FIRST OFF, I AM SO VERY, VERY SORRY FOR THE SUPER LATE UPDATE

Life has honestly been hell and I haven't had time to even touch my computer... I am very sorry again for the stupid long wait y'all had to endure.

But hey, this is part of a double update so hey! You guys get a couple more chapters! Bad news is life is still hell and I have no clue when I'll be finishing chapter 31.

So, with that, enjoy these last two chapters of part 1 of The Devil's Trap!

0o0o0o0o0o

I glared at the ceiling as soon as I woke up, not looking forward to the day ahead of me. I just knew that whatever training Slender had planned for us was not going to be a walk in the park. I had a feeling LJ and I were going to rip each other's throats out.

Regardless, I tossed my legs over the bed and stretched, standing to my feet and glancing around. Nothing out of the ordinary, thank god.

I got up and made my way downstairs, seeing Slender sitting at the table. Cory and Rosemary were talking about something and LJ leaned against the breakfast bar, looking as irritable as ever.

"Good morning, Allison." Slender greeted as everyone looked at me. I scowled and gave the faceless man a glare.

"For god's sake, call me Allie." I grumbled. "Allison sounds like an old lady's name."

"Allison Zahara!" My mom scolded and I rolled my eyes. "Do not be disrespectful."

"Yeah, kid." LJ said. "Don't be a cadela."

"Shut up, LJ." I snapped. "And how the hell do you know Portuguese? Wait, does that mean you know everything that Aviana was saying?" Everyone looked at each other in confusion as LJ and I bickered. Well… except Slender, he just stared blankly. Literally.

"I know lots of things." He snorted and turned away.

"What kind of things?" Cory asked as he turned to face LJ. "You didn't tell me you could speak other languages…" I snickered as LJ glared at me, but he turned away to reply to Cory while my mom walked over and gave me a plate of food.

"Allie, please be respectful to your aunt's… friend." She said slowly, not sure how to address the Tall Man. "He's been very kind to us since he got here."

"Yeah, whatever." I muttered as I grabbed the plate and began to devour my food. My mom shook her head at my grumpy attitude and walked back to her seat.

"Where is Auntie Val anyways?" Rosemary asked, looking around for our aunt.

"Looking for Bigfoot." I replied sarcastically. Rosemary narrowed her eyes at me and stuck her tongue out. Speak of the devil, my Aunt Valerie entered the room and raised a brow at me.

"Aren't you just a ball of sunshine this morning?" She asked, walking over to stand beside my mom. I shrugged and finished my food, walking into the kitchen and placing the plate in the sink.

"So, I assume you and Cory have settled into the Michalis home?" I heard Slender ask.

"If I say no, will you leave me alone?" LJ snapped and I could feel the irritation rolling off of the Tall Man. I walked back in and sat beside Cory at the table, staring boredly at Slender.

"No, you two have to start your training as soon as possible." The faceless man replied. LJ snorted and turned away, muttering to himself. I rolled my eyes and looked at Slender.

"So, what're we learning?" I asked. "Besides having to defend ourselves, you make it seem like we have to go through hell." Slender leaned forward on the table and let his elbows rest against the surface, steepling his hands together.

"There is much you two can learn beyond just simple fighting." He stated. "Soul bound pairs often seem to be able to share abilities and grow stronger as they learn to trust one another. The more a soul bound pair trusts each other, the stronger they will become. If their trust is compromised, it leads to disaster."

"So… what you're saying is that if we can't trust each other… we're going to fuck up?" I asked blandly.

"Great." LJ grunted. "We f-screwed." I giggled a bit as LJ censored himself while he just glared daggers at me. Slender shook his head.

"You two don't seem to be taking this seriously." He deadpanned. "You do realize that the fate of not only our world, but many others rests on your shoulders?"

"Jesus, no pressure, huh?" I mumbled, leaning back. "What do you want from us, man? We didn't really expect—or want—this to happen. I just woke up one day and almost got my face ripped off. Next thing I know, I'm 'soul bound' and I have to save the world? Excuse me? Do you really expect me to not be a little skeptical or a little apprehensive?"

"I agree with the kid." LJ said. "I'm not a hero, Slender. I don't want to be one."

"Hero or not, it's either you save us all or become our destroyer." Slender stated. "There is no in between." I looked at LJ, who had his face set in a deep frown. Slender studied us for a moment before turning to Cory and Rosemary.

"Children, it would be best if you were elsewhere." He said softly while the two looked at each other curiously.

"Why?" Rosemary asked.

"Rosemary, come on." My mom said. "We can go to the game room again. Or watch TV." The two looked at my mom, but didn't argue as the three of them left the room. That just left my aunt, LJ, the Tall Man and myself.

"Now, I suggest we head outside." Slender said calmly. "Training inside would more than likely ruin this lovely home."

"No shit." LJ snapped, glaring daggers at the entity. Slender just turned towards the sliding glass door that lead to the backyard without a word. I glanced up at LJ as he looked at me with a shrug.

"You first, kid." He said and I wrinkled my nose.

"Why me?" I asked. "Why don't you go first?"

"Because I don't want to get my head loped off by an eldritch monster." He snapped and I glared.

"Get out here!" Slender barked, causing us both to jump and dash outside.

0o0o0o0o0o

I groaned and pushed myself up onto my hands and knees after hitting the dirt, rubbing my side as pain flared through my ribs. LJ hissed as he hit the ground harshly a few feet behind me, dust flying up from the force of his body hitting the ground. A shadow befell us as we glared up at Slender.

"You lost your focus." He stated. "Pay attention. You have to be in sync with each other or you will end up killing yourselves."

"What the fuck do you think we're doing?" LJ snapped as he sat up with a slight groan, glaring at the Tall Man.

"We're trying, man…" I muttered, getting to my feet.

"Not hard enough." Slender snapped. "Get up and try again. Focus." I looked back at LJ as he sat on the ground for a few moments before standing to his feet again. Slender stared at us before teleporting again, making bother LJ and I tense up and prepare ourselves for another attack.

He's at our left. LJ informed me, but our reaction time was again too slow as a tendril materialized and struck our side, effectively knocking us down again.

"Damn it kid!" LJ snarls as he glares harshly at me. I returned the gaze with a glare of my own.

"What're you yelling at me for?!" I snapped.

"You were supposed to fucking dodge!"

"How can I when you literally just told me?! I only human, you dipshit!"

"Enough." Slender barked, ending our bickering as we turned our angry stares to the Tall Man. I could feel the disappointment and irritation practically rolling off the entity as he towered over us.

"You lost focus. Again." He deadpanned as I felt a burst of anger rush through me. It was like molten lava in my veins and I thought I was going to light on fire.

"Lost focus on what!?" LJ shouted. So that's where the random rage came from. LJ was livid as he stood and glared at the entity before us. "We're doing the best we fucking can, asshole!"

"No, you're not." Slender countered. "You are supposed to be working together, but instead, the both of you have done nothing but dance around each other and nearly rip each other's throats out in a futile attempt that you might worm your way out of this." The tall, faceless man sighed heavily and rubbed a temple, muttering something under his breath as LJ silently fumed. I let out a sigh and sat on the ground again, stretching my legs out in front of me.

"We've been going at this hours, Slendy," I said as he looked at me, a bit irritated at the nickname. "We need a break."

"A break sounds fucking fantastic." LJ grumbled in agreement, crossing his arms. The tall man seemed to study us for a moment before giving a curt nod.

"Fine." He agreed. "But then it's back to training. You two have much to learn." With that said, he vanished out of sight. LJ let out an irritable huff before letting his arms fall to his sides.

"Fucking great." He muttered. "Goddamn training… he's going to fucking kill us."

"Yeah, wouldn't doubt it…" I agreed as I laid back, probably getting my clothes filthy but who cares, amiright? I sighed a little and watched the clouds overhead pass by slowly and without a care. It was relaxing, honestly, as I watched them change shape and size as they passed.

The dust kicked up around me suddenly and I glanced over, seeing LJ decided to lay down adjacent to me.

"We're fucked kid." He deadpanned and I looked back to the sky, frowning.

"Seems like it, huh?" I replied and pointed at a cloud. "That one looks like a kitty cat face." LJ gave me an annoyed look.

"Really?" He asked, voicing his annoyance. "You're looking at fucking clouds while Slender is probably developing more ways to torture us?" He looked to the sky, glaring. "Great. Just great. My partner's a goddamn idiot." I shrugged and pointed at another cloud that started to pass by.

"That one looks like a demon eating a baby." I stated.

Silence. Heavy silence fell over us for about a minute and I was beginning to wonder if I should've kept my dark humor to myself. I nearly jumped as LJ burst into a huge fit of laughter, holding his abdomen.

"Holy shit kid." He managed through his giggles. "That's fucked up, but hilarious!" I grinned and laughed with the monochrome entity. I don't think I've ever seen him actually laugh whole-heartedly before.

"Come on, look at that thing and tell me it doesn't look like a demon eating a baby." I countered playfully as LJ paused for a moment and looked at the sky.

"I dunno, looks like a two headed old guy now."

"….huh, it does…"

"Jesus Christ why the fuck are we watching clouds?"

"Cause clouds are cool."

"And fucked up. Look, that one looks like a live autopsy."

"…oh my god it does!"

"What are you two doing?"

We both looked up to see my aunt, giving us a small smile as she looked down at the two of us.

"Looking at the clouds." I replied while LJ growled irritably and looked away. My aunt merely laughed and looked at the sky with interest.

"Sounds fun." She tells us as she looks back down. "How's training?" LJ snorted at her question, but didn't look at her.

"It's shit, what'd you expect?" He grumbled and I slapped his shoulder. He returned the favor by hitting me in the gut, making me grunt in slight pain before kicking him in the shin.

"I'm sure you two will figure it out." My aunt encouraged. "What works for Slender might not be what works for you. You just need to find your own groove and flow with it, you know?" With that said, she walked back into the house and I blinked at her statement. What did work for us? We're both pretty much our own fighters, had our own style of fighting… how could we get this to work for the both of us?

"That was shit advice." LJ grunted as he sat up. I looked at him, sitting up as well.

"Maybe not…" I muttered in thought. "She could be onto something."

"Like what kid?" He asked gruffly. "Slender ain't exactly lenient on us, you know? He's gonna fucking rip us apart." I rubbed my jaw in thought, trying to see if there was anything we could do to improve our fighting.

"Well… let's take a look at this…" I began.

"Ooh, goodie, you gonna science your way out of this kid? Draw me a chart? A pie graph?"

"Oh shuddup." I snapped playfully. "Listen, okay? We both know we're getting nowhere with the way things are going now. So… we gotta make a compromise. Something we both can agree on."

"Can we agree this is fucking stupid?" He interrupted and I lightly punched his chest, earning a grunt.

"Will you let me talk for a minute?" I countered before continuing. "Okay, so Slendy told us that this…. Soul bound thing… runs on trust, right?"

"Yeah…" LJ affirmed in a dull and bored tone.

"Right, so now with that, you gotta trust me and I gotta trust you. Because if we can't trust each other, there's gonna be hesitation. We hesitate, we die."

"Get to your point, kid."

"Well… when we were trying to fight Slender, you knew where he was going to strike. I don't have that intel until you let me know, but I'm also not fast enough to register the information and dodge an attack quickly." LJ raises a brow at my explanation, still irritable.

"Okay, so you're telling me what I already know and it's that you're a fucking moron." He states and I glared at him.

"No, you dick," I hissed. "You've got agility that I don't have to dodge… We gotta figure out how we can get me to match your pace or we're going to end up fucking up again."

"And how do you plan on doing that kid?" He asked while I just frowned in thought again. How could we get this to work?

"… you're a cosmic entity." I stated. "You can pretty much do anything as long as someone believes in you…" An idea popped into my head and I looked at the entity. "You could be my puppeteer." LJ gave me a dissatisfied look.

"A puppeteer? Kid, how's that supposed to work?" He inquired, crossing his arms.

"Easy, just control my movements." I said as I stood up, brushing myself off. "Come on, let's try it."

"I don't—"

"Get off your ass and let's do this shit." I pulled on his sleeve while he just glared irritably at me until he slowly stood to his feet. I moved to stand in front of him, my back towards him, and looked up.

"Okay, now be a puppeteer." I said and he rolled his eyes.

"You want me to get my yarn out too?" He growled and I elbowed him in the leg. Stupid height difference.

"Just work with me, LJ." I pleaded as the entity raised a brow. He shook his head and lowered his arms.

"Fine. Tell me what you want me to do." He said, sarcasm aside now.

"Okay… uh…" I thought about what we could do for a moment. "Do a cartwheel and have me follow."

"Really?" He snorted before waving me off as I was about to argue with him. "Yeah, yeah, fine." I waited for a few moments as LJ did as instructed, doing a simple cartwheel. I felt myself be pulled in his direction and I nearly yelped out as my world spun and then I was back on my feet, dizzy and a bit ill.

"Well?" LJ asked and I groaned, leaning on my knees. "I'm taking that as 'it didn't go well'."

"I think I'm gonna puke." I admitted and laughed as LJ stepped away from me.

"That fucking backfired." He replied and stared at me. "What next, kid?"

"There's something we're doing wrong…" I muttered, trying to figure it out. "…but what?" LJ sat down on the ground again with a shrug and I followed suit.

"Beats me." He said and I narrowed my eyes at him. "What? What the fuck do you want me to do?"

"Uh, I dunno… help." I said sarcastically. "There's gotta be a way for me to keep up with the pace and not get sick…"

"You're a performer, aren't you?" LJ pointed out. "You do all that shit on stage and you don't fucking vomit. How do you do it?" I blinked and furrowed my brows in thought.

"I dunno." I replied honestly. "I just kind of… let the music flow." Flow.

Just like my aunt said.

"…I've got another idea." I said and LJ groaned.

"You're not going to actually throw your guts up, are ya?" He asked and I whacked his shoulder.

"No, you ass," I replied as I went over to the porch and picked up my phone, unlocking it and going to my music app. LJ paused and followed me, looking at my phone with a squint.

"What're you up to?" He asked.

"Just need a little background noise." I told him as I turned to the entity. "You trust me?" LJ raised a brow at my question.

"…why?" He countered and I put a hand on my hip.

"If you can control my movements, I should be able to control yours." I replied and shushed him before he could interrupt. "It's all about timing in choreography. You've got the speed, I've got the timing." LJ squinted at my explanation.

"O…kay…" He said slowly. "How's your... 'Choreography'… going to help?"

"Easy. I won't blow chunks." I said. "I know this because I'll be expecting the actions. I'll follow your lead in the agility and speed department if you follow me in the choreography."

"Kid… that's fucking stupid." LJ deadpanned and I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, you're such a dick." I muttered. "Just give it a shot. Either that or we can get Slendy back out here to 'help' us." That struck a nerve as the monochrome entity grumbled but agreed to try. I smirked and dropped my hand from my hip, moving towards him.

"Okay, first things first." I began. "You gotta trust me on this, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever kid." He replied tartly. "What do you want me to do?" I turned with my back towards him again.

"Same thing, just follow my thoughts." I stated as I started the song on my phone. A mellow rock song began to play through the phone's speakers. Well… it was mellow for now, anyways.

Memories consume

Like opening the wounds

I'm picking me apart again

I let out a breath and closed my eyes, letting the song flow through and around me as I always did.

Okay LJ, do a cartwheel again. As I asked, the monochrome entity puppeteered me while I focused on the beat of the song.

And it worked perfectly.

As our feet touched the ground, we did a small pivot whilst the music continued to play. I grinned and looked at LJ, who returned my look with a raised brow.

"What?" He asked.

"It worked."

0o0o0o0o0o

Once Slender came back, our training resumed once again, although we did surprise him with our new fighting tactic. He even let the music continue in the background to help us. It didn't mean that we actually won against the tall man. Not by a long shot. He continued to knock us around effortlessly, despite our newfound teamwork.

We still have a very long way to go.

The sun began to set, painting the sky with hues of orange and purple as I sat on the ground and whined.

"Slendy, it's like… almost seven," I complained. "Can we call it a day?" The tall man looked to me, tilting his head a bit before sighing and giving a curt nod.

"Fine." He decided. "We will pause your training for now."

"Fucking finally." LJ grumbled and rubbed his neck, trying to work out a few knots that had developed.

"Ditto." I agreed as I stretched, feeling my back pop as I groaned. Slender clasped his hands in front of him and looked towards us.

"We'll start again tomorrow morning." He informed us. "Six a.m. sharp." I blanched and turned towards the entity. He couldn't be serious… could he?

"Excuse me?" I asked. "Six? In the goddamn morning? You do know I have school and shit to do, right?"

"I'm sure your mother can gather your studies and bring them home to you." Slender replied. "You both need your training more than your human studies."

"You've got to be kidding me!" I shouted as I stood back up, getting a rush of vertigo before glaring at the tall man. "You know, I'd actually like to go to school and hang out with my friends. Be fucking social. You know… live a bit!?" I felt the air tense around us as Slender became irritated at my words.

"You wish to live?" He repeated lowly. "Child, you should understand the importance of your training. If you're not prepared, there are many out there who would gladly take your life. I am doing this not only as a favor, but for your benefit. You both have to be prepared for anything that poses a threat." I glared until I felt a hand on my shoulder, looking up at LJ. I blinked at the entity for a moment, seeing that he looked as tired and as irritable as I felt.

Let it go, kid. He told me. We'll work this out. I frowned and tossed once last glare to Slender before shaking off LJ's hand and heading into the house.

0o0o0o0o0o

After a shower and some food, it was nearly time for bed. The house was quiet as everyone went to their room and prepared for the night, but I felt restless. I tossed and turned for a bit before groaning and getting up, opening my window to look out into the starry night sky.

The stars blinked and shined brightly against the navy blue blanket, dusting space with the hues of white and gold, some blues and greens. I loved to just look out and star at space, marveling in its beauty. I carefully stepped out onto the roof, climbing up until I could lay back on the rafters and just stargaze.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin and sat up, looking at LJ with a glare. He just raised a brow at my actions, as if it happened all the time.

With this guy, I'm pretty sure it did.

"Shouldn't you be… whatever." I waved him off, not thinking of a really good comeback. "Can't sleep so I decided to come out here and look at the stars."

"You and the goddamn sky," He grumbled, coming to sit beside me. "First it's the clouds, now it's the stars. What the hell is so great about it?" I shrugged.

"It's pretty." I replied. "Look at that nebula right there, it's amazing. You know you can only see these when there's not a lot of artificial lights around? That's why my mom wanted to live here."

"That's stupid." LJ deadpanned and I elbowed him, earning a small grunt.

"You're stupid." I laughed and looked at the night sky again. Silence fell between us as we laid on the roof, staring at the sky and basking in the beauty. Well… I was, who knows about LJ. I heard the entity give out a deep sigh.

"You know, I used to do this with Isaac." He told me and I looked at him curiously. "He'd make up things in the stars and we'd create stories for them."

"…really?" I asked and looked back. "Me and Rosemary used to sit up on the roof and find constellations. It was a blast… until our moms found us and we got in trouble." I frowned at the memory. I remembered it so vividly, but I'm pretty sure Rosemary had forgotten. She was little, after all and it was just before…

That.

"Moms? You don't have the same mom?" LJ questioned and I shook my head.

"Nope." I replied. "Same dad. Different moms. Although our moms met through that deadbeat. They became super close friends…" I felt a pang of sorrow go through me that I'm pretty sure LJ felt as well because he gave me a confused and slightly concerned look.

"Lemme guess," The entity sighed and looked back at the sky. "She's gone."

"Yeah…" I muttered. "She died when Rosemary was little, about two or three."

"Hn, so that's how you ended up in that godforsaken orphanage, right?" I paused, wondering how the hell he knew. I never told him about it. Never talked about it.

"Yeah… how'd you know about that?" I questioned as he snorted.

"Kid, I can enter dreams, and you had a fucked up nightmare about that place." He responded dully. "I didn't say anything because… well, it was fucked up and I honestly didn't wanna know." I frowned and shrugged it off.

"Okay, whatever." I replied. "But yeah, that's how I—we ended up there. Stupid CPS didn't even bother checking the stupid place… Had no windows or an address, how could they not notice that?" I growled to myself. "They just dropped Rosemary off. If I wasn't there… she would've—"

"Don't hurt yourself, kid."

"Shuddup LJ."

I felt a light thump to the back of my head and I winced out of reflex, reaching up to rub my head. I turned and glared at LJ.

"What was that for!?" I snapped as the entity gave me a cheeky grin and shrugged. I shoved at him, even though he barely moved an inch, and turned to glare at the stars.

"You're a dick." I grumbled as the entity laughed lightly.

"Right back at'cha, kid." He replied with amusement. I shook my head and let out a small laugh, feeling my eyes begin to sting with sleep. Guessing I was beginning to get tired.

"Tired kid?" LJ asked and I shook my head, only to be betrayed by a yawn. The entity snorted and ruffled my hair.

"Yeah, don't lie to me kiddo." He said. "Get your ass to bed." I huffed and swiped my hand at him.

"You're not my real mom." I stated.

"Oh, shut up and get going. It's already late and Slender's gonna kick our asses if we don't get some sleep."

"Slender can suck my dick."

"Kid… gross. Go to bed."

0o0o0o0o0o

By the way, song is Breaking The Habit by Linkin Park