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convexicalcrow · 8 months

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Fic: Eerie Silence

My fic for the Spook Me Halloween Ficathon is done! :D I wanted to explore the lore behind the Black Mines in Decked Out 2, and this is what I came up with. Read here, or on AO3.

Summary: Scar's sure there's a huge cache of diamonds at these coordinates he found in a book in the Vex's astral library, so many diamonds that they could make ConCorp the richest company on the server several times over!

"Are you sure it's here?" Cub asked.

They were looking at a very ordinary looking taiga with a lake in the middle and rivers off to the sides. Nothing at all suggested there was anything special here. The pillagers who'd come with them also looked unimpressed as did the ravagers. Though, to be fair, the ravagers always looked unimpressed. They pawed the grass and huffed, nudging anyone they were next to.

"Yes, yes, of course! I checked the book myself before we left! We're at the right coordinates! It's here, I promise!" Scar said, shoving his communicator at Cub as he pointed at the coords on screen.

"And we had to go back, what, a thousand years or something?" Cub said.

"It was hidden in space AND in time! I know I deciphered the date right, it'll be here," Scar said confidently, but not in a way that reassured Cub.

"Well, I hope you've done the time magic right then, for all our sakes. What, exactly, are we looking for again?" Cub said.

"According to this record by one of the Evokers, there's a huge cache of diamonds here! Imagine how rich ConCorp could be if we found it! Besides, the Vex told us to find it, and we swore to obey, didn't we, Cub?" Scar said.

Cub sighed. "We did, we did, yeah. Alright. We'll make camp then start digging tomorrow."

Cub's diary, day 1: Following one of Scar's hairbrained ideas again. Landed on some abandoned planet thousands of lightyears away from the Hermitcraft season 6 world. No idea what we're doing here. Fully convinced Scar's just sent us on a wild goose chase. We'll find no stash of diamonds here. Why would we? Besides, we're already the richest Hermits without these. What more do the Vex want? Is there something about this place that they're not telling us about?

Cub had been digging for days, to the point where his hands were aching. They hadn't found anything unsual, though the fact that there was buried ice and snow in a definitely-not-snowy taiga suggested something weird was going on here. Cub was still withholding his judgement though. Underground ice wasn't that weird. It could just be an oddity. It happened. It didn't mean there was anything special here.

More pillagers had been sent for as the area of ice was growing larger, and there was no way Scar and Cub could dig it out on their own. At least their camp was comfortable. Built from spruce and stone, it was a selection of houses and other buildings, but it did the trick. Even the ravagers looked slightly happier once they had a stables of their own to sleep in and a good supply of feed. The land was good for farming, and there were plenty of supplies around them to work with, from food and crops to other wood types, plentiful resources in the caves, and even some villages that they'd pilfered and raided.

Cub stood by the fire as Scar handed out some rabbit stew he'd been cooking. Everyone looked exhausted. Not that morale was bad per se, but, well. Over a week straight of digging and all they'd found was some ice. If this treasure was indeed buried deep in the earth, how much longer would it take to find it? Months? Years? Would it even be there? So much of this was resting on Scar having picked the right year. If it wasn't, well. Who knew what they'd find down there?

Cub's diary, day 17: Days 1-11: digging. So much digging. At least the camp's been set up well, and there's plenty of food, but it's been a struggle. My body isn't built for this kind of manual labour anymore. I'm too old. My back is sore, and my hands haven't stopped aching. I couldn't hold a quill for days, let alone a pick axe.

But at least I have some news to share. On day 12, we found something! The endless layers of ice and snow opened up into some kind of icy labyrinth that seemed to have been created by someone, or someones, unknown. Not that we heard anyone there though. The place seemed empty? Abandoned?

We walked around for a while and found what we thought was the entrance. The giant thick doors sat slightly ajar and off their hinges, as if they had been damaged somehow. It wasn't clear what might have damaged it.

There was what I assume was a door marked 'exit' but the pressure plates before it didn't seem to do anything, so we don't know what's behind that door. Also the door was made of some kind of dark, sticky substance we'd never seen before. Assuming it was even a door. It might have been some kind of odd corrosion that's eaten away what used to be there. All I know is that substance had what felt like little stars in it, and they glowed and moved and twinkled in the low light. It also stunk really bad, which is why I think it must be some kind of corrosion. Maybe it ate some iron doors or something maybe.

I do know the air felt… eerie. Like something bad had happened here. Everyone was quiet in there, as if raising our voices would disturb whatever danger might be in here. We didn't stay much longer though. We heard some kind of shrill cry that instilled us all with fear. We returned to the camp as quickly as we could. We haven't been back yet.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure we should continue exploring. Something about that place feels off. Like it's been sealed away for a reason. Scar still seems convinced it's the right place, but at least he hasn't run off on his own yet. There's still time, of course, the man can't stay still to save his life. I just hope I can stop him before that point, or we might all be doomed.

The Vex, it's fair to say, weren't happy, that much Cub could tell, as he and Scar knelt in place, being scolded for their hesitancy. Cub understood. He really did. They wanted the diamonds, but no one wanted to go back down there, not unless they had to. Well, no one except Scar. There was no pleasure today, though, only pain. That's what he got for being disobedient. Pain, and the Vex shrieking in his head until he gave in. They'd go back into the caves. Was it a mistake? Well, only time would tell, but Cub knew when it was better to keep his mouth shut.

Cub's diary, day 18: Can't sleep. They won't let me. So I'm just sitting out here looking at the sky. I've been- dreaming. Bad dreams. I see- can't see, really. Some kind of darkness. And- that corrosion from the doors? It's everywhere. Sticky and hot and burning and it feels like it's eating me alive. Sometimes I've seen glimpses of something large, a black shadow stalking through the passageways. And through it all, a heartbeat. Mine? Or something else's? I see glimpses of a mineshaft carved into hard, black rock, like it's all been stained with coal or something, right? But I also see- bones.

I dunno if what I'm seeing is what's down there, or if it's just my imagination running wild. I just know it scares me. I really don't think we should be digging down there, but I know it's foolhardy to say no at this point. The Vex will simply possess me until it's done and perhaps kill me afterwards once I've served my purpose. That's fine. I am Theirs to do with as They wish.

I just wish They wouldn't have given us such a dangerous mission to do.

Cub's diary, day 22: We've spent three days exploring the icy caves and found what looks like a crypt somewhere in the middle. Well, it could have been a crypt, but there didn't seem to be any bodies - or any coffins for that matter. Old half-rotted barrels were falling to pieces in a couple of the rooms, and the icy ground made the stone floors more slippery to traverse than we would have liked. It made our progress rather slow.

The silence of the caves kept us all quiet. It just didn't feel like the place to speak. Footsteps were careful, voices barely above a whisper, light kept dim with soul lanterns to avoid melting any ice or snow. Every now and then, we heard another shriek like the first one that had sent us packing the first time. There were also- grumbling sounds. Crying? Some sort of creature trapped down here maybe? In some lower levels perhaps? I'm still not sure I want to know the answer. This place gives me the creeps.

"'Place? Find? the- staff? coin? key? and lay down? destroy? offer? to the dying? no, kneeling man,' I think that's what it says," Cub said, trying to decipher the sign they'd found in what they had decided to call the throne room, as it had a large statue at the end and two doors on either side that appeared to go… somewhere else? They looked like they were made of some kind of oxidised metal, maybe copper? But copper didn't exist in this world, right? Maybe it was something else. The signs looked badly worn, and half the letters appeared to be damaged. Not enough that the meaning couldn't be intuitied if you knew what you were reading, but Cub still found it tricky.

"Well, this guy looks like he's kneeling, right? And there's some kind of thing at his feet, see? With a key engraved on it?" Scar said cheerfully. "So I guess we just have to find a key now, hey?"

"In this place? Unlikely. Where are we gonna find keys in here? There's hardly anywhere they could be hidden. There's no barrels, chests, nothing that suggests anything was kept here," Cub said.

"Well, we've only explored part of this place, haven't we? There's still a ton more left to see. Who knows? We might find one eventually!" Scar said. "Come on, let's go see if we can cut out any more of that ice from the basement stairs."

"Sure, sure," Cub said, unable to share his enthusiasm as he followed him back through to the staircases and down to the entry to the crypt. There were two staircases going down but they were almost entirely filled with ice. Some of the pillagers had been trying to break it up, but it seemed to be very thick, hard ice that was proving quite resistant to the effort. Perhaps there was a reason for that.

Cub's diary, day 25: We lost two pillagers to a deep lake in one of the rooms yesterday. It looked like it led somewhere, but I wasn't going to risk swimming in icy water to find it. They jumped in before either Scar or I could stop them, and they never came back. Scar carved a little memorial for them in the crypt in one of the small rooms on a slab of stone. Perhaps it really is a crypt now.

That room was interesting, though. We found heaps of chests and barrels to search, as well as some old TNT. The wooden boardwalk looked half-rotted in places though, so we stayed away from there. We didn't find any keys though, just a rusty old coin with engravings too worn to decipher. This place must have been abandoned for a very long time. I wonder who built it?

Cub's diary, day 35: My fingers are numb from mining ice for days. My toes are numb, too. I've lost all sense of the cold down there, even with extra woollen clothes on. It's just cold. I can't even think anymore. We spend twelve hours a day mining through ice, finding nothing, and return to camp exhausted. I eat, I sleep, I dream of nothing. Then I wake and do it all again the next day. If we don't find anything soon, well, maybe there's nothing there to find.

Cub's diary, day 36: I saw something. Down there. In the crypt. Something-

Ahh, maybe it's nothing. Ghosts don't exist, right?

"You sure this is even a key? It looks so bent out of shape, man," Scar said as he examined the key one of the pillagers had given him, found half-buried in soil behind a sweet berry bush.

The pillager shrugged. "Looks like one, though. We've found nothing else that looks even close to a key. Might as well try it."

"Hmm. What do you think, Cub? Should we try it?" Scar said, handing him the key. "Do we just- what, you said the sign said to give it to the kneeling man?"

"Yeah, yeah, I think we would just- there's that plate you found, right? With the key engraved on it? It might go in there," Cub said. He spent a moment trying to bend it back so it was a little straighter, but to little success. "Only one way to find out, though."

Cub wasn't sure he wanted to know what was behind those doors as he knelt down to fix the key in place. The engraving was a little deeper than he expected, and a little wider, but the key didn't quite fit. But it did disappear, and he heard some pistons firing along with some strange tune he didn't recognise.

"Oh, hey, did that work?" Cub said, getting to his feet.

"It sure did! Come on, let's see where this goes!" Scar said, running for the doors.

That strange corrosive substance was on the walls in these tunnels, making it smell like it had been filled with rotting carcasses. They didn't hang around, hurrying down the stairs to see what was at the end of them. There had to be something, right?

Well, there was certainly something. The staircase went down several flights and seemed to spiral back on itself before it opened up onto a stony area with what looked like mycelium and mushrooms nearby. But that wasn't what they noticed. No, what they saw first was the remains of a ravager. Old, old remains, but remains nonetheless, ones that couldn't be anything else. All that was left were the bones, the armour, and the saddle, the leather rotting away and bent out of shape.

"Well, shit. Who had ravagers down here? Was this a pillager camp once upon a time?" Scar said.

"Well, I dunno, you're the one who read the book about this place," Cub said. "What'd it say?"

"Well, I don't know, I wasn't paying attention to that! I saw a puzzle and did some puzzlin'!" Scar said.

"Well, you said it was written by an Evoker, right? So they must have been down here as part of a raid party or a patrol or something, right? How else could a ravager get this far down and die like this?" Cub said.

"I guess so, yeah. I wonder what they were doing down here," Scar said.

"Hiding diamonds? I dunno, maybe you should read that book again, Scar, just sayin'," Cub said.

Scar huffed, but didn't reply. Instead he started walking, moving away and around the skeleton as he headed deeper into the cave.

"Why don't you read it, Cub? I'll be down here, seeing if I can find us some diamonds!" Scar called, disappearing around a corner.

Cub's diary, day 40: I finally tracked down that book Scar got the coords from in between exploring the lower levels. Scar locked the doors open with some rocks to stop us having to find another key to get down each time, and we made good progress in exploring these lower levels.

This looked much more like a mine, albeit a winding, confusing one. There also wasn't as much to dig through, though some of the pathways and corridors were blocked by rubble and needed to be cleared before we could go further. We still haven't found anything more though. These caves look far more extensive than the icy ones above, and there's no real sign of anything constructed apart from an old rotting bridge that we've seen so far.

I still think we're on a wild goose chase though. The book was an Evoker's diary from around this time, talking about a patrol down here to look for some treasure, just like we're doing. Clearly someone came back alive or we wouldn't have the book to begin with, but I dunno. Some of the things the Evoker talked about make my skin crawl. There's definitely something down here that doesn't want to be woken.

I've seen shadowy figures in the distance all the time we've been down here. They're… I don't know if they're human, or once were human. They have weird faces, maybe like birds? I dunno. I know it's stupid, but they really do feel like a warning. Like seeing ravens in a cemetery, you know? This place is telling us to leave and never come back, and we ignore that at our peril.

"Scar, I got you!" Cub said as he grabbed Scar's arm before he fell through the rotting fence posts that guarded a little cliff face overlooking a large lake with the rotting remains of a ship stuck against the rocks. "I told you, you can't trust anything here. It's not going to hold you!"

"I know, I know. But it's such a pretty lake! I wanted a closer look!" Scar said, moving away from the fences.

"You can do that more easily once we find a way down, not by you falling through and breaking your legs, okay?" Cub said.

"Well, then, you'd better find a way through, hadn't you? I wanna go see it!" Scar said. Carefully, he peered around the edges of the rock, doing his best not to lean on the fencing, seeing if there was another way. "Hey! I see something! There's like-"

Scar was cut off as a trident flew out of nowhere and hit his shoulder. Scar didn't even have time to panic, but at least Cub was able to pull it out quickly and set it aside.

"Man, are there drowned down there? That's gonna make things tricky," Cub said as he pulled out a healing pot. "Here, take this. That'll sort you out."

"God. Thanks, Cub." Scar sat up and drank the potion, ignoring the blood stains that would be left on his jacket. There would be time to worry about that later. He felt his heart slow down as the potion healed him, taking away the wounds and leaving him feeling much more energised. "Honestly I'm surprised anything's still alive down here, let alone a trident drowned! What cheek!"

"Maybe he's protecting the ship. What else would he be doing, you know?" Cub said. "Then again, how did a ship that large even get down here in the first place, you know? Was there once some kind of river that lead down here? It's so huge!"

"I dunno, but I guess we'd better go look, right? Just to make sure? Maybe there's some log books or something there, you know?" Scar said.

"Yeah, maybe. Can't hurt to check it out," Cub said.

Cub's diary, day 42: It took another four hours to figure out how to get down to the lake. The caves on this level were far more open, but there were a lot of tunnels and passages that had collapsed or had been closed up by rubble. Some crisscrossed over each other, others led to dead-ends, some spiralled past each other and never met. It wasn't a maze, but it did feel like one. There were more specks of that corrosion that we found by what looked like another door that opened with a key. It seeped in from around the door, spreading into the stone around it and down into the floor. Something- something was crying down there. Something bad. I wasn't convinced we should continue, but of course Scar could sense treasure, so we kept going.

The lake itself was larger than it had seemed from our first view of it. It spun off into branches and was quite deep. There were little caves dug out from the walls, and streams of water falling from the roof, suggesting that there could be another lake above that, or maybe some kind of river, maybe? We hadn't found any other bodies of water on our way down, but it's possible we just simply missed it.

We lost another pillager as we made our way around the lake. That trident drowned was super accurate, and we were lucky to only lose one, but the rest of us did get hit a few times. I was just about out of healing pots by the time we climbed aboard the ship.

Not that we found much there, if I'm honest. The ship was solid, but clearly abandoned. Maybe we found a few pieces of gold, but that was about it. I took the pillagers and returned to the surface to our camp to rest. Scar stayed aboard the ship, said he was sure there was something there in the captain's room that he wanted to find. Fine. Whatever. I was done exploring for the day anyway, and we were out of supplies so I left him to it. I just didn't expect that would be the last time I saw him.

Cub's diary, day 50: Winter's set in here. The ground is cold, and our crops are plagued with some kind of blight that eats everything we plant. Thankfully the animals haven't been affected, and we had enough stored away to be eating well for now. I've had a couple of pillagers make a new camp in a plains some distance away, just to ensure we still have food. Just in case we can't farm anything here.

But. Scar's still missing. We've made a few patrols down to the ship but we can't find him. What we did find the first time we went was that corroded door was now wide open, and wedged with rocks. Something - Scar? - had gone down there. Or had, perhaps even worse, broken out.

There's more of that corrosion everywhere. I don't know if any of the other pillagers have noticed it, but it's there. Small patches breaking through rocks, hiding in shadows, like somehow our presence here has enabled it to spread. Those figures hiding in the distance seem much closer too.

You might wonder why we're still here. Anyone else might have fled by now. But I dunno. Something tells me Scar's still out there somewhere. Whether he's still himself at that point, I don't know, but he's definitely not dead yet. I know, because I'd never hear the end of it from the Vex if he'd died. And right now, They're more worried about the diamonds still, so. We keep going. We keep going.

Cub's diary, day 51: We're going through the second door. Don't ask me why, I think it's a suicide mission. There's clearly monsters down there. I can hear them every time we've been past there. But the Vex won't be disobeyed, and so we go below. Vex help us if we never return.

"Okay, just- I dunno why, but be as quiet as you can down there, okay? I just have a feeling we shouldn't make any noise. Something down there won't like it," Cub said as they stood outside the door, looking down at another staircase lined with that same starry corrosion. The smell was awful, and the silence deafening.

"Maybe we should've brought the ravagers. They can handle anything," one of the pillagers said.

"Nah, too noisy. Too much. This is going to require careful footsteps and a lot of sneaking. Stick together, okay? We don't know what's down there, or what it's capable of," Cub said.

The pillagers nodded, and after another moment of hesitation and making sure the door was indeed wedged open and wouldn't close behind them, they started to descend.

The air was humid. Cold, but humid. The corrosion down here was much more widespread. They stepped out of the staircase and into what looked like an old mine. A proper one, as opposed to the other two floors they'd explored. Was 'floors' even the right word to describe them? Cub wasn't sure. Wasn't willing to think about that right now.

"Grab onto each other. Don't get spooked. Silence, sneaking, no sound above a whisper okay? We don't want to draw attention to ourselves," Cub said.

Cub felt one of the pillagers grab his coat, and he hoped the others were following suit. Perhaps rope would have been better, but ah well. Where to go now, though? There was what looked like some kind of passage to his left, which seemed easier than the passage ahead, which had part of the floor collapsed. It might be possible to jump it, but Cub wasn't willing to risk it. He gestured left, and that's where they went, slowly creeping through the dark mines.

The pillager behind Cub froze, bringing their travels to a standstill. Something- something had croaked? Or chirruped? It was a soft sound, not like the shrieks they'd heard earlier. Cub looked back at them.

"You heard that too, right?" Cub said, keeping his voice as quiet as he could.

They all nodded. Something- there was that cry again. Some kind of creature crying as if it had been disturbed. Cub took a step and something crunched under his foot.

"Oh. Oh no. That's not bones, is it? Is this place full of bones?" Cub said.

"Do you want to know?" said the pillager behind him, matching his tone.

"I'm not sure I do. Do- do you think we can risk a light down here? It's just so dark, you know?" Cub said.

"I don't know. But-"

What sounded like an angry cry echoed around them, and it seemed to be closer than the first cry had been. Was something getting closer to them?

Cub peered around the corner and saw another shadowy figure in the distance. When he looked again, the figure was gone. Something-. His Vex senses were pinging very strongly. Perhaps Scar was close by.

Cub gestured forward. There wasn't really any other options at this point. On they went, into the darkness.

They had found what looked like some kind of office at the bottom of a set of stairs. Half the wood was rotting away, and there were definitely bones down here too in the corridors, but they had decided to overlook that. No point in worrying about that, right? They were old anyway. Whatever had happened here wasn't still present. Right?

The office itself was ransacked. Not much remained. Though there was that one-

"Hey, isn't that Scar in that poster? What's he wearing?" one of the pillagers said, drawing Cub's attention to the poster above the desk on the wall.

"Hotguy? Who the fuck is Hotguy? I mean, it's definitely Scar, I'd know that face anywhere, but what's it doing here? It's old, too. Real old. That's not something Scar planted here for us to find as a prank, I guarantee it. He'd have jumped out to scare us by now if he had," Cub said.

The door closed behind them, trapping them in the office. A shriek went off somewhere. Cub could have sworn he heard footsteps retreating, and perhaps, softly, a very familiar laugh that sent chills down his spine.

Cub's diary, day 57: The office door was jammed hard, and we wasted a lot of time trying to decide if it was worth all the noise to break it open and get out. My instincts told me not to do so, that perhaps whatever was down here was trying to keep us safe, but imprisonment is still imprisonment, and we were running out of food.

We didn't break down the door, though. There were some trapdoors that had rotted off their hinges that gave us just enough space to slip through. They were pretty high up, though, but we managed to stack up enough to get there. We came out on the stairs and headed back down again, aiming to follow the corridors.

Well, that was the plan. We followed the rails and found an open area in the middle that looked down at what looked like perhaps two more floors below us. Lava pooled down there, and there was clear evidence of mining activity as we explored some of the rooms nearby.

We didn't see anything weird, but something just felt off, you know? Like it was trying to make us believe we were fine. I dunno. We weren't fine, though.

We found Scar. He was-. That corrosion stuff had infected him somehow. He was wearing his Vex mask, with that stuff just covering him. He was draped in a long cloak, which I think was the same as the shadowy figures I'd been seeing. He'd been watching us. He claimed he was helping. That he was healing the sculk? I think that's what he called it? from the invasion from the miners. That they'd dug down too deep. Gone where they had not been invited. The sculk were only protecting their home. They meant no harm. We were safe, there was nothing to worry about.

I wanted to kill him. Leave his body down here to rot with all the other bones. I should've done that. Maybe then-

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lettersofsky · 7 years

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Snowbound Happenings

My thing for the Spook Me Ficathon. I chose to write some Werewolf thing and it turned to be a bit of an angsty mess. I hope it turned out ok. Warnings: Gore, Character Death, Angst.

Ko-Fi

He fell into the snow beneath him, foot catching on some unseen root and sending him to the ground as one of his few remaining companions fell to the beast pursuing them, his blood-curdling screams piercing the quiet of the night. His screams died off a moment later, replaced by the gurgling sounds of liquid in the lungs, the sounds though were being drowned out by the sounds of rending flesh and limbs being torn from his body.

He remained where he fell, listening to the sounds of his companion being torn apart no more than a few feet away from him, and hoped that the beast would ignore him where he lay. It was a feeble hope but it kept it all the same, keeping himself as still as possible as the sounds died down behind him.

There was a moment of terrifying silence, heavy and grating on his ears after the horrid sounds he’d heard only moments before, before it was broken by the heavy foot-falls of the beast moving through the dense snow.

His heart froze in his chest, stiffening even more against the frozen ground.

It was approaching him.

The silence of the night dispersed around him as the beast approached, its heavy panting growing louder as its heavy, lumbering footsteps brought it closer to him. Warm, blood-stained breaths filled his nose as the beast halted no more than an inch away from him, the weight of its gaze held him in place as a ground-shaking rumbling filled the air around him.

He clenched his eyes shut, blocking out the sight of the disturbed snow in front of him and waited for the beast to deliver him the same fate as his companion.

It did not.

Instead it turned away from him, snow crunching beneath its feet as it left him there. He waited, barely daring to breath until silence descended upon him once more and the beast was long gone.

He lifted himself from the snow, limb heavy from lying on the frozen ground for so long, gaze sweeping the pitch-black night for any hint that the beast was merely watching him from a few feet away. He breathed a soft sigh of relief when the beast was nowhere in sight before hesitantly turning his head to gaze at what remained of his companion.

It was only years of discipline that kept him from emptying the content of his stomach upon the ground at the sight that awaited him, though he couldn’t stop the sound of horror that escaped his throat. The sight was nothing less than horrifying; his companion was spread out upon the snow in a gruesome display of strength and power, limbs scattered across the red, drenched snow and organs on full display to the elements.

It was all too similar to the corpses they’d discovered in the morning after the beast’s attacks, displays of rage and power and nothing taken from the body that could justify the attacks. The beast wasn’t hunting for food, it was hunting for the kill.

A blood-chilling howl pierced the night, vaguely in the direction of the village the beast had been terrorizing, signalling that it was back on the hunt for its next victim. He and his companions nothing more than an annoyance it had to deal with before turning its attention to it true prey of the night, some poor soul within the small mountain town.

He should have made his way back to the village, meet up with whoever remained and resumed their hunt of the beast, but instead he remained where he was, unwilling to throw his life away for a village that had been nothing but cold towards him and his companions since their arrival. If Shinra really wanted to save the mountain village then they could send in their best warriors to hunt the beast instead of sending him and everyone the beast had already killed during their time here.

They weren’t going to stay here for another night.

“Guys! Slow down!”

“Keep up! We aren’t going to dawdle for your sake!” Genesis shot over his shoulder, irritation clear in his voice as he glared back at the form of his friend’s apprentice. He hadn’t wanted to bring the child with them but Angeal had insisted and Sephiroth had allowed it, despite the danger having such an inexperienced child along with them on such a dangerous mission.

The beast they were hunting was a ruthless killer according to the survivor’s reports, tearing apart people as easily as any of them breathed and Angeal thought it was a good idea to bring his apprentice along with them? The boy would die the moment the beast laid eyes on him, no doubt about it.

“Genesis.” Angeal almost growled at him, eyes narrowed at his cold treatment of the boy. Of course he was ignoring Genesis’ absolutely valid reasons for his irritation, unwilling to even dare to humour the idea that he might know better than he himself did. “There’s no need for such hostility.”

“Tell me that again when he’s being torn apart by the monster.” Genesis snarked back at him, striding forward to avoid whatever feeble lie Angeal would attempt to force upon him to convince him that the boy would not die immediately. Sephiroth glanced at him from the corner of his eye but wisely chose to remain silent, knowing that Genesis was already irritated and not wanting to have that ire directed at him.

He heard Angeal grumble behind him, his footsteps ceasing as he waited for his apprentice to catch up to them. Genesis didn’t pause in his steps, continuing his stride towards their destination and leaving the larger man to deal with the child that was following them.

Sephiroth chose to keep up with him, most likely wanting to arrive at their destination as quickly as possible so he could contact Shinra and inform them that their transportation had broken down a few hours outside of Nibelheim, leaving them stranded out in the middle of nowhere. They’d need something to get them out of here once they’d dealt with the beast and he was not going to lug the body of Angeal’s apprentice back to Midgar when they were done.

He breathed a relieved sigh when the village finally came into view, small wooden houses rising from the snow and slush covered ground and breaking the monotony of their frozen surroundings. Good, they could get out of the cold for a bit before they started their hunt for the beast.

He heard Angeal’s apprentice called out from behind them, voice filled with excitement at the sight of the village and grit his teeth when Angeal did nothing to curb the other’s attitude. He wished that Angeal would control the boy, such unprofessional behaviour would reflect poorly on all of them if it wasn’t curbed.

This was not shaping out to be a good start to the mission, they’d only just arrived and he already wanted to leave. The cold was not helping either.

Genesis sighed in relief when he entered the room he’d be sharing with Sephiroth while they were here, Angeal was sharing the room across from them with his student, so he didn’t have to share space with either of them. He just had to deal with Sephiroth until they ended the beast plaguing the village.

You’d think that the villagers would be more pleased at their arrival since they were going to kill the beast killing them, but no, they seemed far more interested in giving them the cold shoulder and ignoring their presence. He was starting to think that the Inn Keeper thought he was showing them a particular form of kindness by giving them rooms here, despite the fact that they had been the ones to request their assistance.

He wouldn’t be surprised if one of them had to be advised that stabbing civilians wasn’t the best idea, even if they had gotten particularly under their skin. It’d probably be him, Angeal was too unfailingly patient and Sephiroth was too internalized to ever act out against someone.

It would definitely be him.

“What our first order of business then?” He asked, turning to Sephiroth once he’d set his pack on one of the beds. The room was small, tiny compared to his apartment back in Midgar, holding two small beds and a bedside table with a lamp in between them and nothing more. There was a window, looking out into the forest surrounding the village, the other room’s window would look over the village then; they had the better view.

“We should try to get information out of the civilians,” Sephiroth states after a few moments of thoughtful silence, staring at the horrendous pattern of the blanket on the bed he’d be using. “Learn about the beast’s attack patterns and victims, perhaps we’ll be lucky and it’ll point to one obvious person.”

“Oh, yes,” Genesis scoffed, turning away from the younger man to the expanse of grey, green and white outside of the window. “Because a wolf would be stupid enough to be obvious about their identity.”

“Vengeance and anger make even the most intelligent beings stupid,” Sephiroth said behind him, voice ringing with a confidence born of previous experience. “The most difficult thing will be getting the civilians to speak to us, reclusive communities like this one don’t tend to like outsiders.”

“They’ll have to if they don’t want to die,” Genesis replied candidly, shrugging under the weight of the other’s gaze on his back. “If they wish to be the harbingers of their own demise then who are we to stop them?”

“We have a job to do, Genesis,” Sephiroth reminded him in a tense tone. Turning back to the taller man, he saw that the other’s shoulders were a hard line of tension and his brow was furrowed as he addressed him. “We can’t just throw that away because they’re uncooperative.”

“I’m well aware of that,” he said, rolling his eyes at the other man. Really, how foolish did Sephiroth think he was? Of course he knew they’d have to help the idiot civilians survive the beast that was intent on murdering them, that didn’t mean he couldn’t be angry at how ungrateful they were or how little help they’d be. “I’m simply pointing out what you already know.”

Sephiroth stared at him for a moment before his shoulders slumped and he sighed softly, breaking his gaze away from Genesis’ own. “We’ll head out in a moment, Angeal will take Zack and you’ll stay with me.”

“Fine,” Genesis sighed, pulling his pack to his side and digging into it in search of some warmer pieces of clothing. He’d packed a few long-sleeve turtlenecks in his pack, the warm, heavy woollen kind that were cosy and easy to move in; perfect for the cold they’d endured while they were here.

“I’m ready,” he said once he had replaced his shirt with one of his turtlenecks and donned his signature coat once more. Sephiroth rolled his eyes at him but remained silent, leaving the room to inform the others that they were leaving.

It was time to get information about their wolf.

It was about halfway through the fourth meeting with the villagers that Sephiroth realized that they truly weren’t going to get any kind of information for them, Genesis noticed the exact moment the hope died in the man’s chest because he’d been more interested in watching Sephiroth’s reaction to everything than the villager’s deadened expression. Sephiroth sighed softly, shoulders slumping as the man in front of him avoided telling them even the most insignificant piece of information.

It was somehow both heart-wrenching and hilarious. Genesis was going to revisit this image later, to enjoy it in its entirety.

He focused back on the sad-excuse for a conversation, trying to pick anything from the sparse words the man in front of them said to them. He doubted he could, but he might as well try so Sephiroth didn’t feel like such a complete failure at getting information once they left. Genesis could be kind on occasion.

“I won’t know,” the man said, answering the question of if there was anything specific that connected the victims. It was so very helpful. “I couldn’t tell you how a beast like that thinks.”

“How about a guess then?” Genesis asked, rolling his eyes at the blank look that was turned onto him. “You can’t think of any reason those people in particular would be targeted?”

The man tried to keep his features blank, but Genesis caught the irritation that had momentarily twisted his face. “No, they were good people.” And, oh, didn’t that sound like a lie.

Genesis was about to pounce into a new line of questioning but Sephiroth stopped him by standing from his seat and bidding a farewell to the man, urging Genesis to follow him. He did, stunned that Sephiroth was leaving when he had something to ask, knowing better than to rebel against the younger while they worked.

“Any particular reason for the sudden exit?” He asked once they emerged from the villager’s home, keeping his voice low enough that only Sephiroth could hear him.

“The woman on the outskirts of town will tell us something,” Sephiroth said, turning in the direct of the lone house on the edge of the village. “The villagers don’t seem to fond of her, the mutual feelings might work in our favour.”

Genesis knew who Sephiroth was talking about; they’d seen the woman when they first left the Inn, she was being thrown out of one of the stores spitting curses and vitriol at those around her. She looked like she was about to start murdering people, Genesis had liked her.

“Can’t hurt to try,” Genesis said, following Sephiroth towards the house separated from the rest of the village. They had nothing to lose by talking to the woman and at the very least she’d be more interesting to speak to than any of the others they had interacted with.

They stood in front of the separated house of the village, waiting for the woman to come greet them at the door. Sephiroth had knocked on the door himself, strong, steady beats of his knuckle against the old, wooden door and they’d been quickly followed by the sound of a woman’s voice calling out for them to wait a minute.

Sephiroth stood at attention in front of the door while Genesis remained relaxed against the side of the building, meeting each cold stare the villagers shot their way with a bright, faux-cheerful smile. “Don’t antagonize them,” Sephiroth told him, noticing what he was doing out of the corner of his eye.

“You can’t stop me,” Genesis shot at him, smile still in place as one of the teens across the street scowled at him. Oh, how much he hated small-town people; if he wasn’t working then he’d have definitely thrown something large and flammable at them. But he was, so they were safe for the moment.

The door opened before Sephiroth could respond and a small, blond woman stood before them, fixing them with a scowl. “Can I help you boys?” She asked, her voice thick with the town’s accent, staring down at them despite her much smaller stature.

Sephiroth had frozen momentarily at her attitude but he recovered quickly, fixing her with a neutral expression. “We were hoping we could speak to you about what’s been happening here lately.”

“Cause none of those arseholes will say shit?” She asked, raising one of her eyebrows at them.

“Yes,” Genesis answered, deciding not to bother beating around the bush with the woman. “They seemed to forget that they’re the ones that want our help.”

“That sounds like them,” she scoffed, dark amusement colouring her tone. “If you boys want to ask me some things then you can, I got things to do though so you’re gonna have to deal with that.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Sephiroth said, shoulders slumping in relief at the woman agreement to at least tell them something.

“None of that ‘ma’am’, shit now.” She ordered them with a scowl, letting them into her home. “Name’s Claudia, use it.”

“Of course,” Genesis promised, stepping into the house behind Sephiroth. It was a lovely place; small, cozy and obviously lived in. It was obvious that Claudia couldn’t afford much but that didn’t mean her home couldn’t be comfortable, there were hand-made blankets and pillows scattered around the room and though there was nothing of any obvious value around them, each piece of knitted fabric showed an immense amount of care and love.

“Make yourselves at home.” Claudia said, moving passed them into the kitchen area calling over her shoulder as she went. “What did you boys wanna ask me about?”

“The recent attacks,” Sephiroth started, seating himself on the couch as he swept his gaze over the room. Genesis remained standing, gaze moving around the room as Sephiroth started his questioning. The kitchen was open to their eyes, no wall to divide the two spaces, so there was no need to raise their voices to be heard. “Do you know anything about them?”

“I know they couldn’t have happened to worse people,” Claudia answered, surprising both of them with the pleased tone of her voice. She didn’t react to them though, picking up a knife to resume what she’d been doing before their interruption.

“What do you mean by that?” Sephiroth asked, giving voice to both their thoughts.

“Left my boy as good as dead, they did.”

Genesis froze at the words, seeing a similar reaction in Sephiroth. That would certainly explain the severity and focused nature of the attacks; harming a wolf’s pup was as good enough of a war declaration as any. But that meant…

“What did they do to him?” Genesis ventured to ask, keeping his suspicion out of his voice. If she did turn out to be their quarry then they couldn’t be too obvious about their suspicions.

“Threw him off the mountain,” she answered softly, grief evident in her voice. “No one wants to waste their time helping us so whatever hope he did have’s been fading as the days pass. He ain’t got long so I’m trying to make the last few days as easy as I can.”

“You have our condolences,” Genesis said, genuine regret in his voice. Wolves were family-orientated creatures, the fact that her child was dying before her eyes while she could do nothing to help him must have been beyond devastating. Even if she didn’t turn out to be their wolf, the situation must have been hard on her.

She scrubbed at her eyes, forcing a neutral tone as she spoke. “Anything else you wanna know?”

“… Was there anyone else involved with your son’s incident?” Sephiroth asked, attempting to be as kind as he could be. Claudia stiffened at the question, head cocking as she considered it.

“There’s the mayor’s daughter and a few other kids in the village,” she answered thoughtfully, picking out a plant from the collection in front of her. “And I suppose everyone who refused to help me after I found him.”

That was quite a number of people she could go after if she was the wolf, almost the entirety of the village.

“That’s all we wanted to ask you,” Sephiroth said, standing from where he’d been seated. “Thank you for speaking with us.”

“You’re alright,’ she responded, putting down her knife and wiping at her hands as she left the kitchen. Genesis noticed that she’d been preparing herbs, most likely planning to use them to help her son in some way. “I’ll show you out.”

They left the house and she closed the door after them with a quiet farewell, leaving them to their thoughts and new information.

“It might be her,” Sephiroth muttered, moving back towards the Inn to meet up with Angeal and Zack to share with them what they’d learned. “And if it is, we’ll need to deal with her.”

“Of course,” Genesis responded, eyes roaming around their surroundings. It wasn’t hard to believe that these people had allowed something so awful to happen to a child, small towns could be worse than monsters when they didn’t like you. But as much as he would have liked to leave the wolf to their vengeance; they had their orders to kill them.

It was a shame, Genesis liked Claudia.

“You’re sure about this?” Angeal asked once they’d finished telling them about Claudia and her situation. His arms were crossed over his chest and his brows were furrowed heavily over his eyes, he was disturbed by what they’d told him, morals fighting with his orders.

“I doubt she’d lie about that happening to her child,” Sephiroth responded, gazing out at the villagers milling around outside. “She sounded genuine when she talked about it.”

“But then we’ll have to dispose of her child as well,” Angeal said, shoulders slumping under the realization. “We can’t let him continue to suffer and die alone.”

“We’ll give him a clean death,” Genesis promised, stretching his arms above his head. He could feel the anger brewing in Angeal’s apprentice at their nonchalant conversation but had no want to sugar coat it for the boy he needed to learn that they weren’t heroes, only killers that answered Shinra’s beck and call. “Once his mother’s out of the way.”

Angeal nodded, shoulders remaining tight, while Sephiroth kept his attention focused on the scenery outside, features a neutral blank. That only left the apprentice.

“How can you guys just say that!” The boy exclaimed, fists shaking with barely contained rage as he seethed with anger. He was practically vibrating as he stared at them, eyes burning with emotion. “How can you still want to help these people after what she told you?!”

“It’s not about choice, Zack,” Angeal said, trying to reason with the child. His face had softened and he uncrossed his arms in a placating gesture, trying to get the boy to see reason. “We’ve got orders to kill the wolf terrorizing this village, no matter what they may have done or if they deserve it’s ire or not.”

“But we’re letting them get away with killing a kid!” He shouted, shaking the windows from his anger. Genesis was surprised by how deeply the boy’s naivete ran, or, more likely, Angeal had never told him the actual reasons behind each and every mission he’d ever been on before; Shinra didn’t care about who was in the right, all they cared about was who would pay them the most.

“It’s not our place to decide who lives or who dies,” Angeal tried to say only to be cut off by the force of his apprentice’s anger.

“So we’re just going to kill this woman and her kid because that’s what Shinra wants?!” There were tears of rage building in the boy’s eyes and Genesis could see the way his words were affecting Sephiroth, the man’s shoulders dropping more with each accusation thrown at them. “Because this village decided the world would be better off without a kid who probably never did anything to anyone?! Where’s the honour in that?!”

“There isn’t any,” Sephiroth muttered, words cutting through the tense silence left in the wake of the boy’s anger. Genesis watched as the man seemed to crumble under the words he was speaking, keeping his focus trained on the world outside of their room. “There’s never been, you’re foolish for trying to find any.”

“Sephiroth!” Angeal barked, the sharp word sending Sephiroth quiet and leaving the room in a tense silence.

“Unfortunately, her murdering the townsfolk is the issue here.” Genesis said, deciding to add his voice to the argument. “It’s not our place to judge how the village decides to run itself, only to strike where we’re ordered too. Besides,” he continued, aware of the way the other’s gazes were trained on him. “She wouldn’t have told us anything if she didn’t know that she was signing her own death warrant.”

“Why would she do that?”

The boy sounded so lost that Genesis couldn’t help but take pity on him, “she’s tired.” He answered, remembering a similar scenario some years before. “She wants to die before her child does and if a bit of justifiable murder is what it takes to achieve that, then what has she got to lose?”

They’re prepared for the hunt that night, leaving the Inn and setting out into the cold, snowy night. The townsfolk have long since returned to their homes in a vain attempt to protect themselves from the wolf’s anger, aware that the wolf had killed people in their homes before.

Their blades are sharp and Genesis’ materia sings in his bracer, magic buzzing underneath his skin and ready for whatever he needed it for. They were ready for whatever the wolf would throw at them and to end her before she could attack another of the villagers.

But she knew that they were ready to end her so it was very possible that she was going over the one she believed most at fault for her child’s fate, though they didn’t know who that could be. Perhaps the doctor who refused to help? The local law enforcement who refused to act? The mayor who allowed this all to happen?

Genesis didn’t know and splitting up was not an option. They had to wait until she struck before they knew where she would be.

They had planted themselves around the village square, Genesis and Sephiroth had a watch on her home while the other two watched the main entrance to the village on the off chance that they were wrong about their wolf. Genesis was sure that she wouldn’t come from her home, wolves tended to have numerous ways to escape their homes; passageways upon passageways to protect themselves and their young from those that would hope to bring harm to them.

She was definitely utilizing them for her final hunt.

The only thing Genesis could hear was his breathing in the silence of the night, calm and steady as the moon travelled through the heavens and the stars started to reveal their gentle light to the world. It was a beautiful night; shame it had to be ruined by an ear-piercing scream from the mayor’s home. It was a woman’s scream.

They all turn towards the largest house in the village, running as one towards the building suddenly alight with activity. The rest of the village remained silent, unwilling to lend aid or given give attention to the fact that one of their own was being torn apart only a few feet away from their own homes.

What cowards.

Genesis reached the building after Sephiroth did, following on the other man’s heels as he ascended to the second floor where the sounds of snarling and rending flesh were originating. The sight they walked in on was a horror; but a familiar one.

Wet blood painted the walls in irregular patterns, and pooled on the floor beneath in a large pool. At the centre was the beast and her prey, whom Genesis assumed was the mayor’s daughter. She lay on her back, skin pale from terror and blood-loss, face frozen in an eternal scream. Her entire torso had been torn open, organs pulled out and on display in the pool around her, all but her heart, which remained within the empty cavity. Genesis could see numerous scratches and bite marks on her limbs; the wolf hadn’t been kind with her death.

The wolf stood over her corpse, jaws and claws dripping red and staining it’s white-gold pelt with the girl’s lifeblood. It turned to them once they reached the floor, lifting itself to its hind legs until it stood taller than even Angeal did, and snarled at them, a deep, guttural sound that spoke only of senseless fury and mindless death. It’s eyes were pitch in the light of the room, glaring at them over a full set of large, sharp teeth.

It was glaringly obvious to Genesis that they couldn’t fight the beast in the confines of the house, Sephiroth’s sword alone was not meant for such tight quarters. Sephiroth must have realized it as well as the first thing he did was try to corral the beast towards the large open window, trying to get her out.

It took the bait, carefully moving away from Sephiroth’s steady advance until it stood before the glass panel where a strong gale of Wind sent it flying through the broken glass to the town below, where Angeal and his apprentice were waiting for it. Genesis heard the sound of shock from the boy, quickly followed by a sharp snarl and Angeal’s shout as he engaged the beast, before following the beast out of the window. Sephiroth was already ahead of him, Masamune poised and ready as he dropped from the second story, controlling his landing before springing up and aiming a strike to the beast’s flank.

Genesis’ fall was softened by the use of Gravity magic, letting him float to the ground with ease while shooting fireballs at the beast. It screamed with fury when the first fireball hit its side, turning to face him with furious eyes, lips curled over its teeth as it snarled at him. Angeal forced t’s attention away from him with his large, oversized sword, forcing it back, away from them.

His apprentice was standing back, watching them deal with the beast from the sidelines with his sword clenched in his hands.

Thankfully, the beast was ignoring him, focusing on the ones trying to kill it instead. It wouldn’t go down without giving them a run for their money, that would just be an insult to all of them and Genesis was sure that it wanted to go down fighting. Claudia needed to feel like she wasn’t choosing to abandon her child, if only for her own peace of mind.

She couldn’t stand against the three of them though, her efforts slowly died down to nothing under the combination of blades and magic until she was barely able to swipe at them with her large claws and staggering under her own weight. It was almost sad to see such a great creature reduced to such a state, but they couldn’t allow her to live after her little display before; as she well knew.

She finally fell to a strike from Sephiroth, the silver-haired man opening her up from shoulder to hip and sending her falling to the ground. They knew she was dead because her wolf-pelt faded away, leaving the small, blonde-haired woman he and Sephiroth had been speaking to earlier. She was bleeding out on the snow before them, final breath already fading from her body and leaving her dead and cold on the frozen ground.

All that left was her child and then they could return home.

Angeal was consoling his apprentice, a large heavy hand on his shoulder holding him in place as Genesis and Sephiroth turned towards Claudia’s home. Sephiroth was silent next to him, the weight of what he’d just done weighing on him heavily.

He froze at the doorstep of the house, unable to take another step. He took a deep breath, but couldn’t manage to force any words out of his throat.

“I’ll do it,” Genesis offered kindly, laying his hand on Sephiroth’s shoulder. He looked at him with a relieved gaze, breathing a sigh of relief when Genesis stepped past him into the house. “Let me deal with the kid, you wait out here and I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Thank you,” Sephiroth nodded, stepping back onto the snow-covered ground.

Genesis moved through the house, cold now without Claudia’s presence and the fire that had been burning within the hearth earlier. It was eerie, being in here to murder a child that couldn’t defend themselves. An honourable task if there ever was one.

The child’s room was lit by the soft, warm light of the torch by his bed, bathing the child in a warm glow. The boy was younger than Angeal’s apprentice, smaller too, slim and blond like his mother. He’s pretty, even with most of his face black and bruised; both his eyes are swelled shut and there are numerous splits in his lips, his face is ruined. Genesis reached out and grasped the boy’s hand, seating himself next to the prone body.

“My friend the fates are cruel,” he says into the quiet of the room, drawing Rapier from her scabbard at his waist. Her blade gleams a burning scarlet in the fire light, wicked sharp and ready to ignite at a moment’s notice.

She’d get the job done, no doubt about it.

“You have no idea of all the trouble you’ve caused,’ he informed the boy, running his thumb gently over the shattered bones of the boy’s hand. His skin was black and blue, the bones obviously broken beneath it. “So many lives ruined, all for reasons you never knew.” He sighed then, shoulder slumping as he finished. “What a waste.”

He considered the boy closely, taking in the beauty hidden beneath the pain and anger. He bet the boy was a beautiful wolf, sleek and golden like his mother, built for speed instead of straight power. It truly was a shame that the people of this village had turned against him.

“I hope you’ll find peace,” he said, raising Rapier to rest against the boy’s heart. “In the next life.” He plunged Rapier into the boy’s chest, the sharp blade parting flesh as easily as butter, sinking into his beating heart and emerging from his back.

The boy died silently, unaware of everything around him and trapped within the safety of his dreams.

Genesis remained still and silent for a few moments, letting the weight of things settle over him before lifting himself from the bed and removing Rapier from the boy’s chest. He wiped the blood from her blade and left the room, blowing out the light of the torch as he did.

Sephiroth was waiting for him outside, some of the colour back in his skin and looking much calmer than when Genesis had entered the house.

“Did you do it?”

“You can tell Shinra we’ve eliminated the wolf threat.” Genesis responded, walking past Sephiroth back to the village. They’d leave this place in the morning, let the locals deal with the bodies however they wanted to, and return to Shinra until the next time they ordered them to leave, to hunt down the next wolf.

It was a life.

Ko-Fi

#FFVII #Spook Me Ficathon #Werewolf #Genesis Rhapsodos #Sephiroth #Angeal Hewley #Zack Fair #Mama Strife #Horror #Gore #Character Death #Take the Fic #I Don't Want it Anymore #Skyee Writes

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