A/N: Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and this year I thought I would celebrate by posting a dark fic. It is a crossover of the short story The Most Dangerous Game written by Richard Connell. This is a pre-written fic that is a total of 5 chapters and will be updated every Saturday.
T/W: THIS FIC WILL NOT HAVE A TRADITIONAL HEA. DARK THEMES WILL BE PRESENT (No r*pe or sexual assault, but there is mention of an abortion) At the top of every chapter, I will be adding trigger warnings. If you choose not to read these, or you decide to proceed anyway, you have done so at your own risk.
"Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure. I am strong. Why should I not use my gift? If I wish to hunt, why should I not?
- General Zaroff, The Most Dangerous Game.
Richard Connell was what every stand up citizen should be. He lived a mundane life with a wife and two daughters at home, where he worked a nine to five office job, five days a week to pay off his mortgage. He never got into any trouble or broke so much as a traffic law, which is why he was wondering what he did to deserve being in this situation.
A situation where he was running for his life from two blonde haired men, undoubtedly related, but that was a detail he knew was neither here nor there.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Richard stopped running seeing he had reached a fork in the jungle. He glanced back and forth panting, not sure what route to take as he never made such a serious decision in his life before. He was out of breath due to sprinting from where he had made camp, but his breathing quickened as he glanced between the two paths. He could almost imagine a neon light over each path; one flashing the word life while the other flashed death. His problem was that he had no idea which path said which.
He heard a rustle behind him and glanced back to see what looked like a black boot appearing from the wilderness he just came from. He went to church every Sunday without question ever since he was a boy, but the past day and a half had him crying, repenting, and questioning his god. The dark velvet cloaks the pale men wore had him convinced that they were a part of a cult, and that Richard's god had abandoned him on this godforsaken island.
A fallen tree trunk next to him exploded and he yelped as he ran faster through the vegetation. He could hear them arguing behind him now and he didn't see how he was going to get out alive. He admitted to himself then the only times he had been able to escape the men were due to them becoming bored and giving up on chasing him.
But tonight, they were not in the best of moods, especially the older man. "I swear Draco, you act like you don't even want to do this anymore."
There was a crackling sound and when Richard tried to glance behind him, he fell after feeling a sharp pain in his ankle. "Ah!" Bloody fucking-
"That's because - Ugh. Father, he hurt himself again." Richard climbed back up on to his good foot, his will to live mixed in with his adrenaline propelling him forward, despite the pain. A small voice in the back of his mind wondered how the younger man knew he had tripped over his own feet the day before, but he refused to let himself be distracted again. Richard was just grateful that he woke up fully healed from the sprained ankle - No matter how odd it was that he was able to heal so fast. Richard ran and stumbled over the branches around him, thinking about how he had to hide instead of run, and found a clearing that revealed he was at the bottom of a cliff.
He knew at the top of the cliff was the mansion where he had dined with the other survivors. The owners were Lucius and Draco- they never gave a surname. A fresh wave of hate and panic washed through him at the memory. They faked hospitality only to release the ten survivors into the night for what they dubbed as The Most Dangerous Game. Richard was one of the few who gave a nervous laugh when they were informed of what they were to do, Lucius' words sounded completely ludicrous. If only he would have taken the long haired aristocrat seriously, he would have tried to kill him then and there with his steak knife - At least that's what he wanted to believe he would do.
Not long after half-hobbling and half-running, he saw a fissure in the cliff that looked like someone of his healthy size could fit in to. Taking the gamble, he squeezed himself inside of it, praying once again for help at being concealed. When his chest would no longer allow him to go further into the cave, he slowly turned to look back the opening of the rock he was sandwiched in, cutting his nose as he did so with how hard it pressed into the jagged edges.
He screamed and immediately went into hysterics when he saw Lucius face pressed into the rock's opening, grinning so widely the devil himself would have been been confused on if he should be charmed or intimidated. "PLEASE, NO!" He begged shamelessly. "I HAVE TWO GIRLS - PLEASE!"
"Draco, come look! He's stuck!" Lucius moved out of the way to reveal Draco who barely spared Richard a glance as he looked into the igneous rock's opening. For lack of a better word, Draco looked bored with his hands shoved into his pockets, as if he was looking at a sleeping dog in an exhibit rather than a muggle begging for his life.
"PLEASE DON'T LET HIM KILL ME, I'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT!" Richard gave out a yell as he felt snot start to run from his nose and into his mouth.
"As if anyone of your kind could give anything I couldn't give my son." The dismissal of his words scared Richard to the point where he felt like he couldn't breathe from the panic attack starting in his chest. I'm going to die. He started to wriggle further into the fissure, giving into the need to get away from his captors.
"Father, can we go kill him so we can go back now?"
Lucius turned to look at Draco, with a frustrated look. "Why? So you return to your mudblood shrine?"
Anger flashed through Draco, but he did his best to keep his cool. "It's not a shrine, it's my office."
"An office that I have to pry you away from because you're bloody glued to it. An office where stolen, candid photographs of her litter your desk because you're obs-"
"I'm not obsessed!" Draco yelled.
Lucius let out a gust of air before throwing his arms up in the air, laughing as he turned back to the cliff's opening. "An imprisoned wife and a delusional son who is consumed with daydreams of a mudblood. That is what the famous Harry Potter has given me!" By the end of his small outburst Lucius was yelling into the rock, looking for Richard. "Look here, Draco! It seems he wasn't trapped after all and had managed to squeeze himself further in!"
"Joy." Draco muttered under his breath as he checked his pocket watch. He was tired of people telling him he had an obsession. Draco was just grateful for Hermione speaking on the Malfoy's behave and he knew his father hated feeling in debt to her. She was the one who came to them while all three Malfoy's were on house arrest, waiting for their trials, offering to help them by acting as a witness on their behalf. However, it was Narcissa Malfoy who took the help one step further, and confessed to all crimes Draco and his father had done under Voldemort's rule so it was ensured they would walk free. Hermione's act wasn't what caused Draco to become enamored with her, but it did magnify it. Especially after he was crucioed for days when Voldemort realized Draco helped her, Harry and Ron escape Malfoy Manor.
"Well, I suppose this bit of rock is unsightly. Stand back, Draco." Draco took several steps back and his father joined him, lifting his wand in the air with practiced grace. Mobilipetram." With a groan that nothing but the earth could make, the two slabs of the cliff came together, completely closing off the entry way. "That should do it. What is the final score again?" Lucius grinned as he readjusted his tie with a small smile on his face. Harry Potter may have gotten rid of Voldemort, but the thirst of a true Death Eater would always succeed their masters.
"Seven to three." Draco tried to suppress the drawl in his voice. He knew if hid father heard any weariness or cheek in his tone, Lucius would have him stay even longer. Since Lucius was the true owner of the island, Draco would need his permission to leave.
"Very good, your old man's still got it." There was a pause before he continued with a dissatisfied voice. "I suppose I can see how you get bored here. Muggles are boring when you know every inch of the land they are running on."
Draco couldn't fight off the yawn he gave and waved a hand as an acknowledgment to his error. "Perhaps you should go for something bigger. Like class XXXX or class XXXXX creatures."
"Perhaps," Lucius repeated, entertaining the idea until his dark grey eyes had a light spark within them. "Or another wizard." Lucius looked at Draco suddenly and gave his son an appraising look. "Come. Let's get you home to your... Office."
Draco was tense as his father clasped a firm arm around his shoulders, not at all liking the greedy look in his father's eye and the slick tone that promised nothing good would come from the ideas Lucius had in his head.
A/N: Next update will be on 10/10/20