Susano-o: Angst!
Sekhmet: Even though this isn't a cursed chapter per say, it still wasn't super fun to write near the end. But we planned it that way, so it's our fault.
Susano-o: This is why you don't leave teenagers to face giant space horrors alone! Look at the poor girl! She's got anxiety now!
Sekhmet: And she's too stubborn to see a therapist! It's actually interesting, in Japan it's seen as shameful for a child to need to see a therapist, so for Yuko of all people to be advocating for therapy means that playtime is over.
Susano-o: Luckily we're fixing this now and not waiting a season to let the angst really build.
Sekhmet: Fuck that shit, we deal with our problems now like real men! We're applying Evangelion teachings to this if it kills us!
Susano-o: So let's get this angst train a-rollin so we can eventually Spiderman 2 it!
Sekhmet: Meme it to hell? Or do you mean Spider-Man 3 it?
Susano-o: No stop it like he did.
Sekhmet: Oh, right. Here we goooOOOOO!
Chapter 49: Burning Down Bridges
Rose grit her teeth as she lifted the bottle of fireball cinnamon whiskey above her head, chugging it as quickly as she could much to the excitement of the partygoers around her.
"Chug! Chug! Chug!" They shouted as Rose slammed down the liter full of whiskey with all the grace and majesty of a frat boy at Cancun spring break, getting a huge cheer from the crowd when she finished it with a small hiccup.
"Whoop!" Rose cheered as she slammed the bottle on the table. "Who's the best?" Rose shouted and was met with a cheer in return.
"Sarge," Hassleberry said as he caught Rose from collapsing when she tried standing up. "Maybe you should calm down, you've been going hard since the party started," He explained, sitting her back in her chair as she chuckled and her head lolled to the side.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," She insisted, trying to push Hassleberry away drunkenly. "Just let me get some more fireball," she said, rubbing her hands over Hassleberry's face.
"No, no more alcohol Sarge," Hassleberry said, grabbing her hands and forcing them down to the table. "Not for now, I'm gonna get you some water and food, let some of the alcohol you've had process before you have more, ok?"
Rose just snorted and rolled her eyes. "Fine," She groaned, setting her head down on the table.
Hassleberry sighed and went to the party table to grab Rose some food and a bottle of water, only to bump into Alexis coming the other way and nearly dump her drink over both of them.
"Oh umm hey Alexis," Hassleberry said nervously as his only interactions with her before had involved bloodshed and anger.
"Umm hi," Alexis said back, trying to be nice while tamping down the sad feeling in her chest when she saw the looks Hassleberry was giving her.
"So, good party right?" Hassleberry said, making small talk as he grabbed a plate to load up.
"Oh yeah a lot better than last years," Alexis said smiling as she swirled her drink, some mixed thing that tasted like bubblegum and burning.
Hassleberry raised an eyebrow. "What happened last year?"
Alexis giggled. "Rose's old foster friends sent her a care package that had 4Loko in it," She explained. "None of them read the labels and ended up getting drunk and burning the Blue Dorms deck furniture before they hopped on the airship and tried to fly to Vegas."
Hassleberry blinked then started laughing, Alexis quickly joined in. "That sounds like her alright," Hassleberry said, grabbing a few things from the veggie platter and a bottle of water to finish his plate.
"Yeah," Alexis said sadly. "Hey have you seen her? I've been looking but can't find her."
"Oh sure, just follow me," He said, leading her through the crowd. "She's over here, this is her food actually, girls been drinking like a fish since the party started."
Alexis sighed annoyed that Rose was drinking too much again. "At least you're sober enough," She added looking around again. "As long as we keep her and Yuko apart we hopefully won't have to deal with a bonfire tonight."
"Already hid the matches and blowtorch," Hassleberry added as they finally got to Rose's table, which was now minus one Rose.
"Damn it," Hassleberry groaned. "Can you help me find her?"
"Yeah sure," Alexis said and the two broke off to find their wayward friend.
….
"What do you mean she's gone?" Yuko asked. "How could she be lost anyway, everyone in the damn school could hear her five minutes ago."
"I don't know," Alexis replied. "Hassleberry just said she wandered off from where he left her."
"Well, we gotta find her then. Despite all her noise, she's the life of the party." Yuko said, downing the last of her drink and dropping the bottle in the recycling bin on the way past. "If you're going that way, I'll head this way and one of us HAS to find her. It can't be that hard."
Alexis let out a relieved sigh at that. "Thank you, I've been meaning to talk to her for a while now but we haven't seen each other in a while."
"Me too. I have a bad feeling about how she's been acting." Yuko said. "It could be a sign of something really bad."
"Yeah," Alexis agreed with a sad but determined look. "Ok I'll go left you go right," She said before sliding back into the crowd.
"Will do." Yuko mumbled, and went in the opposite direction.
….
"So nice place to end up," The voice chuckled as Rose punked again in the bushes next to the side entrance.
"Shut up already," Rose snarled hauling herself drunkenly to her feet. "I'm fine."
"Oh yeah, avoiding your friends, getting extremely drunk, you've got everything sorted out."
"I would if you would go away," She snarked walking back inside. "I'm trying to enjoy myself here," She added grabbing another bottle to sip while she made small talk with the guests.
"There you are. We need to talk." Yuko said, reaching out to snag Rose's hand from the crowd. "You've been acting super weird and we need to clear this up."
"What?" Rose asked confused.
"I personally think it's a possession thing, but I need the word from the horse's mouth." Yuko said, trying to drag her off but not really succeeding because Rose was much stronger than her, even when super drunk.
"I don't-what are you talking about?" Rose asked draining the bottle she had grabbed, not in the mood for Yuko's insanity.
"Please don't make this harder than it needs to be. I just want the truth. That's all." Yuko said.
"What truth!?" Rose yelled confused.
"You know ignorance isn't a good look for you," The voice chimed in laughing.
"You're acting weird and I wanna know why. If you think I'm gonna laugh at you or something, I'll tell you up front that I'm not going to." Yuko said.
"Look nothing is wrong," Rose insisted. "I'm just still uncomfortable with everything that happened last year."
Yuko gave her a look that showed that she wasn't convinced. "Yeah, but this is beyond even that. Something's up, and I'm worried about you." Yuko said.
"There's nothing up with me," Rose insisted again.
"You've got worry and rage strewn all over your face. You couldn't be less fine." Yuko insisted.
"I'm angry that you won't drop this just because I'm not comfortable being back here yet," Rose growled. "A lot went down last year and I'm still trying to process it."
Yuko finally let go. "Fine. But if I hear about something bad happening as a direct result of this, I'll implore you to seek help."
"Fine," Rose snapped grabbing some more to drink and walking away without a word.
"You're not right Rose, and you're too stubborn to see it." Yuko thought. "It'll be the end of you someday."
….
"Hey Corporal, Alexis told me you've joined the hunt for Sarge?" Hassleberry asked Yuko when she returned.
"Yes. She's not well. If she's to be believed, at best she's got PTSD. At worst, she's lying to us to cover up something horrible and probably supernatural." Yuko said.
"Well she did have to lead an army against another group of students, including her girlfriend, in order to stop a giant eldritch abomination from destroying the planet," Hasselberry said running his chin. "Reckon that would mess anyone up."
"Yeah, and I'm not at all saying it was her fault. My main concern is that she's trying to cover up for something far worse than a mental illness, and that if she's too stubborn to accept help, it'll bring her to ruin, or worse, death." Yuko said. "I suppose for now, we have to go on what we know for sure and treat it like PTSD. It's all we can do."
"Think we can get her to talk to Tania?" Hassleberry asked. "She is a certified mental health counselor."
"She is? If you think it'll help I'm all for it." Yuko said.
"Alright, after the party then," Hassleberry said gesturing to the corner where Tania and Bastion were grinding on each other. "I don't think she'll want to be interrupted."
"After it is." Yuko said.
Unknown to the two Alexis was standing nearby, crushing her cup to try and not break down, now more determined than ever to find Rose and set her straight.
….
"The night is bright and full of terrors, the night is bright and full of terrors," Rose thought as the shadow's of her room got shorter and shorter as a bright light slowly filled the room, condensing into a face she'd hope to never see again.
"Hello again child," The Light said chuckling. "Did you really believe you could stop me so easily?"
"What are you doing back here!" Rose yelled throwing a shadow at The Light, who just blocked it with a wave.
"I'm doing what I was born to do," The Light chuckled, walking over to grab Rose by the throat while she kicked and tried to get free, but her powers wouldn't come to her.
"All you care about is destruction!" Rose yelled punching The Light's arm.
"And all you care about, you destroy," The Light replied looking her dead in the eyes. "Now."
"Fall"
Rose's nightmare ended with her screaming into the night as she threw herself forward in her bed, massive shadow tendrils whipping around her in a flurry of destruction trying to impale any imaginary foes in the room. Sweating through her shirt she threw herself out of her bed and stumbled to her bathroom to curl up in the darkness of her bathtub.
"The darkness is safe, the darkness won't hurt me," She mumbled covering herself in shadows to block out more light.
"Well that was rather entertaining."
"Shut up!" Rose screeched grabbing her head hard. "Just shut up already!"
"No."
Rose screamed, then stopped, with a blank look she left the bathroom, and then dorms.
….
The sound of the fire alarm going off sent everyone flying out of the dorms in a panic. Half dressed they stumbled through the dark till they ended up outside where Rose was standing in front of the building pouring gasoline on the patio.
"Oh mother-son of a bitch!" Yuko shouted before walking up to her and turned her around by her shoulders. "What the fuck is going on!"
"Hmm?" Rose asked not really paying attention. "Oh nothing, just doing something we should have done before," She said dropping the gas can and lighting a match. "Don't worry I got everyone's stuff out already," She said throwing the match and sending the male dorms up in flames.
"I knew it… Rose, you're not well! You need help, no matter what you think about it!" Yuko shouted over the roar of the flames. "You need to see someone!"
"No I'm fine," Rose insisted. "Look I will admit I couldn't get rid of all the memories of this place, nearly dying to an eldritch entity does things to someone, but now I don't have to deal with it anymore," She said shrugging as she walked over to the pile of stuff to grab hers. "Come on everyone we're going to the female dorms...or I guess the only dorm now."
"Rose, you are not fine! If you don't get help, this'll only get worse!" Yuko shouted. "Please, I'm begging you as a friend to see someone!"
"And I'm telling you as a friend I'm fine," Rose insisted, finally getting her stuff. "Come on everyone move out!" She ordered.
"You're not fine! You're the fucking antithesis of fine! There's no shame in talking about this! Why do you have to be so stubborn all the time!" Yuko screamed.
"I'm not being stubborn! You're seeing things that aren't there!" Rose yelled back. "For fucks sake I had a bad year and I just need to get back into being a normal person!" She shouted back.
"Burning down a building is not what a recovering person would do! It's not even close! You're so wracked with paranoia that the past is coming back that you're taking irrational actions! It's PTSD!"
"It's nothing!" Rose screamed getting in her face.
"It's everything! You need help! You need to realize that this isn't ok!"
"I can't handle you right now!" Rose said, throwing her hands up. "Come on, you and Syrus can share a room!"
"How can I enjoy that when I know my dearest friend is suffering and needs help!" Yuko grabbed Rose's arm. "This is not the Rose I know, and god help me if you're possessed, I'll beat the crap out of whatever's controlling you!"
Rose snapped and smacked Yuko away. "I'm fine!" Rose yelled. "Stop seeing things that aren't there!" She yelled before reaching out and tearing out the bit of her Darkness she had given Yuko. "And leave me alone!" With that she turned and stomped away.
As the other students shuffled behind her in confusion and apprehension, Yuko couldn't help but cry, both in anger and in sadness.