#episode 1. the vanishing of ross lynn

[spooky-things-au]

Chapter 3 of the fic! So we're officially halfway through the first episode! Wooo!

And at this point, I counted something in my update schedule and... due some things that I was not satisfied with, I decided to change days, I update this story! New updates will now follow every Monday and Thursday/Friday (on my side)!

Also, my first time EVER trying to write something... aheam... more "mature" than I used to, so... let me know how you like it or what I should change about it!

(The chapter is also undercut)

Spooky Things

Season 1. Beginning

Episode 1. The vanishing of Ross Lynn

Chapter 3. Something's off.

School bus stopped infront of Frightville's elementary-middle school, as the driver was opened the door to let passengers out.

"Alright, final stop. Everyone's out." Kevin said, watching the kids leave the bus, last of which was Robert. "Have good day, kids." He added with smile, but that was ignored, as Robert, supposedly, spotted his friend outside.

Or he just ignored because they didn't have good relationship. Well, Kevin still needed to get his trust, he supposed... the poor kid had hard life, from Radford's words, and sudden appearance of new partner in his life was definitely not something he would accept that quickly.

Yes, he wanted to bond with the boy... but Kevin realized that Robert needed some time to get used to new person in his life.

"Hey." There was a knock on side of the bus, that made Kevin turn around, but that then turned to a smile.

"Hey, Ethan..."

The other man smiled, climbing inside the bus, standing next to Kevin.

"So, what happened last night?" Ethan asked, leaning against the metal. "You never replied to me back."

Kevin's eyes then widened, quickly pulling out his phone to check his messages... when he found nearly 10 missed ones from Ethan last night...

"Ah, sorry, man..." Kevin scratched back of his head. "I was just..."

"Radford happened, didn't he?" Despite how teasing it sounded... Kevin could also pick up notes of tension in his friend's voice. "Kevin, I warn you. He's bad news! He just wants sex, you know?"

"Well, if it all he wanted, why hasn't he left me yet?" Kevin smirked. "We've been together for nearly six months at this point and not even once we went past maki-..."

"Never went past making out, huh?" Ethan forced out a laugh. "Man, Kevin... for times like ours, you sure able to speak freely of this..." He crossed his arms.

"Hey..." Kevin sighed out. "I know... how it might sound to you... and believe me, I've had enough troubles with people... talking about us behind our backs... or making comments about me wanting to date a guy..." But he then smiled, leaning against the seat, as his thoughts left to the man, he loved with his entire heart.

Radford was definitely one of a kind. Caring and gentle, loving and supportive... loyal to his family and goal... not to mention being goofy and gorgeous... the blonde was everything, Kevin wished for his partner.

And yet, what attracted Kevin the most... was probably his determination and ability to get back on his feet when things get hard, being able to be there for people when they needed it... when his parents went away and he became the sole support system for his younger siblings... and still, he stood strong for them, ready to provide the best childhood for his two youngest siblings he could.

No matter how you looked at this... Radford was amazing... and Kevin felt so lucky to be able to call him his... lover. (Boy, that still sent shiver down his spine-).

"But I know what I want... and I don't care what some snobby stuck-ups might think of me..." Kevin finished. "I love what and who I love. And it should be my decision..."

"Hm..." Ethan looked to Kevin, now his face showed genuine happiness for his friend. "Well, whatever makes you happy, man... just don't you dare stopping be friends with me, you hear?!"

The two men looked at each other for another second, before both of them broke into laughter.

"You dork!" Kevin spat out in the end.

The public toilet was... definitely not the best place for this, but Kevin didn't seem to care much about it at the moment... he leaned closer towards his partner... his boyfriend as their lips sealed together for a kiss.

Radford called him to come over at his lunch break, just so they could chat and talk about plans for the night. To have a "mini-date" as the blond called it. But now, it turned into a making out session in the theater's restroom.

"Oh God-" Kevin breathed out. "Rad, please-... I need to go..."

"Oh, really now?" The blonde let out a chuckle. "Alright then... but only if you can give me a kiss... and that we can meet tonight..."

"Rad..." Kevin chuckled.

"Whaaat?" Radford came closer. "I'm not saying anything... dirty... I'm just saying, you and I... in my car... driving somewhere pretty to unwind after a long, hard day..."

"Rad, I can't..." Kevin sighed, but still didn't let go. "You know, my mom is over for now... and she still doesn't know-"

"You're dating a guy?" Radford said again. "No problem... your house has ladder, right? I can climb into your room..." He then touched their foreheads, that made Kevin chuckle, blushing lightly. "Ninja style~"

Kevin let out a light laugh.

"Well, deal it is, then..." He smiled, before pecking one last kiss. "I'll see you tonight~"

Radford was satisfied with this answer. A quick cuddle later, the two finally separated. Kevin splashed himself cool water to calm down from all the... excitement that just went down. After fixing his clothing into presentable look, he left exited the restroom.

Radford watched him go. When Kevin stepped out, the blonde sighed out again, tagging the collar of his shirt... ooooh boy! This was November, it wasn't supposed to be so hot in here-!

He heard the door open and saw Rick standing in the doorway. The two shared a look, before Radford cracked a light, nervous smile.

"You're..." He started, playing with his shirt. "...not going to tell the boss, are you..?"

Rick stayed quiet for a second again.

"...I don't get paid enough to care..."

And it meant no.

"You're the best" The blonde smiled.

A car stopped in front of police station as a man stepped out. Tired eyes looked over the building, before he sighed out, stepping inside.

"Morning, Patty..." John said to woman in front desk, before turning to the people further into the building. "Morning, everybody!"

"Hey, John!" Jack smiled, waving to him.

"Damn! You look like hell, Sherif..." Sophie commented with a chuckle.

"Oh, yeah?" John raised eyebrow. "Well, I looked better than your wife when I left her this morning!"

John waved to the others, starting to head to his office. While Connor and Sophie continued to laugh, Jack decided to follow John to catch him up with the news of the morning.

"Alright, John..." Jack started, taking out the list with what calls they got over last few hours. "We've got a few cases this morning... first, Ignacio Smith called. Said some kids are stealing the gnomes out of his garden again."

"Oh, those garden gnomes again..." John groaned, covering his eyes with his hand. "Well, Jack, I'll assure you, I'm gonna get on that in a few..."

Jack nodded, smiling to sheriff, before looking back on the list, as his smile faded. "On more serious matter... We've got a call from Aaron and Jaune Lynn."

John looked up, surprised to hear that.

"Jaune called?"

He knew her since they both were kids, plus she was his old schoolmate... one of first people to welcome him back when he returned back in town... but why were she and her husband calling them? They lived relatively quiet life.

"Yes. They called about... two hours ago..." Jack confirmed, his face still gloomy. "They said they can't find their son..."

Right. They also had a kid... if he remembered correctly, just entered his teens... so it would give... a couple of ideas, where the boy could be. John sighed out. Yet another overworried mother, freaking out over small things... but, well... he supposed he couldn't blame them either way, given what they have to go through to bring the whole new person into the world.

"Alright the... I'm gonna get on that..." John sighed out, making himself a cup of coffee. "Just give me a minute..."

"But John!" Jack interrupted once more. "Jaune is very upset-"

"Now, Jack, we've discussed this." John looked onto the younger man. "Mornings are for coffee and contemplation."

Then, Jack turned to go to his office. Jack followed him still.

"John, she's already in your-"

"Coffee and contemplation, Ja-!"

And then Jack opened the door to his office... to see it occupied by a worried out of her mind Jaune with equally worried Lila, who did her best to comfort her friend. The two women turned to face John, as Lila finally sighed out.

"There you are..." Lila breathed out, relieved.

The best way to describe next few minutes would be... a mess. Jaune was all over the place, yelling and screaming on top of her lungs, that made few other officers come in to check on them. Eventually, when Jaune accepted some water to calm herself down... she was finally able to have a normal conversation with John.

"We've have been waiting here over an hour, John!" Jaune said, still walking around the room in worry.

John covered his face with his hand, letting out a deep, long sigh. "And I apologize again..."

"I'm going out of my mind!" Jaune put her hands on the table, before Lila pulled her back again, quietly apologizing for it, getting just a nod from John.

"Look, Jaune... your son is... twelve right?" John started, as Jaune nodded in confirmation. "A kid... this age... he's probably just playing hookie, okay?"

Jaune's eyes widened. "What?!" She asked, shaking her head. "No, not my Ross! He's not like that! He wouldn't do that!"

"Well, you never know... I mean, look at my sister..." John showed onto a picture of a late teen girl in what seemed to be a white dress. "I was ten, our mom thought she was on the debate team... but then, next thing we know, she's getting married at sixteen, five months pregnant with her oldest."

Jaune looked at John in disbelief. She couldn't believe it. No. It couldn't be that. Ross wouldn't do that! Her and Aaron taught him better than that... he wasn't ever even interested in girls or boys. A part of her wanted to snap out again. To yell at John to even think of such thing! And yet, she held back. She sighed out.

"Look, he's not like your sister, Sheriff. He's not like you, Lila or me. He's not like... most." Jaune rumbled off. "He's a good boy, has a couple of friends, but... you know how kids are..." She crossed her arms. "Peer pressure and stuff, one of his friends hangs out with those other kids and... they're mean. They make fun of others. They call them names... I tried to step in once, but I think I only made it worse... they kept laughing at Ross... at his clothes, hair-"

"His hair?" John asked, rasing eyebrow. "What's wrong with his hair?"

"Nothing! He does dye it..." She looked away, wiping away the tear, covering her face.

She hated seeing her little boy suffering like this... something so small! She suggested changing schools, suggesting to fight them (yes, she wasn't above hitting a kid if needed) or going to self defense classes himself... but her little boy... Ross kept saying he was fine. He could deal with it.

"Does that matter?"

Jaune looked at John, a bit confused, but just shrugged, feeling defeated. "Maybe. I don't know..." She sighed out once more. "Maybe it's just not like it used to be and a boy dying his hair is enough to target a kid now..." Jaune then took a deep breath, looking into John's eyes. "Look, he's... He's a bit of a weird kid, sure, but... he's a good boy..." She then looked at her hand once more.

"I used to argue with my father back in the day about this... he would say that my child will be uncontrollable... he hated Ross had Aaron for a father... said he'd need a 'real man' for this role in his life, unless I wanted him to grow up a 'fag', as he put it." Jaune winced as she pushed out the insult. She hated going to that memory... and this time it was harder, as she had to say it out loud.

"Well... Is he?" John asked, cracking a light smile. Not to sound homophobic (that'd be hypocritical of him, honestly), but making fun of somebody being worried about this.

"He's MISSING!" Jaune cried out once more, tears falling down her face once more. "That what he is!"

John looked away, as Lila once more started to try calm Jaune down. Okay, it was a bad joke... The man sighed out, standing up.

"Alright, Jaune... when was the last time you heard from your dad?"

Jaune raised her head back up, surprised. But then sighed out, trying to think about the question. "Uh... last I heard... he was in Indianapolis..." She thought, before nodding. "Yes, there. He moved there ever since him and mom split up... But he has nothing to do with this."

"Why don't you give me his number then?"

"John, please." Jaune said again. "You're just wasting your time! He has nothing to do with this... He... he doesn't even know how Ross looks like!"

"Jaune." John said again, putting his hand on Jaune's. "Believe me, I've been on such cases before. Ninety-nine out of hundred times, kid goes missing, the kid is with a parent or relative."

"I know it, but..."

"What about the other time?" Lila finally raised her voice.

"Huh?/What?" Both, Jaune and John, turned their heads to the purple-haired woman.

"What you said, John..." Lila said. "Ninety-nine out of hundred. What about the other time? The one?" She repeated once more.

"Lila... not you too..." John covered his face.

"The one!" Lila raised her finger. "John, you haven't been in this town in over a decade, until four years ago! A lot happened in that time! The old hospital being shut down f-"

"And you wanna know the worst thing that's happened here in the four years since I came back?" John cut the woman off, as she stayed quiet once he did. "An owl attacking Narciso Evermore's head because it thought that his hair was a nest."

The two women shared a look, before turning back to John. All three of them stared at one another for a minute. Just as John thought it'd be another "two-on-one" situation, Jaune sighed out in defeat, rasing her hands.

"Okay, fine! Give me a note!" She said, getting the items.

"I'll call him right now, and if Ross isn't there, we'll look for him in the forest." John explained, walking to his old friend.

Jaune hmmed. "He'd talk to me first, before he talks to-"

"What? A pig?" Lila raised eyebrow, smirking lightly.

"A cop!" Jaune said back, while John gasped offendedly. But then (after a second long pause) the trio finally broke into light laughter, even if Jaune's was weak. Well, Lila could take that too. Whatever small, she'd considered it a win.

Usually, it would be Jaune trying to lighten up the mood in such situation... but now, Jaune had enough on her plate, so Lila had to be the one to do that instead.

And still, this happiness was only brief, as when Jaune finished writing down the last number on the sticky note, she handed it back to John... it made her remember the reason why they came here in first place.

"Do what you must do, Sherif..." Jaune nearly begged. "Just... find my son, John..." Tears once more started gathering in her eyes. "Find him!"

Lila stood by them, as her hands traveled up her figure to her stomach. Something so familiar, she did it completely absent-mindedly... a reflex, she still hasn't gotten rid of even after eight years passed.

She always did that when she was worried... worried about somebody close to her... whenever she watched missing people reports on TV... whenever she saw a missing kid poster outside her house.

Ever since that fateful night, on March 1st, of 2004.

Ever since that painful day, on December 10th, of 1998.

'I hope God is merciful to you... wherever you are...' She thought to herself, her mind going back to two names, that forever were drilled in her memory and her heart. 'Beverly... Sunny...'

@crossover-enthusiast @catsockpuppet @spookuzm @ferfbish @sunny6677 @momentokori @nottapossum @nostalgic-soda

[spooky-things-au]

So, 3rd chapter is officially ready and just waits for it's time to be released on next Monday (yay!). And now, I've got to writing the next chapter!

And I'm honestly really excited about it, as I'm finally getting to write Skid! (Aka, AU's Eleven!)

Plus a quick doodle! (Yes, it's supposed to be me)

@crossover-enthusiast @catsockpuppet @spookuzm @ferfbish @sunny6677 @momentokori @nottapossum @nostalgic-soda

[spooky-things-au]

First chapter is out! Woo! (Also posted here under the cut)

Spooky Things

Season 1. Beginning

Episode 1. The vanishing of Ross Lynn

Chapter 1. The basement kids

It was late evening of early November 2012, the sun has long since set and night has stepped behind the reigns over small town of Frightville. Street lights were brightening the streets of town with their weak, yet stable light, showing the last bits of recently passed Halloween decorations the few people still hadn't taken off.

The people were passing by, some going to switch on night shifts, some coming home from day's work... while some just wanted to have last bits of fun at local club before new work day next morning...

But as busy as those few people were, it could not compare the slightest to the commotion that was happening in the lonely mansion on far East of the town.

A person in red robe with many holes on hood ran through the twisted corridors deep underneath the town, trying to get away from... whatever was following behind them.

Soon enough, they reached the door, getting out buncy of keys out of pocket, starting to try find one from the door.

All while the sound of footsteps were getting closer... and closer...

Click!

The light seemed to flicker through one of holes, as the person pulled the door open.

They were ready to bolt through the corridor and put of the front door to the safety of outside world... when they realized the sound just... stopped. They could've sworn it was there just a moment ago. It was just around the corner! Where did it go?

Did it get tired of chasing them and went after somebody else?

But then, the person heard weird clicking noises to their side...

Needless to say it was the last thing they heard.

A crayon fell onto floor, before another one was picked up, with a small hand starteing to make first lines across snow white paper.

At seven years old, Wilbert Wonder was a normal child, really. He loved drawing, playing and getting on people's nerves, many also said he was very smart! Sure, some people would say he was lonely, but he never complained about that. He had his parents! (But they worked a lot) He had Grandpa! (But he was too old to really play with him) He had..!

Okay, he didn't really have friends his age. He wasn't exacly one to shy away, but other kids tended to avoid him for some reason (definitely not because he lead an army of stray cats to school once. Yep! Definitely not that!) BUT EITHER WAY. Will never took his lack of friends to heart.

His one friend was more than enough! Especially with who that friend was.

"Something is coming..." A voice started in so familiar mysterious manner, it had long since became part of his life. "Something hungry for blood..."

Will left his drawing supplies on the carpet, walking to the table. Susie was narrating yet another D&D compain with her friends. The four of them long since decided it should be Susie to do so. Mainly because she was a girl, which meant she wouldn't have her voice cracking in middle of narration.

Will stood by her side with wide eyes and bright smile. He could barely understand the rules of their game yet... but he liked hearing his sister telling these fantasy adventure stories they all were on. They were almost as good as the bedtime stories, their mom would tell them! (Almost.)

"A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness..." Susie continued her story, paying no mind to her brother. "It is almost here..."

"What is it?" Ross, one of boys and Susie's best friend, spoke first, he was sitting across the table from the siblings.

"What if it's the Demogorgon?" Roy smirked from right side of table.

"Oh, crap... we're so screwed if it's the Demogorgon..!" Robert's timid voice finished for them.

"It's not the Demogorgon." Roy replied, a bit annoyed with fourth's fright.

"An army of troglodytes charge into the chamber!" Susie announced, pushing a couple of figures onto the board.

"Troglodytes?" Robert asked, surprised with this turn of events.

"Told ya~" Roy smirked once more, crossing his arms, when Robert made his confused face, making other two boys laugh.

Meanwhile, Susie was pulled down by Will, who whispered something in her ear. The girl's eyes widened and mischievous smirk crossed her face as she nodded. She then sat back straight up, letting Will climb onto her knees, so he could reach the table as well.

"Wait a minute!" She suddenly said, getting attention from her teammates. "Did you hear that? That... that sound?"

"Boom... boom..." Will joined in, bouncing excitedly on his seat. "BOOM!" The youngest yelled again, slamming the table with his small hands, before breaking into giggling.

He would often do that when they played. Again, he didn't grasp most of the rules yet, but the older kids always let him join in for sound effects. The boys were now again paying attention to them, when Susie went back to the story.

"That didn't come from the troglodytes..." She started to tell again. "No... that... That came from something else..."

Then, both siblings shared the look, as Susie reached for the figure, slamming it onto the board.

"The Demogorgon!" Both siblings exclaimed, which followed by groans from other three kids.

"We're in deep shit..." Roy whispered into his hand, preparing himself for the battle.

"Ross, your action!" Susie announced, looking to the raven-haired boy, who suddenly looked at her in shock.

"What!?" Ross asked.

"Fireball him!" Roy yelled to his friend.

"I'd have to roll a 13 or higher!" Ross argued back,

"It's too risky!" Robert added, before turning back to Ross. "Cast a protection spell!"

"We don't have time to be a pussy, Robert! Fireball him!"

"Cast Protection!"

"The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering!" Susie, a frown forming on her face, said again. "It stomps towards you!" The continued as yet another "Boom!" was heard from her brother.

Ross stayed in his chair, thinking over his next move. The monster was infront of them and, as the wizard of the team, it was his role to protect them from creatures like this... and now, his friends and team depended on him.

But despite the seriousness of their situation... Ross then found himself amused by the fight between other two boys. Roy was too impulsive, he was a textbook example of "fists first, brain later", as Susie loved to put it, while Robert was taking too long with deciding on things, trying to get the safest option, that often would be death of them, be that outside of the game.

So, he always thought it was the best course of action that role of wizard was given to him. He loved his character and . Over their fights on what to do next, they managed to distract each other enough for him to make his decision...

"I'm casting fireball!" Ross finally announced, preparing to roll the dice, before letting it fall onto the board.

But what he didn't mean to do was to throw the dice to hard, it flew over the board.

"Oh, shit!" Ross whispered to himself, as four older children got off the table. Susie sent Will back to his drawing, while she joined the boys to find the game piece.

All over the screaming of "Where is it!?", "Is it 13!?" and "I don't know!" a voice of an adult woman was heard from the upstairs. She was calling for Robert, who eventually managed to hear her over his friends' arguments. But only when she went down to the basement to check on them.

"Robert, your brother's here to pick you up." The woman said, looking between the five children and the chaos that was going on in her basement.

"Miss. Lila!" The four older kids whined, looking to their babysitter the woman.

"Please! We lost the dice and we're in the middle of a campaign!" Susie said for the boys, who went back to their chaotic search.

"You mean the end? You said you needed fifteen more minutes..." Lila continued, sighing out. Just like the kids, she didn't want this to end. She enjoyed watching the five of them for their parents... not to mention the children themselves were a great company...

It was too lonely to live alone.

"Please, Miss. Lila, twenty more minutes!" It was now Robert the one to plead for some extra time, pulling his best puppy dog eyes.

"Children, this is a school night." Lila said again. "Come on, it's already almost Becky and Will's bedtime." She sighed, gently putting hand around Robert's shpulder. "Come on, sweetie, you ca finish it next weekend..."

"But that'll ruin the flow!" The blonde boy continued to argue.

"Robert-"

"I'm serious, Miss. Lila! The campaign took two weeks to plan! How were we supposed to know it was gonna take ten hours?!"

That made the two stop in their tracks, as Robert covered his mouth, when a young adult man, very similar to Robert, came from around the corner. He was holding a little girl in his arms, already asleep.

"You’ve been playing for ten hours?" The man asked, rasing eyebrow.

"Rad!" Robert perked up at the sight of his older brother. "Do you think we could-"

"I think we should listen to Miss. Lila on this, Robert." Radford said, cutting his brother off. "Come on, Robin is waiting in the car."

Robert saddened, but sighed out, admitting his defeat. The shared look between four older kids, silently deciding to finish this session on finding the dice to learn what became of Ross' attack. The boys took up on themselves to do that, while Susie went to help Will get ready to go home.

"Dumb piece of junk..." Roy mumbled to himself.

"FOUND IT!" Ross yelled from across the room. "It's seven."

Robert made a face, hissing slightly on the sound of it. "Ouch."

"Well, Susie didn't see it. So it doesn't count." Roy shrugged, sneaking the leftovers of pizza into his bag.

Few minutes later, the five kids made their way into the front yard, where Roy's bike was. While there, Ross heard Rad talking with somebody on his phone.

"By the way, Rob, didn't your brother start to date somebody?"

"Yeah, this new guy..." The blonde boy crossed his arms. "Kevin P... something..." He frowned. "I don't like him, he's kind of a jerk..."

"Well, your brother can be one as well." Roy shrugged, getting a light hit from Susie. "Ow! Why!?" He looked back to him.

"He's not like this!" Robert stood on his brother's defense, still looking at his friend. "Remember, when he dressed as an elf for the Elder tree campaign?"

"It was before he went to college!" Roy argued back. "And that was... four years a-"

Roy stopped mid-sentence, when lights from around them blinked for a second.

"What?"

Then there was a honk from the car, making Robert sigh out and wave to his friends.

"Later, guys" He said, before going to his siblings.

Roy then followed the suit on his bike, towards his own house. It left Ross, Susie and Will together. They all lived in walking distance from Lila's house, so they always assured the older woman they didn't need help getting back home. While the youngest of three was talking about getting ice cream in way to their home, Ross decided to spill the beans.

"It was seven."

"Huh?" Susie, getting distracted from her brother, looked up to the raven-haired kid.

"The roll. It was seven..." Ross repeated, throwing his bag over his shoulder. "The Demogorgon got me." He explained, before offering the girl one last smile. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye..." Susie said back, before turning back to her brother.

The two bid their goodbyes for the evening, as they both went their separate ways towards their homes.

But little did they or Roy or Robert that this would be the last day of the lives as they used to know them...

@crossover-enthusiast @catsockpuppet @spookuzm @ferfbish @sunny6677 @momentokori @nottapossum

[spooky-things-au]

Chapter 4 and I just got to my child! (Skid!) And his asshole of a father... but I've got to my child! :D

(Chapter is undercut)

Spooky Things

Season 1. Beginning

Episode 1. The vanishing of Ross Lynn

Chapter 4. Eleven

The doors to mansion opened, making the chatter inside quiet down as everyone turned to the front door.

"Father." Somebody in crowd said.

A tall black-haired man looked between the hooded people, walking inside the building. He stopped by a man in cloak, who nodded to him.

"What's the damage?" It was the man's only question.

"This way, Father." Cloaked figure replied, showing the man towards the door.

The two started to decent into the basement, the black-haired man taking out the key to open the door.

"The entire east wing of basement will be evacuated within the hour. We've sealed off this area following quarantine agreements."

The man smiled, nodding to the cloaked, before he opened the door, that now had plastic wrap on the other side. The both men stepped through the zipper in middle, seeing the other side.

It was covered in some kind of light cyan mist, the basement looked even darker than usual... as the Father walked inside, placing his hand on the wall, he came across few dark bumps were scattered on them. Upon touching... they felt slightly slimy, similar to skin of amphibian or deep-sea creature.

He frowned once more, walking further through the halls into the basement... until they finally reached a huge room, that was filled with that cyan mist... but here, it seemed to be even more concentrated, making it hard to see too far head of oneself...

And yet, something was still clear.

A huge opening in the wall, glowing that same cyan. The glow just as well seemed to be pulsing... low growling was ringing throughout the room... and more, way bigger bumps were coming out the opening... from some angle, they also looked like tentacles.

"This is where it came from?" Father asked, examining the room.

"Yes."

He stepped closer towards the opening, trying to see what was on the inside... but he was met with same glow, that seemed to linger for what seemed to be... miles on the other side. And... if anyone would ask, he could swear he saw something moving on the other side. After a minute of examining it, Father stood up. He still continued to look at the opening.

Whatever that thing was... it was not continuation of his basement.

"And the boy? Were you able to locate him yet?" He asked, looking at his hand, just now noticing some of same slime as from bumps in corridor.

"We're doing what we can, Father. Give us time." A man spoke behind him.

"He couldn't have gotten too far. I mean... he's only eight."

'You better believe he hasn't gotten away...' Father thought to himself, frowning. 'This is big. And you made it happen...'

A smirk grew on Father's face as he thought of what happened. Or rather... who made it happen.

'Eleven...'

'Run.' It was the only thought running through his brain for what felt like hours. 'Run, run, run!!'

A small figure hid behind the tree, breathing deeply, finally able to watch a break.

A small child, seemed not even to be 10 at the moment, was running for his life in chilly November day in nothing, but what seemed to be a hospital gown.

'Run! They're coming! Bad! Evil!'

But, of course, human body could only take so much running, before it gets tired and runs out of fuel. And it was the same way for the little one. He heard his stomach rumble... he hasn't had anything in his stomach since yesterday.

He grasped onto himself, before looking around... when he smelled something not far away.

He then came to a small building. Way smaller than the house, he ran from... there were few machines next to it (cars, he remembered the names from books)... there must be people inside. Which was a bad sign, he couldn't be seen... not if he wanted to get away from-.

He then heard whistling, as a man came from back door with bag in hand. It gave him idea...

The boy followed on some distance after the man, sneaking inside, carefully watching not to get caught... as he thought, next room had even more people... despite there being food, he couldn't go there.

He walked to another room, this one was way smaller, with many weird things. Some sharp, some not... a lot of silver and weird smells. Nothing back The House ever smelt like this... the boy looked around once more, before his eyes spotted something...

A small bag, seemingly out of paper... and there was something in it... small pieces of yellow something. They smelt... good. His stomach growled once more.

The child cautiously walked over it, looking taking one piece in his hand, bringing it to his nose to get better smell of it... and then took a bite.

His eyes widened lightly. It was... potatoes? It was kind of similar to potatoes, he would eat back at The House... but he never tried them like this. Not mushed or in these small pieces.

He thought he liked it.

Looking around for one last time, the boy leaned over the bag, starting to devour the potato pieces few at a time. He felt bad about it, as he was taught stealing was bad... but he didn't feel like he cared at the moment. He was starving! He hadn't had anything since lunch yesterday! He was running the whole night!

Shoving 'be good' mentality back for a minute, he just carried on with eating, until...

"HEY!"

He was caught...

The day was quiet at Boys n' Grills. That was fortunate, given the owner was away for some "family matter". That left few employees to run the place, but that was enough. Despite it being Monday, the day promised to be slow.

Vivana was was walking between tables, taking and handing orders to people. Yep, it was definitely being a-

Then she turned around to face the window into kitchen to see somebody inside... and it was DEFINITELY not one of her coworkers.

"HEY!" She shouted, before running towards the kitchen.

It made the boy duck, grabbing the bag in his hands, starting to run.

A bit upset the food gathering was so little, but if he didn't want to go back in The House... he needed to get out right now. As small of snack as it was... he just needed something to sustain himself... the bag was small either way. He didn't think anyone would miss it!

Hand grasped into his shoulder, before turning him around to face the person.

"You think you can steal from us, kid!?" Vivana said into the kid's face. "You think you can-?!"

Then she took time to look over the child...

The dirty child. On look, he was only 7 or 8, if even it was that... definitely underweight too. Buzz cut hair, dirty blue hospital gown with little pink flowers... barefoot too... and he was going to run out there in November. Like this. And now, he was looking down, scared and ashamed... it was surprise he didn't cry. Well... correction. He was close to cry, judging by the tears, gathering up in his eyes.

"What the fuck..?"

Robert came out of school, breathing in cold fall air into his lungs. He had no doubt his friends already left. They didn't share many classes together, and even then, they tried to avoid one another. Or, at least, Roy tried to avoid them. Or else it would be too high of possibility of Ivan and Zack telling his mother he was "hanging" with "lowlife" as she liked to call them all.

She didn't like when they talked outside of their weekends at Miss. Lila's place. Robert always wondered, why she even got in contact with Miss. Lila to watch him in first place all those years ago, if she didn't like people, she found lower than herself in status.

Robert then was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of police cars and sirens passing by. Huh... weird. It was quite awhile since this happened in their town. Or, at least, he was witness to it.

Through he payed no mind, walking down the school yard. Kevin long since picked most of kids up, so he would have to go on foot. He didn't mind. Completely other way around, he liked that.

Anything not to see that poor excuse, his brother called hi-

Then, something caught his eye. The bike stop by the front. Ross' bike wasn't there. He then remembered Robin getting a call from Ross' dad this morning... he didn't know, what they were talking about, but something felt unsettling to him.

Then he realized Ross wasn't on the bus either. Nor in class or Mr. Collins' club, they all went to. And his bike wasn't there when they got to school either.

Feeling something in his gut, Robert pulled out his phone, checking out his and Ross' chat.

No... last message there was from Robert himself yesterday, when he replied that he could lend Ross his comic... and even that, Ross didn't see it. Not even leaving him on read.

This was nothing like Ross...

Robert frowned, before going to their group chat. Last message there was from Roy, complaining about their lunch, and Susie laughing at him. And still, Ross hadn't replied in there, even through he LOVED this type of drama.

This seemed to be last straw for Robert, as he started typing

👽 Hey, guys...

👽 Has anyone seen Ross today?

Some part of Robert expected Ross to suddenly pop out of silence, tell them it was a mean prank... but something in his brain said it would be it...

And sure enough, first to reply would be not Ross... but Roy.

💥 What?

👽 Has anyone seen Ross?

Susie's icon then lit up, and she started typing too.

💗 Now that you mention it... I haven't seen him since yesterday

💥 I mean... me neither, but he might just be sick today

Well... it could explain it... also would explain, why Ross' dad would call Robin... but why couldn't they know? Why didn't she tell him? It couldn't be just that, Robert was sure of it.

And while the blonde boy was thinking over the situation, his phone buzzed. And then again... and again. Three new messages. All from Susie and still none from Ross, that would clear up their situation.

💗 I'm just from Miss. Lila, she's not home

💗 I have a feeling something's off

💗 Let's to to Ross' house to ask him

Susie was already waiting them by Ross' house when Robert and Roy arrived. And, easy to guess, Will was with her. Well... it was expected, given she couldn't leave a small child in front yard of Miss. Lila's house or at their own home without supervision.

But what they didn't expect would be a police car, stopped right infront of their house.

"Police? Why?" Roy asked, looking over the car in confusion.

"Maybe it's my uncle?" Robert wondered quietly, walking to the door. "I mean... he is friends with Miss. Jaune and Susie's dad."

"Let's just talk with Ross' parents..." Susie said for all of them, pulling Will from the car.

Robert knocked on the door and they were let inside.

"Miss. Jaune?" Susie called out. "It's us! Susie and Will! And also Robert with Roy."

"Susie?" Jaune's unusually worried voice called out from different room. "In the kitchen, kids, but I'm a bit busy right now!"

"We're not for long, ma'am!" Robert said. "We just came to ask about Ross. He wasn't at school today..."

"He's just sick, right?" Roy joined in. "Tell them they're overreacting!" He then turned towards where their friend's room was. "Ross! Just answer this! You're freaking Susie and Robsrt out!"

But nothing followed. Not even a slightest groan. Instead, it was a worried looking policeman. Robert gasped lightly.

"Officer Jack!" He said, getting a light smile from the man, but then his face turned back to worry again.

"Kids, we're talking about something really serious here, you should head home..." Jack explained, constantly looking around.

"What do you mean?" Susie asked, still trying to find her friend.

"It doesn't involve you." Jack still tried to reason with kids, but then Jaune and John came by too.

"How am I supposed to know every scratch in this house, John!?" Jaune was frowning, worrying obvious in her voice. "You know I'm not the most careful person around and I also live with two guys!"

"Hi, miss Jaune!" Will said as he saw the woman.

"Oh!" She looked down, surprised, before smiling. "Hey, Will..." She then reached down to pet the kid's hair.

"Uncle John!" Robert ran towards his relative, looking at him for any information. "What's going on?"

John looked over at Jack, who looked at him with 'How do I tell them?' expression. Jack pinched his nose breathing out. He then showed him to way to basement, where Connor and Sophie currently were. John was going to take this over.

"Kids..." John looked down at the kids. "You four go home. I hate to be the one to tell it to you, but..." He sighed out. "I'm afraid your friends has gone missing."

Dead silence.

"Oh... you're taking it way better than-"

"WHAT!?"

"Spoke too soon..."

For next minute, there were bunch of questions from kids. "What do you mean 'has gone missing!?", "Where did you look for him yet!?", "You're joking!", "This isn't a funny joke!" and many other.

"One at a time!" The man raised his hands. "You." He showed at Susie.

"How that happened!?" She started. "Our town is so small, he couldn't have gone far! And why would he!? He lives 20 minutes away from Miss. Lila! It-!"

"We're trying to figure out, how that happened..." John said slowly, trying to calm the girl down. "We don't know much yet, but we found his bag, emptied on the side on a road. Our best guess, it could be kidnapping."

"Kidnapping!?" The kids asked again.

"Not final conclusion, but just a guess. He could just be hiding somewhere." John explained. "We're currently gathering a search party to look for him."

"Can we join!?" Susie instantly jumped to him.

"What!?" John's eyes widened.

"Yeah!" Roy joined as well. "We can help look!"

"We know places, Ross likes to visit! He can be there!" Robert added. "Please! Uncle John!"

"No!" John shook his head. "No, children. But this is a case for adults. You should all be heading home right now."

"But-!" Susie tried to interfere, but John cut her off too.

"No buts, young lady." He said sternly. "Last thing, we need right now, is four more missing kids. As soon as this conversation finishes, all four of you are to head home. It means no biking." He looked at Robert. "No investigating." He turned to Roy. "No nonsense." He turned to Susie. "Did I making myself clear?"

Silence.

"Did I make myself... clear?"

"Yes./Absolutely, sir/Crystal clear." Three voices said.

The kids sighed, before Susie looked back for her brother. "Come on, Will..."

And then, the kids left. John sighed out. Jaune was back on the phone, trying to reach her father.

"Finally, somebody..." She breathed out. "Hello? Is Oscar there?"

"No, it's Elizabeth, his girlfriend." A tired and high female voice said on other side. "Who is that?"

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth..." The blonde woman nodded. "I don't think we met, but this is Jaune."

"...Who?" Jaune rolled her eyes. Of course her father hasn't said a thing about her.

"Jaune. I'm Oscar's daughter. Is he there?"

"No. Will let him know, you called..."

"Wait! Don't hang up! I need to speak with him! Can you, at least-!?"

And she hang up.

"Bitch..." Jaune bared her teeth at this, before starting to try get ahold on her father again.

John sighed out, before deciding to check on the rest of the crew in the basement.

"Managed to make the kids leave. Anything here?" John asked Jack, who looked at him and shrugged.

"Connor found a kid sized beanie down here, so we were thinking to bring it up to Jaune. But not much else..." The younger man explained, lifting up a gray beanie in his hand. "How's she?"

"Holding up, but barely..." John sighed out. "It's hard losing a kid and not knowing if they're safe or not."

He then looked over the room, before noticing something.

"Sophie!" He yelled out, as the woman gasped, looking back. "What are you looking at?"

"I..." The woman stuttered, looking between the man and the wall, but couldn't say anything. "Nothing... I guess I just imagined it..."

But I thought I saw something glow...

John sighed out once more.

Upstairs, Jaune was still ranting into the phone, at this point pleading for her father to tell if he knew where her child was... he felt his heart hurt at the sight. Oh, how he could understand her pain so badly...

"Alrighy, guys, let's get out." He said to his coworkers. "And somebody, call Patty to ask about the search party. And tell her to tell them to grab flashlights..."

This was going to be a long night...

@crossover-enthusiast @catsockpuppet @spookuzm @ferfbish @sunny6677 @momentokori @nottapossum @nostalgic-soda

[spooky-things-au]

I haven't gotten to that point yet, but... here's something from 6th chapter of first "episode"!

He's so cute!!

@crossover-enthusiast @catsockpuppet @spookuzm @ferfbish @sunny6677 @momentokori @nottapossum @nostalgic-soda

[spooky-things-au]

First two is done! Yay! (Posted here under the cut too)

Spooky Things

Season 1. Beginning

Episode 1. The vanishing of Ross Lynn

Chapter 2. On the way home

Ross was walking down the street to his house. He lived nearby the woods, which meant he'd always have a nice view on the way home. He liked this forest. It was great place to go to relax or camping, him and his friends had a little hideaway in there too. The only unpleasant memory of this place was when they lost Will when he wanted to play hide-and-seek. Nonetheless, he loved these woods.

But just as the forest was on his way, so was a fenced area. No, it wasn't rich gated part of the town, no... somebody owned large chunk of the land near his house and kept it restricted by tall metal fence. If Ross was to look in, he could see the metal shine even in this dim moonlight.

Susie and him tried to get in there a few times, but never managed to get past the gates, as they didn't have needed equipment... and that they didn't know how to get Will to other side, as the little boy always followed after his sister like a chick after it's mother.

They decided to put this day on hold until Will will he old and strong enough to climb over with them.

But it will still take years before that... so for now, Ross wanted concentrate on what was happening in his life in the meantime.

The boy was humming melody to himself (since he forgot to take earphones, so no music on the way back), when he decided to check on his phone if his parents were home. Neither had picked up, so he thought they were busy... well, he couldn't blame them. If neither of them was home it only mean a quiet evening for himself. And maybe he could get up early to make breakfast tomorrow?

But as Ross was lost in his thoughts, the flashlight on his phone flickered, before turning off completely. Huh... weird. He then turned it back on. Nope, still half the battery of charge. What was it?

And it was when something... ran past Ross, barely missing him. But that was enough for him to lose footing and fall from the sidewalk into grass... seconds later, he felt like he rolled down a hill, before stopping. Raven-haired boy groaned, sitting up. He also noticed his bag opened and his things fell out... crap.

But before he had a chance to pick them up, he felt... like if somebody was watching him... not tearing their eyes off him. He decided to take a closer look, to look up and... all there was a humanoid shape in light of the moon. The two seemed to make an "eye" contact, as Ross supposed, as it made low growling sounds.

If somebody was to ask about physical appearance of this... thing... Ross wouldn't be able to answer it, all due that he tell couldn't make out any details out of it. But if there was something he'd say about it... then it would be that he didn't feel like finding out what it looked like or what it wanted to do with him...

Something felt off about this thing. Something that he didn't like.

Forgetting all about his stuff on the ground, Ross got onto his feet and sprinted to run towards his house that, luckily enough, was in the end of the street. Few tries of trying to get the key in the hole later, he managed to open the front door and bolt inside, locking it after himself.

"Mom!" The boy called out, looking around for any sign of life. "Dad?! Mom!"

The boy continued to yell for his parents, hoping to hear either of their voices, but... there was nothing.

He was all alone in the darkness inside his house. Not even a single sound, other than his heartbeat was heard.

His eyes then fell onto the house phone... he needed to get help... as much as he wanted to call his parents, he knew it would have to be second option to call... first thing to do was to get local police to his house. Robert's uncle was town's sheriff... he could help!

"H... hello?" He whispered as quiet as he could, looking outside, if to see if... the thing was still following him. He saw some movement in nearby trees, that forced him to hide out of the window's view. Then, finally, somebody on other side answered. "Hello?!"

But he was met with silence. Or... what he thought was silence... when in reality... there was some weird noise, that could be described as a unpleasant mix of clicking, bubbling and... something else... but what exacly Ross couldn't pin point.

The boy quickly jammed the phone back into the slot, putting his hands over his head, starting to think... if that movement he saw outside was that thing... what was he going to do!?

But few seconds later... he remembered.

'Dad's gun!'

His father had camping for hobby, that sometimes also included hunting... so it was only fair he owned a gun. And he was starting to teach Ross how to use it recently. Sure, his aim was still far from perfect... but Ross was only 12 years old and this thing seemed to be huge, so even with his unpolished skill... something could be done. At very least, he hoped he could scare the thing off.

And so, Ross once again ran. To the basement, where they kept all the things, they didn't regularly use, but still needed in seasons. And, by the sound as if someone trying to pick a lock... he needed to get there quick.

The boy made his way into the basement, turning on the light, frantically searching for his father's weapon. Getting out the bullets, he started to load the gun. All the while of it, the poor boy was breathing heavily. Just... What was happening!? What was following him!? Please, God, let this be a dream!

Now, with gun in hand, Ross looked behind himself, breathing loudly, his heart pounding faster with each second. How did It go wrong? It was a normal night for them... They were playing D&D in Miss. Lila's basement, Will drawing next to them... it was like always...

But somehow, he was now chased by a strange person... or was it a person at all? He didn't know. All, he knew, that it was after him for some reason... that it was dangerous... and that he might not get out of this alive.

And now, he was cornered. He couldn't think, he couldn't move... when the lights started to flicker, his only thought was "Mom... Dad... I'm sorry..."

Next morning news of power outage last evening was heard through the house, as well as a woman searching for keys around the living room.

"Where the hell are they..!?" The woman whispered to herself, before yelling out "AARON!"

"Check the couch!" A man's voice replied from kitchen. Reply, nonetheless, made the woman frown slightly.

"I already did! It's not-!" She then looked onto the couch, behind pillows, before stopping in her tracks. "Oh... Got them!" A smile now crossed her face.

Jaune then walked to kitchen, seeing her husband. She approached him, placing hiss on his cheek, as he just smiled at her.

"Alright then, handsome..." She wrapped her arms around his neck, as he turned away from frying eggs to her. "I will see you tonight~."

"Yeah..." Aaron replied, returning the kiss to his wife. "See you later."

Jaune smiled lightly to him, before separating from him. She turned around, about to go fix her hair when she saw spot on table still empty.

"Ross' still asleep?" Jaune asked, rasing eyebrow.

"Yes, I didn't have time to get him up yet."

"Well, I still got half an hour before I need to be off..." Jaune smirked, playful gleam sparkling in her eyes. "I'll get him up."

With his wife exiting the room, Aaron smiled lightly, shaking his head. He loved this woman, yes... but at the same time, he had to always be prepared for whatever Jaune would do to "torment" their poor child...

Jaune made her way towards her son's room, already giggling to herself, getting ready to spring into action at any point. Her little boy wasn't even gonna stand a chance...

Slowly, she opened the door to peek inside the room to find... it empty. Completely empty. The bed perfectly made up, school bag already gone, though books and supplies were still there. Clean clothes laying on the chair like the day prior...

And Ross himself was nowhere to be found.

"Ross?" Jaune looked inside, rasing eyebrow, trying to spot her son. Maybe he heard her and was hiding? "Sweetheart, you here?"

But no answer followed. Not even the slightest giggle or breathing that could normally be heard if somebody was hiding. A sudden feeling of tightness filled the woman's stomach, but she didn't want to give into panic just yet... after all, Aaron could've seen him when he got home...

"Um... Honey?" Jaune peeked from the room, now calling out to her husband. "Have you seen Ross?"

"He's not in his room?" Aaron asked back, now coming to his wife to inspect their son's room too.

"Unless he managed to make himself invisible, I don't think so." Jaune said again. "Did he come home yesterday?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I got home after you. Was covering up for one of the guys."

"Eric again?" Jaune asked, sighing out after getting a nod from her husband. "This man, I swear to god..." She pinched her nose.

"Hey, don't panic, love..." Aaron said again, putting hand around her shoulders. "Look, he was at Lila's yesterday all day, right? Maybe he stayed over at her place or with Robert or Susie."

Jaune smiled at her husband, sighing out. She could feel he wanted to say Roy too... but they both knew neither of his parents (ESPECIALLY Roy's bitch of a mother) would ever let him stay at their place.

"Okay... let's do that..." The blonde woman sighed out. Yes. He probably stayed over at her best friend's place. She was his Godmother, she often let him sleep over if they worked late... (a warning would be nice though...)

"Good..." Aaron smiled gently, kissing Jaune on her forehead. "Now, can you call Lila and ask her, while I check Wonders' and Millers'?"

Now, with Aaron leaving the room, Jaune picked out her phone, dialing Lila's number to call her... her hand was still on the frame to her son's room, a part of her still hoping it was an evil prank from her child and nothing more... but call it her guts or a mother's intuition... she still felt something was very wrong about this...

Lila picked up quickly.

"Good morning." A cheerful voice of her best friend said on the other side of the line.

"Hey, Lila?" Jaune started, trying to sound confident, but hint of nervousness was still heard in her tone.

"Oh, hi, Jaune! You're early today..." Though sounded surprised, Lila seemed to be happy about the call.

"Yeah, I have a few minutes, before I have to leave... listen, Lila... did Ross stay over last night?"

"What?" Lila asked, now even more surprised. "No. He left with his friends around eight..."

"Oh, really?" Jaune looked to the doorway, seeing Aaron looking at her.

She silently asked if he had luck on reaching for their son's friends. He only shook his head. She felt her stomach drop at this.

"Wait... you mean he's not home!?"

This day Jaune learned a lesson. Always trust your intuition

@crossover-enthusiast @catsockpuppet @spookuzm @ferfbish @sunny6677 @momentokori @nottapossum

[spooky-things-au]

Chapter 5 out of 6 is done! We're almost there to be done with first episode! Happy December anyone too! :D

(Chapter is undercut)

Spooky Things

Season 1. The beginning

Episode 1. The vanishing of Ross Lynn

Chapter 5. It's up to us now

Back at "Boys n' Grills", with last costumer leaving few minutes ago, Vivana and Tom managed to give their full attention to the child.

Upon seeing him, they immediately knew something was off. The child was dirty when he arrived. But now, he was, at least, Vivana managed to clean his exposed hands and face. Tom gave the boy one extra shirt, their boss had, that now hanged over the kid's body like a dress. God, he was so small... how old was he even?

Neither of them could be sure where this little boy came from... but, if how they found him told them anything... he was starving. So right now, Vivana payed for some food, they provided to the child. Gratefully, the little kid attacked the food, quickly devouring it as if afraid it would be taken away.

"Geez." The female worker shook her head, sitting across the boy in break room. "Your parents forget to feed you? Is that why you ran away?" She asked, but the boy was still not turning away from the food. "They, uh... They hurt you?"

Still silence. Then Tom decided to take over, as he looked over the boy once more, taking a notice of his original clothes and his head... the gown. The buzz cut... he frowned.

"Are you okay?" Tom asked. "Did you go to the hospital? Were they the ones, that scared you?" He continued softly. "You got scared so much that you ran off and you wound up here... is that it so?"

The child still kept quiet. The two shared the look again, before sighing.

"Alright." Vivana said, before pulling the basket from the kid, who tried to get it back, bit Tom put his hand on the boy's. "Wait a second, I will give this back, and you can have as much as you want, I promise." 

"Maybe even some ice cream too!" Tom added, smiling down to the boy, who looked at him a bit confused.

"But you gotta answer our questions first." Vivana got kid's attention again. "We got a deal?"

The boy just stayed quiet, not saying a word, he raised his feet, hugging his knees. Tom sighed out once more. He felt terrible for this little guy... he seemed to scared and lost. It rinded him of a kicked puppy... He highly doubted he had a stable or safe home. If any home at all.

"How about we start with the easy stuff?" He smiled, sitting next to Vivana, who smiled, nodding to the idea. "My name's Thomas Jefferson. Everyone calls me Tom."

He put out a hand to the child. He just tilted his head, as if not knowing what he wanted.

"It goes like this." Vivana then joined the handshake with Tom. "My name is Vivana." She pretended to introduce herself, chuckling, before looking back to the child. "Now, it's your turn."

Tom put his hand out to mysterious boy once more. He looked between the man and hand for few second... before hesitantly reaching for it with his own, letting Tom wrap his hand around it like he previously did with Vivana.

They both smiled. They had progress.

"See. I got you." Tom said, nodding to the boy. "Don't worry. It's okay. Nice to meet you, yeah." He then turned to kids' eyes to look into them. "And you are?"

The child looked at him for a second, before turning away, still silent. Not that occurred to them they didn't even hear anything from him... not even a quiet noise... could he be mute? Vivana sighed out, great, it could be another set back. She looked the little kid over once more, before spotting something on his wrist... a small, barely noticeable tattoo. 11.

"Eleven..." She whispered to herself, gently taking kid's hand to look it over again.

"What's that?" Tom asked to the child. "Do you know what's it mean?"

Suddenly, the kid pulled his hand away, putting it inside side in, hiding the number. "No." A small, but determined voice said.

Two workers looked at him, surprised and stunned.

"Well, I'll be damned." "He speaks..."

"No?" Viviana asked once more, looking at the child. "No, what?"

He stayed quiet this time, still holding his hand close. Vivana sighed out in frustration.

"Alright." She said, standing up, the basket in her hands. "I guess no more food, then-"

Tom looked at her in shock. "Viv, you can't just-!"

"Eleven." They were suddenly cut off.

The two turned to the child, in confusion. He was looking at them with determined, but confused face. They expected him to explain it... but he didn't.

"Yeah..." Vivana said once more, looking at the kid. "What's it mean?"

He raised his hand, pointing to himself. "Eleven."

Two adults exchanged glances once more. 'I'm gonna call somebody on it' Tom silently said to Vivana, who just nodded. After he left, she stayed with the boy.

"Alright, then..."

She lowered the basket next to him again, letting him continue eating peacefully. Or, well... faster as the kid started. The young woman chuckled.

"Hey, take it easy, kid, I'm not taking that again..." She smiled to the boy.

Meanwhile, Tom sighed out, looking at the scene from outside of their ear reach. He was on the phone, calling local CPS.

"Yeah, look, all we know is that he's scared to death..." He stated into the phone. "Yeah, we both have suspension he's been abused or... kidnapped or something." He sighed out, shaking his head.

God, his heart pained for this poor child. He was so... young. Kids this age should be out, playing and learning of the world... not having to deal with... whatever this little guy has gone through. The scared look in his eyes was just... wrong.

He then sighed out again, listening to person on other side of the line. "Yeah, it'd be great if someone would come by." He finally smiled, before named the address of the place.

Jaune walked to a small makeshift wooden fort in woods. She kneeled down, pressing on the "doorbell" button. There was a small light inside, but no sound.

"Ring-a-ding-ding!" The woman sang cheerfully, before giggling lightly, when a small voice also laughed on inside. "Anybody home?"

"Password?" Riss' voice heard from inside, sending his mother into confusion for a second, before she mumbled something under her breath. A

"Um... Rada..." She tried to remember the word, before looking up. "...Radagast?"

For a second, there was silence, before a light sound of approval came from inside. "Yeah. You may enter."

Jaune opened the curtain into the fort, smiling when she saw her little boy there. Ross was looking at box of hair dye, his gray beanie to side, as he was fiddling with stroke of his blonde hair. He was recently starting to look into dying his hair, and Aaron brought him a box for him few weeks prior, but he still hasn't decided when to do it or not.

"Still thinking of it, aren't you?" She asked, sitting next to her son. "Well, my offer still stands, if you want to match for awhile still..." She chuckled lightly, giving her son a small smile.

"I know, mom, thanks..." Ross laid his head against her shoulder.

Jaune looked down at her son with a light smile, holding him close to herself.

"Well... I don't mean to break this, but..." She then reached to her pocket. "Guess what? I got off early and..." She pulled out two movie tickets, showing them to her son. "Ta-da! The Cabin in the Woods."

Ross' eyes widened, as he looked onto the two pieces of paper in his mom's hand. "I..." He looked between the tickets and his mother. "I thought I wasn't allowed to see it..!"

"Well, I changed my mind." Jaune chuckled at his surprise. "As long as you don't have nightmares for a week." She then lightly poked his nose.

"Mooom..." Thd boy whined lightly "I won't. I don't get scared like that anymore."

"Oh, yeah?" Jaune raised her eyebrow, looking down at the child. "Not even of clowns?"

"No." Ross rolled his eyes.

"What about my witch?" She lifted her hand, starting to wriggle her finger over her son's face.

"No." Ross said again, before Jaune pulled him closer to herself, as she started to lightly tickle his side, making his giggle. "Mom, stop it! I'm not five anymore!"

"But Ross Lynn..." Jaune whined, chuckling herself, not letting go of her child. "I'm going to cook you up in my-"

"Stop!" The boy laughed out once more, finally getting out of his mother's grasp. "That's so stupid..." He laughed out to himself.

And then Jaune once more pulled him into a hug.

"Mom!"

The laughter of mother and son was heard through the small patch of woods, as at the moment, it was only them in their own little world.

But that was last year.

Now, Jaune stood by the small fort, looking at it with worried look. It was empty. Just like all other places, she thought her son might have went to. He wasn't anywhere she knew he liked or could do for hiding.

She let out a sigh, standing up. She looked back. She could see Aaron and Lila in short distance, and John with his coworkers... and her neighbors... and few other people... all of them had flashlights, screaming into forest... they all were yelling Ross' name and asking him to come out. They were officially volunteers to help searching for her son.

She frowned at the flashlight in her own hand. It was already 5 PM. The sun started setting on the horizon and it would be dark soon... and it was November... the thought of her little boy out there, in this weather shared her out of her mind.

But not only that... something was telling to her like the possibility of him catching a cold should be last thing she should worry about.

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

"We should be out there right now. We should be helping look for him!"

Robert raised from his seat. It wasn't fair! His friend was missing and he was under house arrest now! They should be also be looking for Ross!

"We've been over this, Robert..." Radford sighed out, already tired of this topic with his brother. "Uncle John says-"

"I don't care what Uncle John said!" The young boy said, staring at his brother.

"Robert." Robin chimed in, turning head away from 7 year old next to her.

"We have to do something, Robin!" The pre-teen wasn't coming down. "For all we know, Ross can be hurt! Or in danger... or worse!"

"Then there's more reason to stay put." Robin added sternly.

"Robin..!" Robert whined.

"No, all of us are staying home." Young woman continued. "End of discussion. Nobody leaves this house until we all know Ross is okay."

"I had my plans canceled as well." Radford looked down, still serious. "Believe me, Robert, I like this not one bit more than you do."

"You're just pissed off 'cause you wanna hang out with Kevin..." Robert rolled his eyes.

"Robert!" Robin scolded, getting a small whine from the small girl, before she looked down to the child next to her. "Oh God, sorry, Becky, I didn't mean to yell..."

"It's not about..!" Radford tried to excuse himself, but when he couldn't find what to say... he just sighed out, covering his (blushing) face with his hand. "You are such a douchebag, Rob..."

"Language!" Robin said again, looking between two men in the house. She then turned back to the small girl, who was grasping into her shirt with her hands. "Shh, It's okay..." She cooed softly, trying to calm down the child, teaching for a cup to give it to the girl. "It's okay, Becky... Here, have some juice, okay?"

The tense aura held over the table. So much for a peaceful dinner.

"You see, Robert? You see what happens?" Radford again looked at his brother, who, at this point, could only see red.

"What happens when what?!" Robert raised from his seat. "When I'm the only normal one here!?" He shouted across the room. "My FRIEND is missing and I'm worried out out my mind! I have no idea what's going on and I feel like the only one that cares about Ross!"

"Robert, calm down." Robin tried to calm her younger brother down. "You know we all- ROBERT!"

But the boy was already gone.

Radford looked between the seat and doorway. Soon enough, there was a slam from Robert's door. Few second later, he heard Becky start crying, so Robert took her to her room to calm the poor girl down.

He sighed out. Great. Just fucking great! The man covered his face, brearhing in and out.

He didn't know how parents did it. This was too much! He tried to do what he could... but how could he make Robert understand? Sure, he could see why he was acting out, his friend was missing and Robert was an emotional child... not to mention puberty. This crap was no joke.

But at the same time, how could he do all this? Radford just graduated college this year and trying to figure out himself. It was hard enough with his parents with the way they were... but then they just up and left his younger siblings on his shoulders. He seriously hoped Becky wouldn't remember them... all three of them deserved so much better.

Breathing out once more, Radford stood up, going to his younger brother's room. There was already some noise, but he still tried to knock. Nobody replied. Not big deal, he'll talk with Robert in the morning... maybe they'd come to some sort of agreement then.

After sending a quick message to Robin, Radford walked outside.

He needed a fucking break...

Robert was sitting on his bed, hugging his pillow. He knew he overdid it with yelling at Radford, but he couldn't help it! He was scared and worried! He didn't know how to let out these emotions other than to scream.

When he heard a knock on his door, he stayed quiet... he knew it was his brother... but he didn't want to face him just yet. He already made a mental note to try and apologize to him in the morning... but right now, he needed to calm down.

Then, there was a flash from his phone.

It was a message from Susie.

💗 Hey, is anyone on?

👽 Hey, I'm here

💥 Yep, here too

💥 How are you holding up, guys?

💗 Not good...

💗 I'm worried about Ross

Robert sighed, before typing his reply.

👽 Yeah

👽 Same here

💥 Tell me about it. This all is crazy!

And after that, there was no other updates from them for few minutes, that normally would mean the end of their talk... Robert was about to put his phone away... but then Susie sent a message again. About their yesterday's campaign.

💗 Hey... I was thinking...

💗 Our game yesterday? Ross' spell. He cast Fireball.

💥 Yes, Susie, we know, we all were there.

💥 What's your point?

💗 My point is...

💗 He could've cast Protection, but went for Fireball.

💗 He could've played it safe, but he didn't.

Robert's eyes widened. He got what Susie was getting on.

👽 He put himself in danger to help the party.

The girl's reply didn't wait to come in.

💗 Exacly. He put himself in danger for us. And now, that he's in danger... he needs our help to save him.

💗 The adults did everything they could... and now...

💗 It's up to us...

💥 Meet near Castle Lynn?

Even if there was no other messages after it... they all knew they agreed to it. And so, this was their destination.

Armed with his bag and jacket, Robert sneaked out through window of his room. His door was locked, so he wasn't worried about his siblings deciding to peek in. Unlike their parents... they respected his privacy.

And even if they did notice him missing, he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment.

He was on a mission.

@crossover-enthusiast @catsockpuppet @spookuzm @ferf-bish @sunny6677 @momentokori @nottapossum @nostalgic-soda

[spooky-things-au]

Okay, looks like "Searching" won the poll! So the last chapter of first part of the fic will be called "Searching"!

I will definitely use "Will's find" as a title of first chapter of second "episode"! Thanks everyone, who voted in this and I will see you in this AU on Friday! :D

@crossover-enthusiast @catsockpuppet @spookuzm @ferf-bish @sunny6677 @momentokori @nottapossum @nostalgic-soda

[spooky-things-au]

Season 1. Beginning

Summery : There was a time when Frightville, was a normal little town in Indiana. Everyone knew each well and it was hard to hide anything sinister... or at least, it was so. At least, until 12 year old Ross Lynn went missing one day. Now now, it's up to his family and friends to find him.

Despite their young age, Roy Stewart, Robert Miller and Susie Wonder (with her younger brother, Wilbert, at her heels) are determined to find their friend... but everything gets turned upside down when they meet Eleven... a runaway child with extraordinary powers.

Episode 1. Vanishing of Ross Lynn

Chapter 1. The basement kids

Chapter 2. On the way home

Chapter 3. Something's off

Chapter 4. Eleven

Chapter 5. It's up to us now

Chapter 6. Searching

Episode 2. The Weirdo on Maple Street

Chapter 1. Will's find

Chapter 2. Another day, same story

Chapter 3. All you need

Chapter 4. New mystery

Chapter 5.

Chapter 6.

[spooky-things-au]

6th and final chapter of "Vanishing of Ross Lynn" is finally upon us! :D

A bit later than I would've liked it, but still I am on schedule! I really hope you enjoyed this first "episode" of my "series" and will stick around for more!

(The chapter is undercut)

Spooky Things

Season 1. Beginning

Episode 1. The vanishing of Ross Lynn

Chapter 6. Searching

"Yes, mom." Kevin sighed out. "Yes, I'll be okay. I know, you're worried, but I've been living on my own for last four years. I'll be able to survive a few hours." He listened to her for a few seconds, before smiling. "Love you too, Mom... see you"

And then he hanged up. His mother has joined the searching team for the lost kid. He wanted to join in as well, but she talked him out of this, as they only had one flashlight. So for tonight, he'd be staying home and he could join as soon as he could get second one.

But that decision also came with the downside of staying in with bad movies for tonight... not to mention, due these events, his mother came in to call every few minutes to check on him. And it was a hit annoying, if you'd ask him. Don't take him wrong, he loved his mom, but she was sure nosey sometimes.

The man sighed out, sitting on the couch, skipping through the channels. Needless to say that his plans for evening with Radford were-

He then heard a knock from the window. The man raised his eyebrow. He lowered the volume, standing up to see what was happening... to see a familiar mop of blonde hair outside the window.

"Radford!?" He asked, opening the window to the the man. "What are you doing here?! You said you were under house arrest?"

"Well, tonight had a bit of... setbacks... I decided I needed to take a walk and unwind..." Radford smiled to Kevin, chuckling. "And my feet dragged me here, so decided to meet you. I mean, we could watch a movie together... or play charades, if you want to... I'd just hate to see you upset."

Kevin smiled softly, shaking his head. "Alright, come in, before you fall off?"

As Kevin went to wait for Radford at the door, he heard noise coming from the window... and it was Radford starting to crawl inside through it... and then fell onto the floor with a yelp. Kevin ran up to him, as the blonde just laughed, through being in obvious pain.

"What'd I tell ya?" Radford smiled lightly, his forehead touching Kevin's. "Ninja~"

"You're a dumbass..." Kevin laughed, laying his head against his boyfriend.

Lila walked down the forest path, flashlight in her hand. Sun has set for, at least, an hour at this point and everyone were using their flashlights. Everyone were still calling out Ross' name.

She sighed out. They had sent Jaune and Aaron home, to get started on missing posters, while they continued the search. She walked few steps away from John, next to him was another man.

"He's a good student..." The stranger started.

John looked up a bit confused. "What?"

"Ross." The man started. "He's a good student. Great one, actually..." He smiled lightly.

John raised eyebrow, still looking at the man in confusion.

"Right... I don't think we've met. Edward Collins." He introduced himself. "Teacher, Frightville Middle. Earth and biology."

That calmed Lila a bit. A teacher. Okay. John hummed lightly.

"I always had a distaste for science..." He mumbled quietly.

"Oh well..." Edward he shrugged, looking at the policeman. "Maybe you had a bad teacher?"

"Yeah..." John breathed out, remembering the woman, while Lila shivered (they shared that class...) "Ms. Palin was a piece of work..."

"Palin?" Edward raised eyebrow, before chucking. "Oh... you bet. She's still kicking around, believe it or not."

"Oh, I know..." Lila closed her eyes.

"Mummies never die, so they tell me..." John grumbled, before a light smile came onto his face. "Hope, my daughter... Galaxies, the universe, whatnot..." He looked away, reminiscing about his child. "She always understood all that stuff... I always figured there was enough going on down here. I never needed to look elsewhere."

Edward looked at John, interested about the child. Just by the way he spoke about her... she seemed to be a smart girl. Just like Ross and his friends... Susie and boys will be moving to high school in short matter of 2 years now, and he would miss having kids that were genuinely interested in his subjects. Maybe he could talk with John about Hope?

"Your daughter... what grade is she?" Edward asked curiously. "She seems like a kid, I'd love having in my class, maybe we could enroll her?"

"No, she..." John mumbled something under Hua breath, before sighing out. "She lives with her mom in the city..."

"Oh..." Edward looked away. 'Great, Edward, you're again-!'

He then felt a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks for coming out, Teach." John said to the man, as two locked their eyes together. "We really appreciate it."

He then walked down the path, leaving Edward behind. The man looked to his right, before feeling somebody on his side.

"She died a few years back..." A soft female voice whispered to him.

Edward looked down, seeing Lila looking away with upset look in her eyes.

"Sorry?"

The silence hanged for another second, before Lila looked towards John. "His kid." She whispered once more.

She then walked further, leaving Edward in silence. 'God damn it, Edward...' The man thought to himself.

"You sure you're okay with watching him?" Tom asked, getting ready to go home.

The night was hanging over the town, so the diner was closing. But they still had to wait for the social services to come for the boy... Vivana volunteered to stay back and watch the child, telling Tom he could go home.

"Relax." Vivana smiled to her coworker. "Come on, look at him." She turned around, to look at the small child, sitting on table, eating ice cream. "He hasn't given us much trouble entire day, has he? I'll be alright."

Tom looked between the two, before sighing out.

"Alright then... bye, Viv, see you tomorrow" He waved for her.

He then turned around to leave his workplace, zipping his jacket. He turned one last time around, thinking if he should go back... but then went back in his tracks, starting to go to his house... he was sure that feeling of dread in his stomach was nothing.

Meanwhile, Vivana walked back to the staff room, where they sat the kid at. He was eating strawberry ice cream, Vivana sneaked out to buy. Not her favorite, but the chjld seemed to enjoy it.

"How's that ice cream treating ya?" She asked with a light chuckle, as the kid nodded, giving her a light smile. That was a cute sight. "Smile looks good on you."

But just as she said it, he turned to her with confused look. She raised the eyebrow... did he not know what a smile was?

"You know... smile?"

The kid tilted his head, that made Viviana  demonstrate it, smiling herself to him, before he copied. The woman chuckled, petting the kid's head.

"You little rascal..."

And then, there was a knock on the door. The boy tensed, as Viviana looked at him. She gently put a hand on his shoulder, strocking it.

"It's okay, kiddo. You just sit quietly." She explained. "Whoever it is, I'll tell 'em to go away real quick, alright?" She said once more, as the boy nodded hesitantly.

With that sign of approval, Viviana walked towards the door, where the knocking was still coming from. She mumbled to the person on other side to hold onto their horses. Upon opening the door, she was met with a tall, balding man in a suit.

"...can I help you?" She asked, rasing eyebrow.

"Good afternoon, you must be Viviana Iris." He said, looking the woman over.

"Yes, that would be me." She nodded to him. "And I'm afraid you're a bit too late, we're closing, so try back tomorrow morning." She continued to try being polite, but still started to close the door.

"Oh, I'm not here for food." He cleared his throat. "I'm Harold Stewart, from social services."

"Oh, right..." Vivana looked away, before giving the man an awkward smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect you so soon. With all the commotion that was happening in town today..."

"Not too bad this time of night." Harold just waved his hand. "Not to mention they moved into the forest now."

Vivana nodded to him, before looking back nervously.

"Is something wrong, Miss. Iris?" Harold asked.

"No, it's just..." She sighed out, crossing her arms. "I haven't told him that you were coming... didn't want to scare the kid, you know?" She then looked away, a bit worried. "He's a bit skittish..."

"Children I work with usually are..." Harold nodded with understanding look in his eyes. "So, where is he?"

"Right..." Vivana nodded, before she looked to the direction of 'Staff only' area. "He's in the kitchen. Let's go, I'll introduce you."

"Thank you." Harold smiled, walking after the young woman.

"Thank you for coming again..." Vivana said again, before opening the door. "You know, it's funny... I thought there were only women in-"

Before Vivana was able to finish the sentence, a gunshot rang through the building.

The sound of a something hitting the floor caused the boy to look out from his hiding spot, leaving ice cream behind. As soon as he saw the man standing there, he gasped, turning around starting to run towards the back door to get outside...

But two figures in red robes cut his way through to it. The child gasped.

In the main area, Father came back in, coming next to Harold, sharing the look. The man then showed to a tall man in same robe and the body on the floor.

Seconds later, they heard a muffled thud.

Father frowned, walking to the backrooms of the diner, coming near the exist... where were laying two bodies of cloaked people with snapped necks...

"Take them to the house, give some pain killers." He said to Harold and tall man, before coming out the back door.

There was nothing, but trees and darkness. A great place for anyone to hide. A perfect place for a small child to hide. He sighed out.

'No matter who I must hurt... I will get you...' He thought to himself. 'Your days on the run are numbered, Eleven...'

The three kids stood next to forest with determined looks on their faces.

"This is it." Susie said, taking out her flashlight.

The boys stood on both sides on her, all dressed in jackets. Thunder rang behind them, slightly startling them all.

"I think maybe we should go back..." Roy said, crossing his arms.

"What!?" Robert and Susie asked, looking at the third member.

"No!"

"We're not going back. Just stay close."

Susie held the boy's hand, before pulling him with them into the forest.

They then started to yell out Ross' name again, the further they went. For few minutes, it were only their voices, before something was heard in the bushes.

"What was that?" Roy asked, before Susie pointed the flashlight to the source of the bushes...

There was rustling, before something popped up, yelling "Susie!", that sent the three kids to scream. But then they realized who it was...

"Will!?" Susie asked, both flabbergasted and angry at her brother's sudden appearance. "What are you doing here!? You should've stayed home! What if Grandpa-?"

"He's sleeping." Will said, looking at his sister with a bright smile. "When I saw you leaving, I went after you!"

The three older kids looked between one another, before Susie sighed out.

"You... followed us so long!? Will..!" Susie was about to yell at the boy, before sighing out. "Why did you do that? We don't know, you should be in bed at this point, not to mention we don't know what we might encounter"

"But, Susie..!" Will whined, holding onto his sister's hand, pulling his best puppy eyes he could manage.

The only girl in group shared a look with her friends.

Yes, it wasn't a place, where Will should be, not only it wasn't safe due circumstances of this situation... but also the fact of how small he was. He could just run off and get lost... last thing she wanted is losing her little brother as well...

But she didn't want to take him back home too. Not only they would lose the precious time... but just the chance of being caught by Grandpa was high as well. And it also meant the adult searching party too, if somebody saw them... God, they'd be in trouble...

With time working against them, Susie and the boys decided it would be for the best to take Will with them.

"I mean, the more the better, right?" Robert reasoned their decision, while Roy just nodded in agreement. "The more eyes to help us look!"

Will smiled to three older kids, letting out a happy and loid "YAY!". Now, as an official party member, the young boy wanted to run jump up and run deeper into the forest, to do his part in helping... but he was stopped by his older sister grabbing him.

"But only with condition that you will hold my hand the entire time." Susie said strictly, holding Will's hand in her own.

He then smiled, nodding to her. "Okay, Susie!"

And with that, the four kids stepped into the unknown parts of dark night forest.

Thunder continued outside of their house, making Aaron sigh out. John asked him and Jaune to stay back from searching for tonight. He suggested they start working on Ross missing posters... and yet neither of them wanted to admit it... but it was more to give Jaune some more comfortable space to regain some stability.

It hurt to see his Sunflower in pain like this... Aaron just wanted to come and comfort her... but at the same time, he himself was at edge, ready to tear anything apart, that was separating him from their son.

But still, he had a wife to comfort and they had a task on hands. He sat on the table, looking between at the pictures they could use for the missing posters. And, given how many they had... they'd be choosing it for awhile.

"Aaron... wow..." Jaune chuckled lightly, looking between all the photos of their child. "You took these?"

"Most of them." Aaron smiled, sitting next to her, as if silently asking 'What do you think?'

"...These are great." She sighed out, laying her head on his shoulder, wiping away a tear off her face. "They really are."

"Jaune... no..."

"I haven't been there for him lately." The woman whispered, wiping away her tears again. "I've been... feeling us growing apart and I... I just feel bad..." She looked down at her hands. "I don't even... barely know what's going on with him anymore..."

Jaune looked down, desperation and grief swirling in her brain, as she thought of Ross... her baby and only child. Probably the only one she'd ever have...

And right now... Her little boy somewhere out there... completely alone and scared. He should be here! Next to her and Aarom, who would protect him from anything! Her baby was supposed to be here, safe...

'God, I'm a horrible mother...'

She then felt something wet on her shoulder. The woman looked up. Aaron was covering his eyes, but Jaune could see right through it.

"Hey, what is it?" She asked softly, rasing her hands to Aaron's face. "What is it, honey?"

When he mumbled something like 'Nothing', Jaune wasn't going to stand it.

"Hey, come on, big guy." She continued softly. "Come on. You can tell me..."

"No. It's just..." Her husband said, looking down and then to side, still holding her hand. "I should've been there for him..."

"No. Oh, no." Jaune's voice continued to break, as she threw her hands around his neck. "You can't do that to yourself. This was not your fault. Do you hear me?!"

No, it wasn't time for them to break down. They were parents. Yes. They were worried. Yes. They were losing their minds over where their son could be. Double and triple yes! But they couldn't let emotions to get to the best of them. Not like this. Not right now.

And just like Aaron was always there for her... Jaune was his rock at such situations as well...

"He is... close. I know it..." Jaune sighed out, looking around the room, as if something was still telling her that Ross was with them. "I... I feel it in my heart." She wiped her tears once more, before looking into Aaron's eyes. "You just have to... You have to trust me on this, okay?"

Aaron looked down at Jaune, before putting his hand on hers. He took a deep breath, before nodding. She smiled at him, kissing him on lips, that was returned.

They then sat back on table, their hands still intertwined together, as they started to go through the pictures once more. Or, at least, until Jaune spotted one.

"Oh, look at this..." .

She raised it up. It was a generic picture of Ross, he was looking at camera with a light smile. She recognized it too. It was from this September, when he went back to dying his hair after a little break. This time, he decided to go black, he still wore to this moment.

"That's most recent one, right?" Jaune smiled, laying her head against Aaron's shoulder. "I think it should be it, hm?"

Aaron just nodded in agreement, his hand wrapped around her body.

"That's it..." Jaune stated it with determined voice. "That's the one."

She looked down smiling a little, as she sighed. 'Don't worry, my little man...' She thought to herself. 'Mommy and daddy will find you... even if it's the last thing, I do...'

Then, the house phone ranged. Jaune raised eyebrow, standing up to take it.

"Hello?" She asked. "Who is this?" She asked once more after some time...

And yet, the only sound, she could hear on other side... was static. Exacly like one when TV or radio wouldn't work.

"Lila?" She asked, once more, trying to get somebody to answer. "Dad? John?"

As Jaune leaned closer to the phone, she thought she could hear something on background of this noise... it took a second to realize, what it was, but she soon came to realize it was... breathing. As unnerving as it was, it at least was a confirmation there was somebody on the other side.

"Who is this..?" The woman asked.

Aaron looked at his wife from few steps away, before walking to her, ready to switch with her, if she would need so... while Jaune herself was listening closely... her eyes widened, when she picked on something in the breathing. But more importantly, who it was.

"Ross..?" She suddenly asked, starling her husband.

But more, the breathing started faster. As small as it was, she could've sworn she heard a voice whispering a very quiet 'Mom?' on the other side.

"Ross!?"

The breathing seemed to get faster, maybe a bit more frequent, before disappearing into background... before Jaune started to hear completely different noise... it sounded like clicking. Something of similar to reptile sounds... or maybe something of amphibian? (She knew how that sounded, it wasn't rare she found little critters in Ross' room).

Aaron went to grab Jaune on her shoulders, trying to get her to listen to him. But Jaune ignored him, as at this moment, all she cared about was getting to whoever was on the other side... to whoever dared to take her little boy from them...

"Who is this?!" She screamed into the phone, pure anger and hatred filling her voice. She could only hear distant clicking noises. "What have you done to my boy?!"

The clicking noises only intensified, as if growing closer... that

"GIVE ME BACK MY SON!"

And then a loud electric buzz hit the woman, making her lose the grip on the phone. Instead, she kneeled onto the floor, grasping onto her ear in pain. Aaron went to change her onto the phone. It was now his turn to yell onto whoever was on the otherside.

"Hello?" He started calmly, but inside, he was anything but. "Who is this?! Hello!?"

But it was dead quiet on other side now. As he wanted to bring it to his mouth to scream, he saw something...

The both sides were coal black. Then it finally hit him. The electricity clap seconds ago... the jump was probably so intense this thing got fried.

Dropping the (now useless) thing, Aaron kneeled down to Jaune. She was whispering to herself, tears freely rolling down her face now...

"Jaune, who was it?" He asked, holding her shoulders, but she didn't seem to register him near her. "Who was it, Jaune!?"

The woman continued to mutter to herself, Aaron tried to make out something of it... but it all seemed to be just an incoherent mess to him... he then looked between her and the phone. He didn't see anything coming from it when it supposedly fired... must have hit her. Right in the ear.

God- he needed to call hospital... No doubt it hurt, but what if it did something to her?

"It was him..." She suddenly choked out, making Aaron snap from thus thought and sigh out. Alright, she was okay... well, somewhat.

"Jaune?" He said softly, holding onto her, making her look into his eyes. "Sunflower, please, breathe! Look at me! Was it Ross?" He asked, looking into her eyes.

Jaune looked away, before nodding slightly. "Yes..."

"What did he say?" Aaron continued, but Jaune just let out another sob, laying on his chest, grasping onto him.

"He just breathed..." She whispered softly, as if trying to find right words to say. "He just breathed..."

"And was someone else there?"

"I..." Jaune broke down again. This day was getting to her now.

"Jaune, who was there? Who was it?"

"It was him!" Jaune said again, looking onto Aaron, looking down. "I know it was his breathing!" She then hid her face into him. I know it was his breathing.

After that, Aaron didn't say anything... they just held onto one another. As much as they wanted to find their son... they both needed some time to calm down. They were the only thing that held the other stable at the moment.

Another rumbling of thunder rang rang their heads as the kids ventured further into the forest. They were now getting closer to direction of Ross' house, looking every nook and cranny of this place. Just as well, they were yelling out their missing friend's name.

The boys were slightly ahead of her, Will was few steps away from her, as Susie held him by the hood of his sweater. She still thought it was a good idea they went out today. After all, if she went missing, she would more likely to come out to a friend or family, rather than a large group of people, all yelling her name.

"Ross!" Susie yelled into one direction.

"Lynn!" Roy went to different one.

"I've got the comic, I promised!" Robert held his bag up, but didn't pulled the book out it.

Roy then crossed his hands, looking around. "Guys, I really think we should turn back."

The other three kids looked at him in surprise.

"Seriously, Roy?" Susie asked, rausung eyebrow. "You wanna be a baby, then go home already!"

"I'm just being realistic, Susie!" The red-haired boy continued, throwing his hands up. "Did you even come to think Ross went missing because he ran into something bad?" He asked again. "And that the fact we're going to the exact same spot where he was last seen? With no weapons or any means of protection with a 2nd grader with us." He looked down at Susie and motioned to her brother.

"Roy, can you shut up for once!?" Susie yelled again, raising her hands.

"I'm just saying, does that seem smart to you?" Roy continued to try to reason with the girl, as two of them started to yell at one another again.

It would've gone for much longer, if not for Robert to touch Susie's shoulder.

"What!?" She asked, her face red with anger.

"Sorry, but... where's Will?" The blonde boy asked.

"Right here with..."

And then Susie's heart dropped. She couldn't find her brother. He was with her just a second ago!

"Will!?" She yelled out, before hearing rustling in nearby bushes. "WILBERT!" She ran towards the sound.

"Susie, wait!" Robert called after the girl, as him and Roy followed her.

Susie was easy to follow, given she still had a flashlight on. She then stopped, pointing to somebody, seemingly calmer.

"Will?" Robert breathed out, upon seeing a familiar bush of curly brown hair. Okay, thank God, he was alright...

But then, they saw that the boy took off his sweater, showing his underneath clothes (also a sweater. Why did he put on second one? And his winter one moreover? Roy wondered, it probably was really hot for him.) And now, it was nowhere to be seen, and Will also held his hat in his hand. Susie raised her flashlight higher, to reveal who was next to him. It wasn't Ross, no. But it was another child.

They was a bit taller than Will himself. With scared face, dirty bright red shirt that seemed few sizes too big for them (it kinda looked like a dress with how small they were), but nothing else. They also had their hair cut off, nearly nothing on their head.

Robert gasped at the sight, while Roy just raised eyebrow in questioning what was happening. Susie's light was still shining on her brother and his find.

"...Will?"

"They're freezing, Susie!"

@crossover-enthusiast @catsockpuppet @spookuzm @ferf-bish @sunny6677 @momentokori @nottapossum @nostalgic-soda

[spooky-things-au]

Okay, so... currently working on last chapter for VORL episode, before going to other! But... I've run into a little problem and my indecisive brain can't pick...

So In making a short, 1 day long poll to help me with this!

@crossover-enthusiast @catsockpuppet @spookuzm @ferf-bish @sunny6677 @momentokori @nottapossum @nostalgic-soda