lifeonthemurdersim

[lifeonthemurdersim]

hey dude, idk how much you remember from the party last night but- yeah, everyone saw your want. yeah no it was pretty late and winding down so it was quiet enough that every single person there saw it throbbing and twitching in your chest and so wet with hunger it was glistening under the kitchen light. they said it looked like it was reaching for something

[lifeonthemurdersim]

You are so mean to him, I would never-

! You can make any male character significantly hotter by giving them excessive piercings.

[lifeonthemurdersim]

@cptsadist First part made me think of Jet.

The rest also made me think of Jet.

! You can make any male character significantly hotter by giving them excessive piercings.

[lifeonthemurdersim]

born to be an abstract concept, forced to be a percievable entity

[lifeonthemurdersim]

there's friendship and then there's sharing an entire oc universe with another person you met online

[lifeonthemurdersim]

i love him that’s why i need to see him tortured to within an inch of his life covered in his own blood and tears

[lifeonthemurdersim]

"And we'll all dance alone, To the tune of your death, We'll love again, We'll laugh again..."

I promised I'd give Jet back to @cptsadist now 😔 but before I do let me quickly do the most ridiculous payoff of my blog name ever...

I usually draw Jet's eyes more wide open but I tried to make him look a little woozy because of the blood... but it's the tiny goth squad as the Demolition Lovers! For some reason I decided to use this for practicing making sprites too, hence the animation. Side by side with the original LOTMS cover and still art variations below.

I had to move them compared to the original because they're the same height, hehe. I did almost put them in the outfits but the idea of Jet in a tux-printed vest (and a choker tie for that matter) was too fucking funny to resist. Still version of them smiling and a bloodless, textless version:

I hate drawing in profile but these are two of my favourite characters to draw which I think made up for it 😊

[lifeonthemurdersim]

"Who kisses the other awake in the morning?"

"Neither. You wake up and he's staring at you."

Oh my god... Could you profundize this? I can't stop reading this, it's so... I am enthrilled. So, so enthrilled.

Thank you so much for this ask! To clarify for those reading, I gave the above answer when answering ship questions for Lawrence x Violet/Reader.

I started explaining further but then I recalled this was actually one of my unused ideas for my GoreKinktober series so I decided to revisit it as a short piece! I hope this gives the elaboration you were looking for! 😊

My Ecosystem Fandom/Universe: Boyfriend To Death Characters/Pairing: Lawrence Oleander x Reader (his POV) AO3 Link(full tags, warnings etc here) Word count: 1,203 words Synopsis: You're used to waking up to Lawrence watching you by now. What you're not so aware of, is why. Author's Note: This prompt is for the 24th but I'm posting on the 1st of November. More about Gorekinktober on my pinned post! Kinktober prompt(s) used: Somnophilia Goretober prompt used: N/A

Lawrence still isn't used to being this close to a living, breathing human for such a prolonged amount of time. It's a heady mix of overwhelming, being that there's just so much of you to take in, and so, so fascinating. A whole little ecosystem, in his bed, in his arms, that he wakes up to every evening.

He can see the vast expanse of beautiful skin cocooning you, enshrouding all those intriguing little organs; all buzzing away carrying out their functions as they're supposed to. Whatever encounter you once had with the river, it was obviously brief enough to leave you wonderfully untouched. You're not rotting like him, you're fresh, you're perfect.

Imagine if all that's inside of there was visible on the outside. It might not last for very long, but for that brief moment, where everything was still ticking but the whole of you was inside out, it would be glorious. He knew you better than anyone else he had ever encountered, so you wouldn't be another art piece discarded in a random stack nor hung clinically in an empty hall. He had passion for you, he loved you, if Lawrence made you art, you would be his masterpiece.

Although he supposed some part of him would like to see the inner workings of your mind, he'd have a little more time to see you functioning if he left your brain untouched. Actually, he thinks he would leave your face intact, too. He likes it exactly as it is, the shape, the features, especially soft when you're sleeping. Even a master artist couldn't improve upon it. Yes, he'd likely leave your entire head be, it's simply too pretty.

The rest though, he'd deconstruct with searing crimson lines, the first hint of the internal you emerging to the external. It would leave him in need of more. You'd need to be opened up all the way so you could be appreciated in every sense. He would slice deeper into your limbs, folding the muscle and sinew open neatly so see more of you, a larger surface area, but also the things that hadn't been seen before.

Then his focus would be your torso, he'd have to cut slowly so each organ was revealed bit by bit, he needed to savour every inch of you, every second of unwrapping you. The excessive length of your intestines would snake around your waist, forming elegant arcs swinging back and forth behind you like wings of an angel.

The liver has a nice texture when you cut into it, soft but with a little pushback. He could carve out slivers and hold them; they'd be like little brown slugs but ones that could never hurt his plants. He could rest them on your slumped shoulders like art. He could carve a firm L into it, a jagged O. His art needs a signature somewhere. The liver almost re-forms around the letters though. Maybe he would have to carve his initials into a few places on you, just to be sure.

The veins and arteries, though, he'd keep attached to your heart, only cutting where he had to. He'd arrange them like spokes, like a sunburst coming out from your chest, measuring the intervals carefully. If he presses a thumb to your wrist, he can feel them, throbbing gently with every beat of your heart. He brushes his hand up your arm slowly, gently, grazing your shoulder.

You shift slightly. Lawrence freezes up. But you don't stir, so he presses a hand to your chest. There it is. Pulsing under your shell. Imagine if those ribs could be cracked open, releasing the softly trilling little bird from its cage. How much firmer and louder would that beat be without those confines alone?

Better still, what if he could reach out and wrap his hand around it, really feel it? Would it be the slow steady beat it sits at while you dream away, or would the actions taken to lead him there render it to a dizzying pace? Would it become too much, too overwhelming? Would he have to squeeze it hard to get it to stop?

Or...

Would it already have fallen silent before he even got that far?

Never to be heard again.

Not just your heartbeat, either. Your soft assurances when he was spiralling. The pitter-patter of your footsteps as you tended to his plants. Your soft moans and whimpers when he was pleasuring you. The charming little rhythm of your laugh. Your loving words. Your voice in general.

Yes, at times just having another person around him was a lot for Lawrence. But having to live without this one specific person he'd become so attached to would be downright unbearable.

The silence would be overwhelming.

You were the only one who'd seen the river, the only one who really understood. This world wasn't real, but he was forced to exist in it until he allowed his body to decay entirely. But having you around made it bearable. More than bearable.

Good.

He absolutely wanted to do it. He wanted you to be his work of art, his best work. But there was too much to risk, so he couldn't. He wouldn't. But sometimes, he really really wants to. He leans a little closer to you, hoping that will stave off the urge, only for your eyes to blink open. You both jump a little. The thumping of your heart under his hand quickens.

"L-Lawrence!" you stutter out, then exhale to try to calm, he feels it in your chest. "I... never get used to you doing that..."

"Oh..." he replies. "...sorry?" He's not sure if he is sorry, but it feels like maybe he's worried you, so he's supposed to say it.

"It's... OK I guess..." you tell him, softening into the hand at your chest a little. You raise both brows at him. "Did watching me sleep... turn you on?" you ask, looking him up and down.

Lawrence looks at you with confusion at first, but then he allows himself to step out of his detached thoughts and actually feel his body. His cheeks are warm; blushing most likely, all his skin is heated and prickling. His heart is racing faster just like yours, but it's not just from you making each other jump, his breathing is deeper than usual. Probably the most evident part to you, there's a very evident bulge in his sweatpants. While he was busy disassociating into fantasies of tearing you open, his body was flooding with arousal.

"Yeah..." he admits a little breathily. "I... guess it did." A slight smile graces your lips. You come closer, the kind that verges on overwhelming, but right now he wants it, your proximity, your touch. You roll him softly onto his back, straddling him.

"It's a good job I woke up then, isn't it?" you ask suggestively as you push his hair back, smiling down at him.

Lawrence thinks of his imagined you, lying bleeding and wide open and lifeless in his mind. Then he looks at the real you, flushed and adoring and very much alive on top of him.

"Yes." he agrees, smiling back. "It really is..."

[lifeonthemurdersim]

lowkey i’m curious about law and violet for the ask meme u just posted

Ship questions ask meme

Ooh, OK! For those who don't know, Violet is the name I gave to the reader in my Law x Reader hanahaki fic Petals of Nerium! They're a reader insert not a full OC so I'm going to write this in second person based on how I've already written their personality!

• Who said “I love you” first? You, but Lawrence did so very soon afterwards! Both of your confessions were what finally stopped your Hanahaki (it's more abstract rather than like a known disease in my fic) from taking over. You were very close to death before that.

• Who would have the other’s picture as their phone background? You might? Lawrence wouldn't think to do that, he barely uses his phone anyway.

• Who leaves notes written in fog on the bathroom mirror? Both of you. Lawrence would actually do it more often than you would though, if you were the one in the shower he would write things like "Your skin looks very soft today, I wish I could see it inside out", "The heat is making your blood vessels widen", and of course "I want to cut you but I won't.".

• Who buys the other cheesy gifts? Neither, I don't think? Lawrence buys you flowering plants a lot after work, starting with a large violet plant so he could prove that that was the scent you had noticed in the apartment. You'd probably try to think of things that would be useful to him like bug spray or new shears, but mostly just get absurd things to make him laugh, like fairy lights to string around one of his animal skulls

• Who initiated the first kiss Kind of a bit of both, but primarily Lawrence, while in the middle of his speech on how scarily close to you he wants to be.

• Who kisses the other awake in the morning Neither. You wake up and he's staring at you.

• Who starts tickle fights I don't think Law would start them, and actually I'm not sure he'd like being tickled. It'd feel a bit out of his control and overwhelming. So likely no-one.

• Who asks who if they can join the other in the shower? Both, I think. With you it's likely you're flirting or want some intimacy. With Lawrence it's more curiosity and want to be close, but he will end up getting turned on too when he touches you.

• Who surprises the other in the middle of the day at work with lunch? Neither! I think once you've worked through the whole kidnap situation to a more normal relationship, you would probably get a night job too, unless Law agreed to support you so you could continue helping look after his plants and stuff. So you're both asleep in the middle of the day. You would be cautious enough to offer before surprising him on the night shift, and he would most likely say no because he doesn't like most of the guys he works with and doesn't want them to be weird about you.

• Who was nervous and shy on the first date There was no first date, you were kidnapped, haha. You're both some degree of nervous overthinkers but Lawrence is a little more shy. By the time you actually go on a date he'll be very comfortable with you because you're already in love. But he still might find it overwhelming being in public and you might have to help calm him down.

• Who kills/takes out the spiders Lawrence would kill things that would harm plants but not so much spiders. He wouldn't really react to them, he would just leave them as they can be pest control themselves. You would probably take them outside.

• Who loudly proclaims their love when they’re drunk Both of you proclaim your love a lot when you're drunk or high, but it's not loud, it's quiet, aroused whispers against ears and necks and lips...

[lifeonthemurdersim]

All Roads Lead To Here- Chapter 5: On The Balcony AND Chapter 6: The Light Fandom/Universe: Siren From Hell Characters/Pairing: Multiple AO3 Link(full tags, warnings etc here) Word count: 11,198 words(?!) and 3,449 words respectively. This turned into a little Halloween double feature so I strongly recommending reading on AO3 where I have split it into two parts, but both are from today's prompts! Synopsis: The worst that could happen, happened. Fortunately there's one person involved that the universe has a little deal with... Author's Note: LAST GoreKinktober piece, oh my god! I've had so much fun with it. While I'm not sure I'd do this again, I'm really hoping I'll continue to write more regularly! Anyway, Siren From Hell is the work of @cptsadist and so are ummm... featured- Jet, Trance, Egon, Seiren, Wraith, Bogy, Silas, and mentioned- Hauer, Ralph, Johann, Corbin and Armen. More about Gorekinktober on my pinned post! Kinktober prompt(s) used: Balcony (it was a free day and I wanted to mirror the other ending) Goretober prompt used: Corpse

A corpse, but one of living breathing flesh and blood.

An abomination, forced to undergo a multitude of deaths without ever actually dying.

A dead enby walking.

No-one could really say what Hope was. With all the non-humans that existed in this world, how did one class someone who seemed fully human, yet unable to die, not through immortality or physical revival, but with time and death seeming to bend around them, throwing them back to try again, and again, and again.

When had it even started? It took many years for Hope to realise that the suicide attempt they had made when they were 20, those dreams they had of white light and grey water and serenity, might in fact have been the first time they died. Then again, the loops themselves, they hadn't started until many months later, when they were in college, and happened upon what turned out to be a very wrong choice of bar.

How they had come to even exist was very much up for debate. Millions of people travelled smoothly from life to death as nature intended. A few touched clinical death for a moment, kissed it momentarily before being dragged back. Hope, however, was in a constant dance with death. A cycle. A loop.

Why Hope? Maybe because she already had some things in common with death. Melancholy, quiet, strong-willed. Maybe it was some kind of cruel game or joke in the eyes of a creator Hope still didn't think she believed in. "Oh, you wanted to die one time? Well haha, now you can't." Maybe it was random luck, or lack thereof depending how you looked at it, and they were just a glitch in the universe.

Yes, no-one knew the what, when, how or why of Ebony Hope Chambers.

But she knew one thing.

She knew who she was.

She was the person who came back, over and over and over again. She was the person who got to stare right into the most horrific outcome, the worst possible ending imaginable... and say Fuck. That. Shit.

They were Hope. The only hope.

See, it wasn't just Jet who'd learned something from Theo. She remembered going back to his apartment after her failed attempt to help, only to find Theo gone, Jet gone, and a ton of blood all over the bed, the floor, the cupboard. The loop had ended, without them there, while they'd still been mulling over whether they even wanted to go back.

With the new revelation that Theo had died, presumably while they were still in the limbo between life and death, Hope knew how key it was that other people in the loop could only come back if they died before her. Not only that, but killing their captor ended the loop.

All this came together in the realisation that they could not let Trance die before them. Trance was her kidnapper, the keystone at the centre of this loop. If she let Trance die, then everyone else who'd died, every single one of those people, friends and foe alike, they could never come back. Hell, even if she and Trance both lived, that would probably end the loop.

So she had to die first. It was hell. Thank God Trance took pity on her and helped. Once they hit the river, they didn't hesitate, they ran. Right into the bright white light that would lead them back to life. They had to start the loop before Trance died or they might well be coming back the sole survivor. Luckily the same way they were starting to be able to cling to the river a little longer when they wanted to, they were starting to get the hang of leaving it faster, too.

Back to the bar. Do everything the same. Everything. It all started with a shy glance and then snapping abruptly back to the bar. Talk to Trance. Let him drug her. Get kidnapped. Trapped in the basement. No fucking sleep. God, physically it might only have been 24 hours again, but mentally it felt like forever. But they had to hold on. Bide their time. Spend every moment alone planning. Get into that damn shower.

Admittedly, they could just not attempt to get themself off in the shower, especially as this time around they knew they weren't going to get to finish. But no, that was not the point of deviation. They weren't going to risk that. They had to wait, trying not to get themselves too worked up this time. Wait until...

"Hey. Uh... don't be scared!" Jet called as the bathroom door closed with a soft click.

They hadn't recognised his voice as anything other than "not Trance's" the first time. It had been too long since their first and only other meeting. But now it was less than a day in their memory. They obviously knew it was him. They didn't check or wait. They poked their head straight out this time. "Jet?" they asked, genuinely so relieved that they didn't even have to feign sounding surprised.

"Hope!" he replied so quick it was practically interrupting, but they didn't mind one bit. "You're alive!"

"You're alive..." they replied much more softly than the first time, fixing him with an affectionate smile. Seeing him here only strengthened their resolve. They couldn't watch Trance plunging that knife into his back again. "Look, we can talk about all the how and why later, just..." they said quickly, before it could get into the same discussion of Theo. They were still wondering how Jet even remembered them after their death, but that could wait, too. They grabbed a towel and wrapped it around themselves so they wouldn't soak him as much, then ran up to him and threw their arms around his neck, holding him close. Jet seemed surprised but pleased, embracing them back softly.

"Wow, you're really happy to see me." he commented in pleasant surprise. They nodded, their cheek brushing against his. "Guess I'm not... used to that..." he admitted, drawing back and smiling at them with a slight blush across his pale skin. Fucking hell he was beautiful, they wanted more than anything to kiss him again. But they could get carried away, they could waste valuable seconds, he could ask them to explain it this time, way too much could happen and it just wasn't worth the risk.

The fight that had started right before they kissed the first time could be heard in the distance. They had roughly the amount of time it had taken from then to Hope cumming to get out of the house before Trance realised what they were doing. Which even she would have to admit was not very long.

"Jet, we need to get the hell out of here." they explained, stepping out of the hug and grabbing their clothes. Jet's look of disappointment at them letting go would have damn near broken their heart had it not quickly been replaced by one of confusion at their words.

"What... why... to where?" he asked, then immediately seemed to get distracted as they turned away from him, pulling up the towel and drying their hair roughly before they let it fall to the floor. "You're... you're naked." he pointed out.

"You walked in on me showering." they pointed out in a teasing tone, turning to eye him up over their shoulder. He was blushing much harder, seemingly torn between staring or looking away which only led to him fidgeting adorably. They bit their lip and smirked before very deliberately bending down to get their clothes. Given the things she'd done with Jet the last loop around, she didn't feel shy to be flirty around him anymore. Maybe they had time to... no, they mustn't be tempted. This time they grabbed their bra so it wouldn't hurt so damn much to run, fastening it on first.

"OK but... but you realise even though you're turned around I can see... a lot of you, right?" he asked in an oddly strained voice.

"I know." they responded as they pulled on their boxers, turning around to face him, hand on hip. "Don't worry, you can see the rest later." they deliberately misinterpreted with a wink, pulling on their slightly torn up cropped shirt, pantyhose and shorts, while Jet looked like he'd internally blue screen of deathed.

"I... I don't..." he replied. "Sorry, I'm just... where are we going, exactly?" The way he was stuttering, it was like they'd swapped places entirely. It was pretty damn adorable. Once their boots were on, they grabbed their leather jacket too seeing as they'd hopefully be going outside and their sweater was god knows where after Trance had spilt that drink on it. Their phone and wallet were confiscated from their pockets though; they'd checked that before they even got in the shower.

"We're gonna get the hell out of here and find our friends." they explained. She had no idea how they even found them, but all they knew is they would be here. "Phi and Si and... Bogy, right? Then we're gonna come back for Azazel before he sets the whole damn house on fire."

"Well Bogy's... a little more than a friend..." Jet replied with a little giggle. "But... sure!" Hope's heart sank. That flirty confidence drained back out of them. They were... fuck... they'd seemed happy to see each other of course, but so had she been to see Azazel, Phi, Silas.

She'd... said something about her and Jet taking care of Hope though. Fuck. Of course. Of course they were a thing. The same girl Azazel liked too, that was... fucking typical. But... oh god. They'd done... so much; in the bathroom, in the closet... and she'd started it. OK... fuck it, they were the only one it had actually happened for; they could deal with the hurt later, they could deal with the guilt later, they could deal with Jet was possibly a cheating bastard later, right now, she still needed to get the two of them and Azazel out safe.

"Right..." they muttered a little sullenly. "F-fine." They looked at him seriously. "Jet, we need to get out of here because Trance kidnapped me, and if we don't get the hell out of here, he may well kill us."

"Trance?" he responded incredulously. "Trance is my friend, he would... would never do something like that..." Serious deja vu already. The first time he'd taken a reasonable amount of convincing, but this time, they already knew what would eventually win him over. Apparently he knew about Egon due to some of the videos he'd made him watch, but Trance, not so much.

"OK Jet, same logic as Theo, OK?" she explained quickly. "I know you think Trance is a good guy... and in some ways he is." they admitted. "But if you're right, and Trance is all cool with this, we're just two friends going for a walk, right?" Jet seemed to think it through briefly, but pretty much had to concede to it.

"Well... yeah, that seems fine." he agreed. "And... if you're right, we'll be getting away." That reciprocation, that willingness to believe them this time, even if it was just a little, meant a lot to Hope. They offered him the smallest smile and nod.

"OK, let's go while Trance and Wraith are still arguing." they said, unlocking the door and peering around into the hallway. No one was there, so they grabbed Jet's hand and led him out quickly.

"OK, uh... sure!" he replied in a quieter than usual but still enthusiastic tone, giving her hand a little squeeze that made Hope glance down uncertainly.

They really were back to square one. Trying to convince Jet a murderer was, in fact, a murderer. Ending up holding hands with him while he had some form of partner. Trying to make sure no-one died in the process. Only this time it was a hell of a lot more painful on every account.

Fortunately Trance and Wraith were still arguing. If it had taken them that long to notice that she and Jet were even in the bathroom together before, they had time to get some distance, and to get to their friends. Hope didn't know this house well, only having been this way once with Trance. "How do we get out?" she hissed to Jet.

"Stairs are this way." he explained in a similarly hushed tone, taking their hand and leading them the right way. "Then I usually go in and out the back door. You can wiggle any key in the lock and it opens." Hope raised their eyebrows at him.

"Jet, please don't tell me you've been stalking Egon." they replied.

"It's not stalking!" he insisted. "He's happy to see me! Usually..." Hope raised a brow at him and he gave an awkward smile back. "I just don't have to wait for someone to let me in this way."

"OK, I believe you." they replied through a quiet chuckle, deciding to reserve the Theo comparison jokes for when they were in a little less danger. "Could you take me that way, please?"

"I'll take you any way you want." he flirted with a little grin over at them, and they felt themself blushing hard.

Once again, they'd started it, so they couldn't even tell him off for it, just spluttering out a quiet "Th-thanks..." as he giggled, gave their hand another squeeze and led them out that way. It was a starry night, way more visible from out here, a little chilly though. Jet shivered, reaching his other hand across to their arm instinctively to huddle closer. "Forgot how cold it was..." he complained, clearly thinking nothing of the additional proximity. All these things that should be sweet were making them feel all the worse thinking about Bogy. They looked at the jacket across their arm. They could do with it themself, but probably not as badly.

"H-here..." they offered, pulling away and passing the jacket to Jet, giving themself some breathing room in the process.

"Oh!" Jet replied, as they followed the path around the house to get back to the front. "Are you sure?" he asked, but even as he did he was pulling it over his shoulders to warm up. "Aren't you cold?"

"I mean... a little, but not as cold as you I don't think." they pointed out.

"It's nice! Really warm." he noted, slipping his arms into the sleeves.

"Yeah, I get cold pretty easily." they explained, wrapping their arms around their bare waist, already regretting it a little as their damp hair started to chill quickly. "It doesn't zip up on me anymore though..."

"Well... at least if you need it back, I'll keep it warm for you!" Jet pointed out. Even that gave them weird little pangs, they smiled and tried to cover up that there were already goosebumps on their arms. "Ooh, I have an idea actually!" he added.

"Is it a good idea, though?" they teased lightly as they tried not to shiver themself. They both reached the front of the house where a few cars were parked; Trance's hummer that she and Azazel had been maneuvered into before they passed out, a large grey pickup truck, and a slightly battered little black car on the end.

"Hey!" Jet replied, nudging her arm with his but still laughing a little. To their surprise he pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the smallest car, opening up the trunk and looking for something.

"You have a car?" Hope asked with interest.

"What, do I not seem like I would have a car?" Jet asked. He apparently didn't find what he was looking for as he moved around and began looking in the back, the sound of cans clattering a little.

"I don't know." they replied, shrugging slightly, folding their arms tighter around themself. "I... can't actually drive..." they admitted. "So I guess I forget most people can."

"Did you want me to drive us now?" he asked. He apparently gave up searching the back for what he was looking for too, shutting the door. "Oh..." he chuckled as he apparently glanced something through the door to the passenger side. He opened that door and pulled out a black hoodie, shutting the door again and passing it to Hope. "Here. It's not as warm but like... you said you're not as cold, so..." Hope couldn't help but smile a little despite the unease his sweet actions kept giving them.

"Can't argue with that logic." they replied, slipping it on. It was presumably baggy on Jet since they were able to zip it up, wrapping the cuffs around their hands before slipping them into the pockets. It smelled of him. They needed their head checked if the scent of 3-in-1 and Axe and possibly a hint of spilled energy drink was suddenly that appealing. "Thanks..." they responded with an appreciative smile.

"You look so cute..." he commented with a little smile back. Hope found their face heating right up again.

"Jet... c'mon..." they complained quietly, still struggling to fully tell him off. It was the kind of attention they absolutely craved, but still they knew it wasn't right. Well, maybe it was? "Cute" was annoyingly ambiguous like that. It was probably totally fine. Unless it wasn't.

"Oh I'm... I'm sorry...?" he replied, quickly changing the subject before she could think how to think of the words to reaasure him. "So uh, we walking or...?"

"Oh!" they replied, looking to the car and realising she'd never answered his question. "Oh, yeah, uh..." It would get them further from the house faster, but that wasn't really the goal right now. Plus if it was noisy when it started up, it could alert the others to their presence pretty damn quickly. "I think we'd better walk... just show me which way you usually drive in because I bet the others came that way. Uh... are coming that way."

"Okay!" Jet agreed happily as he locked up the car, still fixing them with that soft smile. They didn't really know what that look meant, only that it was another thing they liked but shouldn't. Anyone else would actually confront the situation, but Hope wasn't anyone else. They got awkward when it came to speaking out about things like this. So instead they followed silently by Jet's side as he walked with them, starting down a long road that led through some woods. "So, how do you know our friends are coming?" he asked.

"Oh, uh..." Hope began. "Well I could pretend I'm psychic..." they joked. "But it's... actually way more complicated." She still didn't know why they were even coming. "Did you speak to Bogy at all today?" they asked.

"Oh, yeah, I texted her before I found you!" Jet explained, pulling his phone out. "Shit, I have a couple missed calls from her." he realised before passing it over. She read through the text, ignoring the additional stomach churning from the little kissing face, giving the phone back and shoving her hands deep into the pockets of his hoodie.

"OK, she must have got into contact with mine and Azazel's friends when you mentioned him..." they said. "How long does it take to get out here from town?"

"Usually about 30, 40 minutes." he answered. He looked at his phone, checking the message again and then the time from the looks of it. "Do your friends live in the center?"

"Yeah." they answered. "Actually I don't know for sure about Silas..." they admitted. "W-we don't speak much... but Phi has a little apartment and they're usually together there." That place was up on the 18th floor, beautiful views of the city. Phi was one of their closest friends but damn... they had a lot that Hope was jealous of.

"I don't think they'll be much longer, then." Jet suggested. "Do you want me to call Bogy?"

"Uh, yeah." Hope agreed, genuinely not able to tell how long it had taken in the other universe given that they didn't have their phone. "Just see where they are." She glanced back at the house as they started down the side of the road together, and spotted a white-haired figure on one of the balconies. Not the little end one, but a larger one leading off one of the bedrooms. "Oh shit... I think that's Trance..." she murmured nervously. Jet glanced back too.

"I'm guessing that's... not so good?" he asked, speeding up a little as they both turned back to the road, starting up a call at the same time.

"I-I'm not sure." they replied. "If he alerts Egon and he and Leilana get into a fight over Azazel that... won't end well." they tried to summarise.

"Do you want to go back?" he asked.

"I... don't know." they admitted, looking between the house, where Trance now appeared to be heading in, and the road ahead of them. They thought they saw lights way off in the distance. "Uhhhhh... OK, let's go a little faster." they suggested, speeding up to the quickest pace they could walk in the direction of the light.

"She's not answering her phone..." Jet replied, looking slightly worried.

"I think we're OK." Hope replied, seeing the little speck of light grow closer and larger. As it grew nearer it was clear they were two headlights. They found themselves running a little, Jet speeding up too to keep up. It was always a little eerie to see Wasei's car hoving into view. Phi had acquired it after his death. It was reminding them, though, that they had very little in the way of a plan here and they really needed to have one within the next five minutes. "Could you put your torch on, get their attention?" they asked Jet.

"Yeah, of course!" he replied, shining it in the direction of the road but not head on towards the car. As they got closer, they could see a glimpse of green hair that indicated it was Bogy driving. When she spotted Jet and Hope running in her direction though, she stopped abruptly and pulled over, rolling down the window. Jet hopped over to her with a smile, leaning into the car.

"Can you answer your damn phone next time?" she asked him. "You had me worried."

"Sorry." Jet replied with a sheepish giggle. "You know you didn't either."

"I was driving." Bogy pointed out. "These two are practically glued to each other so I thought I'd help them out. Oh, Jet, this is Phi and Silas, and guys this is Jet." she added as they hopped out of the back.

"Hey!" Jet greeted them.

"Hi." Silas said quietly.

"Hey!" Phi replied more emphatically before the two of them walked quickly over to Hope, Phi pulling them in for a hug. Hope hugged them back, leaning their head on their friend's shoulder for a moment. It had been a long fucking day. "Are you OK?" they asked, drawing back and looking them over. "Where's Azazel?"

"Uh, yeah, just a little cut up." they explained. They gave Silas a slight wave to which he waved back. "He's still in the house as far as we know. We need to go back and get him, I just thought it would be easier with all of us together."

"Do you want me to drive us all?" Bogy asked. Hope thought for a moment, still trying to fit all the pieces together though it was making their head spin.

"Trance is already headed this way, we think." they explained. "I feel like if we walk, it'll be less threatening."

"Why would you want to be less threatening?" Phi asked, even as Bogy did as advised, letting Jet back off again before swinging the car in to the side of the road, which would leave it fairly obscured should they have to come back here.

"Because..." Because they'd seen it one way, and they didn't want to see all that again. The only way they could think of to keep everyone alive was to try and de-escalate the whole situation. "Look, he's not all bad." they tried to reason. Phi shook their head a little disapprovingly, taking Silas's hand and beginning to lead the way towards the house. Bogy followed, Jet and Hope falling in either side of her.

"This is Hope, by the way Bogy!" Jet said excitedly, reaching out behind her back to squeeze lightly at Hope's arm before drawing back again. "They're alive!"

"Oh..." There was a look of recollection in her amber eyes at his words, glancing over at Hope. "Oh shit, so... let me get this straight... thier Hope-" She gestured towards Phi and Silas. "Is also your Hope? Like from..." She looked back to Jet.

"Yeah!" he replied. Hope looked away awkwardly at being called "his", a blush creeping across her cheeks as much as she tried to hold back. They hoped it was dark enough to hide that.

"Damn, I guess I should thank you, hun." Bogy said, reaching out and giving them a pat on their shoulder even as they avoided her gaze. "You're half the reason Jet agreed to escape that creepy-ass doctor with me."

"Oh!" they replied. "Well I'm... uh... really glad!" they managed to stutter. Despite their awkwardness they were able to look over and fix Bogy with a slight smile. She really was lovely. Although god damn, that made them feel like a terrible person. I've had your boyfriend's cock in my mouth, by the way hun. It didn't happen. It didn't happen. "Uh... you guys are really cute together!" they blurted out. Bogy glanced at them again curiously.

"Oh we're not together." Bogy corrected with a shrug. "Well, I mean... we do screw around sometimes, but we're just friends." Hope felt a sudden sense of relief from the guilt, while Bogy's amber eyes flicked to Jet. "Wait, Jet... what the hell did you tell them?"

"I mean... pretty much that!" he insisted with a shrug. "I guess I didn't exactly... specify..."

Bogy shook her head and smiled over at Hope. "You know how it is, it's on 'til he finds some guy who's most likely gonna kill him and then he disappears again." she teased Jet.

"H-hey!" Jet complained, though he didn't deny it. Hope smiled along, but it only confirmed a lot of those little jealous thoughts she'd had regarding Theo.

"We know how it is actually." Phi joked, looking back at Hope. Silas glanced back at them too. Hope frowned.

"It is... not my fault I got kidnapped again!" they insisted. "He..." they ran a hand through the back of their hair sheepishly. "...seemed so nice at the bar..." Jet peered around Bogy at them, raising his eyebrows with a little grin. "Look, judge me later, we've got shit to do." they grumbled.

"I didn't say anything!" he protested, laughing.

"No but..." they complained through a laugh back, then pouting a little. "You were... looking..."

"What, am I not allowed to look at you now?" Jet teased. "Because I remember a very different offer from the bathroom." That once again sent Hope blushing and not knowing what to say. Even though they'd misunderstood about Jet and Bogy, they couldn't reclaim the confidence they'd had when they'd said that now. Their brain was tied in too many knots.

"Does Trance have nice eyes?" Phi asks, glancing back at Bogy. "They lose their shit over pretty eyes."

"Oh, yeah, he totally does!" Jet replied. "Wait, do you... not know who he is?"

"Si has a poster on his wall." Phi said, nudging him playfully and smiling at him. "Just never thought to check out his eyes though when I have such a pretty boy rightthere, y'know?"

"Phi..." Silas replied, blushing but smiling right back.

"What? It's true!" Phi said with a chuckle, but then their tone shifted to a slightly more serious one. "Look, Hope, please just tell me we're not relying on your kidnapper having some secret heart of gold?"

"Well... not exactly." Hope assured. "I just... think it's fair to try and get him a replacement. Someone who deserves it." She stared at Phi. Phi glanced back at them and picked up on their expression.

"Wait... are you talking about Rahim?" they asked. They'd been talking about whether there was a way to get back at him for months now. The trouble was they didn't know what to do with him.

"Who's Rahim?" Jet asked.

"He killed our friend." Hope said quietly, looking down. Bogy picked up on the distress in her tone and reached a reassuring hand over to pat her shoulder. "We escaped him years ago, God knows why Wasei went back..."

"Oh... I knew someone with that name..." Jet comments. "Well... met him..."

"The way things are working out, Jet, it's probably the same person." Bogy pointed out.

"Rahim was a friend of my dad's." Phi added. "Even he sees how fucked up he is now. But this fucker's got a lawyer so good he got out on bail."

"For murder?" Bogy asked. "That can't be right.."

"We think he somehow got it classified as something else." Hope explained. They had to push forward with the plan though. "OK, I gotta ask this quick. Phi, are you still in touch with Johann?" She saw Silas fidget slightly.

"They are." he clarified quietly.

"Yes, we're still friends." they said pointedly to their partner, chuckling and pressing a kiss to his cheek that seemed to reassure him. "Why?"

"You said he revived that... Ralph guy... creature... whatever he is?" Hope checked.

"Ralph?" Jet asked. "Like... Hauer's Ralph?"

"Yeah, you know him?" Phi asked back.

"Uh... yeah... kinda..." Jet replied with an awkward smile, running a hand through the longer side of his hair. "I think he carried me back to Hauer's... and there was this other time I met him..." He nodded towards Trances house. "...here, actually."

"Jet knows everyone." Bogy told Phi with a laugh, then turned back to him. "Phi and their friend were captured by Hauer and Ralph too, we discussed it in the car." she explained to him.

"Oh, cool!" Jet replied. "I mean, not like... cool that you got kidnapped but like... small world, right?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Phi replied, not sounding quite so positive about it. The fact they'd had to completely relocate because of the experience indicated it was more traumatic than they let on. Still, at least moving into the same town as she, Was and Azazel had led them to meeting Silas. Hope saw him squeeze their hand reassuringly. There was probably a lot of interest to unpick with all the ways their paths had crossed in the past, but Hope was too focused on trying to pull her idea together. They stepped forward a little, walking at Phi's side.

"OK, so uh, Phi, what if you ask Johann to take Ralph, get Rahim, and bring him here?" they asked. "From what you've told me there's no way he won't be able to take him."

"I don't know, we talked about this before Hope..." Phi said reluctantly. "He's been through a lot and... some of it is my fault." They sighed. "He's sweet too, he really is."

"He is!" Jet agreed.

"OK, but I'm not talking him having to actually hurt Rahim this time." Hope explained. "We just need him to knock him out... tie him up... anything to get him here as soon as possible." There was a pause while Phi mulled it over.

"OK." they agreed. "I'll call Johann." They pulled their phone out of their pocket.

"Uh... there's one more thing..." Hope added, glancing up at the full moon above them. "Rahim has... a lot of wolves. Like... dozens, all trained to protect him." Phi suddenly pulled their phone back down, turning to Hope again.

"Forget it, I'm not sending Ralph and Johann to get ripped apart by wolves." they retracted.

"OK; but, but... what if they had some stronger wolves to protect them?" Hope suggested, glancing past Phi towards Silas. Their eyes met his. It was unusual for them to do that, kind of uncomfortable for Hope seeing as they used to have a thing for him that had only recently started to disappate. But they really needed him to pick up on what he was saying. They flicked thier eyes up to the moon and back to him.

"No..." Silas replied. "You... you want me to talk to Corbin?!"

"I'll "talk to" him again." Phi muttered slightly threateningly.

"Or one of the others!" Hope bargained. "I mean you go into that bookshop all the time, right?" They didn't like to have to persuade him into it, but it was their best shot right now. Silas still looked wary.

"Talk to Armen." Phi suggested, giving him a smile. "You're more comfortable with her, she can get in touch with one of the pack." Silas nodded at the compromise.

"O-OK." he agreed, pulling out his phone and beginning to text her. Phi began looking for Johann's number again. Hope looked ahead and could see Trance barely visible in the distance... surprisingly, alone. Well, apart from Seiren, presumably.

"Oh shit, he's on his way... OK, you two go get everything in place, I don't want him to feel like we're ganging up on him... but Phi, give Bogy your shotgun."

"Ganging up on your kidnapper?" they questioned again, but they did take the gun off their back and hand it to Bogy. "We'll keep an eye on you." They nudged Silas with them to the side of the road behind some trees so they could get everything in place.

"OK, Bogy... wait to the side too, don't shoot." Hope explained. "If he tries to run towards us though, feel free to aim at him." They really didn't want to do it, but they had to. "I'll take care of the rest."

"You're... really good under pressure." Jet noticed. They shrugged but gave him an appreciative smile. They guessed they hadn't really thought about it before. "Am I staying with you?"

"Yeah." they agreed. "He already knows we're out here together. Just get behind me if he goes on the attack."

"No... no, you stood up for me when it was Theo, I'm gonna stand up for you!" he said firmly.

"I stood up for you and I lived." they pointed out stubbornly.

"So did I!" Jet protested. "Well... mostly... you know I died for like a minute? I thought I saw you actually." he chattered on, even as Trance approached. Hope started to piece things together, even as she kept her eyes on the singer. "I mean it might not have been you, you were like... turned away..."

"White light, grey water?" they hissed quietly, starting to step slowly in Trance's direction, nudging Jet's arm to get him to do the same.

"Yeah!" he replied. That was why he remembered them, maybe? The hell if she knew how half of this shit worked. "Wait, were you really somewhere like that?"

"Uh... yeah... I'll have to tell you later." they whispered. The way things were going tonight, they certainly had a lot to talk about later. The thing was though, his reaction to them telling him the truth in the last turn of events was so trusting, believing and vaguely impressed that she actually felt confident to do that. The fact he'd apparently been there in death with her, even just for a moment, only solidified it.

"Hey." Trance said quietly as he approached, not waiting for them to reply. "Went for a little walk, huh?"

"Oh, yeah, we did!" Jet replied, nodding along. "You did ask me to keep Hope occupied!" he said, laughing nervously. This was the first Hope was hearing of this, but she guessed it made sense. "But we're... back now so... everything's cool, right?"

"Step away from them, Jet." Trance warned flatly. He studied them both for a second before apparently making a choice in favour of being upfront. "You both know what this is." Jet and Hope exchanged glances. They had no real idea if he was aware there were three others with them or not.

"Trance... look... I'm sorry!" Hope blurted out.

"No you're not." he muttered back.

"I... I am!" they protested, stepping closer to him as he looked her over with a distrustful expression. Before he could even form an assessment, however, they were running, tackling him to the ground, straddling him and pulling his own knife out of his pocket, holding the point to his neck. Hope swallowed. "...I'm really, really sorry." they said quietly, looking down at him with genuine pity. But they know that he'd do the same.

"Son of a bitch..." he growled, trying to fight back a little despite the fact it pushed the tip of the blade into his neck slightly. At first it seemed they were evenly matched enough that Hope could hold him off, but then his eyes began to glow and she knew he'd use Seiren to overpower her. "Bogy!" she called, and Bogy stepped deftly out from the shadows, aiming down at Trance. He stopped, letting out a frustrated groan.

"You realise if you kill me, Egon's probably just gonna shoot you all in the head." he pointed out. Sure enough, they could see Egon heading out of the house, Azazel by his side with the gun pointed at him just as before. Hope knew they couldn't hesitate. "I know." they replied. "I don't want to kill you. N-not if I don't have to." Yes, admittedly, if that ended up being the only way out, she could probably find a way to do it. Lure him out more quickly, pull the same shit, but stab him before Egon could even find them, get away in Jet's car...

They were smart enough to plan it. They had the motive, and if they were honest, they didn't think they'd struggle that much going ahead with it. They had unlimited chances to get it right, too. But if they could get everyone out alive, then they would actually be happy with their decision.

Because despite Phi's teasing, Hope wasn't naive. Hope didn't trust most people; they were confusing, worrying, out for themselves, and yet they still chose to have faith in them to do right. Hope knew this world was harsh and shitty and unforgiving, and they didn't want to be a part of that. They wanted always to respond with softness and honesty and love.

So while it may not really look like it, them doing what they were doing right now was all in the name of, hopefully, making sure no-one else had to die. "C'mon." they said, getting up off of Trance but still holding the knife against his neck. They offered him their other hand.

"Are you serious right now?" he asked, shaking his head as he looked up at her. "You're fucking crazy." It wasn't even said like an insult, or a rejection of the offer. More like an observation.

"Just get the hell up." Bogy said in support of Hope, gun still aimed at his head. Trance flicked his eyes to her and tutted, then stared at Hope and let them help him to his feet. They put a hand under his arm and across his chest, thinking how weird it was that they'd previously imagined holding him in an entirely different way to this. They replaced the knife at his neck, across it this time; much like when he'd threatened her. Also how he inevitably mercy killed her.

"The fuck's going on here?" Egon asked as he approached, looking unsure whether to keep the gun on Azazel or train it towards Hope.

"H-hey... Egon!" Jet greeted with a little wave. Egon ignored him.

"Bogy..." Azazel said happily upon seeing her, despite his current predicament.

"Hey Azazel." she said with a smile back.

"You just had to bring the angel, huh?" Trance asked Egon in a critical tone. Egon stared right back, very little expression crossing his face.

"Yes, I brought the angel." he responded a little gruffly. "What, I have to leave my fucking victim just so we can get yours?"

"I feel like you'd have more of a point if "my victim" didn't have a knife to my throat." Trance pointed out. Hope gritted their teeth and exhaled hard against his shoulder. They weren't going to be the fucking victim here anymore. No way.

"OK, Egon..." Jet pointed out, stepping forward. "Listen... these guys just want to get their friend back, and then... you can have Trance back and everyone can just chill, right?!"

"Shut up, Jet." Egon replied with a look of mild annoyance.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Bogy defended him. Egon scowled from her back to him.

"It's... fine Bogy..." Jet responded though he definitely looked a little put out. Hope gave him a sympathetic look.

"Whose side are you even on here, Jet?" Egon asked the goth. There was a lot of... movement in the trees to the side of them. Shadows shifting, leaves rustling in a wind that hadn't been there before.

"Look, he's right... I-I've got your friend, you've got mine." they said to Egon, a little nervous due to their lack of prior interaction, and just the fact he seemed pretty intimidating in general. "I just want everyone safe..."

"Yeah, I feel real safe right now..." Trance muttered. There was a shriek from the trees to the side of them.

"Well isn't this interesting..." Wraith commented, walking out leading Phi with a hand around their throat, triggering another momeny of deja vu for Hope, this one far more worrying.

"L-leave them alone!" Silas yelled, running after them, looking like he might actually try to lunge at Wraith.

"I think not, baby bat." Leilana said, appearing behind him, not even touching him, just holding up a hand and keeping him in place. She watched him. "Hmm... a little weaker but it definitely still works on vampires."

"What the hell are you doing?" Egon asked Wraith, looking from the demon to the three strangers. "Who the fuck are all these people?"

"You've all got hostages, I wanted to join in the fun." he replied with a shrug.

"Additional leverage to make sure I get my way." Leilana replied, keeping Silas frozen in place.

"Uh... yeah... also that." Wraith added.

"Let us the fuck go!" Phi complained. They went for one of the stakes at their belt, but Wraith grabbed their wrist, considerably stronger than them, and wrapped his hand around theirs.

"Phi, please, be careful..." Hope begged given how their interaction with Wraith had gone before.

"You think it'd hurt more or less to stab a human in the heart with one of these?" he asked no-one in

particular, pointing the stake at Phi's chest. Bogy spun around and swung the shotgun towards him. "Hey, calm the fuck down, I'm just asking a question." They looked at each other for a moment.

"Why don't I have them stab this one with it?" Leilana suggested. "They seem to have an emotional bond." Wraith snapped out of his confused look to turn back to her with a grin.

"Ohhhoho nice, but if you can control vampires, why not have him bite 'em?" Wraith suggested with a smirk.

"Oh I like that, that seems like it would he painful for them both!" Leilana replied gleefully. "Perhaps later." She paused. "Now, let me see..." she mused, looking to Egon. "These aren't yours because you didn't know them."

"Who are you?" Egon complained.

"That's Leilana!" Jet told him helpfully. Fortunately that also clued Hope in; they knew from their conversations with Azazel exactly who she was. The demon that followed his cult around. She guessed she was too occupied with Jet in the closet to realise before. Leilana rolled her eyes at Jet and then continued.

"I suggest then, that you-" She nodded at Hope. "-hand Azazel over to me whenever you've completed whatever little switch you're working on."

"N-no..." Azazel whimpered.

"You're assuming I'm actually going to give him over." Egon pointed out. "I got options to weigh up."

"Great, I'm just some fucking bargaining chip now, huh?" Trance replied.

"Just be grateful I'm even out here trying to save your ass!" Egon pointed out.

"Are we gonna kill one of 'em or not?" Wraith complained to Leilana.

"Not yet, that defeats the entire point, you idiot!" she snapped back.

"It is your job to-"

"You don't think I have better shit to-"

"Hey, I'm not an-"

"Why did I think you'd be-"

"D-do I know him-"

"That's just Wraith, he's-"

"Can you just let me the fuck go-"

"Phi, d-don't-"

Hope was struggling to comprehend what was even going on as everyone started talking over each other. She kept the knife at Trance's neck but her hands on him trembled as they squeezed their eyes shut tight, feeling completely overwhelmed. They had a plan. They knew they had a plan. But right now they couldn't even remember what the hell it was, there was so much fucking noise.

"Hey, STOP!" Jet yelled over everyone. When Hope opened their eyes, he was walking forward a little, looking around at everyone with both arms raised. "Can we just... just see if there's a way for us to get through this without anyone getting hurt?"

"Gonna be honest with ya Jet, I don't really give a shit if anyone gets hurt." Wraith retorted, but it had created enough of a gap in the conversation that Hope could calm a little from the overstimulation, remember what they were doing. Jet glanced back at them and smiled. Was that why he'd done it?

"Y-yeah... I wanna try and... d-do that..." they replied, still shaken. Jet stepped back behind them to let them speak.

"Well get me Azazel, and there's no need for anyone to get hurt, darling." Leilana assured Hope, fixing them with dark brown eyes that made them feel... oddly soothed. Well... maybe more placated, because they weren't calm as such. They were... oh god they were... mildly horny. She breathed a little deeper against Trance's neck as the demon held her stare, and he looked over at her with interest.

"She's a succubus." he explained, picking up on what their reaction meant annoyingly fast.

"I-I know." they responded a little breathily, tearing her gaze away quickly from Leilana's face while the demon cackled delightedly.

The thing was, as Jet had now experienced first-hand... being a little aroused actually tended to give Hope a boost in confidence. "Look." they managed to say, taking a deep breath and then glancing around to everyone. "No-one here is a bad person." There were a couple of smiles, but far more groans, scowls, tuts, and rolls of eyes. They sighed. "Or... no-one here is a good person, depending on how you look at it." they corrected. "Wh-what if I can... can try and... get all of you a little of what you want?" they suggested.

"Taking into account that Seiren wants to kill you, where do you figure the compromise is?" Trance asked, still side-eyeing them.

"We're getting you someone. Real soon." they explained, looking over at Phi, who nodded despite Wraith still having the stake at their chest. "Look... Seiren... I know we haven't gotten along so far but... I also... know you're in there..." she said, looking over in Trance's direction. "So... this guy can't feel pain, but... but that just means you can... play with his blood or whatever longer." Trance paused for a second, then laughed slightly, rolling his eyes. "What?" they asked.

"He kinda likes that you understand we're two different people." he explained. He stared at Hope. "I mean... I don't really give a shit who he kills..." he pointed out. "Maybe... maybe I'd rather it be someone else." he admitted. Hope nodded vigorously.

"OK, well... this guy really deserves to die, alright?" She thought of Wasei and tried not to tear up. She looked between Azazel, Phi and Silas. "We want him dead."

"No pain? Where's the fun in that?" Egon complained. "Is he even gonna be scared of anything?"

"I mean, he still doesn't want to die..." Hope pointed out, well aware that Rahim might not be so suitable for Egon. "If not... I was thinking um... well... L-Leilana...?" she stuttered, looking to the succubus who was almost as intimidating as she was stunning.

"Yes?" the demon asked, looking down over Si's shoulder at her fairly disapprovingly. Azazel had told Hope about her before though. She knew exactly how she operated.

"Can you still... drain people's life force after they're dead?" she asked sheepishly. Leilana gazed at her for a moment, but was seemingly thinking it over.

"To do that the traditional way, one would have to be a necrophiliac." Leilana pointed out. "But considering I instead consume the bodies themselves, that would not be an issue as long as they're freshly killed."

"That's how you do it, huh?" Wraith responded from next to her, looking over at her with surprise and intrigue.

"So, theoretically if..." Hope began before they could get caught up talking about it. "...Egon and Trance did the work in killing off one of your cult guys now and again, you could maybe... hang around here to feed?" Again, despite the dismissive look, she mulled it over.

"That would be acceptable, yes." She glanced over at the large house. "Probably... more acceptable to spend time here than some of the places the cult resides, in all honesty." she admitted, then folded her arms. "But the whole reason I'm here is that they're far harder to isolate without Azazel."

"Hope..." Azazel said quietly from still within Egon's grip, his violet eyes terrified. "I don't want to go back."

"I know, I know Zaze." they said softly, putting up a hand, wary of triggering him to use his powers again. "Look, all we need, is a message from you. Just one message, record it on video if you want! Just tell all those dumbasses they need to send one or two people off a month."

"Hope." Phi replied with a frown.

"Look; I was including me when I said none of us is really good." Hope pointed out.

"No..." Azazel replied. "It's... it is good, th-they kill people they find as "sacrifices" all the time." he explained. "This way it's... only their own members getting..." He looked vaguely nauseous. "C-cannibalised..." Trance and Egon looked to each other for a moment. Clearly they weren't entirely opposed to it.

"From what I saw when me and Azazel were running from them, most of them are awful people, too." Bogy added. She pulled a face of vague disgust. "Some of the shit they've done..."

"I guess..." Phi relented. "But... what about brainwashed kids, or... vulnerable people they've led in to get a meal out of 'em?" Silas looked to them, nodding supportively.

"Oh, you're more boring than I thought." Wraith complained. Phi glanced at him but still seemed pretty aware of how he had them at his mercy so didn't protest.

"My point is, who can say who really deserves it?" Phi finished. Hope really didn't like that they were this determined to cover all bases while they were in the midst of kidnappers and killers, but deep down... they knew they were kind of right.

"...I can!" Jet realised. He'd been unusually quiet while Hope explained their plan. "I can get anything on anyone! Make sure they do deserve it!" Hope glanced back and gave him a relieved smile.

"Oh shit, yeah." Bogy replied, stepping closer to him and putting an arm around his shoulders. Another twinge of jealousy hit Hope. Ridiculous they knew, but they couldn't help it.

"I got a question." Wraith said, looking Hope over. They glanced at him nervously; after seeing how quickly he'd managed to destroy Phi the other time, who she'd always thought of as a complete badass, they were probably way more scared of him than Leilana. Plus he was a little... unpredictable, which didn't gel well with Hope's logical style of reasoning with people. "What exactly do you think I want, master negotiator?"

Hope had to admit, though they'd obviously seen Wraith before they passed out in Trance's car, three times now actually thanks to their rebirths, they'd never had a real conversation with him. Just the taunting at the top of the stairs in the last loop. They did recall what he'd shouted back to Trance though. "I... think you... just... want to see what happens..." they repeated. "You just want the chaos, someone to toy with." Wraith folded his arms.

"Oh yeah?" he asked. It was evident they might have a point there but he was hardly going to congratulate them. "How are you gonna give me that?"

"C'mon, Wraith..." they said in the most convincing tone they could offer. It came our surprisingly smoothly. They knew causing drama was easy to do under any circumstances, so they were going to have to make the offer seem very attractive to him. "You don't think it would be fun?" A little smile graced their lips. "Introducing these insanely religious guys to a literal demon? Making them question everything their tiny little minds have ever comprehended?"

"Kinda liking you all of a sudden." Wraith responded, grinning and showing an eerie amount of teeth.

"I'm not part of the deal I'm afraid." they responded, making him chuckle back. Respect from a demon certainly wasn't something to be taken lightly. As far as they knew, that was all their non-friends convinced. "So... you have your offer... how's everyone feeling right now?"

"This isn't about feelings." Egon replied. "What you're suggesting... could work pretty well for us." He looked to Trance, not really betraying much in his expression but clearly awaiting his opinion too.

"Insanely religious, huh?" Trance asked of the cult, flicking his eyes across at her again. Hope nodded.

"I bet you could do some really interesting things with them too, Trance." they suggested, practically breathing against his neck.

"Do you have to talk like you're flirting with everyone all of a sudden?" he asked

"I don't know if I can turn it off now, sweetheart." they replied, fingers drumming at his chest, even though a slight laugh broke through. It wasn't even the effect of the succubus anymore. They felt powerful. They finally felt like they might be winning. Trance sighed, but then he looked back to Egon, and nodded.

"I'm getting tired of hanging around here." he replied. "We'll take your stupid deal." Egon's green eyes stared Hope down, not looking as compliant to it, but then looked across to everyone.

"Any bullshit, and we'll send Wraith after you." he suggested. Hope nodded at him seriously. Wraith snorted.

"Sure, if I feel like it." the demon corrected him with a chuckle. But he finally released his grip on Phi, letting them stumble forward a little. "Careful." he taunted.

"C'mon." Hope said to Trance, drawing the knife a little further from his neck and encouraging him to step forwards with them. Bogy followed alongside with the shotgun. Similarly, as Egon walked forward with Azazel, Wraith moved to his side and moved alongside him. As soon as they were close, Hope released their hold on Trance, knife still at his neck, and reached for Azazel's hand.

"Careful, he's a little turned on." Wraith teased the angel as he watched Egon loosen his grip on him slowly. Azazel looked at him in confusion.

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing." Hope couldn't resist joking back despite the fact they were shaking the whole time as they lowered the knife from Trance's throat carefully, leaving him free to return to Egon.

"Very fucking funny." Trance mumbled as he turned and stepped back from them, though he did look at them for a moment. "You were interesting, I'll give you that." he added softly. Hope said nothing, still backing away with Azazel, but then they hesitated and held his knife out to him. Trance looked surprised she was bothering to return it at first, but cupped his hand underneath it. Hope pressed the handle into his palm, lingering for a moment.

"Take care of yourself, Trance." they said earnestly. "You too Seiren I guess..." they added, holding back from rolling their eyes. Maybe... under just slightly different circumstances they could have been closer. Hope could have found a way to end the loop without parting from Trance like this. But the way things had gone, this was the only way they felt safe. As they let the knife go and kept backing away with Azazel and Bogy, the feeling of victory rushed over them and they knew this loop at least was over. They survived.

"None of you are leaving 'til your replacement gets here." he pointed out as he slipped the knife back in his pocket. "He's bugging the hell outta me enough already." Hope nodded.

"That's fair." they said. It was a nice night. Still a little cold, but not so terrible. They could wait it out a couple more hours. As Egon's group all began returning to their own conversations, everything still strange but a lot more calm, Azazel walked right over to talk to Bogy, with Jet backing away to give them their moment. Phi took their shotgun back off Bogy and returned to Silas, slinging it back onto their back before the couple embraced each other. Hope looked away as they moved in to kiss each other, focusing back on looking over at Trance talking with Egon.

They felt a hand brush their lower back. They stiffened slightly, not so much because they didn't know who it would be, but because they did. She turned to see Jet beside her. "You did amazing!" he said quietly, but just as enthusiastic as ever.

She looked across, an intense sense of relief at seeing all ten people around them alive. Trance, Seiren, Egon, Wraith and Leilana on one side. Phi, Silas, Bogy, Azazel and Jet on the other.

The only difference was that one side had Hope.

Maybe they could finally put some degree of value on themself, seeing it like this. Maybe they were worth something.

"Thanks." they replied to Jet, giving him a fond smile. "You know... you helped a lot too, though."

"Not that much..." Jet chuckled. "It was killing me to keep quiet while you explained actually." he admitted sheepishly.

"But you did it." they assured. "But you also shut everyone up so I could think." Hope said, looking down at thier hands then over to him. "Y'know, being able to get along with everyone... even if they don't always treat you right... it counts for... so much." It was certainly something they couldn't do. They smiled. "You're fucking awesome, Jet." He smiled back, looking pleasantly surprised.

"Aww!" he said emphatically, sounding so happy that Hope couldn't help but giggle a little. He leant his head on their shoulder slightly. "You're the sweetest, Hope."

"No, you..." they joked back as they blushed once more at the contact. The top of his hair brushed the back of their neck, making them tingle. There was this weird awkwardness tightening at the centre of their chest though. Everything had suddenly gone from seeing relief and ease and familiarity in him that inevitably got them both killed, to the polar opposite. Everyone was alive, but everything had been so back and forth between them for the last hour or so that suddenly the whole thing felt overwhelming. "Jet, listen-"

"Hope, I-" Jet began simulaneously. He drew back up off her shoulder and they looked at each other, laughing slightly. "You go!" he suggested through it. "I'm always talking, anyway."

"No, honestly, you should." they assured. "It was actually one of those things where I... really don't know what I was going to say, I just knew I should say something, y'know?" they admitted. "So... go for it, please."

"OK." Jet replied, nodding lightly. "Uh... so... about what you said in the bathroom..." Hope nodded, but they could feel thier face starting to blush very deeply indeed recalling it.

"I'm sorry that was... oh god I'm so awkward..." they stuttered, looking down and shaking their head, throwing their fringe all over their face. Jet took her arm in the hand that wasn't already on thier back, peering down to try and see them.

"No, it was hot." he assured, giving them a little smile. "But then..." he struggled as if trying to comprehend their change in demeanour. They looked at him, pushing their hair back a little and trying not to focus too hard on the hands on them. "I felt like I was making you uncomfortable... and I don't know if it was... shy uncomfortable or... or if I crossed a line..."

"You didn't cross a line, Jet." they assured. "I was just feeling weird because you made me think you and Bogy were together." they explained.

"And that... upset you?" he asked. He got to the bottom of things so quickly compared to their shy skirting about. They could point out most of their change in demeanour was just the consequence of trying to back off, but... he made it seem so easy to be honest that it seemed pointless. "Hope, c'mon, just tell me."

"OK fine..." they said, sighing but unable to resist giving him a little smile. "I like you. I didn't wanna make too big of a thing about it when we first met because of Theo but I do."

"I like you too!" he replied hastily. The words made their heart flutter slightly, yet still they worried that it wasn't enough.

"Still, I..." they began, still holding back. They glanced to Azazel talking earnestly with Bogy. Silas kissing Phi. Trance apparently muttering something to Seiren again. Then she thought back to everyone she'd felt similarly for who wasn't there. "The truth is Jet... I make a lot of poor choices when it comes to dumb crushes." they admitted. "Like... just awful... fucking trainwreck decisions." Jet laughed slightly.

"I could be the next one." he joked, giving her a little wink. He glanced over at Egon. "Look... I'm no better." he admitted. "But..." He took a second to get the words together, his fingers pinching at the material of the hoodie he was wearing, and it seemed to jog a memory. "Ooh, OK, so, I lose things a lot... and I've noticed people always say "it's always in the last place you look" when I find them..."

"Oh I can't stand that." Hope said, laughing with him slightly. "It's such a ridiculous phrase, I-I mean, if I'd found it, I wouldn't still be looking!" they ranted. "Of course it's going to be in the..." She looked to Jet, suddenly realising what the significance might be before he even got to it. Their expression dropped to a more serious one as they looked at him. "The last place I look."

"Right." Jet agreed. "So like... it's the same with relationships, you gotta look in a lot of wrong places sometimes, because once you found the right one..." He sighed. "I don't know... I was never great with metaphors."

"No, no that's.." they began. "I get it. If I'd made the right decision I wouldn't still be looking." They turned to face him with a smile. He didn't move the hand off their back, though he shifted to their other arm so he wasn't reaching across them weirdly. "That's really smart, actually."

"Really?!" he asked, sounding pretty surprised even as he smiled back.

"Yeah!" they chuckled back casually, finding that smile so damn adorable. Still, they were cautious. "So uh... I'm gonna do the smart thing and... suggest that..." Jet was looking at them so intently, hanging onto their every word, his hand brushing lightly at their back threatening to undo their firm attempt to be sensible. They couldn't stop looking at his eyes, his lips. "W-we could maybe get to know each other a little more... before we... act upon..." They stared hard at Jet, all those images of what they'd already done in their memories hitting them like a truck. "...anything... else..." they finished a little breathily.

"Uh huh..." Jet replied, his eyes flicking up and down their face longingly like he was anything but in agreement. "I can... we can... do that..." he said unconvincingly. "If you... really want to..." It wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't. They felt like it was taking so much of their willpower to not lean in they could barely breathe. The tension between them was so thick they felt like they could sink their teeth right into it right now. But Hope had already tied themselves in too many knots overthinking it to just give in and...

"I don't want to!" they blurted out, and Jet immediately pulled them to him and kissed them hard. Their hands moved to his face and neck as they kissed back with equal measure, putting their all into this because how often did anyone get a second first kiss with someone? It felt so nice the first time but they were scared to do it, scared they'd get caught, scared of how he'd react. Now, as they let the instinctive part of their brain take over, their mouth opening wider, their tongue tangling with Jet's as one of their hands slid up to his hair, they weren't scared of a damn thing. In fact he was the one who had to rein them in, pulling them back a little, panting.

"Woah... OK..." he breathed, hands still at their waist. "Gonna be... hard not to get carried away..."

"Get carried away..." they said in a low, seductive voice, their face still close to his, their breath lingering on his lips. It was all the more powerful than in their fantasies with Jet. He looked like he was doing everything in his power not to fucking explode. "Just... in a little while..." they said as they drew back casually, the hand that was tangled in his hair moving back down and tapping lightly at his chest. "When all this shit is sorted."

"I don't know I'm gonna wait until we get home..." Jet admitted, running his hands over their waist and looking rather enthralled by her.

"I didn't say we had to wait that long..." they pointed out with a raise of their eyebrows, eyeing up the woods all around them.

"...You're so hot..." Jet whined, taking their hands and leaning in to kiss them again, but this time they both held back a little, Hope giggling a little against Jet's lips. "So... you wanna just... see where it goes?" he clarified once they parted again, smiling at them.

"Yeah." they agreed with a gentle nod, a soft smile at him. "As long as it doesn't end on a fucking balcony, I don't even care anymore."

Insomnia wasn't something that ever really went anywhere, of course. There were still nights when Hope would take a while to fall asleep, or keep waking through the night, or get up too early and not be able to get back down again. But recently... well she had to admit, it had often been that little bit easier.

In fact, as their fingertips weaved through their boyfriend's soft dark hair as he lay with his head on on her stomach, chatting away as usual, both in their underwear and each other's shirts despite the breeze blowing through the slightly window, she found herself very close indeed to dozing off right in the middle of the day.

"Oh... I'm sorry... I went off on a bit of a tangent there, huh...?" Jet asked, realising she hadn't replied for a while.

"Oh..." they mumbled sleepily. "N-no... not at all baby!" they assured. "I'd love to give it a play with you later! I just... I didn't get a very good night's sleep last night."

"Oh no, how comes?" Jet asked affectionately, looking up at them with slight concern and picking up the hand that was draped on his shoulder to kiss it. "That feels so nice by the way." he commented of her other hand still running through his hair.

"Oh, I just... there was this streetlight that kept flickering, it was coming right through the blinds." they sighed. They raised their head and peered over towards one of windows of the covered balcony. "God, I hope they fix it today..."

Originally the idea that the two of them were getting kicked out from the couch to the balcony was just a joke about them making too much noise in the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and... well pretty much anywhere that wasn't Phi and Silas's bedroom, but over time, they'd actually come to like it. Neither of them felt safe going back to their own apartments for now, everything still felt up in the air, even with the agreement for Leilana to pick members of the EBC out to be Trance and Egon's victims. They got to put in the dirty work and get what Seiren needed and Egon... just plain enjoyed, Lana still got to eat them when they were done, and Azazel got to live a much quieter life with Bogy and their friends.

Despite it all, Hope couldn't bring herself to hate Trance. She still felt sorry for him in a lot of ways, and she still wished for the best for him. He'd recently given them a rather generous budget for exclusive access to some designs they'd been brave to ask if he was interested in, they were currently in production. There was a chance if word spread, they wouldn't have to go back to barista work again, which was good seeing as the old place she worked had fired her after one missed shift while Trance had her captured. Kidnapping and quite possibly some residual guilt was definitely a very bizarre start to a working friendship, but it was a very bizarre world they lived in, after all.

This tiny little room though, was a reprieve from all of that. Their smallish bed took up one half of the closed balcony, and there was a little dining table on the other half where Jet would set up his laptop and Hope her tablet or sketchbook so they could work. There were a few plants in the window boxes that she was pretty sure Phi or Silas must be watering because neither of them ever remembered to, some fake candles for when it got dark. Most importantly, windows all around so they could look over the large town, untouched by all the horrors packed into it. Jet and Hope's little private universe, their own little bubble.

But... maybe the balcony itself wasn't really the bubble anymore. Because when Jet twirled Hope around at a rave after she'd picked out the slightly less dangerous highs for them both, it was still there. And when they sat in the middle of the floor of the living room and Hope taught Jet card games while he tried his utmost hardest to focus on them, it was still there. When he showed them computer stuff. When they showed him how to cook. When they did all the things they both already liked, like game or watch stupid videos that made them snort with laughter or sit there devouring snacks and energy drinks or have copious amounts of noisy sex or just lay there together talking.

Balcony or not, it was always there.

"You could sleep now." Jet suggested. "I'm a little tired too after..." he giggled. "Y'know." Hope laughed slightly too.

"I said I was going to ride you until I broke either you or the bed, and the bed survived." they teased with a little lip-biting smile down at him. He grinned back. "I don't know though, you know how hard I find it to nap..." Jet nodded, then thought for a moment.

"What if I help you..." he suggested, shifting off of them and getting up to close the nearest of the blinds, giving the beautiful view of the city one last smile.

"Oh... Jet, you know you really don't have to-" they begun, already feeling a little disappointment at him not laying on them anymore.

"I know." he replied, moving to the next one and shutting that, too. "I want to!" He gave her an earnest smile and went around closing them all until the light in there wasn't perfectly dark, but a lot dimmer at least. "And I know you need it dark." he pointed out, coming back over to the bed and kneeling beside them. They smiled and reached up, tugging playfully at her crop top he was wearing. He looked so cute in it. "Because it's in your whole... "SNOWED" thing."

"Awww..." they cooed appreciatively. "You remembered..." It was yet another piece of information Jet's infectious talkativeness had led them to finally share with another person.

"It's a good way to remember it." he pointed out with a shrug. "But I guess I'm... going backwards." he realised with a laugh. Empty?"

They smiled again that he remembered. "Well on the one hand I ate a few too many M&Ms..." they replied. "But I don't need to pee so I think I'll be OK."

"Good. Uhhhhh..." Jet thought for a second. "Ooh!" he grabbed the blankets that were crumpled all over the place, and nestled up next to Hope, pulling them over them both. Hope turned to him with a smile and slipped their arms over his shoulders. "Warm! You like to tuck them right up to your neck!" He made sure the covers were tucked around their back, but then looked at the space between them. "Oh... I'm kind of in the way of that, aren't I?" he realised with a nervous giggle, resting a hand at their waist and another at the middle of their chest. Truth was though, Hope had always gripped the blankets that way because it was something to hold close, and the covers held them tight in return. She didn't need it that way right now. She'd much rather this, holding and being held by Jet.

"You keep me plenty warm." they assured him softly. "You are so adorable for even remembering all this shit."

"I kinda made notes on my phone last time you told me." Jet admitted, nuzzling his nose against theirs.

"Jet, you realise that's even more adorable?" they pointed out. They toyed with the longer side of his hair with the fingertips of one hand. "That takes effort." They planted a gentle kiss against his cheek. "Good boy." they praised with a little smile and a wink.

"Hope..." Jet replied, a slight blush spreading across his face even as he grinned, biting at his lip a little.

"OK, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to turn you on." they insisted through a slight laugh. "But you are. The best boy. My boy." Jet blushed harder and came so close he was buried right against her neck, squeezing her tight. They felt his lips move like he was about to say something, but then he didn't, which... for Jet, was very unusual. Worrying, even. There was a slightly awkward pause between them both for a moment.

"So... uh... before Warm, it's Orgasm..." Jet recalled. He looked back up at them and tapped a finger at his lip, feigning innocence. "Diiiiid I manage to take care of that one at all?" he teased.

"You know you did." Hope replied with amusement, but they were blushing just as hard as he'd just been at the question. "Guess it's more like SNO-O-OWED for today, huh?" they asked with a little chuckle, pulling him back up to face them with a finger under his chin.

"The day's not over yet." Jet pointed out playfully, winking at them. He looked down and shifted his vest up and their boxers down a little to trail his finger along their hip. "The N is for naked, right?"

"Are you... sure you're trying to get me to sleep?" Hope asked him just a little breathily. He slid down their boxers for them and they wiggled them off, then he looked back up, locking eyes with them.

"Sorry, you know it's... hard to keep my hands off you..." he pointed out softly, but there was definitely a hint of arousal in his tone as his hands stroked the outside of their bare thigh.

"And you never need to." they flirt back. "But like hell am I taking your shirt off. You'll just have to deal with the chest being all stretched out." they teased.

"I can live with that." he said with a smirk back. "You... like wearing it that much?" They nodded.

"Here's the way I see it." they explained with a shy smile, reaching out to fiddle with the hemline of her top on him. "When I can smell you on me, that's like... having a part of you with me whenever, right?"

"Aww!" he replied happily. "I love that!"

"But..." they continued, not finished. "I also have all of you right here." They put their palm to his chest and rubbed in a gentle circle, then looked to the side thoughtfully. "Sooo... this way, I get like... 120% Jet." they finished, smiling back at him. They honestly couldn't believe how lucky they were to have him. He swallowed, looking at her, but his eyes were so wide and shiny he looked like he was about to cry. "You OK, baby?"

"I'm... usually too much for people..." he said in a surprisingly soft, earnest tone, still looking like he might cry despite the smile breaking on his face. "You... want more of me?"

"Of course!" she assured, shifting their arms to embrace him tightly and pressing their forehead to his. "Always." Over the years, they'd become so nervous to admit how much they liked people, even with they were in a relationship with them; it only got them hurt. Being with Jet had undone some of that damage and in turn, let them be more honest with their affection for him. They planted a gentle kiss against his lips. He let out a happy sigh.

"I uh... I forgot what S is for." he admitted, looking rather caught up in her. "I always forget that one."

Hope laughed slightly. "I'm not surprised." they replied with a hint of teasing in their tone. "It's... silence." they said casually, then they realised how it might sound they began to backpedal. "Or... just quiet really." they added hastily. "Silence is really overselling it I mean I don't exactly need-"

"Oh god..." Jet interrupted, realising why she was being awkward about bringing it up. "Do I stop you sleeping?"

"What? No!" they insisted. "It's never been like that Jet, I swear, when I do stay up talking to you it's just because I don't want to stop!"

"But... but would you sleep better without me...?" he asked, looking at them anxiously.

"No." they reiterated. "Please, baby, I sleep better with you than I ever have!" they begged honestly. They rubbed their forehead against his slightly to get him to look them in the eyes. Those beautiful grey eyes that had captivated them from the first time they met him. He glanced back at them, but he still looked a little worried. "Look... I've been rewriting the universe for six fucking years." they reminded him. He really did know everything about them now, even that. "Soon as I've got a little rest, I'm rewriting SNOWED altogether." They smirked a little. "Preferably to something with at least two "O"s and a "J"." they joked to try and lighten the mood.

"Y-you don't have to do that." Jet replied, unusually flustered. "I can try to... be a little quieter."

"No, Jet, I mean it." they said firmly. "Look, I still like quiet." they admitted, giving him a genuine smile. Just looking at him made their heart flutter sometimes. "But... I like you like... a million times more."

"Hope..." Jet breathed, eyes wide as he looked at her, a slightly dopey smile spreading across his face. "I... I like you a lot too..." There was a hint of worry though. Something he was holding back, just like a few minutes ago.

"Jet?" they asked with slight concern. "What's... what's wrong?" He looked at them and bit at his lip, fidgeting a little. Whatever he wanted to say, he was struggling to hold it back. What made them worry so much was that Jet didn't hold stuff back. He just seemed to say almost everything. Unless... unless it was hurtful? Oh god... did he want to break up with them? "Baby... you're... worrying me..." they admitted, chewing at their lip.

They were pretty damn self-aware of course, they knew it was clingy as hell to worry this much about someone you'd been with for a matter of weeks ending things with you. But Jet was so special to them, he wasn't like anyone else. All those things that made them worry about falling for him, they'd been entirely correct, but as time went on, they only found more and more reasons to like him. One reason glared out amongst all the rest though. Something they only very recently realised they'd not experienced in any of their relationships.

He didn't hurt them.

"...OK." Jet said in an unusually quiet breath. "So... uh... I know you thought I moved too fast with Theo and I guess... I guess I did." he explained. "But the past few weeks I've never felt so... so safe, so wanted, so cared for, so... happy, and..." They breathed a sigh of relief. He was holding back nice things. His hands reached under the blanket, seeking theirs out. They found both of his and took them, the two fiddling with each other's fingertips, obviously both still nervous. "Don't freak out, please. But... I think I... love you, Hope."

Their breath caught in their throat and they squeezed his hands tight. "Jet..." they said, a slight laugh in their tone because they were so damn relieved, their heart beating so rapidly they felt like it was about to explode. "I love you too!"

"Oh my God!" Jet breathed excitedly. "Yeeeeessss!" It was the absolute sweetest; a huge grin spread across Hope's face. "Sorry." he replied with a giggle. "I just didn't think..." He closed his eyes and smiled, biting down on his lip and wiggling from excitement. He opened his eyes back up and pulled them to him and kissed them, and they kissed back, both soft but very enthusiastic.

They wrapped their arms tightly around his neck while he brought his up to their back. She loved him so damn much, she never wanted to let him go. He wasn't perfect, neither were they. But their imperfections balanced each other out pretty damn well. They were panting a little when they pulled away, a hint of a blush on both their faces. "Probably shouldn't... go too far with this right now, right?" he asked with a breathless chuckle. "Not if you're tired."

"I mean..." Hope said, the very mention of the word tired causing them to betray themself with a yawn through the rest of the sentence. "I wouldn't mind..." Apparently it was infectious as Jet yawned back. He looked severely tempted, but managed to hold back for once.

"I can... calm down." he assured. "Get some sleep, babe." he tilted their head down to plant a kiss to their forehead. "Rewriting the universe is a really important job!" he added with a giggle.

"I'm really, really hoping I've retired from that." she said with a grimace. Six years was quite enough for one lifetime. "But... I think I've rewritten the acronym already."

"What?" Jet replied with a giggle. "That was so fast! What is it?"

"OK... it might be stupid but... YODEL." they explained. "Most importantly, You." they began. Jet smiled hard, but listened to the rest. "Orgasm, Dark, Empty, they're all the same. But the L can be..." They blushed a little, not used to actually talking about this yet though they'd been pretty sure for a while now.

"Loud?" he replied with a chuckle, reaching for their hand and interlinking his with it, bringing the two up between them. They shook their head.

"Loved." they confirmed with a soft smile.

"Oh!" Jet replied, smiling back. "Yeah." he nodded. "So, so much!"

"I mean... I guess that kinda comes with the whole... you part." they mused. "But I don't think yode is a word."

"Maybe not..." Jet agreed, running a hand onto their hair with a smile, then suddenly lighting up. "Ooh, how about lullaby?!" he asked. "I... can't really do silent... but... I can always sing for you!"

"Aww, I'd love that." Hope replied. He really was the sweetest. Jet wriggled onto his back, pulling her in against his shoulder, hand still in their hair.  They pulled the covers up, placed a hand on his chest and wrapped a leg across his thigh contentedly as he began to sing to them, surprisingly quiet at first.

"When the lights go out..." he began. "Will you take me with you..."  She knew he wasn't the most confident about his singing voice. But he could hold a tune, and it really was the perfect volume to fall asleep to. "And carry all this broken bone,"

"MCR?" they reply, nuzzling into his neck a little more and closing their eyes. "You spoil me, love."

Jet smiled into her hair as he continued. "Through six years down in crowded rooms, And highways I call home..."  Huh. It really was six years. Six years since the start of college, six years since she'd first started cycling through endless entrapment, neglect, torture, death. Through all those things Jet would never subject her to. All the things she really hoped they were both finally away from. It certainly didn't end on a balcony. In fact, she was pretty sure this was just the beginning.

"It's something I can't know 'til now..." His voice was so cute. It was a little scratchy at times, but to Hope, it was the sweetest. The weird thing was that a month ago, Hope had been so sure of who they were; sure enough to fix a whole handful of deaths on minutes of sleep. Right now though, they were feeling out of touch with that. Almost like they were a whole different person.

In fact, things were so nice, and normal, and overall going so well, that they were almost ready to admit they might be...

Ebony, again.

"'Til you pick me off the ground," Jet continued as hebegan scrunching his hand in their hair gently. The same way this had all began in a way, all that time ago back in Theo's apartment. "With a brick in hand, your lip-gloss smile, your scraped-up knees, and..."

As he hit the chorus, Hope couldn't help but join in. "If you stay, I would even wait all night," they both sang, giggling slightly. "Or until my heart explodes, How long... until we..." Jet stopped and began nuzzling into Hope's hair, listening for a moment. He seemed to really like when they sang. "...Find our way, In the dark and out of harm?"  they continued, opening their eyes back up despite their tiredness and lifting their head to catch his beautiful grey ones. They smiled at each other, and finished the chorus together.

"You can run away with me, Anytime you want."

End note: It's Halloween, so why not finish with the most horrifying thing of all?

Fluff. 😈

Thank you again Captain for being so gracious with your murder boys and letting me blend our worlds together. I promise to give Jet back tomorrow. Love you mate. 🫡

[lifeonthemurdersim]

Why do I want this so bad?

[lifeonthemurdersim]

THIS POST IS JUST THEO

Saw it on fb but source.

[lifeonthemurdersim]

HAPPY FUCKING HALLOWEEN!

I'm not sure I'll have many takers on this but to finish off GoreKinktober I want to play a game...

🕸Send me TRICK and a character/characters/ship and I'll write a gorey short piece!

OR

🕸Send me TREAT and a character/characters/ship and I'll write a smutty short piece!

Due to the content and because this is a MDNI account, 18+ askers and characters only please! If you want to add an additional prompt/theme then that would be great as it gives me more to work from!

People are welcome to reblog and do the same!

[lifeonthemurdersim]

All Roads Lead To Here- Chapter 4: Off The Balcony Fandom/Universe: Siren From Hell / Sadistic By Nature Characters/Pairing: Again, multiple. AO3 Link(full tags, warnings etc here) Word count: 8,611 words Synopsis: Trance isn't too happy about what's going on in his house. Little does he know, the chaos has just begun... Author's Note: Please check trigger warnings! I'm sorry if I've missed any this is all very fucked up. Siren From Hell and a good portion of the characters in this belong to @cptsadist- everyone but Hope, Azazel, Leilana and Phi basically. I just really hope I wrote Trance alright, it was so hard to get into his mind. More about Gorekinktober on my pinned post! Kinktober prompt(s) used: Balcony Goretober prompt used: Burns

Trance was already pretty fucking pissed from arguing with Wraith and trying to stop Seiren taking over to gawk at Leilana. So when he'd seen exactly what Jet and Hope were doing, he wasn't inclined to be at all generous about it. Seiren didn't seem anywhere near as bothered, however, so it was a bit of a fight to even get away.

"T-tell her she's pretty!" he urged in Trance's head, but he ignored him. "Trance! Where the hell are we going?!"

"I don't know about you, but I'm not too happy about Egon's little shadow and our captive fucking around with each other." he pointed out, rushing to the other side of the house.

"As long as I can still feed off her, who cares?" Seiren snapped. "Awww, are you jealous?"

"Oh, shut up." Trance replied evasively. It was far more complicated than that. It was the fact he had let them both in that bothered him the most. He'd made the mistake of trusting Jet, and he'd... even began to trust Hope a little too. This just proved to him that he was right, that people were bastards and he couldn't trust anyone. He pushed the handle as he reached the door, only to find it locked. That was when he heard Hope moaning out a very loud cry of Jet's name.

"He let them finish? Boring..." Seiren questioned. "We would've been way more fun!" Trance was not particularly focused on his taunts right now however, far more bothered about getting them the hell off each other.

"Jet!" he growled through the door. "Hope!" He didn't know what he intended to do but he was pissed. "Get the hell out here!" Nothing. He pressed his ear to the door. He could hear hushed voices and shifting around, but it was too ambiguous to know what was going on.

"They're fucking!" Seiren said delightedly. Trance was curious? He could hear them? He guessed Seiren's hearing might somehow be better than his despite being trapped in a human body. But were they really just disregarding his warning? "Of course not!" Seiren replied shrilly, to which Trance sighed through gritted teeth, losing his patience with him. "I just wanted to see what your reaction would be!" he teased. "Sounded more like he didn't believe them about us to me."

Trance's demeanour shifted, he smirked slightly. Of course. Jet wasn't going to believe someone he'd just met over him, no way. They'd always got on at least relatively well, and Jet was naive enough to believe any lie he spun him. He'd get him on side with a few charming lines, and if worst came to worst, Seiren would maybe have two victims. He could feel the imp's excitement at the prospect.

"Last chance..." he told them, keeping his voice as smooth and convincing as possible. "Why doesn't one of you let me in, and we can have a little talk about this, hmm...?" Still nothing, it still sounded like they were moving about in there but no reply. He'd rather not expend the effort to break in, but he was confident that with he and Seiren's strength combined he could, and he didn't feel he had much of a choice right now.

Egon was still off fucking the angel apparently, and by the time he got back down there and through to him, the goths in the bathroom may well have already run away. Wraith was unhelpful at the best of times, let alone when they'd just had an argument. Given the succubus's dismissive attitude towards both him and Seiren, he doubted she'd be any help either.

He ran back a little then straight into the door, barging it with his arm, which rattled it a little but otherwise didn't have much of an impact. He should have bought shittier doors. He huffed, backed off again and tried once more. Still a slight movement but the door was intact.

"Need any help by the way?" Seiren asked.

"You...?" he muttered incredulously. "You're fucking kidding me... yes, I want some fucking help!" Seiren just laughed as he ran back one more time, this time feeling a little more force as he pushed back forward. The door clattered to the floor, Trance falling to his knees on top of it... and Jet and Hope, who had apparently been waiting either side of it, their hair and bodies still half soaked with their shirts and boxers shoved back on, swung round either side of him, grabbed each others hands and began to run in the direction of the stairs as Trance was still getting to his feet.

He growled in annoyance, and began to pursue them, but they were both pretty fast runners. He was already so fucking over the amount of effort this was taking. Thankfully for him, they were stopped at the top of the stairs by Wraith, spreading his arms wide in front of the two tiny goths.

"I don't think so, tortolitos." he teased with a grin, looking between the two. "No time for a bra?" he asked Hope, eyes trained at their chest. His eyes flicked to Jet's crotch. "And I guess she's edging you, huh?"

"Uh hi... Wraith..." Jet greeted casually, but there was a little less trust in his tone than usual. Hope didn't wait for things to get straightened out, instead pulling him away down the hall in the opposite direction from Trance. It would only lead them back towards the other side of the house, where Egon's room was, though.

"Thanks Wraith..." Trance mumbled in slight surprise as he followed them, not having expected him to help.

"This isn't for you, I wanna see what happens!" Wraith responded excitedly, chuckling darkly as he folded his arms, watching all three of them. Even as Trance struggled to catch up with the pair, he could just about hear them speaking in hushed tones.

"Maybe Egon can help us?!" Jet suggested as they neared his room. "Egon?!" he called.

"Jet, he is worse!" Hope insisted. "He has Azazel and... wait..." They kept running with Jet but banged hard on the door on the way past. "Azazel, help!" They looked to Jet and hissed something Trance couldn't quite make out.

As Trance passed Egon's room, he could hear sounds of a sudden argument inside; Azazel sounded like he was pleading, Egon sounded like he was dismissing. "Trouble in paradise?" he yelled through the door, hammering on it. "Egon, get the fuck out here!" He knew Egon would take his side over Jet's any day. Still he continued pursuing them for now, until Egon could catch up.

Jet and Hope were nearing Egon's surveillance room. Leilana was standing just inside the doorway with her hand on her hip, looking at them disinterestedly.

"She's so hot!" Seiren insisted. Trance told him internally to calm the fuck down, glancing at Leilana as he passed, who looked at him with slight disgust. Once he got past, however, he could hear Wraith behind him, obviously having materialised back next to her.

"Looks like you might get your angel back, Egg's unlocking his door." Trance heard him tell her. He couldn't focus on that though, as Hope and Jet were finally running out of anywhere to run to. There was nothing at the end of this floor except a door out to a little balcony, and he didn't think they were stupid enough to run right off the edge. Just as he was about to consider this won, Jet opened the door to a tiny unused closet in the hallway Trance had forgotten was even there, and pulled Hope in, pulling the door shut behind them both.

Fuck.

"Rule number one." Seiren taunted him, laughing slightly. "Don't play hide and seek with Jet."

"All of you are pissing me off." Trance growled, pushing his back up against the closet and banging his head back against the door pretty hard. It fucking hurt. Maybe this one could be broken down too, but it was going to be a lot harder. He pulled out one of his knives, poking the point of his finger with it, just short of breaking the skin. "You know you both almost had me thinking you were different." he muttered loud enough for them both to hear, genuine, bitter disappointment in his tone.

"...Maybe we could just-" he heard Jet relent, muffled from the other side of the heavy door.

"No, Jet." Hope insisted, followed by a whisper he can't make out. A stifled giggle from Jet. More whispers. A possible kiss noise. Shifting around. Trance slammed his elbow back against the door in annoyance.

"You two can't stay in there forever." he pointed out. He turned to look to see if Egon was coming to help. He was walking with Azazel, both shirtless, hand gripping firmly at his arm and gun pressed to his head. They both spotted Trance leaning against the door. Egon nodded at him and began to walk towards him. Azazel frowned at him.

"Wh-where's Hope?" he yelled out firmly in a tone that was probably meant to be threatening but wasn't remotely. Trance jerked his thumb at the cupboard door. He knew there wasn't a damn thing the angel could do about it right now anyway, so what difference did it make? Before the two could get anywhere near him though, they were intercepted by Leilana and Wraith noticing them and stepping out from the surveillance room.

There was loud knocking downstairs, at his front door. At his front door? What the hell was even going on anymore? Trance was starting to get overwhelmed, slumping down to sitting as he watched the two demons approach the human and angel.

"No... n-no, no..." Azazel was whimpering softly, seeming to almost lean into Egon a little as he saw Leilana. "I can't go back, I can't." He gripped tightly at Egon's arm.

"You're not going anywhere." Egon agreed. "Who the fuck are you?" he asked the succubus.

"I'm a... friend... of Azazels." she replies. "And if you don't mind, I'll be getting him right back to the EBC before I starve to death."

"I don't want to go back!" Azazel insisted in a whine. "I-I never asked them to worship me!"

"But they do." she told him in return. "And when you're there, they openly offer me their flesh to feast upon." Wraith looked over at her with further interest. Trance was too all over the place to really give a shit.

"That's n-not right!" Azazel replied, growing more and more distressed. "They shouldn't be doing that. Y-you shouldn't be doing that!"

"This is all irrelevant, he is mine." Egon warned, holding the gun closer to Azazel's head, but he looked like he was seriously considering aiming it at the demon.

The banging at the front door was growing louder, cutting through Trance's brain like a knife. He'd probably drank a little more than he should've today. Well... every day. "For fuck's sake, can somebody get the goddamn door!" he yelled out to them all.

"You know what?" Wraith asked. "Anything's gotta be more fun than these three going in circles." He promptly disappeared in a shadowy blur to go and check.

"He's right, this is meaningless." Leilana declared. "You have one last chance to hand the angel over peacefully." she told Egon.

"Go to hell." he replied, but then he froze up. Still standing but incredibly stiff.

"No." Azazel whimpers to Leilana. "Don't... not to him, Lana... don't..."

"Oh look who has sympathy for their kidnapper." Leilana taunted. "You're so weak, Azazel. You're practically human." Egon drew the gun back from Azazel, and Trance frowned. He looked distinctly strange. Not how he'd ever seen him before in all the years they'd known each other.

"Egon?" Trance called over.

"Is... he... OK?" Jet yelled from the closet.

"Jmmt!" Hope replied, their voice... suspiciously muffled. Fucking seriously?

"What the fuck is wrong with you two?" Trance growled, hammering his fist on the door several times. "Egon?" he asked again.

Wraith materialised in front of Trance. "OK, you got a girl with green hair, a guy with blonde hair and... something in the middle, I think... with black and orange hair." he told Trance.

"That's all you got, their hair colors?" Trance asked incredulously, still glancing between him and Egon, because the way he was still frozen and shaking was rather concerning. Egon pushed Azazel towards Lana, and it was clear from his body language now that he was quite possibly being controlled.

"I looked for like two seconds, man, what do you want from me?" Wraith teased with a shrug.

"OK, I have no idea who the hell that is but the last thing we need is more people in this situation, I'm... I'm already done." Trance muttered.

"No..." Azazel whimpered. "I don't want to... I don't want to go back with you."

"Well..." Lana began, hand tight around his waist, teasing her fingertips up against his hip. She didn't continue her sentence, but Egon raised the pistol to his head, completely silent. "Better give you no other option."

"Wait... Egon...?" Wraith asked.

Still shaking the whole time, like he was fighting hard against it, Egon gave Trance and Wraith an incredibly pained look... and pulled the trigger.

"Egon!" Trance yelled, as the shot rang out and his bodyguard and friend's brains were splattered against the hallway wall, blood dripping down his face as he fell to his knees, and then face down onto the floor.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Wraith responded, and even he now seemed wary to go any closer with Leilana still there.

"N-no..." Azazel replied, looking horrified at the whole ordeal. "No..."

"What... happ... ened...?" Jet whined breathily through the closet door, before making another series of noises like he was crying out while biting down on something. Trance couldn't even register how ridiculous they both were right now, actually crawling away from the door slightly, kneeling staring over at Egon's body on the floor in horror, afraid to draw closer because that would really just prove it was real.

"He was given fair warning." Lana pointed out, turning to look at Wraith and Trance threateningly, her arm tight around Azazel's chest.

"N-no..." Azazel repeated.

"And now... we will be returning to the EBC." she told them. "Wraith-"

"NO!" Azazel shouted, a wave of energy throwing outward from him, bringing down a solid beam of light right onto Leilana. The demon screeched in pain as the beam completely disintegrated her, scattering Azazel in a pile of ash.

There was also a short shriek from the closet. Hope and Jet jumped out, revealing a purple-tipped white flame that had manifested inside of there, just short of burning them. It began to spread rapidly. At the same time, other flames were popping up all over the house.

"No, no!" screamed Seiren when he saw the nearby patch of fire, taking over Trance before he could stop it, forcing him to turn and crawl backwards away from it.

"H-Hope!" Azazel said with relief. "I controlled it." Trance glanced at Hope, who looked too terrified by the sudden descent into absolute chaos in the five to ten minutes she and Jet were in the closet to respond to that or even move.

"Catch her!" Seiren urged to Trance, but he ignored him, defeated.

"Egon!" Jet yelled, turning even paler than usual, running over to him and looking him over, seemingly not even daring to flip him over when it was obviously him. "Oh... oh god..." He closed his eyes, looking like he was trying hard not to pass out.

"Controlled it?" Trance replied to Azazel. He didn't even know what to say, with all that was going on he felt completely fucking numb. "Egon's dead, there are flames all over my fucking house..." Just to further escalate things, there was the sudden sound of the door being knocked from it's hinges downstairs, likely the people Wraith mentioned breaking in. Trance couldn't take this. He couldn't even go after Hope right now despite Seiren still yelling at him. He buried his head in his hands.

"Holy fire..." Wraith commented, recoiling from it. That explained Seiren's fear. He materialised closer to Azazel. "You had our friend killed!" he spat, clearly betraying some affection towards Egon.

"You... did?" Jet asked, looking up at Azazel.

"It... w-as the succubus..." Azazel insisted. "Sh-she killed Egon... I killed her..."

"OK I don't know who the fuck any of you are, but let our friends go!" came a yell as a biracial person with black and orange curls stormed across the hallway carrying a shotgun. They had a belt with multiple pockets and a couple of what looked like a couple of holstered wooden stakes hanging off of it. Their green eyes looked up across the remaining people alive. "Azazel... Hope... you're OK!" they said with relief.

"You... don't know who I am?" Trance couldn't help but ask, not insulted, just exhausted.

"Ehhh, actually I do, you're just a little mainstream for my tastes." the person responded disdainfully.

"Phi..." Hope replied, relieved. "H-how did you find us?" Out of the corner of Trance's eye, he saw Wraith slink into the shadows again.

"I had a little help." Phi explained, then glanced back, but their line was somewhat undermined by no-one turning up yet. "OK I sprinted up here but the other two will be here in a minute, I swear." Since Wraith was missing, they pointed the gun between Trance and Jet. Jet tore away from Egon to put his hands up, wincing. Trance stared hard at them. He was already pretty out of range.

"Ph-Phi, d-don't!" Hope said with a little worry. "Don't shoot!"

"Don't shoot which one?" Phi asked, lowering it slightly. Trance turned to them, looking for their reaction, even though he was pretty sure he knew what it was going to fucking be. Except, they didn't actually answer, just looking to Phi and shaking their head.

"Ohhhhhh." Wraith chuckled, popping up behind Phi and squeezing tight around their arms so they couldn't raise the gun again. "Your friends are really letting you down here, huh? One's simping for every human boy left." he commented, then glanced at Trance. "Well, human-ish. And the other..." he raised one of his hands up to thier neck. "Just got you revenge killed."

"No!" Hope yelled. "Zaze, please!" Azazel fired a blast from his eyes that knocked them both back against one of the walls, but it didn't do anything about Wraith's grip on Phi. They went to elbow him in the ribs but he didn't hesitate, sinking his claws right into their jaw as they let out a blood-curdling scream. He tutted at them.

"Quit being such a baby." he teased as the claws on his other hand sliced through their chest with a very unpleasant squelching noise. Phi struggled but couldn't say or do anything, shuddering and gasping in his arms as they began to bleed out.

A very pale man with long blonde hair seemed to suddenly speed up as he ran down the hallway. He looked completely overwhelmed by what he'd ran into for a second, but when he spotted Wraith and Phi against the wall his distress only increased. He stood with his mouth open in horrified shock. "Ph-Phi?" he said, sounding distraught as the blood-covered Phi looked over at him, still looking to be in agonizing pain, and then suddenly he launched towards Wraith baring sharp fangs. The demon, however, slunk back into his shadow form, obviously done with his payback for Egon, leaving Phi to fall upon the ground, still shuddering and gasping. The vampire didn't even attempt to pursue him, instead cradling the bleeding victim, murmuring softly. "No... nonono..."

"Silas..." Trance heard Hope say sympathetically and possibly a little guiltily from behind him. "I'm so, so sorry..." He didn't even look up at them.

"Si..." Phi gasped out, now hyperventilating from the pain but reaching a blood-splattered arm up to his shoulder shakily. "Please..."

A green-haired woman Trance vaguely recognised from a picture Jet once showed him on his phone runs across the hallway too. "What the fuck is going on here?" she asked as she surveys the scene. "Jet... Azazel... you're OK." she realised, breathing a sigh of relief. "Oh... oh shit-" she added, seeing Phi in Silas's arms.

"Bogy!" Jet exclaimed,  sounding a mixture of relieved and still terrified from what's gone on, his voice shaking. He looked around, and when Trance caught a glimpse of his face, he looked like the shock was about the only thing keeping him conscious right now. "It was Wraith, he's-" he began to explain.

"Don't be a tattletale, Jet..." Wraith's voice taunted with a chuckle. "I might have to start asking whose side you're on..." That was when Trance noticed there were two shadows over Egon's body. It seemed he was not the only one, however.

"Jet, run!" Hope yelled. Trance turned to see them beckoning him, rolling his eyes.

"NOW." Seiren urged. "You don't wanna see them running away together again, do you?" he taunted. Trance took the hint, springing into action and launching towards Hope, coming up behind them and bringing his knife to their throat. They sighed through gritted teeth, a surprisingly understated reaction. Maybe they knew he would eventually do it, just not when.

Jet began to run in their direction, but Wraith materialised and grabbed him by the ankle, Jet responding with a yelp as he was thrown to the ground on his front. However, there was a shot of fire to Wraith's shoulder that took him by surprise enough that he let go again, turning his head slightly. "Ah! The hell?" he questioned, only to be hit with a much larger flame to his back. This one however, overtook him, wrapping around his entire body, leaving him struggling to proceed. When Trance looked up for the culprit, his knife still sitting at Hope's throat, he saw Bogy with her arm outstretched. "Calm... down... I was just gonna... fuck with him..." he growled, clearly in pain.

Bogy looked like she was very much on the verge of letting him go. But then she looked to Azazel. Then to Jet. Then to Phi, who Silas was currently feeding from the neck of while they drunk from his wrist, and she didn't back down. The flames grew more intense as Jet scrambled back in the direction of Hope and Trance, watching in shock and slight awe. She twisted her wrist and Wraith was brought face to face with her. She gave him a disapproving look at first. But then there was an odd flicker of what looked like... recognition.

"Wait..." she said, sounding shocked.

"Wait..." Wraith echoed, only to be followed by a loud roar of pain as the flames consumed him, raising him right up into the air and back down into a pile of ash much like the one that had scattered over Azazel. Bogy stood there, frozen, looking like she'd seen a ghost. He could only reason that maybe she'd never killed anyone before. She slid to her knees, still looking shell-shocked. Azazel rushed over to check on her.

"Th-thank you." Jet replied to her with a smile then turned back to Trance and Hope. "Trance..." he said, looking worried. "C'mon man, this isn't you." Trance huffed. He wasn't sure that was true at all, not anymore. "You're a cool guy, y'know, just... just put the knife down and...and we can all talk."

"That's funny." Trance replied. "Because I remember giving you the same fucking option when I was stood outside that door."

"I... wanted to believe you Trance, I really did..." Jet insisted, looking to Hope. Obviously they'd had to coerce him a little. "But this... does kind of prove them right..." he pointed out.

Trance saw a shift out of the corner of his eye. The lifeless Phi was beginning to revive.Thier plaid shirt was still soaked with blood but their skin was flawless, their complexion little less healthy looking but free of all the clawmarks and gushing wounds, a subtle brightness to their green eyes. They looked up at Silas and smiled with relief, baring long fangs. Then they shifted onto their knees and turned, and the two vampires embraced each other and kissed. Bogy and Azazel were also embracing. Ugh.

"Yeah?" Trance snapped at Jet. "Well why shouldn't I prove people right?" he replied. "You want to think I'm a bad person for this, fine!" He clutched tighter at Hope, his knife beginning to dig into their neck ever so slightly while she let out a slight gasp. "Who isn't?" he looked around at the chaos of his house. There was basically nothing left of Wraith and Lana, Egon's body was still on the floor, Phi's blood was everywhere, Azazel's holy fire was softly spreading. "This is people!" He didn't care if it was humans, angels, demons, whatever. It still rang true.

"Trance." Jet says shakily, pulling out a pistol that Trance didn't even realise he'd had tucked into his underwear. He guessed he still thought it was something else. Egon's gun. When the fuck did he take that? He moves quicker than Trance can, pressing it to his forehead. "I don't want to do this, but you need to put the knife down!" Even Seiren stopped taunting Trance and squeaked in self-preservation, forcing him to pull the knife back to half an inch or so away from Hope's neck.

Trance couldn't see a way out of this. Not right now. If even Seiren was willing to abandon their victim, why was he even still fighting, anyway? He did think he knew... it was just really hard to admit. He side-eyed Hope. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to start to get attached to you." he muttered to them bitterly. Their own eyes flicked towards him, staring hard.

"That's the look that did it, wasn't it?" Seiren taunted him. "When they look like they actually care about you."

"Shut up, Seiren!" he yelled aloud. Jet and Hope were both staring at him. So were the other four now, and he hated it. "Make sure you take a good look around, sweetheart." he growled to Hope quietly. "This is all your fault." With that, he pushed them towards Jet before he could be tempted to change his mind. The two of them managed to stop themselves falling by stumbling back a little. Jet pulled them to him with his free arm, though he still had the gun trained in Trance's direction. They were both still staring at him, too. He looked around at those who were left alive. Everyone was staring at him, even as they all clutched to another. He guessed he was the fucking monster among them now. What else was new?

A sudden beam of light lit up the room, blindingly white. The hell? The ceiling was still intact but it seemed to be beaming right through. Huge. Beautiful. Celestial. It was like it was forcing them all towards it, like it wanted to pull them all in.

"I don't like it..." Seiren whined uncomfortably. If it was what he thought it was, Trance wasn't exactly the happiest about it either. But there were two people having a lot more issue with it. The vampires.

"Si, why does this hurt so fucking much?" Phi yelled out, shaking in pain.

"I... don't know..." Silas whined back, trying to crawl away with them. "I can't... we can't..." It was the last thing that could really be made out before the two of them devolved into unintelligible screams of pain, pulling each other close as the heavenly light fried them alive.

"Si... Phi..." Hope whimpered quietly, tearing up and pushing thier face against Jet's shoulder. "What... what the fuck?"

"Azazel." called a voice from the sky. Booming and gentle all at once.

"M-" Azazel began, rising to his feet and helping Bogy up, who seemed to be having the same discomfort with the light as Seiren. "M-Michael?"

"Yes." came the reply.

"You just k-killed my friends..." he replied, clinging tighter to Bogy. There was an atmospheric pause, but his actual point went ignored.

"Destroying two demons is not an easy feat, Azazel." Michael replied.

"Well it was only really... one... directly." he replied awkwardly, glancing at Bogy.

"Nonetheless." Michael told him. "You are accepted back into heaven." Azazel looked shocked and... oddly horrified.

"N-no..." he replied. "I... I don't want to I... I want to... stay here." he insisted. "With... with Hope..." he glanced at his friend, but then his gaze returned to Bogy, and there was a hint of a stronger affection there. "And... w-with you." he told her directly.

"Azazel..." Bogy said softly. "Are you sure?"  "If this is where you need to be then..." She glanced over at Hope against Jet's shoulder, who was peeking over at Azazel with wet eyes. "Me and Jet will... will take care of your friend... make sure they're not alone..."

"I... I don't like it there." he told her. "But, mostly I want to stay here with you, I..." he took her hands in his. "Bogy I've never... never had the chance to tell you... just how much you mean to me." he said softly. Before she spoke though, a voice boomed from the heavens once again.

"Your ascension is not optional, Azazel." Michael responded. "You must return to heaven where you belong." Azazel looked between the light and Bogy.

"Th-then you have to let me take her with me!" Azazel insisted, not letting go of Bogy's hands. "Sh-she killed one of the demons too! It's only fair!"

"Azazel..." Bogy replied. "I don't... know about that." It didn't look entirely like she didn't want to go, more like there was something else. Something she wasn't telling him.

"I suppose... if there is another with you who helped achieve this, then yes, they may ascend." Michael responded. There was a pause. "I just hope you're not repeating any of the same mistakes, Azazel."

"I... I never made that mistake in the first place!" Azazel insisted. "I- I never d-did anything with a demon, I... think I was framed..."

"Azazel..." Bogy warned with a little more worry in her voice. He turned back to her, looking willing to hear her out, but Michael spoke first.

"Very well then." he agreed. The two of them began to ascend into the air.

"W-wait!" Azazel insisted having seen Bogy's expression, but it was too late. Azazel was being pulled up fluidly, even as he struggled, but Bogy... the light was lifting her too but it was like it couldn't take her completely, it was ripping her into long, thin, bloody shreds as she screamed.

"BOGY!" Azazel yelled, trying to grab for her frantically, but he was already being pulled up further, starting to glow translucently as he ascended through the ceiling and disappeared completely.

"Bogy?" Jet whimpered as the bloody ribbons began to cascade to the floor and the light started to withdraw again. Suddenly he looked like he was wobbling considerably.

"Jet?" Hope checked despite also sounding horrified. "Oh, woah, woah, try to stay with me Jet." There was a clunk as Jet dropped his gun as he passed out, all Hope's focus on trying to keep him from falling.

Apparently, Seiren didn't trust Trance to act upon it himself as he took full control, lunging and grabbing the pistol. Trance didn't even have the energy or the motive to fight it. Everything that had happened all at once had only left him feeling more screwed up than he already was.

"It's OK." the imp reassured both Trance and Hope for different reasons, then turned to her. "Killing you this way wouldn't be any fun for me..." Trance could feel that he just wanted to have it, so that they wouldn't have an advantage.

"Seiren..." Hope replied in recognition. It was interesting for Trance to see how their face shifted. Her looks to him had started to become a lot softer than this. They really didn't look pleased to see him. There was little Trance could do about it but watch, and see what Seiren's plan was. Jet managed to open his eyes again, still looking woozy.

"I still need your blood..." he insisted, then smiled a little, swinging the gun between the two. "Maybe... maybe both." Hope shook her head and began backing away. Seiren laughed slightly, taking it as a game and moving closer. Hope grabbed for Jet's hand but this time they didn't run, just still stepping away slowly towards the end of the hallway with the balcony.

"Can't we... find someone else?" Jet bargained. "I can find anyone on the internet!" he said with a nervous laugh. "I can make sure they deserve it."

"No." Seiren insisted. His attempts to be tough broke down a little as he was honest with them. "It'd take too long, I'm starving..." Hope looked back a little and saw the flames that had spread from the little cupboard they'd been hiding in.

"Jet..." she warned. Their path was completely blocked by them, though it wasn't that high. "Are you any good at jumping?" they asked him quietly, though Seiren could still hear them. He wasn't too bothered. If they could jump it, so could he.

"Yeah." Jet replied, letting go of them again but grabbing their hand. The pair managed to run and jump over the flames... but it fanned them a little, making Seiren reel back slightly. He could still jump it, he was sure he could, but... that was fire from Heaven. It was scary. To make matters worse, Hope noticed his face and suddenly ran to a large painting at the wall, pulling it off, hesitating but then throwing it at the fire. Jet saw another painting and threw it, too. It seemed the holy fire spread so easily with every single thing it touched, because the flames were pretty high now.

"Seiren, if you're going to jump this you better hurry up." Trance pointed out as he took back control for a minute. Again... he wasn't sure he even gave a fuck about pursuing them anymore.

"I will!" Seiren insisted, still hovering. But the fire had suddenly grown exponentially. It forced Jet and Hope right onto the balcony, though it didn't seem to spread over the threshold. They teamed up and toppled a potted plant onto it for good measure. It was risky now, but... he could still try. Trance saw Seiren's thinking and seized back control as best he could.

"No, no way, we're not doing it now." he insisted. "I'm not risking you fucking my body up."

"But we have them trapped!" Seiren insisted. "I have to! I'm going to-"

"Seiren, no!" Trance insisted, but it was too late. Seiren forced Trance into an ill prepared run and leap forward. They made it over, Jet and Hope stepping back in shock, but it caught a good portion of one of Trance's legs in the process. He yelled out in pain, dropping the pistol and rolling on the wet concrete of the balcony to put it out, while Jet and Hope looked like they had no clue what to do about it.

It was hard to focus though, because inside his head, Seiren was absolutely screaming like he'd never heard him. He heard the scream break through into his own voice, leaving him unable to even ask Seiren what was wrong. Even when the flames had subsided, leaving Trance with a notable large burn and the lower half of one side of his pants burned off, Seiren was still screaming.

"Seiren?" he finally managed to ask.

"Tra... Trance..." Seiren began, his voice sounding like it was fading away.

"Seiren?" Trance repeated, kind of concerned now. But there was no reply. Whether he had merely been cleansed from Trance's body to reside elsewhere or died permanently... Seiren was gone. He stared into space, perturbed. Jet and Hope looked down at him, both still holding some concern. He hated it. "Don't fucking look at me like that." he muttered to them both. The two goths exchanged glances.

"Like what?" Jet asked. His tone was a lot more sullen than his usual one.

"Like you fucking care." he snapped.

"W-we do care, Trance." Hope told him, clutching both hands tight at Jet's hand and arm. He could see marks from his fucking knife on their neck and they still had sympathy for him... and that pissed him off. "Is... is Seiren... gone?"

"If you cared, you wouldn't have run away from me." he muttered, ignoring the question. He'd always thought Seiren leaving him would be kind of freeing but instead... he just felt emptier than ever. Looking at the two of them, with neither Seiren's assurances or taunts, he still felt... betrayed.

"Trance... we were scared, man!" Jet insisted. "That doesn't mean we don't still like you." He paused for a moment, looking to Hope. "Let's just..." He began to pull his phone out of his waistband. "Just... call for some help and..."

"Stop it!" Trance interrupted. "Stop pitying me!" he yelled, beginning to advance towards the two. Right now though, it was Jet who it was painful to look at. Jet, who could just bound through everything and fucking smile. Who could be hit with all sorts of trauma and still keep fucking talking. Trance just couldn't do that.

He was broken.

"Trance, c'mon, we're... we're friends, right?" Jet asked with a nervous laugh, still trying to talk through it all, clinging to his phone but putting his hands up again.

"Jet..." he said, shaking. "You know what Jet? For everything... everything you've done today I... I need to return a favor." He reached out to grab the other man's wrist. Violet eyes met grey ones. Hope was still clutching at Jet's other arm, shaking their head with worry. "Thanks, man." he said viciously, bringing his knife up, and stabbing it back down, deep into Jet's spine.

Jet cried out in pain. Hope screamed in shock and horror. Good. Maybe they'd finally realise he wasn't just some fucking tortured little soul they could sympathise with. He pulled the knife back out of Jet's back with an arc of blood and let him fall onto Hope, who was already beginning to whimper a quiet, repetitive strand of "Nono... no..." as they sunk to their knees with him collapsing into their lap. Trance replaced his knife into his pocket. Staring at them both.

"Hope..." Jet choked out through the blood that was beginning to fill his lungs. He passed them his phone shakily.

"Y-yeah?" they asked, taking it from them, their eyes already filling with tears.

"At... Theo's... when you... told me you were going to be OK..." he whimpered through the pain, giving them a subtly hopeful look. "...how did you know?" Hope began to full on sob at that, the tears that were building streaming down their cheeks.

"Jet..." they replied quietly. They glanced at Trance, then leaned down and whispered something in Jet's ear that Trance couldn't make out, further aggravating him. When they drew back up, Jet looked up at them with an odd mix of confusion and... what looked like awe.

"Y-you can?" he asked. Then he looked down at his own body growing paler by the second. "...Oh." he replied.

"But that doesn't mean..." Hope stuttered. "I'll... I'll call an ambulance and..."

"It's... OK..." Jet told them, his voice choked now as tears fell from his own eyes. He raised a shaky, bloodstained hand to their face. "I know... you... hate phonecalls." he joked, the last thing he said before his eyes rolled right back into his head, his arm flopped back to the floor, and then suddenly everything felt... very quiet indeed.

Trance didn't know what to do with nothing but Hope's quiet sobs filling the still night. But then they looked up at him, tired, scared, traumatised. But there was more to it than that... something was different, they were...

They were looking at him the same way as when Seiren had been in control.

Some part of him knew, at that point, he'd fucked up irredeemably. "I... I never said... I was good..." he reminded them in response to accusations they hadn't even spoken aloud. "I... I told you I was... was going to kill you from the beginning... I... told you..."

"Shut up." Hope snapped quietly. Subtle. Understated. No yelling or screaming. It was so much worse. It was like a knife stabbed straight into the middle of his chest, but it silenced him. Hope closed their eyes for a moment. Everything felt agonisingly silent and still. They opened their eyes again with a sigh, leaning down to plant a kiss on Jet's forehead, laying him down gently on the ground in front of them.

"That's... who you are, then." Trance mumbled in assessment. Hope looked up at him. There was an emptiness in their eyes, but there was a fire raging, too. Much like Trance's home. They said nothing. "A guy you just met gets you off one time and suddenly he matters more to you than everyone else?" Hope looked both shocked and furious at that. They rose slowly to their feet.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" they asked, sounding hurt and absolutely furious. "How... how can you even say that?"

"I'm saying out of everyone, everyone who's died today, he's the one who makes you lose your faith in humanity?" he accused. Their mouth hung open slightly, theit brows knotting into a frown as they shook their head.

"You didn't kill the others, Trance!" they pointed out, eyes boring into him in a way he'd never seen before. "People are assholes. I know that. But I haven't lost my faith in humanity. I never have even though, even though at times I have... really fucking wanted to." Their tone was definitely a little off, they sounded more unstable

than they had at any point throughout their capture. They sounded certain though. "I've lost my faith in you."

The metaphorical knife twisted hard. It needed to stop. It needed to stop hurting. Right now Trance's only instinct was to lash out. "Don't say that." he warned, stepping closer.

"I hate you." they muttered. He was desperate for her to stop, stop hurting him like this.

"Hope..." he pleaded softly. Soft like the way they'd treated his threats of violence several times. Until he lost even their trust, apparently.

"I HATE YOU!" they repeated, and Trance launched towards them, toppling the two of them over the railing and off the balcony, falling rapidly to the ground.

Somehow Hope managed to use the momentum to flip them before they actually got there, landing with them pinning Trance to the ground. They were both hurt... but he took the brunt of it, landing with a sharp wheeze. He wasn't even sure what was fucking broken, he just knew he was in so much pain he could barely move. "Why..." he responded, still lashing out verbally because he didn't know what else to do anymore. "Why'd you have to fucking do that?" He wasn't really expecting an answer giving it was basic self-preservation, but Hope looked at him, eyes narrowed.

"Because I am tired of being on the bottom." they said, their eyes filled with an endless amount of hurt. "I am tired of fucking losing." They kept themselves propped up with one arm, returning to clutching Jet's phone to her chest. "Can't I win one? Just one?"

"That's life, sweetheart!" Trance muttered. "Glad to see you kept his precious phone intact, by the way!" He wasn't even sure why that mattered anymore.

"You sound ridiculous." Hope snapped back. Annoyed, Trance attempted to roll them both over. He just about got Hope pinned to the floor, but he screamed out in pain. At least one of his legs was broken, the one that wasn't already horribly burned. He reached for his knife. It wasn't there.

Hope looked to him. Then around them, as he did so too. He spotted the knife a few metres away. But it looked like she had too. They wrestled against each other as they both tried to wriggle towards it. Hope took Jet's phone and smacked Trance in the face with it, pushing him away. They tried to rise to their feet but their ankle buckled with a yell of pain. They settled for crawling, but Trance was crawling too, on his stomach. His fingertips just about managed to graze the handle, but Hope was the one that grabbed it, staring down at him as they moved it swiftly away from his grasp, still on their hands and knees.

Trance rolled onto his back with a groan, aware his hands could be his only defense here. They looked over to him, but it was like their mind was elsewhere, like they were looking straight through him, working things out. It was a little creepy. "You... wouldn't hurt me, Hope, would you sweetheart?" he asked. He wasn't even trying to manipulate them into believing he wouldn't have quite likely killed them, not really. He just genuinely didn't believe she was the type to. Sure, she'd tried to run away from him when he was trying to kill her, who wouldn't? But they were sweet, too sweet for their own good, and he was convinced that would save him.

"You're gonna die, Trance." they told him flatly. "I... don't need to hurt you, because if you don't get medical attention, you're going to die here." It sent a chill up his spine because he was pretty certain she was right. He was severely burned and some of his bones were definitely broken. At the very least if he survived that, he'd starve to death if he was stuck here. They crawled back closer to him, kneeling by his side. "I can't let that happen." they said seriously. Trance's eyes widened as they passed Jet's phone to him, placing it on his chest. Maybe... after all he'd done to them... they still actually cared about him.

"That bad with phonecalls, huh?" he teased lightly as he took the phone in his hand, but then gave her a surprised but affectionate look. "Thank you..." he muttered more genuinely, but Hope shook their head.

"I'm not doing this for you." they said, sounding incredulous he could even think that.They raised the knife and begun to trace lines across their arm, looking rather distressed. Trance held off on dialing for just a moment when he saw.

"Woah, woah, Hope, what are you doing?" he asked. Hope said nothing. "Hope... look... I know the last hour or two has been... insane, frankly. But please don't do this." She looked set to make a small, vertical cut around her inner elbow, digging the knife in hard but then shaking, gasping and drawing it back. "Hope... look, I know what it's like to... to want to hurt yourself, believe me..." Trance tried to reason, attempting to grab the knife, but she shuffled back, away from him, wincing hard as she dragged her own ankle.

"So do I." they muttered defensively. "I've spent years trying to fight the urge and I've done so. Fucking. Good." She looked over at Trance. "Even in spite of people like you."

"...well fucking ouch." Trance muttered softly. He knew as well as anyone that most people were absolute bastards. He just never really expected to be lumped in with the worst of them. But he guessed little by little, he'd managed to paint himself into the role of the bad guy in their eyes. "Look... whatever. I'm not trying to be a hypocrite. But if you have to, if you absolutely have to, at least go the other way! You're gonna kill yourself!"

"I used to have to fight so hard not to do it." they mumbled, seemingly ignoring him and staring at their arm. "But I... I have... had... friends to be accountable to. That helped so much." They looked to Trance, who was getting a little freaked out by their detached monologuing. "I guess over time it's become... second nature. My body's... sc-screaming at me not to do it."

"Then don't do it, Hope." Trance suggested as kindly as he could. He looked at the way their hand was shaking. "You... you don't want to do this, I can tell you don't."

"I don't." they agreed. "I don't want to." They begin to raise the knife up in the air, away from their arm, which they kept loosely in their lap. Trance breathed a sigh of relief. "I have to." they said determinedly, raising the knife higher and stabbing it deep into the tiny cut they'd made. They screamed at the top of their lungs but it didn't stop them, they kept cutting, a deep, bleeding line torn viscerally from elbow to wrist, while Trance looked on in horror.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" he yelled, realising their intentions were far, far worse than he thought. Hope gives him an obviously very pained look, blood gushing out of the huge slit in their arm.

"Do you... think... it's going to hurt?" they gasp out, shuffling back closer to him on their knees, their face contorted in pain.

"WHA- YES!" Trance replies, still shocked and terrified. "OF COURSE IT'LL FUCKING HURT!"

"Make it quicker?" they urged, handing him the knife and offering their right arm. "Please, I can't..."

"You... you want me to..." Trance replied, surveying the blood up their entire left side and then the untouched right arm. "I'm not doing that to you."

"You were... going to kill me anyway." they pointed out. "Just, please, please..." They look at him with wide, begging eyes, the same as they'd looked several times when tied up in his basement, those same times he just knew put him in danger of becoming attached to them. "Make it stop hurting, Trance..."

"Ugh... god... fuck!" he exclaimed, finding the whole thing incredibly traumatising. "Fine, OK, I'll... I'll do it." He didn't cut the proffered arm though. Instead he pulled on it, pulling them down onto the ground beside him, wrapping an arm around them, right across their chest, and holding the knife to their neck. "Are you sure?" Hope let out a pained whimper, apparently barely able to speak at this point, but made a motion that looked like a subtle nod. "OK." He could do this. He'd done it before. He slashed hard into the side of their throat with firm pressure, their blood spraying and dribbling and oozing all over him. Hope emitted a gurgle that could well be a thank you, but he guessed he'd never know as they appeared to fade from consciousness in mere seconds, and it only took a few more for their heartbeat to suddenly stop beneath his forearm.

Hope was gone.

Trance let out a series of shaky breaths. He leant his head back and let himself feel just a little of the trauma, tears stinging his eyes. He sobbed for a moment. Everyone was dead. He reached for Jet's phone, some tiny shred of self-preservation remaining enough to try to call 911.

But strangely, he felt an inability to control his body as it seemed to disappear away from him. This wasn't what he'd ever expect death to feel like; everything felt like it was shifting, unravelling around him.

It was already too late.

Theo- You Died: Ralph snapped your neck Hauer- You Died: Wasei's heart needed more Ralph- You Died: Phi axed you Wasei- You Died: Rahim didn't like your manners Egon- You Died: Leilana took back control Leilana- You Died: Azazel got scared Phi- You Died: Wraith shredded you Wraith- You Died: Bogy incinerated you Silas- You Died: There are worse things than sunlight Phi- You Died: Wow, twice in one day? Azazel- You Died: Back where you belong Bogy- You Died: Heaven said no Seiren- You Died: You couldn't handle the holy flames Jet- You Died: Trance stabbed you in the back Hope- You Died: Trance put you out of your misery Trance- You Died: Hope removed you from play

[lifeonthemurdersim]

For the record, Day 30 is so ready but it has taken me all evening to edit and needs a lot of warnings and stuff, so I'm going to upload tomorrow! 😊

[lifeonthemurdersim]

SEND ME A SHIP and I’ll tell you:

Who said “I love you” first

Who would have the other’s picture as their phone background

Who leaves notes written in fog on the bathroom mirror

Who buys the other cheesy gifts

Who initiated the first kiss

Who kisses the other awake in the morning

Who starts tickle fights

Who asks who if they can join the other in the shower

Who surprises the other in the middle of the day at work with lunch

Who was nervous and shy on the first date

Who kills/takes out the spiders

Who loudly proclaims their love when they’re drunk

[lifeonthemurdersim]

All Roads Lead To Here- Chapter 3: A Little Help Fandom/Universe: Siren From Hell / Sadistic By Nature Universe Characters/Pairing: Multiple, hehe. AO3 Link(full tags, warnings etc here) Word count: 4,829 words Synopsis: Jet is always available when someone needs a favor. Or two, or three, or four... Author's Note: Again, Siren From Hell is the work of @cptsadist and Jet, Wraith, Egon, Trance and Seiren are their characters. Hope, Azazel and Leilana are mine. More about Gorekinktober on my pinned post! Kinktober prompt(s) used: Shower/Bath Goretober prompt used: Monster Form (kind of- we see Seiren overtake Trance briefly)

Jet loved to help people, in any way he could.

Some might say that a lot of the time people were in fact using him, but if it meant he felt wanted, needed, then as far as he was concerned, it didn't really matter how it was classified.

Let him be used.

So as soon as Wraith asked him for a favor, he was willing. "Of course!" he replied with an obedient little smile up at him. "What do you need?" Wraith gave him a much wider smile, showing a terrifying amount of teeth.

"Nothing major." the demon assured, arm still tight around his shoulders. "I just need you to run along down the hall-" he wiggled his fingers like a person walking. "-and let Trance know he might wanna check in on his little... friend." Jet didn't really know the significance, but he was pretty sure he could remember that, at least.

"No problem, Wraith!" he replied, reaching up and putting his hand up on the other's shoulder with a smile. Wraith didn't seem to like the additional hint of affection and nudged him off, letting go of him entirely. "Nice to meet you... uh..." He struggled to remember the succubus's name and gave her a sheepish grin.

"Leilana." she reminded him in a pointed tone. As Wraith stepped back beside her, Jet thought he saw her sweep her tail up onto his lower back.

"Right, right, Leilana, I'll remember next time I swear!" he said with a giggle. "Catch you both later!" He gave them a wave and headed off down the hall.

When he got to Egon's door however, he hovered a little. Truth was, he didn't really have anything specific to tell Egon, he just really wanted to hang out with him again. They were definitely friends, for Jet... maybe a little more than that actually, it was just... well he didn't exactly know what it was. Egon just always seemed to keep him at a bit of a distance. He couldn't stop himself, though, he always ended up wanting to see him.

Giving in, he knocked hard at the door. No answer again. Maybe he could try... one more time? Still no answer. He was sure he could make out noises from inside. "Hey... uh... Egon?" he asked. "I hope you're good... if you want to talk about anything or you need anything, I just wanted to let you know I'm gonna be around!"

"I'm busy, Jet!" Egon finally responded gruffly. "Just do me a favor and leave me alone, alright?"

"Oh..." Jet responded, relieved he was OK, but secretly pretty hurt by the wording. "Uh... my bad... I guess we'll catch up later!" Wraith had said something about him finding Azazel more fun. Where did he know that name? Oh wait, wasn't that one of Bogy's friends? He'd never actually met him, different friend groups he guessed, but he remembered her mentioning him enough that he'd had cause to be jealous. He pulled out his phone as he walked along.

"Hey, Bogy! It's been a couple days, right? Hope you're good! Just curious. You have a friend called Azazel, right? Is he the same one that's at Trance's house right now?" He added a little kiss-blowing emoji at the end and sent it as he walked down the hallway from. Maybe he could head downstairs for a while, get a snack or something. He was sure Trance wouldn't mind.

Oh shit. Trance. He'd almost completely forgotten he was supposed to pass a message along. Happy he'd managed to just about remember, he hummed one of the singer's songs to himself as he headed over to the other side of the floor he was on, looking for him. He peered into a few rooms, trying not to get distracted. If he kept humming the song, he could keep Trance in the front of his mind. He finally found him, leant up against the wall outside the main bathroom, staring into space a little.

"Hey, Trance! How's it going?" he greeted, happy to see the singer, since he also thought of him as a friend. Trance glanced at him, not really smiling and clearly a little distracted.

"Hey, Jet." he muttered wearily. "A little busy for small talk at the moment, man." His arms were folded, his eyes flicking towards the door.

"Right, yeah, sure!" Jet replied earnestly. "That's fine, but... I have a message from Wraith from you!" he explained.

"Wraith?" Trance asked, frowning. "He can appear wherever the fuck he wants, why's his lazy ass making you do it?"

"Oh!" Jet replied, quickly forgetting about the actual message for now. "Well you know I don't mind!" he pointed out. "Plus, I think he was a little busy talking to this other demon." he explained.

"Demon?" the other replied in a slightly higher voice, his eyes suddenly glowing incredibly brightly, a peek of fangs visible in his excited smile. Jet had been around Trance enough to know that happened when Seiren took control.

"OK, chill the fuck out, Seiren." Trance muttered back, tutting slightly. He focused on Jet again. "What the hell is some demon I don't even know doing in my fucking house?"

"Oh, uh... sorry, I don't know!" Jet replied, scratching the back of his neck. "Her name's Leilana and Wraith said she's a succubus, that's all they told me!"

"A succubus?" comes Seiren's reply again. "Trance, we need to go!" Jet expected to witness another struggle between the two, but instead, as the glow in Trance's eyes dimmed a little, he shook his head, nonplussed.

"You know what? Fine." he replied. "I need to know what the fuck's going on anyway. Last thing we need in this house is another fucking demon." There was a pause where Seiren most likely protested that point, but apparently not with enough ferocity to fully possess Trance as he had before. "Oh relax, you're getting what you want." he muttered. His eyes flicked to the bathroom door, and he sighed slightly. "Jet, can you do me a favor?" he asked.

"Of course!" Jet replied, smiling at Trance. Trance had always been pretty nice to him, so of course he'd be happy to do whatever he needed.

"OK, thanks." Trance replied abruptly. "All you gotta do is stand outside this door. The door's already unlocked, so... if Hope comes out, do not let them out of your sight, got it?"

Jet froze up a little. "...Hope?" he asked unusually quietly. He was hit by a sudden trauma he'd kind of forgotten was there upon hearing the name. He had to focus on Trance hard to stop himself from potentially reliving seeing the blood pour right out of their stomach, the last he'd ever seen of them.

At the time he'd hesitantly accepted Theo's explanation, but that was before he'd cut into his head, and there'd been that moment, that minute or so while he was out, that he thought he actually saw Hope again, turned away from him, wading in deep grey water surrounded by bright white light. He was pulled away before he could ask. It could have just been a coma dream. But Dr. Hauer had said he'd died. So... he'd kind of thought that whatever it was... heaven or limbo or just non-existence... maybe... that was proof they were dead. Either way, that moment had stopped him forgetting her.

Trance looked subtly annoyed at Jet's blank stare. "Yes, Hope, fucking... shortass goth like you-" he began to explain, obviously thinking the instruction had confused the other man, then cut himself off, possibly being bothered by Seiren again. His description only made Jet more curious. "Look, there's only one person in the bathroom, Jet, I'm sure even you can figure this out..." He seemed to realise he was snapping and softened, placing a hand on Jet's shoulder and giving him a serious look. "Just keep her occupied until I get back, OK?"

"O-OK." Jet nodded, still a little spaced out by the awful memories plaguing him, as Trance patted his shoulder once and then rushed away. Jet hovered there until he was out of view, then glanced at the door behind him.

Maybe some would think about it for a few minutes, write it off as a coincidence. It wasn't the most uncommon name in the world. But Jet was not one for thinking about it for a few minutes. Instead he took one last look to make sure Trance was gone, and pushed on the door handle, not sure why it was unlocked but certainly thankful.

He slipped slowly into the warm, steamy bathroom, closing the door quite slowly so as not to be alarming, though there was still a slight click. "Hey. Uh... don't be scared!" he called out. There was silence for a second, the person on the other side of the screen frozen. He reached behind him and locked the door. Even if it wasn't who he thought, the occupant deserved some privacy... although he was... technically sneaking in right now. Still, not the point.

"...Trance?" they called out, sounding confused. Considering they didn't sound anything alike, it was hardly surprising.

"Uh... no... like I said, don't be scared!" Jet called out. "I know this sounds really weird, but I just want to... see your face." There was silence; obviously the person on the other side was wary. "I promise, if you're not who I think you might be, I'll... leave you alone!"

"....OK." came the reply. There was a splash of water as they shifted out from under it, then a concerned face peered around. Their hair was wet, their eye makeup was running down their face, and they looked considerably more tired than when he'd seen them last. But it was definitely them. "Jet?" they asked, looking incredibly shocked to see him.

"Hope!" he replied almost simultaneously, a smile spreading across his face. "You're alive!"

"You're alive!" they replied, a relieved smile spreading across their face. "I thought Theo m-might have-"

"He... tried." Jet admitted, moving a little closer to them, still in disbelief. He turned his head to the side and pushed the longer side of his hair back slightly to show them the scar, though there was little trace of it left now. "Only... the doctor who he stole that bag off turned up and..." Although it was blurred, he could make out their every curve through the frosted glass, but he tried not to stare too hard. "...he... killed him." He still didn't believe Theo was all bad but... he felt genuinely guilty about what happened to Hope. "I'm... I'm really sorry I didn't believe you!" he blurted out.

"It's OK. It's OK Jet!" they breathed. "I get it... I'm just glad we're both OK!" They looked at him with a soft smile. They really looked genuinely happy to see him. That wasn't something he saw from too many people. "I'd... hug you but I... probably shouldn't move right now." they said, chuckling nervously as they peered down at their own body.

"Oh... right..." Jet chuckled. Never one to pass up on a hug, he ran right to her and flung an arm around the side he could reach, not caring that it was soaking his arm. Hope reached a wet, soapy arm back, holding him close, their bodies pressed either side of the steamy glass. It seemed like they stayed like that for quite a while. Sounds of a potential fight could be heard from the other side of the house.

"You... remember me..." they murmured, as if it was unexpected. He knew it had been a while ago now, but it was hardly a time he was going to forget. Mostly because of the trauma, the guilt, the pain. But Hope themself had been nice to him in the brief time they'd known them at least.

"Of course!" Jet replied against their shoulder, nuzzling into it slightly, pushing aside the more negative aspects of his memories of the time in favor of how glad he was she was alive. "I wouldn't forget you, Hope!"

Hope shifted away slightly, hand on the back of his neck, hazel eyes fixed wide on him, looking... well, aside from the existing tiredness and relief to see him, oddly terrified. "What?" he asked, trying to search her face for some kind of clarity. There was still a lot of shouting in the distance. It wasn't unusual for him to hear arguments in Trance's house, but he guessed it might be scary for them. "Hope, are you O-"

He was interrupted as they pulled him back in, face to face this time, kissing him briefly but rather intensely on the lips. Jet blinked hard as they parted from him, not having expected that at all. They blushed hard. "I..." they began, still looking worried, flicking their eyes down slightly. "I'm sorry I-I think I just-" This time they were the one interrupted as Jet took hold of the glass with one hand and their shoulder in the other and leant over to kiss them with equal enthusiam, but for slightly longer, shifting his hand to their lower back as he drew away, a little grin on his lips.

They let out a simultaneous huff of laughter. Hope kissed Jet again, brief and nervous but smiling slightly. Jet kissed Hope again, trying not to giggle because the whole thing was kind of cute. Then inevitably it was both of them coming together simultaneously, lingering on for much longer, kissing slowly, softly, deeply. This was all a little unexpected on Jet's part, likely on Hope's too since she hadn't exactly known he was going to appear in the bathroom in the first place. But it was warm and passionate and felt so good.

Jet let out a gentle whimper into the kiss, and that seemed to encourage Hope, who pushed the tip of her tongue forward into his mouth a little as they continued. Jet pushed his back, letting the ball of his piercing press against their tongue as they worked them against each others'. Hope moaned into his mouth a little, shifting their body out from the screen somewhat so they could wrap both arms around his neck. They were soaking the front of Jet's shirt but he was unsurprisingly too distracted to care, kissing deeper, more desperate noises passing between the two as his hands found the soft, damp skin of her bare waist, unsurprisingly feeling a considerable level of excitement at the contact. He couldn't help but notice a lot of cuts on their chest, washed clean of any blood but a little swollen in the water. He didn't really want to stop kissing them to ask.

Whether it was to level the playing field, to make up for how wet his shirt was getting, or just out of pure lust, Hope reached for Jet's vest and began to lift it over his head, throwing it to the floor and throwing their arms around his neck to pull him close again, the two of them immediately resuming the kiss. The feeling of Hope's wet, naked chest against his caused Jet to let out a further needy whine, his hands roaming a little faster over their back as arousal began to flood his body much more vehemently. Hope dug their nails at Jet's shoulders a little, obviously enjoying the noise.

They broke the kiss first, pulling away with a little nip of Jet's bottom lip, starting to kiss at his neck. "You make... the hottest fucking noises..." they told him, sounding considerably less awkward than usual but surprisingly desperate. They drew back to stare at him again, oddly transfixed.

"I... do...?!" he asked genuinely, realising just how pretty their eyes were as he stared into them. They nodded. There was a pause, both of their breathing hot and heavy on each other's lips.

"I... I know I... said a bath..." Hope panted, thier body seeming to shudder a little with the anticipation. "But do you think-"

"Yes!" Jet replied emphatically, reaching to undo his fly, stripping off his shoes, socks, pants and underwear at breakneck speed while Hope let out a breathless chuckle. When he looked up they were gazing down at him coyly, a couple of inches taller than him from the height of the bath. His eyes travelled their body more fully, wet and soft and entirely bare. He felt his dick twitch subtly and a quiet groan escape his throat. They raised their brows at him, shifted their hand to their hip and looked him up and down with an approving little bite of their lip. Jet almost felt nervous. Why was he nervous? Hope beckoned him to them with a single finger and a shy but affectionate look.

Jet climbed over the side of the bath quickly, moving back towards them, the two of them kissing furiously again, this time their hands all over each other's naked bodies. Hope pushed Jet teasingly under the shower, the water cascading down over them both, rendering their skin slipping against each other's with every little movement back and forth. When they were getting sprayed so much it became difficult to breathe, Hope tangled one hand in Jet's now sopping wet hair and gripped hard at his waist with the other, pushing him urgently against the wall, managing to tear their lips from his to take little nips all the way down his neck that made him gasp with pleasure and push his fully stiffening cock up against them. "Sorry..." they said between bites. Jet was about to tell them they definitely didn't need to apologise when they continued. "...I'm... not getting you very clean right now, am I?" they finished, and he realised their apology was sarcastic. He smirked and leant his head back to give them better access to his neck, relishing the little hints of pain with soft gasps for a moment before he answered.

"Do you... want me clean?" he teased back, eyes shifting towards them, reaching his hands around to their ass and squeezing. They let out a little grunt against his neck. He shifted his hips from side to side so his dick rubbed right up against them, teasing them hard despite how they had him pinned. "Or do you want me dirty?" He could see Hope's blush deepen out of the corner of his eye but then she bit him a little harder in response. "A-ah~" he moaned out in surprise. It hurt a little but it was turning him on like crazy.

Hope began pressing kisses to the area she'd bitten that Jet felt all the more sensitive to, reaching out to run a hand through their hair. "Sorry." they replied more genuinely this time, drawing back again to check the mark with their fingers while the other hand was at his waist.

"No, I... I like it!" Jet assured. "You're very... uh..." He bit at his lip and gazed at them. "Not like when I first met you..." He let out a slight chuckle. "I mean not that I didn't think you were cute then, this is just... so..." He nuzzled his nose up against theirs. "Mmm..."

"Mmm..." Hope repeated at the gentle action, nuzzling back, apparently finding that sufficient enough explanation. "Yeah, I think I'm... moving pretty fast because I was... y'know... before you came in here..." they mumbled, eyes still trained on his. Jet didn't know, at least not without more context, looking at them for clarification. They looked down and to the side, still blushing. "Masturbating, Jet." they confirmed straightforwardly.

"Oh, oh!" he replied, bringing a hand back up to get them to face him. "Well maybe I could... help you with that...?" he asked, tilting his chin down a little and giving them a little lip-biting smile. They let out a hard, trembling exhale as they looked back at him with their mouth slightly open, nodding furiously. That look was equal parts adorable and fucking hot.

Jet flipped the two of them gently so Hope's back was against the wall this time, pressing his forehead to theirs, wanting to see their reactions as he encouraged them to part their legs a little more and began to brush his fingertips along the soft, sensitive skin of their inner thighs, feeling how slippery they already were; pretty evident from the texture it wasn't just water from the shower. Every touch made them shift and pant a little. "Guess I... know why you wanted me so bad now." he replied with a little chuckle. "Right?" He gave them a little wink and began to draw his hand upwards slowly. He guessed a part of him had told himself otherwise, but... it didn't really matter too much. Not really. Even if he was being used, he could deal with that as long as he was useful to someone. At least that was what he told himself.

"What?" they asked, grabbing his wrist firmly to stop him for a second despite their very evident need, staring at him. "Jet... it's... it's not like that. Or I mean... it's not just about that. Not at all." they assured softly, pushing his hair back off of his face with their other hand and looking him in the eyes. "You need to know that." They brushed their hand down the side of his cheek, planting a soft kiss to his lips and then looking back at him, eyes brimming with affection for him. Maybe not love. Definitely not obsession. But soft, familiar, incredibly genuine affection that he could practically feel pouring out of them. "You... do know that, right?"

"...I think I do now." he replied, smiling back, his hand weaving into the one that was gripping his wrist and kissing them softly. They held his hand tight and kissed him back for a while, until it got to the point that both of them were whimpering and moaning into the kiss once more. Eventually Hope unlinked their hand from his to let them know they were ready, not pulling away from the kiss. Jet moved his hand back downward and began to rub his fingers across Hope's clit softly, everything now swollen and wet and slippery. They moaned out softly around his tongue with every touch as he explored to try and find what they liked.

One of their muffled moans poured into his mouth a lot harder as he apparently found a spot they liked on the underside, right near the head. He rubbed harder there in small circles, and their noises suddenly all became higher and louder; they petted their hands through the top of his wet hair in silent praise, then one hand moved to clutch at his back to keep him close while the other began to drift down his chest and to his hip, teasing just inside his hipbone with thin, featherlight strokes that made him tingle, quivering a little.

They moved down to stroke at his thigh, running their tongue all around the inside of his mouth. Then they shifted, caressing those gentle fingertips up the underside of his cock, and this time he was the one who moaned into the kiss a little, leaning his hips into the touch. They brushed lightly up and down a few times; still soft, teasing, gentle. Then they took a firm bite of his bottom lip that made him groan and pulled away from the kiss to touch foreheads with him again, also giving them both a little space for air. "Um..." they asked through their own whimpers and moans as he continued to touch them. "Do I... oh... ah... have to do anything different... around... mmmm... the piercings?" she asked. Jet found it really sweet that they checked but also very encouraging that he was already reducing them to these fragmented sentences.

"Oh, um... you... can start off... with your fingers between them... at first until... you get used to it..." he replied through heavy panting at the way they were still stroking lightly. "But... do whatever you want... it usually feels really good when they're touched and... even if it hurts a bit, I don't mind." He gave them a little wink.

"O-OK." Hope replies, wrapping their hand softly around his length, spreading their fingers a little between the bars as he advised, and beginning to pump his cock slowly. Jet gasped out hard, he loved making people feel good but obviously finally being touched heavily affected him too. Both of them began to speed up in tempo, foreheads still pressed together, their mouths open and their eyes locked hard on each other's, both hot and bothered and mesmerised by each other as two sets of incredibly loud moans filled the air.

Jet's fingers were getting so slick now that it was hard to focus on any one spot, he was slipping around all over the place, if anything he felt he had little choice but to slide a finger inside of them to stay anchored, but it was soon joined by a second, his palm taking over at rubbing up against them, and a third, filling them right up. "Mmm... God... Jet..." they whimpered as his index and ring fingers stretched them open enough for his middle finger to probe deeper, curling and moving around slightly until he found the spot that had them moaning out a lot higher, and fuck it was an irresistible noise.

He trained his eyes on Hope to make sure their reaction was still good and the way they looked so dazed, flushed and needy with every soft moan they were letting out with every movement of his fingers inside of them was one of the hottest things he'd ever seen. "Jet... fuck... if you... keep doing that... I'm gonna... cum so fucking... hard..." they admitted in a high whine, still looking at him with desperation as they sped up their pumping of his cock, struggling to even keep their eyes open.

"Yeah...?" he breathed back with a slight smile, speeding up further. "Good... I wanna make you feel good..."

"O-OK but do you... do you want to..." they began, then paused for a moment, their eyes focusing off to somewhere else entirely, a sudden hint of worry evident in their expression. "...fuck..."

"Oh!" Jet replied in shaking breaths beside their neck. "O-only if you want to..."

"No... I... I meant..." they replied, gripping tighter at his shoulder. "Fuck, someone's... coming..." Jet could now hear footsteps growing louder down the hallway, ones he'd obviously not been quite as sensitive to as them. Not running, but certainly pacing quickly in their direction.

"I... I locked the door!" Jet explained hastily, not slowing down in touching them, not now he had them so captivated. He trusted the others not to be shitty about it; even if they heard them from outside, they were hardly a bunch of prudes, so it should be fine... unless there was some major context he was missing. Maybe Hope just wasn't as used to impromptu screwing around with someone as he was, but he could help with that too.

He leaned in, free hand tangling into the top of their wet hair, and planted a gentle kiss against their jaw, just under their ear. "You're fine babe, OK? Just relax." he reassured them softly, breathing hard and kissing against their neck, moving his fingers that little bit faster into the tight, slick heat of them, applying that little bit more pressure with his palm.

"Oh..." they replied, not looking entirely convinced but softening into his touch anyway. "B-bu-" they began, but then they leaned their head back hard against the wall all of a sudden as their body began to shudder and their black nails scrabbled at one of Jet's shoulders, pushing thier hips out in the direction of his hand. "Oh..." He could feel their every wall beginning to clench tight around his fingers as their moans ascended in pitch and crescendoed in volume. "...oh.... ohhhhhh.... Je... e... et~"

That fragmented scream of his name really did something to Jet; he was moaning out unabashedly against Hope's neck and practically thrusting himself into their tightening grip as he heard and felt her climax, feeling himself very much on the verge of losing if himself as he felt them trembling against him. But as soon as the word had been cried out it was joined by a much more concerning echo that made them both jump.

"Jet!" they heard a voice growl through the door before hammering hard on it. "Hope!" The yell was just loud enough for them to hear, but low, smooth, sinister. Trance. Hope drew their hand away from him quickly, making Jet whine softly in frustration, fixing them with a pleading expression. But then he saw the look of extreme worry on thier face and was overtaken by confusion instead."Get the hell out here!"

End note: Captain, I went with my heart as advised, but 🫡 truth be told I only initially asked you to pick because I'm still relentlessly shy about shipping. My original preference would have been Trance but the minute I wrote some of Jet and Hope interacting that changed very quickly. I finished this a good couple of weeks ago but I swear every time I went to edit it got filthier and/or cuter. I blame them both. ♡

Not that anyone will likely question this but the reason Jet remembers Hope despite the time loop is subtly explained here; he saw them in the river(I'm not making any named references to BTD in this but there are a lot of unnamed ones) when he clinically died for a minute, which I mentioned in Apart, Together allows someone to recall all prior interactions with her.