The moon shone crimson that night. Noah led Caught and Tim into the woods. "We're splitting up! You guys pick where to go, I'll be going south." Noah commanded.
So they split up.
Caught fled to the west. He could just barely see the forest floor through the thick canopy. Gods, it was dark. But still he walked onwards with his halberd, Amnesiac, by his side. He heard it suddenly.
"CAUGHT! HELP ME!" Evan yelled. Caught ran towards the noise and saw Evan standing in front of him.
Caught ran towards Evan. The two embraced tenderly. "Evan, are you hurt?" Caught asked.
Evan looked melancholy. "I'm sorry." was all he said.
Caught raised his eyebrows in confusion before he felt something slice the back of his neck, then catch a drop of his blood. It wasn't fatal, he knew that.
But it still made him emit a guttural scream.
As he slumped to his knees, he saw Patrick standing behind Evan, covering Evan's mouth with a smirk. They vanished just as his vision faded.
Tim fled to the east. He had Masquerade at the ready, in case anything tried to attack him.
He could hear something moving behind him.
He turned around and out of the corner of his eye he could swear he saw a ghost from his past. He blinked and the figure was gone.
He felt something pierce him from the side. He turned around and saw Patrick with a dagger and a blood-filled vial.
"Good night." Patrick hissed. Tim was frozen to the ground. He could not move nor speak.
Noah tore through the woods, his eyes ablaze with white-hot rage. His blackened blade was gripped firmly in his right hand. "EVAN! IT'S ME! NOAH!" he yelled.
The voice that replied was definitely not Evan's. Out from the wild moors, Noah heard dark and merciless laughter that sound almost mocking to his ears. Noah knew that laugh.
He charged towards the laughter onto the wild moors, wind rushing through his unkempt ebony hair.
Standing upon the moor was Patrick. His familiar fire-axe was gone, replaced by an blood-red and wickedly sharp executioner's axe.
Noah's fists set alight with flame.
"YOU." Noah snarled.
Patrick just looked at Noah with a bemused expression. "Let's see if you're as much of a spitfire in battle as you are in general." Patrick snarked.
They threw themselves into battle with stunning brutality. Sparks flew off their weapons as they struck each other.
"You really are a worthless piece of shit, aren't you?" Patrick taunted as their blades were locked in combat.
Noah remembered where he had heard that before. The journal. Milo's journal.
"Fuck you," Noah remarked coldly. Patrick just smiled in reply.
"You're a washed-up, pathetic drunk, Maxwell. Face the facts, just give up already," Patrick mocked. "Milo Asher would be ashamed of you." he added.
"Let's team up to scorch this fucker," Noah heard Firebrand snarl in the back of his head. Noah didn't hesitate before nodding in agreement. "Do it." Noah whispered.
Noah looked down and saw himself burn. Patrick looked on, intrigued.
Flame was devouring Noah now. He now realized his fate had caught up with him. Firebrand and Noah had combined into one unstable, sparking creature.
The two were in unison, and there was one thought surging through their head:
Make him pay.
Frenzied laughter erupted from the flames.
The flames exploded outwards and Noahbrand now stood in Noah's place. And he was pissed.
Noahbrand lunged at Patrick, grabbing his throat, searing his flesh. Patrick winced, but he did not scream. Not yet. There was sadism in Noahbrand's eyes. That white pinprick gaze pierced Patrick to the core.
"You will not hurt my friends." Noahbrand growled, a grin on his face. "You'll never even lay a fucking finger on them ever again. Not while I'm here. You're going to burn." he added.
Flame lit up Noahbrand's hands and Patrick screamed, wild and feral. Noahbrand's sadistic grin grew even wider.
"That's right, fucker! BURN!" Noahbrand roared, laughing crazily.
"You can't kill me, Firebrand. I'm like HABIT: have to have a vessel to do my work here. And this poor vessel had nothing to do with this. You're really going to kill him to spite me? Hahahaha. You really are like them." Patrick managed to choke out.
Noahbrand looked down at Patrick. His form flickered and for a moment, his true Collective form was revealed. "Who's laughing now, Patrick?" Noahbrand spat as he dropped Patrick, leaving an imprint of his hand seared into Patrick's neck.
Patrick looked at the ground in horror. "You.. you're sealing me away. You're pathetic." Patrick hissed.
Noahbrand smiled as he walked away from Patrick and the charred circle surrounding him. Patrick held up the vial. He'd managed to get one drop of Noah's blood, just one.
Evan rushed towards Patrick, plucking the vial of his friend's blood from Patrick's shaking hands and drinking it before he became aware that he wasn't in control.
"..Hab?" Patrick asked, hope and grief streaking his voice. Evan's face lit up with a feral grin. "PAT." HABIT replied.
"Well, your little Collective pal sealed me away for a little bit… could you wait for me a little while longer, Hab?"
HABIT leaned down and kissed Patrick's brow. "YOU KNOW I WILL." HABIT reassured, before Evan passed out next to Michael with their left hands on top of the other.
Author's Note: Remember when I said that nicedynamites made some really spoiler-y art that I would link to you when the time came? Now is the time.
post/138050518813/unfinished-slenderverse-doodles
post/138636276793/the-squad-u-never-wanted
What will we see in the next arc? Beautiful things.
Also, we will see Patrick again. He'll be one of those villains that occasionally pops up and causes minor annoyances for everyone.