10. Fear
It's a bit late but here's the final chapter. Enjoy and review!
"ICHIGO!" The three terrified girls cried as their young hero collapsed in a spreading pool of his own blood. His body went rigid and he ceased to move. Not even a single breath escaped his lips which had turned a sickly shade of grey.
As the trio moved to attend to him they were swallowed up by a darkened abyss, a black hole of despair and emptiness. After what felt like centuries of eternal darkness the group wound up in a new dimension, this time once again within the house.
All the walls were covered in what appeared to be pink velvet and an enormous queen-size bed with leopard print blankets lay in the middle of the room. Rather than lights, a chandelier hung from the ceiling and there were candles all over the place.
It sure was fancy...But it was kind of fucked...
"Where the hell is this?" Ichigo asked, suddenly arousing a scream from all the girls in perfectly unscripted unison.
"You're alive?"
"How?"
"We thought you died!"
Ichigo just stared at them for a moment and then laughed. "Ha, how silly of you. It's so obvious!"
"What?" Rukia cocked her head like a teased puppy.
"It's simple. I'm the main character! I can't die! Therefore my power is to enter situations where I should have died, but don't!" Ichigo looked up to the sky and winked, "Ain't that right Tite?"
"Who's Tite?" Tatsuki asked.
"Never mind."
Well that was over quickly wasn't it? Oh well. Anyway, the trio of girl all lifted Ichigo up from the ground and helped him to his feet. They moved to the bed and everyone sat down, all of them exhausted from their ordeal thus far. Their injuries may have healed but they still felt tired from their insane adventures through each other's nightmares.
"Speaking of which," Tatsuki said aloud.
"What do you mean 'speaking of which'? No-one bloody said anything!" Ichigo snapped.
"Just shut up and listen you asshole!" Tatsuki replied rather calmly...Nah, she was pretty damn pissed. "Look, we've been travelling through everyone's nightmares right?" Nobody really answered but she took it that everyone understood anyway and continued with her explanation, "We've been through Rukia's nightmare, Orihime's nightmare and now we're here. So the question is: Whose nightmare is this?"
"Well I don't much fancy those sheets but that doesn't count as a nightmare does it?" Ichigo asked with a straight face.
Tatsuki slapped him.
"God I'm sick you Ichigo. In fact I'm sick of all men."
Boy did that get a response. Ichigo's eyes widened to the point that they were practically bursting out of his skull. His jaw dropped too so that he looked like a stupid caricature. Rukia didn't really understand the underlying context of what her friend had said and so she just kind of sat there unfazed.
Tatsuki's expression softened and became...Feminine. Something was seriously wrong. She placed a hand on her forehead and groaned, "I feel weird...I think I have a fever or something..."
Inoue/Mikuru became afraid, very afraid. She was already starting to scramble to her feet and run to the door when a strong pair of hands gripped her sleeves and dragged her back to the bed. Tatsuki threw Mikuru down and then sat on top of her, pinning the whimpering young girl beneath her. Her usual beastly expression returned. Now things were much worse!
"Holy shit! I should do something!" Ichigo muttered. He promptly reached into his pocket and took out his mobile phone. Then he started filming.
"Hang on!" Rukia cried, "This is obviously not Ichigo's nightmare," she took a moment to glare in disgust at Ichigo's crossed legs, "So it has to be Tatsuki's fear! But I don't..." she trailed off, distracted by the two girl on the bed who were going at it like bitches on heat. It was mysteriously addictive to watch, thought the shinigami girl. Then she realised she was being drawn into the foray by some unseen force.
"Aha! I get it now! Tatsuki is...She's homophobic!" Rukia managed to share her revelation before sharing her new-found sexual fantasies with the other girls.
"Ichigo!" Inoue cried out between awkward moans. "Do something! Stop her-" She let out a deep body-wracking sigh as...As things happened.
Ichigo did his best and...
Watched...
Four and a half hours later when things were starting to venture into a rough patch involving leather and whips Ichigo finally stood in and did something about it. He would have liked to continue watching but...Well he finished up a while ago...
It was time to go, before it started to smell.
Ichigo tapped Tatsuki on the shoulder but that didn't do anything, not that he was expecting it to, he just needed a justification for what he was about to do next.
'BAM'
Tatsuki rolled off of the bed, struck by Ichigo's fist. The two glared at each other and had a stand-off.
"Hey now, how dare you not let me have a piece of the action!" Ichigo roared.
"What? Are you insane? What the Hell are you talking about?" Tatsuki retorted, furious.
"I'm talking about you, getting it on with all the girls as if you were...A lesbian!"
"What?" She made a shocked face straight out of a bad TV soap opera.
"That's right! You were making a little love scene back there and I can prove it!" Ichigo seemed rather pleased with himself. Don't dwell on that. He fiddled about with his phone while he spoke. "You were acting out my yuri doujin and I saw the whole thing!"
"N-No! That's impossible, I would never-"
The video started with a loud moan that made the speakers crackle. Tatsuki stared. Ichigo stared. Tatsuki continued to stare. Ichigo had to look away...Eventually. When it ended...
Like a cursed mirror in some old horror movie Tatsuki screamed and then the world shattered, breaking apart. Soon enough they were once again drowned in the familiar darkness between worlds.
Their nightmare would finally be over soon. All they had to do was endure one final nightmare and then everything would be back to normal! They were so close to the end. Victory was almost at hand.
Which was why when they found themselves in the street back amongst all the other trick or treaters they were all confused. They seemed to have skipped over Ichigo's nightmare. Relief swept over them and the group all looked to one another at first with frowns, then smiles, beaming smiles.
"We did it!"
"Yes!"
"We made it you guys!"
"Fuck yeah! We're finally out of that creepy mansion and all of those weird worlds." Ichigo sighed and stretched his arms and legs out as if he had just been in a car for the past three hours. "What I don't get though is why we never experienced my nightmare? I guess the drugs weren't strong enough to sustain so many hallucinations at once. Lucky us huh?"
"You said it!" Rukia chirped. "I just want to go home and eat some candy and just forget that we ever entered that house and went through all that."
"Yeah! Here's to repressed memories!" Tatsuki raised her fist in the air in mock toast. The others followed suit and they all cheered.
The weary group of friends began walking home when suddenly they all came to a complete stop. The girls all stared at Ichigo with stern glares.
"What?" he asked nervously, holding his hands out like a hostage at gunpoint.
"You know all of our nightmares. What's yours?" Tatsuki asked, and by asked I really mean demanded.
"Yeah!"
"Yeah!"
Ichigo chuckled to himself and rolled his eyes. "Fine, I guess it's only fair that I tell you what my greatest fear is." He scratched his head and sighed. "Alright, my nightmare is-"
'POOF!'
Ichigo's clothes vanished.
They were standing in the middle of the street, all eyes now upon the naked boy and his burning cheeks (Not them ones you sick bastard! On his face!) Ichigo stared back at the three girls standing before him, but that only brought back recent memories of Tatsuki's nightmares and...
It made the situation worse.
A lot worse...
Ichigo looked around and frowned, "I can explain."
Ichigo Kurosaki never celebrated Halloween ever, ever, again...
The End
Happy Halloween!
Well there you have it. Only two months late but well, I wasn't going to hold onto this story for another year. I hope you enjoyed that. As always thank you to the reader and especially the reviewers. I hope you all had a happy Halloween and since it's so close I might as well wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too.
Now how about a review?