Meg whimpered lowly in her sleep. Her eyelids felt like they had been closed for so long they'd never open again. Her limbs were sluggish, and the texture of almost everything felt off. She could feel heavy weight on her side, yet it was actually a rather comfortable weight. Something or someone was pressed right against her back, and she was so warm. It was the perfect temperature, and she could tell it wasn't easy with how many blankets she felt over her form.
What happened?
Meg tried to get up, but the moment she did her skin grew cold and the heavy arm holding her pulled her back in tightly.
She decided it wouldn't kill her to simply bask in the simple comfort for now. So she relaxed into the man's hold, re-adjusting the sheets to cover her shoulders again as he squeezed her tight.
He certainly was a possessive one wasn't he?
Everything was still groggy, and Meg's eyesight was still blurry in the mostly dark room. Candles were lit on tables and dressers at the walls of the room, but other than that it was dark. She considered blinking until her vision was clear, but when she heard the man behind her suck in a deep, rumbling breath, and exhale like a bear. Meg realized who was holding her, and suddenly, the smell of coal and pine hit her nose.
Evan!
Suddenly feeling much more awake Meg wiggled until she was chest to chest with the behemoth sized killer. He had his mask on, the metal rods in his shoulder jutted into the air above them both, but he was in comfortable looking clothing. At least, it looked comfortable compared to his usually rubber overalls which hung and pulled on the metal hooks in his shoulder.
Meg brought her hands up, wanting to take his bone mask off, and just when her fingertips grazed his mask, Meg realized why the texture of everything had felt off.
Her hands, both of her arms were wrapped in gauze. Meg took her hands off of Evan's mask to stare at her hands. The longer she did, the more she noticed her fingers trembled and the scarier the idea of unwrapping them became.
What happened to her!
How had she gotten back to the Estate? Why was Evan spooning her? Well...that wasn't that bad in the grand scheme of things. But why was she wrapped in bandages, and why were the few gaps in between the gauze unnaturally waxy looking?
Before she took off her gauze, Meg lifted Evan's mask up and off his head, tossing it away on the bed. She faced him again, and took in his features.
She'd never seen him sleeping before, and he looked rather handsome too, in a strange vulnerable way. His eyes were closed, hiding the deep emerald and forest green irises behind that seemed to pierce right through her. Meg brought a bandaged hand up and placed it on his cheek, she couldn't feel his skin, but the idea was there.
He'd spared her life several times in the trials, he'd saved her from the bear trap poison, saved her from Ash and Yun Jin, and now, he'd saved her from whatever else had happened to warrant this much gauze.
But as Meg ran her fingers over his face, traced the lines of his eye socket and then ran them over his nose, she couldn't stop noticing the white fabric on her hands. She needed to know what was under it.
So, with shaking fingers, and her breath betraying how scared she felt, Meg slowly undid the gauze over her left hand.
Meg gasped in horror, her breathing now sounding like she was on the verge of tears.
Her hand was completely burnt, utterly and horribly burnt. Almost like Anakin Skywalker from StarWars. With just as much apprehension, Meg unwrapped her other hand. The bandages had been sectioned at the wrist, preventing her from taking off anymore of it.
Her right was in just as horrific condition as her left.
No...no...no no no! What happened to her!? She was burnt, so something to do with fire? All she could remember was her last trial with Evan, how she'd kissed his cheek to show her gratitude, and then how Yun Jin and Ash had attacked her. Evan had saved her yet again. Then...then, she was at the campfire? And everyone was looking angry? What?
Then...
Fighting, yelling, voices shouting out about sacrifice and freedom. Coughs and groans of pain as people fell to the floor from harsh blows.
Raging...fire.
Her own screams so distinct she could almost feel them still vibrating in her throat. Flames creeping up her back and down her legs, scorching her back and arms. But her hands...they had reached down onto the orange and red hot charcoal of the fire in an attempt to push herself off. Then, The Entity had grabbed her, and forced her down into the fire like someone pressing a piece of meat against a grill.
She began hyperventilating, her head wildly turning around the room, glancing around to check for signs of other people, but mostly on the candles.
On the fire.
She twisted quickly, loosing herself in tunnel vision and forgetting about her surroundings.
Just get away from the fire, get away, get away, get away!
"Meg!" She heard.
Her head whipped around to see Evann, his eyes open and staring at her intensely. In most other situations, Meg would have blushed at the way he was looking at her, and just how intense it was on top of that. But this was not most situations, she was on the verge of a mental breakdown as bad as her one in her junior year of high school.
Meg looked at him, but she couldn't stop her shaking arms, the shivering from the cold, the tears forming in her eyes, and the sheer uncontrollable emotion in her heart at the moment. "E-Evan?" She stuttered weakly.
Evan sat up further, and when he did Meg lunged from her spot into him. Wrapping her arms around his neck desperately and clinging to him for dear life as she started to sob uncontrollably. Her cries growing louder and more painful, more raw. His shoulder was wet within seconds, but he didn't seem to mind. His arms wrapped around her and pulled her into him as tightly as he could without hurting her.
He murmured soothing words in her ear, trying his best to calm the raging fear and panic in her. "It is alright Megan. It is going to be ok." He whispered, one of his hands sliding up her back and holding the back of her head. He stroked her hair, running his fingers through it slowly.
It didn't stop Meg's panic attack. She just couldn't seem to stop crying, or the sobbing, or anything. It was just a vicious loop that wouldn't stop. Because each time Meg thought she might be able to calm down, she became hyper aware of the way her burnt back rubbed uncomfortably against the fabric of whatever shirt she had on underneath her hoodie.
Evan had a lot of patience though, because he just let her cry her eyes out. His hands stayed on her head and back, gently rubbing circles or running through her hair softly.
"Evan." She choked out, squeezing him tighter as she did. He did the same, radiating a sense of warmth and comfort, that she was safe. "Megan." He murmured back. "You are safe here with me." He said. "I will never let any of them hurt you." He rumbled. "I promise."
Meg felt even more emotion well up at the sincerity in his voice, and she just cried harder into him.
Finally it seemed Evan had enough, because he gently moved his hands to place one on her head and pull her back until they were face to face. He slid his hand to her cheek, making sure she was looking at him. "Megan." He said, grabbing her attention.
She looked at him with tears still flowing from her eyes, her crystal blue eyes were probably bloodshot and puffy too. She could feel how flushed her face was from emotion, from fear, anger, the sadness, but also something unidentifiable she felt from Evan's actions.
She was still hyperventilating, and she couldn't make it stop. Meg felt helpless, unable to even control her own lungs.
Just like in high school.
She could hear her heart thumping in her chest and the blood rushing through her head. It made it hard to focus on anything, and the world grew fuzzier.
Evan put his other hand on her other cheek, now with both hands cupping her face he made her look at him. "Megan." He said when her eyes began to shift rapidly around the room behind him. Her gaze snapped back down to his, and her breathing grew just a little easier.
"You are safe here. You are here at the estate with me." He rumbled quietly, his voice showing actual emotion for once, whatever anxiousness he felt rising to the surface. "I just promised to not let them hurt you, did I not?" He asked, giving her a look.
Meg tried to organize her thoughts, she hadn't paid much attention to anything in the last few minutes other than her racing heart, her burning lungs, and the fire from the candles. But she had heard that as she hid her face in his shoulder, as she'd tried to block out the fire.
Meg nodded weakly, the tears now slowing enough to let her see better. Her breathing was heavy, but now it felt like she wasn't loosing control of her respiratory system.
"Do you trust me?" He asked, and Meg's panic idled and wild mind thought of the animated movie Aladdin, she almost laughed at the memory of watching it with her mom, but that just made more tears flow. She tried opened her mouth to try and speak, but all that came out was a fragile wheeze that died immediately. Meg went to reach for her throat, but Evan stopped her.
"Megan, look at me." He said, and she obeyed. "It is going to be ok. But do you trust me?" He asked again, and Meg nodded like earlier. She could feel her tears moistening Evan's hands and being spread against her cheeks.
"Than you understand that I mean it. I will never let, whoever did this to you, near you again." He promised, looking her right in the eye as he said it.
It helped Meg immensely, and her breathing slowed, coming back down closer to a healthy pace. However, the amount of gratitude she felt didn't know how else to show itself but through tears. Well, that wasn't true, there was another manner, but it wasn't appropriate for this situation. So she clung to Evan tightly once more and mumbled into his shoulder.
"Thank you." She said, repeating twice more before going quiet, letting Evan gently hold her back.
"You are not obligated to thank me." He said, moving one hand slowly up her back and tangling it in her hair.
Meg sobbed one last time, before pulling her head back. She took a page out of Evan's book, and held both sides of his face with her hands. "But that's exactly why I should, and do." She said, her lips curling into a small smile despite the sobbing and tears.
Evan readjusted his positioning, sliding Meg off of his lap and spreading his legs enough to pull Meg inbetween them, her back against his chest. Once settled he rested his chin on her head and held her torso to him tightly, feeling like a giant protective bear. Meg let him shift her as he pleased until he was settled, and then she went boneless. Practically melting into him as he held her securely, radiating soothing warmth on her burns, and her mind.
Meg nestled her head against his throat and neck, fitting it into the groove snuggly while he leaned against the wall behind the bed. Meg forgot all about the candles around her, only focusing on the large man who was protecting, and doting over her. She felt like she could stay there forever.
It almost felt like she did. Meg rested comfortably against his chest for so long she actually started to fall asleep. When her eyes opened again, the room was just as dark as before, but Evan had moved both of them in her sleep.
She always was a heavy sleeper.
She'd slept through several house alarms going off before, thankfully all of which had been false alarms, whether it was her mom forgetting to turn it off or an animal messing around near a window.
As Meg's eyes drifted open she found her cheek smushed against Evan's chest, right against the surprisingly soft fabric of his tank top. Meg breathed in deeply, taking in the smell of coal and pinewood for the third or fourth time. This time, her memories weren't foggy, she remembered everything. The betrayal, the sacrifice, her panic attack, and then...
Just how sweet Evan had been.
He really was a sweetheart by nature, and he wasn't a murderer. No murderer could, in logical conscious, handle her with such care and still be evil at heart. He had cradled her to him, let her cry her soul out onto his shoulder, and then gave her focus when everything started going darker.
She vividly remembered the feeling of his hands holding her cheeks so securely. His hold had been firm, yet gentle. Meg felt gratitude flood her body, unable to articulate the appreciation she felt for him doing so much for her and only asking to be in her presence in return.
However, unlike before this situation was just a little more appropriate for what she wanted to do, despite the fact that he was asleep. So, Meg leaned forward, pulled her hand off of his cheek, and softly kissed his cheek. Her motions were so soft and chaste that it was completely silent. Just her lips pressing against his cheek, and pulling away. A non verbal thank you for more than he ever had to do, and because she didn't know what else to do to make it up to him.
Evan stirred at her motions, and Meg blushed hotly in fear that he'd realize what she had just done to him in his sleep. Evan's eyes fluttered open and immediately landed on her, and it only made Meg's complexion turn even more red.
He leaned forward until his back was straight. Now Meg was fully calm and able to think straight. She was still able to feel where the tears had streamed down her cheeks, but she didn't let it her bother her too much. Instead, she took in Evan's sheer scale.
Meg knew that most guys were taller than girls because both their legs and torsos were just longer in general, and that fact was taken to an extreme with Evan. With both of them sitting straight at the same level, the top her head only came up to the middle of his neck. Then when she looked down at her legs, she also saw that despite her having scooted forward a bit, Evan's feet were still perfectly lined up evenly with hers.
Now in the dark, combined with how wide he was, he loomed over her like a giant. Meg didn't know how to fully describe whatever feeling in her chest arose when she focused in on how he hovered near her. But the first thing that came to her mind was the word excitement.
Without saying anything Evan rumbled deeply and reached out for her. Meg didn't object, letting him lift her almost completely off of the bed except for her feet and pull her onto his lap. He resumed their previous position before they fell asleep. They both simply listened to the sound of each other's breathing, and the vibrations of their heart beats.
"You're just a big softie aren't you." Meg murmured with a small smile, reaching one hand up to awkwardly stroke his temple to the bottom of his jaw. Evan leaned against her hand. "Only for you my little rabbit." He purred, nuzzling down against her head. Meg's eyes widened slightly at the memory, it had been the first time they had actually talked in a civilized manner. It hadn't been super awkward either, like the first time when he'd asked to speak to her. Now look at them, snuggling in a giant bed in his even bigger mansion.
Meg let out the quietest of laughs at the memory, so low she almost thought he didn't hear her. "My bear." She murmured affectionately, earning a pleased squeeze from Evan. "You didn't dance with anyone else while I was gone did you?" She joked lightly, her smile growing a little wider.
Evan's laugh vibrated through her spine and ribs, making her skin tingle pleasantly. "I would not even dream of such." He said. "I highly doubt any would be able to match your talent either." He said, lowering his head to her shoulder.
"Now you're just smooth talking me, you silver tongued devil." She giggled, one sleeved hand covering her mouth. Meg briefly notice that everything wasn't quiet as dark as it should have been, even if her eyes dilated accordingly to the light levels. Because her sleeve was much more distinguishable than it normal.
Evan chuckled with her, giving her a another squeeze before suddenly going still. Meg looked over her shoulder at him concerned. "Evan?" She whispered, raising one hand to rest on his cheek.
Meg got her only warning when she felt his cheek stretch as he smiled. But she was oblivious so she didn't see it coming.
Sometimes she really wished she was a bit more intuitive.
Evan's fingers suddenly snapped from her stomach to her sides, and immediately they began digging into her waist and wiggling.
Meg screamed in surprise, her entire body contorting like a fish out of water as she tried to dolphin dive out of Evan's tickling hold. She almost got away, but Evan caught her ankle and began slowly dragging her back towards him, gripping higher on her legs until he was able to secure her hips. Meg kicked and thrashed the entire time, screeching when he continued to mercilessly tickle her. "Evan! Stop it!" She shouted, and despite the tickling making her laugh, she was genuinely amused and smiling.
"Oh but why would I do that my little blood bird." He said deviously, his hands sliding to the front of her stomach and poking at her belly button.
Meg squealed in surprise and tried to flip over on her stomach, but Evan just flipped her back over. "Blood bird!" She shouted, on the verge of tears from laughter. "That's...new!" She yelled, and then she pulled her legs up and pushed her feet against his chest, forcing him back just enough for her to roll repeatedly until she fell off the foot of the bed.
Meg caught herself mid fall, landing in a plank position as she heard Evan zip to his feet. "Megan, are you alright?" He asked, loosing all traces of humor.
Meg's heart melted. But then she smiled wickedly as a thought entered her mind. Before Evan could come around the corner of the bed Meg threw herself to her feet and made a break for the door. "Hey!" She heard him shout from behind her.
She got the door open as he started running. Using her natural speed they were about evenly matched, the only thing keeping Evan from being left behind was the size of his stride. Meg took full advantage of her strange night vision and booked it towards the large steel door at the end of the hall.
Unfortunately for her she probably shouldn't have done that, because when she went to yank the handle down it barely budged, and that's when she realized that she wasn't as strong as Evan, and that she'd need to put all her strength to even make it move. But by then, she'd already run out of time to escape.
"Caught you my little rabbit."
Meg turned around as Evan slammed both of his hands on either side of her shoulders with a metal bang, trapping her in between the door and his frame. Her eyes widened at the force behind his movements, and from their proximity to her. It reminded her of just how absurdly strong he was, even more than the door reminded her of, he was probably even insanely strong compared to other killers.
Meg felt heat explode from her chest through her entire body. She could have probably escaped, tried to slip underneath his arms and dash away. Provided of course that he didn't catch her again, and she had little doubt he would, she had no idea where she'd even go anyway. He probably knew everything about this entire building by heart, all she'd gotten was a single tour which got cut off by The Entity.
Even with her night vision, she could only see so much. All she could make out was shadowy outlines and only the largest of facial features like his nose.
Evan leaned down so they were closer to eye level, chuckling all the while. "Well I win." He gloated. "Under usual circumstances, I think a man might ask a woman as pretty as yourself for a kiss as his prize." Meg's eyes went wide as the blush spread to her face and pulsated in her chest.
"And while that idea certainly is tempting..." Evan let the words hang, watching her squirm. I already enjoyed myself making you laugh just moments ago. So instead, how about I finish a certain tour I promised you. Then, I have a handful of inquisitions." Evan purred in her ear.
Meg shivered, the sensation traveling down her spine and out to her limbs. But she nodded, and without either of them saying anything Evan swept her to the side, almost as if he was twirling her in a dance. Meg laughed breathlessly at how quick the action was, and looked over as he opened the door. Evan then picked her up and positioned her so she was sitting on his arm, just like last time.
They descended into the darkness, but the further they went, the brighter the rooms became. Some had candles lighting them, which Meg flinched at the sight of. Evan gave her a curious glance when she did, but said nothing of it. Other rooms, were lit with large chandeliers hidden behind foggy glass, lighting the rooms spectacularly that brought wonder into her gaze.
After many minutes, Evan set Meg down near the cold and dark fire place and hugged her tight to his chest.
"You better not try and tickle me again." She threatened with a laugh, and she felt Evan's chest shake even though no sound emerged from his mouth.
"I shall not, for now." Evan said with a small smirk, before his face turned serious. It made Meg worried, not wanting to let go of this good mood now that she'd finally calmed down and could forget about the horrible condition her skin was in.
"I am deeply sorry for spoiling your mood." He said, cupping one of her cheeks in his hand while he looked down at her. "But what happened to you Megan? I cannot even begin to describe my confusion and worry when I saw what had been done to you." He admitted with twinge of worry in his current voice.
Meg felt several emotions flood her, pride, anxiousness, sadness, longing, and dare she say it, love. She hid her face in his chest. "I'm sorry Evan." She said.
The once masked killer looked down at her with worry, so he did the only thing that came to mind. He scooped her up and hugged her, her legs dangling above the ground. "You have nothing to apologize for." He said.
Evan was going to set her back down so she wouldn't be hanging by her hips, but before he could Meg lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist, hanging onto him like a koala. He stood there for a moment, and then he sat down and rested his hands on her hips, Meg uncurled her legs so she could rest still on his lap like before.
"It was after our last trial together. When I went back to the campfire." Meg prefaced. "I got back and everyone was acting weird, they started accusing me of selling them out. That I was sleeping with you so you wouldn't sacrifice me." Meg said.
Evan growled in his throat.
"Evan stop please." Meg begged him, sounding desperate, she placed her forehead against his. His face softened, and he nodded.
"Thank you. For everything." She said.
"But then the fog showed up, and some of the other survivors started saying the Entity was whispering to them. That if they sacrificed me they'd be free. So, they did." Meg let it hang, feeling his hands tense on her waist, his anger growing.
She brought a burnt hand up and stared at it, taking in the scarred tissue and scanning along it. Then she brought it over and placed it on Evan's face to soothe him.
"They tried to throw me into it, but my friends showed up before they could." She said with a smile. "They started a full on brawl with them, but one of them slipped through and got me. I got pushed onto the fire, and the Entity stabbed me." Meg said sadly, tracing lines on Evan's face to keep him from getting too angry.
It was probably just because she was so used to being stabbed by the Entity on a hook. Although, she'd started to forget what it felt like with her survival streak going.
Suddenly, the same fog Meg had described appeared, and both of them shot to their feet, Evan's hands unconsciously gripped her shoulders.
"No." Evan ground out when he saw the smoke pool around Meg's feet. It was rising quicker than normal. He turned her towards him. "Megan listen to me, when The Entity killed you it turned you into a killer okay?" Evan said.
"What!?" Meg screeched, her voice turning shrill.
"I understand, but we do not have time. When the smoke covers you it will tell you your abilities and your three new skills. I know you will not wish to but if you do not sacrifice the survivors you will be tortured for it. I cannot stand to see you like that again. Please just do the best of your ability!" Evan said insistently.
Meg didn't know what to say, she didn't know how to react, how to feel, or what to do. Hadn't she asked him to stop killing them? Why should she do it? Shouldn't she resist as much as possible?
When the smoke reached for her head she reached out for Evan desperately, only to fall onto nothingness. The world had turned dark, foggy smoke on all sides. There was nothing but the eerie humming, just like the basement.
Then as if magic, a book appeared in front of her.
Meg stared at it, before hesitantly reaching down and grabbing it. She flipped the hard cover over to several paragraphs of words, describing powers and abilities.
The first page read.
Power: Firestarter
'Through the pain of a fiery sacrifice, you have found strength and rage. You have the ability to disguise yourself as a survivor in the current trial. Doing so grants you the undetectable status effect,-'
Wait? Undetectable? Was that whenever killers like Ghost Face lost their heartbeat? Meg shook her head, overwhelmed but nervous. She could hear an impatient buzzing, and was too afraid to test exactly what would happen if she pushed it too far. So she kept reading.
'-and allows you to switch your movement speed between walking and running, identical to a survivor. Hitting a survivor with a basic attack will remove your disguise.'
Basic attack? So just The Entity's way of saying hit?
'Special ability: Crouch. Be able to crouch and I crouch identical to a survivor.'
Again, kinda like Ghost Face. Meg almost rolled her eyes.
'Special ability: Athlete's Inferno. Summon inner fire to dash forward at remarkable speeds while retaining full movement control. You cannot attack until you exit Athele's Inferno.'
Meg's mind started whizzing with ideas and emotions. This couldn't be happening! She wasn't a killer, she was a survivor, a born and bred survivor meant to run. Not to chase for murder!
The buzz grew louder in her ears and Meg winced.
She moved onto the three abilities, at least these were familiar. As they were formatted similar to her abilities as a survivor.
'Flaming Mania
You feel a desperate, manic need to get out of the trial as quickly as possible, and you make sure the survivors can feel it.
Anytime you hook a survivor, any other survivor within forty meters will scream and reveal their location for three seconds. Any survivor who screams from Flaming Mania will also suffer from the Oblivious status effect. The duration is determined by the number of meters they were from the hooked survivor.
Flaming Mania has a cool down of sixty, to forty, to twenty seconds.'
So it worked like how the Entity forced them to be exhausted?
Meg kept reading before the buzzing could reprimand her.
'Scourge hook:Combustion
At the start of the trial, up to four random hooks are changed into scourge hooks, you see their auras in white.
After hooking a survivor on a scourge hook, any and all dropped pallets are destroyed. If there are no dropped pallets, than 1 standing pallet is destroyed. When hooking a survivor on a scourge hook for the first time, gain a token.
1• Twenty five, up to thirty five percent increased breaking speed'
Meg squinted in confusion, noticing that the first three tokens had the same numbers, but two was vaulting speed, and three was pallet stun duration. Four however, scared her.
'4• Ten, up to twenty percent decreased cool down on successful basic attacks.'
What was this!
Meg read the final ability.
'Hex: Embers of Vengeance
A hex that harshly punishes those that have wronged you and those who continue to do so.
Upon being stunned or blinded in any form, all survivors will suffer from the hindered status effect at fifteen percent, and the blindness status effect until they are hooked.'
Meg shuddered at the power of those effects, remembering one haunting trial where a killer had brought that Hag hex that prevented them from seeing hooked friends.
'When any survivor begins cleansing a dull or hex totem, Hex: Embers of Vengeance will create Regular, moderate, or difficult checks on their actions for the duration of cleansing. Each failed skill check increases the time required to cleanse and reduces progress by fifteen percent.'
Meg felt horror, but also confusion. It didn't make any sense! Why if all ways would the Entity operate in this manner? It sounded more a freaking computer managing video game commands than some satanic demon creature organizing murder.
Unfortunately, Meg was not allowed to dwell on it any further, as the book soon turned to smoke in her hands, and floated away. Then, the world wen dark, and the buzzing started to tug at her brain.
Meg got the feeling that it wouldn't go away no matter how hard she fought.
Meg awoke in Badham Preschool.
She could hear her what sounded like the fog of The Entity whispering, commanding her to kill. The moment Meg was fully conscious she immediately reeled back and almost fell over from disorientation.
She had a mask on!
Her hands instinctively reached up to claw at it, but it didn't budge. She ran her nails over the wooden material, but stopped when the rough texture began to sting her pain sensitive hands. Instead she stroked the soft hood that covered her hair, as it was soothing on her fingers.
She couldn't feel much of the texture unfortunately, hardly anything but the cold or pain. Meg took in her surroundings. She was at the back door near the desk with lockers off to the side.
The buzz in the back of her head was different now, it had almost everything the survivors felt and more. Now she couldn't feel each one of their hook states, but could easily count the total hooks. Her field of view was significantly restricted however, and it was more than disorienting.
Meg held up her hands, nothing had been put there, but the bandages on her back and wrists were still there thankfully, so how was she supposed to exactly be a killer if she couldn't hurt others. Was she supposed to just punch them like The Nemesis? Or was there something else like that freak Pinhead?
Meg experimentally lunged forward with a swing. She moved far faster than she had expected, and almost lost her balance because of it. However, that was not oh her mind as she flew over the ground. What was in her mind, was pure fear.
Because as she lunged forward with an arm out, flames erupted from her hand, temporarily engulfing it and then sizzling out once she hit open air.
Meg screamed, stumbling backwards and falling back onto her butt as she clutched her right hand against her chest. Her breathing turned into borderline hyperventilation as the memory of screams and fire flooded her brain, smothering her eyes until all else faded away.
No...no, no make it stop! Meg screamed in her head.
Meg got to her feet and ran into the main building. She didn't know why she was running, all she cared about was making the voices stop. Running was what she was good at, what she did as her escape, escape from reality and her problems.
Wow that sounded much worse now that she actually thought it and didn't just silently ignore it. But everyone needed their escapes right?
The buzzing disagreed.
Meg went down into the basement on the side with the furnace, trying to hide herself. She stumbled down the steps clutching her head tightly, angrily tugging at the hood and mask. When she came around the corner the heat that should've smacked her in the face wasn't there.
But the fire of the furnace was.
Orange and yellow tendrils that licked the air, seeing out in between the bars of the furnace window.
Orange tendrils that almost seemed to turn and reach right for her. Calling out for another round of agony.
With a cry Meg fell backwards, pushing herself back on with her hands and feet before scrambling upright and running up the stairs. She turned into the classroom on the other side of the building and fell to her knees, her hands slammed into the stone tiles painfully.
Meg coughed against the inside of the mask, staring down at the dark blob of a reflection she could see, two orange orbs stared back amongst the darkness. She felt a few tears leak from her eyes. No... She couldn't escape it.
Meg almost started crying. She placed her hands over where the reflection showed her mask's eye holes, trying to just make it go quiet so she could think.
Yun Jin
The buzzing grew louder.
She was the one who pushed her into the fire. She'd turned the other survivors against her, she'd killed her, humiliated her.
No, she wasn't going to sink to that level. She hadn't before when Evan tried to crush her throat. So she wouldn't now.
Meg curled in on herself as the buzzing grew louder, painfully so. But she wouldn't back down.
The other survivors that should have been on her side, like Yui and Jeff. They'd killed her the moment she was accused of sleeping with a killer. So much for due process.
Meg coughed, trying to hold back the anger. No. She wouldn't give in.
The buzzing turned to static, and Meg felt fire radiate on her burns. She screamed.
Meg collapsed to the floor, and the pain stopped.
Is this was Evan felt in the trials? An endless buzzing that finally became quiet again once you broke down? The pain of your injuries multiplied until you gave in just to make it stop, still thinking you had all the control to go back at any moment?
The static then stopped too, and her face went cold.
Meg tuned into the Entity's whispers. The survivors. It was Felix, Elodie, Ash, and Yui.
Meg snarled behind the mask, her breathing turning feral and rabid. Like a wolf with frothing insanity dripping from its mouth. She pulled her hands off the tile and slipped them out of her long sleeves, paying great attention to their condition. The sensation of strange, uncomfortable friction against the inside of her shirt, of her jeans.
They did this to her, when all she'd done was try to free them.
What about freedom?
The voices of the Entity boomed.
Kill them.
Meg stood up and stomped on the floor violently, not wanting to hurt her hand by slamming it into the floor. The buzzing came back, but not like the whispers, this was like her time as a survivor. She summoned her power, and was presented with four options.
Now just who would she disguise herself as?
Meg chose Yui, and then shadows crept along the edge of her vision, and suddenly Meg was hyper aware of how quiet it was now that she'd regained her composure.
Meg looked down at her hands, noticing that they looked the same, but that there was a shimmer to them, flickering every second or so. Each time it flickered her hands changed to look like Yui's. Gold bracelets and all.
For three seconds, she had seen Yui's aura, as well as the one person she was with. She didn't know who it was, as she'd been unable to tell, but that didn't matter. What mattered now was that wherever she went they'd let her get close without even realizing.
Meg left the school, heading around the back to the house and shack that resided behind. Meg walked slowly around, before going up the steps when she heard a generator's pistons firing from one of the rooms. They were almost completed.
For a moment, Meg paused. That sound should've filled her with happiness and hope, it meant she was going to get out, and for a moment she smiled, and her head cleared.
Then the static blared in her ears.
Meg lost her smirk, it turned into a grimace, and then a sneer.
Whatever generator Yui had been on completed in the distance, but Meg ignored it.
She walked around the corner to see Felix working on the one man generator. He turned when he saw her. "Geez. Thought you were the killer there for a second. Do you know who it is?" Felix asked, his hands idly reaching back into the machinery parts.
Meg smiled at his short burst of fear, and it seemed her disguise copied her. Then she nodded her head.
"Who is it? Please don't say it's The Shape." Felix begged.
Meg leaned down. "It's me." She spoke.
Meg didn't even recognize her own voice when she did, her disguise dissolved as the two words left her mouth, not even requiring her to lunge.
Her voice sounded as if the fire in her masks eye holes had gained a voice of their own, and now imposed it over her own.
Before Felix could react Meg grabbed him and slammed his head against the machinery. His skull connected with a satisfying clang against the hull of the generator.
Then she threw him over her shoulder with ease, not questioning the unnatural strength. Felix was so stunned from his blunt force trauma he didn't even wiggle. Giving Meg all the time in the world to orient herself and choose the closest hook that glowed white.
Somewhere in the distance she heard the sound of a pallet shattering, as well as the buzz of a token.
She also, heard a scream. Elodie's scream to be exact. She was right behind the hook Meg was at.
Elodie had been slow to react, and only started running once Meg had begun to move. The once survivor lashed out, her hand summoning fire and connecting with the cultist's back, who grunted and ran away.
Meg covered her eyes with her free hand as the flames died down. After around two seconds she looked down at the trail of scratch marks completely giving the survivor away.
Oh this would be fun.
Meg, as it turned out, was not a bad killer. In fact it seemed her unmatched skill as a survivor was a massive advantage in chasing them. Because while she was unfamiliar with performing the mechanics of a killer's mind games. She knew each and every survivor mind game inside and out, she had even invented some of them.
So for each feint they pulled, Meg was waiting for them on the other side with raging fire.
She had just gotten her fourth scourge hook, and now felt she was at her strongest with the abilities she had.
Meg had found her hex along the way too, and it was powerful. Because three of them had hit their second hook stage on the first hook from the blindness.
Perhaps she could ask Evan for help on the basics of killer movement as a killer.
At the thought of the giant bear of a man. Meg stopped her walking. Only three generators had been completed, and all of them were on death hook. She had time, barely, but some. Thankfully they all were terrified of each other out of paranoia that it was her, so that should slow them down more.
Her heart softened at the reminder of the bear trap wielding killer. He had been in this position, and yet he'd probably raged against the Entity for each moment he chose to spare her. To let her take his mask off and hold her. He was too good to her.
Static blared, and Meg cried out, falling to her knees and clutching her head again.
"No." She whimpered, scared at her own mind from the thoughts of the Entity and the demonic sounding rasp that was her killer voice.
The static became so much her skull ached.
Meg climbed to her feet, and chose a disguise. Ash, that coward would do for now.
Meg located his aura, and walked in a different direction, finding Yui alone on a generator in the middle of the street. She immediately tensed up when she spotted the disguised killer, already having let go of the generator and getting ready to run.
Meg pointed at her, something she hadn't yet shown she had the capability to do while disguised. The asian relaxed, but still gave her the side eye as Meg came over and bent down next to the generator.
Just before her fingers could touch the wire, both of them made their move. Meg lunged out, hoping to grab the infuriating Asian outright, while the motorcycle racer took the flames right on her back with a cry and made a run for it.
She growled in anger at the failure. "Just try and escape me!" She howled after the survivor already stomping after her and into a red painted, two story house.
The Asian ran the building cleverly, doing her best to take advantage of when Meg bumped into walls by accident. However, she didn't always succeed in seizing the moment.
Meg finally caught her by triple faking her direction and striking the survivor down as she tried to vault the window again.
Meg stepped over the vault, quicker than most killers could have. She looked down at the Asian groaning at her feet, who was also trying to recover and potentially pick themselves up, Meg reminded herself. So she gave the survivor a quick kick, and then hefted her up.
She hooked Yui, not even bothering to watch as she was taken out of the trial. She turned around to a familiar clanking noise, her eyes widened behind the mask, but she was too slow.
Meg was blinded, and made deaf by the flash bang. Her hands covered her mask desperately as she stumbled, and after a second she regained her sight. Then at that exact moment a pallet was dropped on her head.
The wood connected with her skull painfully, really painfully. So much so Meg fell to one knee from the sheer weight behind the blow and clutched the top of her head with a cry, tears welling up in her eyes from the pain.
Meg could hear rapid flash light clicking, and she soon forgot the pain as she snarled. Her feet planted themselves as she glared at Ash from across the pallet. "I'll burn you to a crisp for that!" Meg yelled
Ash started running before she even could kick the wood.
"Run you spineless coward!" Meg yelled after him. She chased the one handed man relentlessly, ignoring how a fourth generator was completed in the distance. That could come later, now she just needed to make this degenerate pay.
Ash's luck ran out, he clicked the flash light at her one last time and tried to spin around her.
Meg's flames hit him directly in the face. He did a backflip with a hoarse cry and hit the ground hard.
Meg actually laughed at the chain of events, but she was then distracted by the buzz returning. It offered her the chance to kill him without a hook.
A mori.
Meg looked down at the one handed man, taking in his robotic appendage, his empty shotgun holster, his bleeding form, and listening to the groans of pain he emitted.
Meg felt her back burn and heard her own screams accompanied by static in the back of her mind.
He didn't deserve mercy.
Meg stomped on his head, forcing him to stay on the ground. The she stepped over him, and lifted her hands up. "I'll show you what it's like to burn alive!" She seethed.
Flames sparked, and soon bathed Ash in a downpour of red and orange.
He screamed, thrashing around as the heat tried to roast him alive. Thankfully for him, The Entity wasn't going to let him burn to death for hours on end like it would have taken in real life, and he went still.
Meg panted, and stepped away.
She had to protect the last generator...had to kill Felix and Elodie. But... The static, the static was so loud. It hurt, it was so loud it made her skull throb and her chest ache.
She just wanted it to stop, but it wouldn't unless she went after them. But, now, she didn't want to anymore.
Now, she just wanted Evan.
This was all too much. A mori? Her sacrificing? Turning into some psychopath from the Entity's "coercion"
It was too much. She wanted Evan, she wanted him to hold her like he had earlier and tell her it would be alright again, that she'd be okay because he was there to protect her. She wanted her friends, her true friends that had tried to save her life. Meg started crying when she realized The Entity would probably try and force her to kill them too.
NO!
Meg couldn't stand the thought, and the mental exhaustion caught up with her. Her love for her friends, her family, finally overpowered the static. Even if only for a moment. Meg tried to cling to the momentary sanity, she thought of Bill, Claudette, Nea, David, all the others, and Evan.
They were her family, she needed them, more now than ever.
Meg almost cried in relief when she heard the gates power up. She remained where she was near Ash's body, ignoring its existence. She knew if she kept thinking about him than she'd loose herself again.
She heard footsteps, and looked up to see Felix and Elodie, both of them staring at her bewildered. Meg's mind flooded with anger, and the static returned, but Meg tried with all her soul to resist it.
She just wanted to go home.
Why couldn't they just leave her alone!
Meg shouted, the sound coming out warped and whispy, and ran at them. Both of them turned and ran for the exit gates, Felix taking a hit and dashing forward. But the two had been stupid enough to come harass her when she was across the map from both gates. With her reduced cool down, Meg was able to injure Elodie, and as Felix opened the gate, downed him.
Elodie turned and ran through the barrier without a moments hesitation, and Meg sneered at her.
Worthless, selfish, coward.
Meg picked Felix up and sacrificed him begrudgingly, finally letting out a sigh as the static stopped, and the world collapsed. Meg felt she could have cried in relief.
She was finally free.
When Meg woke, she was in a burning bungalow.
Wait? This was her house!
"Megan." She heard, she knew that voice. Her head turned to see Evan looking at her, his mask back on. "Evan." She breathed, helping him lift her up to her feet. Evan took her mask off without her even having to ask, and he slipped it onto his belt, Meg was just glad it was gone. He lifted her into his arms and she buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm so sorry." She said shakily.
Evan didn't say anything in response, he merely hummed and rubbed her back as he left the building.
"I forgive you, And it is going to be ok. I know it." Evan said.
Meg closed her eyes, not tired enough to fully sleep, but she knew she'd get there soon enough. She was okay now, she wasn't in that accursed trial anymore.
Maybe she could convince Evan to take her to her family?