with an eagle etched in the back with Washington facing the front; soon snapping the 25 cent’s right in the air as he tells both his friends to:

“Call it.”

“Heads!” Mally chooses.

“Tails.” Melvin picks.

Catching the coin right in the middle of the air, Hank slaps the quarter right into the back of his hand; slowly uncovering the piece as his friends closely watch.

The result of the flip revealing to be tails, the young man cheers his win with:

“Hell yeah.”

All while Mally viciously stamps the ground while cursing out:

“God dammit!...Fine, just lead the way Mel.”

As the two of them start to head back towards the corridor they came in from, Hank starts hearing a soft hiss constantly leak out from behind; taking a little glance underneath his wheelchair to the remaining fire extinguisher still attached to find the valve askew.

“Oh boy, better fix that before it winds up screwing us.”

Unbuckling himself from his chair, the inventor stretches himself over to the very back and reaches over to the loose valve; grasping the base with both hands attempting to tighten the lid back on.

Unfortunately, he miscalculates how much extra room unbuckling himself actually gave him and accidentally falls right out of his own chair; accidentally uprooting the canister and slamming it right on the floor, the valve unintentionally pulled right off the lid.

Melvin and Mally swiftly turns back to their paralyzed pal to witness Hank taking cover as his own extinguisher as it sporadically flails all over the dead end; constantly spewing extinguisher foam as flies.

When witnessing the hard iron canister aiming out towards the wiz kid, Melvin dashes out towards his cousin and scoops him away before the extinguisher could hammer down upon him.

The two cousins tumbling over to the very edge of the chamber as the extinguisher continues to sputter about, Hank watching as the canister starts rocketing towards his orange haired friends head.

“Mally, hit the deck!”

Like her partially paralyzed pal urges, the young skater drops down to the stone floor just before the steel canister could fly straight into her head; the lass looking over to the two boys and shouting:

“How do we stop this damn can!?”

“We don’t have to! It should run out of foam at any moment now!”

Just as the wiz kid predicted, thinner strands of extinguisher foam start to expel out from the open lid; the iron can gradually slowing down as it bounces off the carved stone walls.

Right before the canister could fully empty itself of leftover foam, the bottom of the extinguisher punches itself straight against the stone plate placed right in the middle of the chamber wall; the button withdrawing into the wall with an audible click.

Witnessing the only exit out from the small chamber suddenly close off to the three, Melvin can’t help but let loose an irritated sigh; cursing their luck with:

“Of fucking cours-”

All three of them then suddenly begin to feel the entire chamber start to quake beneath their crouching bodies; the room soon spinning in place with such an incredible force, one strong enough to fling the trio straight out to the etched walls behind them.

Try as all of them might to fight against the overwhelming centrifugal force, the trio remained forcefully glued to the etched chamber walls.

Turning his head over to the side, Melvin finds himself barely able to even lift a single finger as the room remains rapidly revolving; the young man screaming out to his friends how:

“This shit shows gotta stop before we turn into blood red pancakes!”

“Something in my chair might help. But I can barely move a muscle to reach for it!” Hank screams.

“I can...I can fix that!” Mally then claims, crawling her hand over to her overall’s pocket.

Reaching into the depths of her denim overall’s, the orange skater pulls out for her new metal yoyo and starts to raise the gadget up, straining every muscle in her arm fighting against the insane gravitational pull.

“Just a little more...”

When finally heaving the metal gadget as high as she could, Mally tosses the yoyo out towards the downed inventor over on the other side of the chamber; the gizmo flung just hard enough to reach the center of the chamber and go careening down right next to Hank.

When seeing his freshly gifted gadget crash right onto the part of the wall before him, Hank then hears the girl he gave the grapple yo to advise that he:

“Climb the string!”

Tracing the string left behind by the tossed gizmo, the wiz kid finds the metal wire overlapping his own wheelchair left stuck along the wall; Hank grasping the reinforced string and start slowly dragging himself across the wall.

“Right!”

Despite feeling the ridged and carved engravings that decorate the wall scrape against his skin, Hank nonetheless fights through the constant pain as he climbs up the wire and inches closer and closer back to his wondrous wheelchair.

Soon enough however does the partially paralyzed wiz kid finally crawl back to his knocked down chair; using what strength he has left to spare to inch his arms out towards one of the chairs armrest.

The inventor’s hand agonizingly inches along the layer of buttons set along the bottom of the plastic armrest, feeling the centrifugal force strain his arm as he inches the tip of his finger reaches out for the button he intends to press.

Against all odds does Hank finally press the button along the close end of the armrest, a plastic flap opening up at the very end of the handles at the back of the chair; a single tiny missile of wood and tin firing straight out from the hole and through the fiercely twirling chamber.

The overwhelming outward force causes the rocket to curve from its straight trajectory and redirected right into the pressed in stone plate, the missile exploding in a mess of rocky fragments upon impact.

As the smoke from the erupting boom start to dissolve, the room at last gradually loses speed and begins coming to a relieving crawl; the three kids and the wheelchair that remained pinned to the wall finally falling to the floor.

“Ah...Fuckin shit man. Thought it’d never end.” Melvin groans out.

“I could feel my intestines ready to spew out.” Mally moan.

While the two lift themselves off the smooth stone floor, their eyes drift over to notice the inventor left motionless on the floor; the scrunched remains of his wheelchair left lying on top of him.

“Hank!” both of them cry out, racing over to their paralyzed pals side.

While Mally takes the chair right off his body, Melvin flips his cousin right on his back and finds light bloody scrapes all over his skin; the young man attempts to shake him awake as he exclaims:

“Hank! Come on, cuz, wake up! Please be alright!”

His incessant rattling swiftly brings his cousin’s consciousness back to the forefront, Hank cracking his eyes open with a weak smile as he hears the boy claim that:

“Hey. Guess we made it, didn’t we?”

An insanely relieved breath escapes from Melvin’s mouth, answering him with:

“Yep, we passed this bitch.”

“Not sure if the same thing can be said about your chair though.” both of them hear their skating companion insist; looking over to see Mally holding what remains of the kid’s wheelchair; the metal left bent and scrunched inward.

“Shit. The hell happened to it?” Melvin questions.

“My guess is all the centrifugal force we endure was too much for the poor thing to take. All the pressure bent and scrunched the frame to the brink of collapse.” Hank implores.

“Think you can still use it.” the skater asks.

“I doubt any of the gadgets installed in it survived the trip, the inner mechanism looks too far gone. Ah, just got finished decking it out too.”

“What about as just a wheelchair?”

“Huh…not to sure. Can’t hurt to try though.”

“Don’t think so. You should just let me carry you.” Melvin then suggests.

“What, no way in hell, cuz.” he harshly denies.

“But-”

“Mel- Let’s be real here. You know I’ve bounced back from way worse.”

“...Fine, whatev.”

Complying with his paralyzed cousins request, Melvin stands up holding Hank on his shoulders; the young inventor legs dragging across the smooth stone as his cousin walks him over towards the wreck that was his supped up chair.

As soon as Melvin gently sits Hank onto the cushion of the nearly broken chair, its entire frame starts to tremble and quake beneath the boy; seemingly on the verge of collapsing at any moment.

With both of his hands, the boy takes a tight grip to the pair of rims attached to the sides, making the chair instantly cease shaking altogether.

A soft chuckle escapes from the young wiz kid’s teeth as his chair proves stable; Mally letting go of the handles along the back and stating out:

“Wow, holding itself together better than I thought.”

“Yep, that’s what custom made junkyard steel is for ya.”

Its in this brief moment of calm that they all feel the room begin to quake once again; all of them frantically gazing around the room and preparing themselves for what else it may decide to throw at them.

Their eyes are directed over to the other end of the chamber as they see the once shut exit open up once more; revealing a corridor different to the one that they had came in from.

“Hey, that might be the way ahead. Come on!” the chair bound boy eagerly suggests as he wheels himself over to the exit, keeping his tattering chair steady as he rolls forth.

While Hank merely rolls along out from the chamber, both of his friends waltz casually behind him; the two hanging back as the skater between them mentions how:

“Ya know. Your really luckier than you think having a cousin like him. Always willing to pull himself back up whenever life pushes him down.”

“Ya think I can’t get up from that shit?” Melvin questions.

“Oh believe me, you don’t stay down for long either, but I doubt you do it with a smile like his. That kind of friendly and helpful drive is gonna take that kid places someday. Places that we can only imagine.

Plus, it sure as hell explains how he can put up with you as a cousin.” Mally remarks with a jesting grin.

“Th-the hell does that mean!?”

His overblown reaction is enough to draw out a little laugh from the young girl as she skips ahead to her other friends side, Melvin’s anger broken instantly with a soft, small grin as he shakes his head as he himself catches up as well.

Coming to the very end of the corridor side by side, all three of them behold the site of what lies at the other end; a small golden hall lined with what looked to be several sculptures of twisted shapes and symbols hovering alongside strange wooden vines baring bizarre fruit.

The golden walls depicted more of these angelical creatures and beings sharing next to no apropos of any comprehensive reference, with nothing but angel wings shared among them.

Left to stand within the very middle of this chamber of art pieces and twisted trees be a golden pillar that towers them all, its glimmering surface depicting winged figures standing atop a glowing rock.

“Whoa...To think something like this was hidden with these caves all along. H-how did no one else find this place, especially in our modern age?” Hank babbles.

“Probably died tryin to find a way out.” his cousin remarks.

Rolling closer to the cylinder resting in the middle, the wheels of his chair suddenly lean into something beneath him, gazing down to find himself getting caught in a strangely shaped hole.

“Huh?”

Backing himself up, the inventor returns his gaze down once more and grabs his friends attention with:

“Hey guys, think I found something here.”

Waltzing over to their paralyzed pal’s side, the other two share in the boy’s site to gaze down to a pair of pressure plates sculpted in the shape of human feet; Melvin wondering aloud:

“The hell’s so important about this?”

“I think it might be what uncovers what’s inside that big pillar there. One of us has to step up.” Mally answers.

“How bout I give it a go?” both of them hear Hank suggest.

The two give the gleefully smiling lad a pair of strange glares, Hank failing to keep himself from busting out laughing, giggling out:

“Gotcha!”

“See what this shit does?” Melvin questions as she steps his two feet between the golden plates; both his friend and cousin stepping aside as the twin buttons sink down.

As the pair of plates continue to sink down through the floor, a brilliant light starts to leak out from between the cracks; the glow swiftly covering the surface of the twin panels.

When the light reaches underneath the young man’s feet, he starts to feel a searing pain sizzle his very souls’; the burning sensation urging him to jump right off and away from the pair of feet plates, watching as they rise back up and the glow withdraw back underneath.

“Fuckin bitch!”

“What happened?” Hank questions.

“Damn plate burnt right through my shoes.” he answers as he lifts his feet up, strangely finding next to no burn marks on the bottom of his kicks.

“They don’t look burnt through. Wonder what happened?”

“Swear man. Burnt like hell.”

Left curious of what she had just witness, Mally decides to step up and stand upon the twin plates; Melvin and Hank glaring cautiously as the light that emerged from underneath the plates return.

“I ain’t feeling any burning...Kinda tingles actually.”

In claiming this does the light glowing from underneath the plates start to crawl up from beneath the girls feet and up through her legs; Mally’s entire body is soon enveloped with in this thin layer of bright luminescence.

As the light remains over the young skater, its bright surface starts to take on a thick shade of blood red; the scarlet glow suddenly leaping right off the lass’s skin and out to the golden cylinder standing before her.

All of them stand and watch as the blood red light seeps its way through the engravings along the pillars glistening surface; soon growing out from the carvings to the rest of the surface until fully consuming the cylinder in red.

Once fully cloaked in the scarlet light, the entire pillar starts to dissolve before their eyes; the last of the glow vanishing to reveal what waits within it.

Above the trio does a hole in the ceiling open up all the way up to the outside, letting the twilight glow sun down and beat down upon their flabbergasted gaze.

“What-”

“The-”

“Fuck?”

All three of are left utterly shocked when left to simply stare at a whole lot of nothing presented to them beneath the pillar; with nothing but some pebbles scatter atop a sizable stand.

“The hell was that shit about? All that build up just to uncover fuck all.” Melvin exclaims.

“I-I don’t-I-I don’t understand. Why would anybody go through the trouble of setting up all these trails and mazes, send literal children down this death pit just for nothing to wait for them in the end?” Hank frantically ponders.

Approaching the stand that hid within the golden pillar, Mally picks up the bits of rock that remain upon it; taking a closer look and concluding that:

“Something definitely was waiting down here. But whoever found it last didn’t want anyone else having it.”

“Either way, we wasted our time for nothing.”

Feeling her frustration coming to a boil, Mally tosses away the pebble in a spout of fury; turning back to the two boys and disappointingly suggesting that:

“Lets just go home...”

Standing right above the hole, Mally takes her grapple yo out and readies to toss it up towards the sunlight; moments away from flinging it up before she hears Hank claim that:

“Maybe it wasn’t after all.”

Lowering her gadget, the skater glances over to her chair bound friend and utters:

“Huh.”

“Look.” he tell her, pointing out over to the far end of the chamber.

Turning over in that very direction, the orange girl withdraws from the light of the sun and starts walking away to the other end of the room.

All three of them approach the wall, their jaws left agap when watching the same blood red glow from before trail itself throughout the engravings; the scarlet light drawing out letter that soon form into complete sentence.

Mally reads the glowing script aloud:

“With your ascension now complete, take to the skies and soar to the highest peak.

Grant those who attempt to stop you a swift fin, for at the top, you shall rise to the side of your fellow kin.”

“Soar to the highest peak? Like a mountain top?” Hank ponders.

“Fellow kin? The hell does it mean by that?” Melvin wonders.

“I don’t know. But whatever all this says, it means one thing. My search for my brother is far from over.”

----------------------------------------------------

The very first step of Mally's journey to find where her brother is. It seems that this little venture will not only test her body and skill; but her relationships to the people around her as well.

[xi-xxx-mmx-blog]

TRIGGER WARNING: The following content contains graphic writing on the topic of sexual assault including the act of, as well as the aftermath.  Please proceed with great caution if such matters are triggering to you in any way.

I was fourteen years old.

I stared at the man who had been my father figure for the last four years as he explained to me how life on the road worked.  ‘Time is money, sweetheart, and food ain’t cheap.  We’ll take turns.  I work while you sleep and you work while I sleep.’  It didn’t make sense to me as he explained it not an hour outside of Kansas City.  I listened intently, eager to do my part, right up until he explained to me what my part would be.  ‘Ya see, men are on the road for weeks on end, sometimes longer, just as you’ve seen me be.  They drive hard to get where they’re goin’, leavin’ their families and friends behind ‘em.  It gets lonely out on the road and from time to time, a driver needs a little company.  Ya following me, girl?’  I thought I understood, giving up a nod of my head.  ‘Very good girl.  So that’s the part where ya get to workin’.  You’ll go to their trucks and offer your company.  They’ll pay ya what they feel you’ve earned and then you’ll bring it right back on to me.  Ya hear?’  I nodded my head again.  

The arrangement was set and I was more than happy to help pay my own way.  I knew keeping me fed would be an expense and therefore I wouldn’t hold any fear within me when he told me it was time to go to work.  ‘Now ya see that truck there?  The one with its nose in?  That is a driver who is lookin’ for a nice little girl like you to come and keep him company.  It might be an hour or it might be a couple of hours, but ya just do any old thing he’d like to do, and ya don’t complain ‘bout it, and he’ll pay ya when he’s ready to go to sleep.  Now don’t go gettin’ mixed up and thinkin’ ya can sleep there, cuz ya can’t.  Ya come right on back here and ya get your sleep where your daddy can protect ya.’  I nodded my head and reached for the door handle before I’d hear my name.  ‘And Kate, I mean it, don’t ya complain and don’t ya dare cry.  I’ll be right here waiting for ya when ya get done.’

I eased out from the rig of the truck and made my way to the truck right beside ours.  As I walked up between the trucks, they seemed so much bigger than when I was inside of my ‘father’s’.  I lifted my hand to tap gently at the bottom of the door.  I had a brilliant white smile and porcelain, untouched skin.  As the driver opened the door, revealing himself to be in his mid to late 40’s, he looked down at me like I was a lost kitten.  “Hi.  My name is Katya.  I was wondering if you might like some company?” I asked, sincerity and naivety dripping through my words, prompting a true smirk from the man within the rig.  I never had seen a smirk quite like it before, not in real life anyway.  He jumped down from within, offering me a hand up as he steadied me from behind, welcoming me inside where I’d find my way towards the passenger’s seat.  ‘Nah, lil lady.  There’s more room back in the back,’ he’d instruct me, to which I went with ease.  His bed was far nicer than mine was and I noticed the moment I sat against it and didn’t feel bars against my boney ass.

He climbed up in a moment later and within moments, his hand was against my inner thigh.  “My father said that you might like some company.  That you would already know what you’d like to do.”  Even with his hand on my thigh, I looked to him with an innocence that screamed out the fact that I’d never done such a thing before.  ‘Yep.  I already know what I’d like to do.’  Within a moment he was there against me, pressing his lips to mine.  As I drew back, he brought his hand to the back of my neck, securing me to his lips as he unfastened his pants with his free hand.  ‘Don’t be shy sweetheart.  When you walk outta this truck, you’ll be a woman.’

I squirmed, trying to get away, but his belt would serve as a harness to strap me to the bunk by the throat.  Another was placed at each ankle to do the same, leaving me nowhere to go.  “Please don’t do this.  Please.  I wanted to keep you company to help pay for my food.  Please don’t do this.”  I begged.  I pleaded.  The tears cascaded down my cheeks in a flow that I was unfamiliar with.  His smirk only seemed to widen as he looked down at me, nodding his head.  ‘Yeah, keep right on beggin’.  Ya feel this?’ he asked, grabbing my arm by the wrist, forcing my hand around his cock as I closed my eyes and tried to turn my head to the side.  ‘You feel how hard it makes me to hear you beg like that?  You can cry too if ya really wanna get me goin’.  I pay extra if ya cry.  But it’s gotta be those real tears, not none of that fake hollarin’ business.’

And I cried.  I cried as he straddled over me, pressing my shoulders into the bed.  I cried as he demanded I keep my eyes open to look up at him as I choked against him.  When I threw up against him, he only seemed to enjoy it more as I choked against him and my own vomit.  When finally he’d had enough, he drew back, his hands taking to my wrists, pinning them against the bed as he found his way between my thighs, entering me all in one thrust that had a full scream passing from my lips as those tears continued.  He commented on how tight I was.  How I was the best fuck he’d had in a long ass time.  How he could feel how wet I was for him.  How I was the most beautiful doll he’d ever seen.  How my cries and tears were getting him right where he needed to be.  And when he had came inside of me, he smirked, smacking the side of my thigh as he stated something about hoping I was on the pill or I’d be having a little Earl nine months down the road.  Earl.  His name was Earl.  Somewhere in the midst of it all, I stopped crying.  My eyes went dark and I just stared up at him as he caressed my face.  ‘Such a good little girl ya are,’ he assured as he drew up his jeans and withdrew his wallet.  ‘Now you see your way out and don’t spend it all in once place,’ he stated as he tossed two twenty dollar bills against my bare stomach.  Reaching to draw my skirt back down into place, he’d then unfasten those straps that had held me down as he went on and on about just how good I’d done for him, giving him everything he liked and then some.  I had kept him good company.

As I sat up from the bed, my body was trembling and I struggled to my feet.  ‘Now go on, girl, get outta here before I take some of that money back.’  I didn’t say another word as I gripped the bar to help myself out of the truck and to the gravel of the parking lot.  There, in the truck beside this one, was my foster father’s face in the side view mirror where he’d watch me take each slow step forward from the truck I had just been in, up the side to the front where I’d walk around to my side to open my own door and climb back within.  There on my seat was a small bag containing a change of clothes and my bathroom things, with further instruction.  ‘Ya don’t get back in my truck with that filth on ya girl.  That’s what makes ya a slut.  You go wash that shit off and then ya put yourself to bed.  And I meant it.  No fuckin’ cryin’ to keep my ass awake.’  I lifted the two twenty dollar bills up towards him, which he instantly scoffed at.  ‘Don’t ya worry.  You’ll get better and you’ll make more.  It’s not that bad for your first try.’

I remained silent as I made my way into the truck stop, being stared at by the woman at the counter until I finally remembered what I was to do and asked for a shower.  ’Ten minute wait, sweetheart.  Busy night.’  I nodded my head and took my things to the women’s restroom where I locked myself in a stall, waiting for my shower number to be called.  I sat against the toilet in utter shock at just what had happened that night and the realization that it would have to happen again and likely again.  As I glanced down, the toilet water flowed red from the blood leaking from within me, to which I would tend to as best as I could.  The feeling of the toilet tissue sent shocks of pain through my lower region as I attempted to wipe it away.  My jaw ached and my throat burned.  It was in that moment that I finally fell apart.  Tears flowed down my face as I leaned over against my knees, praying it would never happen again.  I didn’t understand how my foster father could have sent me in there knowing what it would be and I didn’t understand the perversions of the man who jumped at the opportunity to take it from me.  In his own right, it was a bought service, and it was in that moment that I realized it would never be viewed as rape.  On some level, in taking that money, it had stood as my consent.

I hung my head even lower as my shower number was called and I walked into the shower room to the allotted shower assigned to me.   I scrubbed my flesh raw that night before I returned to the rig once again.  My father was already in his bunk and the sound of his snoring could be heard the moment I opened the door.  I reminded myself not to cry, telling myself that I’d gotten it all out in the shower and should I need to cry again, I’d need to get another shower.  I took three showers that night and slept a total of forty-one minutes.  Every minute of which was filled with the flashbacks of just what I had done.  What I had allowed.  It was then that I decided I’d have to find a way to deal with this if this was what it was now.  Natali.  She would need no surname as no one would ask one of her.  In truth, Earl hadn’t asked my name to begin with.  I had offered it.  I had heard him moan it into my ear throughout.  I had heard him pair it with obscenities.  And I never wanted to hear the name Katya again after hearing it on that man’s lips.  From this point forward, I was to be Natali when the sun went down and it was my time to go to work.  Katya would be safe.  I would make sure of it.

-October 9, 2017