#IF I MISSED ANY TRIGGERS PLEASE TELL MEEE

[witchcraftandburialdirt]

The late summer morning was rife with sound, birds chittering, foxes barking, and the sweet call of various bugs trying to find a mate. Yet the cry of agony and crunch of bone was something that made the woodland go quiet, and quickly caught the Vastayan's attention - ears perked curiously while he stood. The way through the brush was easy, and his eyes widened when he caught a sigil of Devil's carved into one of the nearby trees. How had a Noxian camp slipped under his nose so easily? Did they just appear overnight and infect the area like the disease their people were?

He called out to his lover, watching as one last human tried to flee, and he was quick to fire an arrow through their shoulder, watching as they fell to the ground with a gasp. The bird glanced back when the dragon rumbled, a voice as powerful as the thunder over the sea - something that he would never get fully used to. Haruko's tail twitched excitedly when he was gifted a beautiful necklace of green emeralds and golden chains, fingers wrapping around it before he slid it around his head.

"I know my love, thank you… but," Haruko tutted playfully as he stepped along the gore, his talons clicking up threateningly as corpses became stepping stones and his hand reached down to the struggling girl. The motion to grab her hair was careless as he lifted her upwards and she lashed out, trying to cut him with a knife, resulting in a knee to her nose. The Vastayan dropped her into the mud afterwards and hissed, "You have to keep an eye on those too cowardly to defend themselves, those who would rather hide away and let others die for them." His foot pressed against her skull, a rumble of satisfaction coursing through him when she yelped as the tip of his talon threatened to slice through her cornea. Haruko's hands landed upon his hips with a sigh as he quirked a grin up at his lover with a sigh of acceptance, "Buuuut I can understand your eagerness to cleanse the land of this," his weight fell harder on the blubbering woman's head, "Evil."

A pause, a breath to gather himself up as to not let Sadism and Wickedness consume him, no Akana would poison his mind today. Haruko stepped off of her and brought his hands upwards in a motion to relax himself, "What should we do with her, Tarhos? Kill her with the others, or let her live with the guilt of that maybe if she had helped, they might have lived? Perhaps she'll even do our job for us," a cocky toss of a dagger infront of the weeping woman, "At least then you'd be able to pick how you fall into the pit, after all…it's long way down."

…

"Honestly," Haruko chirped, finally away from the bloodied soil as he stepped within the nearby river with a shudder, "If you're going to wander off and do that sort of thing - at least invite me! What fun is it for me if I can't watch my God protect my home?" Warm waters kissed at his ankles, lapping the blood away before he stepped back and brought a cloth to his foot. "When did they even arrive? Its like they just…spawned there overnight, I didn't even smell them yesterday, when - when did you notice?" Was he losing his edge? Had he gotten too relaxed in the massacre of this infliction upon the land?

Closed starter for @witchcraftandburialdirt from here 🦎

To say the dragon was reckless was an understatement, who could blame him? His entire existence had been boiled down to being nothing more than a tool for mortals petty wars for even longer than many remember. A prisoner in his own body, trapped with his own thoughts, it was only natural for one to go mad after seeing the horrors he had. Yet... he somehow had found salvation.

Tarhos could barely hear Haru's voice over the carnage crushing a mans ribs as he pulled his sword out of their chest he peered over his shoulder, "You told me where I could feed love. That is what I am doing." His voice purred, something so pleased with the way blood dripped off his scales. Ruby eyes scanning the destruction he had caused, movement. That's what he was waiting for.

Serpentine in nature he crawls over prying at the wound until it stilled. He was in his element. Something productive at least as much as he could feel the peacocks distaste for the brutality of it. His tongue forks over his beak as he leans down stealing a necklace off the body before returning to his little birds perch, "For you-"

The patrol would find the carnage in the morning, but for now... he just wanted to be with his beloved.

[protege-not-protagonist]

Criminal Minds: The Protégé Chapter 5

Ch 5: My Brother's Keeper Pt. 2

Blurb: The team work out the new Unsub's motives and start searching for a suspect who fits the profile. But as Grace works the case, certain aspects of it stir up a past she would rather forget. Meanwhile Spencer can't help but start working on the victimology of this new possible serial killer back home.

Masterlist

Previous Chapter

Audience: 16+ mature audience for depictions of violence and sexual references

Author's Note: if you see a trigger warning that concerns you, you can scroll to end and I'll have a brief description what happens and how you can avoid it.

TW: Ableism, child death, violence, gore, crime scene depiction, kidnapping.

BAU, Quantico, VA, 7:45 PM

Spencer knocked on the door of Penelope’s cave. She didn’t turn around, continuing to stare at the collection of monitors in front of her.

‘Who dare’s seek the goddess of knowledge and everyone’s business? Speak mortal.’

‘Hi Garcia,’ he announced himself sheepishly and braced for a bone-crushing hug.

‘Oh oH My GOd! You’re HEERRREEE! You’ve come to see meee!!! Here at work!’ she lept from her chair and all but tackled him. ‘It is way past home time, Mr. Why are you still here? Not that I’m not happy to see you, but I thought you weren’t going to come here any more-’

He pulled back and shrugged. ‘I wish I could say that I came on a whim, but I need to ask you something. I thought it would be more polite to ask the goddess of knowledge in person. She would perhaps be more gracious than if I only spoke to her on the phone. I wouldn’t want to anger her.’

‘I don’t think I could ever be angry at you, gorgeous grey matter!’ She planted a kiss on his cheek and smiled at him. ‘What’s up?’

He looked at the numerous lists the computers were compiling and searching. ‘How is the case in Groton going?’

‘It is not good, and very icky. It’s a family annihilator. The parents are still missing, the children are confirmed dead, the team is waiting for the state police to arrive and they're still working on the profile. I am trawling through everything I can get my hands on, but there are no suspects yet, and the profile is too broad, and I am miserable. I don’t want to go home without finding something.’ She sunk back into her chair, deflated. She then cocked her head, ‘Hang on, how did you know about the case?’

‘I was speaking with Agent Matthews this morning. Alvez came to tell her they were getting called away to it,’ he said and watched Garcia’s expression brighten with excitement. ‘What?’

‘Oh my god, you guys finally met. What was it like? She adorable, right? She’s like a tiny Baby Spencer. Except, well, she’s not tiny at all. She is almost as tall as you, and really quiet somehow. Have you noticed that? She’s like a ninja. Actually, it makes sense, because she literally is a ninja, she has a black belt, did you know that?’

‘No, I didn’t. I don’t know much about her. I just met her today.’ He frowned. A martial artist? He hadn’t picked that.

‘You wouldn’t expect it, right?’ Her face fell, seeing his slight frown. ‘Don’t worry though, she is probably more unco than you ever were,’ she interjected. He frowned because a martial arts back ground really blindsided him, but he knew from Garcia's expression she thought it was because she told him Matthews was "cool." She didn’t want him to think she had replaced him. He smiled as she rambled. ‘Like way more unco than you were. Last month, Simmons tried to get her to sub in for the FBI mixed volleyball team, because she mentioned she did it in high school. She didn’t tell us she had only umpired though. She didn’t want to let the team down. Poor baby got Scott-Stirling-ed by a buff firefighter first serve-’ He watched Garcia's loyalties conflict on her face as she realised in trying to reassure him, she had embarrassed Grace. ‘-Um please don’t tell her I told you, we’re not supposed to talk about it. Simmons was devastated that the FBI lost to firefighters. It knocked us out of the finals for the first time in years. And Grace was really upset-'

‘-Garcia,' he stopped her. 'It’s fine. I like her. She seems like a good fit here. She’s nice.’ He smiled at her, letting her know he approved. ‘Nice’ was the key criteria they both hoped for in all members they worked with. ‘What is Scott-Stirling-ed?’

‘It’s a reference to a meme, she um got-’ Garcia mimed getting smacked in the face and passing out.

‘Ouch.’ He winced. Speaking of Agent Matthews, the pulled out her notepad, ‘Hey Garcia, I know you’re busy, but-’

‘Anything for you, Reid,’ she gave him her full attention. ‘Hit me.’

‘Did Matthews ask you for mortality data for the past 5 years?’

‘No, she did not. I am trying not to get offended, but she knows her way around data collection and can use Excel like no man's business. Was it for her thesis?’

‘Thesis?’ He asked in surprise. ‘She’s working on a Ph.D?’

‘Ah, she would have called it her personal project?’ Garcia said smugly.

‘Yeah?’ He asked with a raised eyebrow.

‘I’ve been here long enough to pick up a few things from you profilers. Grace has this complex about being seen as smart. I can’t work it out. When she’s around people she doesn’t know or sees as superior, like people she should show off to, she acts… shy, but that’s not the right word, it's more like she’s afraid of people knowing she’s smart. For example, now when I ask her what she did on the weekend, she tells me exactly what she did. But if I asked her when she first started, or if Tara, JJ or Emily asks… she like normal-ifies her life. “Oh, I had brunch with a friend, did some chores, worked on a puzzle.” Except I know her friend is actually her supervisor, Dr Boland, with the Smithsonian. The puzzle is sorting boxes of bones in the unidentified collection. Chores is code for personal stuff, that I won’t share with you because she trusts me enough to tell me. It’s weird, but you should be flattered. It means she has a high opinion of you.’

He nodded. ‘Yeah, but she sees you as a friend, which I can tell makes you feel just a little superior to me right now.’

Garcia giggled. ‘Maybe just a bit. But the thesis, I don’t think she’s got a solid hypothesis, but she’s looking at something to do with efficient grave finding. Somehow from that, she’s working a model for clandestine-depression—something-or-other. It’s beyond me.’

‘You mean a predictive model for Secondary Depression indicators of clandestine burials?’ He guessed.

Garcia shook her head, ‘I don’t know what that means Reid, but it sounds kinda similar to what she told me. Please don’t tell her, but I kinda... wasn’t listening when she explained it to me.' She grimaced. 'I love her to bits, but I switched off as soon as she said grave finding. And I know that’s bad, but it was Saturday. Saturday. A day off and we were having bubble tea and enjoying the Romantasy Fiction Festival. I wanted to think about hot elvish princes, to buy merch, and get a book signed. I did NOT want to think about bones.’

‘She said it was a fantasy novel convention.’ He frowned, ‘What’s Romantasy?’

‘Oh Reid, I’m sure you pretty little head will work it out, but she wasn’t lying. It was a fantasy novel convention. I, however, was solely there for the more spicy adult readers panel, which, I may have miss judged Grace’s interests and booked her a seat for as well. And that may have triggered the nervous ramble about said thesis on the way to the YA fiction stands she wanted to visit Afterwards. Like I said, graves are her comfort zone, elvish princes are mine. Anyway, why is her thesis important?’

He nodded along, ‘Would you say her research is more generalised, doesn’t involve case studies?’

‘Yeah.’ She nodded. ‘She is working with is census data. She is going off public information, said it would be unfair to fellow students if she used FBI resources. I think she’s been compiling data: place of death, cause of death, place of burial, missing persons reports, geographic data and also weather data.’

‘So she hasn’t asked you to pull case files for specific people?’ He pried.

‘She asked me for Nathan Harris’s files yesterday, oh and one of Rossi’s interviews from a few years back, but she did come to me after she couldn’t find them herself. I get the sense she doesn’t want to bother me. She’ll even go to the basement and go through the compactors before asking me to search for something,’ Garcia told him.

‘Can you see if she has pulled any files by herself?’

‘What has she done? Is she in trouble?’ Garcia asked and quickly pulled Grace’s work search history.

There was nothing related to old cases that he could see recently. That was good news. If their hunch was right, they were dealing with a highly intelligent, sophisticated killer who might have had access to their case files. And those types had been the most dangerous the BAU had dealt with. It was not something Grace should pursue alone. It was dangerous.

‘Reid, what is going on?’

‘Can I get you to discreetly compile a list-’ She turned around and poised her hands over the keyboard, ‘-of every case we’ve worked on has led to an incarceration noting that an unsub is criminally insane or a person being institutionalised, as well as the current status of that unsub and print it for me? Can you also set a tip off warning if anyone accesses more than one of those files or searches the same parameters?’

‘Oof, that is a big list, that will take all night compile and print, tree killer, especially with these babies already searching like 7 different databases for all these things-’

‘It’s okay, it’s personal request, it might not be serious, I can come back tomorrow and pick up the list,’ he tried to brush it off, not wanting to alarm her. But it didn't work.

‘Why the secrecy and setting the tip offs them?’ She stared at him with worry. And he knew he couldn’t lie to her.

‘Agent Matthews found a pattern that might indicate an active serial killer while compiling her data, but it’s hard to tell at this stage. If there is one, they’re making the deaths look like suicides. It’ll be faster if I go through them rather than trying to correlate it with the computer. I remember what we profiled. I’ll be able to determine if it’s in character or suspicious. You guys can take it from there. But Garcia, if this unsub is out there… it would mean he has access to our files or has been following our cases closely for years.’ Spencer watched carefully to see any sign of fear in her. He knew how personal things got for her if the unsub was inside the system or could find out that anyone was looking for them. But there was no hesitation.

She finished typing and hit enter. ‘I’ve queued it up for you. That list should be ready and printed by morning.’

'Garcia,' he placed a hand on her shoulder, ‘Thank you so much.’

‘You are very welcome.’

The computer chimed, and they both looked at the alert on the screen.

‘Oh no. No, no,’ she winced.

His eyes flicked over the preliminary report the Highway Serial Crimes database had just flagged and he sighed. ‘I know this isn’t the news you hoped to update them with, but until we get people to Rapid City and process the crime scene, there’s not much else you can do from here once you send the team that. Have you eaten yet?’

She shook her head.

‘Well, we better fix that. Do you want to grab dinner with me?’

She managed a small smile. ‘I’ll never say no to spending time with my favourite genius. Tandoori or Burritos?’

‘Actually there’s this new Korean barbeque place I really enjoy-’

‘Done. I will drown my sorrows in kimchi and gyoza.’

‘Wait, did you just say I’m your favourite genius?’ He pretended to preen, which made her laugh. Good. He couldn’t leave her without putting a smile back on her face.

------- Groton, SD, Gold Stallion Inn Thursday July 8:15PM

The team reviewed their evidence, waiting for the State Troopers to arrive. They picked at the bowls of loaded fries the Inn’s owner had served them. They established a headquarters in the Inn’s adjoining diner that had been commandeered. The local police were looking at camera footage from the main road’s traffic light, trying to pin a time on the abduction by spotting the family car. Avery and Dr Boland were debriefing the CSI team and cataloguing the personal effects in the Gile’s room. They were also processing prints they had found. Nothing had come from it so far.

Dr Lewis updated the case board as the new crime scene photos came through. Garcia had found a link: Rapid City PD, the state capital, had just reported the bodies of a man and a woman who matched the description of their kidnapped parents. Photos of Lilian and Travis Giles Bodies stared back at her and names were now attached to the photos of the victims she had just seen: Tyler and Connor.

Grace was surprised that the parents weren’t as hard to identify. Their deaths were nowhere near as brutal. If it weren’t for the stolen car, she would not have thought it was the same unsub.

The Giles were found in a ditch next to a main road. Posed next to each other, single shots to the chest. She would guess a 24. Calibre. There were no casings, so he’d used a revolver or was more organised than they thought and took the casings with him. He had also dumped the Giles’ car as well. That was what disturbed her the most; he’d be looking for another ride, which meant he’d be looking for new victims.

The profile of a Family Annihilator was typically a patriarchal male narcissist who was experiencing stress, which presented as rage directed at his own family. However, this wasn’t his own family, and annihilators usually fitted into a certain typology. There were kills with motivators like; financial gain; drugs; sadism; or jealousy that an ex-partner had moved on. Or there were fantasy motivated kills; like believing a delusion that by killing a family, they were protecting them; assuming the role of a parent, inserting themselves in the family; punishing a certain member of the family for their own family troubles; or the involvement of a sexual fantasy.

This had various elements, but not enough to point to a specific motivator. Then there was also the overkill on the children that had a disability as well. This case seemed all over the place, yet somehow, in this unsub’s head it made sense, trying to untangle that was proving difficult.

Grace sat on the table closest to the map with her legs criss-crossed. A can of diet coke appeared in her vision unprompted. ‘You need some caffeine?’ Prentiss offered her her favourite beverage. She took it appreciatively and nodded a thanks as Prentiss continued pacing the diner, talking out loud to the team.

‘Okay, so this guy is one of a kind. There’s no sexual assault to any of the family members, overkill on kids. Then he is taking the parents across the state before killing them. Why, how does it all connect?’

‘Maybe he enjoys prolonging the terror of the parents. But if that the case why the overkill on the kids?’ Rossi put forward.

‘Well, separating the family would raise anxiety and terror for both the parents and the kids. Maybe there’s something there.’ Alvez agreed.

‘The posing of the parents, the shots to the chest could be a message, something about love or the family unit?’ Dr Lewis suggested.

‘What I don’t get is how did he get the parents to go with him all the way? I wouldn't comply if he did that to my kids. I'd be too broken to drive. I have no reason to follow directions.’ JJ pointed out.

‘Well, maybe that’s it, maybe the parents don’t know? Maybe he takes and kills the kids before the parents notice them missing. Then he threatens the parents, tells them to drive, do what he says and they will see their kids again,’ Simmons proposed.

There were nods of agreement around as Emily added their points to the board.

‘But if he is not showing the parents their kids’ remains, then it’s not about the psychological torture for the parents. Which means this whole thing is about the children. It’s the kids he is angry at, their the target of his rage.’ Dr Lewis spoke, and Grace focused on the map in front of her.

Dr Reid’s advice played in her mind as her team’s theories continued to bounce around. She placed her finger on Minneapolis, where the Giles were from, and drew it across to Groton, then from Groton to Rapid City.

Why Groton? There was nothing to attract the Giles family here, no personal connection. Simmons said it was a rest stop, but where were the victims going if they chose to stop in Groton? They most likely took Route 12 to get here, so perhaps the route went somewhere important. Using her phone, she searched Route 12. The result surprised her; it was a scenic route. It went all the way to Washington State coast. Coast to coast pretty much east to west. It was a tourist drive.

The next question was why dispose of the child victims at a golf course and then drive 6 hours with the parents in their own car and kill them, and dump them and their car?

Answer was that the car ride had to be some kind of ritual.

To get to Rapid City he would have taken Route 37 south and then Route 11 to west to Rapid City. When she typed Route 37 and 11 into google, all it did was confirm that it was the fastest route to get to Rapid city. There wasn’t much else about it. So if it wasn’t about the journey, it had to be the destination. She searched the map in front of her around the Rapid City area and something stood out nearby.

‘Mount Rushmore,’ she voiced.

‘What you got there Five-O?’ Alvez asked as he spied her put a pin on Mount Rushmore.

She thought of the timeline. The Giles checked in to the inn and had dinner around 7:40. The map said that the journey was about four hours, which meant they left Minneapolis at around 3:30. on a Wednesday. It clicked; school. School was out. It was summer. Grace swept her eyes over the Giles’ belongings CSI were cataloguing into evidence across the other side of the diner. She looked over at the table of belongs and saw large full suitcases, multiple camera bags, a large advanced first aid kit and a Nintendo Switch. The family left Minneapolis and drove as far as they could before they would need to stop for dinner and a rest. This was supposed to be a road trip holiday. Probably the first the family had been able to go on because Tyler, the younger boy, was now old enough that his bones didn’t fracture as easily.

On the other side of the equation, the trip the unsub took to Rapid City was around six hours. Right nearby was a famous landmark, and the fact that the car was dumped might suggest that the unsub was taking a rest, like he would stay the night there.

Four to six hours was the distance you would travel a day if you had kids in the car.

‘I think it’s a road trip,’ she turned to her team, ‘He saw the Giles family was on a road trip. That’s why he chose them. He kills the kids to get rid of them and then makes the parents fulfil his fantasy; he made the parents drive him to see mount Rushmore. That’s his fantasy: he is on a family road trip and he has their undivided attention.’

Everyone went silent. It wasn’t the last piece of the puzzle, but it certainly filled in a lot.

‘This guy wants to be an only child,’ Rossi concluded.

Prentiss stalked forward and with confidence wrote in big letters across the board; JEALOUS ANNIHILATOR.

-------- Groton, SD, Gold Stallion Inn Thursday July 8:35 pm

‘We are looking for a white male in his late 20s to early 30s. He is definitely physically fit and we believe he has served time before. He is emotionally immature, violent, bad tempered, and a narcissist. He has an inflated ego and this will make him difficult to be around. He most likely doesn’t have many friends or stable relationships because of this,’ Prentiss told the gathered police, CSI, and State Troopers. They all listened intently, some even scribbled notes down.

‘This guy would be in and out of a job or in a job that afforded him isolation, but it will be a menial job with physical labour. This kind of job paired with his narcissism makes him feel undervalued and un-listened to. He craves validation attention. And this is something he has struggled with since childhood.’ Alvez explained.

‘We are looking for a type of killer called a Family Annihilator. This unsub falls in the jealous type. This type of killer is usually a patriarchal male jealous of his Ex “replacing” him with a new partner or new relationship, which results in the unsub killing his own family. However, in this case, instead of a patriarchal role, he is taking on the role of a child. He is jealous of his siblings. He wants to be an only child. And also unusually in this case, he is subjecting other families to his rage which indicates he cannot inflict this upon his own family. Now this will because he can’t get to them, is too afraid too, or he has already killed members of his family and cannot complete the fantasy. The target of his rage is mostly likely his younger siblings, who probably have a physical disability that affects their mobility.’ Grace detailed and met Avery’s eyes. He sent her an encouraging nod as he prepared a press brief.

'As this guy seems to have periods of organised behaviour and disorganised behaviour, is likely that he is delusional and has suffered a psychotic break caused by a recent stressful event. He is stuck in a fantasy that involves going on a road trip holiday as an only child and when reality breaks that fantasy; he snaps. We need to issue this warning to the public: Holidaying families with physically disabled children need to be aware and exercise caution. Stay together and ensure their vehicles and hotel rooms are locked. Be wary of hitchhikers and rest stops.’ Rossi told them.

‘As the children of the family were killed first and brutally, the children are surrogates for people he really wants to kill or wants to relive killing. These would be his own siblings. They would have probably been younger than him and had mobility issues. This would have resulted in them receiving more attention and care from his parents. Which, when met with his difficulty in empathising and narcissism, caused extreme resentment. He likely expressed this in outbursts of rage throughout his youth, attempting to gain attention.’ Dr Lewis explained.

‘His delusion is trying to recreate something from his past. We believe there was a particular traumatic event in the unsub’s life that would have either occurred when he or his siblings were around 10 to 15, as this is the age of his victims. We need to be looking at incidents involving families with one or more children with physical disabilities or mobility issues around 15 years ago. His choice of disposal site and abduction point suggests he is local or grew up here. So have a think back to anyone you remember fitting this description,’ Simmons added.

‘Rapid City Police is canvassing rest stops and hotels within a 10-mile radius of the last disposal site. He will probably be out there looking for new victims, so it is priority one that we get this warning out to the public to reduce the opportunities for this guy. We will send three of our agents with the state police to Rapid City, and we will reconvene in the morning with any updates to the case. That’s all, thank you,’ Prentiss summarised and the crowd of people dispersed. She turned to her team.

‘Simmons, JJ, I want you to take Avery and some of the State Troops with you on the jet and get to Rapid City as soon as you can. Get some rest and first thing in the morning, get everything you can from them. We need crime scene collaboration and geographic profiling to be top-notch here. We can’t let this guy slip out the net. Rest of us will stay here and try to figure out who this guy is. Hopefully, Garcia can find something in the morning or the locals will come forward. The Groton is too specific a place for it not to be personal choice. I think it’s likely he could return here.’

They all dispersed, finishing up what they could and deciding who would room with who. Grace paired up with Dr Boland, who said she was a heavy sleeper, which was great because Grace was not a great roommate.

She sat on the table flicking at the tab of her can despondently. She stared at the crime scene pictures and the then at the smiling family photo. She thought she should give Dr Boland a head start.

Grace knew she had always had trouble sleeping, diagnosed insomnia, which, when the treatments didn’t work, lead to the ADHD diagnosis. She had known that she would have disrupted a light sleeper. Given the various positions she had woken up in, she knew she fussed a lot in her sleep. There was also the fact that occasionally she woke up screaming, tangled in sheets, stumbling into a wall or tumbling over her nightstand. Not a pleasant roommate at all. But what she didn’t know until JJ told her was she talked in her sleep whenever she passed out on the couch in the jet.

This was one of those cases that would add to the bad nights if she didn’t get home to get it all out soon. It wasn’t just the brutality of the case; though that never helped. Instead, it was the motivation behind the case. This was awful on another level for her. It was too close to home. She wished she couldn’t imagine the hate this unsub had towards his own siblings that caused the carnage she saw in the photos as she stared at the board. True, she didn’t know resentment on this level, but she was ashamed to admit she understood.

‘What is it, kid?’ Rossi’s voice startled her. She turned to him and saw his concern. She tried to give him a reassuring smile, but he gave her that look. The downward tilt and eyebrow raise. The one he gave her when he first met her. She sighed. He knew her weakness, her tells, he knew her probably better than anyone. There was no point in trying to hide.

‘This case… it’s just the amount of times I wished that�� nothing like this, of course, but I don’t know, the times that I wished they would just disappear, that they would just get out of my life, you know? What does it say about me? I understand this guy and I hate that I do.’

He reached a hand out and rested it on her shoulder, and she didn’t flinch away.

‘Hey, just cause you understand a wacko doesn’t mean you are one, right? You’ve got empathy. That that is a certified fact. Thinking like that, it’s part of the job.’ She hung her head. He didn’t let up though. ‘Considering what you’ve gone through, I think I’d be more surprised if you hadn’t had thoughts like that. No one is that much of a saint. And call me biassed, but you’re my favourite.’

She snorted a laugh then, ‘You haven’t met them.’

‘Well, by the sounds of it, I never will. One’s in space.’

‘Pfft if only,’ she snorted, then chuckled as she remembered something he would find funny, ‘You know, before I knew where babies came from, I used to think they came from space. Dad played along. He told me that what’s the helicopter pads on top of hospitals were for, it was where the spaceships landed. When they were born, I remember siting by the window with dad, looking at the stars trying to guess which planet they came from.’

‘My money’s on Vulcan,’ Rossi joked.

‘See, you would think so, but I’ve been told that Vulcan is actually inhospitable to humanoids,’ she rolled her eyes.

Rossi shook his head amused. His eyes flicked to her face and he could tell exactly where her mind was at now.

‘How is your family?’ He lowered his voice and stepped closer, asking before she could dodge it. She took a deep breath and her shoulders sagged.

‘Last I talked with mom, dad’s not any worse, but he’s not any better. They’re in Houston to be close to Ody and his girlfriend. I don’t know about Cass… she was in Hong Kong last I heard. But I don’t know, people don’t tell me stuff anymore. And the thing that sucks is that mom’s the only one who reaches out, because she feels guilty. And I still can’t… I can’t forgive her. I only talk to her because she’s that last link I have to the rest of them. And I think dad wants to talk but… the way I left, Rossi, the whole thing, it hurt everyone, especially dad. I’ve tried to fix it, but its just… its not fixing. I reached out to Ody about Thanksgiving. I haven’t heard anything back.’

Rossi gave her a painfully empathetic look. ‘I wish I could say it will be fine, that it will go back to normal, but you and I know that things like that are going to take time to get over, and they are never going to go back to the way they were. But, I want you to know my place is always open for thanksgiving if you want somewhere to go.’

‘I appreciate it, Rossi but… if I don’t get invited home or called away, I’ll probably spend it in Honolulu, with you know… She doesn’t get any other visitors.’

She could tell he hoped that she wouldn’t say that.

‘You don’t have to keep going back there. You don’t have any obligations.’

‘She has no family, no one else Rossi-’

‘-Yeah, and that’s her own fault, because she killed them, Grace.’ He said simply.

She knew he was right, and she knew he meant well and he tried to understand, but he never would. There were very few people on this side of the law that would.

‘I know, but I also know she did what she did because not one person who should’ve cared for her, ever did. She was my friend Rossi, in some way she still is. Everyone deserves to have at least one person who cares.’

‘I just worry that you forget that you need to take care of yourself,’ Rossi admitted.

‘My therapist isn’t concerned about it, and I’m always honest with her,’ she told him, hoping that it was enough to satisfy him. It wasn’t. She sighed. ‘Look, tell you what, if… I don’t get invited home and I end up spending Thanksgiving in Honolulu, I promise that I will spend Christmas with you. Does that make you feel better?’

‘Immensely,’ Rossi said. ‘And you’re not just using me to hide from this stripper that Alvez, JJ and Tara have been talking about?’

She laughed, ‘No, though it would be kinda funny to see you kick one out of your house mid-Christmas dinner. It’d be a better show than what they'd be paid to perform.’

Another thought came to her, and she remembered what she was supposed to tell him and Prentiss tonight, when she had the chance.

‘On a kinda related note, there’s no rule I’m missing, like you can’t be in the BAU if you were friends with a… ah, mass murderer before you joined, right? Cause I declared everything when I joined the bureau, I’m not going to get fired if it comes up or-’

‘Hey no, no. You weren’t on that case, and given that the circumstances in which you became friends were unrelated to her… activities. There is no conflict of interest,’ Rossi reassured her, then shrugged, ‘Unless she breaks out and we have to catch her. Then you would have to sit that one out. Why do you ask?’

‘Hypothetically...' she began

‘Oh no,’ Rossi rolled his eyes.

She winced and continued, ‘-If a current case were to involve her, but not for the crimes she did, but like, she was a witness to another crime? Would that be a conflict of interest or an established rapport?’

‘That’s an oddly specific, you care to explain that hypothetical kid?’ Rossi frowned.

‘Well, I… may have something to run by you and Prentiss.’ She walked over to her bag and pulled out her files from this morning. ‘This is what I went to see Dr Reid for.’

‘Hey Emily! You got a minute?’ Rossi called her over.

Prentiss turned to them and looked at Grace’s files and Rossi's frown.

‘Why do I sense a migraine coming on?’ she asked, concerned.

‘Uh, I’ll try to be quick but, you better grab a coffee. I’m sorry, this isn’t going to take a minute.’ Grace apologised.

---------

Rapid City Area, SD, Thursday July 9:00 pm

He sat at the diner with the map and a plate of pie in front of him. He wasn’t looking at it, though. He was looking at them; his new family. They were perfect; well, they would be. The young burden was in a wheelchair, like his brother had been at the start. These kids were girls though. But that didn’t matter. Surely if the parents kept the runt, they would love to have a bit of variation. A boy would be a lovely addition. They would welcome the change, unlike the last ones.

He watched the eldest girl, perfect like him. She was on her phone, withdrawn like he had been. The parents talked to her sister animatedly, ignoring their perfect child. The Elder Girl was unappreciated like he had been. He saw himself. He’d make it right for her. It could be fixed. He could stop her from growing up to be like him, do her a favour. Not before he undid it though, that had to come first, and there was only one place he could do that. He couldn’t hear what the family were saying from here, but he decided tomorrow they would be his.

‘…The FBI especially has warned holidaying families with children with mobility issues and physical disabilities to be alert of their surroundings, to travel together when making stops, and ensure doors are locked. The killer is thought to be armed and dangerous and currently in the greater Rapid City region. Anybody with information is encouraged to call the hotline at the bottom of the screen…’

The words caught his attention. The FBI was looking for him in Rapid City? He smirked. The fools. He was finished here. He’d seen what he needed to. They wouldn’t find him here. How stupid would they look when he took this next family, right from under their noses?

----------

Next Chapter

Note: Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this and if you love it, or even just like it, please leave a comment and/or like, it is much appreciated and it really motivates me.

TWs:

Ablesim: this is the big one. Unsub is targeting physically disabled people and uses awful language to describe disabled people. this is in his view point. it is the last section of the chapter under the time stamp 9:00PM if it not something you wan to read skip it. Summary is, he decides to target a family cause he see they have a young girl in a wheel chair. It's never justifiable at all to hate like that. unsub is horrible and delusional. Be warned for ick factor.

Child death: sadly the victims are kids. also hinted that the unsub has done this before to his own siblings

murder, crime scene description: non graphic, but the parent's are shot, some photos are described.

[dragonhrte]

Destiny? Chapter Eight: Neither Here Nor There

Author's Note:

Thank you so much for giving this work a read! Quick disclaimer, for all intents and purposes MHA/BNHA are not mine they do not belong to me. The manga and anime have inspired me to write this fiction and dialogue as well as events are given credit to the beautiful people who have blessed us with this series. Aside from standard story line events this work is mine. Don't forget to comment and heart! This story references events from previous chapters, if something does not make sense, feel free to reread from the beginning.

Please note that

*abc* is a sound effect

'abc' is internal thoughts of whomever

"abc" is dialogue

(abc) is a side note from yours truly ;)

~Love, DragonHearte

I open the door to Max's apartment after an extremely eventful day at school, stopping briefly to take my shoes off at the door. I walk into my room and see the bed in front of me as I drop my backpack to the floor. I flop down, and sleep overtakes me.

I wake up, through bleary eyes and see that it’s the next morning. ‘Damn, same dream. When will the nightmares stop?’ I throw the blanket off of me and hesitate for a moment. ‘Wait I went to sleep on top of my bed covers last night?’ I don’t dwell on the thought for too long before I walk out into the kitchen, and Max is there drinking his morning cup of coffee. I rub my eyes tiredly and then see Max look up at me, he has a strange look on his face as he says, “Damn, Eva, you look like you were run over by a bus.”

“Wow, thanks. Why don’t you tell me how you really feel Max.”

“What happened, are you okay? I heard your class got attacked by villains. I called you and texted you, but you didn't respond to me. I was very worried, until I came home and saw your door open with you passed out on top of your bed. I gave you a spare blanket from the hallway closet.”

“Yeah, some villains ambushed my class. I’m fine, I didn’t get hurt. I had the nightmare, that’s all.”

“Oh, it was one of those nights.”

“Yeah,” I breathe in deeply as I start to recall the dream.

‘I sit up on a bed, it was dark all around me. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes to try and get a clearer view of the room, it was then that I noticed the broken full-length mirror to my right and the door to my left with a crack running diagonally across it, from one side to the other. I was back there, at the other house. I try to move, but my hands are tied to the bedposts, my lower half  frozen in place from the waist down. I look around the room frantically hoping that it won’t turn out like every other time I have this dream. I am out of luck though because like always there he is in the corner of the room, a cold smile on his face as he approached me.’ I felt tears prick the back of my eyes as the memory of the past forced me to relive the experience.

‘There are tears streaming down my face as he leans down and wipes them away with the pad of his thumb, and he stands over me face full of what he claims to be love. His twisted version of love, is a sick realm of lies. A web that I am helplessly caught within. A result of a system created to protect me. He hangs above me like a spider above it’s prey, watching in delight as I struggle against my restraints. Then all eight of his hands proceed with their torture. Handling me in ways I don’t want. Touching me, caressing me, groping me with no signs of stopping. With the constant whisper of “I love you” after each and every movement. “I just want to show you how much I love you.'' There was a flash of crimson and then I woke up.’ I take in a deep shuddering breath and realize I’m trembling slightly from the memory.

Max stands up and wraps me in a hug, secure and safe. A stark contrast to the tight and suffocating hold the past still has on my subconscious. He leans back and says, “I’m sorry you had to relive that, just know that I’m here for you if you ever need me okay?”

“Uh-huh.” I reply.

“Oh, by the way the school sent me an email. There aren’t any classes today, which makes sense considering yesterday’s events.”

“Mhmm.” I respond quietly, still a bit tired and drained.

“Well kiddo, I’m going to head to work. Text me if you need anything okay?”

“Yup.” I look on as Max puts on his shoes and leaves. I sigh and shuffle back into my room, ‘There’s no point in trying to go back to sleep now. I’m kinda scared it’ll just continue from where it left off.’ I look down at my backpack that was tossed haphazardly to the side and decide to do my homework after a nice soak in the tub. ‘A bit of self-care after such a stressful day yesterday and that dream is a must.’ I gather my bubble bath supplies from under the sink in my en-suite bathroom. They're rarely used, but come in handy on days like this. I start by turning on the tub faucet, and adding a pink and purple bath bomb into the tub. Then, lighting some tea lights around the tub edges, and some larger candles in the corners. After stripping down and turning off the water at the desired depth, I delve into the warm bath I have prepared for myself. The swirls of color on the surface of the water and the slight aroma allowing me to finally attempt to relax after the ordeal from yesterday morning. ‘Taking a bubble bath and focusing on what caused me to snap will probably help me redirect my focus from my nightmare.’

I heave a big sigh and reflect, images of the fight flashing through my mind as I tried to sort through my thoughts, while taking my loofah and scrubbing away the grime and residual dirt from the day before. ‘Let's do a bit of a step-by-step walk through, to try to figure out what happened in the collapsed zone today. I was fighting beside Kirishima, I got a taste for what it feels like to get hit by Bakugo’s quirk.’ I wince at the memory, ‘Note to self, at least in terms of potency of Bakugo’s quirk he is not in fact all bark and no bite. Then, I saw Kirishima look alarmed at something behind me, when I turned around, there was a villain laying on the floor face covered in blood, her nose smashed. Then after the exchange between Bakugo and Kirishima I looked at my hands to discover they were covered in blood.’

I look down at my hands and scrub at the dried blood in the crevices surrounding my nails. ‘So, clearly whatever caused me to lose control happened somewhere between fighting side-by-side with Kirishima and the impact from the explosion.’

I furrow my brows in concentration, and a frown forms on my lips, as I recall the events leading up to my blood-stained hands. ‘That one villain, the hurtful slew of words. That’s what set me off.’

I sink further down into the tub and lay still, I take a deep breath in an attempt to calm the rush of adrenaline that I spurred on when I recalled the actions of the villain leading up to my loss of control. After a few minutes of letting myself soak, I continue my thought process, ‘I can’t believe I was triggered into a frenzied rage. How did I let my anger get to that point?’

I stew in the tub for a bit longer and finally unplug the drain and blow out the candles on my way out. Wrapping myself in a towel, and make certain all the candles are out before leaving the bathroom. I settle for a comfortable pair of pajamas an overly sized t-shirt and some pajama shorts. I tabled the issue of my mental instability for later, right now I needed to do my homework as unenthused as I was at the idea of doing said homework. I take a break for a couple of minutes and realize I haven’t eaten any breakfast. ‘I guess that nightmare messed me up more than I would like to admit. I don’t even feel hungry and it’s around the time that I usually eat lunch.’

I hear my phone notification and quickly check to see who texted me. My eyes widen at all the missed text messages and phone calls from Max. ‘I must’ve been pretty knocked out to not hear any of these. Damn.’ I scroll down to the most recent message from Max.

Max: “Hey, in case you want a snack but you’re not all that hungry, I restocked your Takis supply. Love you…”

I leap off my bed and dart into the kitchen, almost slamming into the pantry in my haste. There they are, the large bags of Takis, five of them! ‘And to think, they’re all for meee!’ I almost click my heels together in happiness, my mood switching immediately after seeing the delectable bags of morsels. I reach up on my tippy-toes and I’m not able to feel the bag at all, they’re up too high. I curse silently, ‘Max, why have you forsaken me. You’re six foot nothing. I am barely five feet tall, I cannot reach the same heights as you without assistance.’ I jump up, and my fingertips don’t even brush the packaging. “Dammit!” I exclaim to myself. I huff and stomp over towards a chair, lift it up and bring it over to the pantry. I set it down and get on top of it I snatch a bag and return the chair back to its rightful place and close the pantry door.

I grab a water bottle from the fridge, then rush back to my room and rip open the bag. I grab a taki from inside the bag.

I scroll through my social media for a few minutes munching happily and then set my snack aside. I enter my bathroom and quickly wash my hands before doing my homework to avoid getting any stains on the paper. I finally finish my homework after a couple of hours. 

I hear a knock at the door, and my head shoots up from my current position lying on my bed. ‘I’m not expecting anyone…’ I walk to the door and open it hesitantly, it’s flung open from the pink alien behind it.

“Evangeline!” Ashido exclaims arms open wide for an embrace.

“Hello, Ashido-”

“Why are you in your pajamas? We have the day off today, let’s get you dressed and go out for some coffee.”

I walk into my room, with Ashido following closely behind me. She pushes past me and approaches the closet swinging the doors wide open to fully examine my wardrobe. She’s shuffling through my hangers full of clothes, with enough speed to cause a slight clatter as she moves to the next article of clothing. Once in a while pulling something out and holding it up to my body but putting it back after deeming it unsatisfactory. Finally, she settles on an oversized pale pink hoodie and a pair of light blue denim jeans shoving the items into my chest.

“Here, put these on.” Ashido stares at me expectantly, and I stand there for a moment then ask, “Could you turn around?”

“We’re both girls, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.” Ashido says while turning around. I change into the outfit she’s chosen for me and tap her on the shoulder signaling for her to turn back around. She turns around and smiles broadly, approving of the outfit that she had chosen herself.

“Okay, well let’s go!” She says, letting me quickly grab my wallet and house key before I put on my socks and my high-tops, then hurrying out the door after her. I send a quick text message to Max, letting him know that I am going out with a friend and might not be home when he gets back from work. Ashido’s excited demeanor distracts me from my worries as we walk to the café.

“I’m getting a caramel macchiato, what’re you getting?” Ashido asks me.

“A hot chocolate with whipped cream and a caramel drizzle.” I reply, after looking at the options listed on the sign behind the cashier.

We wait for our drinks in silence and Ashido guides me to a table towards the middle of the café. Sitting down she asks, “So, how are you doing?”

I blow on my drink and look at her quizzically, “What do you mean?”

“Well, you seemed out of it on the bus and later on during class. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I guess. Just a bit shaken up from the chaos.”

“I think we all are, which is why I’m glad they gave us the day off.” Ashido says before taking a sip from her sugar-filled coffee.

“I am too, it gave me some much-needed time to regroup.” I take a tentative sip of the hot chocolate not wanting to burn my mouth with a molten hot beverage. It’s too hot still so I blow air across the surface of my drink.

“I think everyone needed it.” Ashido takes another sip and looks off towards the window, and then returns her gaze towards me.

“Why did you show up at my apartment?”

“Oh, that’s easy! I wanted to hang out with you and also check up on you to see how you were doing.”

I nod my head, accepting her statement and then asked my second more important question, “How did you find my apartment?”

“I asked Present Mic where you lived and he told me.”

I feel my eyebrows contract in confusion for a second. But I dismiss my concerns. ‘I know Ashido wants to be a supportive friend. There’s nothing more to it.’

Our conversation continues freely, mostly her talking about various different topics while I listened. I take the final gulp from my hot chocolate, and put the cup down, to see Ashido quickly snapping a picture of me on her phone.

“Hey, what was that for?!” I exclaim.

“You’ve got some whipped cream on your upper lip, see?” She turns her phone around and shows me the picture she just took of me and I laugh at the small mustache of whipped cream above a shadow of hot chocolate above my lip. She gets up and squats next to me and takes a selfie of the two of us, one with a mustache and one without. One regular selfie and a few silly ones. We get up and leave, Ashido walking me home, before she leaves though I ask, “Hey, can you send me those pictures you took of the two of us?”

“Sure, what’s your number?”

I give her my number and then she waves goodbye, leaving me to my own devices for the remainder of the day. I change back into my pajamas, and I laze about. I eat some leftovers from the fridge for dinner after getting a text from Max saying he was going to be working late again. I settle into bed and read a book. After reading a few chapters I turn off my bedside lamp, and let my mind wander. ‘I didn’t realize just how tired I was. It could’ve quickly gotten worse for that villain. What would’ve happened if the explosion from Bakugo’s quirk hadn’t gotten so close to me? Would I have been able to stop myself? Would Kirishima and Bakugo have had to pry me off of the dead villain’s corpse? I must have had some semblance of control. If I didn’t I probably would’ve killed her.’ I sigh as the last thought crosses my mind and close my eyes hoping for either better dreams or no dreams at all.

Chapter Nine: Where To

[spookyreddit-blog]

Growing up in central US, I’ve heard all of the myths and legends about skin walkers. I never really gave them any merit up until last week. I’ve also heard that talking or thinking about them can draw them but I need to tell someone, anyone who will listen and not think I’m crazy.

Please excuse any formatting errors, as this is my first post and I am on mobile. Also excuse the length I just want to make sure I don’t miss anything.

Let me start with some background; my name is Dakota. I am 26 and have grown up in an around the southern Rockies and the Superstition mountains and all of the vast wilderness that is Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

All my life I have been drawn to the outdoors; hiking, climbing, biking, rafting, kayaking, you name it and I’ve done it. I’m very experienced in all of these activities and have worked as a guide and survival instructor since the age of 19. I’ve experienced many strange and possibly paranormal things during my time in the wild but I’m rambling, those stories can be posted separately if there is any interest.

Anyways, last Friday I took some time off for myself just to get back in tune with the solitude of nature. I packed all my gear, finished going through my checklist and made sure to let some of the other guides know where I was headed and when id be back a few days later. I then loaded my gear into my four wheeler, made sure bear (my very large, very loyal, and very protective German Shepard) was comfy in the passenger seat. He is my lookout, adventure partner and best friend. He never leaves my side even To the point that all the small businesses, around the long forgotten mining town I call home, welcome him happily.

We set out shortly after 11 am towards a canyon id recently discovered hidden away behind thick brush and an apparent rockslide. After about 5 hours of driving through the dusty and desolate landscape the trail continues on between a narrow passage through the mountainous cliffs.

When we arrived I parked the four wheeler behind a large outcropping of boulders, took the keys, and covered it with a colored. Not that I was worried about theft, I was probably miles away from the nearest human, I covered it to keep out the unforgiving sun to prevent any melting damage.

After getting the four wheeler stashed away, I dawned my pack and my side arm (a large caliber desert eagle) there aren’t many large animals out here but I like guns and target shooting so who cares if its over kill, it’s a last means of protection and it will do the job.

I surveyed the area, there was thick brush and dry foliage all around us with the small foot trail I cleared from the four-wheeler at our rear and a large rock pile in front of us with sheer cliffs on either side.

I skirted around the rocks to the very narrow passage in behind on the left side. It was a tight squeeze and I had to remove my pack and pull it in behind me. I had to side shuffle like this for about twenty feet with cold jagged rock against my chest and loose boulders against my back. The trail narrowed near the end and I had to suck in my chest and wriggle my way out into a large opening in the rocks where bear waited happily for me with his head cocked to the side with a confused look on his face almost as if wondering why I was struggling when he passed easily.

When I finally freed myself from the narrow crevice and looked around my jaw dropped. All around me the cliff walls were covered in ancient cave paintings and carvings. Some of which I recognized from some other Native American sights used as religious sights. But many of these symbols were new to me. The most notable was a large paining near where the trail continued on; it depicted a large figure who’s head and antlers resembled that of a deer but the body was long and narrow and strangest of all, bipedal. It’s at times like these I wish id brought some piece of technology such as a camera or my iPhone, but I usually leave them at home and only bring an emergency sat phone.

Intrigued, I left the opening and headed on down the trail. I was surprised by the steep downward slope that seamed to heading down further and further into the earth and was even more surprised when the trail ended at the mouth of a large cave.

A cave I hadn’t known about?! This couldn’t get any better! I set down my pack and pulled out my flash light. It was getting pretty dark so I figured id just check out the opening and then get settled for the night. I wandered in a few feet and abruptly stopped when the floor dropped down into a chasm. My flashlight barley penetrated the dark abyss below me.

Disappointed that id need to return another day with my caving gear and possibly a partner, I headed back towards the mouth of the cave- and bear who had strangely stayed put and not followed me in. He must be tired I thought as I suddenly started to realize my own fatigue after 5 hours of driving and nearly 4 hours of hiking.

I started a small fire with some light newspaper logs I packed in which burn for a surprisingly long time, heated up some water for some dehydrated omelet and gave bear his bag of kibble.

After a not quite so satisfying meal (anyone who has backpacked knows) I unrolled my sleeping bag and got comfortable with the fire by my side and the distant view of stars peeking between the distant clifftops that sheltered me from the rest of the world. With that peaceful thought I dozed off to the sound of the crackling fire and bear snoring beside me.

I sleepily checked my watch when I was nudged awake, it was almost 3 in the morning. I softly pushed bears head away from nudging me so I could go back to sleep. But that’s when, in the dim fire light, I saw his teeth bared and head low beside me in a very protective position.

He was staring towards the mouth of the cave with a deep guttural growl emanating from his throat. More alert now, I clumsily grabbed for my flashlight and unholstered my pistol, my finger ready to switch off the safety.

I motioned to bear to be quiet which was a very handy skill that had taken a lot of time to learn. On command he quieted but still snarled staring at the dark hole in the cliff.

I illuminated the edge of the drop off, my gun aimed with the beam, and we listened.

For a few minutes all I heard was silence besides my heartbeat. Then, faintly I heard it. I still can’t describe it but I will try my best. It sounded like the bleat of a goat and the yowl of a wild cat coming together to form words that seemed so broken and foreign. Quiet at first, it was accompanied by a clacking and scraping sound. Getting closer and closer, I strained my eyes to see the edge in the beam of light.

What I saw next, I’m sure has been burned into my minds eye and I will never forget it. In the light, long rotten fingers with thick black claws curled around the the lip and proceeded to pull… something, up and over into the cave. This thing pulled itself to standing. It was about 6 feet tall with long deer like legs too skinny to support it that ended in small hooves that seemed to float above the ground. The body looked semi human, but a skeleton draped with rotting stinking flesh with patches of manged fur and ribs protruding from the chest. The smell was retchid and I wanted to look away, to vomit, and to run; but I was paralyzed with fear and I kept staring, at the long curled antlers, the warped and twisted body, long arms hanging loosely in front claws scraping the ground. But mostly the disturbing contorted mix of human and animal intertwined to make a face so haunting, I will remember vividly on my dying day I’m sure. And when it locked onto my view with its empty rotted sockets it met my eyes and then I heard it. Quietly but all around me, that horrid howl, mangled words. “leeeeeet…….. meee…… helllllp…. youuuuu…”.

With that, I snapped out of my paralyzed state switched the safety off, and pulled the trigger. Once, twice, three times from only three feet away!

In an instant the horrible thing before me flickered and was two feet to the right! I fired again and again as this thing twitched and jerked towards me a terrifying nightmare coming to consume my very being.

I don’t remember much of what happened next; Bear barking, us sprinting, flashes of gunfire the jerking and clacking, the putrid breath on my neck the voice. The evil voice. Echoing around me “leeeeeet…….. meee…… helllllp…. youuuuu…”.

I remember the peak of sunlight, the roar of the side by side as me and bear sped through the desert.

We woke up, in our shack uninjured, but forever scarred by our experience.

Source

[inexchangeforyoursoul]

She’s about to do something stupid.

anyway... who’s back with almost 5k words worth of garbage? MEEE

I was too lazy to rebrand the frenchness of french toast. Not even Snooj is French, goddammit, and I can't think of anywhere else off the top of my head. Next time, (as in, 3 chapters' time I see) I'm just renaming any country that has no counterpart lmao

I’m not happy with this one ngl... the funky flow is not in there as I had to weld 2 chapters together so I will end closer to 40 overall. Hereby I also declare that I shall attempt a biweekly schedule with this trash so I can end it on the date the story ends (plus-minus appendix and shit). Smell you alter, readers.

Kat is preoccupied with the new idea as she's doing a really quick rabbit shadow show while near invisible, which, as expected, Carrot is all over about. (She tells something about Wano and shadow theatre, but never having seen this…?)

However, she forgets about it as soon as Usopp replaces her after the lukewarm performance to do some actual skilled shadowplay for the mink to enjoy. The distortion part also gets cancelled after the initial tricks, as it would be hard for the eager girl to learn some of this otherwise.

It's the mild pain in her face from laughing and smiling a little too much at the sniper's excessively dumb commentary that reminds Kat of time being up, and she makes another run for it.

"Well… I was already giving up on you getting back within a few minutes," Law sighs in resignation and mild relief as she opens the door with care only she bothers with. Taking a look back at her, his brows pull closer together. "… is… there something up with your face?" She doesn't seem to be especially bothered, but… it could be that. Or a splitting headache, if she's not drinking enough. She has just had coffee, but what and how much did she have before that?

"Usopp said a lot of funny hogwash and it made me laugh a lot…" Kat near complains with a groan, rubbing her cheeks. "Guess your grumpy face is not used to it." A sting or two is commonplace even in her own body, as she either has a plastic smile or empty stare on in public, but Law's face seems to be even more taken about the exercise.

… or, it could be that. After short consideration, Law lets himself relax again. "Wouldn't be too surprised, to be honest. Maintaining a poker face and the occasional smirk is not very taxing on those muscles." He stops again before getting back to his transplants book; "If you were to get legitimately sore… just fucking tell me, okay?" He could definitely see something like this trigger the other two problems.

"I knooow, I have it with my own actual face all the time from having too good of a goddamn time," she says, putting the last pats on the cheeks. It just… hurts, then maybe buzzes for a while. "I'm used to it."

"…" the quill stops over the notepad before he would continue the bullet points; he needs a second to interpret this reply. "… I kind of forgot you are not sunshine and rainbows all the time, to be honest." She started off as someone who was lowkey judging people from the sidelines in silence. If nothing else, catching a reaction or two on topics like Monkey D. Luffy was amusing enough.

It's been about a week since this initial impression had changed, but it feels like ages since Kat seemed like someone careful and distant, if not calculating and uncaring. Which… is funny, because she seeks out loopholes to have fun and also cares in her own way, even a little too much at that. Still, not counting that he saw her cracking up on her potential execution, or the suppressed smiles while watching the crews do something stupid, he did not see her laugh until a day after they've met. Following that, nothing until Friday, where she laughed a lot, and… well, there was Saturday evening.

Wednesday also marks the date when she had caught his attention. That smile of hers irked him from the get-go, even without knowing why.

"When I'm in my element, maybe… otherwise, I'm partly cloudy with a chance of rain," she mumbles, then notes that the teddy she has passed to him is sitting in the junk behind the now closed door. Seems like some stuff has also been moved. "… what did this bear do to deserve the timeout corner?" Was he trying to get the wardrobe open? Or is it the huge chest crammed into the literal corner with a lot of stuff still on- and in front of it? Well, it's really easy to find out either way.

"Wanted to put it away, but I guess I'll have to wait until I have my bod-" He hears some stuff hitting the bed, followed by a short scraping sound on wood and some hinges creaking, and he freezes with eyes wide and as pale as a ghost. She didn't just do what he thinks she did, did she?

"Oh my gosh," Kat squeals upon discovering the unquestionably high grade stuffed material in the levitating trove. "These are deliberately the most adorable things ever?" The poofy white teddy at the top smiling at her is made of tangible sunshine and rainbows. There's no way all of these are from the same person, there's too much variety… This crew has taste, alright. That shaggy blonde leg near a corner actually kind of looks like… "The soft stuff," she whispers in awe, grabbing it immediately.

"YOU," Law near-shouts, then lowers the volume to an aggressive whisper while tumbling out from his chair; "put those things away right now." Uni and Shachi are in the control room and could barge in any time, and by god, he cannot let them know that he's actually kept every. single. one of these. His occasionally mulled-over plan to just dump it all on the nearest kindergarten or clinic is suddenly top priority, because fucking Kat with her apparently zero self-restraint will unearth any embarrassing secret or cursed relic she can put her grabby hands on. Not to mention digging up traumatic memories she should have zero access to. And she has his body, his devil fruit… is there anything he has that is safe from this woman?!

"Okay, okay, I will," she slurs as he dumps backpack burglar bear in with the others and is reaching for the one in her hands; "but… "

"But what," he hisses as she lifts it out of reach, eyeing the door behind them while also listening for movement.

"Can I keep this one?" she squeaks, holding her new stuffed friend with the plaid bandana scarf close. He's been given so many and puts them all someplace nobody could find them, one more or less really won't matter, right? "Please?" … it kind of stinks, though. Nothing that a round or two in the washing machine cannot fix, though.

"…" He's had to deal with some weird requests in the past few months, but this… this is the one that takes the cake. "Why the hell do you want it?" he bursts out, struggling to keep his volume low. "Isn't there enough useless garbage in that dump house of yours already?!"

The chest sways in the air as shame washes over Kat's face; she can't get any sound through the lump in her throat for ten solid seconds. Once her color fades into the negatives and she would be able to say something, she has no words left in her.

Seeing her mood whiplash, Law gets to calm down and lets out a frustrated sigh. He's done it now, didn't he. Legitimately hurt her. It was only a question of time, but he expected to feel less of an ass over it. The accusation is unfair anyhow, since he also has a room full of obsolete shit and a huge treasure chest reserved for nothing but teddy bears that everyone thinks he's long gotten rid of.

"Whatever, take it if…" Kat reaches out with the plushie in hand… "… you, uh…" … and puts it back on top of the pile.

"Don't want it," she mumbles through her sore throat.

"It's… it doesn't matter, I'm full on these things. Won't be able to cram in any more, anyway." About two bigger ones, and he won't be able to shut the lid without squishing its inhabitants.

She shakes her head. "This memory… is no good."

"…" The memory? The random junk in the 'dump,' and all that knickknack she has littering the place that are on the decorative side of things are… stuff to remember things by? More specifically, reminders of pleasant things. Huh. Suppose… there is something to that.

He takes one more look at the bears inside, then shuts the chest. "I see." Both of them have some long overdue spring cleaning to do, and not only on the physical plane.

Kat then rearranges the mess into the same pile as she has found it; chest as the base, followed by tightly rolled-up posters to the sides to support the folders and books on them, another doctor's suitcase that's barely in one piece, a metal case between that and the wardrobe, and finally, the notebooks and whatever else… on top. All that's missing is the little shelf rack that was sitting in front.

Law can tell by a single glance at her body language that she's lost all motivation she might have had thus far. Great. Just… great. He made her plummet back to square one, if not zero. Can't help but keep digging your own damn grave, can you? Take a deep breath and do what you have to. "Kat-ya?"

She freezes up for a moment, then lets out a questioning hum.

Not even on talking terms, huh?

"As one hoarder to another… sorry."

After some delay, she sniffs.

"... don't you fucking start crying on me."

Long story short, she did start silent crying and the man had to manually insert a leftover cracker in her mouth like a punch card and had her drink the last cup's worth of tea to get her to calm down. She felt both empty and relieved, and also like a big baby in need of their favorite stuffed toy for the rest of the day. Law meanwhile likely felt like playing a very done surrogate dad, dealing with an insufferable kid on the way home. Shachi even tried to nickname him 'Mr Babysitter' once him and Uni had actually entered the place in the middle of it all, but this jab was quickly redirected as Law flat-out told him that taking care of a toddler was nothing new for someone running a daycare 24/7. That one earned an immature, wet faced chuckle from her.

She probably should have felt more embarrassed by the situation overall. However, she kind of enjoyed it, even? Which also ought to have earned much more shame on her part, but she just became really calm and tired for the rest of the day. Crying feels good, sometimes.

Also sometimes, she has to wonder whether coffee even works.

"Okay, touch-me-not… time to hit the hay," she can hear Law's voice phase in some time later before getting shooed from her button project and out of the room. "And tomorrow, try to act like a respectable adult, because as of now… it's hard to look at you as a grown-ass woman." It feels like he had to turn into an actual babysitter, if not a pet owner for the day. And holy shit, was it fucking exhausting. She might be on par with Luffy in this regard.

She just gives a tired, matter of fact 'okay' as an answer as she surveys the doorway with vacant eyes.

The flat response… is not something he's used to. Is she like this after letting some steam out, or…? "... are you actually registering the things I say?"

"Yes, I'm just… one with the universe," she nods.

Law squints at her, then shoves the woman personally out the door; her eyes are still a little red, and the weird (although not really out of character) answer would make him suspect her being high on weed, if not for the fact that it's a substance that can be found in one single container on his wannabe-estate, that is to say, in his room, and that one is locked shut ever since some not-so-mysterious vanishing acts. Even if she shoplifted him, he would fucking notice, sharing the goddamn space all day. "You talk and walk like a zombie, get the fuck out right now."

He watches her wobble up the staircase for a bit, then closes the door with a shaking head. This… was certainly a day.

A few comatose minutes later, Kat walks into the unlit room and falls into the cotton pile unceremoniously right after. Nice and cool… almost enough to beat some life into her. Almost. It gives just enough energy to stop suffocating by flipping over, and pull one of the things over her torso. After lying around in the empty room for a bit, she turns on her side and hugs the blanket tight. She's missing her hug pillow a lot right now. Wondering about how nice it would be to have that, or the huge, white bear over, or even just another layer so this place feels less hard, she falls asleep rather fast.

Then, in what feels like a minute later, she finds herself sweating bullets. There was another nightmare, which was easily the worst one as of yet; being shut into the chest with plushies, barely able to move, with noone to hear her voice... And the screams of people outside... and the guns, just... the never ending gunshots and screaming. She shudders just thinking about it… a dream like this would upset her even without context. After shedding a few tears, she also feels the pain slowly settle inside; she was just thinking what felt off about this dream… the absence of agonizing stabs and cramps is what it was. This time, it's creeping up her right thigh and her hips, setting them on fire in real time, then the already throbbing sternum turns into a knife in her chest. Any other vague throb around the stomach has nothing on these, they might as well not even exist. She peeks direction windows to see nothing but darkness; she can hear the soft breaths of the other three, so a considerable amount of time has passed, but it must be pretty early still... she's got the bad feeling that this pain will not go away until morning, and sleeping back in right now is just... unless she faints from this, there's no way she will.

There is indeed no more rest she can get; after the generally early bird Carrot leaves, she sits up to get at least that part done, then tries her best to get on her feet before the others start moving as the alarm sounds an hour later. Task is successfully mastered in time, although she has to lean on one of the chairs for a minute, because even while being more numb than in pain at the moment, her legs did not appreciate that.

" … bad day for sleep, huh?" Nami half-asks from her own daze once having taken a look at her.

"Nnnnhng," is all that Kat can manage for the time being. Getting tortured aside, she really hasn't slept a lot, even with the near immediate knockout in the evening. Her brain is on autopilot; nobody suspects that her hobbling and nearly running into walls has any other cause than the velcro eyelids, really. At least moving around seems to ease her suffering somewhat.

By the time she has to stand up from the dining table and make her way down, the temporal alleviation has worn off and she can barely manage the task without falling back onto the chair. This is worse than the two weeks of hell from spring when she managed to trap a nerve in her spine. There's also a numbness spreading on her right side, slowly creeping higher and higher as the soreness decides to look for a new target before moving on from her hips for good. She could cry, really... likely slept through the worst every time thus far. God… being Law sucks.

As soon as she enters his room, which looks somehow even messier than before, Law clicks his tongue beside the chest of drawers which is buried under new junk.

"If nothing else, you have impeccable timing whenever you are following the routine… good morning." Looking back at her slowly puzzling the scenery together, his face displays overt exasperation soon enough. "… I can already tell you will need full-time supervision today, so I'm skipping the briefing. I wanted to take matters into my own hands, anyway." Matters being… her focus, which seems to react well to spoon-fed attention judging by her episode yesterday. Whatever amount of that still exists in this walking corpse. This experimental endeavor might be ill-timed, but to hell with it all, he's already planned this out, and he's going to go through with it. He turns back to the piece of furniture to stack some of the junk they won't be needing today; "Move it while we're young, alright?"

She hums. Closing the door, her eyes linger on the chest in the corner. Turning back towards him, she stops for a moment; asking would be all kinds of rude, yet she can't help but wonder… how much of the dreams are actual things that happened. A lot of people she sees and meets certainly are… or were actual people.

Also… how does he handle days like these? Does he lock himself up in his room, or is he just lowkey clingy? Well… there's always Bepo to look for, minks are cuddly and he does get comfortable leaning on him and whatnot. Must be his go-to therapy. Would be nice to have access to that, since the polar bear really is as soft as it gets. Honestly… she really needs to hug the shit out of something decently squishy that won't ask follow-up questions right about now. Questions that are none of their business, at least.

"Zombie attack," she moans in a monotone voice, hobbling to his side with stiff thighs.

He mouths a 'wha' as the words click just as she goes in for the kill. "What the- Kat-ya, what now?" he asks in bafflement as soon as the initial surprise wears off. Also, these impulse hugs are only getting tighter, aren't they?

She gives him a little squeeze before release, but there's no answer.

Law raises a brow while staring at her blank, if not sad expression; a few seconds of consideration later he lets out a tired, knowing sigh. "Nightmare?"

The girl nods with a hum after some delay.

" … no tea and crackers if you haven't brought more, so that's that." Not sure what else he could start with, or do in general. He'd rather avoid the rest of yesterday's fiasco.

"I'm supposed to be a big girl now, so I won't ask for any," Kat pouts to that with overdone articulation as if reading his mind. "I might ask for some hugs, though," she adds stepping out of the role of a five-year-old with a sigh that sounds as painful as her liver area feels now. The heat is also getting to her today and she already is about to break out in sweat. Except she doesn't, which just makes her feel like implodig with nausea.

"…" He can't think of anything on the spot, but she could be asking worse. Hell… he's kind of getting used to it. "Eh, whatever, I'll bear a few if necessary," he shrugs at last. But: "Tell me beforehand and keep it to a minimum, though." She may not be able to disturb him during work today, but if he doesn't give restrictions, she might cling to him all the damn time. As upsetting those dreams may get at times, that's absolutely unnecessary.

She perks up; did he just… okay it? "Woah… really?"

"Yes, re-" Law deadpans as she gives him the frontal treatment right away. "-ally. Honestly, do you have to do this?" he sighs in limp resignation. He feels like becoming a comfort article… she might have been in need of that bear, after all.

"Absolutely," she says beaming as she straightens herself with some care as to not trigger some really unpleasant things. "you are big, warm and strong, so I can give soft, high quality hugs to everyone I like!" Being half a beefcake and heater feels nice~ Gotta accept that her body really is on the bony side after getting to hug herself a few times.

First of all: was that an indirect compliment? Second of all: there's a foreboding number of likely people she's already made close physical contact with… apart from being embarrassing and potential blackmail, his relatively weak immune system should not be put into situations all haphazardly like that. Hopefully she washes her hands regularly, if nothing else. And finally, she hugs people she likes, and the implied message of having received, like, five in the past two days already… all in all, every single aspect of that sentence gives Law something vaguely alarming to think about.

He opens his mouth, then closes it again as he cannot muster an answer. Well then… move on? "... aaanyway… you seem to have magically woken up, so here's the deal with today: I was thinking of some changes, that is to say, instead of ogling you from the sidelines, I will be actively present in your training schedule. Also, we'll be doing various mixed tasks for as long as you're… operable? How much sleep did you get?"

Kat finds this idea to her liking; can't do wrong when being instructed, and company makes for a less boring day. She lowkey needs some supervision and someone to tell her what to do all the time to be at maximum productivity, anyway. Getting interrupted too often has the total opposite effect, but…trying can't hurt. "Could have been five? I'm not sure. Anyhow, that… sounds nice, actually."

Luckily, after settling into the new system and the pain receding for a while, the morning is an overall blast. Partly since she's basically constructing a junk castle over and over, removing and inserting parts with as little leeway as possible. Also, despite her worries… Law would actually make a pretty good teacher? His explanations use more jargon than necessary, but they leave just enough up to imagination and he also lets her deviate from the task. He helps no more or less than what she needs, too. Who would have thought. She sneakily uses Scan to her benefit as well, since it aids at taking things out of other things. Funny how she's getting the hang of the reverse task faster… or so it would be, if time was not pressing her to succeed at both as fast as possible.

Getting up for the fifth time in a few minutes to adjust something towards noon serves as a quick reminder that she was getting too brave with moving around, because the stabbing pain returns as quickly as it was slow at fading out. This time she actually is covered in cold sweat all of a sudden and overcome by a sense of weakness as well. That won't be her blood sugar… but could be.

"Suddenly… I feel like I could eat a horse," Kat notes between gritting her teeth. Yeeeesh, some muscle is fucking cramping on her right side, holy fuck… It's fortunate that Law's to her back, because… Okay, okay, okay… it's receding, take a breath. "Kind of forgot getting more than the usual after the forced wake. I don't suppose you have one lying around? Some snacks would be nice until… lunch." And now blood pressure seems to be plummeting, too… ho, boy. Imagine how he would react if she just fainted right now. Not fun, not at all.

He sighs. "You should have more than just a cup of cocoa anyhow? Feed me proper, that body is used to labor and burns what it gets, goddammit." He does get up, however, and adjusts his pants quick. He needs a breather from this anyhow. "I’m also getting peckish, so I might as well get something. Lunch won’t be ready for an hour at least… you won’t want to eat rice balls, I suppose, so French toast or toast toast? Likely slightly burnt in either case. That's about all I'm capable of." Hopefully Fugu won't catch him red-handed… if he's lucky, the cook's already headed out for veggies and stuff.

… not eating at all was a lie, but she's suddenly reminded of how long it's been since she's had either. Or scrambled eggs. With pepper and paprika, and thinly sliced garlic… can't have him try and fuck that one up, though. "... give me your best shot at a French toast, two slices," she replies with a watery mouth.

"Just don't complain if you don't like it," he shrugs walking up to the exit. "Be right back."

Being alone for a moment, she groans in frustration. The pain is not only back, but just as bad as it was, like it just won't stop at all. It sneakily crawled up her neck in the past hour, making it stiff, and now it started eating the right side of her face from the inside out and she already knows this will end with a splitting headache. The goddamn left shoulder is also getting tense again, but that keeps happening so often she doesn't even notice any more unless it hurts.

Thinking about that, her eyes wander over to his desk- and then to the upper right shelf where he fished out a pill from the other day. After short consideration, she steps over to the furniture slowly and rests the tip of her finger on the handle. These are for him, right? What if she just…