A/N: Yeah so funny story I completely forgot I was putting this on FFnet because I'm more active on AO3 and so long story short on AO3 I've posted like 25 chapters and... well here's chapter 11 hnnn
The rain had faded off with the sun, leaving the world in a misty chill and the ground a soggy mess. It made them all very glad for the makeshift floor they had so that they didn't have to sleep on the cold, rain-soaked ground, but it didn't really help Blu.
He couldn't sleep.
All around him, he could hear the various sounds of sleep; deep breathing, soft sighs, even an occasional snore from one of the humans. From right next to him he could hear Red mumbling every now and then. None of these were what kept him awake, though.
The fire was dwindling but one of the older Bears was tending to it; he could hear the movement from the direction of the Bear twins. The air was chilly and Blu knew that without the fire it would not be pleasant, though none of them would quite freeze to death. Maybe just catch a cold or worse.
Who cares, we're probably being exposed to a lot of diseases none of us have any immunity to anyway...
He couldn't sleep. He couldn't shut his mind off, so instead he stared up at the canopy of leaves far above. I wonder what the stars look like from here…
The movement stilled as the fire strengthened, and Blu knew the twin who was awake was just watching it. There was nothing else for him to do. The night was silent.
Suddenly, Blu felt antsy. His heart suddenly picked up and his ears twitched; something wasn't right. Abruptly, he pushed himself up and looked around; everything was in order.
The colonists were lying side by side and fast asleep. Mangle was lying near the only females of the group, curled up with their tail crossing over their waist. The two Chickens were both incredibly silent as they slept; Mike was snoring softly and Jeremy was tossing and turning, thankfully a fair distance from anyone else. Foxy was also curled up, much like Mangle was, and his ears kept twitching in his sleep, little grunts and soft growls escaping his throat. Sitting next to the fire, watching Blu with a raised brow, was the golden Bear twin, the brown Bear lying just behind him and breathing steadily. Right next to Blu, Red continued sleeping peacefully, obliviously.
Blu's eyes scanned their surroundings, a strange churning in the pit of his stomach. Am I panicking? Why? No, it didn't feel like panic. He had felt that so many times before, this wasn't it. It was...
Fear?
Something wasn't right. A twig snapped. His ears automatically flicked towards it and he looked in that direction…
...and saw a shadow.
His eyes widened but he didn't scream. The shadow was tall, pitch black, and staring straight at him. It had strange, glowing white eyes, and it simply stared at him from the equally-black shadows.
This is familiar, he suddenly thought, just barely noticing it seemed to be wearing a mask. Where have I seen this before...
'Bandi Cator,' the shadow- at least, he was sure it was the shadow- rasped out at him as it began to reach towards him, its long, thin claws looking like death's lover. 'Do not follow the paths, they lead only to the end. Do not follow the paths, they lead only to the end…'
Suddenly, as the claws came in contact with his forehead, images rushed into his mind; fire, water, tall spindly things chasing what looked like strange humanoid creatures, blood, falling trees, collapsing ground, a storm, rain, wind...
A sharp, horrifying pain shot through his head and he gasped, closing his eyes and clutching at his ears. It's not real, it's not real, it's not real... He wasn't sure if he was talking about the shadow, the images, or the pain at this point.
Maybe it was all three.
A lake with no bottom, a hole at the base of a tree, two deep red moons, ruins of what looked like a city, primitive graves that had been all but destroyed, purple...
Then his eyes opened and he found himself staring at the canopy.
The only sound around him was the crackling of the fire. He slowly sat up and looked around. It was still night but no one was there. Instead, red spilled across the ground in each of his companions' spots, reflecting harshly in the firelight. His heart clenched and he took in a sharp breath.
The chilly air was replaced with a steadily growing heat and the darkness was chased away by red, flickering light, casting deep, shifting shadows in the forest around.
His eyes turned to the flames, wide-eyed, and watched as the fire steadily grew and fanned out. Its flames, once orange, had turned a deep red comparable to the blood staining the grass around, and they grew bigger and bigger, engulfing everything around.
Then... he wasn't staring at a campfire.
Suddenly he was standing in the middle of a... a... burning village. All around him, strange creatures screamed and ran, and shots rang out and strange creatures leapt from the shadows, attacking any living being which passed without discretion.
The Rabbit watched in horror as a mother and child were ripped to shreds in seconds flat, crimson spilling across the grass as though it was nothing more than coloured water. Screams filled his ears- nay, his mind- and he closed his eyes tightly, trying to drown out the sight of gruesome death and destruction.
When he opened them again, he was in the middle of a city; a strange fleet of midnight-black ships flew overhead, white lazer-like beams lighting up the sky on their way down. The beams hit the buildings and roads, obliterating everything- vaporizing people. In his confusion, it took him a few moments to comprehend what he was seeing.
Around him, Rabbits ran and chrome-coloured buildings collapsed, vehicles exploded and bridges collapsed... This is Capital City- this is Lapinia.
The screams echoed in his mind as people fled and died, only getting louder and louder and louder until, suddenly, he realized... that they were his screams.
He was screaming.
His eyes suddenly flew open to find the three Bears leaning over him, Red's hands on his shoulders and the twins holding his arms.
Abruptly, the screams cut off and he stared, shocked, up towards the Bears.
"What the hell?!" an angry, startled, slightly scared voice demanded, but Blu didn't look to see who its owner was. He just stared blankly at the three Bears.
Because it looked like the Bears were all covered in blood.
As the hands released him and Blu shoved himself up off of the ground where he had, unknowingly, been thrashing around, he looked around with wide eyes. Everyone was awake and staring at him, eyes equally wide or oppositely narrowed, but they were all covered in deep red blood and the fire seemed to reflect it, burning an even deeper crimson as it danced in its pit.
The red didn't look so beautiful right then. It looked... threatening.
Like death.
The forest around them hummed in the wind and it sounded like mocking laughter to him. Shadows hung around at the edge of the clearing, shifting around like living creatures, leering out at him threateningly and-
Wait, clearing? We weren't in a clearing...!
And his eyes flew open yet again. This time when the three Bears came into view they were not covered in blood, but his own heart was racing and the fur on his face was matted and am I crying?
"Blu?" Red questioned worriedly, carefully removing his hands from his shoulders. Blu blinked and looked at him as the twins removed their own hands from his arms. Pushing himself into a sitting position, he looked around.
Everyone was awake and watching him with either wide or narrowed eyes, but they weren't covered in blood and the fire was rightfully orange; the only hint of red was the Lacatran's eyes.
Blu almost sighed in relief, but he wasn't relieved. At all. What just happened?
He turned back to Red and the other two Bears. "W-what happened...?" he asked before falling into a coughing fit.
His throat felt like it was on fire. His head didn't feel much better; it seemed to be pulsing, pain traveling back from the center of his forehead. Right where the shadow touched me.
"You were sitting there and staring into the shadows," the golden bear started, "and then you just dropped down like you died or something. And then you started screaming."
Blu blinked, frowning. So... the shadow was... real...? But... I need... to... check...
Abruptly, he shoved Red out of the way and stood up. His limbs felt shaky at best but he had to know.
"What are you doing, Blu?" Red demanded as the Rabbit stumbled and ran out into the darkness. "Blu!"
Blu didn't stop. He had to know. Somehow, through the darkness, he knew exactly where he was going. Turn left here. It didn't sound like his voice- it was like something whispering in his ear- but he followed it anyway; this voice knew something and it was oddly... familiar.
He could hear footsteps behind him, chasing him, but he paid them no mind. Instead, he looked around wildly and ran left, not even pausing to try and determine his location; he just followed the directions being whispered in his mind. He kept running until-
His foot hit stone.
The Rabbit abruptly stopped and stared down at his feet before looking left and then right again. The stone extended on, on, on, but it was wrong wrong wrong.
'Don't follow the paths,' that voice whispered in his ear again, and a sudden agonizing spike of pain shot through his head and right down his spine. Blu dropped down onto his knees and clutched his head, forcing his eyes to stay open as the images of blood, death, destruction, shadows, creatures, ends, ships, lazers flashed through his mind, each image accompanied by its own spike of pain. Is it real? What's going on? Why am I...
When he woke up next, the sun was filtering through the trees. His head was in agonizing pain, more painful than his hands had been the day before, and his throat felt like acid had been drizzled down it.
Slowly, he pushed himself up and looked around. Red was nearby; it looked like he was putting something together. On the other side of the clearing, the other Rabbits and Mangle were setting down wood that was much too large to be for a fire, and Goldie was talking to Chica.
Freddy, Foxy, Chii, Mike and Jeremy were absent.
Blu tried to speak but nothing came out but a cough. Red's ears perked and he looked at Blu, frowning and setting aside whatever it was he was doing in favour of approaching the Rabbit.
"Blu?" Red questioned gently, kneeling down next to him. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Please tell me last night was in my head," he managed between his coughs.
"Afraid not," Red sighed, sitting down. "You scared most of us out of our skins, you know."
"Sorry," he responded automatically, guiltily, lowering his head and flattening his ears. "I didn't mean to." His voice was raspy and it reminded him that he had probably hurt his throat. Oh joy...
Red tilted his head slightly. "Come on, let's go to the stream and get you some water. You're not easy to understand right now."
Blu just nodded slightly and pushed himself to his feet. The lightheaded rush made him feel somewhat sick but he pushed it aside in favour of following the Bear. He pointedly ignored the way the colonists and Mangle looked at him.
The walk was silent, Blu concentrating on keeping his breathing steady rather than on conversation. When they reached the stream, he sat down heavily and held his head in his hands. I don't feel alright.
"At least drink some water before you collapse or something," Red sighed, lightly shaking his shoulder.
"Sorry," Blu repeated, letting his hands drop from his face. Red was holding something out to him and the Rabbit blinked owlishly at it.
"We're improvising," Red explained simply, pressing the crude wooden "bowl" into Blu's hands.
"Thanks, Red," he sighed, turning to look at the waterway. He hadn't really looked at it when he was there the first time, having been too concentrated on his hands.
It was very wide and the sun reflecting off of it was blindingly bright. He didn't think stream was actually the word to describe it, as it stretched out at least twenty yards across, but he could see the ground on the bottom. Could it even be considered a river? Oh I don't even know anymore. He sighed again, carefully filling the bowl with water and taking a sip of it. The water was clean enough and it didn't taste like chemicals, which was pretty cool considering what planet he was from, and it felt amazing on his burning throat. He sighed again and sat the bowl down, rubbing his forehead. "I'm sorry."
"What happened last night, Blu?" Red questioned with a frown. "Goldie said you were awake and alert before you just suddenly dropped down, and then you began screaming and woke everyone up. We couldn't get you to wake up, though... and you kept thrashing around and nearly clawed Freddy before they secured your arms. And... you just... ran off into the forest like a madman. You... stopped on a path-"
"Don't follow the paths," Blu instantly interrupted, his eyes zeroing in on his hands. "Don't... don't follow the paths... they all lead to... to the... end? That's... that's what it said…"
Red frowned. "What said that?"
"The... the... shadow?" His brow furrowed and he lifted his hands to his head again. It was pulsing. "I don't... know... it was tall and dark and had white eyes and it spoke to me before I was... somewhere else, I guess... I..." I sound like I'm crazy. "It said don't... don't follow the paths right before it touched me. And then I saw... strange... images, Red... I don't know what's happening but it h..." he trailed off again, looking up at the Bear. Red's brow was furrowed, watching him with a concerned frown.
"It... hurts?" Red completed and Blu just wanted to cry. He took a deep breath and straightened up, letting his hands drop down. He had never admitted it aloud before and he wasn't about to, no matter how much he felt he could trust this Bear.
"I need to see... see the moons," he mumbled instead, closing his eyes. The image of the two bloody-red moons entered his mind, large and imposing in the sky. That image had stood out to him.
It was the only image in which it was daytime.
"Moons?" Red frowned and glanced at the sky, though even at the stream's edge it was blocked out by the canopy. "It's day, they-"
"Doesn't matter," he gasped, putting a hand to his head again. "It- they can be seen during the day. I just- I need to know if I'm going crazy or if the things I saw were real... the paths were real..."
Red was silent for several moments before sighing. "There's no way you're climbing a tree like this, you're bound to fall. I'll climb it and you can describe what you... saw in the images when I come back down. Confirm or deny it, you know."
"You don't think I sound crazy?" Blu asked hopefully, opening his eyes and looking at his companion.
"Do I think you sound crazy? Yes," Red snorted, standing up again. "Do I think you are crazy? Strangely enough, no."
"Why not?" Blu inquired, picking the bowl of water up again before climbing to his feet. I know if anyone else was speaking like this I'd think they were crazy.
"Because Goldie did mention he thought he saw something reach out and touch you," Red admitted, glancing aside as they began walking away from the stream. "He thought it was a trick of the firelight, though. Said he thought it was a shadow flickering... though... he did note it was odd that it happened just a moment before you collapsed."
Blu reached up with his free hand and lightly touched his forehead. "That... thing touched me right here," he mumbled, glancing down. "I think that was how it... gave me the images, I guess?"
A twig snapped, causing both of them to stop. However, when nothing else happened, they continued walking. Blu's ears were straight up, tense and listening for any sound in the silent forest. He knew he was being paranoid.
When it became clear no other sounds were coming, he sighed and continued, "I would have thought it was just a shadow, too, if I couldn't see its eyes." Blu felt like he was forgetting something, but what? He couldn't bring himself to concentrate hard enough...
Red didn't answer him and he didn't push the Bear for a response. The silence was answer enough.
They continued walking before his brown-furred companion stopped at the base of a tree, and Blu glanced up. The tree had low-hanging branches, he noted; the Bear would easily be able to climb it. "Wait down here, Blu," Red commanded, and before Blu could even blink the Bear was gone, disappearing into the branches above.
Sighing, Blu sat down and sipped at the water. He was tense and in pain, and it was not comfortable. At all.
Pain is just in our mind, he reminded himself, though it didn't really help. His parents' blade was nothing compared to the pain spiking in his head. Heh... at least I feel alive for once.
Silently cursing himself for that thought, he set the bowl aside and took several calming breaths, closing his eyes to block out the light. He listened to the forest around him, but aside from the fading sound of shifting leaves above, it was completely silent.
The only thing he could do was wait for Red to return to the forest floor with his verdict, and that was what he did.
Distantly, he could hear one of the males' voices. He couldn't make out the words, identify who it belonged to, and he had no clue who he was speaking to, but Blu figured it would be best to let it be. Forcing himself to relax, he leaned back against the tree. All Blu wanted to do was ease the pain... but he didn't know how.
His mantra wasn't working.
It's only in your mind... and maybe that's the problem. Because... I think it really is in my mind... because I'm... fighting. I'm fighting. That's why it hurts... I'm fighting back the images. Trying to push them away. What if I...?
The thoughts rang through his mind and he just sat there, eyes closed, and then... he decided to stop fighting against the images; he didn't make a conscious decision to do it, but as he sat there and listened to the silence he let them fill his mind, pouring in like water from a faucet and flashing before his eyes all in the same instant. Almost immediately the pain in his head started to subside, leaving a dull ache in its wake.
It was strange, simply accepting something forced upon him like that. He didn't even know what the images were but he had a strange feeling they were real. That... someone was trying to tell him something. But what?
I'm not in control here, but I'm not being controlled...
He jerked slightly as something fell right in front of him and his eyes flew open, but he relaxed when he realized it was just Red, straightening up. "You startled me," Blu sighed, leaning back against the tree.
"Sorry," Red apologized as he dusted his pants off. "So what do the moons look like, Blu?"
"Two moons," he answered almost dully, watching the Bear. "Sitting side by side in the sky, one smaller than the other. They were crimson, too."
The disturbed expression that crossed Red's face told him exactly what the Bear had seen. "That's... exactly right..."
"Brilliant," Blu mumbled, glancing down at his bowl of water. It was almost empty. "Then that means the things I saw were real..."
"Blu..." Red suddenly started, an edge present in his voice that made Blu look up at him, brow furrowed. The Bear's blue eyes were wide and Blu suddenly had a very bad feeling, twisting painfully in his gut. "You said... don't follow the paths?"
"They all lead to the end," Blu confirmed with a slight nod. "That's what... the thing that gave me the... visions, I guess... said..."
"Freddy and some of the others went to check that path you found..."
Red's voice trailed off as they stared at each other, Blu's eyes widening as he realized what the Bear was saying. He didn't know exactly where the paths led to, but he could feel his heart speed up anyway.
They lead only to the end.
"How long ago?"
"Not too long, just after sunrise..."
"Then there's time to stop them," Blu declared, shoving himself away from the tree and to his feet. "If we hurry-"
A growl filled the air, causing them both to freeze up, staring wide-eyed at one another. Slowly, they turned in the direction of the growl. What they saw sent a spike of fear through Blu; it was a creature that was familiar yet unfamiliar, peeking out at them from the shadows. Its snarling slowly got louder as it sunk down, its narrow red eyes staring them down.
It didn't take a survival expert to realize that whatever the creature was, it was about to pounce.
"Run," Red uttered, backing away from the shadowy beast.
Blu knew, as an image flashed through his mind of shadowy beasts chasing spindly beings, that they would never outrun it... but... it was either try to live or just accept death...
To be honest, Blu was tempted to just stand there and accept his fate, but then he remembered Freddy and the others on that path to the end- whatever that was. All he knew was that it wasn't good. Whatever was on this planet was not something they could truly beat, and he had information that the others did not.
He couldn't just die and leave them to fend for themselves, not when he knew something else was at play here.
"Run!" Red repeated, much louder, and Blu realized with horror that the creature had pounced, its angry eyes on him. Without thinking, he threw his almost-empty bowl of water at the creature, turned on his heel, and ran as fast as he could. Red grabbed his arm, pulling him along at a pace faster than what the Rabbit was used to. Behind them, the creature shrieked in anger and pursued them; it was quickly gaining.
There was no way they could outrun it.