#not a monster just ahead of the curve and whatnot

[doomdoomofdoom]

if the killing happened 10-15 years ago, I just know Luigi Mangione would've been obsessed with Heath Ledgers Joker

[hpalways]

Conquer || Childe

Disclaimer: This is a Yandere! Childe x Reader Oneshot. There will be obsession, light gore, and death. If you are not comfortable with such topics, you do not have to read it. I would also like to put a reminder that I do not condone such behavior either, nor should toxic relationships ever be romanticized. Thank you for reading if you choose to do so!

BLADES coated of water skewered the enemy, pummeling them down mercilessly with every motion. The quick fight was soon over, so the male brushed his gloved hands together and left the vicinity, plastering a smile on his face yet again. Tartaglia had just gone on a quick errand for the Fatui, to analyze an area for their future plans. However, he ran into a little trouble there and ended up fighting monsters and whatnot.

It frustrated him, having to deal with such lowlifes. He was better than this! If it didn't provide him the thrill he was so desperate to lay hands upon, then what was the damn point? They shouldn't even be spared any time, for they forced him to dally along, which kept him away from you longer.

He combed his fingers through his red locks, sighing in the process. It was about time he began the trek back to Liyue Harbor. Lands spreading far and wide, he stayed obediently on the path and watched the peaceful birds soar through the skies. It was a very nice day today, but he felt restless anyway. The hands at the sides were twitching, nails digging sharply into the palms until blood seeped out. The pain of it did not bother him at all -- in fact, he merely enjoyed it, lips curving up into an actual smile. It made everything less pleasant, but more real.

The greenery grasslands of the wilderness faded into pavement, marked by the craft of humans. The huge structures of the city brimmed of familiarity of what he called 'home' for the past few months now. It would never truly be home of course, and it would never satisfy his wants, but it would have to do. At least you were apart of it.

His dark boots echoed upon the planked docks as he dodged the bodies milling about. The waves lapping below were as clear as the sky, reflecting against the warm sun. He knew exactly where to find you, and had sucked in a breath when he indeed saw the person he wished to see the most. [h/c] hair blowing with the wind behind, your figure was hunched down, a pair of chopsticks in your hand. You were on a lunchbreak from your job at Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, so you were currently shoving down food at your favorite spot of Liyue. It was a simple place -- the edge of the dock with a good view of the sea, but it was also where you and Childe marked the first letter of your names on the rail.

"If it isn't my favorite comrade." The voice nearly sent you jumping in fright, so you whirled your head around to meet deep, blue hues. The tall male was leaning on the ledge, capturing you wholly with an unwavering gaze.

"Childe! You've returned," you said, grinning at the sight of him.

He leaned closer in, immediately causing your heart to race. Without a second to waste, he kissed you chastely, tasting you softly, in addition, the salt coming from the chicken you just ate. You instantly kissed back, cheeks warmed and lids closed, the food forgotten entirely. Body heat stemmed from him, wrapping you in a comfortable embrace. It was enough to ease your current worries, because Childe was here. The man you loved since the time of beginning... was safe and sound. It wasn't that you doubted his skills -- because he was strong -- very strong, considering he helped train you previously -- but the world out there was still terrifying. Not just that, but he could sometimes get ahead of himself; that was a call for trouble.

His kiss suddenly deepened, lips and tongue burning you until it began to eat you away. Your heart pounded ever so faster, but not in excitement -- rather in alarm. Pulling your head back from him and hungrily gulping fists of air, you averted your eyes to the waters. Despite not looking back at the Snezhayan man, you could feel his gaze digging into the side of your face. He appeared confused as to why the act of affection ceased so soon.

You decided to answer his unvoiced question, knowing it'd be a bigger hassle if you didn't. "I'm eating and we're in public." No response came from him. "Would you like a piece?"

Snatching a piece of chicken from your bowl, you turned to look at him. That was when you noticed how tired he looked. Dark circles adorned beneath his eyes, his hair was messy, and his outfit was slightly rumpled. What had exactly happened out there? Even the offer for food didn't appeal to him, his body stoic without the charm he usually exuded.

Then it happened like a light switch. He nodded eagerly, opening his mouth for the chicken. Despite your unease, you pretended not to see it and did as asked. Plopping it into his mouth, his expression brightened and he nodded while chewing. "Very delicious. Isn't life beautiful, [Y/N]? It's always beautiful with you here."

"Oh... stop being a flirt," you laughed, shaking your head to hide your flustered state.

"Why should I ever?" he asked, tilting his head. A finger twirled around your hair strand, twisting it -- deeper and deeper like a snake burrowing within. He grinned wide, teeth baring and too bright it nearly blinded you. "You're fun to tease."

"Whatever." You rolled your eyes, turning your attention back onto the food. "How did your day go today?"

"It was annoying," he murmured, features growing dim for a second. "I had only hilichurls to fight. I need something stronger."

"Isn't that a good a thing? You won't get hurt that way."

He blinked at you, brows raised for a few seconds. "You're right," he agreed, shocking you. He wasn't the type of person to stray from the idea of danger. "Patience is key. My opportunity will arrive when it comes."

Oh. So that was what he meant. "That's not the point," you mumbled under your breath, repressing the sigh threatening to spill out. He wouldn't listen to your warnings anyway, so you decided not to press on it. "You look exhausted, Childe. Are you taking care of yourself?"

"I'm not tired at all," he smoothly denied, expanding his smile even more, as if to try and convince you. "Besides, it's our date night, isn't it? I'm not missing out on something so special just for a nap."

That was right. With how busy both your schedules were, the last time you went out on a date with him was a month ago. It was a miracle when the two of you found an evening where both parties were free. Even so, it was a little worrying. You would rather reschedule than force him to go somewhere when he was in that state. Before you could say anything, he beat the punch, as if he read your mind just then.

"We're going. You can't say no."

"Fine," you sighed, shaking your head with a small smile on the lips. "Ah, shoot. I should get back to the Parlor. Break is already over. It went by too fast." Shoving the rest of the food into your mouth, you swallowed it in one go. There was one last thing to do. On the tip of your toes, you pressed your lips on the side of his face, feeling his smooth skin under. Soft as a baby's. How unfair. "See you tonight?"

He nodded, shooting a quick wink your way. "Wouldn't miss it for the world, comrade."

Chuckling under your breath, you whirled around and left the docks, oblivious to the eyes glued on to your form.

The moment you arrived to the building of your workplace, a certain director was waiting. She had long, brown hair put into two ponytails, with a dark hat sitting on top. Amber eyes showed from beneath her bangs, darting back and forth in wonder. Her fingers continued to tug the sleeves of her dark, traditional coat. It was none other than Hu Tao -- the person you called a boss.

"[Y/N]! You were a minute late!" she said, huffing as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Oh... sorry," you said, scratching your head.

She picked something up beside her. It was a stack of papers, showcasing calligraphy, which advertised the company. Same old Hu Tao. She never gave a break about it, considering clients were hard to keep. More-so, the woman was the one who typically scared them away, talking about death and whatnot. It sometimes unnerved you too, but it kept things interesting. Hmm... now that you thought about it, you attracted quite the strange bunch of people in life. Strange people often led to strange situations. Strange situations often led to death. Death?! Did your boss somehow brainwash your brain into thinking like her?

Hu Tao dropped the heavy pile upon your arms. "Let's go and find more clients! While we're at it, we'll tape these on some buildings too!" she declared, pumping a fist into the air.

Forced to follow her like a lowly dog, you drooped your head and did as ordered. It was a nightmare having to approach these people, witnessing the terrifying lines Hu Tao would sometimes spit out to them and the horror apparent in these innocent citizens' eyes. Then they'd threaten to call the guards on her, so the two of you would be forced to flee, and the cycle would continue. If not obvious by now, this was your least favorite task of this job, but it wasn't like you could argue with her. If she ended up firing you, you wouldn't know what to do.

Traveling through the city of the Geo Archon, you prepared yourself for the long day ahead.

The sun was setting by the time the two of you began to return to the Parlor. Skies streamed of pink and orange, looking magnificently beautiful. Lights began to illuminate the buildings, coloring the streets with its warm glow. It was growing silent too; the merchants and travelers were beginning to retire to their abodes. This made it much more peaceful and a definite welcoming sight to see. The embarrassment you gone through today made you wish to never see another human being again.

Ah. It was getting near the designated time for the date with Childe. Just as you were about to ask to be dismissed by your boss, the female beside you had let out a groan.

Turning your head to the left, you found Hu Tao sagging to the ground, grasping her head in pain. "Are you okay?" you questioned in panic, shaky hands unsure of what to do.

It was over quickly. She stood up and brushed herself off, clearing her throat. "I have a bad feeling," she said, placing her hand onto your shoulder. You glanced down in bewilderment, confused by her line of actions. "Someone is going to die. Is it you?"

"What--" you blubbered. "That's not funny at all, Hu Tao."

She hummed, placing a finger on her chin in deep thought. "Perhaps it's me."

"Don't say that!" you gasped, shoulders trembling in shock. What the hell was she spewing out?! Maybe you should be used to her tactics at this point, but never had she said something so... so drastic! Why would say she such a thing? How could she say it so casually? She was lying, wasn't she? This couldn't possibly be real!

Her expression was entirely serious. Trailing from your shoulder to your wrist, her tight grip weaved around it. "Come with me. We're going to Wuwang Hill."

You decided to go with her. This was an emergency. The original thought of your date with Childe had been pushed to the back of your mind, entirely forgotten.

The trip to the this place she talked about was longer than expected. Night had fallen across the lands, dim stars twinkling in the distance. It was dark out -- it didn't help that you found yourself in some abandoned woods, where gnarly trees stemmed from the ground. Where did she just take you? Her prophecy about someone's death was beginning to look a bit more convincing. The woods were the perfect spot for a murder scene. You flinched at the sound of a stray owl hooting from somewhere.

The woman finally halted at a mound of dirt, to which she nodded in approval at. She spun around to face you, giving you a thumbs up. "Alright. Just wait here for me. I'll be back in a bit."

"What?! You can't just bring me to this creepy place and ditch me like that! Let me go with you-"

She shook her head, looking stern. "I can't do that. Nothing will happen to you, I promise." Her words were a little hard to believe and did not help to assure you at all.

Despite your futile protests, she ignored them and entered a magical veil. In less than a second, she was gone, leaving you alone in a dark... dark place. Curses ran through your mind and you hugged yourself in paranoia. All was silent, saved for the rustle of leaves blowing against the wind. The moon casted trickles of light past the gaps of trees, the color of it more ghastly than helpful. Broken wood littered the ground, which you assumed were past homes. What happened here? If people used to live here, what happened?

The nape of your neck prickled, the feeling of it slithering down the spine of your back. It sank its fangs into you, ready to spill your blood to fill the soil. Whirling around, you found an empty clearing, with no one there.

Taking a step back, you tripped over a log. Shit! Shutting your eyes, you prepared for the fall. The wind knocked out of you, but before the impact arrived, time had froze to a stand still.

Cold, searing hands were placed on you, burning into your back through the fabrics of your shirt. Eyes opened to see the familiar outline of a person. You yanked away and shoulders lowered. Relief seeped into you, knowing that it wasn't somebody dangerous. He was here to protect you, for he was untouchable, unmatched in skills and strength. Suddenly, you did a double take. "What are you doing here, Childe?"

"I followed you here," he said, a grin never leaving his face. Pearls gleamed, reflecting the moon's glow. His gaze didn't match the smile he had on though; they were overflowing with something. Turmoil. Anger. Desire. "I was going to pick you up from the Parlor as a surprise, but then I saw you leave the city."

"The... date," you mumbled, knitting your brows together. "I'm so sorry...! I can explain."

"Hush," he said, grin stretching ever wider. He snatched a strand of your [h/c] hair, breathing it in deeply, while licking his lips in the process. "There's nothing to explain. You decided your job was more important than me."

"That's not it!"

He ignored your remark, scanning the surroundings with great interest. "This place is pretty dead. There's nothing to kill." Bending down, he picked up a wilting flower, analyzing it with those haunting hues of his. The next second, the flower was crushed in his hand, squeezed so hard it had turned into dust. He blew on it and the specks disappeared into the breeze. "Where's Hu Tao?"

Hu Tao... He had never paid attention to her before. As far as you knew, they had not spoken to each other once. What did he want with her? Your lips parted, but your throat dried. No words came out. You couldn't seem to find your voice.

"Cat caught your tongue?" he sneered, taking a step forward. His question was repeated, a little harsher on the edge. "Where's Hu Tao?"

"I'm back!"

Speak of the devil. The brunette had appeared out from the burrow yet again. Childe whipped around at the voice, a crazed excitement flashing past him. You wanted to scream at the girl to get out of here immediately, but your mouth would not move. Although, why? Childe was your boyfriend, was he not? What was this fear that threatened to suffocate your every being?

The tall man went over to the director, who had stopped in her tracks. "So this is it," she breathed out, her gaze locking in with the red head. "Balance has been shaken because of you, Harbringer."

"Does it look like I give a damn about your words?" he said, barking out a chilling laugh. "Please do at least give a nice challenge for a fight. I've been bored all day."

"I have no choice, do I?" she said, slowly unsheathing her polearm.

"No! Stop it! Leave her alone." you yelled out, running out to the battlefield.

He pushed you back, sending you sprawling to the ground. "Stay there." You tried to get up, but by then, it was too late.

Blue and red visions gleamed in the dark and in a biting realization, you knew who was instantly at a disadvantage. Childe had taken out his blades as well, water forming from them. The two figures ran at each other in great speed, weapons clashing and clanging. Every time Hu Tao tried to hit him, it was easily met by the other, the fire dissolving at the taste of water. Steam arose in the air, fogging the air around. "At this point, I won't even need to go into the other form. You're weak," Childe taunted.

"And you're hurting [Y/N] with your selfish deeds," his opponent quipped. Fury blossomed in the depths of his heart at the sound of this. He was going to go easy before, to keep the fight going for longer, but it was running out. Hitting her polearm with his entire strength, he knocked the long stick from her hands.

He grabbed her by her neck, squeezing it. Her legs were lifted from the ground, eyes bulging and her hands desperately trying to scratch the iron grip of his. She wheezed out in pain, the sound of it raw and scratchy. "Stop! Stop it, dammit!" you cried, crawling over to the scene. He ignored you, dropping the ragged body of the woman down. She was still alive, but barely.

Just as you were about to reach her, Childe had kneeled down and plunged the recently dropped polearm straight down into her chest. Then he did it again. And again. And again. Blood splattered upon his face, where a sick smile took place. Sticky substance landed on yours, the intense iron smell making your stomach turn. The woman's eyes which used to gleam of life had faded, though they were still wide in horror for the upending doom.

You couldn't even process it or grieve.

His bloodlust eyes turned on you, crimson splatters oozing down like drying paint. Wiping a spot from his cheek, he sucked his thumb and smiled, looking too happy -- looking too normal for someone with blood on their face. You reeled back, uneven breaths breaking the uncanny silence.

"[Y/N]."

You couldn't answer. You didn't have an answer. This wasn't your boyfriend anymore. He was a stranger. A murderer.

"[Y/N]."

Nails dug into the dirt and you dared scooted yourself back.

"Why do you look scared?"

Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. He was pouting, jutting his bottom lip out childishly. How could he say that with his hand still on the polearm used to kill someone? Stop it.

"I won't hurt you. I will never hurt you."

"Leave... me... alone..." Your voice cracked and it shook with every syllable. With the last bit of your strength, you heaved yourself up and began to run like your life depended on it. And it did.

You barely last a few seconds. Yanked back roughly by your shoulder, he held you, claws digging into the side of your torso. His head lowered and hot breath tickled your ear lobes as he whispered.

"I will never leave you. One day, I will conquer the world. So I need you by my side. Forever."

His blue eyes were no longer blue. They were purple, the color of poison.

A/N: PLEASE the way childes banner is coming very very soon but i be writing this-

If youre pulling for him, good luck! We're getting our bastard man babes :D

[qwertythepopstarian08]

JSAB AU Fanfic: Behemoth

Another horror piece, this time for @ask-justfreshshapes-andbeats​

Takes place in an AU with the same overall family setup as Glitch Realms, minus the high fantasy aspect. Instead of Noxakuma, the friendly, if not quirky shapeshifters lurking in the dark, there exist Behemoths, gruesome changelings with no remorse...

Description: On a vacation to his Grandpa’s lake estate, Echo notices that his beloved uncle is acting off. On the last day of the trip, everything comes to a head.

Warnings: Mild horror, major character death.

You hold your uncle’s hand tightly, your tiny paw dwarfed by his. His fur is warm and soft, glowing slightly with ambient magic, as if alight with billions of fireflies.

You can’t help but gape in awe at the actual fireflies swarming about. They dance under the forest canopy like living stars, some daring to brush against your arms as they dart by. Normally, such a sight would have Blixer staring up in wonder as well, yet he seems to be a bit upset today, uncharacteristically quiet.

You squeeze his hand and whisper, “We’re almost to the lake. Uncle Tio and Claire are there waiting for us.” Your eyes sparkle, a smile curving at your features. You only want your uncle to be happy again. You’d hoped that the family trip would help… “Almost there…”

He gives a small nod of acknowledgement, though he says nothing else, his gaze distant. His eye is fogged over, glazed even. He seems unfazed by the spectacle of the fireflies. You assure yourself that he’s just tired, or that he’s seen the show many times before and is waiting for the finale, the best part.

A small, warm joy wells up in your core. You’ve always wanted to see the Tenequa performance. It only occurred once every year, on a cool night in the summer. You’d been waiting for years for it to line up just right, so that everyone in your family could go see it together. And yet… it seemed like your uncle’s mood would ruin it all.

You shook your head, quickening your pace. Although your legs are quite short compared to Blixer’s, he has a bit of trouble keeping up with your sudden acceleration. You drag him along through the winding path, unable to tear your eyes away from the luminescent flowers which lined it like torches.

Breaking you from your thoughts, Blixer grumbled, “Does it all have to be so bright?” He shook his head, shielding his eye from the various sources of light.

You huff, “It’s not that bad….” You have to admit, the glowing flora and fauna are a bit striking against the starless sky, yet you’re not bothered by it, having gotten used to the contrast by now. “And even if it was, the path ends just ahead. It’s almost pitch black from there to the lake…”

You know the rest of the way by heart, and there’s just enough light to show a clear pathway. In your mind, it’s the safest route to the lake there is, having been carefully constructed by your grandfather years before to ensure that visitors weren’t lead astray.

Blixer hums, “Pitch black, huh?” His eye flashes with a darker shade of red than usual. For some reason, it sends a chill going through you, and you quiver a bit, suddenly intimidated.

You nod slowly. “Yep. Grandpa ran out of glowing blooms to plant this year… Sammy kept eating the seeds.” You couldn’t help but chuckle at your friend’s antics. It wasn’t much of a hindrance. The residual light from the fireflies was more than enough to see, after all. When she’d realized that her seed craving had potentially put a damper on the majestic route, Sammy had cried for hours… only to happily accept the very last of the seeds, the non-glowing duds, as a snack later on. You hum, “Next year, we’ll have to buy Sammy some sunflower seeds, huh?”

Your uncle nods. “Yep. Dark paths through the forest�� a bit dangerous, don’t you think? With monsters and whatnot, waiting to jump out at you!” His hand momentarily slips form yours as he wiggles his fingers in a spooky gesture, making a face. “Boo!”

You giggle, your petals fluffing up. You stagger back a few feet, barely able to contain your laughter.

Blixer huffs, “Was the joke really that funny?” His voice is laced with incredulousness.

You stick out your tongue, crossing your arms as the last of the hysterics leave you. “Nah.” You shook your head. “I’m just… happy.”

“Happy?”

You nod, sighing. “You’re finally smiling again… it’s nice.” You hug him, your tiny arms barely able to wrap around his leg. “I don’t like seeing family upset.”

He startles, letting out a small yelp. For a moment, a dark look overtakes his gaze, before he chuckles, gently prying you off of his leg. He crosses his arms, looking around. “Well, we’d best hurry up. No need to linger around.” He ruffled the fur on your head, making your petals stick up in odd directions. “I think the fireflies are starting to think you’re another perch.”

Your eyes go crossed to look at a little bug, which has landed on your short snout. Your nose twitches like a rabbit’s, and your expression twists.

You sneeze, fur bristling. Blixer laughs but says nothing, focusing on the path.

You shake your head and trail after him, hardly able to keep up.

You repeat, “In all seriousness… it really worries me… when you’re not happy…”

Blixer mutters, “Believe me, Echo… I’ll be just fine.” His grin widens.

You blink, rubbing your eyes. The light glints across his smile, his normally dull canines looking a bit… fanged. You shake your head and continue on, joyful.

As soon as you pass under the thicker branches, the light dims to near blackness. You can hardly see the path, a bit of anxiety overtaking your earlier excitement. You reach for Blixer’s hand, quivering.

“Uh…. Uncle Blixer?”

“Yeah?”

You whimper, “Can you carry me on your shoulders? I can’t really see the path, and I know you have better night vision than me…” Your voice shakes as you add, “S-safety… safety first.”

There’s a long pause. Blixer seems contemplative. You don’t turn around, unwilling to see the frown that you just know is forming on his face. You sigh and keep stumbling forth.

“Nevermi-”

“Actually.” He cuts you off, his voice sounding… odd. The inflection is off, his tone just a bit too cheerful. Nonetheless, relief washes over you. 

You reach for his hand.

He continues, “Of course I’ll carry you, Echo. No problem.” You hear a small crack, though you think nothing of it as your uncle hums, “C’mere, kiddo.”

You freeze just as your paw meets his. Where there was once fur and warmth, jagged, chitinous scales, cold, spiny growths, meet your touch. You draw back abruptly, only for the strange talons to clasp around your arm painfully. A squeak leaves you, and you look up, fear filling your core.

“Uncle Blixer..?”

A multitude of bright red eyes shine in the darkness. You hear a series of horrifying cracks and almost wet snaps, as if the bone and muscle beneath his flesh was contorting and shifting. You nearly scream, the claws digging deeper into your arm. Your vision grows blurry, your fur stained with red.

The beast grins with a set of gnashing fangs. Its jaw unhinges, and it lets out an ear-shattering shriek. Its breath smells heavily of blood, and you can see bits of shards and flesh stuck in its fangs, its jaws opening wider and wider as its entire form towers over you, its once velvety fur sliding off of its body like a discarded costume.

Its limbs are gangly and segmented, more like an insect’s than anything. It has way too many horns, like a massive crown. Worst of all, it still hold’s the caring hue of your uncle’s gaze in its eyes, although that too melts away into mindless, predatory hunger as it approaches...

It leaps at you, claws outstretched, and you can only scream.

Everything… goes… black...

[kyetalksshit]

dream log: 7/8/19

henlos friendlos if u enjoyed that last installment of wHAT THE FUCK did i just dream, enjoy another one, this time accompanied by a recurring hellscape that i very very very much do not love!!!!! hahahahahahahahahaha i hate it let’s go

so i started out the dream hanging out with some friends of mine who, for whatever reason, were morgan adams and her friend (whose name i don’t currently remember. i know it but my i am fully blanking lol. it’s her best friend, the one she grew up with and often has in videos. anyway. lol). so i remember we were hanging out, i think on like a road trip or a picnic or something weird? I’m not totally sure but i have a weirdly vivid memory of like a woven picnic basket and sitting in the back of a pickup truck with them in like beach gear and sunglasses? i also vaguely remember a small dog that was mostly white and a little grey with those really short but thick and tight curls. he was very cute and i love him and i wish i remember anything else about him. i don’t think he was in the dream after this. 

so somehow, i guess we lived in a dorm together with this like weirdly big concrete backyard and a pool (honestly if you’ve ever played stardew valley, it kinda looked like the irl version but more condensed and again, all concrete instead of grass or dirt). our room had a sliding glass door that led straight to the back yard. actually, i don’t know for sure if we lived in a dorm because we had a family there and i guess it was both our family? but we weren’t related... but somehow... ugh idk. maybe they were host families and i was living with her in hawaii lmao who knows

anyway. so at one point in the middle of the night one night, i decided to wander around outside to take in the air, look at the stars, and get a little privacy. so when you walk out of the sliding glass doors, basically like a little ways in front of you and slightly to the left was a MASSIVE in ground pool, not covered or anything, vibrant blue water and all, in that like ear shape kind of? and not only was the ground white cement, but there were also these huge industrial lights all the way around the whole yard so you could see really easily at night. to the right of that was a good bit of open space, literally just cement. i think there were a few pool chairs or something. but then when you’re standing in the sliding door, straight ahead but WAYYYYYYYYYY at the back was this small bit of wooden fence. it was odd because everything else was cement or stone or whatever, and wherever it started and stopped on either side was actually conveniently covered by low hanging tree branches and ivy and whatnot. and right in the middle of that little bit of wooden fence was a gate with a rounded top and black iron hinges and a black iron handle. 

me being me, i was drawn to it; the one little naturey part of this concrete and stone yard, so i walked immediately toward it, almost enchanted. instead of pausing to look at it like i’d planned to (for whatever reason i knew that we weren’t allowed to leave the house until the morning, like nightly), i reached straight for the handle and opened it. 

instead of leading out, it actually led directly inside this mansion type place. there were a lot of people running frantically in circles but they didn’t seem to see me. however, there were some like vampire looking people in lab coats who would look at me and nod once, and keep going. i let go of the handle, already inside (although i never noticed taking the steps inside) and the door closed. now this was a place i recognized from MANY previous dreams, and couldn’t remember at first WHY i recognized it, just that it was familiar. but as soon as the door slammed i spun around to leave; that’s NEVER a good sign. but there was no door at all, just wallpaper. like old vintage green and gold wallpaper, separated by a wood accent and the gold side decorated in little green emblems that look like that symbol i can’t remember the fucking name of lol but it’s almost like a trident, since it has three prongs, but the middle one is much taller, the outer two are curved away from the middle, and they all come together at the bottom in the middle. 

panic. 

i suddenly realize that all of the people running frantically are being chased by these vampires in lab coats (and some other various monsters, but mostly vamps in coats), and they’re all screaming various forms of “help me”.

now i began in a small foyer, however there are a few rooms scattered around with no door but they are all pitch black inside, there is an elevator to the left that seems to only be used by the monsters and not the people running, and in the middle is what seems to be a never ending staircase. it goes up and up and up and up and UP and down and down and down and down down down down down. and so on. i start running, trying to find another way out, also yelling for help, and where’s the exit, and i just want to get out of here and such, and i start being chased too!! in the moment this is to be expected; i have been lured here and trapped for consumption. i guess the monsters enjoy the chase; it’s set up like a hotel but also like a doctor’s office. it’s odd. maybe i just got that impression because of the lab coats. 

at some point i happen to lose a vampire and slip into one of the few rooms with an old rickety door on it that is also not locked. it in fact does look like a hospital room, bed/iv/all that, and there’s a curtain to the left. i run over there and find multiple people with fingers to their mouths so i don’t scream when i see them. i think we exchanged like “how long have you been here” and “what’s your story” and stuff, and then we heard the door creak slowly open. we all fell silent. 

it was a doctor. a vampire doctor or a zombie doctor or something, either way he was a monster. idk how i know this, maybe i peeked around the curtain or something, but he was holding a clipboard and looking down at the bed and talking to it as though there were a patient in it. there was not. 

something clicked in my brain and i remembered this place, this room, everything from my past dreams. and the trick is not to run, not to scream. you walk calmly, do your best to not feel the fear pumping through your veins. they will nod at you as they walk. you MUST. nod. back. or you will die. 

as you do so, you will find your door, no matter what floor you’re on. it will be in the same place on that floor that it was when you first entered (on the same wall or whatever). so i waited for the doctor to leave, wished everyone luck (idr if i told them how to leave tbh, i think i mentioned it? but some of them chuckled. like i remember there was a skater boi with long black hair and a beanie sitting up on the counter who like laughed and shook his head but offered no explanation. but either way i had to try it again. if it didn’t work i’d die, but if i didn’t try i’d die too.)

thankfully no one was walking down the hallway as i was exiting, so i was able to shut the door quietly behind myself, straighten my back, and start walking. as i did, the tests began. one doctor nodded and passed. another. another. and as i rounded the corner to my right, i felt a feminine presence beside me. however, you could not make eye contact with anyone but the doctors/monsters. so i kept my head forward as we passed the elevators to the right and my door materialized where i remembered it being. i almost picked up my pace but the girl beside me gently placed a hand on my right forearm (again, not looking at me) and i was reminded to keep my pace steady. i grabbed the handle and exited, and the door slammed shut behind me and i breathed finally, and whipped around to the girl beside me. 

it was morgan. 

she said she’d followed me in there and when she saw what i was doing, decided to follow. i was thrilled to see her. i hugged her tightly and we headed back up to the sliding glass doors. we snuck inside and went to sleep and pretended we never left. 

when we woke up in the morning, our dad and i guess younger sister (suddenly morgan’s friend wasn’t there, i guess she was only there for day 1 idk) decided to take us fishing. we couldn’t really say no, the girl was so excited about it, and our dad made it clear it wasn’t reaaaaally optional. but nevertheless, he was stoked to go, and i felt like it was going to be a good day. 

morgan, however, was acting strange. it was in little ways at first; i’d say her name and she wouldn’t respond, she’d forget that she had to eat, she’d just stop talking for minutes at a time and stare blankly at nothing. but she was trying to... readjust. i knew something was up. 

when it hit me that maybe morgan hadn’t followed me, maybe i brought something else out, literally i didn’t even have to say anything, her eyes just snapped to me. it was fucking spooky to say the least. i waited until we were out of the truck bed and could speak in slight privacy, and i mumbled to her “i know you’re not morgan.” in response, she simply leaned much closer to me, once again walking side by side on my right, looking straight ahead, but she didn’t say anything. she just leaned really fucking close while we were walking. i have this weirdly vivid image of her shirt sleeve being like a delicate and semi see through light pink mesh material. odd. i also am getting the name emily (and did at some point in the dream but idr when). oof i’m still kinda spooked reliving this. anyway. 

so to appease her a little i told her that i wasn’t upset she was using morgan. she straightened a little, and i said i could help her find her way back. again, she still wouldn’t speak to me but she looked at me in alarm, her eyes pleading. so i said maybe i could help her find somewhere else that she could live and morgan could be free. she sighed a little but seemed to agree. 

i somehow knew she was the ghost of a girl named emily who had been trapped in that hotel/hospital/hellscape for decades. again, in hindsight (in the moment and especially now), she never actually spoke. like at all. she communicated but not with words. it was odd.  

after that i have some sort of fuzzy memories of meeting and trying to figure out a way for her to leave morgan alone, some kind of plotting where we’d have to go back into the hellscape and get back out separately, but i don’t remember. i think she had to find a new body (either one that would already be trapped, or maybe her old one, who knows) and it was only ethical to take one from there. morgan, she had just taken the shape of based on my memory of her and then inhabited her body overnight when we got back. anyway. 

so, yeah. i woke up thankfully before we got back, and when i fell back asleep i wasn’t there again. but let me just tell you, the longer i’ve been sitting here typing this, the more freaked out i’m getting, the more i feel eyes on me, and the more i can swear i hear the screams from that hellscape that i’ve been trapped in so many times throughout my years of dreaming. i even thought i felt someone shaking my chair a moment ago. 

i hope u enjoyed this spookfest if you managed to stay captivated long enough. it’ll be too soon if i ever have to see that place again. 

let me know what your thoughts are on this if you have any, or even general spooked reactions and shit. i’m gonna go get a snack to distract myself and watch some cheery youtube videos. 

bye!

[multisfabulis]

A Single Ray of Light in a Sea of Darkness

Black and White (Chapter 2/7)

Word Count: 2403

Here’s the second chapter! Unlike the previous chapter, where it took me only a few hours to write, this took me a couple days, due to rewriting a bunch of crappy paragraphs and making dialogue sound and flow more naturally. Hopefully, it’s okay!

As one final note, there are characters in this fic that don’t have summaries of them posted and, as of now, will not have those summaries until well after this whole fic is posted. Regardless of that, I hope you enjoy reading this! I will accept any and all criticism you have!

Read on AO3 | Read on DeviantArt

     Eric groggily opened his eyes to Venlithea shaking him. Light peeked out from around the shoddy leaf door onto the last remaining chars of the fire. He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he stretched his body out. While last night wasn’t the worst sleep he had, the ground still felt uncomfortable to him.

     As he woke up, Venlithea gave him some berries and a flask. The berries were a multitude of different colors, ranging from black to red to dark blue, while the flask was simply a dull metallic silver. Popping a blackberry into his mouth, the sweetness burst out when he bit it, causing him to eat the rest of the berries. When he drank from the flask, cool water flowed down his throat, quenching his thirst from the night before.

     Giving the flask back to her, Eric said with a smile, “Thank you, Ven.”

     She took the flask from his hand without saying a word. Holding the leaf door to the side, she turned her head towards outside, beckoning him to go out. He grabbed his dagger and ventured into the damp forest. She followed soon after, glaive in hand and hood up.

     The ground smushed beneath their feet with each step they took. He noticed how light seemed to make a complete difference in how the forest looked. Gloomy and sinister at night while bleak and dreary during the day. Amping up the creepy atmosphere was the fog that hung just below the tree line, making everything in their peripheral vision hard to see. Thankfully, Brinegarde came into view more and more the closer they got to the entrance.

     “Thanks for everything, Ven,” he said appreciatively. If it weren’t for her, he knew he wouldn’t have gotten out of the forest.

     “...It’s Venlithea. My name,” she corrected, closing her cloak.

     Letting out a nervous laugh, he replied, “I’m sorry! It’s kinda a habit of mine to nickname people if I can… Is it okay if I call you Ven, though? If not, I’ll just use Venlithea from now on.”

     In response, she gave a shrug, not really caring what he called her. As she walked towards the town border, she seemed to be trying to hide herself, ducking behind trees and whatnot. He went on ahead of her and entered Brinegarde.

     Aside from some wet stone and small puddles, the storm didn’t appear to have affected the town much. The townspeople were out and about, some of whom he recognized from yesterday. He noticed they were gathered in a crowd ways away from where he stood. They looked about ready to go into a frenzy for some unknown reason he couldn’t fathom.

     “I don’t know what’s going on but maybe we can--” he turned around to face her only to see she disappeared-- “Where’d she go?”

     As he fully came into their view, the crowd noticed him and suddenly swarmed him. He couldn’t be bothered to answer their questions, since so many of them were from different directions. Making an effort to keep his anxiety at a minimum, he asked them the question of why they ignored Ven going into the forest. The answer he got stunned him into silence.

      The Vlixeox people had warned him about was her. Ven, the quiet elf who had helped him the night before, was the Vlixeox he assumed to be a monster. He didn’t want to believe it, couldn’t understand it. She was nothing like what he expected or what everyone thought her to be. Although he didn’t know her all that well, he truly considered her to be a good person.

     “Even so, what’s wrong with her being a Vlixeox? She’s nothing like what you all make her out to be,” he angrily said, desperate to know why they were all against her.

     “I’m afraid you’re wrong. Oh so very wrong,” a voice called out, effectively silencing everyone within the crowd.

     The mob of people cleared a path for the newcomer, allowing Eric to see who it was as they whispered amongst themselves. A tall elf, dressed in varying shades of red, stood in front of him, giving off airs of arrogance. White hair rested atop their fair shoulders as light blue eyes stared down at him. He knew, without a doubt, this was the lord of Brinegarde.

     “I am Lianthorne, ruler of Brinegarde. Charmed to make your acquaintance,” the elf said, holding their hand out towards him.

     Shaking their hand firmly, he replied, “Uh, same. I’m Eric, ruler of Aurora Zenith.”

     “Now, I believe Rowan said you wanted to speak with me?”

     “Yes, I wanted to discuss some important matters with you, regarding the future of our two towns.”

     “Then let us be off, then. We’ll talk more in my chambers.”

     As Lianthorne led Eric to the center of town, he could see people talking to each other, surely about them. If not that, then some buzz about him coming out of the Vlixeox’s forest. Being both the center of attention and the target of gossip didn’t help his anxiety any. He kept his eyes focused on Lianthorne’s back to ignore the voices all around him.

     His mind wandered to Ven and her plight. He thought it sad that she lived all by herself in a mucky forest, believed to be a monster by everyone when it was the complete opposite. She couldn’t have done anything to warrant such scorn yet being a Vlixeox was enough to earn a lifetime of hate.

     He was grateful to her for letting him stay in her “home” last night. She didn’t have to do that. She didn’t have to protect him from the rain with her power. She didn’t have to give him food and water. She didn’t have to lead him back to town, a place she knew despised her very being. There was no reason for her to have done any of that yet she did. What did all of those things say about her?

     Due to being too absorbed in his thoughts, he accidentally bumped into the elf’s back. Moving slightly backwards, he realized they stopped at a building northwest of where he arrived in Brinegarde. Lianthorne didn’t seem to have noticed the sudden crash and walked inside, leaving Eric behind.

     The building was made out of stone and, with the exception of a wooden door, had nothing to help stand out. On the door was an emblem, which he assumed to be the symbol of Brinegarde. In the middle was a raindrop surrounded by curved lines at the bottom with a geranium flower inside the raindrop. Whatever symbolism it had flew over his head as he opened the door and went inside.

     It immediately became apparent how high his companion held themself up to be. Lining the hall was a burgundy rug with gold trim that led to a room at the end and several painting depicting many different things hung on the walls. The house practically radiated elegancy and high class, something he knew all too well from his childhood. Quickly walking through the hall, he went into the room.

     Lianthorne sat at a mahogany desk, surprisingly clear of any documents or adornments. They held a hand out to the chair opposite theirs, beckoning him to sit. As he did, they interlocked their fingers together and rested their chin on them, a smile that almost looked like a smirk on their face.

     “So, how has your time in Brinegarde been so far?” they asked.

     “Aside from being swarmed after coming out of the forest, it’s been great,” he replied somewhat sarcastically. His first impression of them so far was that they acted a bit like a pompous jackass, which he wasn’t a fan of.

     “Well, that’s bound to happen when you encounter the Vlixeox and live.”

     “How about we talk about that after we discuss what I originally came here for?”

     “Sure, whatever you say, Eric. Next time, though, don’t hide how you really feel. Your poker face is terrible.”

     A chill ran down his spine from being found out. Granted, he wasn’t really trying to hide his annoyance at the other’s snide comment about Ven but he wanted to be civil about it. Now, however, he regarded Lianthorne to be a smug asshole and nothing they could say or do would change that.

     Despite feeling that way, Aurora Zenith’s future was more important. Entering an alliance with Brinegarde and other towns listed would surely prove to be beneficial to each party. The trick is to listen to what each leader wants and find a way that appeases both them and you. At least, that’s what he believed in, anyway.

     With how things were going between them, though, he was close to losing faith. Whatever conditions one came up with, the other would disagree, even trying to one-up them at points. This continued to go on and on until they eventually gave up, deciding to suspend negotiations until tomorrow. He felt immensely relieved, although he’d never show it.

     Now that the boring part was over, he could finally find out more about Ven. Why did everyone in Brinegarde hate her for being a Vlixeox? What even was a Vlixeox? Those, along with many others, he hoped would get answered.

     Leaning back in their chair with their arms folded, Lianthorne said, “I know what you want to say so out with it.”

     “What did you mean when you said ‘encounter the Vlixeox and live’?” he asked skeptically, “Ven didn’t try to attack me, if that’s what you’re saying.”

     “Is that its name?” They chuckled themself as they went over to one of the windows. “A suitable name for an inferior creature such as it.”

     With a tinge of anger in his voice, he replied, “Her name is Venlithea but I call her Ven for short. I’d appreciate it if you referred to her as such.”

     “Her, it, does it really matter? That’s your first mistake, caring for something that can kill you at a moment’s notice.”

     Although he was seething, he knew they were right about one thing. He was caring too much about someone that was otherwise a complete stranger to him. A stranger that had many opportunities to kill him but didn’t. If she truly wanted to murder him, she wouldn’t have let him get away. She probably didn’t have an inch of murderous intent in her body.

     He felt sorry for her. Hated and judged for her race, a birthright she couldn’t control or erase, she was forced to live in isolation. Due to him being a simple human, he’d never be able to experience it. He’ll never understand why people constantly criticize others for things out of their control. It wasn’t right or fair and it only made the person on the receiving end loathe themselves. She’d probably never show it but she must carry a lot of pain inside her, he thought.

     Going over to where the elf was, he said in an almost derisive tone, “Tell me, then, Lianthorne. If she really wanted to kill me, why didn’t she? Come on now, don’t be shy.”

     “How should I know? Maybe it sees something special in you,” they replied calmly, though they appeared to be visibly irritated.

     He felt pleased for getting under their skin, not really caring if it seemed a bit childish. If he couldn’t change their mind about Ven, the least he could do was rile them up in defiance. As much as he wanted to continue taunting them, he held himself back, remembering to not get carried away. He still needed to do business with them and provoking them was not the best course of action.

     “I believe you must be going soon. It was… nice speaking with you,” they said curtly, restraining the annoyed tone in their voice.

     With an innocent but sly smile on his face, he replied, “I feel the same way. Don’t forget about tomorrow, all right?” and headed to the door.

     “Trust me, I wouldn’t forget it,” they muttered under their breath.

     Departing from Lianthorne’s home, he struggled on what to do next. There was nothing for him to do and it was only a little after midday. Having been in Brinegarde for a day and a half, he wasn’t sure if the town had any interesting appeals to it, if at all.

     Thinking about it, he realized none of his questions were answered. He wasn’t really surprised by that, since the pompous jackass didn’t seem willing to give him any clear answers. If cooperation wasn’t a strong suit with the lord of Brinegarde, then it’d be a waste of time to try with their citizens. The only way he’ll be able to get an explanation about everything, it seemed, would have to be from Ven. He considered the possibility once before but he didn’t want to force her to open up if she didn’t want to.

     As he started walking back the way he came, he wondered if he should bring her something. An idea began to form in his head and he wandered over to a specific place in town to get what he needed.

[originaldetectivesheep]

The Thirty and One Nights' Momentary Diversion - In the Track of the Albatross, part I

Le'von, Lew, Hurley, and Allison return from "When John Frum Came Back to Peliwak" (collected in Monsters of the Week), with a new plane, a new employer, and a new wild-goose chase: a German sub missing for near on a hundred years.

In the Track of the Albatross

I spread out my toes and felt the rivets under my feet, the exact curve of the wing, as I leaned in, getting up on the edge, and hucked the tool bag down and across to Lew.  He caught it out of the air,  cracking a smile as he rocked back under the impact of the canvas, bare feet kicking against the side of the ship under the access door.  With a motion half back inside, he chucked the bag somewhere in, down, inside the belly of the plane.  "If there's a good thing about dropping off that Navy pension and coming up on this contract crap," he said, coming back, blond curls shaking as he leaned back out of the frame, "it's that now, the damn plane's big enough that we can keep all the crap we got to fix'er with inside."  He patted the doorframe of the Scooper.  "I tell ya, Le'von, thisn's a good plane; days I loved that old Cat, but every time you go up, she like as to break up around you."

"I hear you," I said, sidling along the roof over the door, getting ready to drop down and swing in as soon as Lew budged up from the doorway.  "I'm sure glad that this plane is, like, younger than me and she don't take near as much work to keep up, but the other side of being big enough that we can keep all our stuff on board means we got to. I don't miss being cooped up on Tuganga, not so much, but sleeping in a hammock strung up between a stack of vacuum tubes and a crate of MREs gets kinda old, y'know?  If they'd just let us home-port in Guam, I wouldn't have nothing to complain about."  Below me, Lew nodded vigorously, staring out over the lagoon to the distant sandbars of the Chuuk reef line.

Of course, you couldn't take an ancient Catalina and its crew back to Guam, someplace civilized with modern equipment, once you closed up the antique radar station that the bird was assigned to in favor of a damn satellite.  But after that business on Peliwak, and what we'd reported before the island blew up, the service wasn't about to just let us walk and go talk to whoever – and not Hurley and Allison either.  They had to stick a flying boat pilot and his maintenance dude somewhere, and also their radar-ops buddy and their not-totally-useless station chief: where they stuck us, and it was all of us, was into an almost-modern Bombardier Scooper and the world's most obvious black-ops bullshit cover story.

The plane belonged to Northern Stores, technically; I found out during the 'orientation' video for our new 'employer' that this was legit the Hudson's Bay Company, still a weird mercantilist almost-arm of the Canadian goddamn government two hundred years later.  Which explained why the Island Fresh supermarket in Kolonia, the capital of Pohnpei state in Micronesia, could suddenly get a seaplane attached to it and nobody blinked.  When we were 'home-ported', we slept in the plane in the harbor, parked between leafy sandbars and sunken hulks blocking the channel, but we were never home in port – there was always something that someone wanted somewhere, somewhere out in the big empty of the Pacific Ocean that jets couldn't get to correctly and boats couldn't get to fast enough.  So we got borrowed: Lew to fly the plane, me to keep it running and the crew from getting tetanus or dysentery, Al to spot storms and handle any kind of ELINT, and Hurley to…. well, to go talk to people that wouldn't take a Melanesian pilot or a black wrencher or a weird, socially mute radio op seriously.  That was mostly what Hurley was good for, mostly what he did.  Like now; that was what he was coming back from doing, standing up in the front end of a motor canoe in his Navy whites, the local pilot back by the outboard leaning way back out over the spray to keep the canoe balanced, or to get himself as far the hell away from Hurley as he possibly could.  The canoe slowed up as it turned in towards the plane, and Lew and I half saluted out of force of habit.

Hurley threw it back as smart and crisp as the dress trousers none of us ever caught him washing.  "Morning, Le'von, Lew; are we shipshape?"

I nodded over at the engine I'd given a going-over.  "Yeah; I popped a panel after those diagnostics came up last time, but everything's in place, fluids are good, nothing's wearing out.  We ain't filled up since we landed, but just driving over here to anchor probably didn't burn that much.  Lew?"

Lew nodded.  "Man's right; we're near full up, still all stowed from coming in.  Most any patrol, we're ready to go as soon we spin up the engines."

Hurley's face was unexpectedly grave.  "That's good to hear, but I'll take exception to part of it.  This isn't 'most any patrol' we've got – we're going to be out a long ways, perhaps for a long time – longer than we've done in a while.  We're going to need to top off what we burned taxiing over here – and to fill up the two water-bomber tanks forward with fuel as a backup."

I shifted myself sideways, edging off the door.  This was serious; whoever had delivered this plane to us through whatever channels had taken out most of the firefighting equipment that had been built into it to start, leaving a lean but flexible long-range seaplane without a lot of extra weight, but there were still two of the bomb tanks opening out the hull – in case we needed to do some firefighting, or in case we needed to go farther, way out in that big empty, than anyone could rationally expect a seaplane to go.  "In that case, I've got to check the doors and make sure they're sealing tight – so we aren't leaking and we aren't pumping water through the engines.  I'll make it quick; wherever this is, you probably want to get going right away."  Hurley nodded, and I shucked off my shirt, throwing it in past Lew as he bent to help Hurley up into the plane.  I slid off the edge of the fuselage and straight down into the sea; there were gauges inside, but the surest way to check the seals on the forward bomb bay doors was to run a finger along all the seams, to feel for the water sucking in on the pressure change, getting in where it wasn't supposed to.

When I climbed back up in, scrubbing off with a microfiber towel before I dripped on something that would be expensive to have short out, the engines were already turning; the electric starters on the new Pratts sure beat the heck out of manually cranking the ones on the old ship. Lew was running through his checklist and Hurley was in the copilot's chair; I picked up my shirt from the jump seat and sat down to pull it on.  "So, what's the mission, boss?" I asked, digging in with my fingers to get the last of the water out of my hair.  "We've got to be going far, and out of the way, if we've got to gas up again, let alone load extra fuel into the bomb tanks.  Where abouts?  Wake? Kiribati?  The Solomons?"

Hurley answered, even though I was mostly talking to Lew.  "You're not far wrong; it's in that area, it's far away, and it's somewhat sensitive – as in the U.S. government is not supposed to be there, by orders of both the FSM and Papua New Guinea, at least one of whom owns the reefs and sandbars in the outer Bismarcks that we have to check first.  They're not allowed to land; otherwise they would have sent the SEALs and might have sent a task force.  Because it's fine and well for small countries to have territorial sovereignty, but when you go about building a submarine dock and berthing a two-hundred-foot boat of no known type there, the Navy gets a little anxious."

I had been nodding through Hurley's World Police ramble there, but when he got to the wild sub, I sat bolt upright.  "Wait.  What? They've got us off sub hunting?  Why?  How?  And what do you mean, 'no known type' – how did nobody spot it before?"

Lew brought the engines up to taxi speed, and checked that the anchor was all the way up as he fed in the throttle to get us moving over towards the pier by the west end of the airport.  "We didn't hear about it out here, being so cut off from the Internet," Hurley said, raising his voice a little to be heard over the props, "but a bunch of USGIS satelllite survey images got wikileaked a few weeks ago, and the usual conspiracy weirdos with more spare time than sense immediately put together a crowdsearch project to find the aliens, or the Jade Helm bases, or whatever rubbish people are getting riled up about this week.  They found nothing like that, of course, but what they did find was a submarine, of no type known to modern navies, berthed to a crude pier on a tropical sandbar.  This was remarked on, but because the leak did not include a way to make sense of the image codes, the amateurs huffing over it couldn't find what particular tropical beach, exactly, the image represented, and after diligently not finding any matching island and submarine dock on Google Earth, the wasters forgot about it and went back to their games or harrassing celebrities or whatnot.

"The government most decidedly did not forget.  The Internet amateurs did not find the submarine base on Google Earth because Google, mindful of their bandwidth, does not include images in sufficient resolution to identify it for grid squares that should be merely an empty and uninteresting patch of the Pacific Ocean.  But the USGIS does have images at that resolution, and as soon as someone saw the image codes, they confirmed that this square of ocean, long ignored as uninteresting, had been hosting at least one submarine base for quite some time."

"I'm not liking the sound of this – especially that 'at least one' part," I said, turning around as I stood up to check the connections between the main fuel tanks and the backup bomb tanks. Lew spun the engines down, and through the windshield ahead, I could see the motor launch from the airport coming in, trailing the hose back to the tank truck.

"I haven't even gotten to the bad part yet," Hurley said, without a care in the world.  "The Navy's identified at least three more potential or former sub docks, strung out along the outer edge of the Bismarck archipelago, or on flyspeck seamounts out in the ocean between there and the Carolines; submarine docks associated with what look, to a practiced eye, like careful copra plantations and drying facilities.  Someone is running a submarine around in the wastes of the Central Pacific, and fueling it with coconuts, the oil or the dry meat for coal."

"Everyone runs copra out here," I said, checking the pressure on the bomb tanks as the gas started to fill in.  "Doesn't mean anything; anybody who can find themselves an uninhabited island will put up some trees and get a grow going, no matter who the land ought to belong to.  Doesn't mean anything."

"Of course it doesn't; not by itself."  Hurley was unaffected.  "But with the submarine, it may – and not just any submarine.  The sub is of no known type – no type known to modern navies.  But there is a historical class that, despite the fairly bad quality of the one half-submerged satellite photo of the ship that we have available, may be a match – and that class has long been legended to be missing a ship."

The gauges were all green.  I turned back around to confront Hurley about this.  "Okay, fine.  So what is this mystery ship?  Some missing Nazi U-boat that flew in from Antarctica?"

Hurley was turned around, and he shook his head, chuckling, in that way he had that always made me wish I had a wrench to hand, and that he wasn't standing in front of anything important.  "You've got the right country, Le'von, but the wrong war.  Our missing ship is the nigh-mythical U-160, not recorded as launched from Kiel in March 1918 as the last of the U-151 class, the long-range cargo subs intended to connect Germany with her distant colonies and reluctant trading partners.  The hull dimensions of the ship seen by the satellite are within ten percent of what we know of the U-151s; it wouldn't be impossible for a German submarine to be found out here, in the old German colonial waters, as an evacuation ship or a commerce raider or both in the dying days of the Great War.  Where this becomes impossible is when that ship survives a hundred years on and is still sailing – and then why, and where, and for whose ends, becomes very interesting to a great many people."

I nodded, and crossed my arms.  "Right.  And when you've got a ghost ship out there doing impossible things within a thousand or two miles of Pohnpei, up and goes the ex-Tuganga Weather Station after it, because anybody knows impossible, it's them."

Hurley turned back around, putting his headset on as Lew brought the engines up again.  "Tuganga's in the past, Le'von; we're with the Rachel now, and with her, well, I guess we've got to always be searching for everyone's lost children."  

"Sir yes sir," I said, ignoring the reference and sitting back down in the jump seat.  I had my own checklists to run as Lew opened the engine up to take us out; I didn't have much to do in the air, but when we got wherever we were going, it was going to be me on the beach – me out on the beach looking for clues to a ghost ship lost at sea for the longest part of a hundred years.

Part II