A/N:

**Please see Chapter 1 for all warnings!** Don't like it? Don't read it!

Thank you Christine, goldacharmed and Kajensen07 for the great reviews!

Sitting in the dark for a long time didn't help Jacob's eyes adjust at all. He was still completely blind. He did think he might have a feel for where the other side of the wall was, but it was only guesswork. He remained in his corner, blinking a lot and wishing that just a trace of light would reach him.

Jacob could hear every ominous creak as the building settled. One of the people who lived in the motel room nearest him had been gone a while, but there was the occasional tremor in the ground and distant shifting of fabric. Someone was asleep in one of the beds. A titan snoozing away the afternoon, none the wiser to the absolutely teeny person huddled beyond their tacky wallpaper. Every deep breath that filled their massive lungs sounded like a distant gale, as though freedom was close enough if Jacob were to just go and look for it.

He refused that instinct to go and search, remaining where he sat with his knees hugged close to him. Getting up and wandering around would be the absolute worst idea. He had no idea where he was, no idea if he'd walk over a hole in the ground and plummet in the dark. His very best chance was to hope that Sam and Bowman were on the way. Anything else was impossible for him to manage on his own. Jacob was too small.

They could look for him. Sam had to know what to do. Jacob sure as hell didn't, and that scared the crap out of him.

The smell inside the walls reeked of the kind of stale air that never stirred, making him think that maybe no people like Sam's family lived here. Just piles of sawdust, lots of dustbunnies, Jacob, and ...

Was that a rat?

Jacob stiffened, breath caught in his chest. It took a moment of fear to realize his overactive ears had supplied him with a phantom noise once again. The silence around him stretched on like the gaping dark. It was like a physical weight slowly edging closer and closer around him like it might steal him away at any second. Jacob gave up on looking around and ducked his head, hiding his face behind his arms.

Some lesson. He was dropped into an unfamiliar environment, one that was completely hostile to him. He had no way to see, no way to protect himself. Just a lot of dust and a hope that Sam would figure out where to look for him. The quiet, oppressive darkness all around seemed to settle on Jacob and fill him with a feeling that was becoming uncomfortably familiar. Helplessness.

Jacob's fists clenched as he thought about what the man who had cursed him had said. That he needed perspective on what it was like to be small. That he needed to learn what people like Sam and Bowman felt their entire lives. Sam's words from the morning before mixed in with the thoughts, reminding Jacob that Sam only ever had what control was given to him. Jacob thought about the first time they met- and captured- Bowman. The sprite had curled up a lot like Jacob was now, trapped under glass and overwhelmed by fear of what would be done to him. What he couldn't stop.

And Jacob had been the one to put him under the glass in the first place. It was no wonder the guy thought Jacob needed a lesson in helplessness. He had so easily snatched control of someone's life away from them. Twice. Jacob curled into a tighter ball at the realization that he deserved this. He had been an absolute nightmare to Sam and Bowman, and suddenly he had to wonder why they even kept him around. With the suffocating dark all around, it was easy to slip into such disparaging thoughts.

He was completely reliant on Sam and Bowman now. Dean, with all his tricks and his arsenal that was always on hand, wouldn't be able to safely help him here. Jacob had never needed to rely on someone this much. If they couldn't find him, he'd either waste away and starve in the walls or he'd be found by something that would rip him to shreds for a quick meal of its own. Jacob was as helpless as a baby deer before a mountain lion.

It was only a matter of time.

High above, metallic vents he couldn't see creaked and ticked as the air conditioning started up. There was a hum now, a gentle background noise that seemed so out of place in this stifling, terrifying space. Jacob had so much room around him, but he felt trapped in his corner. He forlornly brushed a wood chip off his sleeve, knowing that in actuality it was a piece of sawdust.

Jacob's own mind whispered abuse at him, but it was cut off by a noise. Jacob realized with a quickening heart that it wasn't a false alarm.

Something's coming.

He pressed himself further into his corner as his ears strained. There was a faint scraping as something low to the ground scurried along within the walls.

He shut his blind eyes tight when whatever it was passed his support beam. Jacob couldn't see it, but he could tell that something was in front of him, mere inches away. It sniffed the air. Paws shuffled around in the dust. It didn't sound very large - bigger than him, but not massive.

Just when Jacob thought the mouse would turn on him, scratch at him for being in its territory, he heard a shuffle of little paws and a long thin tail against the ground as it dashed away. Off on whatever business mice got into while they were shuffling around in the dark. At least it either hadn't noticed Jacob or it hadn't reckoned him worth the time.

Jacob slumped, adrenaline filtering through his system almost like it was disappointed not to be put to use. Maybe he would have been strong enough to wrestle with the creature for a bit, but Jacob could not see himself winning a fight with even a mouse.

A long, blessedly uneventful while later, Jacob heard footsteps again. He perked up, wondering if the mouse was back. Then his eyes widened. Jacob may not be able to see it, but he could hear that the creature approaching with a lazy gait was a lot bigger than any mouse.

A rat. Shitfuckdammit.

He quivered where he sat, knowing how big the rat must be by comparison. His imagination was cruel to him, as it had been since the whole fiasco began. Its paws would be huge, with claws as long as his fingers caked in blood and dirt. Vicious teeth the length of his arm would adorn its ever-starving mouth. If it stood up on its haunches, a rat would even stand taller than Sam. The creature would be the size of an elephant to Jacob.

The sound of a massive tail sweeping lazily on the ground behind the creature left Jacob thinking that just that appendage could break his ribs if it smacked him. He couldn't hope to defend himself at all against this animal. His only sliver of hope was that his covering of dust was enough to hide him from the creature.

It came closer.

It was inches beyond the support beam at his back. Jacob's eyes were wide and still saw no more than before. He heard the curious sniffling; perhaps the rat was annoyed that a mouse had recently scampered by. Maybe that was all.

He felt more than anything else when the rat's imposing presence passed the support beam. Jacob put his hand over his mouth and held his breath, knowing a beady black eye had to be inches away from him, a nose with long whiskers guiding the rodent's actions. He could almost convince himself that he felt its footfalls. A single exhalation escaping him might alert it to his presence.

The lumbering creature, though invisible to him, took on an appearance in Jacob's mind regardless. Red-rimmed black eyes that let no light escape their depths. Long, jagged teeth ready to gnaw whatever the long spindly paws snared in their grasp. Matted, shaggy brown fur coarse with years of exposure to dust and little else. A long pink tail, endlessly shifting back and forth even as the creature inched forward, loudly sniffing the ground around it. It was hideous. It was powerful. It would kill him.

Don't notice me don't notice me don't notice me Jacob begged, a mantra to go along with his body's quaking.

And for a moment, it seemed like it didn't. The rat took a few more steps forward, and Jacob could sense the way its bulk effectively hedged him into his corner. The rat shifted the dustbunnies and sawdust around with its constant snuffling and the stirrings of its tail. Jacob hardly dared breathe.

Just when Jacob thought he might actually be in the clear, with the rat several steps ahead of the support beam, that huge snakelike tail dragged along the ground and all but slammed into him. Jacob couldn't help the faint noise of startled pain as his shins took the brunt of the impact.

The scraping noise of the rat whirling around chilled Jacob to his core. It's tail swept away but he knew the thing was looking right at him, sniffing the air around him. Probably unable to believe this strange, moving little thing had escaped its strong sense of smell.

Jacob didn't wait around for the rat to deliberate on what to do. He shot to his feet, aided by a healthy surge of adrenaline, and tried to bolt around the support beam. Every instinct screamed at him to run. The beast that had him in its sight would tear him apart.

Piece by piece by piece. He might even live long enough to feel the first few vicious bites into him as the rat snapped him up.

He didn't even make it around the wooden pillar. An enormous paw slammed into him. Jacob's breath was forced out of his lungs and he was pinned against the support beam, his arms stuck and his legs useless to squirm his way out of this one. A low noise of fear made its way out of his throat, and a quiet squeak whistled out of the rat as if it was taunting him. Playing with its prey.

Those long, sharp claws didn't dig into him yet. One just barely scratched at Jacob's jaw, and he felt the sting of an open cut.

And he felt the rushes of air as an invisible snout came close to sniff at him. Jacob struggled weakly against the superior strength of his captor. Soon, the long teeth that he couldn't even see would tear into him. Jacob probably wouldn't even have time to scream in agony before his lungs were separated from his windpipe by those powerful teeth. He was going to die fast, and he was going to die bloody.

And he was going to die alone.

Time passed by endlessly as they searched.

Sam could feel a growing sense of unease as they passed by the motel rooms. Each offshoot of the passageway was meticulously examined, Sam directing Bowman with the flashlight to each corner of the darkness. They couldn't risk calling out for Jacob here; there was too much of a chance that they'd be heard by other humans in the rooms. Dean was nowhere close by, and they couldn't rely on him for a last minute save this time.

Any words passed back and fourth were in quiet, hushed voices. Sam had to warn Bowman away from a mousetrap at one point, set and laid out with a crumpled piece of bread at the center. Before moving on, he'd found a hunk of wood, tossing it into the middle to set it off. At least if there were any mice living in the building, they wouldn't fall into this trap.

The further away they ventured from Dean's motel room, the more worried he became. What if he'd picked the wrong direction? There were hundreds of motel rooms; to search them all might take days for them. If Jacob was huddled into a corner and fell asleep, even Sam and Bowman might pass him by on their search. That possibility would mean they'd never see him again.

Still, they pressed on, determination filling them both. He was one of their best friends, and he was counting on them. There was no one else that could do this.

Even as they slipped out of the sixth or seventh corridor they'd examined, the taunting words on Bowman's wings caught Sam's eye.

Like a rat in a maze...

Well, this was certainly a maze if you didn't know the layout the way Sam did. What was starting to worry him was the thought of a rat finding Jacob. What if there was a reason the word had been placed in the taunt?

The sounds out of a television drowned out his thoughts for the eighth and ninth passages. Someone was watching Indiana Jones nearby, the triumphant music loud and blaring as it announced to the world the end of the movie. Sam was vaguely impressed that there had been no complaints, especially considering the way that the ground and sawdust scattered around vibrated in time with the blasting bass.

By the time they came upon the tenth passage, and Sam was feeling the hope he'd held on to start to slip away, he heard a sound ahead of them in the dark. Holding out a hand to stop Bowman in his tracks, Sam gestured the sprite to wait there.

Sam ducked down, slinking along in the shadows cast by the small flashlight as it played over the landscape. Scuffle, scuffle... his ears trained on the sound as he approached. Scuffle.

Coming up next to a support beam, he froze. From there he listened to the strange sound approach, up until...

Sam went to jump out as it came up next to his beam, almost tripping over himself in his surprise. It was just a mouse. He let out a laugh of relief as it sniffled at his jacket sleeve, bright eyes blinking up at him. "Holy crap, I thought you were a rat." Sam brushed a hand over the rounded ears. Mice weren't dangerous to him or Bowman. "You should be more careful. Where's your family?"

After a moment of sniffing, the mouse squeaked in surprise. Unexpectedly, the teeth latched onto Sam's jacket sleeve, trying to propel him along.

"Hey, what's going on?" Sam stumbled a few times in place at the awkward angle of being dragged along with his arm almost on the ground. He waved at the now-distant Bowman to follow along. "Did something happen?"

Rats were an enemy to avoid, but mice were friendly to people like Sam. Centuries of living in close quarters had resulted in a surprising symbiotic relationship. Sam's people made sure to keep the mousetraps harmless, just like he'd done earlier on, and the mice would take care of the families that lived near them. More than once growing up Sam had been brought small 'presents,' like a hunk of bread or a dropped bottlecap. Little things that the mice assumed they'd need.

Now, if there was something wrong, he'd normally be eager to help, but Jacob might be out there, waiting for them. Lost and alone. He tried to pull himself to a stop, but when the mouse released his arm, all that ended up happening was it nudged him from behind, pushing him down the corridor.

"Okay, okay!" Sam said, trying to get the mouse to calm down. "We're coming." If the mouse was that eager to get him moving, something must really be wrong. They were almost never pushy like that.

With that assurance, the mouse darted ahead, squeaking. At a quick jog, Sam followed along, the light from behind bouncing along as Bowman tried to keep up. They passed by four more motel rooms, an amount that would take them another hour to search at the pace they'd been travelling.

The mouse skid to a stop at a dark, looming corridor. Sam froze next to him, his ears tuned in to the sounds that lay ahead. No mouse sounded like that.

"A rat. It's a rat," he said in a hushed voice. "That's what you needed help with?" He held his knife at the ready, waiting for Bowman to catch up with the light.

Seconds after the flashlight shone down the corridor, Sam felt his insides turn to ice.

There was definitely a rat ahead of them. Dark eyes glittered as the light reflected off of them, temporarily blinded by the sudden onslaught. Its paws were wrapped around its prey, the same way Sam had seen rats do to insects in the past before biting down.

But that was no bug in its paws.

A/N:

Nope, not Patience like the new character for Wayward Sisters. Patience, as in, Jacob knows how to wait out a search party.

And also patience, because the next update for this story comes... February 4th!

Please join us for when BA resumes posting on January 31st with Bittersweet Parting!

Don't forget to feed the authors! Leave a comment to let us know what you think.

Next: February 4th, 2018 at 9pm.

NOTE: There will be a blog/story update hiatus from January 25th to February 3rd! Brothers Apart will be the only story that posts during that time, and all excerpts/asks will be paused for the duration.

If anyone is looking for night or neon during those weeks, we'll be very deeply involved with Monster Hunter: World for the duration.

Leave us a review to let us know what you think! This lil experiment is a test of our abilities when completely unleashed!