Loud House: Flash!

7th Flash: A Darker Night

"Come on, come on! Light, you stupid piece of junk, light already!"

The mechanism responded with the familiar click and flicker of a spark only to die down once more. Quickly she thrust her hand into the pockets of the vest she'd scavenged, fished around hurriedly, going by feel since that's all she had now that it was quite literally pitch black out and she could hear that godforsaken grinding of those feet and they were close and she knew she was out in the open and such an easy target as she stumbled around in the dark and where were those cars-

"Finally!" she choked down a gasp as her fingers brushed the other lighter she'd charged earlier. Thrusting the first into another pocket, she forced panic down as she pulled the second up, fumbled with its safety latch, then pressed the button to find that familiar arcing line of light and heat she missed so much in that too long span of time. "Oh God, this is the light of my life!" she tried to laugh, but out came only a gulp, followed closely by, "Okay, maybe shouldn't make light of my situation."

But the lighter did its job. She was calm again. Or as calm as she could be ever since she'd wound up in this blasted hellscape of a dream or nightmare or whatever the heck it was and could you enter a nightmare just by walking up on stage, she was sure this wasn't any sort of stage fright she'd ever heard of-

The scrapping grew louder again, and she stifled every noise she could as she hid first behind then underneath several cars sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store she'd been looking for earlier. This is so not worth getting more food! I'll probably end up food myself!

Of course, that didn't matter. Not anymore. No matter how many times she died, it just wouldn't stop.

Nor would the pain.

As the footsteps passed by again, she risked crawling along underneath the cars, hoping this would hide her long enough to reach the entry of the store. Several more times the footsteps grew louder, but always they passed on by, letting her continue-

"Oh dang it!" she whimpered as the area around her lit up just enough to see outlines of the parking lot, building, even the sky and the black moon that sat high above. Under her hand, a red message scrawled in blood and lit with an eerie glow said simply, 'Caution is a slow and insidious killer here, LOL.'

But none seemed to notice, and the light died down.

She almost laughed. Almost.

"Well, Toots," she didn't have Mr. Coconuts there with her right then, but it calmed her nerves to think she did. "That was a real jump scare, huh?"

"Okay, not my best, but it's all I got, okay?" she grumbled when her inner critic added its two cents.

After a moment, she left the message behind, waited until the sounds died down again, then risked everything in an outright bolt for the store's front doors.

Unfortunately, she was out of luck.

"Dang it! Figures they'd be locked."

Listening for any approaching foes, she nodded her head once sure she was safe and, taking a step back, held the lighter out in front of her, lifted her hand behind it, spoke a short chant, then pressed the button.

A gout of flame shot forth, melting the door's frame, lighting up only a small area as focused and laser-like as it was. A second later, her goal was achieved.

The lock was no more.

"Heh, caution: contents within are about to get hot!" she actually chuckled at that. Of course, normally she wouldn't dream about stealing, but normally she wasn't stuck in a horrifying nightmare like she currently was.

She entered the building by the light of her flame spell, then searched her vest and pulled from it a battery. Extinguishing the lighter and repeating her earlier stance when she reached her destination, she chanted something else before an arc of electricity shot out and touched a nearby overhead light off to the side and out of view of the main entrance, bringing it dimly to life.

As she went scavenging, more arcs of magical electricity shot forth to a light above each aisle she came to while her mind dwelt on her overall predicament.

"You know, I can tell the difference between reality and fantasy," she whimpered as she looked indecisively between two packs of packaged cookies, a basket full of various goods sat nearby on the floor. "So could I be blamed if I asked reality to tell the freaking difference between itself and fantasy!"

It was now of all times that she found herself truly sympathetic for Lincoln after the trouble she and her sisters gave him on that dang shopping trip.

"Lincoln…"

Thinking of her only brother just made everything hurt more.

Maybe this was her punishment? After what she did, after that? Maybe all of this is what she finally earned?

Still.

"If you don't mind, Linc," she huddled in on herself then, trying hard not to cry. "I'd like to go home anyways. This abandoned city with all those creepy, freaky things walking and floating and crawling and hanging all over the place and those messages written in blood on the walls and ground and these little lighters and batteries being the only way to protect myself is really wearing thin-"

Luan dropped the cookies and screamed, her hand uselessly reaching for a lighter as the familiar scythe-like appendage lodged deep within her neck.

Again.

End of 7th Flash