#anyway lol gotta go find cool denim now i guess

[loverboybitch]

just would like everyone to know i spent all day trying to figure out how to sew a crotch seem n after like six hours i googled it and turns out i was over complicating it for no reason and its dumb easy and i just did it in like 5 seconds...sometimes im idiot truly.//.

[julia-highstorms]

If Jane Was Here (Noah's POV) - Ch. 12

Summary: ILITW by Noah’s point of view. Previous chapters here

Disclaimer: all characters belong to Pixelberry Studios and some dialogues are from the game. Gender neutral MC.

Author’s Note: WOOHOO IT LIVES BENEATH WILL AIR OCTOBER 10TH!!! Which means I won't be able to finish this fanfic before its release dammit lol I am so excited!!!!!!!! *plays Fight or Flight on repeat* 

Rating: PG-13 (language)

Pairing: Noah x MC

Word count: 3419

Tagging @kurbqa-deactivated20180730 @miragemeister @yertletheturtle04 @mysteriouslady4 @klaudiana-beaumontkkreal  @katiehawkeyebishop @melchann @hippiekiyay @lovethemarshalltwins @jadedpixiescribbles @gameofstrangerwars @american-duchess @blackheartdreams @indiacater @nuttatulipa @lcnelywclf @sazanes @mmmmmmyyyah @ietss

Chapter 12 - Homecoming

It was over. Redfield was gone.

And Jane wasn’t here.

Noah laid awake on his bed that night, after he and his friends casted the spell and trapped Redfield inside those ruins for eternity.

He knew he should be feeling in piece. He thought that, after everything, he would finally have a good night sleep, something that he hadn’t had since his sister’s death.

But no. It seemed just impossible to turn his brain off. Millions of thoughts ran through his mind.

That was it? Where was Jane? Was she safe? Was she here? Was it all really over?

The boy left the house as soon as the first autumn warm sunlight escaped through the clouds. It was Saturday morning and Mom was still sleeping. He didn’t make breakfast; he didn’t feel like eating. All he wanted was some goddamn answers.

He had to go back there. To find the truth. To see if he could finally trust his own mind that everything was really over.

So, taking a deep breath, he entered the woods. Everything seemed peaceful and he could hear the birds singing nearby. No one would have guessed that a bunch of teenagers fought an army of skeletal creatures, a dude made of stone and dirt and a creepy-ass ghostly monster the night before. Noah himself almost wouldn't believe it if he wasn't so wide awake due to the adrenaline that still ran in his veins. With his fists balled, his heart beating so fast he thought he would have a heart attack and not daring to turn around and go away, he determinately walked towards Redfield's ruins.

In the doorway, the barrier he and his friends casted hummed faintly, shimmering like a pane of glass filled with smoke. There was no sign of life in there.

"Is this it? One little spell and it's all over? Just like that?" - he asked loudly, almost shouting, feeling that disappointment coming again. Nothing happened. - "I thought if we all came back here and faced you, something would… happen. Something would get fixed." - he gulped, still facing the ruins. - "You said 'Jane is here...'" - suddenly, anger filled him, those words repeating over and over again inside his head. Jane is here... Jane is here... Jane is here... - "So where is she, huh? What was all this for? What the hell am I supposed to do now?!"

He yelled so loud that his voice echoed through the woods. He felt his eyes stinging. The house stared silently back as if it said to him:

No, Jane was not here.

He felt his heart sank inside his chest.

Jane was not here.

"I knew it was just a lie. Jane's not here." - tears started falling from his eyes. - "Jane is gone… and it's time I accept that."

He turned to go… but behind the barrier, the smoke formed into a dark figure. The boy felt his heart stopping as he recognized Redfield's form… but then, it spoke:

"Noah… don't go." - the voice suddenly, painfully familiar.

It was Jane.

Jane.

Jane was here.

Jane was here!

"Jane… it is you! Hold on!" - he shout, his heart pounding fast and hard. Frantically, he scanned the barrier, desperately looking for a flaw, a way in… - "There!" - up in one corner, he could see it, a tiny crack in the surface, like a chip in a windshield, that spread a little wider. - "The barrier… It's going to break again! So the ritual didn't work! But that means..." - he stopped short, realisation hitting him hard. - "...you're going to escape again, aren't you? Soon. And then all this will happen all over. You're going to hurt people again. You don't even understand what you're doing, do you?" - his twin looked back to him, wordless. He swore he could almost see her big confused brown eyes staring at him. - "Are you even my sister anymore? Is there anything left in there?"

Jane's eyes flickered. She gave the tiniest quiver of a nod. When Noah spoke again, he could hear a terrifying desperation in his own voice.

"Then tell me what I have to do!" - hot tears rolled down his cheeks. - "Tell me how I can help you!"

He would do anything, everything to get her out of those woods. She had been there, all alone, during all those years. Trapped in those ruins. Lonely. Forgotten. Broken. Alone.

"Play!" - his sister answered so loudly he could hear her voice even through the barrier, a single word that kept echoing through his mind…

Play… play… play...

"...'Play'?" - he asked. - "Play wha--" - and then he got it. - "You need us… all of us to play… right?"

"Yes! Everyone… plays… together!"

Noah felt his head spinning. Everyone plays together.

Jane would only be free if everyone came to play. That was their rule. All of them. Together. But…

"But… someone will have to take your place, right? Can't it be me? I volunteer myself! Right now!" - he didn't have much to look forward to. In fact, he had nothing. He would gladly take his sister's place if that meant she could be finally free.

"No… everyone… plays… together!" - she repeated, firmly.

"Okay… okay, I'll bring them to play..." - he murmured, trying to clear his mind. How? How would he convince his friends to go there? They would never go there. He knew them. If he tried to talk to them about Jane being all that time trapped there… They would just tell him to move on.

No… he would never be able to convince them to come… he would need to… drag them there…

...And he might had known the perfect occasion for that. Homecoming was happening that night. They would all be together. It would be easier to get them to the woods… they would need to provide some kind of distraction… something that would force them to go there.

He looked up, his eyes finding Jane's, who expectantly stared back at him.

"Okay… but you have to promise me that you won't kill any of them, okay? And… and you'll pick me to take your… place. Okay? Okay, Jane? You have to promise me this."

"Promise!" - she beamed, her eyes lighting up.

"Okay… okay. We're going to do this… But I will need your help."

That was the only way.

Noah spent the whole day with Jane, planning how they would bring their friends there. He just left her when it was time to go back to his house because the limo would be picking him to Homecoming.

"Noah, what the hell!" - Stacy shout as soon as squeezed himself into a spot on the wraparound couch.

"What?" - he felt his heart stopping. Would they somehow know that...

"Why are you wearing your regular clothes?!" - she pointed to his denim jacket and old beanie. He felt relieved almost instantly. Ah, it was because of that. - "I don't know if you know this, but we're going to Homecoming! Our last Homecoming in fact!"

"Yo Stace, don't be so hard on Noah! It was like a miracle to convince him to come!" - Andy defended him from his seat. He was wearing a nice blue tuxedo.

"Ugh, I would so much rather be wearing my regular clothes instead of… this." - Ava stated, looking down to her fancy black dress.

"Oh, we're at MC's house! I'll go get her!" - Lily jumped out of the limo. She returned with MC a couple of minutes later.

"Whoa. Stacy… this is like, insanely fancy."

"Meh, it's okay."

If Noah wasn't already blind by the vision of MC in formal clothes, he surely was after the flash of Stacy's phone when she took a photo of all of them together.

"This is fancy? Look at you! You look like a million bucks!" - Lily beamed by his side.

"Lily's right. I don't know about a million, but somewhere in the high hundreds of thousands, for sure." - Noah gave MC a small smile. Their cheeks turned a shade pinker.

"Aw, thanks guys. You're gonna make me cry before we get our pictures taken!"

"Ugh, no thank you! Photos from tonight could end up in the yearbook!" - the cheerleading said. Andy suddenly shout:

"Dudes, check this out!" - he rolled the skylight window open and sticked his head out of it. - "AWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! You guys gotta try this!"

Suddenly, the Asian boy tugged on Noah's jacket and pulled him up to level. Noah grinned sheepishly before his head disappeared through the roof too.

"Hey, guys, make room for me! I heard that whole windblown look is the hottest fashion these days." - MC squeezed between the two boys, and howled into the wind. - "WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"This is nice." - Noah said, feeling the cool night breeze on his face, momentarily forgetting about Jane, about what he was going to do that night, and just enjoying that moment, like a regular teenage boy, free of guilt and worry.

MC looked at him with a huge grin on their face.

"Yeah it is." - they were so close that the boy could feel their breath against his cheek. Immediately, he felt his cheeks getting hotter. Thankfully it was dark outside and they couldn't see him blushing.

After a few more shouts, they all dropped back down into the limo.

"We've got to commemorate this. All of us going to homecoming together? Who would have guessed." - Noah agreed with every word that Lucas said.

"Aw, yeah! Who brought a selfie stick?" - Andy asked and everyone turned to look at Stacy, who rolled her eyes before pulling one out of her bag.

"You guys have that judgy look in your eyes, but it's obviously coming in handy."

"Everyone squeeze in!" - Lily squealed.

"Hiiissss. I haven't taken a picture in twelve years, and I'm pretty sure I don't show up on film anyway." - MC rolled their eyes to Ava, grinning.

"Ava, get over here." - they ordered as they threw an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into frame. - "Everybody say 'Homecoming'!"

A flash went off and while all of his friends burst into commotion, reaching out to try to get a glimpse of the photo, Noah grabbed Andy's phone left on the couch.

"We gotta show this to Dan when we go to the hospital tomorrow." - Lily's face fell. - "I-I know he won't see it, but..."

"I'm sure he'd like that." - Noah squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

Lucas lightly tapped his fork against his glass, getting everyone's attention. He raised the glass up for a toast:

"I'd like to say something, if I may."

"Speech! Speech! Speech!"

"Andy, he can't speak if you keep yelling over him!" - Stacy chuckled.

"Though it would make for as interesting sport." - even Ava was smiling too.

"If you'll excuse me… I wanted to say that I never thought that we would end up back here. But I'm very glad we did. And I think we owe a large part of that to Noah and MC."

Noah's heart immediately stopped. Him?!

"Us?" - MC asked, sharing a both confused and surprised look with Noah.

"No, I--" - he tried to say but Lucas interrupted him:

"Aw, come on you guys. MC, you have always been the glue of this group, and..." - the Class President turned to face him. - "Noah, we're… I'm just glad to have you back around."

Noah just couldn't believe that was happening, he never was the one to be the center of attention. He felt both embarrassed and… guilt. Especially because he knew what was going to happen later that night. Crap.

But that was the only way.

He felt a lump forming in his throat, facing the limo's floor, his cheeks burning red.

"To MC and Noah!" - Lily shout happily and their friends lifted a toast to both of them. MC raised their glass and locked eyes with Noah. He nodded, raising his glass too.

"Now… let's rage!" - Andy yelled excitedly, opening the door as the limo parked in front of their school. - “Oh my… They have one of those chocolate fountains that you dip stuff in.” - he murmured, his jaw dropping, as the gang stepped into the school’s gym.

“I don’t know if I’d want to eat anything in this gym after what happened the last time we were here…” - Noah stated, looking around. Lucas cleared his throat:

“Rest arrayed, an inspection was done, exterminators called, and there’s not a single spider left in this school.”

“This place looks amazing! Gotta give my props to the dance committee.”

“Chair of, at your service and taking your ‘props’.” - the Class President smiled to Stacy.

“Lily! Over here.” - they all heard Britney calling her, whose eyes lighted up to the vision or her girlfriend.

“Oh! There’s Britney! I’ll meet up with you guys on the dance floor!” - and then she skipped over to the other girl, and Noah cringed when they watched them kiss (why was Lily still with her?) before heading toward the snack table.

After a quick encounter with Mayor Green, the rest of them walked towards the center of the dance floor and started dancing like it was the last night on Earth.

Well, his friends were dancing: Lucas, Andy, Lily and MC did that stupid sprinkler dance move, Stacy and Ava (and Britney who joined them with Lily, though she ignored them and they ignored her) danced like sane people. The closest thing that Noah did of dancing was bobbing his head following the beat of the song.

Plus, it was really damn hard enjoying the party when he kind of knew what was going to happen later… and Andy’s phone seemed to weight like a thousand pounds inside his pocket.

But he knew that was the only way.

“You call this dancing?” - MC asked him, a playful smirk on their lips.

“Well, uh, this is how I dance.” - they rolled their eyes, chuckling softly.

“C’mon, Noah, this is our last Homecoming, you should be having fun! Let loose!” - MC exclaimed, their hands on his shoulders, shaking him. Noah couldn’t hold back a laugh too.

“I am having fun.”

“Then why aren’t you dancing?”

“Well, it’s really hard to feel like dancing with this crappy music.”

“Don’t be so obnoxious, Beanie Boy.” - just then, the upbeat electro song was substituted by another one. - “Then, what kind of song do you like?”

“Uh… this one, actually. But I can’t dance.” - he quickly said.

“Nonsense, everyone dance. Not everyone dance well, but everyone can dance. You just need to move your body according to the song!” - and then, MC started doing some silly dance moves, making the boy laugh and forget about his worries for a moment.

He tried to follow their moves, letting himself loose to the song, dancing like a regular teenage boy. After a few more upbeat songs, the music transitioned subtly into a slow song. Couples started forming around them. MC looked at him, almost expectantly, but Noah quickly said that he was going to get something to drink after all that dancing. They agreed to take a break too and they both headed to the refreshment table.

“You know, I’m really surprised that you ended up coming.” - they said while they drank their drinks.

“Yeah… me too.”

“I’m glad that you came, Beanie Boy. The party wouldn’t be the same without you.” - MC squeezed their shoulder, grinning at him. The boy knew he was blushing.

...There was really no way of convincing his friends to go to the woods? Like, willingly go to the ruins where Jane was stuck? Maybe if he could convince MC… no. He had to stick to his and Jane’s plan. After everything, they would understand, right…?

And that was the only way.

“How we doing tonight, Wolves?” - Jocelyn’s familiar and nauseating voice suddenly filled the auditorium. People answered with excited shouts. - “I know that it’s usually the duty of last year’s Queen to announce homecoming court, but, well… no one can find Britney.” - Noah snorted, unable to contain his pure disability as he looked up to the stage, unnoticing that Lily was back from whatever the hell she went.

“I wish we couple skip this part. Just another perpetuation of the class system in this school.”

“I think it’s stupid.” - MC nodded by his side. - “I’m with you. It’s an archaic tradition that should be banned!”

Beanie boy can’t contain a smile and they bump fists. He knew they would understand him.

Jocelyn kept taking.

“Without further ado, this year’s homecoming king is…” - a drumroll sound effect blared through the speakers. The girl teared open one of the envelopes in her hand and her mouth rounded into an ‘oh’. - “It’s, uh, Andy Kang.”

Applause broke out throughout the auditorium, and there were a few shouts of ‘One Hit Wonder’ but even more shouts of ‘King Kang!’.

“Wh-what?” - Andy stuttered in shock, as a purple light illuminated him. - “No, I… How is this possible?”

“I’m pretty sure voting happened that week we played Anderton.” - Stacy smiled by his side.

“Heeellloooo? You awake, Kang?”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go!” - MC shoved him towards the stage. The short boy beamed at all of them before bounding up to the stage.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” - Noah said, with a small grin on his lips, as Jocelyn grimaced as she dropped the crown onto his friend’s head. A transgender Asian boy voted for Homecoming King? Maybe this world had salvation after all.

“WOOHOOOO! GO ANDY!” - MC cheered by his side.

“Well that was sure… surprising. Let’s get to the good stuff, hm? This year’s homecoming queen…”

Suddenly, the doors nearest the gang slammed open. Up on stage, Andy’s face paled as he looked past them. “What the—”

They whirled around just in time to see Cora staggering in clutching her stomach…

Oh no. It had started. Jane had already started it.

“What is she doing here?” - Lucas murmured, as Ava pointed out, equally surprised.

“Oh my god, look…” - blood sept through Cora’s fingertips, the color from her face draining fast. A scream swelled up from the crowd as people started to realise what was happening. The old woman called out for MC.

“C-Cora? Why are you—” - Cora’s legs gave out from under her, and MC caught her just before she hit the floor, her blood smearing across the front of their clothes.

“I-it failed. The ritual failed.” - students crowded around them, craning their necks to get a better look.

Noah just wanted to run. To run and to never turn back. But he knew he had to do it.

That was the only way.

“Okay everyone, back up. I’ll call an ambulance, just… give her some room!” - Lucas asked, forcing the crowd to take a step away from the witch and MC.

In the middle of the crowd’s nervous chatter, Noah couldn’t hear what they said, but he knew exactly what they were talking about. And about who.

Jane was here.

Suddenly, Cora’s lifeless body slumped to the floor, MC’s face twisted in shock and horror.

Jane was here.

“MC? What did she say?” - Stacy asked, taking a step towards them.

But before MC could say anything, an unnatural howling surrounded the gym and all around the room, doors started to fly open, and wave after wave of vine-tangled creatures came storming in, the crowd scrambling away in every direction, screaming. One of the monstrous creatures brokerages from the pack and stalked towards them.

“That’s… not Twiggy, is it?”

“Definitely not.” - Ava scowled to the vine creatures facing them. The fire exits were now covered in spiders the size of their fists.

Now that the gym was in a complete chaos, that was their cue to leave and meet with Jane in the woods.

Jane was here.

“We gotta get out of here, now. Where’s Andy?” - Noah asked, trying to find him in the middle of the screaming crowd.

“There!” - MC pointed to the stage.

Noah turned just in time to see a huge skeletal creature leaping towards the Asian boy, its jaws clamping around his leg.

“AAAH!” - the creature twisted its head and a sickening crunch can be heard, a sharp piece of bone snapping through the skin of Andy’s leg. He screamed again as the beast dragged him toward the exit.

“Andy!” - MC shout, as they all struggled to fight their way through the crowd. - lAndy! Just hold on!” - but they all knew they wouldn’t reach him in time. Andy managed to catch hold of the doorframe as the beast bounded through the exit doors.  

But then, with a horrific jerk, he was gone.

Jane is here.