Two Souls Bound

ELEVEN

"So he grew impatient and attacked you?" Meg asks, resting her chin on her knees. She is seated in between Evan and Nea, staring across the fire at Max. Max nods, wincing as Claudette wraps a strip of cloth around his wound.

"It wasn't his turn for a trial- it was Philip's." Sally explains. Not even the reappearance of Nea can stop the worried look from painting her face, or stop her from picking at her nails in anxiety. "We tried to reason with him, to stop him, but he wouldn't listen at all. Max tried to physically restrain him, and, well…" She gestures helplessly. Evan's eyes narrow behind his mask.

"What bothers me is that the Entity didn't stop him." He says. "If it had been any of us, I'm fairly certain we would've been punished."

"The Entity punishes you?" Jake asks, looking curious. Meg notes this in her mental catalog of improvements, because just a day ago Evan and Jake refused to talk to each other at all. Evan gives a bitter laugh.

"Of course he does. Did you think it was only you?" His face is hidden, and Meg wonders not for the first time what expression he is making under his mask. "We're punished for being weak, for being resistant, for showing mercy…" The other killers nod in agreement, and Meg and the others ponder this. Nea frowns, turning to look at Philip.

"You show mercy to us all the time." She says accusingly. "Are you getting punished for letting us escape?" Meg thinks back on it, and realizes that Nea is right- Philip often seemed to just…give up on chasing people whenever they neared the exit doors. Philip nods, face solemn.

"The Entity considers me a disgrace, and has told me so multiple times." He says with a wry smile. "Fortunately, I do not tie my own self-worth to the opinions of an ancient demon…what?" He asks warily as Nea stands up, face turning red.

"You idiot!" She frowns. "Have some sense of self-preservation, for once! There is no reason for you to hurt yourself in order to spare us a few minutes on a meat hook." Her eyes darken. "Don't hurt yourself because of us." There is silence, for a minute, and Philip smiles and shakes his head.

"You are my friends." He says simply. "I will do whatever I can to keep you safe." Meg bites her lip, fighting back the swell of emotion that stirs in her. Nea sits down, staring at her soulmate as if he was a puzzle she couldn't figure out. Sally reaches out and pats Philip's hand.

"Yeah, Philip is really noble and all." Evan says bluntly, causing everyone to turn and stare at him. "Don't expect that from the rest of us, though. I quite enjoy the hunt." Meg rolls her eyes, looking away from him as the others glare.

"Of course you do." She snorts. "But anyways, back to the problem at hand: Michael and Laurie. What do we do? If he can't be reasoned with…"

"I think we need to hear more from Laurie before we can decide anything." Sally says, and Dwight and Claudette nod in agreement. "I think she knows more than she's letting on."

"She might not enjoy having a bunch of killers in the survivor camp." Max points out quietly. Surprisingly, it is Jake who speaks up.

"Let her deal with it. You took a knife over this, Max. I think you deserve answers." He looks up at the sky, leaning backwards on his arms. "I think we all do."

"You're feeling awfully chummy tonight, aren't you?" Evan sneers at Jake, who scowls back. Meg opens her mouth to scold him, but pauses.

"Who uses the word chummy anymore?" She raises an eyebrow. Evan stares at her as Nea and Dwight snicker.

"What do you mean? It's a perfectly valid term." Meg starts to ask him what year he is from when a branch cracks and they all whirl around to face the intruder.

Fortunately, it isn't Michael Myers. Laurie looks a bit worse for wear, with a tired and wary expression on her face. Meg notices that her pocket knife is in her hand, red with blood.

"You got away?" Meg asks, a hesitant smile on her face. Laurie glances at her, expression guarded as she turns to look at all of the killers mixed with the survivors.

"I told you I'd be fine." She answers, frowning as she stares at the group. "Why are they here?"

The they is obvious, but there is still an awkward silence for a minute. No one is quite sure what to say, no one wants to be the one to label this odd truce (friendship ) that they have to a judgmental newcomer.

"Free forest." Nea eventually says, shrugging. "You wanna be the one to tell them no?" Laurie scowls at her, and Nea raises an eyebrow back.

"Being around them is stupid." She says, shifting her stance slightly. "They're killers- it's dangerous."

"They're killers in here, with a demonic god controlling us." Claudette argues. "That doesn't mean they were killers in the real world." She glances around for confirmation, but none of the killers meet her gaze. "Right?"

"Myers killed in the real world." Laurie says quietly, and they turn to face her. "He killed my friends and family. And he's more than happy to kill here, too. You may think just because you've had a few dinners together that you know someone- trust me. You don't. You're setting yourselves up for pain and failure even being around each other." There is silence for a minute, before Evan speaks up.

"That's a very uppity stance, Laurie." He says calmly. Meg tenses as Laurie turns to face him, eyes darkening. "But we've all been here for far longer than you have. And you don't know any of us at all, nor do we know you. You don't get to pass judgment on all of us until you've actually spent time with us." Meg is impressed by his comments, and speaks up quickly before Laurie can retort.

"Laurie, be honest with us, please." She says, spreading her hands in a placating gesture. "What do you know about Michael? About this world? Your knife, Haddonfield, the Entity's treatment of you two… we need the bigger picture here." Laurie glares at her, before relenting with a nod. She walks over, sitting down in front of them with her back to a tree- away from all of them, Meg notices. She wipes the blood off of her knife and then stares at her reflection in it, contemplating.

"Did you fill them in about Halloween in Haddonfield?" Laurie asks. Meg nods slowly, because it would be pointless to lie, and Laurie sighs.

"After that second encounter with Myers- after the hospital- I fell asleep, then woke up in this weird…white space." Laurie says. "In it was Myers and this… thing. He looked somewhat like a man, I guess, except for these weird black tentacles growing out of his back. I assumed I was having a nightmare." Laurie lets out a harsh, distressed laugh, and no one says a word. Meg feels a pinching feeling in her gut.

"But it wasn't a nightmare." Laurie says. "At least, not one I could wake up from. The tentacle man introduced himself as the "Entity." He said that Michael and I were honored guests in this realm, and he gave an explanation about how the trials work." She glances up at all of them, her face unreadable. "Did you know there's an escape hatch in each arena? He only makes it visible when it's one on one, to add to the entertainment value." The others glance at each other, startled. Clearly none of them knew about this.

"The Entity really wanted to impress us, I guess." Laurie continues when no one answers. "He recreated Haddonfield almost exactly. He gave Michael these…superhuman powers, as if he needed more of those. He even gave me this knife." She waves the pocketknife around, letting the firelight glint off the blade. "I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's because Michael asked to be here in the first place." There's a beat of silence, before Meg speaks up, eyes wide.

"Hold up. He volunteered for this madness?" Meg asks. "And he pulled you, his soulmate, into this too. He volunteered to send you both to hell?" Laurie nods, and Nea lets out a low whistle.

"That's messed up. Even for this world." She comments. Laurie closes her eyes, her fingers brushing over that small dark scab where her soulmark had been.

"He just wants to hunt me down forever, I guess." Laurie sighs. "I have no idea why, it's not like our soulbond ever grew when he started stalking me. We've never even talked."

"You're lying." Laurie's eyes snap open, and everyone whirls around to face Evan, whose eyes are dark and thoughtful behind his mask.

"Excuse me?" Laurie's tone is as sharp as the knife she wields, and Meg starts to feel concerned for the welfare of her soulmate. Evan sits up, interlacing his hands and resting his chin on them. He meets Laurie's challenging eyes without fear or hesitation.

"A soulbond that never had a chance to grow would be a small, faded black dot- nonexistent." Evan explains. "It wouldn't be a scab, like yours is. For a soulmark to scab like that means that the people involved were once extremely close, and then suffered an act of betrayal that destroyed the bond. You have to know, maybe even love, the person beforehand for it to scar and scab like that." He tilts his head to the side, eyes mocking. "So what's the truth, Laurie? Because you and Michael Myers definitely didn't meet just one random Halloween night."

A stunned silence greets his words. Most of the group looks impressed, some look at Laurie curiously, and Meg herself feels inexplicably proud of her soulmate, even though there is no reason to be. Evan is smarter than he looks. Laurie glares at him coldly, before turning her head to stare at the trees, away from them all.

"I was adopted." She says shortly. When Evan starts to speak, likely to ask what that has to do with anything, Laurie cuts him off. "I didn't find out until after I had met Michael for the first time, but it explains a lot. My birth name," Laurie smiles bitterly. "Was Cynthia Myers." She waits a minute, letting that sink in for them all.

"Michael Myers is…" Philip trails off, staring at the blonde who nods.

"My big brother." Laurie scoffs. "Not only am I stuck in hell forever, but my brother and soulmate is the one who got me in here in the first place."

Silence greets this revelation. Meg's first thought is that it's weird for siblings to be soulmates in the first place. Not unheard of, Meg supposes. Most soulbonds are platonic in nature, after all, and a soulbond only marks compatibility in personality. A soulbond meant that person was who you had the potential to grow closest to in life- not that you were destined to be together, or any nonsense like that.

"So what're you going to do?" Meg asks quietly. Laurie glances at her, face set in grim determination.

"I'm going to keep stabbing him until the day comes where either he doesn't get up, or I don't." She shrugs, flicking the knife closed and tucking it into her pocket. Meg considers this for a moment, before Evan speaks up again.

"Probably not the best idea, considering we're all apparently immortal here." He says dryly. Laurie glares at him, and Meg honestly thinks it a miracle the two haven't attacked each other yet.

"Do you have a better option?" She challenges, looking at all of them.

"I do." Philip speaks up, not flinching as the blonde turns her fierce gaze to him. "Work with us. We'll work together here, outside of trials- we can help keep Michael away from you." Laurie considers this for a moment, before frowning.

"You already tried to stop him once, didn't you?" She nods at Max's bandaged arm. "That didn't work out well. What makes you think it'll be different a second time?"

"He won't approach you with all of us around." Sally says. "Even he knows his limits." Claudette frowns at this.

"What if he's here right now? Stalking us?" At this everyone turns around, scanning the forest in search of a hint of a white mask.

"He isn't." Laurie sounds almost bored, but her eyes are a deep blue, considering. "He's with the Entity right now. But you're right, he wouldn't approach…what?" She asks as she realizes they're all staring at her.

"You can sense him?" Dwight asks, stunned. Laurie blinks, before nodding.

"Yeah. He can sense me, too. It's why I told you guys to go without me in the trial." Meg thinks about this. There were records of soulbonds with abilities like that- to sense each other, or to feel each other's pain, but they were incredibly rare. In most cases such a thing was considered a precious gift, but in this case…

Well, Meg can't blame Laurie for considering herself cursed.

"You're right, though." Laurie nods. "I don't think even Michael would approach if we're all here together. But I wouldn't put it past him to attack us if any of us are alone, either."

"So it's settled, then." Philip nods. "We stick together." There is another pause as everyone considers the implications of this. It was one thing to have dinner together, but to share a camp…

Meg starts as Evan stands up beside her, brushing off his pants. He nods at everyone, then turns and walks away. Meg stands up, frowning.

"Where are you going?" She calls after him. Evan glances over his shoulder, giving a half shrug.

"No reason to stay here right now. I'm going to go hunting. We need the food." Meg feels a stab of annoyance and anger in her, and she balls her fists.

"Seriously? You're going out there alone? How stupid are you, Macmillan?" She asks. She hears a sharp inhale behind her, but she ignores it- as does Evan, who turns around and steps closer to tower over her.

"Is that a problem?" Evan's voice is calm, but cold as steel. Meg feels a part of her tense in fear, but she shoves it away.

"Considering there's a masked lunatic with a knife walking around the forest? I'd say yeah." She cocks a hip to her side, scowling. "I don't think even you could take him on alone." Meg is startled when Evan grabs her chin, forcing her to stare at him. She hears a rustle of movement behind her, and prays someone is close enough to stop him from hurting her. She feels the fear bloom in her, and she's acutely aware of the soulmark on her shoulder throbbing in pain.

"Are you calling me weak, Meg Thomas?" He asks softly, quiet enough only she can hear him. He could snap her neck easily, and Meg realizes she has made a grave mistake.

You shouldn't expect decency from me. Evan had once told her, and Meg is beginning to wonder if he was right all along. But it is too late to back down now.

"I'm calling you a fool, Evan Macmillan." She hisses back, eyes narrowed. Evan raises a hand, and she flinches backwards, fear flooding onto her face. Evan freezes, and his brown eyes show surprise, and a hint of what might be hurt. It's gone as quickly as it appears, and Evan slowly reaches out his hand, tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, before turning and walking away into the woods. This time, Meg does not try to stop him. Instead, she turns and walks to where the others are silently sitting, aware that they had witnessed that entire humiliating exchange. Meg sits on the ground and hides her head behind her knees, feeling shame and misery and guilt coil inside her.

She agrees with Laurie, Meg realizes. Soulmates suck.

TBC

What a long week it's been, and it's only Monday! I hope all of you have had better Mondays than I've had. Sorry for this chapter taking so long, but life has been hectic lately. It's a bit longer than most chapters, so hopefully that makes up for it.

Thank you so much for your kind reviews! And now to address some comments:

About Michael and Laurie: yes, I am aware they are siblings (which I guess is kind of obvious given this chapter, haha). And let me state it now, there will NOT be any incest or romantic subtexts between them. I know that typically the term "soulmates" is used to refer to lovers, but that isn't really the case here. I'm not sure how clear it's been, but my idea of a soulbond is the compatibility of personalities- not someone being destined for someone else. In fact, with two exceptions, the majority of the soulbonds in this fic will be platonic ones. With everything these guys go through, I think what they need most of all is friends- not lovers.

About the point of view: Two Souls Bound will be written completely from Meg's perspective. Sorry! I may go back and write oneshots from other character's perspectives, but for now, you'll just have to imagine how the confrontation between Michael and the other killers went down.

As for what else I'm going to do? Well, you'll just have to keep reading, won't you? ;)

Thank you again for all the support. If you've enjoyed the story and have time, please leave a review! Have a great week- and a happy Thanksgiving, for all my American readers!

~EndWillows