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Ben's Note of Sheer Awesome: Hey guys, wuz up? I am, yet again, going to tackle another one-shot on my list. This one is fanon (I've seen fans ship this a lot, and I ship it too) and I think I know how to get it to work. But guys, you have to bear the back story. I don't want complaints about something I'm not even writing.
This one is Sam/Mike. See, don't you think it's so cute? For this to work, this takes place an entire year after the whole Wendigo shebang. Jess is dead (bless her soul!), Matt is dead (dang you meathook!), and Emily is dead (yeah, I think she's the only one I'm ok with being dead here). So you know, Mike did shoot Emily. Back story covered, let's get a move on!
Oh, wait, almost forgot. The list item. This one was randomly selected by my sister… let's be honest, she has to be spiritually inclined or something. She chose… number 3: Dawn. Yeah, see? Psychic! My sister's a psychic! Alright, let's move on.
Sam didn't know which was worse: it being the anniversary of not one but two tragedies, or that she was alone in remembering her dead friends.
It was exactly a year since her seven friends and herself went up to Blackwood Mountain. She didn't know why they kept going up there for no reason. One year, her best friend and her best friend's sister had disappeared. A year after that, the supernatural haunted the mountain and had murdered three, possibly four, of her dearest friends.
And here she was, yet another year later, standing in front of the mountain that had haunted her with nightmares for two whole years.
Alone.
She knew why the remaining three of her friends hadn't come. Ashley and Chris, who had become a couple since the tragedy, decided it was best to remember it alone, just the two of them. Sam understood why. They didn't want memories of what they had done up there. Ashley especially.
Mike, on the other hand, was different. He didn't want to go up because of Emily. He had faced charges with shooting Emily. At the time, everyone had thought she was dangerous due to a bite she had on her shoulder. Mike had taken one for the team and shot her.
The bite wasn't infectious.
Mike, out of everyone, felt the worse about that experience. He had lost the most, too. Emily, Jessica, his fingers. He also lost the ability to maintain any of the charisma he had. Sam remembered, before the accident, that Mike was able to do and get anything he wanted by just smiling and winking at any girl he wanted.
Not anymore.
She'd see him in public every once and a while the group had gotten back together for a sort of fun night. He'd be his normal self one moment, but the next, he'd crack down and tense. Sam figured it was his PTSD, which all of her friends had. They all reacted differently since the accident. Chris didn't smile at all anymore, Ashley would start crying at random times, and Mike would get adrenaline rushes and revert back to when they were on the mountain.
Mike had it the worst.
Sam's PTSD was different though. She'd break down sometimes, but tried to remain who she was before. No, her issue was the fact that Hannah was a Wendigo. Her best friend, thought dead two years ago, was alive and well.
As a cannibalistic demon.
"Been a while, hasn't it?" someone asked behind Sam, startling the girl. She spun quickly and socked the person in the jaw. The guy fell over and groaned.
It was Mike.
"Oh gosh, Mike! Sorry, I thought you were…" she started to say, then stopped quickly. She had had reverted back to when she was being chased by Josh, wearing only a towel. She had thought she was still being chased…
"Hey, no big deal," Mike said, standing up. He sighed, staring at the mountain. "I deserved it for all the crap I've done up there…"
It was a weird year for both of them. Mike had come to her whenever he felt uncontrollably depressed about what went down on the mountain. Sam likewise went to Mike. They felt comfortable around each other, and were able to express themselves without being called crazy.
"Mike, you need to move past it," Sam said, brushing her hair a side a little. "I get your scarred. I am too. But we didn't know that Emily wasn't going to turn into a Wendigo. No idea. You did what you thought was right."
"But it wasn't!" Mike said angrily. Sam sighed. She knew Mike. He had been beating himself up for Emily's death since day one. However, Sam knew how to calm him down. She walked up to him and hugged him. Mike sighed, hugging her back.
"Why are our lives so messed up?" Sam asked.
Mike didn't answer for a moment. "Because I had to betray Hannah's feelings like the #$% I am," Mike muttered. "It's my fault, really. I made her run off."
"Mike, please," Sam begged.
Mike pulled away from Sam and looked at her. "Sam, last year, when we had to wait until dawn, do you realize how I felt? Every painstaking hour I had to wait for that #$% sun to come up was #$% torture."
"It was for all of us Mike," Sam said, but Mike cut her off.
"Please, let me finish," he said, breathing heavily. "Sam, when we were on the mountain, I was scared. I lost the will to try and keep living. When I killed Emily, once I went back to the sanitarium, I wanted to die. I felt no reason to live, no reason to continue."
"But then… you came to save me," he said, looking at Sam. "You put yourself at risk to save my life. After that, it wasn't about me. If I could get you out… I'd do it. And I did, just as I promised."
"Every day since, it's never about me. Every dawn I witness, I cringe at the memory. But I know, every dawn I wake up to, I have you. You'll be there for me. And Sam… I think you're the only one I can ever care about ever again," Mike said.
Sam put her hands to her mouth, a tear exiting her eye. "Mike…" she said, brushing the tear away. "You've been a help to me too. This year was the worst year of my life. I miss Jess and Matt and Emily and even Josh. But… you helps me wake up to all those dawns too. I wanted to be there for you. And… Mike, I think I…"
Mike stopped her, walked over, and braced her in a kiss. Sam sank into it, enjoying that she had someone who understood her pain, her loss, her anger. When they parted, Mike looked at her with a sad smile. "How about we share this next dawn? Together?" Mike said, holding out a hand.
Sam smiled. "I couldn't think of a better way to spend it," she said as she and Mike walked back over to the bus that brought them to the mountain.
BN: Aw! I just think these two are amazing together! Sam and Mike were the ones who saved the day, after all. Depending on how you ended the game, anyway. They just connect so much better than Mike/Jess and Sam/Josh. Plus, I thought the way I portrayed this was adorable. But hey, not everyone might like it, so I'll keep my opinions on how I did to myself.
Also, in case you didn't catch it, Josh isn't technically dead. But since the investigative team never came back to report Josh was 'alive', everyone just assumed Josh was eaten. We know what happened, but they in the story don't. Just to clarify that up.
Like? Hate? Meh? Tell me about it in a review! Or don't! Either works!