Chapter Six: of awakenings, findings, and dreams.
Well, what you've been wanting to happen has finally happened! Just not in the way you wanted. Bethy is here but... they want her dead! The other two you can sorta understand, well Dave is an ignorant fuckass and Roxy... okay, you could never understand Roxy, but still! Why would John do that? He's always been so nice, and pacifistic, and... NOT WANTING TO HURT PEOPLE! So, you resolve to ask him about it. Predictably, you find him in his cabin around sunset. Rose is there too, but you don't know if that'd be predictable or not.
"Hey John! Can I talk to you about... things?" You say after barging into his house uninvited.
"Hello Cassidy. But, if you're here to confess your unconquerable love for him, it would be advisable for me to stay and translate Johns embarrassment into something more understandable." Rose says, while Johns turning red and you're rolling your eyes at the obvious joke.
"No Rose, I'm not into guys. Besides, it's not something romantic. It's just that I don't think he'd want you to know about it." You say. She leaves with a nod, and heads to that empty cabin. Huh.
"So, um, what did you want to talk about?" John says, drawing your attention back to important things.
"Well, see, I was told about how you guys have to kri-kill some people called Omegas if you ever saw them." You say.
John nods slowly, like he's doesn't want it to be true. Maybe he won't kill her!
"I was also told why you need to kill them. But I thought you didnt like hurting people John! Why would you agree to be in a group that goes around killing innocent people?" You ask.
"But, they aren't innocent!" He says. "Cassidy, they're the children of trolls and humans. That kind of... mingling was never approved of. They were born guilty."
You stare at him with your mouth hanging open. You try to process what he just said. They didnt do anything. The crime was committed before they were born. But they were living crimes. So they needed justice through death. You fail to process and end up stunned.
He gets up from his seat with a concerned look on his face. But you don't see this, you're to busy seeing piles and piles of corpses. Troll, Human, Omega, and John was there with his hammer covered in their blood. You feel your face heat in anger at this sight. He puts a hand on your shoulder and you jump, seeing him in his cabin once again.
"Cassidy, are you alright? You look really pale." He says.
"Would you kill one? If you met one, would you look them in the eyes and kill them?" You say, voice lacking it's usual joy.
John didn't say anything. He wouldn't meet your eyes either. You shake your head and leave. So... John's a murderer. If that's what this stupid group does, you guess Roxy's like that too. Oh yeah, and Dave. Two of your best friends turn out to be cold blooded killers, it makes you wonder about the others. Rose... it's happened before with her. Jake and Jade are hunters. At least Janes still on your side, isn't she? Then... then there's Dirk. How does he know so much? You don't trust him as far as you can throw him, now at least. But it's pretty obvious to you that Bethy's taken with him. Now she's here and hiding for her life from your "friends" who want her death. You're protecting the creature that could mean the end of your race. Everything's so topsy turvy now. Black is white, up is down, good is bad. You wonder when your life went so weird.
You decide to talk to Dad about the whole thing. He's grounded, unlike you, so maybe he can give you some good advice. You walk to his cabin and knock, he answers, you come in. You tell him about your problems. How you've realized that almost all your friends are killers, and how betrayed you feel. You expect him to share some speech on how to pick your friend and nobody's perfect. But he surprises you when he says
"Are you sure that they're the ones that are wrong?"
"Of course! Killing is wrong!" You say immediately.
"Did you ever think they'd be scared to tell you, knowing how you'd react?" he says
You pause. Well, John did seem nervous when he told you. Maybe they were just scared. You hug him as thanks and leave. Doesnt change the fact that they're killers though. As you leave you see Rose talking to Roxy. You think they're talking about that old cabin. Huh.
You decide to go try to wheedle some information out of Dirk. And you would have too! If he wasn't on the other side talking to that four horned one troll.
"Dirk there ith no fucking way that you're going to get me to join your little club or whatever the fuck it ith." it's mean, but you laugh a little at his lisping.
"Come on Sollux, you now damn near everything about us, the humans, and your fucking queen bitch. Why the hell aren't you putting that to use?" Dirk says
"Why the fuck should I give a shit about thome rathe ath weak ath them! Before you athk, no. Jutht becauthe I don't care about them doethn't mean I'll go out of my way to get them killed." Sollux says.
"Yeah, I'm gonna believe that. If you don't join, we'll be forced to keep an eye on you and kill you if we deem fit. You're saying you'd rather have that than give up a few hours of your pathetic life." Dirk says.
"Like I wouldn't die by joining. Either way I'm going to end up dead, so I'm taking the path where I don't have to do shit." Sollux says.
Dirk shrugs. "Your choice." He says then walks off.
You follow him, since you've kinda forgotten where the rip was. Wait, whose "we"? I might have been that organization he was talking about. But then why'd he use "we" instead of things like "they"? Unless... he's part of them! Oh no oh no oh no, if he's part of them then that means that he wants to kill Bethy! But why hasn't he done it yet? Oh my Goddess he's probably a cold hearted sadist and planning to lure her into a false sense of peace then torture her!
Half way to the rip you turn and start speed walking away. You didn't really want to talk to him anyway. You pass by Dave and Rose talking about how bad ghosts can be or something.
You wander around in the forest for a bit before you realize that you have no clue where Bethy is. That's bad. That's really, really bad. You need to warn her about the evilness of Dirk and... everyone else too! Um, the evilness of everyone, not warning everyone. You spend a few more hours searching, and come up empty. You want to go back, but you don't want to face anyone just yet. You look up and find that your feet have taken you to that old cabin no one took down for some reason.
You do the only rational thing you can do when facing a possibly haunted mystery cabin that was here before you were. You enter it. You walk in and respectfully shut the door behind you. When you do you're surprised that there's no light what-so-ever in the building. You wander in the dark for a bit and get a whole new set of bruises on your shins. Yeah, that's gonna hurt later.
You find a door down what you think is a hall and open it. You give a little half scream when a lot of somethings fall on you. Then you feel a bit silly when you find out it's a broom and a mop and some other cleaning products. You find it slightly weird when you can't find any bucket, but you can't see anyway so you shrug it off. You put everything back, after a bit... okay after a lot of dropping and fumbling.
You find another door and open this one slowly. Once you're sure that nothing will fall on you, you walk in. You decide to go around the edge of the room this time. You start imagining a spy theme song in your head. You quickly find some curtains and yank them open to let in the after noon light.
"AHSHITFUCKINGBITCHNOOKLICKER AAAHHH!" you hear followed by a thump.
You spin around and see that you're in a bedroom. You look on the other side of the bed for the source of the noise. You gasp when you see Bethy face down on the floor. The beautician in you notices how messy her dark brown hair is, but the friend in you is busy getting her to sit up.
"OOOWWW! Why the hell did you let the light in? Now I'm blind as fucking Terezi over here!" She complains loudly.
You get her up on the bed. "It's not that bright in here."
"Not for a species as ass backwards as you are maybe, but my eyes actually work in the dark. So this is FUCKING BRIGHT to me. I was planning on being nocturnal here so I wouldn't be fucking blinded every time I open my eyes." She says slinging an arm across her eyes.
You close the curtains until you can barely see, and Beth takes her arm away from her face. "Sorry. I have something really important to tell you though!" you say.
"As do I. But you go first." She says.
"Okay, well, Dirk is evil! He's with the group that want to kill you and is going to lure you into a false sense of peace then ambush you and torture you to death!" You say
Beth nods. "Well that's disconcerning. Since the way you're phrasing it makes it sound as if he won't attack until I'm in peace, I should be fine if I don't let my guard down. Now, since I'm free of danger, I'll just relax here for a while. While not seeming to relax of course, otherwise he'd attack. Then the whole thing would start over again." She says with an air of mockery that you don't pick up on somehow.
You look around in the dim lighting. It feels like Dirks going to flashstep out of nowhere and try to kill you both! You swear you jump out of your skin when you feel something slithering over you. Your flailing catches Bethy's attention.
"Hey, calm down would you! You're gonna hurt Fredrick!" She says picking up snake bigger than your arm from your lap.
"Aww, you have a pet snake! Wait, where'd you get a pet snake? You've only been here for a day." You say.
"I passed out in the forest and when I came to this little 'un was following me. So I named him Fredrick. Now... Wait, didn't I have something to tell you? It was important... Fuck what was it? Um, oh right! When I was passed out Rose found me and took me back to her place... without getting any mud anywhere. I wonder how she did it? Whatever, the point is that I believe I've formed an alliance with her." She says.
Wasnt Rose talking with... Oh no. "Bethy! Don't trust anyone, I saw Rose talking to Roxy John and Dave earlier. She could be betraying you as we speak!" You say.
"Well if that's the case, then you can stay here and protect me while I sleep. Really, that nap in the woods wasn't any help." She says sarcastically.
She may have been joking, but you think you'll do it anyway. Who knows which one of them will barge in! In any case she'll be completely defenseless. Well except for Fredrick, but you dont know how much help he'll be. You close the curtains all the way and head to the living room. Where you find more curtains and fling them open so you can see. Then, since you'll be protecting her, you search for a weapon. You're surprised, and mildly disturbed, when you find what looks like an armory. She's been here for a day, who exactly was here before her? You find your preferred weapon, a simple wooden staff, and take it. It doesn't even cross your mind that you're stealing.
You return to the living room, weapon in hand. Now, you wait.
You quickly come to understand that waiting is really boring. So boring that you succumb to the temptation to play the piano for a good few hours. You compose as you go, the thought of her waking up not occurring to you. Predictably, to anyone that isn't you, someone hears and comes to investigate. But you don't notice that someone come in since it's late and you're busy being asleep on the piano.
You're nudged by something, then you feel something on you. You assume it's Fredrick and go back to sleep/unconsciousness. Your mind drifts back to the dream you had the other night. Wasn't there something about snakes being bad? And goats, something about goats too. A snake goat! No that's a Capricorn. No a Capricorn is a fish goat. Weren't the snakes and goats fighting? You never did like snakes all that much, but you've never met a goat.
Something nudges you again and you make a sound that you meant to be. "I'm not getting up." but turned out more like "Mmm nt gitnn uhp..."
"Wake the fuck up!" You hear being hissed at you as you're jabbed again.
You jolt up to the standing position. Your first thought being /holy shit Fredrick can talk?!/ but then you see Dave with his sword and realize it was just him. You stumble away in search of a more comfortable place to sleep, then stop in the hallway entrance. There's something wrong here. Something bad's going on. You were meant to do something. you turn to Dave and abruptly remember what's going on.
You freeze in panic, only to relax a few seconds later when you see Fredrick slithering over to Dave threateningly. You didn't know that something could slither threateningly.
"Cassidy, what the ever-loving fuck are you doing here?" Dave asks.
"I'm keeping the old place tidy. Why are you here?" You retaliate.
"There've been rumors of a weird grey thing in the woods. Seeing as how this hiding place is so predictable Jake could figure it out, thought I'd come kill a troll." He says. Shit, he's serious about this.
You really hope Bethy isn't here right now. If he finds her its all over! You look at Fredrick and see him about to bite Dave.
"Fredrick stop!" You say.
He actually stops. That is one weird snake. Dave looks down and moves to kick him away, but he decides to slide up Dave's leg and to his neck.
"What the shit?" Dave says.
"Well it seems that Fredrick has you in a head-lock. I wouldn't move too much if I were you." You hear behind accompanied by a yawn.
You turn around and fuck it's Bethany. She looks like she just got up, except for the swords strapped to her waist. Dave looks at her, and you wonder how he can see anything with those shades on.
"So you're the troll. I'm surprised you haven't tried to kill anyone yet with how violent and crazy your kind is." He says, but he didn't move.
"Not exactly. See I'm not a troll." She says walking into the moonlight. "But then again, I'm not quite human either. I think you know what that means." She says with a devious look.
"Oh so you're one of those hybrid monstrosities that shouldn't exist." Dave said but didn't make any move to hurt her.
Fredrick prepared to bite him, poisoned fangs glistening in the moon light. Or you could just be over dramatizing things again.
"Aye, that's me. But there's really not much you can do about it, is there?" she's just teasing him now.
"Bethy! What are we gonna do with him? He know's now and we cant keep Fredrick on him forever!" You say.
"Oh that's an easy one. We kill him." She says offhandedly.
"No! Bethy we're not going to kill him!" You say
"But Cat, if I don't kill him then he'll kill me. And you said it yourself, Fredrick can't stay like that forever. What else are we gonna do?" she says.
"Uhh, Dave! Do you want to live?" You ask.
"Nope. I'm suicidal, and I've always wanted for my death to be by snake. Let 'er rip." He says.
"It's unanimous! Lets kill 'im." She says.
"Wait! Dave, if you want to live then you have to swear on your life to not kill Bethy." You say
"How do I know she won't kill anyone?" He asks.
"Alright. You don't kill me, and you don't try to get anyone else to kill me, and I won't kill anyone that's a human. Deal?" She says with a huff.
"Now how do I know you aren't lying?" He asks
"Bitch please, I actually use the honor code." She says flipping him off.
"Okay. Deal or no deal?" You say
He nods. So does she. Fredrick, the scarily smart reptile, abandons Dave. Then Dave and Bthey just stare each other down for a bit.
"Hey Cat, how aren't you dead yet?" Dave asks.
"Same reason you ain't, Strider." Bethy says
You swear you can feel tension in the air. Specifically between them. You feel like you could smack the tension with your staff. Dave leaves and Bethy retrieves Fredrick.
"So, what are we gonna do now? We can't keep you hidden from them anymore." You say.
"True. But now, because of that little incident, I'm in relative safety. I'll still be nocturnal, and they'll still try to kill me. Frankly very little has changed, but what has is relatively important. So although the situation hasn't actually changed enough to allow me any freedom, it has changed enough to allow me to start exceedingly biased negotiations. Which will probably get me nowhere by itself, but possibly could if some specific elements went into play. Or something. Did you understand any of that?" She says, stroking Fredrick.
"I like frogs." You say.
"That's what I thought. If you're going to take anything away from that, let it be this: don't ask me questions when I'm tired or the answers won't make sense." She says and walks out into the night.
You shrug and head back to your cabin. So now Dave's the good guy? Is that whats happening? You fall asleep instantly when you hit the mattress, not being bothered to even undress.
That night you dreamt that you were part of a dying race that had weird blood colors. The lighter the blood the more human they looked. The darker the blood the more troll they looked.
Then the fires were lit.