Behind the Curtain (Passion // Weiss)

Weiss · Sep 12, 2020

The second hand slowly ticked along in the clock. It filled the otherwise silent room with a soft ambiance. Dark hues had fallen over the entirety of the bedroom. The clock had shown exactly 10:34PM. Aside from the bed which was occupied by someone, there was a handful of other furniture in the cute little room. Desk, shelves, and a closet for clothes was present. The laptop that had been sitting on top of the desk had been plugged in for charging, just like the phone that had been on the nightstand right next to the bed. One lamp sat directly over top of it. It was an exceedingly normal room, one that had stayed that way for months. The clock continued to tick. 10:34PM. Another few seconds passed. 10:34PM. To anyone else who had observed the room for only a moment, there would be nothing that was off. Everything was in it's place... but to the person sleeping in that bed, she would have known that something was wildly off.

Time hadn't been moving forward. More accurately, everything seemed to have frozen in the room. The clock continued to tick, but after the second hand made it all the way around, it seemed as if the room repeated itself once more. 10:34PM. It had been like that for nearly half an hour now. Maybe the clock's minute hand had just been broken? It continued to tick on, after all. There was something that prevented someone from checking the mechanical clock, however. Some dark, looming mass had been sitting at the very base of the bed, staring up at the body that laid within. Maybe the silhouette could be made out of several eyes, perhaps many mouths... or maybe even the jagged outline of teeth. It was a distinct mass that hadn't been human. Nothing about its structure made any sense, as if it was just a heavy goop that just so had an ungodly amount of appendages. One glance along the floor of her room would tell her that it stretched extensively. The entire floor of the room had been darkened into a jet black hue, much like the mass that was at the base of her bed.

10:34PM. Every rotation of the second hand around the clock made the shadowy goo rise a little higher along her floor, coming closer and closer to the edge of her bed. No level of panicking or screaming would manage to result in a savior breaking in through her door. It was an agonizingly slow process... and then finally they touched her. The goop had risen to the level that it had swallowed up the entirety of her bed and the second it made contact with her back, thick tendrils shot out from it before tightening around her legs, arms, thighs, and waist to slowly drag her downwards. It flooded against her mouth, her nose, even against her eyes and made sure the only thing she could sense was a pitch black void... all until she was swallowed completely.

10:35PM

Finally, the clock in her room ticked forward one last minute. There was no one left in the bed to witness it, however.

- - -

Hours or seconds. It was something that may have stretched on agonizingly long, or maybe it ended immediately. There was a short period of time where her every senses were deprived from her. The very next moment that anything finally registered, the region around her was no longer the scenery of her bedroom. She was sitting at the very middle of a four way intersection. Asphalt roads underneath her were lined with erratic yellow road markers. Everything was dark... maybe it had been night, though the sky above would tell a different story. It was a dark purple hue, one that was far too bright to be during night time. On either side of the roads were skyscrapers that stretched so high into the sky that there was no end in sight. No signs of any entrances were on any of the buildings, not even the slightest variation in them either. It was just walls and walls of thick skyscrapers lining along each road.

Gnarled sign posts sat at every corner of the road's intersection. Along some corners, there was such a massive cluster of them that they formed a tightly coiled ball of sign posts as if they had been made of yarn. Sticking out were hexagons, triangles, rhombuses. Some of them held relatively normal messages compared to what would be present in her world.

"DEAD END"

"STOP"

"SLOW DOWN"

"ONE WAY"

There were others, however... signs that were clearly out of place on a normal road. They had been vandalized with some gooey black substance that continued to drip out along their edges.

"DEATH"

"NO RETURN"

"PLEASE HELP"

"KILLING IS ESCAPE"

None of them seemed to indicate which direction was the correct one... a shadowy gray mist hovering over each of the four roads that linked to the intersection. Maybe if she had followed one direction, she could have found her way out of whatever this place was.

@Passion

Passion · Sep 13, 2020

It had been a rough day for Belle, and that was putting it lightly. The day started waking up twenty minutes late, coming home to a late rent notice taped to her door, and the day ended with her own artistic projects falling victim to her distress. She tried to paint out her frustrations. After the failed attempt, she had snapped. Her walls that hung her own paintings, most themed around water, now were splattered with fresh multicolored paint during her outrage. That wasn't all; her walls, the floor, all a rainbow of messy agony. Not only did her outcry fail to solve her problems or even lessen the weight on her, but she was also forced to face the consequences of her aftermath. A day of scraping paint from an apartment unit that she could no longer afford, and surveying the damages done to her collection of completed artwork. Not all was lost, perhaps there was room for repair with touch up, but it didn't change the fact that the damage was done.

It was ten at night when Belle finally crawled into her standard-sized bed with lavender colored sheets. She was used to early mornings, and it was already getting late. She would have to wake up early before classes to take a shower. She knew she should take one before bed since the paint that grazed her face and limbs was now hardened, and her long, black hair was decorated with bright flakes of colors. Despite the fact she wore paint, she couldn’t find the energy to shower. It all seemed so pointless, especially after crying for a few hours. It just seemed that no matter how hard she worked, no matter how kind she was, she always found herself failing, or left with another hurdle to trip over. Hope was getting harder to find these days. She feared going back to her foster parents she escaped years ago, she feared living on the street again, at 24 years old, she already expected so much hardship in her life. There had to be a break, there had to be a silver lining. So, maybe, just maybe if she fell asleep, the comfort and answers she was looking for would come to her. Maybe, this was all just a dream, and there wouldn’t be a giant mess of paint to clean up in the other room. Maybe…

Within silence and stillness, Belle had found a whisper of inner peace. It was in that dazed, half-asleep state, where her body felt light and her mind free of worry. If only that moment of being caught between consciousness and unconsciousness could remain, maybe then she could find the peace and strength she had been looking for. Maybe there was hope…

Wait.

Something was off.

Enough that the young woman felt something in her instincts brewing. Her clear blue eyes opened wide, but all looked the same. Her small room was dark, other than the ghastly glow of the streetlights outside that illuminated through her curtain. Was her anxiety getting to her? Was she having a panic attack? No, she had finally felt relaxed, but it felt like something was coming. Something… unknown. There was a silent alarm going off in her.

When she sat up on her bed and looked up to her clock; 10:34. She didn't even have the time to fall asleep to wake up to a nightmare she didn’t remember. Maybe she was finally losing it. She took a few deep breaths and looked around her room once more, nothing. With a huff, she plopped herself back in bed, and it felt like it was impossible to sleep now. There was a strange sensation within her that she was unable to shake. She spent some time tossing and turning, and she looked at her clock after a restless battle, and to her surprise, it still read 10:34.

Huh? Did she need a new clock too? She sat up once more and groaned under her breath in irritation; add that to her list of things she needed to buy. When she looked down from the clock and debated whether or not it was worth getting out of her warm bed to check it out, Belle saw something nearing the foot of her bed that would forever change her life.

There was no time to comprehend, the woman backed herself up against the headboard to get as much distance as possible, and she let out a piercing scream. Her petite body trembled hard enough that she was vibrating, and her body so tensed with her knees tucked in her muscles ached. Her bright eyes that contrasted her pale skin and raven dark hair welled up with tears. Her vision blurred from her watery eyes, and the fact she felt like she was about to faint. That mass, it was shifting, it had many forms, it didn’t make any sense! Her brain was instantly overloaded since there wasn't any logic that could be tied to what she was witnessing.

It slowly got closer and closer, she told herself to run, but she was utterly frozen in fear. All she could muster were screams and sobs that went unheard between hyperventilating, and she struggled to even look at the thing directly as it only aroused more fear in her. Its existence went against human and even earthly reasoning and laws as it appeared to consume the light in her room as it neared. What was more concerning was the fact she couldn’t get her body to listen to her as she remained immobilized by terror. She felt spite towards herself at her inability. She was so vulnerable there, huddled up against a headboard in just an oversized blue shirt for sleep, and the closer it loomed, the weaker she felt.

Her eyes closed tight, as it was all she felt like she could do to protect herself as the darkened creature reached out towards her. She held her breath and tried to dissociate from whatever was about to happen, but there was no sense of escape. With her last exhale of halted breath, she whispered, ‘you aren’t real.” If only that was true.

She felt herself being grabbed, and her sense of home had vanished, as well as her bed was left empty. She fell into darkness, and every instinct in her was screaming. She wouldn't be able to explain how or why, but she knew it was wrong for her to be where she was going. Her sense of time was off, and she wasn’t sure how long she was in the darkness, but once she emerged, she thought she was free, that was until she took in her surroundings as she gasped.

She was grateful to be on solid ground, but where the hell was she? Why was she here? She looked over her body, and for a moment, she saw flames licking her skin. Haunting memories of her past rush to her. No! Her eyes widened, and she gasped and desperately tried to pat herself free of fire. The mere thought of fire often made Belle feel sick, but then… nothing was there. There were no signs of fire had even touched the fabric of her shirt. Strange… Little did Belle know that she was trapped in a limbo of two existences as she started to write one as soon as she entered this unknown world.

The eerie signs were just as bad as the phantom fire. She moved a hand up to the blunt bangs that rested against her damp forehead. “This has to be a nightmare. What the fuck…” It sure didn’t feel like one, but how was any of this real?

She read the signs and took note of their condition. Was this a riddle? Was this a test? What if they all had the same outcome? It didn’t seem like anything was rushing her, so she took her time to try to think it out.

Death, she wanted no part in.

No return was the opposite of her goal.

She didn’t believe in killing.

She kept eyeing the sign ‘PLEASE HELP’. It was the most fitting, but that mist, that goo… anything ‘alive’ here was more than likely bad news, but yet, she knew she couldn’t stay here. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but have a feeling that whatever things were here probably didn’t want to ‘help’ her. She felt an urge to pick a different option, since Belle was worried she could be falling into a trap compared to picking an option that matched the ominous nature of this place, but she wasn’t confident enough to take such a chance, nor did she want to find herself even deeper in this place by following along.

Finally, she found the strength to move forward. She kept her eye on the misty mass and hastened her walking pace as she neared the ‘PLEASE HELP’ sign. She whispered under her breath in the form of a pleading chant, “stay there, stay there, stay there...” She had no idea if the mist was ‘aware’, but she didn’t want to find out. As she quickly walked, at times she saw the glimmer of warm colors as if a small spark of flame was near or on her, but each time she focused, nothing was to be found.

Weiss · Sep 13, 2020

Every step she took was met with the slightest bit of illumination, as if the fog was lifting. The scenery seemed to change just a little, the landmarks in the distance coming barely closer to her, or so it would seem. Once more, however, she was met with the same four-way intersection she had started at. Every single sign that she had passed was present, even the distinct crack in the asphalt on the road was there as if the entire path had just looped on itself despite her very clearly walking in a straight line. The ensuing dread from experience deja vu yet again hadn't been too far off if not for the soft humming that hit her ears right as she returned back to the intersection after walking straight.

"Hm~♪ Mm~♪ Hmm~♪" The tone was distinctively masculine, slow taps of feet closing in on her from some direction. It hadn't been the one she had just come from but... in a place like that, did it even matter what direction she came from? It all seemed to just link back to that one spot like some insane madhouse. Striding into the intersection was one lone figure, from the direction that had the sign-- 'KILLING IS ESCAPE'. The silhouette of a young man stepped out from the grayish mist. Huge relief spilled out when there were no extra limbs or organs spilling out of his figure. His torso was in the proper area, two arms and then two legs. All of that would wash away once his face came into clear view.

Blank. Completely blank. There was no ridge of eyebrows to make out, no mouth, there was no glint in his eyes... instead the only thing that covered his face was some sort of stony mask in the shape of his face that extended back towards his ears. At first it may have seemed as if he had no mouth at all, but within a few more steps he was standing almost two meters away from her, she would catch sight of his smile. It widened in unadulterated happiness. Reddish brown tissue was exposed all along his cheeks as if his skin had been peeled away perfectly and only exposed what was immediately underneath, something that felt so atrociously out of place considering the pale skin of his neck was just a moment below his mask.

-

'Short. Female. New. Lost? ...Lost. She's lost...??' Happiness overwhelmed his figure, making him shudder in complete delight. God, the euphoria had been too much... slowly, he started to scratch down along his nape with his short, blunt nails, making long streaks along his skin. Something... he had to something to get all the happiness out. His crazed smile widened even further and it was only after there were raw streaks all down his neck that he finally dropped his lanky arms and let them hang next to his thighs. Right... he had to share this feeling with her. He had to show her a little bit of guidance because she needed it and because he helped those who were lost. He gave them a way out.

Grasping along one of the sign posts, he effortlessly seemed to yank it out of the concrete with a single grunt. Scraping noises would ensue as he dragged it along behind him while callously approaching her. The entire welcoming party had to greet her, to make her feel welcomed-- it wouldn't do if she just had him to help her settle in. A familiar chill oozed out into the intersection. Long shadows that poured off the signposts began to materialize and manifest into amorphous blobs of limbs, mouths, and eyes. It was the very same creature that had swallowed her up a mere few moments before. They began to leak from every single sign post, some melding into each other to create even larger shadowy masses of goo that shambled towards her messily at the same lackluster pace as he did.

Just a little more... he was barely out of range of her, just shy of giving her the same overpowering emotion he was feeling. He could help her.

-

"Turn around and run. I'll say this once and only once, follow my orders unconditionally and you may survive. Mess up even one and your life ends here. First. Run towards the direction with the sign post that says death." Suddenly an icy cold voice broke out from the silence of metal screeching along asphalt, being so thoroughly audible in her ear despite the fact that she couldn't even see anyone. It hadn't sounded like a shout or a scream and yet it was so easy to hear that it felt as if the person talking to her was right next to her. The figure in front of her had also heard the voice as was apparent by how they drew their head around in a confused manner. Neither of them would find anything. There was no one there. Still, he seemed to know something she didn't. The moment the instructions came to her, he became clearly aggravated. Once more, his free hand dragged his nails down along his throat, clawing at it once more.

The humming returned just as the masked figure was about to start tearing skin off and bleeding through. It seemed to calm him like a veil of ice resting against his head. Once more, he began to close into her again at a steady pace. Luckily for her, the direction the voice had commanded her to go hadn't been behind the figure. It was exactly left of her... but if she hadn't hurried, even that direction would have been swallowed up by the ever-growing mass of black ooze.

Passion · Sep 14, 2020

Her guard remained high as she walked as the light shifted against the fog with her movement. It wouldn’t be long that she realized she had just cycled back to the start. Did she choose wrong? How was this even possible? It boggled her, which brought further unease.

The woman crossed her arms under her chest as if she caught a chill, and she looked back over the same four signs. She wondered what her next opinion should be or if she should keep trying to walk the same path to make sure it was false. The word ‘escape’ stuck in her mind, but killing? She didn’t even have a weapon to kill whatever was here if that is what it meant.

The sound of a hum shocked her to her core to the point her ears rang. She wasn’t alone. The woman twisted her tensed figure towards the sound, but she couldn’t fixate on the direction of the sound, but she could tell they were coming closer. Eventually, she saw a figure approaching as they came from the path she had considered. They looked human from a distance, but once she caught sight of its face or lack of one, the hairs on the back of her neck rose, and a mysterious and small flicker of flames circled around her. It glimmered before it faded, it seemed to appear in reaction to her fear.

Belle, as a newcomer, hadn’t had any changes to her form. Perhaps, it was because she was still fresh, and disconnected, but other than the sparks of flame, she was still the same trembling woman with specks of multi-color paint glued to her skin before she was dragged here. She didn’t fit in here, she didn’t want to.

She took a few steps back as the figure approached, but she struggled to run again. She was frozen, but this time not only in fear but in hope. She asked this place for help, so would they help? It was possible, and so was the possibility they would kill her. In a twisted way, that might be helpful, that was if she was fated to remain or suffer in this dreary place.

They spoke to her surprise. “Sh-short?” Standing over a few inches over five feet, it was true, but she was more puzzled about why they were speaking robotically. She struggled to keep her voice from shaking, “ye-yes, I-I am lost. I wa-wanna g-go home.” Never in life left did she want to see the yellowy, old walls of her apartment so bad.

She could sense the elation in the deformed stranger which only deepened her bewilderment. She couldn’t understand why they would have such glee, and she was concerned it was connected to a predator happy to find their prey, and she was moments away from being attacked, but no, there was something else to this. Something she didn’t know yet.

The way the figure dragged the sign they plucked from the ground like nothing, paired with the loud scraped against the ground as he neared her, did the opposite of bringing her the comfort she sought. “Sta-ay over there, okay?! I don’t know wh-at is going on!” She didn’t know what to make of this stranger, but she knew better than to let her guard down. However, when that familiar ooze spewed from the remaining signs, all dark with a variety of limbs, eyes, and mouths, she knew she had approached a bigger threat.

With adrenaline coursing through her veins, she finally found the will to act. Running towards ‘death’ in any sense of the way sounds wrong, but she was left with no choice but to trust a stranger. “Run too before-...” There was no time for selflessness. She cupped her ears and cringed at the high pitched sound that not only hurt her ears but disturbed her. It made her feel nauseous. She wasn’t alone with this stranger, there was something else here. Something, she wasn’t brave enough to look for.

There was no time to wonder, no time to investigate. If she didn’t run, she would surely die. Falling victim to this place would be terrible; it had a way of making her very humanity scream. With a deep inhale, Belle ran toward and down the path that read ‘death’. Leaving behind the stranger and the darkness.

I better not be running straight to my death.

The ground felt unforgivably cold and rough against her bare feet.

Please let this be the death of this place and not me. Let this be the death of this experience!

She pushed off each step like it was her last, and a she ran, abruptly, her body was caught aflame. She let out a piercing scream, but her legs did not stop driving her forward.

I’m on fire! I’m on fire!
Why the fuck am I on fire?!

Give up and burn alive. You deserve it.

No! I can’t stop running! No matter what!

It was the opposite of what to do when on fire, but despite the woman running and looking like a living candle, her skin did not burn. The flames were close enough to lick at her skin to leave her flesh warm and pink to leave her tormented, but it was only a glimpse of the angry and guilt she carried trying to find its way to manifest.

However, nothing would stop her as she ran down the path of ‘Death’. Her form was messy as she ran for her life while surrounded by darkness and flame and blinded by stinging tears. Breathing heavy, not only from exerting as much energy as she could, but out of the pure terror of what was behind her and the aura of flames she couldn’t escape.

Please, let this all be a nightmare.

Weiss · Sep 14, 2020

"Good. Just like that. Continue." The voice had been distinctively more three-dimensional than the robotic tone of her pursuers but in a strange way, it felt almost more hollow than theirs. No matter how she thrashed and threw her head around, hoping to find the owner of that voice, it wouldn't appear. The mist swarmed around her, leaving her pursuers far behind her as she ran but between the scratching noise of metal and the heavy slams of boots coming after her, they hadn't been too far off from her location.

The scenery was different. For once, she came to a fork in the road instead of the same four-way intersection. Both roads seemed increasingly more cracked and chipped than the ones she had just come from but more than that was the stench. Perhaps she would have been able to place it... but it was unlikely considering the sight of the foul, decomposing smell was poking out from the corner of her eyes. Piled high on the sidewalk of the road were stacks of still decomposing bodies. Some sort of foul black fluid had been seeping out of their rotting flesh and dripping down along the concrete of the sidewalk and onto the asphalt of the road.

"Keep looking ahead. You cannot afford to pause for even a second. Take the left path immediately." Both forks seemed to lead onto highway-sized roads which extended far onto the horizon beyond what the mist had allowed. Both had adequate highway signs and the right side even seemed to have normal directions on it. The left highway sign had been scratched off and big, bold red letters were painted over the top in fully capital words.

"TURN BACK NOW"

Maybe even more foreboding of that was how the smell coming from that direction had been a far more familiar but equally as disturbing scent. Blood. The thick smell of iron continued to waft off from that direction. Every single option she made from that point forwards seemed as if it was timed, that every second that passed may as well have been the difference between life and death. From behind her, the figure had broken out from the mist behind her and was now charging at her at full speed. She still couldn't have possibly made out his expression but by the way his teeth were gnashing against each other and how his heavy breathing had become increasingly more panicked... concern bled out of him. Something she was doing was worrying him.

Thick black waves of miasma leaked out from behind him, clouding up the skyscrapers and sidewalks behind him with the utterly massive shambling mass of the apparitions that had responded to his call. It could no longer be called a creature. At that point, it had just been a mass... a wave of thick black goo that surged forward from behind her pursuer as if its sole purpose was to crash into her. To make her choke, to blind her, deprive her of all of her senses and make her suffer in the agonizing few moments that had brought her here.

Would she even wake up after she was caught?

Nothing had made sense in that world. Just because she woke up once didn't mean she could again. Those corpses that sat decomposing on the sidewalk could have been her. They may have been her if she didn't make a decision right then and there.

"Three more choices. If you make them all correctly, you will escape. There's over a million permutations within this labyrinth. I offer you the correct one. Go left. Do not pause. Not even for a second." Nothing but sheer confidence escaped that hollow voice in her ear. It was her choice to believe it, her choice to ignore it.

Passion · Sep 15, 2020

Run.

That was all she could think about as her feet slapped against the asphalt while being chased by something much greater than herself. The flames around her form made it impossible to hide from what pursued her. If anything, her radiance against the somber realm made her an easy target, but little did she know her own angst was the fuel.

Finally, this time, she didn't cycle back to where she started, but instead she found herself at a fork in the road. It was only then that she stopped for a few seconds. She tried to catch her breath, and as soon as she did, her flames faded from existence. Her heart was pounding, mind was scattered, and it was hard to think clearly, but that smell. She cupped her face and gagged into her palm. From over her hand, she witnessed the source of the smell. It was unlike anything she had seen in her life, not even in movies. Such... horror. Her eyes dilated knowing that could very well be her at this rate.

The fear for her life was summoned once more, and it caused the sparking flames to return to flicker around her. "Ah! No, no, nooo!" Hastily, she patted against the flames to try to put herself out, but that was only until she heard the voice once more.

The voice had warned her, and she already wasted a few critical seconds. Shit. There was no more time to pause. She let her feet guide her, and she ran left as directed. She didn't want to trust anything here, but there wasn't any time to debate or think. Any guidance, even if false, was what gave her the will to keep going and not freeze up like a deer and headlights. A thread of hope kept her going. All she needed was a chance. The sign concerned her, but no way in hell she was 'turning back' to what was after her, and so, she ran.

She called out to the unknown, "don't let me down!" Three choices to possibly escape. How could anyone even think of correct choices in an environment like this and under this kind of pressure?

She noted that the scent was different. It was one of metal. She tried to convince herself it could be one of many things, but it didn't matter; all that mattered was that she ran. As she ran, she felt a presence gaining on her. She looked over her shoulder with her long black hair billowing behind her, somehow, untouched by flame, she saw the creature dashing towards her, straight-on and with great speed. Behind it loomed the massive, all-consuming black mass.

"Fuck!"

A screaming cry emanated from the woman; a scream of terror mixed with a burning will to live. She couldn't even begin to imagine what might happen if she got caught. Belle pushed herself to her full physical potential and her flames appeared around her once more in its full glory. Running with such vigor was zapping her energy, but she wouldn't stop until the next words of guidance or hurdle. She didn't have the courage to look back again, and so she kept fighting to push forward.

Weiss · Sep 16, 2020

The next three orders would come in quick succession. The highway in front of her seemed to extend on for agonizingly long, making her thighs burn as much as they could while she ran. Any number of auditory cues would show that her pursuer was behind her, the scratch of the signpost against asphalt or the smash of boots along the ground. After about twenty meters of running, copious amounts of blood could be seen dripping down along the cracked sidewalks... seemingly flowing endlessly out of something. The thick scent of iron hung heavily in the air after that, enough to make anyone nauseous but it wasn't anywhere near as atrocious as the scent of decomposing bodies.

"Left. Right. Left."

In front of Belle was a three-way path. One led to the left, one led to the right, one extended straight along the high way. She would remain on the highway all throughout the voyage but the next two forks in the road seemed to almost immediately pop up when she took the route he specified. Left, then right, then left again... before she broke out of the mist finally. Instead of swarming around her like some type of ocean, the horizon in front of her was clear for as far as her eyes could see... but was it something good? The only sight she would be able to look at was a void of black. It was like the highway simply collapsed into nothingness. Attempting to take a step off would only result in her falling into... God knows where.

Her pursuer finally caught up to her, leaving the mist before closing in now that she was trapped against him and a fall far beyond anything she could survive. "You... fucking... bitch!" Cracking underneath his grip, the metal pole bent in an excruciating way that sounded nearly like nails scratching down a metal plate. The man charged at her, prepared to smash her head into nothing but bite-sized bits... but before he could make much progress, someone stepped in front of Belle and her pursuer. From where they had come, it seemed like they stepped out from the void behind Belle onto the final stretch of the highway.

Short, pale blonde hair and icy teal eyes sat in his tired looking expression. A gas mask covered the lower half of his face though the upper half of his expression was completely exposed without any goggles. Without a word, he stared down the pursuer fearlessly. They seemed almost hesitant now... but swallowed past it to start charging again, smashing the metal signpost across his pale blonde head and making a very clear noise of impact. Flesh crunching underneath the metallic sign... enough to make anyone cringe and shut their eyes in panic.

"...Is that all? That's no good, you know." Instead of being the one who should've been bleeding profusely, the one who was dripping crimson blood was her pursuer. The blonde-haired man had smashed his fist forward right against their mask, resulting in a multitude of cracks with crimson blood spilling out of them. Immediately, the severity of the injury sunk in and her pursuer started to gasp and wheeze, blood pouring out as they collapsed and writhed pathetically on the asphalt ground. All at once, the shadows behind him had started to fade into nothing.

"Move." He ordered her, glancing back for a moment to give her a completely unfeeling gaze from his teal eyes. Grabbing the pursuer by the throat, he lifted them up before dragging them behind him towards the very edge leading into the abyss. "I was expecting something more... a performance, maybe. Something to make my heart beat. I had such high hopes for you... but you're such a cliche little idiot who feeds off new blood like a... fucking... worthless... rat!" Although he had started out calm, he grew increasingly more angry as the moment continued, barking at the still writhing figure he was holding by the throat about something or other. He drew his fist back and smashed his fist into their face again.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

The bone crunching noise of his knuckles gnashing against their flesh filled the area again and again until his fists dripped with blood and a shattered mess of the mask started to fall down into the abyss again. Her pursuer had long since stopped resisting, having been knocked out or perhaps even dead. Like he was discarding some piece of garbage, he let them fall into the empty void below... and within seconds they were completely gone from view. "You."

They turned to Belle now, approaching them with fists still dripping of blood. Was he going to take his anger out on her now? The serene look entered his teal eyes again like his heart had just iced over. "...What's your biggest fear, little lady? Tell me." Once more, that tired look returned to his expression.

Passion · Sep 17, 2020

Any physical discomfort was ignored as she dashed forward. No time to pause. Any pain she was in now from senselessly running was nothing compared to the misery and disgrace that could await her if caught. She fought hard to survive in the real world, and she would here too.

A blur of red could be seen as she ran. Blood. The smell was strong, it added to the unease of her stomach, but she couldn’t stop. Even when her mouth salivated with brewing sickness, she fought through it. What disgusted her the most was the fact that the moisture of the blood brought mild relief to her aching feet.

Left. Right. Left.

Blindly, the woman followed the path that was given to her. So far, the voice hadn’t let her down. She was guided to what looked like the edge of the world. Finally, she stopped running to hunch forward with her hands on her knees. Her dark, messy hair was stuck to her face with sweat, and the fabric of her oversized shirt clung to her damp skin. She gasped for air, her mind blurred, and she felt like her entire body was ready to collapse in need of rest. So much energy she rapidly burned. At least it was somewhat relieving even knowing that she even made it this far. However, she wasn’t out of the clear. Her needed pause was only given to her due to being cornered.

She turned around to face what fate awaited her, and she saw him there. Her instincts knew that he was dead set on seriously hurting or killing her, and she stepped back towards the edge. She considered the only move she could make. There was no chance of survival against this man nor the fall, but she much rather have the final say when it came to her death. A scream erupted from the woman, “Leave me alone!” Her body trembled from exhaustion and fear. Was this really the end?

As he charged, a voice leaked into her mind:

Annabelle… Suffer. Wither. Burn.

Before she could catch fire once more, someone came between her and her attacker. Her fear was replaced by stillness, and she held her breath in an attempt to get a read of the situation before reacting. Her attacker didn’t seem as confident in attacking the stranger compared to her. Breath returned to her in the form of a gasp. Her eyes widened when the signpost collided with the stranger’s head, and her entire body tensed up in pained empathy. To her amazement, the man did not fall. Instead, he countered.

Holy shit. Such power.

She stepped out of his way quickly, letting him carry her attacker to the very edge. A wave of relief crashed into her with each punch that connected with her aggressor. It was something she wished she had the strength to do herself after that hellish chase. To think that she had tried to be kind. It was hard to watch someone’s face being shattered, but she couldn’t look away. It was the most hopeful sight she had seen since she arrived in this hellscape. A crushing weight was lifted off of her when he let the battered man fall into the abyss. Was she safe yet? As she heard the stranger call for her, she felt her defenses rise back up. Not yet.

She extended her hands out in front of her, gesturing to him to stay back. Out of all the questions that he could have asked, why was he asking about fear? “My biggest fear is quickly turning into whatever this place is.” It was hard to top the piles of dead bodies she saw and the violence. “Thank you for helping me, but I don’t want to play any games. If you know how I can get out of here and back where I came from, please tell me.” Her heart was pounding again like she was running once more. “I think it is a mistake I’m even here! I’m just a simple girl. I’m not a bad person or anything, I-”

You made them suffer. You killed them all.

“Fi-fire.” She cleared her throat. “Fire is my biggest fear. Even seeing a candle or a picture of fire makes me uncomfortable.” She didn’t love how she was admitting such truths, but she would play along. Getting on his bad side probably wouldn’t be in her favor. “I caught on fire a few times since I been here, and that was just as scary as being chased by that madman.” The idea of burning alive was a thought her brain refused to even fixate on, but it all started to connect in her head. Did this place run off of things like fear? That would explain a lot of the horrors she already had seen.

For a moment, she turned her head to the cliff’s edge. The option of jumping was still there, but she hesitated since she didn’t want to die here, and the fact he did save her had her hopeful. If he thought it was bad to go after ‘new blood’, wouldn’t he be just as bad if he went after her?

“Who are you, anyway? And what is this place?” She had so many questions, another one seemed to pop up for each second she spent in this realm. “I’ll go first, I’m Annabelle, but people usually call me Belle.” She was nervous, but she didn’t have any ways to protect herself that she was aware of. This didn’t seem like a place where kindness and humanity would get one far, but she would try. “I was trying to sleep, and I was dragged here. If my feet didn’t hurt as much as they do now, I would think that this is all just an extremely vivid nightmare.” Somehow she gave him a half-smile as an attempt to make light of a very dire situation, but upon closer inspection, she was trembling like a leaf.

Weiss · Sep 18, 2020

Disinterest shot through his gaze when she began to go on and on about something he hadn't asked her. That tired look in his eyes only intensified when she started to panic, his shoulder turning away from her until finally she seemed to steady herself and answer what he had asked of her. Fire. Silently, he locked eyes with her with a gaze that made it seem almost as if he was looking straight through her with every passing second. Perhaps he had been trying to figure if she had been telling the truth.

After a moment of holding their gazes, he gave her a small nod. "Good. Why are you afraid of it? Were you burned as a child? ...Or maybe it's the pain? You're afraid of the pain, then?" Being burnt alive was supposedly one of the most painful ways for a person to die. Every nerve would be set aflame in an agonizing pain that you could beg, scream, and writhe through but the only thing to put a person out of their misery would be passing out from the trauma.

It wasn't bad. But it was impractical. He still hadn't answered even a single one of her questions as he continued to mull something over with his striking teal eyes. "You are mistaken about one simple thing." Holding a finger up, he approached her. Compared to how she had been shaking, how the anxiety seemed to leak out of her like a broken faucet, he was comparatively fluid. Every motion was done without even the slightest sign of trembling, not even a scrap of fear. It was clear that he hadn't been trying to intimidate her... the look in his eyes hadn't gone crazed, there was nothing violent about his motions, and perhaps most striking of all was the way that he just seemed so unbearably tired like every single time he blinked, he would just fall asleep on the spot.

She felt his warm hand rest against her thigh, preventing her from jumping off unless she managed to wrestle him off of her. "I didn't help you or save you. In fact, I don't care what happens to you. You were a means to an end for me. I don't care if you're a good girl, or a bad one. Your name doesn't matter to me. I don't care how you got here either and it goes without saying I... mmh..." Pausing midway, he let out a small yawn before taking in a deep breath and sighing. Balling up one hand, he rubbed his eyes. It seemed as if he really was tired. "...don't care about showing you how to get out either." Gently, he intertwined his fingers with hers as if he was playing with them. Compared to hers, his hand was much more broad in every way. One of her fingers seemed almost half the width of his own.

"So... what'll you do? I don't really care if you come with me, so long as you don't get in the way. You should decide soon though. That man's creation is already falling apart." Just then, he loosened his grip on her thigh and pointed with his thumb back at the road that she had come from. Just as he had said, massive chunks shattered and crashed into the ground. One by one, the very ground seemed to become uprooted and fall downwards endlessly into the void.

"I'll help you on one condition... we talk about only your fear. I don't care at all about anything else. That's the only thing that interests me right now." Holding his hand forward, he waited for her to take it. Or to not take it. Either way, another timed decision was slowly creeping up behind her, like the maw of a giant monster threatening to swallow her up at any given second.

Passion · Sep 19, 2020

It appeared that charm wouldn’t be getting her far in this world. It was the only thing she had to work with, and it fell flat. It helped her scrape by in the real world every now and again, but it seemed like she needed to become a fighter to survive here. Her body was petite, and Belle was an artist, not some kind of athlete. There was no way she could survive this on her own without help or some kind of miracle. She would have already perished if it wasn’t for the guidance she already received.

The message was clear; he didn’t care about anything. Hearing so made her heart drop, her complexion turned pale, and she was so stunned that at first, she dismissed his first round of questions. Talking about her fears didn’t matter if he was planning to leave her for dead anyway. It was not the rudeness nor bluntness that unsettled her, but the fact her attempt to make a connection in order to survive was proving difficult. She had tried to put on a friendly face to hide her vulnerability, but her warm facial expression was twisting one back to distress.

It was his last statement that hit her the hardest. As their hands idly touched, and he kept her away from the edge, she was too lost in her racing thoughts to try to make sense of the contradicting actions and statements. Tears once again flooded her vision, and she looked up at him from under her messy bangs. “Please…” Her voice was full of yearning ache and desperation, “You have to help me get out of here. I'll die here!” The realization that she had nothing to lose in a world like this hit her hard. She begged, “please, I’ll do anything!” She knew saying such a thing in a setting like this was asking for trouble, but anything was better than dying here or being stuck here suffering for only God knew how long.

While she was high-strung, he was the contrast; calm, collected, casual, even tired. She couldn’t imagine being easygoing with anything about this place. In a way, she envied him for it. Ever since she arrived here, it’s been a dreadful and confusing experience that was unlike anything she had ever experienced. She did her best to stand strong, but the aftermath of using an ample amount of her physical and mental energy was catching up with her.

With a blink, tears rolled down her cheeks to reveal her clear blue eyes again. She reached up with her free hand to use her forearm to wipe away her tears. Breaking down wouldn’t help her. She was cracking, but her instincts to survive drove her. It was spiked into overtime when she noticed the area was crumbling. No, she couldn’t fall to this terrible place.

“I told you anything, so fine, but, I’m not sure why you care so much.” She hated talking about fire and her past. Very rarely did she talk about it, and often left out details that were too painful to think about. Talking about it made her remember, and at this point in her life, she wanted to forget with avoidance.

With the destruction being slow but steady rolled closer to them, she took the limited time to try to prove herself that she would go along. “No, I wasn’t burned as a child.”

You should have been.

She shook her head to try to dismiss her inner voice. “I um…” Hesitation.

The ground rumbled beneath her, and it forced her to speak. “Even though I wasn’t burned, I witnessed the pain it can cause, as well as the destruction and misery.” A flicker of a memory resurfaced. The screams... The sight of charred skin... The helplessness as bystanders stood around. It was utter chaos on that smoky and fateful night. “The fact it can quickly become so uncontrollable too. It is frightening.” Her heart fluttered at the thought, which made her feel sick to her stomach. “A single flame could ruin many lives, even to those who are not directly touched by fire.” She bit her lower lip for a moment as she lived with that burden. “It is too violent, powerful, unpredictable, and deadly. There is no reason not to fear fire in the form of a spark or a wildfire.”

She nervously tucked some of her dark, straight hair behind her ear while she considered what else to say and how to say it. It was hard to think with the darkness closing in on them. “I’m scared of fire since I started one that took the life of my family and some of my neighbors." Just saying those words had her feeling faint. "If I had listened to my mother, it would have never have happened." She took a shaken inhale before continuing her spotty story, "I was out at a sleepover down the street, and I chased the sound of sirens to find my house ablaze. I still remember my neighbors’ screams, and seeing my dad aflame, holding my little sister and-…” Her voice cracked, and she was unable to say anymore. She couldn’t even let herself properly recall the events of the night. Memories were blocked out for being too painful and upsetting. Another round of tears well up in her eyes.

After a few deep breaths, she sighed a confession, “The sound of sirens still upset me.” She hated her fears. Many wouldn’t think twice if they saw a controlled fire or the sound of sirens, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t dismiss her fears nor trauma. “I didn’t just burn down my home and family, but I also burned down my secure life, my happiness. I was thrown into tons of terrible situations after that. To this day, I still am dealing with the aftermath of the fire in many forms. Even when it is put out, it can find a way to burn and destroy in other ways. So, you can also say I fear fire for its lingering consequences too.”

She reached out and took his hand while teary and trembling. Time was running out. She reminded herself again, she had nothing to lose at this point by trusting him. “At least take me somewhere safe. I rather not, but I’ll try to explain more if you want. I have to get out of here, though!”

Weiss · Sep 19, 2020

Once she began to open up about something he had been interested in, the look in his teal eyes transitioned vividly from their formerly tired glance. As if he was a child staring up at stars for the first time, they seemed to light up. Trauma. It had been so much trauma. The way that it would swallow up everything that gave her an ounce of safety. His heart seemed to skip a beat as she went over and explained it all to him... where others maybe have been disgusted and showed some sign of empathy towards her, he could only feel morbid curiosity. He wanted to be in her shoes. He wanted to have been the one to light that flame. It was frustrating... so very frustrating. Enough that she would feel him biting his lower lip from the frustration he had been feeling. Eyes were downcast as he stared at his feet until finally he felt her grab his hand. All at once, it seemed to come back to him. He made a deal with her. Belle had given him something that he had asked for, it would only be right if he returned the favor.

"This world is as safe as you make it to be. So long as you feel that you're in danger, you will be in danger. It's that simple." Pulling her close, he draped his arm around her back and curled her frame into his chest. Warmth that felt all too incomparable with how cold his gaze was and a strength that seemed unfathomable for how tired he looked was what met her. Taking steady steps back, he stepped off of the road into the void below. However, she would quickly find that instead of rapidly falling, they just seemed to stand in place above the void. In the strangest way, his feet seemed to be anchored on something whereas her legs were flailing down like she would've actually dropped if he had let her go in that moment.

"If you're afraid of falling, you will fall Belle. Take a deep breath. Focus on me and only me. There is a ground below you. Think that. There is no drop below. Like swimming. Have you ever been taught to swim?" Just as reassuringly as he had grabbed her, he shifted his hands underneath her own to hold her in place. When she was attached close to him, the ground didn't seem to cave in below her. As her companion had said, the moment that she began to think that she was actually walking on ground, stiffness could be felt below her feet as if she was actually walking on something that hadn't been there. Regardless, he kept a firm grip on her.

He waited patiently, taught her quietly, reassured her when she did something right and chastised her softly when she did something wrong. Eventually, the grip underneath her hand had loosened after he was perfectly sure that she wouldn't fall. Both hands dipped into his pocket after and he took one step backwards.

"Come." He motioned with just his index finger for her to follow him. The only sight in front of them that could be seen was just an endless expanse of black. Had someone gotten lost out there... wandering for close to an eternity didn't seem like something that was out of the question. There was no sky above to tell someone what direction they were going. There was no paths below to give anyone any sense of direction. Nothing. There was just absolutely nothing.

"Ah. Actually... hold my hand, Belle. I don't know how unstable you are. If you get worried about getting lost well... you know what'll happen." This world would make it so. She would continue to wander endlessly in the vast expanse. His broad palm curled over her slender one, fingers slowly intertwining with her own and gripping tight before towing her along behind him. "Please continue talking. About your fear. I'm very interested in hearing more about it... if you keep me entertained long enough, I'll show you how to get out of this place. What happens when you see a flame now? Do you get reminded of how you killed your family?"

His words were completely and utterly raw. There wasn't even a shred of empathy in his tone, only an overwhelming sense of curiosity. Slowly, the landscape in front of them began to warp. The blackness that surrounded them started to turn a dark purple color and slowly, a solidness filled in the ground below them. It was a dirty, dark brown color that slowly transitioned into what seemed to be soil. Pale, dead grass would start to spring up along the dirt and even taller, black trees would start to tangle up the view in front of them. An inky black forest was what the path in front of them had suddenly turned into. The canopy above was so thick that not a single scrap of the purple sky could be seen.

Even more frightening was the fact that the trees seemed to be warped in a way that made them look like lanky, large bodies that were staring down on both of them. "Seeing as how you offered me insight on something I was desperate to know, I'll answer another one of your questions... my name is Vale. It's short for Valentine. Keep talking. I'll answer a question every now and then if I keep hearing things that interest me." Continuing on fearlessly through the forest, there were a handful of times that the trunks visible shuddered and shifted to loom over them and stare in her direction. Branches that seemed to simulate long fingers, or even a handful of eyes staring at her down through the canopy.

The worst part? They were all focused on Belle. No matter where her eyes landed, unless she buried them on his back, the world seemed to be staring straight at her as if she was a piece of meat tossed into a lion's den.

Luckily for her, their voyage hadn't lasted anything more than ten minutes. They finally arrived near a lakeside that seemed to have some equipment. There was a handful of tents and a few torches stuck into the ground nearby along with a campfire that seemed unlit. Without bothering to even ask, he drew his hand over the campfire and immediately lit it aflame with thick red, orange, and yellow hues before going for all the torches. "Come here." He commanded, having let go of her hand so he could light the campfire. Teal eyes stared ahead at her... clearing his throat a little more so he could clarify.

"Don't worry. If you're scared, close your eyes and walk towards the sound of my voice. We'll go inside one of the tents and talk. These torches need to be alight or the forest will grow closer to us if we're not watching it. Come here." Opening his arm wide, he reassured her once more and waited for her to come closer to him, into the ring of flames he had effectively created.

Passion · Sep 20, 2020

She took his hand as he was the only sign of hope she had. Belle knew she couldn’t let him slip by if she had any hope of getting out of this alive, and yet, he said this place could be safe? Her eyes widened for a moment and she gave him a long stare; it was hard to believe what he said after the horrors she dealt with. He pulled her close, and for once since she got there, she felt a veil of safety. Her desperation and shock from all she had already witnessed and gone made the moment savorfull. His statement had puzzled her, but she had given him her trust in exchange for a chance to survive.

As he stepped back, she felt like a fish out of water again. She wanted to hide away and feel safe, but it wasn’t an option. Belle walked with him, but she nearly had a heart attack when his foot stepped over the edge. She tried to throw her body back to ‘save’ them both. She gasped, “No!” Then to her amazement, he didn’t fall like her attacker. The shock of possibly losing her only hope and falling him, mixed with relief of such a fate not coming true, had her feeling sick. “Oh god.” She placed her free hand on the side of her head and ruffled her dark locks. A few dried up paint chips fell from her hair. “Not feeling like I’m in danger is going to be difficult.” She took the step with him over the edge and noticed she didn’t feel like she was floating.

If I fall, then I will di-....

His voice cut through her mind before she could finish that thought. She couldn’t be scared. A deep breath filled her lungs, and she exhaled to try to settle herself. “Yes, I know how to swim. I’m good at it too.” Luckily for her, all those years she spent studying waterscapes for her art and taking a special interest in the element that could protect her from what she feared most left her experienced. She could vividly imagine a body of water. However, her eyes stayed on him. Breaking the illusion of imagination was easier than losing sight of him.

We are in water. We are in water. We are in water and the ground is right below. It's safe.

It was strange, once she believed the thoughts in her head, they appeared to come true. Instead of feeling like the threat of gravity was about to rip her away, she felt like she was floating instead of falling through. She couldn’t make sense of it, but she wasn’t going to try to. The newcomer was beginning to see what he meant earlier at least. Carefully, she took his advice until she was stable in a float. His patience was appreciated.

A small wave of panic shot through her when he let go, though. She was quick to dismiss it, but she didn’t feel safe on her own even in the slightest. She was quick to follow after him when beckoned. Her motivation to stay close to him was stronger than her fear of falling. Her pace was slow, but she floated on over with her eyes fixated on his form and not the abyss below and beyond.

“I’d prefer that. I’m not sure how stable I am too.” His concern further comforted her and expanded her trust. She floated behind him with her hand tightly squeezing his. Belle did her best to work with her newfound footing. To her surprise, he had circled back to her fears. The temptation to escape kept her more than willing to discuss what she hated, especially with how coldly he had questioned her. Before she could question if it was safe to be discussing her fears while not on solid ground, the area started to shift. Finally, she looked down and saw ground. Thank God.

“I didn’t kill my family on purpose,” she clarified.

Or did you? If you were a good daughter who listened you wouldn’t be such a terrible girl.

She bit her lower lip and tensed up which caused her to squeeze his hand tighter. Talking about the subject was never easy. “But I am reminded of their deaths. It sounds silly, but since my family all burned to death, I feel like it will happen to me. Kinda like fate. I don’t really believe in fate at the same time.” She knew she wasn’t making much sense, but trauma had warped her. “I think about others suffering from it. I fear I’ll see others screaming in pain again. I fear that I’ll accidentally start a fire again.” She could feel emotion grip her once more, but she fought through it. “After it happened, there were all these news articles. A lot of them had very upsetting titles and statements centered around me. ‘The girl who set fire to her peaceful neighborhood’, ‘The child who killed twelve and injured eight others with flames’, ‘The town of Chester in Mourning after a fatal fire. Was it an accident?’- There were so many. As a child, I was scared of going to prison or the family of my neighbors would go after me. Even though I avoid fire, I’m so terrified I’ll set another one.”

She released a heavy sigh, “After my parents died, even my own grandparents were scared to take me in. Everyone treated me like some kind of monster or cursed. I couldn’t imagine if that happened now that I’m an adult, I probably would be in prison, even if it was an accident.” She bit her lower lip for a moment. “I guess you could say that fire makes me hate my life too.” In other words, there were many aspects in which fire upset her. The pain, the blame, the memories, the fear of the past repeating itself or coming back to haunt her, and there were even more aspects that were left unknown to her conscious for the time being. It was all just a big blur of fear and pain for her since it was all unprocessed trauma.

Talking about fire had engulfed her thoughts, and she had nearly forgotten about her surroundings. Finally, she took notice of how eerie the forest was. Where the fuck were they? Why did it feel like she was being watched? She listened to him finally state his name, but she was distracted by the way the trees seemed to move, and the eyes that watched her from within the darkness. Was she just paranoid, or were they only focused on her? Her trembling started up again, so she took a single running step forward to stay as close to him as possible. Doing her best to ignore the surroundings, she went back to the topic at hand. “I don’t know what else you want to know about it, Vale. I do want to know why you are so curious about my fear. I really just want to get out of here, and maybe my story is a bit entertaining, but I think this place has more stories to tell than me.”

To her surprise, they had found what seemed like a campsite. The sight of the tents was consoling. If she could get inside, then she could block out this place for a bit, and possibly take a needed rest to gather herself. Even ten minutes would be refreshing. Well, that was if the tent was left unbothered. She had been willing until he paused by the campfire and it came alive with flames. Her head jerked to the side to follow him setting even more fires but to the torches. She shook as she saw the whole campsite light with fire.

No! Too much fire! Too much fire!

Wild eyes bounced to each burning flame until it became a blur of a wildfire as she walked backwards towards the dark forest. She could hear screaming memories of her haunting past blaring in her mind. Her vision blurred with tears which made the whole campsite look like an all-consuming fireball. In her panicked perception, the only way to the tent and body of water was through a wall of flames.

“If you said that if I fear something, it is going to come true, right?!” She started to breathe harder as she neared hyperventilating. “Then this whole campsite is gonna burn itself and us to the ground! I can’t go near! All it takes is one loose ember to hit this dry grass or a tent… No!” He waited there with open arms, and it wasn’t a lack of trust she had towards him, but herself. “Sure, I can pretend open air is a pool, but I can’t pretend that all this will be okay! This whole forest could erupt in flames. I-I can’t, Vale!”

It will be your fault again. He'll hate you like everyone else.

The poor woman so badly wanted to hide away in the tent, to not be ripped apart by whatever was staring her down in the forest, but the risk of an uncontrollable fire brought more fear in her. She screamed out with tears streaking down her cheeks, “It is all going to burn!” Her fear was set, and so it came alive. The campfire and torches all grew massively as if someone just poured a massive amount of gasoline on each, catching anything nearby aflame. The fire roared against the darkness, threatening to not only burn down the campsite but had the possibility of spreading throughout the forest. She screamed yet again, "It is my fault!" The woman was breaking fast, as her fear was not simply a fear, but a full-blown phobia.

The smell, the warmth, the sound, the sight... it was all too much. All too familiar. Belle couldn’t take it. She was going to blackout. She dropped to a knee while stuck in a state of limbo between consciousness. Her entire world was spinning, all she could see was the warm colors of her fear flickering before her, and all sounds sounded distant. She held the sides of her head and curled herself inward as the flames burned wildly in front of her.

Weiss · Sep 23, 2020

Though she couldn't see it because of how she had clutched her sides and gone into a full on panic attack, his lips spilled into an increasingly wider smile. What was she feeling in that moment? Was her heart racing? The desperate urge to be her was spilling over him like an overpowering miasma. For a while, all he could do was watch and admire her. The way her pulse seemed to increase just from a glance, how the cold sweat broke out over her, how her breathing seemed so erratic like she was going to suffocate at any given moment. It was wonderful. So wonderful. "Esoteric... you're so, so beautiful." Covering his mouth was all he could manage to prevent the ecstatic laughs from spilling forth. One, two, and then finally three full minutes would pass where he just admired how she broke down so wonderfully. There likely wasn't a woman more beautiful than her in times like those, he truly loved it... but a part of him started to feel pity for the poor girl. Just because he was curious, she was forced to suffer relentlessly.

Swallowing back the utter fascination he had while staring at her form, he took a few steps forward. There were so many people in this dimension who suffered from the crushing fear of something. For her it was fire. There were others. Height. Darkness. Loneliness. Death. Blood. Insects. Any number of people who were swallowed up by a wide variance of fears. Some had similar solutions, others seemed to be in a constant state of paranoia. For her? The solution came quickly. Vale sat down behind her, both arms wrapping around her waist to bring her close to until her back was pressed to his chest. First, he took her sight from her. Pitch black would enter her field of vision as he wrapped something tight and satin around her eyes. Just as soon as he had finished, his hands moved up to rest on top of her ears. Both her sight and her hearing were taken from her all at once, the only sensation that could be felt was his warmth surrounding her and devouring her completely.

Soft humming would enter her ears, being the only noise she would hear. It was coming from the man who was holding her so protectively, drowning out ever last stimulus of her fear. Even the warmth of the flames which seemed like they could lick up against her skin were completely devoured by his overpowering heat. His body seemed to be a little on the rugged side. Broad shoulders and a toned front, despite how lanky he seemed to appear at a glance.

He waited, remained completely still. There were rules to this place that he hadn't quite told her. To never turn her back to the forest. Don't ever show a fear of being pursued and the forest wouldn't pursue her... and yet those rules were completely ineffective on him. Even as his back was turned to the forestry behind him, he knew that it wouldn't creep up on him. In this world, he was mindlessly strong. An existence that couldn't be harmed by any person or place. That was the man who was holding her so tight in that moment. Once he felt her either panic until she passed out or slowly catch her breathing, she would feel her smaller frame swept up by him.

His arms wrapped underneath her thighs and behind her back as he whisked her off in some direction. There was no noise of flames from wherever he was taking her nor did she ever feel the warmth of anything licking against her skin. The next moment her eyes could register anything, she was staring at the lakeside from inside the tent. He had sat down and leaned back with her body buried in between his legs against him. The dark material of the tent didn't allow her to quite see if the fires were lit outside but judging by how nothing was reflecting off the surface of the dark, murky water, there didn't seem to be anything lit or bright outside.

"You asked something before you had your panic attack. You showed me something quite interesting so I'll honor your question." One hand continued to stroke the back of her head slowly. It was almost as if he had practice soothing people like her... and maybe he did. In a place like this, there would be no lack of people who were suffering mental breakdowns. She just so happened to be one of them. "Why I'm so curious about your fear. You wanted to know that, right? Come, give me your hand." Leaning forward, he grasped along her shaky, still sweaty palms and rested them against his chest right against his beating heart. "Truthfully... there's something broken right here, Belle. I'm fundamentally lacking what you would refer to as fear. I'm not a psychopath, of course. I can feel things such as compassion, pity, empathy for another... happiness and sadness, I'm sure. But I can't feel fear. I've never been afraid in my life."

Pausing for a moment, his icy blue eyes would stare up at the roof of the tent as he recalled some memories from his past. "I wonder when it was that I realized? It was probably..." For a moment, his gaze went a little hazy while thinking of something or other. "...there was a snake in the playground at my kindergarten school. Everyone else was terrified. Some screamed. Others cried. Even the adults were utterly panicked. I didn't understand. Do you know what I did?" In hindsight, it made far more sense why exactly he had been institutionalized as a child. He saw something that distressed those close to him and so he did what felt most natural. "I picked up a rock and I smashed its head in, Belle. Again. And again. And again. Until it stopped moving. Supposedly, I had done something outrageous though I didn't understand it at the time. The snake was highly venomous, to the point that it could kill a grown man. They thought at the time that I didn't understand that, but I did. I just didn't see why it was a cause for concern. If I kill it, it can't harm me." Of course, the exceedingly violent way he had slaughtered the snake was part of that concern. No matter how much blood and violence splattered out from the wounds he inflicted, he hadn't so much as flinched. Bleeding was just a normal part of a dying creature. It was a thought he had many times when eating meat.

Do people just go around eating things they wouldn't kill? Differences in thinking like that was what had lead him to be singled out earlier in his youth, something he quickly had to amend and effectively hide in order to blend into society properly. "...I also lied about something, Belle." Admitting those words softly, he raised her chin up until she locked eyes with him. "I said that if you fear something, it'll come true. That wasn't necessarily correct. If you fear something or you have a strong urge of some kind, whether it's to hurt someone or keep yourself safe, then something will manifest. I wonder why the campfire didn't burst into flames? I wonder if it's because the person I'm holding in my arms is a wonderfully sweet girl who didn't want anyone to be hurt. Or if she's a coward who was afraid of hurting anyone. Maybe your resolve was too strong. Or maybe it was too weak. Whatever the case was, nothing has lit on fire."

Once more, he pressed his hand against her cheek and gave her a few more strokes. His soft, slow voice would make sure to speak only at the pace she could perfectly handle. Every word that left his lips, he made sure she registered by locking eyes with her. The grip around her waist would prevent her from pulling out of his lap at all, though he doubted she would be looking behind herself. It was like a child going to the bathroom at the middle of the night. The crippling fear of monsters behind them usually prevented them from looking behind. "My... I'm so curious about you. I want to undeniably devour you up, Belle. But I'm sure you wouldn't quite want that, would you? You know nothing of me, after all... and a world like this seems so very unsuited for a poor, defenseless woman like you." His eyes almost seemed to soften as he said that... as if he truly believed what he was saying.

Passion · Sep 23, 2020

She didn't know how much time had slipped by during her upset. Failing to settle her quickened breath, the darkness of unconsciousness continued to fade in and out, and she heard him, but his words managed to sound so far away. Did he say beautiful? No, that couldn’t be. She was pathetic. The mere sight of flames had her collapsed, while the horrors she saw before didn’t. What sense was even that? There was no way she looked stunning with her face stained with tears, and how she tried to curl into herself to escape it all. She hated her fears, and how they could paralyze her or drive her into a frenzy.

The warm colors disappeared from her sight, at first she thought maybe she did pass out, but she quickly realized that wasn’t the case when she felt his hands cup her ears. Her senses had escaped her fear, but her mind knew it was still active. If she couldn’t see or hear it, then she couldn’t defend herself from it. It wouldn’t matter though, she could barely stand on her feet while in this state anyway. She would have to trust him again, and there was a sense of safety where his presence loomed over her. Even the scent of the campfire didn’t reach her, since his own scent replaced it.

It would take a few minutes, but eventually, her breathing slowed down. She had been indirectly away from her fear long enough without getting burned, that she felt safe again. Belle needed his aid to move; her body was far too drained. She huddled up against him in lingering fear to use him as a way to separate herself from the fire.

When her sight was restored, she was looking at the ill-hued lake. Even the gloomy waterside was comforting, and to her relief, she did notice she didn’t see any flickering flames in its reflection. Nevertheless, there was still paranoia stirring around within her. What if there were embers loose that blew against the tent? The thought made her feel sick, but she was too depleted to even check for herself.

Her head raised up at an angle so she could glance back at him. Her blue gaze looked dim compared to that wild look in her eyes due to a strong will to survive or overtaken by fear. “You can’t light fires around me like that, especially without proper warning.” She groaned under her breath and faced back towards the lake. She felt like shit. Dealing with fire was the last thing she needed right now.

With her hand on his heart, she listened to his story, but her senses and mind were off and spacy. It made it difficult for her to critically think about the red flags that were presented to her. It also made it challenging because as his fingers ran through her dark hair, she was reminded that he was the only comfort and safety she had in this unforgivable world. As of now, she was mindlessly on his side. “Your inability to feel fear made you strong enough to take the risk and kill the snake. Lack of fear can lead to bravery, but it is important you aren’t foolish.” It was a disturbing thought of a child violently killing a snake, but in a twisted way, couldn’t it be seen as admirable? “In a way, you were like a hero. Kinda like you have been for me since I got here. " She could feel some of her blood rushing to her face, when added a pink hue to her cheek. "You had no fear stopping that guy who was running after me.” A weak smile crossed her lips at the thought. Maybe he really was her hero.

“It feels so nice to finally sit.” Even though now she realized how much her feet and legs ached after recklessly running, and traveling through the forest. She still was underdressed in just the oversized shirt she went to bed in. It was fair to say that she wasn’t ready for adventure in multiple ways. However, her moment of calm was interrupted by the feeling of a sinking heart as she was forced to look the liar in the face. Why would he lie about that? A wave of paranoia crashed into her. It was a curious thing on why the tent wasn’t a pile of ash. She was sure it was going to catch aflame. “I really don’t know why it didn’t happen, but I’m happy it didn’t. I rather you not tell me lies though. Transparency would be better. I've been nothing but honest with you.” She wasn’t naive enough to not realize that certain mindsets could be abused in a world like this, but they were on the same side, at least for now, right…? It was wishful thinking, and she hadn’t quite grasped that. She had far too much hope centered around him.

Belle found herself unable to look away as he spoke to her. Her mind became frazzled with what he might have meant. Devour...? The way he spoke to her and his comforting touch were conflicting again. She raised a hand up and placed her palm on his hand that cupped her face. “I don’t know what you mean exactly, but Vale, don’t you see that you are lucky? Why would you want to feel fear? I wish I could never feel it. It is so upsetting, consuming, and difficult to conquer. You aren’t missing out on anything good unless you use it as a defense.” Her lower lip trembled. “I really hate it. My level of fear takes over my life. It prevents me from doing simple things like entering this tent. It is a weakness. It holds people back all the time from asking a girl out to being able to stand up for oneself. Maybe you aren’t broken, and you are actually more evolved.” She shrugged her shoulders lightly, "But maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about."

Another soft groan slipped from her and she stretched out her sore legs in front of her a bit more. Ouch. “I’m guessing we will need to do more to get me out of here, huh? Because you are right, this really is no place for someone like me.” Her eyes fell half closed and she took a deep breath, the poor girl was exhausted both mentally and physically. Her perception was blurred after her panic attack and all the energy she burned in a short period. “I really need to rest. I can't travel much more in this state. I'm sure a nap will give me a boost.” She giggled softly, trying to turn the subject light for the sake of gaining some inner peace, “I feel like a wet noodle. A heavy one.”

Belle was a bit nervous about letting her guard down in this world, but that was the only way she could sleep unless, maybe she did pass out. “If I do rest, you should stay up to make sure everything is safe. I really don’t trust this place or the fire I saw.” Yet, she trusted him. She tried to yank herself out of his hold by throwing herself off to the side of the lap, so she could properly lay down. She really was like a wet noodle with how she flopped over, but her strength wasn’t there. There was no way she could do another run for her life right now.

Weiss · Sep 25, 2020

There were many things he wanted to say to her. That she was misunderstanding just about everything that she said. That they weren't equal to one another and he had no obligation to tell her anything. That he didn't have to, nor was he planning on watching over her as she slept. Rather than that, he just remained silent. His icy gaze locked onto her own wordlessly and when she tried to get off his lap, he gave her a soft shove with his knee to nudge her into place. It was amusing, to say the least... if not for the feeling of annoyance had towards her. It hadn't been because of her unease at being lied to. It wasn't because she seemed to show some degree of interest in him. No, it was something more more simple. She casually insulted his desire to feel fear as if it was completely mindless of a goal to have. Any degree of anger was completely lost on his expression. Mere annoyance wasn't quite enough to reflect on someone as expressionless as him, only the violent rage he displayed just once in front of her was capable of warping his expression.

"Go to sleep." He commanded, one hand moving up to the gas mask still attached to his face before unhinging it and pulling it off his mouth. It exposed a sharp jawline along with the completely straight poker face of the man who had spoken to her. By all accounts, he seemed fairly attractive. There were no rogue scars, his lips weren't carved in any menacing way, there were no injuries along his throat or neck like the other man that had chased her down. "I'll spare a little bit of time for you to sleep." Reaching forward, something would suddenly spill out of his palm. It formed into an orb shape along his hand and gradually the inky black color would sharpen into more defined shades of green. At the very end of it all, the green apple in his hand seemed virtually indistinguishable from something she would find at a normal supermarket. Without much care that she was trying to sleep, he sank his teeth into the flesh of the fruit.

Sour. Just like her. There was nothing sweet nor flattering about this girl. Any and all attempts she had at growing any rapport with him seemed to explosively backfire, not that it was even remotely noticeable on Vale's expression. One hand would rest on top of her hair when he noticed the rise and fall of her chest becoming deep enough. "Now then... what to do with you?" Broad fingers dipped into her hair and began to stroke. He could take her out of this world but the simple fact was that she would find herself back into it again. For whatever reason, this dimension seemed to choose those who could enter it. Intentionally or not, she would enter back at some point and then what? It didn't particularly matter to him... but something in him made him feel pity towards tossing her out like some sort of meat. It was also true that he was still a little curious about what types of monsters she would form-- a concept that still hadn't been explained to her quite yet.

Vale spilled more of that inky black substance from his palms, flattening it into a small sheet of paper and a pen. Slowly, he etched some note onto the lined paper before finally folding the note into a small enough square and just like that, he tossed the pen away. Smearing something with his thumb along the back of it, he stamped it over top of the girl's forehead. It would be right in front of her eyes when she woke up, impossible to miss. It was a little ineloquent, but he couldn't particularly help it. He didn't even know if her clothes were going to get taken back once she entered the real world. The ground underneath her figure would slowly pool into the black goo that had originally swallowed her, one hand of Vale's still on her head before a gentle press against her forehead would shove her through the pool.

She was promising. And so, he would plant a seed. Just a seed. It was up to her whether or not it would bloom into anything useful.

- - -

The next moment that she would be able to open her eyes, the pale pink of what seemed to be a post-it note would be right in her field of view and the sticky sensation of adhesive would be apparent against her forehead. More importantly than that, light streamed in from somewhere... and upon a look around, it was clear that she would be back in her room. Nothing was damaged from when she was taken into the other world, in fact the orientation of her body would be the exact same mere moments before she was taken and if not for the note pasted over top her face, it wouldn't be too farfetched to think that the whole thing was just a nightmare.

When she would finally wake up and if she bothered to read the note, it had neat little handwriting that seemed almost a little robotic.

'9:45PM this coming Friday, lay down on your bed in clothes that you can move in and close your eyes. I'll take you back to the otherworld but if you're off by even a second, you'll miss the chance. If you skip out on this opportunity, I don't particularly care. Just know that you'll find yourself back in this world again, you have an inseparable link to it. It's your choice whether you do it on your own terms and learn about this world and how to deal with it or if you're sucked into it forcefully to be prey to someone else.

-Valentine'

Unless she had written a note in the middle of her nightmare about a man who she met in her nightmare, it would be impossible for a note like that to be fabricated. For the current moment however, she seemed to be perfectly safe and back in her room with only a single ominous warning hanging over her head... literally.

Passion · Sep 25, 2020

She was blind, and her own kindness and willingness to trust may surely backfire on her one day, but Belle felt like she had no other choice. She couldn’t handle this world on her own, especially when she barely did she understand the rules of this realm. She had been forced to rely on him. He had shown her aid in the time of need, and even if it was laced with a coldness that she struggled to empathize with, any act of kindness was presented to her tenfold given the critical situation.

It was true; his desire to feel fear went over her head. The aspiration to feel fear was a concept she may never be able to embrace. Fear often had a way of getting into her life, and so she was the opposite of him. She also wanted to believe in the good in people, but there was always looming darkness within everyone. Some of that darkness was more than she could comprehend.

With a nudge, Belle found herself on her back and looking up at the top of the tent. She still silently prayed that it wouldn’t somehow catch fire while she was asleep. Her eyes were heavy, but his words sounded heavenly. Sleep. She glanced over at him and saw what he looked like without his mask. He didn’t look as rough as she was expecting. If she was seeing correctly though the veil of sleepiness and darkness, he actually looked quite handsome. The last thing she saw was some kind of trick. He had willed a fruit into existence. Huh…

It wouldn’t take long until she succumbed to sleep. She breathed softly, and her presence was the calmest it had been since she arrived. If she wasn’t so exhausted, she would have been left too restless to sleep given the situation, but at that moment, she found the peace she sought within her unconscious escape.

---

When she awoke, the first two things she noticed were the note on her face and the sunlight that leaked through her curtains. She jerked up in her bed to see that she was back in her shitty apartment. Her apartment never looked more beautiful. She peeled the note off her face and looked around to make sure there wasn’t anything off. It all seemed safe. She patted down her body to look for injuries, and all seemed fine as well. Her feet didn’t even ache anymore, which was even better than expected. Maybe it was all just a dream..?

Her eyes finally read the note, and after reading it her heart sank and a gasp escaped her. Okay, it wasn’t just a dream! “No, no, no, Vale!” She read it again, and again. “No! This has to be some kind of sick joke!” Friday? Connected? Her mind buzzed with questions that she couldn't even start to answer.

She was determined to not go back, and the amount of determination the young woman could muster was often underestimated by her fragile presence. Friday was only three days away, and in those three days, she couldn’t think of anything else. So much so, in her free time, after teaching her art lessons, she did her best to paint a recreation of that murky lake, all while in meditative thought about what she would do if she went back there.

She had done her best to return to her normal life in those few days, but didn’t tell a soul about what she had witnessed. Surely everyone would think she had turned into some kind of mad artist if she spoke of it. If not, they wouldn't invalidate it by calling it a vivid nightmare. Nevertheless, the paranoia and anticipation alone for Friday had her tethering on the edge of going mad.

---

When Friday evening came around, she was already tired. The stress of what could be awaiting her and the nightmares of the horrors she saw last time haunted her. The already anxious woman was in overdrive. This time, though, she had a warning. She wouldn't be caught off guard this time.

Belle chose to wear a pair of black boots, that she often wore in the winter or if she went hiking for inspiration for her art, a pair of dark skinny jeans, a simple dark blue shirt, and a black hoodie. It was practical, although a part of her felt like she should be dressed with pillows and armor wrapped around her. She had no idea what was to be expected, but she hoped Vale was wrong, that she wouldn’t have to come back.

9:40 pm: and she sat on the bed with her legs crossed under her. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail with her perfectly straight bangs resting on her forehead. Belle’s guard remained high. Every little sound had her tensing until her muscles ached. She recalled Vale’s instructions and knew she was already disobeying as she sat in wait in wait with all her lights on.

9:43 pm: Her heart pounded so hard she could feel her rapid pulse fluttering through her body. She still sat there in silence, while her mind raced.

9:44 pm: she reached in front of her and grabbed something long and slim. Over the three days, she also stopped at that hardware store. Money was tight, the girl couldn’t even pay her rent, but being homeless was better than dying in that twisted world. With a swift movement, she pulled a machete from its sheath. Did she know how to use it? Hell no, but she trusted her will to survive and instincts as it was all she had to rely on.

If Vale thought she would help the process of getting back in any sense of the way, he was foolish. ‘Connected’ or not, she did not accept this fate. She would rebel. Sure, the real world was hellish in its own rights, but the horror of that other world was far from earthly.

She looked at her blurred reflection in the blade. She feared that her weapon wouldn’t be enough to stop what might come from her, but it was her best bet. She already pictured it in her head hundreds of times how she was going to attempt to stab the darkened goo if he came for her again. Hell, she even visualized stabbing Vale ferociously if he was the one who was going to try to drag her back. Even though the man had a strange air to him, he was the one who helped her survive. It made her feel some guilt of what she was willing to do, and she wasn't a woman of violence, but Belle would not hesitate to attack if it meant going back or not.

9:45pm: the soft chiming sound of her phone alarm went off. Belle stood on her bed, and her alarmed gaze wildly scanned the room for anything that looked off. She yelled at the stillness with a fire in her voice, “COME AND GET ME!” If her neighbors heard, they probably thought she was insane, but Belle didn’t care. She felt like her life was on the line, and as she called out she attempted to demand having the first move. She wasn't going to lay there like some sitting duck.

She knew there was a chance that Vale gave her the specific time to meet up with her before something else did so she might have some time, but it didn't matter. If it was him or something else, they were still coming for her. She stood there, on her bed, fighting to keep her balance while in her boots, ready to dive-bomb into anything that tried to come for her. Her adrenaline was so high, her small body and large blade shook in wait.

A regular and damaged girl she was, but her will to survive was abnormally high. She could faint, cry, and scream like a typical sheltered girl, but she had an enduring quality about her. She wasn't one to easily and truly give up. While she didn’t possess the skills, resources, or the body of a fighter, but she certainly had the spirit of one if awakened. In a twisted way, her traumas made her stronger. After seeing one’s family burn alive, she knew there was little worse that could happen to her. She had already survived all the hate, guilt, abuse, and the judgment up to this point, all for the hope of better days. As long as she had hope, she would find the strength to stand up and defend herself, even if that meant leaving her carpet soaked with blood... or goo.

Weiss · Sep 30, 2020

Unlike the blatant manner she was swarmed in the first night, being forced to mercilessly sink into some black goo, this night wouldn't be anything close. The clock continued to tick on at the perfect intervals and clearly showed progression. There were no indications that the scene was repeating over and over again and before long, the second hand was at 11, just shy of 12. With five more seconds, she would've passed the meetup time... but those five seconds wouldn't come. The scene wouldn't repeat. Everything would just freeze. The machete in her hand had no target to swing at, nothing in her room seemed different... even a look around would reveal nothing to be hiding in her closet or under her bed, nor in her drawers. Pitch black. Maybe she had blinked. Maybe she hadn't. Whatever the case was, the darkness descended on her vision and in the next heartbeat, it cleared up to reveal the all too familiar figure in front of her. They were in an alternate version of her room, that much was clear. The glass in the window seemed shattered, the wood was rotting out in places, and there were trails of that black substance smearing the walls and floor.

Sitting right in front of her in a strangely pristine seat was the figure of Vale. One hand held a book up, the other wrapped behind his head while he leaned back in the chair. Upon his teal eyes meeting her own, he uttered only one phrase.

"Oh."

It wasn't surprise, nor was it fear. It was just acknowledgement towards what she had in her hand. "Belle, a toy like that wouldn't do jackshit in here in the first place." Clapping the book close, he tossed it onto one of the counters before fearlessly approaching her with his hands in his pocket. All she had to do was slice across his neck or maybe even his stomach to give him a fatal blow. Before he could get quite into the range of the tip of her machete, he stopped and stared up at her with the same ice cold eyes. "Come on. Give it to me. I don't know why you have it, but if you hurt me here, you won't have a viable way out." Somehow, she had been taken into the Otherworld in a far less grandiose and noticeable way than the first night, maybe because someone like him was the reason she was dragged in again.

Now, he reached his hand forward and it was close enough to cut for her if she dared to do something as brash as that. "Oh, I should mention something..." Drawing his hand back suddenly, his gaze turned different than what she was used to, rather it was the same hate-filled glare that stared down her first pursuer. "The moment you draw even a single drop of blood from me, I'll kill you. It won't be a short death either, Belle. I'll make you scream. Cry. I'll make you beg for death and I won't give it to you. I might even break you completely and leave this world to devour you. It's only fair that I tell you that before I do it, right?" Once more, he closed in on her after that threat left his lips. It felt so hollow, but that was precisely why she should've known he wasn't joking. Every word of his seemed to lack emotion to an extent and despite that, he seemed to do violent acts as if they were no different than breathing.

Pressing a foot onto her bed, he offered his hand forward. Both for the machete and for her to take it. There were no weapons in sight around his figure. Nothing on his back, nothing sheathed to his thigh... but considering how he was capable of manifesting items out of thin air, that was no margin of protection. His attire consisted of a pair of dark black suspenders pulled over top a dark blue button-down. The top sleeves were rolled back to show his forearms which had surprisingly no injury. His knuckles had been bleeding from his first fight but that injury was gone as well. His lower half had a pair of similarly dark dress pants which ended in brown loafers. It was a surprisingly formal fit, or maybe he just had more money than he in the real world. They were well-maintained clothes.

Passion · Oct 2, 2020

She waited, and was ready to handle whatever was thrown at her. It was her mistake for expecting the exact same thing to happen, because this time, it was much different.

Everything felt still, and suddenly her whole world had shifted before her. She saw Vale there, and she noticed that he looked rather dressed up, while she looked like she was ready to go on a hike. It was strange that he had told her to dress to prepare while he was in an outfit that would be terrible to ruin. The next thing she noted was the fact that her room looked like it was hit with decay. Her breath halted as she looked about, and she knew she was back. There wasn’t even a chance to resist this time. Both dread and fear filled her, but she remained frozen on her bed and with machete in hand.

She was quick to snap back at him after he discredited her weapon, “If you can punch someone, I can slice someone!” Her grip on her weapon remained tight, but her breathing was unsteady as she tried to deny her fate that she was back here. “No, I’m not handing it over!” However, she did not attack. She only was planning to attack if it was going to prevent her from being dragged back into this world. It seemed it was far too late for it, but her guard remained sky-high.

He was blunt, and threatened her. She could tell there was promise behind his threat, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck rise and for her stomach to do a flip. After what she already saw of him and what he had done to the man who chased her, and so she felt intimidated. She had learned to trust him the last time, but that meant she also trusted the fact that he would hurt her if she didn’t play nice. “You are the one being foolish if you think I’ll attack without good reason to. I’m not like that monster who chased me! If you were the one forcing me here like that thing the first time, it would be a different story. I’m not going to hurt you if you are willing to help me. I’m not an idiot!” Oh, but she was. “If anything, I rather be friends!” She could not see through his facade, or more that she was not willing to. Not when this place reeked of obscenity, he seemed like a saint in comparison to the horrors. She already felt sick at the idea of hurting the one who helped her before, and Belle felt relieved that she wouldn’t need to, but it didn’t change the fact her mission to stay in her reality had failed.

He offered his hand to her, and her eyes welled up with tears. Her lower lip trembled, and she shook her head. “No, I can’t be here again, Vale! I can’t! Take me back, right now! Please, I’m begging you! I don’t want to deal with what I dealt with last time! I can’t!” The poor girl was so scared that she couldn’t even hold her own weapon firmly as she softly panted. She did not want to hand over the weapon just in case some aggressor came bursting through, and she didn’t want to take his hand and fall deeper into this place. At least this area looked somewhat familiar to her, but it was heart wrenching seeing the place she called home even more of a shit-hole than it was already. Nevertheless, Belle would compromise, and so she sheathed her weapon, and kept it in hand.

He couldn’t feel fear, but Belle was getting one healthy dose of it. She held onto her concealed weapon like it was a life source. It was the only known way she could defend herself if she was going to be dragged through this confused and traumatizing hellscape once more. She feared taking his hand. "If I can't go back, can we just stay here until it changes back like last time?" There didn't seem like a clear goal the last time she was here that allowed her escape. She started to wonder if it was time based. She was asleep last time, so it was impossible for her to know or what he had done.

Weiss · Oct 2, 2020

His face visibly scowled the moment that she resisted his orders like that. Ice cold eyes locked down onto the sheath of her weapon for minutes on end, simply wordlessly staring at it. "...Huh. I must've not made myself clear..." Giving a small shrug like he had just given up, he turned on his heel to head away from her. ...Or that was what it appeared at a glance. Within moments, he surged in front of her with almost inhumanely fast speeds. One hand yanked onto her wrist while the other grabbed against her throat. It was just a mild threat. No pressure was in either of his hands. Giving her one shove back, he would pin her down to the bed with a weight nearly twice her own. "You seem to be under the impression you can hurt me, Belle. Well... it may be true. To an extent, but why don't we test that theory out?" The hand on her wrist would slowly stroke down along her waist before resting right at her thigh. Any attempt to resist in even the slightest was met with a growing pressure right around her throat, forcing her just moments away from being able to breathe. "Shut up and lay back quietly."

Drawing the machete from her sheathe, he brought it over to his hand. "Don't avert your eyes or else I'll do the demonstration on you, Belle." Finally releasing her throat, he grazed just his palm with the sharp blade and just as expected, it drew blood exactly along where he had cut. Crimson colored fluid dripped down along the base of his palm before falling off his wrist towards the bed. "But let's say for example..." Now, he brought it to his throat. Right up against his jugular, the metallic weapon glinted menacingly. Just one push of his hand, a little force would cut open the vital vein and force him to bleed out. Yanking the weapon back, he slammed it straight towards his throat.

The ensuing noise should've been one of his throat being sliced open, muscles being torn, and the agonizing scent of blood flooding into the room. Instead, the weapon seemed to bend the moment it hit his throat. The clear wound of slicing open the top layer of his skin was visible but the wound hadn't been any deeper than that. Tossing the now crooked machete back onto the bed, he rubbed his wound softly. Blood was completely staining his palm now. "Do you understand? Weapons from the real world won't work as well in this world... or maybe it would be more accurate to say they don't work at all on people who know the rules of this world."

"Now then..." Leaning forward, he stroked along her cheek with that wet palm. The hand-shaped smear of blood stained up against her cheek perfectly, even going so far as to cup gently to make her feel the uncomforting sensation of wetness tightening against her face. "...sure. I won't help you from now on. As it is, I can send you back to your own world when you lose consciousness in this one. Either going to sleep or being knocked out. Light sleep doesn't constitute in that category. It needs to be deep sleep." Despite having two wounds that should've been hurting, his face showed no signs of flinching. Vale stood up and walked back to his seat. The inky black substance spilled from his fingertips to form what looked like linen wrap and in the next few moments he patched up the wound along his throat and hand with a surprisingly delicate and trained touch.

"Go to sleep. This will be the last time we meet. You won't be taken into the Otherworld by my influence." Picking the book back up off the counter, he brought it to his eyes in a bored fashion. There was much more he could say. About how this was a terrible decision. About how she would end up back in this world at the mercy of someone else, how she wouldn't be able to defend herself at all... but the simple reality was that he didn't care. Not about her, anyways. If she wanted to put herself at a disadvantage after being shown kindness, he had no reason to chase after her. Maybe if she had come to him, tears staining her face, begging for help after somehow surviving her next Otherworld encounter, he would help her. Maybe. But that wasn't his concern right now. His interest and desire to help her out of good will had quickly started to fade into a much more familiar sensation of disdain. Abusing her. Making her cry. Hurting her until she submit. Those were the desires filling him now that she had gone so far to be a nuisance to him.

Passion · Oct 2, 2020

Belle’s bright blue eyes dilated when she was abruptly forced back on her bed with his fingers wrapped around her throat despite the lack of pressure. She couldn’t comprehend why this was happening. She didn’t attack him, nor did she really want to unless she had to, but he seemed to make it want it clear that even if she had to, she would be unable or it would be difficult. Every time she attempted to befriend the man, she was shot down, but this time it was clear that that may be an impossible task.

As he questioned her, she tried her best to shake her head. She didn’t want him to get the impression that she wanted to hurt him. Sure, she thought about it for her own survival, but Belle wasn’t a naturally violent woman. However, it didn’t change the fact that if she felt cornered and was concerned for her life, she would attempt to protect herself. He had directed her to not look away, but she felt unable to anyway. She could not read this man to save her soul, possibly literally.

It was a confusing sight to witness the contradiction. As his palm bled, he had raised the blade to his throat, and she held her breath and cringed for him. She didn’t want to see what would happen, but she couldn’t will herself to even blink. He wouldn’t be so foolish as to... - A gasp bursts out from the woman as the blade was thrust towards his throat, she tried to sit up on her bed to scream out for him, but then she saw his wound was not critical in the slightest despite his heedless action. She felt like she was about to get sick just from what she visualized would happen to him, which triggered out another round of quiet sobbing. Why was she always so misunderstood?

Belle tensed up and shivered as his bloodied hand grazed across her teary cheek as her heart pounded from the shock she just experienced. The level of her discomfort was quickly rising, although, out of everything, the most disturbing thing was his words.

He would no longer help.

Panic flooded her. Sure, he might have even given her a hint of her way out of here, but it didn’t help that she would have to survive alone up to that point alone. When able, she sat up and used her musty blanket to try to wipe the blood and tears off her face. Other than her sniffling and heavy breathing, there was a long moment of silence, which was strange coming from the usually talkative Belle.

Without him, unless she somehow met another and/or she learned the rules of this world alone, she would die here. Her gut told her that if she did die here, she wouldn't just be waking up in her bed. Even if she did, she didn't want to experience her own death. The thing was, she couldn’t grasp his logic on a personal level. Sure, she didn’t want to hand over the weapon, but she didn’t actually use it against him. She wanted to remain safe, and somehow he took offense to it despite her compromise. Then, yes, she didn’t gracefully allow him to take her deeper in since she was still frightened from last time. Every instinct, but one resisted this world, and that wasn’t something that she could easily overcome. She had begged to go home, and he was acting as she had disrespected him. For god sakes, she even declared she wanted to be friends with the twisted man.

She took a deep breath, and finally, her voice pierced the silence, “You know, I could waste my breath trying to explain myself to you, but that would get me nowhere.” She shook her head while some scattered thoughts still tried to connect the reason behind his madness. “Are you really that blind to not see that I want to work with you, but I’m also trying to protect myself? How the hell am I supposed to know that weapons wouldn’t work here?! I was inspired by how you attacked that man, so what is wrong if I want to try to hold my own? I didn’t know what was coming for me or how. I prefer to not run around like a scared little girl like last time if I can help it! Also, I never wanted to come back here! Did you really think I’d graciously come with?! Who would do that?! How could I not be in utter shocked to be suddenly thrown back into this hell?! For days, anxiety filled me of this very fucking night! Then, instead of a beast or some murderer chasing me, I have someone I want to trust abandoning me."

She pulled up her knees towards her chest and a sense of dread weighed heavily on her. “I want to sever my connection to this place, not venture into it. Maybe you are incapable of understanding since you don’t know fear.” Her voice then sounded riddled with pained emotion, “I don’t even know why I’m even here or what I’m supposed to do, Vale. It breaks my heart knowing I’m even back here, and you want me to just go with you without hesitation or questions!”

She released a heavy sigh and gave him a look over with her body trembling as she sat. She figured it would be the last time she probably saw him. He’d turn his back on her just like everyone else. It felt hopeless; it seemed that he would more than likely end up killing her compared helping her at this rate even if she had done everything she had ask. Eventually, she would displeasing him no matter what due to her fear and lack of knowledge. “I’m not going to beg you to be friends with me anymore, especially if you think it is appropriate to threaten me in response. I really don't want you to leave... but I'm quickly learning that you are impossible to work with if you will not empathize. You are used to whatever this..." She gestured to the decay around her. "... is. This is my only second time being here! Thanks for the advice, though.”

Sleep was the answer, huh? So, Belle laid down and tried to quiet her thoughts, but it was hard. She was far too worked up from the reality shift and her inability to protect herself or befriend. She turned on her side and curled up into a ball away from him. If nothing bothered her for an extended amount of time, she would eventually cry herself to sleep.

Weiss · Oct 4, 2020

"Quiet. Negotiations broke down a while ago, and I should make it clear. We were never friends in the first place. The only thing I was offering you was the chance to not get crushed like an ant under someone's boot. I suppose those words are lost on you though. You'd rather not look at the issue, so let's not look at it. Wipe this meeting from your mind, the night will go the way you planned. You were never sucked into the Otherworld, there's nothing to be concerned about." Ultimately, the mistake was his own. Fear was fundamental in making someone desperate enough. She just hadn't tasted it properly. There was always a thin layer of protection against her and her death, and that was him. Had he not been present, or if she had been brutalized by what she was attacked by first... if she was taking time and time again in agonizing pain and terror, it would've been far easier to convince her. That hadn't been his problem anymore, however.

Emotionless teal eyes stared up at her still sobbing form. Anything could happen. There was a one in a million chance she could end up falling into the Otherworld in a safe location. Or perhaps she could even meet someone who was kind to her. But at the moment? The odds had been overwhelmingly stacked against her. Within seconds, he wiped any obligation he had to her from his mind. She wasn't necessary to him anymore and this would be the last time they would encounter each other. Whatever happened to her, it wouldn't matter to him. The background noise of flipping pages was the only thing to be heard from then on, all until she finally managed to knock herself out for the night... and finally he approached her once more.

"I don't know what will happen to you from now on. Quite frankly, I don't care. But I've never liked the way this world handles its new additions. I'll hope you can live on your own ability, Belle. …Or if you can't, that you'll miraculously find your way back to me after fixing your outlook." Softly, he tucked a strand of her loose hair behind her ear. His thumb would stroke away the mess of tears against her cheeks and finally he placed his hand on top of her head. Slowly, she sank back down into the depths of the bed until finally the only thing left was the broken, busted silhouette of the machete still sitting on top of the bed.

"Now then..." Closing the book, he tucked it into his pocket before pacing out of the room. His goal still hadn't changed. There was only one white whale in this world for him. Fear.

- - -

Once she had woken up, she would find her room the same as usual. Again, the only signs that everything had not been a dream was the fact that Vale's blood had dried up against her cheeks into a brownish red hue and the absence of the machete entirely. Maybe she could desperately hope with everything she had... that it would be the last time she would ever have to go through a world like that again. Little did she know, an already inseparable bond had been formed between her and one of her worst nightmares.

The next two weeks of her life would experience the same schedule as always. There were no signs of horrific creatures slipping into her vision, no signs of any repeating loops of time. Horrendous black goo never bubbled up at her feet and when she slept, she would wake up at the same place where she went to sleep. No matter whatever fears or anxieties may have been bubbling up in her, possibly preventing her from sleeping, absolutely nothing would occur in those two weeks after her meeting with Vale. It was natural to think his words to her were a lie, that she would never have to end up in that world again now that she had been outside of it for so long.

…And then the third week would finally arrive. It was unexpected but abrupt, on the very first night of that week that she slept, the agonizingly familiar sensation of chills would shoot through her body again. That ice cold sensation was quickly met with the feeling of being in something that wasn't her bed, just like the first and second times she had been taken. Everything surged forward to pile up on her senses, just before fading into nothing.

Once more, the scenery around her had changed the moment she had fallen asleep. Unlike her first and second encounter, the Otherworld seemed unrecognizable. White walls and flooring stretched on in every direction for miles, with a dim hue lighting up the entire room. There was no signs of any decay in her immediate vision, nor any paths that lead out of the white room. When she would finally manage to wake, the dark silhouette of something hanging over her head would quickly make itself clear to her.

"Huh... never seen this one before, have we Schwarz?" The figure mumbled back to... someone else, though there was no one else in the room with them. Any panic from her would quickly be met with surprise by the figure who instantly leaned back to reveal more features. There was a black blindfold wrapped around his eyes, contrasting with his snow-white, short hair. His attire consisted of a fairly standard white t-shirt which lead down to a pair of jeans. Just from the general shape and size of him, he seemed to be younger than Vale, or her for that matter.

"Well of course, Lapland... she doesn't look like she's suppose to be here! Maybe she took a wrong turn or something?" Now, the second voice started up from somewhere in the room, emanating directly behind her. It was a woman of the same general size as the other man who had been looming over her. Her ears looked to be bandaged up, long black hair fitted into a ponytail that reached her midback. She was wearing a dark black blouse which led down to similarly dark shorts. Her pale, unbruised legs finally ended in a pair of sandals.

"What's the matter with you anyways, miss! You got some sorta problem with us?" Crossing his legs, the boy supposedly named Lapland sat down on the floor of the white room and pointed straight at Belle.

"Now, now... we shouldn't be rude to any guests, Lapland. I'm sure she has a good reason for being here." Conversely, the woman named Schwarz had a far more gentle smile on her face and seemed much more patient in waiting for Belle to open her mouth.

Passion · Oct 5, 2020

After her last encounter in the Otherworld, it took Belle nearly a week to be able to sleep soundly, but up to that point, paranoia kept her awake until she eventually passed out from exhaustion. She had dreams, she had nightmares, but they weren’t nearly as bad nor as vivid as being taken to the Otherworld. She did her best as the weeks went by to forget about it, and go on with her life.

She started charging a bit more for her art classes to make up for her slightly expensive trip to the hardware store, but it was starting to look up a bit. She got a few more art students, and there was a slight calm in her life. She hated her daily life, but she was grateful for it now that she was aware she could be stuck in some twisted reality.

At times, the Otherworld and Vale would pop up in her head, and it left her doing some research online, but it hardly gave her the results she hoped for. Most were random tales online, those who cannot be trusted who told their ‘ghost stories’, and medical articles that assumed things like night terrors and sleep paralysis. She hoped that was all it was, but things had already leaked through. Sadly, it had to be real.

---

On the night she would be taken once more, Belle was asleep in a mint-colored short sleeves and shorts pajama set. She went to sleep as she usually did, but when she opened her eyes, she saw an endless amount of white and her bed gone. It all looked different from what she would expect after being taken. Was she in an entirely different world this time? Was this just a dream? No, it had that same sense of awareness that even went beyond lucid dreaming. The sound of a voice made her heart instantly start hammering, and she noticed a figure looming over her. She caught sight of him before whipping her head back to the female voice.

Quickly, Belle rose to her feet in her pajamas, and her black hair tied up in a messy bun for sleep. Talk about looking out of place. “H-hi! No problems here! I don’t even know you two. Don’t mind me.” She recalled Vale mentioning, multiple times, that this place wasn’t very fair to new people, so she was careful to try to not mention the fact she was confused beyond belief. A sense of fear bubbled within her, but she was stuck in a limbo of freaking out and possibly calmly getting out of this situation. All she needed to do was sleep, right?

Her bright eyes scanned the area for an exit without any findings. “If one of you would just point me to the exit, I’d be happy to leave you two to your…” She paused to consider, “...business?” The usually friendly woman wasn't going to try to play her 'let's-be-friends' card this time. Last time, it just took her back a few steps.

What were they even doing in a white endless room? This time, she didn’t have anything to defend herself. She recalled the rules of the world, but the only thing she happened to find out for herself was that if she feared for her life to an extreme, she caught fire, since it was how she believed her dreaded fate of death should be. However, with her lack of knowledge and power, she felt helpless. [Last post after discussion]

Weiss · Oct 11, 2020

"Exit? Exit of what?" The one that had answered her was the boy, almost as if the question she had asked was bizarre. His eyebrows arched in confusion though she wouldn't be able to see his eyes from underneath the blindfold. Perhaps in the strangest way of all, he stared straight in her direction as if he was making eye contact with her. "You wanna go outside? I mean, I wouldn't recommend it but sure. We can let you out of the white room. Right, Schwarz?" He looked back towards the other woman, receiving a small nod from her in confirmation. Despite it not being the 'exit' that Belle had been hoping for it was an exit. "Still... what Lapland said was correct, miss. If you go outside, we can't quite guarantee your safety." Motioning the woman up with one finger, she took careful paces towards one direction of the room. Everything seemed painfully warped, there was no sense of space or distance in that room and walking in any direction just made it feel like they were in an endless void.

The raven-haired woman dragged her palm down along the air in front of her before they caught on threads and strings, finally tearing a hole in the white room to expose the open outside. Rather than the empty black that the Otherworld was known for, the image outside was of a decayed, breaking city. Misshapen, mutilated figures wandered around aimlessly while the messy rust, cracks, and tears soiled the foundation of the decaying city. The moment Schwarz had opened the little rift, one of the creatures seemed to catch sight of them and begin to shamble towards the tear just to stick one hand into it.

Fleshy, torn seams of skin peeled back off its rotten, muscles which were so far gone that they were falling over whatever poor excuse of a bone that the amalgamation of flesh had left. "Oh dear... Lapland, if you'd please." Pressing one arm in front of Belle to make her back away, the young boy took a few steady steps in front of both of them. Fearlessly, he crammed his fist into the cavity where the creature's chest should've been, tearing it apart into small little lumps of flesh which quickly melted into black particles.

"There. It should be clear. We're not sure what Domain we're in but... if you'd like to get out, please go ahead. It wasn't our intention to keep you hung up." No matter what happened, the constant smile remained glued across her features. Even Lapland, the young boy, had some varying levels of expression but Schwarz always seemed to only greet her with a wide smile. While it was true that the way had just been cleared, the scenery outside had an almost traumatizing resemblance to the first area she had been tossed into in the Otherworld, an experience just as brutal and exhausting as her first one was sure to await her the moment she left what the two of them seemed to refer to as the White Room.

"Mm... Schwarz... I sorta feel bad for her. How about we just drop her off where she wants to go? I mean... she sounds sorta scared, right?" Casually, he sewed up the little rift in the White Room wall, like it was some sort of fabric sheet that had been torn through. That hellish cityscape was covered once more from Belle's eyes and now, the two of them turned to her expectantly. "Well? Is there somewhere you want to be? Like Lapland said, we'd be happy to leave you there... how about a safe Domain? If you're lost, of course. You look a little lost, after all."

Behind the Curtain (Passion // Weiss)

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