#Ethan has metal claws because of all the damage to his hands

[dq1215]

Resident evil dragons!!! (WIP 1/???)

Guys I'm FINALLY posting some of my art lmao

So far I have Ethan, Annette, and William! I'm planning on maybe making Wesker next? Or Leon or Claire!

In order of pictures: William, Annette, Ethan

Yes I DID give William a cat nose, lol

[seraphdesire]

Regarding Donna Beneviento and her characterisation in the fandom, I think it's important to note that she really isn't the shy awkward adorable blushing mess that everyone depicts her as being.

This got long but I did a mildly extensive read on her character under the break! :)

Here are the notes I took a screencap of, written by Mother Miranda, which talks about the suitability of Donna being a vessel for Eva:

There's the evidence you need that she is severely mentally ill, so babying her just feels... wrong anyway, all things considered.

Note - "and has divided her Cadou among her dolls in order to control them from a distance." While I'm on my 3rd replay of re8 I still don't fully get how the Cadou works, but what I think is essentially happening is Donna is literally splitting off parts of herself and putting them in her dolls.

The main one being Angie, of course.

I always used to consider Angie a separate character entirely but she's linked deeply to Donna on a very personal level. Considering what she's like and what all the other dolls are like - loud, funny, sarcastic, rude, etc - and how Donna is literally the one directly controlling Angie (that's the only way she moves lol, because Donna is carrying her places. Which is also why, when you kill Angie, the illusion melts away to reveal that you've actually killed Donna), I think it's safe to say that's what her actual personality is like.

Also, her only spoken line of dialogue? Please listen to it. For those who are hard of hearing, like me, she says: "don't leave... I can't let you."

Bearing in mind the way she speaks? Her tone? She sounds confident imo. Determined. And perhaps even a little angry at Ethan for thinking he can escape her.

Just a last addition as well, can I say that her abilities as one of the Four Lourds is genuinely evil? Everyone else has physical intimidation - Alcina has her height and her claws and mutation, Heisenberg has his ability to control magnetic fields and metal, and Moreau can mutate into that huge fish-with-legs thing that vomits something akin to acid? Oh yeah and he can swallow you whole too.

Donna, on the other hand, doesn't have physical intimidation like that. She only has the threat of psychological damage (which makes sense considering she's severely mentally unwell). When Ethan goes through her gardens and has to solve the puzzles in the house, she makes him hallucinate about his wife whom he thinks is dead, and about his baby who is somewhere in this unknown country with a bunch of mutants who only have bad intentions.

It's even worse in the Shadows of Rose DLC imo. As Rose, Donna makes her hallucinate the bullies from back home, being called a freak and a weirdo, made to relive the worst moments of her life. And the puzzles too? Hell. Having to actually recreate the scenes of her bullying with wooden fucking dolls. I remember feeling really sorry for Rose while playing through that part.

And yet Donna is still "the uwu baby" because what? I don't know. People love to declaw female villains just because they're attractive (looking at Lady Dimitrescu here). They love to reduce the characters down to their looks and not consider their actual lore or background or the role they play in the franchise (looking at Leon especially...)

Which, ya know, of course people are allowed their headcanons for characters and Donna doesn't get enough screentime to really have her personality even thought of, let alone to be made canon. But I think it's fair to say that Angie and Donna are basically one and the same because they're literally the same Cadou.

This is a quick reminder that you are, of course, allowed to disagree with me. Everyone has their own opinions and that's fine. If you would like to politely debate about this in my comments or in my DMs, or even in my asks, then you're more than welcome to! Please remember debating and arguing are two different things though.

If it really irks you that bad then please scroll, it's not hard. If you don't want to do that then feel free to block me - the button is free of charge after all and should be used more to cultivate your feed to your liking.

[starlightinhumanform]

Power and Control

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Ships: Familial Dark Sides (Anxceitmus)

Summary: Virgil has gotten used to living with the light sides, in fact he quite likes it. But when one of Logan’s experiments goes very wrong, he remembers where home really is.

Warnings: Moderate Language Throughout, Description of Blood, Loss of Control, Memory Loss, Imprisonment, Mentioned Animal Death (Please, please tell me if there’s anything I need to add). 

Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort 

A/N: Started off as a vent fic, turned out as... the dark sides being a tight knit family? Writing this really helped me work out some of my internal angst and I hope this can at least entertain you while we get through this uncertain time. Please be careful though— this fic is a lot darker than my usual writing and I would hate to trigger or upset someone. Stay safe and healthy. I love you all 🖤✨ (P.S. Deceit’s name is Ethan in this)

Ao3    Fic Masterpost    Fic Request Info

Virgil woke up to blood dripping out of his mouth. In fact, it was everywhere; gurgling at the back of his throat, coating his tongue, crusting at the corners of his mouth as it flowed over his lips and merrily ran over the curves of his jaw. The fountain finally ended at his hands, congealing in his palms. As his gaze followed the trail of blood, he noticed with a start that one of his hands gripped a raw and ripped hunk of meat. It must have been the source of the blood but why he would have it and, even worse, why he would put it anywhere near is mouth simply made no sense. It fell from his fingers but he didn’t even notice the sickening squelch it made as it hit the floor.

Virgil’s hands were shaking . He felt numb and cold and sick all at once. It felt like every cell in his body was trying to tear in a different direction. Except maybe his stomach. Those were working on condensing into diamond and then forcing their way up his throat, sharp corners scraping along the sides the whole way up.

He was on his knees and the cold gray concrete he sat on was eating through his jeans and gnawing on his skin. He bent forward, retching and coughing and suddenly very very aware of the thing around his neck. It was cold. Definitely metal. Definitely a collar. Leaning forward, it pressed against his throat and only increased the coughs that were shuddering violently from somewhere deep within Virgil’s body. He couldn’t help but scratch at it, slippery fingers useless against the smooth metal.

“Hello there, little beast. We were wondering when you were going to wake up.”

Virgil jerked his head up and was startled to find two other men in the room. Well, if you could call this a room; it was far more like a dungeon. It was a bleak box of concrete, entirely gray and without any source of light except for the open door at the opposite side from Virgil. On the wall behind him, a chain led from a ring and attached to the thing around his neck.

And in front of him... two men stood only feet away. Only feet away but still out of reach. The one who had spoken looked down with fascination at the huddled mess of Virgil. The other was berating him, growling at the taller one for calling Virgil a beast. If Virgil hadn’t already been coughing he might have choked out a laugh. An animal was exactly what he felt like.

“Hey there, Virgil. You had us worried for a second,” The smaller of the two knelt down in front of him. His voice was soft and his gaze dripped with pity as his eyes ran over Virgil’s body. Half of his face was patterned by scales, like something off a snake. It should have been repulsive but somehow it was so familiar.

He shuffled slightly closer to Virgil and slipped the gloves off of his hands. The man reached out with trembling fingers, shushing him quietly as if that would dissuade Virgil from bolting away. Luckily for the other, Virgil couldn’t have moved if he wanted to; between the chain and the convulsions shuddering through his body, he may as well have been sewn into the ground.

Shaky hands ran through his hair and Virgil’s mind was snapped back into that direction. They felt so familiar- he knew those blunt fingernails, the way they scratched gently against his scalp, he even recognized the smooth spots where skin melted into scale. The fingers fluttered away from his face and unlatched the collar.

Virgil raised himself up just enough to collapse into the man’s waiting arms. He nearly felt bad for spitting blood onto the other’s shoulder, “I know you?”

“Yeah, yeah, you know me. I’m Ethan. Sometimes I go by Deceit? We lived together for years,” His voice wasn’t upset or even worried, just tired. Exhausted as if this was far from the first time this exact conversation had played out.

Oh, right. Ethan. His best friend. They had grown up together. They had watched each other change and evolve as Thomas had done the same. Virgil knew every single angle of Ethan’s multi-facetted personality. So how the hell could he have forgotten him?

Virgil glanced up at the other who had strolled over to Ethan’s side and was now mindlessly fiddling with the cape over Ethan’s shoulders. He was muttering under his breath and staring at the wall as if he could look right through it. Very much like- “Remus?”

He jerked his head down and to the side to make eye contact with Virgil, “Hello!”

“H-hi,” Virgil tore his eyes away; Remus’ expression was just a bit too delighted at the moment for him to handle. Ethan was still in front of him, checking over him like a concerned mother and grimacing at the red marks around his neck. Virgil decided to focus on him instead, “Ethan, what the fuck is going on? Why am I like this? Who put me here?”

Ethan had moved on to studying Virgil’s hands but refused to look up at him, “We put you here.”

Virgil jerked his hand away and shuffled as far back as he could without standing up, “Why the hell would you do that?”

Ethan sighed and managed to look at Virgil this time. His eyes were far older than they should have been. Virgil got the feeling Ethan had explained this many, many times, “It’s for everyone’s safety- including yours.”

“Ethan how the hell is chaining me up in the fucking basement for my safety? This looks like a fucking horror movie,” Virgil tried to scoot away further but his back hit the wall. Against the cold concrete, he could feel the sweat racing down his spine.

Remus butted in, cackling, “Well you saw how you were acting- who knows what havoc you could wreck if we let you lose in Thomas’ mind!”

Ethan turned on his heel to glare at Remus, “Which is something we are not going to do.”

“So, what, you’re just going to leave me locked up in here?”

“No, of course not. Only, only when-“ Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose as he stood up and Virgil couldn’t help but flinch away from the movement, “Only when you’re different.”

“Different,” The word felt bitter and heavy as it rolled off of Virgil’s tongue. Or maybe that was just the coppery coat of blood that still lurked in every nook of his mouth. He feared he would never be able to forget that taste.

“Yeah, silly, different. When it’s night and you get just a bit-” Remus had swaggered across the room and squatted down next to Virgil with a bounce. He reached out, dragging one pointer finger along the lines of Virgil’s face and tapping him lightly on the nose as if to punctuate the word, “-crazy.”

Virgil studied the face in front of him. Remus had poison apple green eyes that flickered like he had managed to trap lightening in them and a grin to rival the Cheshire Cat. Right now his eyes looked like a thunderstorm captured in a snow globe; he was either really excited or scared beyond belief. Virgil wasn’t sure which option was worse, “What do you mean crazy?”

Ethan sat down next to Remus so they were all at the same level, “You lose control, turn kind of wild. It’s been happening every night of this week- don’t you remember?”

“I don’t remember this week at all. Ethan, why the hell is this happening to me?” Virgil’s voice was shaking nearly as hard as his hands, still covered in the red grime. He knew exactly what it was but his mind simply refused to accept it.

“I guess it started with Logan. He wanted to learn about what makes a ‘dark’ side different from a ‘light’ one— no bad intentions, I’m sure. You happily volunteered to participate in his research and I’m not sure what happened next. He gave you something and it fucked you up. It was supposed to bring out the traits that make you ‘dark.’ He was just curious about what made us different from them. Except, it didn’t just made you dark; it made you as bad as a side can be.”

“And then they dumped you with us because they couldn’t handle you!” Remus grinned as if he were quite proud of his conclusion to Ethan’s explanation.

Ethan winced, “Well I wouldn’t exactly put it so bluntly. They... tried to help you but they couldn’t manage it. They knew we would be more prepared for this sort of thing.”

Virgil ran his tongue across the front of his teeth. He half expected to find a row of fangs or at least some pointed canines; something to match the snarl he felt building up in his gut and clawing its way to the back of his throat. He wanted to yell, to scream until his voice was too raw to sound anything like a human. He wanted punch his fist right through the concrete wall and he couldn’t tell if he wanted to damage the wall or just wanted to feel the pain in his hand, just as a reminder of what was real. How dare they? They turned him into this and when he was too much, they tossed him aside like a broken toy they had gotten bored off. Them. Virgil wanted to tear his teeth into the neck of one of those pretty little light sides. Wait, no. No. He didn’t want to do any of that. That wasn’t him. That was- No no no no no no no no.

The word ricocheted through his head, one clear point through the murk of his thoughts. Except it burned, far too bright as it buzzed through his mind. His head pounded and the room was closing in and the faces in front of him were swimming. Virgil bunched his legs to his chest, hanging his head to his knees. He was trapped; trapped in this room, trapped in the situation, trapped in the dark slime that suffocated his mind.

“Hey, hey, hey,” A hand smoothed across his back and lightly gripped one of his shoulders, “Don’t go there. We’re right here.”

Virgil raised his head up, somewhat startled by the effort it took, almost as if there was a weight pressing down on his neck. Ethan rubbed his hand over Virgil’s back and reached out with the other. He wiped a tear off of Virgil’s cheekbone with the side of his thumb and smiled softly, “We’ll figure this out, Virge.”

“Yeah, we always fix things eventually,” Remus ruffled his hair maybe a little rougher than necessary, but Virgil was used to it.

He couldn’t help but grin a little bit and, as weak as it was, it felt good, “Yeah, we fix it after you fuck it up in the first place.”

Remus winked, “And where would we possibly be without me being the only one brave enough to fuck shit up?”

Ethan gave a small snort of a laugh, “Maybe you should hold off on causing chaos until we’ve got this sorted out.”

“Ah, well, no promises but I’ll do my best,” Remus suddenly jumped to his feet, “Now come on, are we just going to sit here all day?!”

“He’s right, you know, we shouldn’t stay here and you look like a mess,” Ethan gave Virgil’s shoulder one last squeeze, “Do you think you’re ready to get up?”

Virgil looked down at his hands; they were still tremoring and the red was quickly drying to burgundy, “I’m not sure if I can stand but there’s no way in hell I want to stay here.”

“Ah, no issue!” Remus leaned down just long enough to scoop Virgil into his arms princess-style and stood back up.

Virgil should have been worried; this was a compromised position after all. But somehow, it felt so so much safer than that floor. The floor was cold and rough and covered in a viscous mix of blood and Virgil’s sins. And Remus— well he was warm and safe and secure and smelled like a weird mixture of metal and saccharine flowers. Besides, Virgil’s head was already swimming, his body might as well joining it in floating away.

He let his head fall against Remus’ shoulder and closed his eyes; every part of his body felt like lead, even his eyelids. It wasn’t until they reached the top of the stairs and the warm glow of light washed over Virgil’s face did he realize they had been moving at all.

Remus swung Virgil’s legs down gently but kept one of his arms wrapped around Virgil’s waist, keeping him from keeling over on the spot.

Ethan seemed to be taking advantage of the brighter light to look over Virgil again. He lifted Virgil’s chin gently, grimacing at the marks around his neck and the blood surrounding his mouth, “You really are a mess this time; do you think you could take a shower?”

Virgil managed to huff out a laugh, “I think if it weren’t for Remus, I would be passed out on the floor right now. So, uh, no. Sorry.”

“No, no, that’s ok. Remus and I will help you get cleaned up and then we can all hang out on the couch together and you can get some sleep. How does that sound?”

“Yeah, yeah sure,” Virgil slouched against Remus’ shoulder and tried to keep his feet from sliding out beneath himself.

“Hey, buddy?” Remus jostled him lightly.

“Huh?”

“We’re walking now. One foot in front of the other, ok?” Remus held him a little closer and started half-dragging/half-supporting him down the hall while Ethan walked ahead.

By the time they made it the bathroom that the dark sides shared, Remus was basically carrying him, one arm looped around Virgil’s body so he just kind of hung at Remus’ hip.

Remus set him down on the counter and Virgil let himself slump back against the mirror. The glass was cold on his shoulders through his shirt but he hardly noticed, oddly fascinated by the spots on the ceiling above him. They looked like mold— probably a result of one of Remus’ experiments. Yeah ok... so his mind was definitely drifting away.

Ethan brought him back to the present once again, handing him a cup of water and ordering him to drink it. Virgil felt like he was out of his body and watching the scene from several feet in the air; at least the picture was starting to come in a little clearer.

“Hey, Virge?”

Virgil leaned his head on the mirror at an angle he could face Ethan from, “Yeah?”

“Can I take your hoodie off?” Ethan’s hands hesitated a few inches above his chest like he was afraid Virgil would bite him at any moment.

Oh that was reassuring. Oh yeah, Virgil, everything’s totally fine but I’m definitely worried you’re going to go absolutely fucking feral and eat me but don’t let it bother your pretty little head because it’s all sunshine and rainbows here.

Virgil was suddenly taken aback by the anger he was feeling. His fists were clenched and his lip was curling into a snarl and he could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. Maybe Ethan had a reason to treat him like a ticking bomb.

“You,” Remus poked him, “Yeah, you. Snap out of it.”

Virgil shook his head as if he could jumble all the pieces back into place, as if he could make everything normal again, “Right. I’m, gosh, Ethan I’m just really sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Ethan’s voice was steady and soothing but his hands shook as he pulled the zipper of the Virgil’s sweatshirt down and helped him shrug it off his shoulders, “You just need to relax a bit; it’s fine.”

“Ethan, no! It’s not fine! How can you say that? You fucking chained me up in a basement I didn’t even know we had.”

Ethan hung his head. Virgil couldn’t see his eyes but he could tell he was exhausted. Virgil had hated the optimism Ethan had been faking but the honesty of this change was sickening, “Look, Virgil, I have to think everything will be fine. I can’t give up— not on you. I’ve always believed in you and I always will. I have seen you go through so much and I’m not going to lose hope just because we have another obstacle to overcome. And if I’m being honest? I have no idea how we’re going to get through this one. I have no idea how much worse everything is going to get. But I can promise that we’ll keep taking care of you. And Logan will keep looking for a solution.”

“And I‘ll help him!”

Remus’ interruption managed to pull a small smile over Ethan’s face, “Yeah, Remus has been working with Logan while he works on a cure of sorts.”

“I’m a lab rat!”

Ethan reached up to muss Remus’ messy hair, “That you certainly are.”

Virgil looked between the two men in front of him. This was his family. He loved the light sides but when things got terrifyingly real like this, these freaks were the only people he really trusted. This was his family and if there was anyone he wanted to lose his mind around, it was them.

“I love—“ Virgil’s voice broke, “I love you guys.”

Remus leaned down and wrapped his arms around Virgil, squeezing hard enough to make Virgil worry about breaking a rib.

“Ok, enough being sappy, we’ll have plenty of time for that later. Right now, Virgil is still covered in blood,” Ethan untied Remus from around Virgil and started scrubbing at his face with a cloth.

“Hey, yeah, what is that about? I’m not bleeding... so whose blood is that? What the hell was I eating?”

“Oh, that. It was venison— kind of,” Ethan explained casually as he continued attacking him with soap and water, “You were hungry but you didn’t eat any normal food and Remus found this dead deer in the Imagination and you seemed to like it so we just let you have it.”

“You let me eat roadkill?!”

Remus hopped up onto the counter next to him, “Well it wasn’t by a road so technically it’s not road-kill. But, yes!”

Ethan paused scrubbing a moment so he could fully take in the horrified expression Virgil was giving him, eventually just rolling his eyes, “What? I’m sure it won’t hurt you.”

Virgil stuck his tongue out at Ethan, “You say that now but just watch— I’m gonna develop some rare disease or something.”

“God you must be feeling better if you have enough energy to be this dramatic,” Ethan shook his head and started working on Virgil’s neck, definitely being a little rougher than necessary.

After a few minutes of the continued bickering, Ethan had managed to get every speck of blood and sweat off of Virgil— and probably a layer of skin along with it too. Ethan and Remus even managed to get him to change into clean clothes before Virgil got bored off arguing over whether or not he was going to die because they let him eat the deer.

“Bottom line, it’s just disgusting.”

“I’ve eaten worse, and I’m just fine!”

“That doesn’t matter! You’re, well, you’re you; you could eat steel shavings like cereal and it wouldn’t matter ‘cause your metabolism is built like a nuclear waste processing plant.”

“Yeah, I have tried that! It was good!”

“Alright you two,” Ethan interrupted Remus And Virgil’s squabbling and gently pushed them out the door, “I think Virgil could do with some rest.”

Remus broke away from their little group and started bouncing down the hall like Tiger from the Winnie the Pooh cartoons. He pumped his fists in the air, screeching, “MOVIE TIME, MOVIE TIME, MOVIE TIME!”

Virgil and Ethan watched him with a mixture of horror and admiration.

Ethan chuckled, “I have no clue where he gets all that energy.”

“Maybe it’s the hearty bowl of steel shavings he starts the day off with.”

“Heh, maybe,” Ethan laughed at Virgil’s joke but when he turned to face him directly, concern was written in every line on his face, “How are you feeling? Are you doing alright?”

Virgil ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back as if clearing his bangs from his eyes could clear up his thoughts. How did he feel? Well that was a damn good question. He felt like his brain was made of cotton candy and someone was pouring a cup of water over his head, drops slowly melting away the strings that held him together. He was tired. Above all else, he just wanted a fucking break. He didn’t want to think about how he was feeling or what the future might hold or the fact that he was going to turn into an animal that night, in a matter of mere hours. The idea made his skin crawl and contents of his stomach curdle.

But Ethan was standing next to him, rubbing his hand across his shoulders and looking at him with the big yellow-green eyes that Virgil had known all his life. Maybe he wasn’t ok now. Maybe that was ok too. Maybe being safe was close enough to bring alright.

Virgil tried for a smile, “It’s gonna be ok.”

Ethan grinned back, “You bet your ass it is.”

If you want to be added to my Sanders Sides fic taglist, please just send an ask or reply to this post :p

~ @phan-fander @abi-beehive @fandomfan315 @reggieleigh07 @cas-is-a-hunter @endless-rain-of-words @vicdehart @im-actually-ok @softnic ~

[lowat-golden-tower]

Trapped

AO3 Mirror

@caustic-synishade

Bear traps. It was always fucking bear traps!

Mark swallowed down another guttural cry as pain shot through his leg. He was never really the type to stifle screams or shouts, as his fan base knew all too well, but right then being quiet was of the utmost importance. All those stealth games he’d played where noise making was a death sentence were coming back to haunt him now. All the instances he’d exclaimed, ‘Oh boy, if this game could actually hear me right now, I would be so dead! I would be utterly boned and dismembered by this monster coming for my asshole.’

Well, he certainly hoped the things chasing him down weren’t coming specifically for his asshole. The situation was terrifying enough with several razor sharp, iron teeth digging into his calf. The irony of his predicament was truly palpable. Were it not real pain radiating through his system and his real, very important life blood steadily trickling into his sock, Mark might have found it all quite humorous.

Instead, he was trying not to outright panic as the seconds steadily ticked by and he remained an absolute sitting duck. He had no idea how huge this cabin was Tyler and Ethan had rented out, but there were two of them. It was only a matter of time before they found him. Especially if they’d laid out this trap specifically because they knew he was enough of an oblivious dumbass to run straight into it.

Huffing out another shaky breath, Mark squinted in the darkness in some effort to examine the trap once more. So far as he knew, all the lights in the cabin were off and the windows were shuttered tight. The monsters chasing him probably had flashlights or, Hell, maybe they could just plain see in the dark. That would be his luck.

Unfortunately, night vision was not an ability Mark had. In fact, seeing as he required glasses, his vision happened to be below average. Thankfully, he did still have them, though one of the lenses had been cracked. They didn’t help much with the dark, though, and Mark cursed as his shaking hands fumbled over the smooth metal. “Don’t these fucking things come with some kind of a release?? Fuck,” he hissed. Gritting his teeth and clenching his jaw, Mark again tried to pry open the metal hinges that had locked up tight. He was strong, but not strong enough, and the trap’s teeth sunk back into the meat of his leg with a sickening “squelch”.

Mark had to bite hard into his own wrist to suppress another cry of pain. He could feel fresh rivulets of hot blood flowing from the semi-deep wounds to join the rest in steadily soaking his sock and shoe. The growing pungency of the smell was becoming nauseating and part of Mark was relieved he couldn’t see just how bad the damage was. He knew the material of his jeans was likely the only reason metal hadn’t gone straight to bone.

“Hnnngh… c’mon, c’mon, c’mon what do I gotta do to get rid of you, you fucking fuckerson?! You simpering pile of-”

“Ooooooh Markimoo~ Markle-Sparkle~ Where aaaare you? I can hear you cursing, y’know! This isn’t like your video games. Keep talking and one of us is gonna fiiiind yooouuu~”

“Fuck my ass.” Mark muttered fearfully under his breath as the familiar, but warped sing-song echoed his way from further down the corridor. That was definitely Ethan- or, well, what was left of Ethan. Mark still wasn’t sure about just what the Hell happened after they arrived at the cabin to shoot his “punishment”, but something insane and diabolical had overtaken both of his friends. One minute they were fine; laughing and joking around as they played up a menacing act for Mark. The next, Tyler was pulling a knife on him and Mark had been told to run. He thought it was all part of the act at first, until he’d careened straight into his old childhood friend and very nearly gotten his throat slit. The knife wasn’t fake. There weren’t any cameras rolling.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

“Markimooo~ Oh Markimooo~ I know you can hear me! C’mon, we only wanna play a little! I thought you liked horror games! You can’t keep us waiting forever. It’s too late for you to run away. I can sense your dread… I can smell your fear… it smells a lot like… blood!”

Ethan’s normally childish, bubbly laugh rang out, much closer now, echoing and bouncing off itself in a discordant mess that almost made Mark’s ears hurt. At the same time, it made him want to laugh as well and he almost swallowed his tongue at the sensation. He was in excruciating pain and bleeding heavily from his leg, so why the Hell would he want to laugh?! Mark shook himself and decided to try the chain keeping him pinned to the floor instead. It felt like it was heavily bolted to the wood beneath it, and neither of the attaching clasps were any weaker than the thick links in-between. All the metal did beneath Mark’s desperate tugs was jingle a little in tandem with Ethan’s giggles, which were steadily drifting closer… closer…

“Found you~!”

Mark gasped and snapped his head around to face the voice with wide, frightened eyes. In the darkness, all he could see were two glowing pinpricks of brilliant crimson. If he squinted, he could make out the hint of a silhouette, and his mind called back The Joy of Creation: Reborn with dread. He couldn’t run. He didn’t have a flashlight. But he wouldn’t be able to laugh off getting caught here. Mark leaned back far as he could from those burning eyes; dragging the short length of chain along the floor with him. His chest heaved wildly with panicked breaths and he gulped. “E-Ethan… Ethan, man, fuck… y-you scared me, ha ha….” His attempts at normality were flat and awkward. Mark swore he saw the stretch of a toothy grin in the darkness.

“Oh, Mark. Mark, Mark, Mark. You’re cute. Denial comes so easily to you, it’s adorable! Don’t you think so, Tyler?” The crimson pinpricks shifted upwards.

It was all the warning Mark had before there was a hand gripping roughly at his hair; dragging him up. He screamed in pain and immediately began clawing at the offending appendage with absolutely no success in doing much of anything. His feet scrabbled at the bloodied wood, left leg a useless mess, and the trap’s chain pulled taut as a knife came to rest snugly against his throat. Instantly, he stopped struggling, though with his wobbly knees the hand in his hair was just about the only thing keeping him off the ground. It stung terribly, and Mark knew more than a few hairs had been ripped out of his scalp. Tears prickled at the corners of his eyes. “St-stop, stop! Wh-why’re you doing this…?!”

“You talk too much. You always talked too much. I think… we need to fix that. Ethan?”

In contrast to Ethan’s higher pitched, ringing tone, Tyler’s voice had degraded to something rough and rusty around the edges. Equally compounding and discordant, Tyler’s voice was more liable to send chills running down Mark’s spine, whereas Ethan’s just outright gave him the creeps. Both sounded inhuman. Neither carried the warmth and affection Mark had grown accustomed to over the past few months. It was as if Ethan and Tyler had been sucked out entirely; their hollowed bodies used like empty husks with a set of hands and feet. Surely, if they were still in there somewhere, they wouldn’t be letting this happen. Surely, they cared about him enough to fight back…

Ethan was getting close; directly into Mark’s personal space and he released another shaky, anxious breath. Those red eyes hadn’t lost an ounce of intensity, but now Mark could make out more of Ethan’s face. It looked the same. Even the broad smile it bore was strikingly similar to Ethan’s usual grin. However, there was just something sinister about the whole thing; about Ethan’s expression. Those eyes never left Mark’s, burrowing and burning their way past his retinas into his brain as pain abruptly tore up through his knee and into his pelvis.

Ethan had kicked his injured leg. Not just a nudge, either. Mark had felt the toe of Ethan’s sneaker purposefully strike at the spot where metal met flesh and the agony it triggered for Mark almost left him dry heaving. Instead, as he opened his mouth to scream, some kind of balled up cloth was crammed in past his teeth. He choked a bit and gagged, but Tyler’s hand was quick to release his hair in favor of clamping firmly over Mark’s now stuffed mouth. He whimpered on reflex.

“Easy there, Mark. You seem a little unsteady on your feet. Lean on me, pal. I’ve got ya, buddy. Easy… eaaaaasssyyy… shhh…..”

Mark could feel the slight vibrations of Tyler’s voice against his back as he was tugged up against his friend’s broad chest. It was, again, the only thing stopping him from simply collapsing back onto the floor. He muffled out a few more cries but the start of any wiggling was quickly put an end to as the knife returned to his neck. Mark swallowed hard and could feel the wad of cloth in his mouth already soaking up all the moisture there. He wheezed softly from his nose.

“I think he’s scared of us, Tyler.”

“Dumbass would be scared of his own shadow if he was smart enough to find it. Where’s the tape? Don’t tell me you forgot it.”

“Oooops?”

Ethan’s giggles filled up the corridor again and Mark could just envision Tyler rolling his eyes- well, whatever he had for eyes now. The grip on his mouth tightened almost to the point of being painful and he winced as he felt the knife slice just barely into his skin. A bead or two of blood trickled down and the delighted sound Ethan let loose made Mark’s stomach turn.

“I wanna play with him some more, Tyler. C’mon! Can we? Can we can we can weee? Pleeeaaase?? He’s like a scared little bunny! I want to chase him some more!”

“I know what you want. You think I don’t wanna have any fun with our friend here? But someone forgot the tape. Again. Don’t you have anything on you??”

“Only this!”

There was the sound of something heavy cutting through the air and Mark’s eyes frantically watched Ethan’s silhouette in the darkness grow. He couldn’t make out whatever it was, but he knew it probably couldn’t be good. Still, he wasn’t able to move an inch without running the risk of Tyler really slicing his throat open. It was all Mark could do to keep taking quick, wheezing breaths through his nose as one of his best friends held him steady. He felt more than heard the deep rumble of a hum from behind him.

“...that’ll do.”

“Oh, fantastic!”

They were the last words Mark heard before the sting of the knife left his neck and something heavy crashed hard across his skull. He slumped instantly in Tyler’s strong grip and in seconds his vision had gone black.