#traitoroussmile

[neverforgetyou]

and then i go and spoil it all by saying somethin' stupid like "i love you"

The sound of the wind blew in his face as he walked through the empty plain-land. The sign in front of him hid his face from the scorching rays of the sun, shining hard on his bloody clothes.

Theo made his way through the open area, searching for any runaway humans. He’s not even trying to hide his presence, he never does. He’s never met a human who could outrun him, and he never will. Pale calls him overconfident, but the evidence never lies.

He felt himself grow tired and stopped to sit on a bench, placing his sign down next to him and letting the sun hit his face. He’s been out of AREPH finding humans for a few days now, barely resting, and he can feel himself starting to reach the end. Orlar says he’s overworking himself, Pale rolls his eyes, and Dricox shrugs him off, but he knows that deep down the black darkness is threatening to spill out from inside of him again. 

Suddenly, he hears a sound. He quickly turns around and sees a human with bright red hair and running in the distance. He grabs his sign and chases after them, the black darkness being shoved down by something better, something golden and bright. 

The human looks behind them, a nervous expression on their face. Theo’s eyes light up as he takes in that expression, assuming that the human isn’t armed.

‘This is gonna be easy.’

The human grabs a rock and throws it at him weakly, more focused on not slowing down than making contact with him. Theo chuckles as he easily dodges. 

His eyes scan the human. They’re wearing a bright tank top and shorts.

‘Another stupid fucking idiot’ he thinks as his eyes notice the prosthetic on their left leg, getting an idea. He scans the scene in front of him for a rock the size of his hand, maybe a little bit bigger. He finds one and picks it up, before throwing it as hard as he can at their prosthetic. 

He laughs as they fall to the ground. While they’re down, he pulls out his gun and shoots the other leg, rendering them immobile. They cry out in pain, turning over onto their back and grabbing their bleeding leg.

“Ha! Gotcha now useless scum!” Theo walks over and presses his heel into their chest, keeping them down. “You really thought you could run from me? Nice try.” He cackles as he pulls out his knife, taking in the look of pure fear on the human’s face.

His ears perk up at the sound of a motorcycle, and he dodges out of the way just in time to see him … Vic.

He let out a sad, surprised laugh. “Well well well … look who it is.” He switches his sign from one with a neutral expression to one with a more angry one. He can’t even say his name. 

Vic wears an expression Theo’s never seen him wear before, one of pure anger. “Theo.”

“You know, after that stunt you pulled a few months ago I shouldn’t be surprised to see you here. But here I am, surprised.” There’s a mocking tone in his voice, but deep down he isn’t lying. Every time he sees Vic he’s always surprised, he always has been. Whether it’s because of his beauty, his voice, or the angry glare on his face that he sees in front of him now.

Vic pulls out a gun and points it at him. The black darkness creeps closer and closer to the back of his mouth as he’s hit with a sense of deja vu. He almost wants to laugh.

“Oh you're gonna shoot me again?! Go ahead!” He throws his sign down onto the ground, showing Vic the matching angry look in his eyes. “Just admit it, you only care about me when I do something you think is wrong. You never cared about me.”

Vic’s expression never waivered. He was focused. Concentrated. Ready. "I wasn't pretending back then. But I can't bring myself to care for someone like you now." He pulls the trigger.

Unlike a few months ago Theo was ready this time, as he successfully dodges and runs as fast as he can towards Vic, the black darkness finally falling from his eyes. 

“You're lying!" He shouts, holding his knife up in the air. "You never cared about me, if you did you wouldn't have left without a note. Without a proper goodbye. You wouldn't have left me!" He finally reaches Vic and sinks his knife into his shoulder, stabbing him.

If Vic were anyone else, he would’ve aimed for the heart. But he’s Vic, and as much as he wants to hurt him, he would never kill him.

He backs up as Vic moves his hand to the wound, breathing heavily as blood pours out. He looks down at his bloody hand before glaring at Theo.

“There's no saving you.”

Theo glares, more of that black darkness falling down his face as the realization hits him. “So I was right … You never cared about me, you only cared about saving me. Well guess what? I don’t need to be saved!”

Vic’s grip tightened on his shoulder. “That’s not-”

“Oh don’t even fucking try. I understand now. You and your “I hate it here … I need to be set free … is it wrong to want to be free?” bullshit. You were only “friends” with me to try and save me, so when you realized you couldn’t you left without a word. I bet you told that scummy sister of yours you left.” Theo is so engrossed in Vic that he doesn’t notice the human getting onto Vic’s motorcycle. 

Vic glared at him again, his hands twitching. “Don’t bring Trix into this.”

“Aw, did widdle Theo strike a nerve? Fuck you. For everything.”

Vic scoffs, slowly inching towards the motorcycle. “You’re blaming me for something that’s entirely you.” Theo snarls. “Me? Me?! I didn’t ask for any of this! I didn’t ask to be this way. I didn’t ask for us to be on opposite sides. I didn’t ask to fall in love with you!”

Vic freezes, processing what Theo said. “... What did you just say?” The glare leaves Theo’s eyes, replaced with a look of defeat and sadness. “You heard me.”

“Theo … I–” Theo pulls out his gun and aims it at Vic, although Vic could tell he had no intention to shoot. “Shut up. I don’t want to hear about it anymore.” Vic doesn’t move, looking at him with a look of … something … something like pity, but not quite. 

“Signs–” “If you’re going to leave, leave now. Or else I will shoot.”

Vic knows he’s lying, and desperately wants to stay, to reach out to him. But he knows he can’t. He said it himself, Theo can’t be saved. So he sighs, looks at him for one more second, before turning around and hopping on his motorcycle. 

Theo keeps the gun pointed at him as they ride off. He keeps it pointed even when he can’t see them anymore. He stands there, as the black darkness continues to flow out of him.

After another few minutes, he finally puts the gun down and back in his pocket along with the bloody knife. He turns around, picks up his sign and heads for AREPH, his hands running over the dried blood on his clothes in an attempt to calm him down.

As he’s walking, he’s hit with a realization.

At the end of the day, Vic has a family to go back to, a home.

But Theo will forever remain with a hole in his heart, broken for eternity.

The black darkness tears continue to fall.

theo and ember: @astoryofsuchwoe || pale (mentioned): @sotogalmo

[neverforgetyou]

time moves slow when you're lost in a dream (pt 1.)

tw // murder, blood

You enter the Garden, your signature smile plastered on your face and sign. Was it real? Was it genuine? You didn’t know, but that smile stayed as you explored the area.

Flesh monsters roamed the Garden, each with a smile of their own and a green light on their collars. They were happy. Were you happy? 

You didn’t know. 

You scoff and turn to the first person you see, a human with short, black hair and round glasses. They are holding something in their hand, you don’t know what it is.

“Scum.”

They look up at you, squinting as the sun shines behind you and blinds them.

“Yeah, you heard me. Human scum. Everyone here is human scum. I’m sick already, I feel gross.” You look away and at some tree in the distance.

They continue to look up at you, not making a sound. This intrigues you.

“Don’t you agree? That all humans are scum?” You turn to them, waiting for them to answer.

They look around at all the scum before looking back at you. “I mean… I slightly agree, most of them are just out for chaos and are an annoyance.”

You find clarity in his words as the smile on your face turns truly genuine. You hold your hand out, “Theo.”

They take it, “Pale.”

“How old are you?”

“Eleven.”

“Eleven? I’m only six.”

Pale nods. You nod back, a funny feeling in your chest as you sit down next to him, still holding the sign in front of your face. Pale doesn’t question it, eventually understanding its purpose.

You soon find out that the object in Pale’s hand was a paintbrush. You stand over his shoulder as he moves it across a canvas, painting out a beautiful scene in front of you.

“So other wastes of space enjoy this? .. Painting?” You ask as he dips the paintbrush in a pretty green, “I don’t understand it .. but I’m not … mad about it …”

Pale hums as he continues painting. “Some paintings are truly worthless, absolutely meaningless. I paint for myself.”

“And that’s what gives it meaning?”

Pale nods.

You try to imagine yourself painting, putting your emotions onto a piece of paper and showing it to the world. But, as hard as you try, you cannot picture yourself doing that. It doesn’t benefit the purpose all humans have, so you can’t think it's anything but meaningless.

You and Pale find yourself sitting under the big tree at the center of the Garden quite often. Pale likes to watch, taking in everything around him and filing it for later. You hate it. You hate the idea of wasting your time watching trash do trashy things. 

But, Pale is your friend, and you remember overhearing Orlar say that this is what friends do. So you sit, trying as hard as you can to pay an ounce of attention to a single human.

You do this at least three times a week. It’s torture, absolute torture.

Until one day, a certain someone spots your attention. Blue bangs covering the right side of their face, which is displaying a frown. They’re the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen.

You feel your face flush and press the sign with a neutral expression on it closer to your face, trying to hide behind it. Normally your signs convey the emotion you’re feeling, but you don’t want everyone around you to know how flustered you are. Pale notices but doesn’t say anything, simply watching how things turn out.

You hear footsteps as someone walks towards the two of you. “Hey.”

You look up and see the beautiful person from earlier, staring down at you two. You blush more and hide more behind your sign. 

The person makes a face before turning to Pale. “You two are the only one’s here without any bruises” they comment, looking the two of you up and down.

You can’t help but let out a scoff. “‘Course we are, we know our place” you mumble.

The person makes a face at you, and you blush more. “Um … ok …. Well … I’m Vic.”

‘Vic’ you repeat to yourself in your head, ‘a pretty name. A short name.’

You lose yourself in his name and presence, not paying attention to what Pale and Vic are discussing.

It turns out, all you needed was a push. Ever since Vic came up to the two of you, you made it your mission to seek him out. Another human on your list. You can’t help but feel excited, intrigued. You feel … something … when looking at the two of them. Something different … something … good …. Your smile is the most genuine it’s ever been.

You stand over Vic’s shoulder–well, you try to–as he works, trying to complete the work for tomorrow’s class. You shove the smug sign in front of your face. 

“Still having trouble scum?” It’s so ingrained in you to call any human you see scum, but Pale and Vic know you don’t genuinely mean it when it comes to them.

Vic signs and turns to look at you, a look of boredom on his face. “I’m not having trouble Signs, I just … this is all so meaningless.” He puts the sheet music onto the desk in front of him, sighing deeply.

You switch the smug sign for a sign with a frown. “‘Meaningless’? None of this is meaningless, we are here to serve a purpose and right now we’re learning how to achieve it.”

He sighs and glares a little at you. You can tell he doesn’t agree with you, and you can feel yourself starting to get angry. You can feel the familiar hateful words rise up in your throat. But before it flies out, you push it down. You can’t say that to Vic, as much as your body tries to spew the words out of you.

The more time you spend with Vic the more desperate you are to change for him. Change your mindset, change your looks, change everything. You want to change for him.

That’s why it hits so incredibly hard when you wake up to find his bed empty. For the past two years, the three of you lived in the same dorm together. You woke up five minutes later than Pale and ten minutes earlier than Vic, his sleeping presence comforting you as you plan your day. That’s how it’s been, every day for two years. Your entire flow is off when you turn your head and see his bed empty and made, as if he was never there at all. Gone without a trace.

You sit up and turn to Pale, who is looking at you back. “Where is he?”

Pale is silent for a few seconds, before replying “I don’t know-”

You grab your panic sign and rush out the room before he finishes, looking all over the Garden for him. Segyien chase after you, shouting “get back here 035799!” But, for the first time in your life, you ignore them, continuing to run around looking for Vic.

You get punished for this, as you should. You take it well, as you should. Because you’re normally very well-behaved, they go easy on you. There aren’t nearly as many welts on your back as other humans might have, but any lingering pain is overshadowed by the loss of Vic.

You feel yourself start to spiral. Everything reminds you of him: trees from where you first met, music from all the practices you shared, the water from the color of his hair.

Seeing other pathetic humans smile with the ones they love fill you with an uncontrollable rage. The cherry on top was the Wanted poster left on your bed from Orlar, who had to visit because of your mental health. Your fingertips ran across the paper before ripping it into pieces. Tears fell down your cheeks as you cried and ran out the room.

You start to lash out at the scum you’re forced to be surrounded with. It started with words, berating people until they burst into tears. But that wasn’t enough. You overhear something about escaping and what life outside the Garden could be like from a little girl’s mouth, and it triggers you. You dig your knife into her chest, watching the light fade from her eyes in real time. You step on her orange hair as you walk away, the glee from her death momentarily distracting you from the Vic-shaped hole in your heart.

You get punished for this, as you should. You take it well, as you should. The segyien go harsher on you than the last time, but it still isn’t too bad. There aren’t nearly as many burn marks on your arms as other humans might have, but any lingering pain is overshadowed by the loss of Vic.

Pale is your anchor throughout all this, helping you snap out of it when you need to and perform the best you can in your classes. You cling onto his arm as you stand with the rest of his class, ready to receive their Diplomas. 

You turn to him, your smile wider than it’s been in years. “I can’t wait to join you at AREPH.”

Pale hums, a small smile forming on his face. “You have to win first.”

You scoff, almost offended he’d say that. “Of course I’m gonna win, I’m the best one here.”

Pale chuckles before the head of the Garden starts talking. You and Pale stop talking and turn to face her, listening to what she has to say.

Pale’s absence is another blow. Orlar gave you a phone so you two could stay in contact, but it doesn’t feel the same. You lash out every now and then, your mental stability as stable as a roller coaster. Soon enough, it’s time for you to graduate. You receive your Diploma and look at it, ready for what comes next.

You go through the preliminaries with a confident grin. You know your talent, you know your drive. You know you’re gonna get in. And you do.

pale: @weatheredhead || vic: @astoryofsuchwoe < part two >

[neverforgetyou]

time moves slow when you're lost in a dream (pt 2.)

tw // implied murder, blood

Pale visits you before your first performance, holding something in his hand. You grin at him.

“You gonna watch me win?”

Pale just stares at you before looking down at what’s in his hands. Your eyes follow his and you see that he’s holding a canvas. A painting. 

You point to the painting. “What’s that for?”

“For you. A good luck present.”

You snort and give him a look. “Good luck? Come on scum I don’t need good luck, I’m gonna win. I’m gonna win and then I’m gonna join you and we’re gonna hunt down some humans.”

Pale smiles and puts the painting into your hands. “Take it anyway.”

You sigh and nod, putting the painting down on your bed. Later that night you finally look at it. It’s a painting of a black creature and white creature laying on the grass looking up at the stars.

You feel your smile turn soft as you look. “Pale …. I won’t disappoint you.”

Pale’s painting gives you the extra boost to win your first round, dominating the stage with a score of 84 - 12. You cackle as you look at your opponent's body, blood pouring onto the stage. You kick their shoulder, turning them onto their back. The light that was just in their eyes during their performance is gone, replaced with eternal nothingness. You can’t stop cackling, confidence continues to rise in you.

You wear that same confidence for the entirety of the competition, waving to your adoring fans as you grab the Winner’s medal. Your smile is wide as they cheer, but you don’t care about that. You don’t care about the fans and the fame and the medal. No, your reward is a job at AREPH, and you are going to spend the rest of your life making humanity pay.

AREPH is the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Getting paid to hunt humans? You feel giddy at the thought of it. And the best part? You get to kill them! Well, only if they resist for long enough.

You also see Pale every now and then, and that’s always a treat. You make it your mission to see him at least three times a week. You tell him that it’s because you’re friends, but deep down it’s a reassurance, a promise that you’ll never be apart.

You find yourself pestered by a younger human, always asking about your season and time at the Garden. There’s a light in its eyes that you don’t understand, a curiosity that makes them keep going. But you don’t kill the curious cat inside of it, and answer its questions anyway.

You take walks with Pale around the facility. Sometimes it’s for assignments, sometimes for fun. Anything to make sure he doesn’t leave.

“I’m surprised you killed him, you never were the type.” You’re holding a gleeful sign in one hand, the other wrapped around his arm.

“You don’t know me.”

You chuckle and keep walking, the sound of the body you’re dragging making quiet thuds in the silence. Once you reach the incinerator, you take note of their branding and number before dumping their body in the fire. You talk about whatever, just the daily check-in, until Pale says something interesting.

“Finally bought a house closer to the building. Now I won’t have to walk so far, it gets so tiring.”

You freeze. You were still living with Orlar and had no intention of leaving, until now.

“You live alone?” You ask with a shaky tone.

Pale nods. “Of course, I’m not a kid anymore I can live by myself-”

Before Pale can finish that sentence you are on your knees, your hands in the air. You’ve never done this before in your entire life, but your body moved on its own.

“PLEASE LET ME LIVE WITH YOU!”

Pale stares in silence, his eyes a bit wide. He never expected you of all people to be begging at his feet. 

You feel tears fall down your cheeks as you keep repeating “please.” You know the other workers outside could hear you, but you don’t care. You need this, so you keep begging.

After a few seconds, Pale finally speaks. “Ok.”

You stop and look up at him, snot dripping out your nose. “Wh… what?”

“I said ok, you can live with me.” He lets out a chuckle, lightening the mood a little. “I would’ve said yes if you asked normally. Although, I don’t think normal is in your vocabulary, Fly.”

You look up at him before your smile turns genuine, chuckling a little at his last remark. “Yeah, I don’t think so either.” You get up, dusting the dirt and other molecules off of your pants.

Living with Pale made things feel somewhat right again. Waking up to someone’s presence nearby calms you, and soon you fall into a happy routine.

Sometimes your job frustrates you. Capturing humans satisfies you, but sometimes they can seriously piss you off.

You drag a human by her ponytail down the hallway as she tries to resist.

“Please!! Let me go!! I don’t wanna go back!” she cries, trying to pull herself out of your grasp. 

“Shut up! Worthless humans cannot run off on their own” you snarl, pulling on her a bit harsher. “Sadly, your guardian doesn’t want you anymore. So you’re gonna have to get a new one! Hopefully this one knocks some sense into you, you disgusting brat.” 

Your heels clack as you make your way to Pale’s office. He opens the door before you could knock. “I can’t think when you’re shrieking outside my office.”

You groan. “Shut up. I’m putting it in its place Pale, that’s my job.”

Pale tilts his head to the side before making an expression you’ve never seen before. “Well well well, look who it is” he gestures his head behind you.

You turn around and freeze when you see who it is. You grip your sign tighter, feeling yourself start to tremble. “... Vic?” There was a tremble in your voice.

Vic has his arms raised, surrendering himself in the moment. His beautiful hair has gotten longer, and he’s wearing a gray and blue outfit.

“Theo. Pale. It’s been a while.” He has an emotionless expression on his face. You haven’t seen him since before he … It’s been so long. You don’t know how you’re feeling, but you know it’s not good. 

Your grip tightens on the human’s shoulders and she lets out a yelp of pain, but you don’t hear it. You’re too consumed by your thoughts and Vic standing five feet in front of you. 

You feel Pale put a hand on your shoulder, breaking through the spiral and calming you down just a little bit. “Yes it has, Vic. And dare I say, those rebel rags look lovely on you.” There’s a mocking tone in his voice.

Vic’s eye twitched, Pale’s words striking a chord. “Well, thank you. You both seem to be having fun detaining children.”

“All humans must be with their owners! A lesson you failed to understand!” You snap, glaring deeply at Vic from behind your sign. 

Pale rolls his eyes and takes the human from you. Then, he waves to the guards behind Vic. “Go. We’ll handle this.” They grunt before walking away, eyes peeled for other intruders.

You turn to Pale. “What?! Why did you do that?!”

Vic chuckles. “Letting the things with guns go? You’ve gotten dumber, Pale.”

He rolls his eyes again and pulls out his own gun. “I think it’s you who's gotten dumber, Vic.”

You feel your heart start to quicken, falling deeper into your spiral.

Vic eyed the gun before shrugging, looking between the three of you. “Is it dumb to want to be free?”

“Yes” you answer immediately, snarling.

Vic scoffed, his gaze hardening. “You’ve always been so closed-minded.”

You feel your hands tighten again, one making a fist at your side. You are clearly starting to lose your cool.

“What’s wrong, Signs?”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what? It’s what I call you, isn’t it?”

You growl, your trembling even more visible. You can feel Pale rolling his eyes again. “You’re bringing it back years later, scum? How nostalgic.” Your words are dripping with despair.

“Shut up Theo, you’re being useless right now.” Pale gave you an unamused and annoyed expression, and it hurt. You move the sign down and look away, feeling tears fill your eyes. 

Suddenly, you feel scorching pain in your arm. “AH FUCK!!!!” You immediately drop your sign and grab your shoulder, feeling blood pour out of your wound. You look to see Vic, pointing his gun at you. The tears fall down your face; you can’t believe this just happened. 

Pale grabs you, checking to see if you are ok. As he does this, Vic grabs the human and escapes. You watch as he runs and doesn’t look back for the second time.

Nothing feels real after the encounter. Every so often you’d look down and see blood on your hands. Or you’d feel the softness of your pillow as you lay in your bed.

It’s a cycle of repeated nothingness, there’s no meaning to anything anymore.

Pale is giving you space, for your sake and his, but you’re starting to feel like that’s the opposite of what you need.

It’s like someone took a completed puzzle and suddenly threw it across the room, breaking it from its form, and then they took a few pieces. You know something is missing, but what?

What is it?

You think you’ll never know.

You meet this other guy, but he’s nothing to you. Until he starts talking about Vic, claiming how he’s gonna do all kinds of dirty, disgusting things to him. That freak.

However, as scummy as he is, you need him. You need another person to help ground you, even if he doesn’t give two shits about you.

It takes another few months before your brain starts to clear, the thoughts washing away like the ocean. You feel calm, at peace, normal. 

Finally.

pale: @weatheredhead || vic and dae: @astoryofsuchwoe || eddy: @lookatmysillies < part one >

[neverforgetyou]

hey so uh. hey. so um. hey.

pale by @yuuoseetaastria || vic by @astoryofsuchwoe