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The Wood has started to take more of an interest in Carter these past few loops.
He defers to Jane, always wanting what's best for her. Letting her decide to open the Watchtower, letting her lead him along. Letting her walk away over and over again, despite knowing that it'll break his heart.
The Wood wants to change that. They can make the Watchtower harder to find. They can give themself more time with Carter. This loop will be different.
It starts with them using the wood whispers to keep Carter behind a bit longer, long enough to lay a well manicured hand on his shoulder. "You know, you could stay here," the Wood says, in a voice as smooth as silk. Carter looks up, his head gently thunking against the Wood's chest. "What-? Oh, yeah. I know, but Jane wants to-"
"This isn't about Jane, carter." The Wood cuts him off, moving so that their arm is around Carter, gently pinning him to their front. Carter looks afraid, for a moment. The wood whispers laugh quietly, voices like birds in the trees. "Think about what you want. I've heard you both talking, I know you have never thought about leaving." Carter blinks, and just like that, he's alone in the woods again. A single white birch leaf pressed into his hand.
The wood whispers are acting... differently. They've been giving Carter presents. Bottlecaps, smooth pebbles, perfect acorns. Alice jokes that a crow must like him.
The next time the Wood shows up, they hold Carter's gaze for a moment and in it, Carter realizes something.
The wood whispers act on behalf of the Wood. Everything they do is the Wood's will. The gifts are from the Wood. They've been picking out trinkets and sending the whispers to Carter.
Carter looks away, hands shoved in his pockets. Where the white birch leaf rests.
It's a while before the Wood decides to see Carter again, materializing out of the trees when Jane and Alice have gone off to find something to eat.
Carter leaned against the trunk of a tree, lightly dozing, when the Wood kneels at his side. He wakes up with a start, panicking before he locks eyes with the entity sitting beside him. "Oh, it's you," he says, voice bright and still a little sleepy. He reaches into a pocket, pulling out the smooth metacarpal of a deer. "This is for you."
The Wood sits frozen for a moment, before offering Carter their hand. The bone is passed over, their fingertips brushing. The Wood almost wants to pull Carter's hand close, but chooses instead to run their fingers over the bone.
"Do you like it?" Carter asks, smiling softly. "Of course," the Wood replies, before leaving Carter alone in the clearing, Alice and Jane's voices drifting closer.
The next time Carter sees the wood, he's crying outside The Crypt, back pressed against the cold stone.
"Carter, what's got you so upset?" the Wood asks, head tilted slightly, like a cat looking down at a mouse.
"Shouldn't you know? You said you know everything," Carter sobs, wiping his face on his sleeve. "Jane is mad again, she wants to get out of here and Alice can't find the watchtower, so she can't go home, and she called me useless-" Carter sniffles, teetering on the edge of another wail.
The Wood's eyes soften, and before they can start to speak, Carter's talking again. "Jane would've never called me that before, but she wants to leave and we can't find the tower, and she thinks I'm not walking fast enough and that you're hiding it, so that's my fault too ." Carter takes a shaky breath, trying hard not to cry. "Why won't you let her go?"
The Wood is silent for a moment, wondering how many times Carter asked himself that same question. Instead of answering, they pull Carter close, tucking the smaller man to their side. The wood runs a hand through Carter's hair. They stand quietly like that for what feels like eternity, before the Wood is gone again.
This time, he was intentionally looking for the Wood. He found the entity humming to himself, sitting in a shaft of sunlight.
"Hello, Carter," the Wood says, without turning around. "Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly."
"Isn't this whole place your parlor? I don't think you look much like a spider," Carter says, walking over to sit near the wood.
"You could say that. What brings you to me, little bird?" if Carter's cheeks turned a bit pink, the Wood politely ignored it.
"Maybe- uh, maybe I wanted to... ask you a question," Carter says, suddenly very interested in the sleeves of his jacket. "About how this place works."
Carter is usually an excellent listener, which is what made him such a great co-host for Jane. But today, he's having a hard time concentrating on what the Wood is saying, rather than just their mouth. He doesn't even realize he's crossed the gap between them until his lips are on the Wood's.
The kiss seems to last forever, the Wood's hand gently cradling Carter's cheek. The moment breaks when the wood tries to pull Carter closer, which seems to remind Carter just what is going on.
He pulls back sharply, face red. "I sh- shouldn't have- I need to go ," Carter squeaks, stumbling to his feet and out of the clearing. The Wood smiles as they watch Carter go, already devising a plan to kiss Carter again. The wood whispers chatter in delight, sounding like a flock of magpies.
Carter is hurt, hands sliced open from falling, claw marks raked down his back. A victim of one of many beasts in the forest, and the Wood is angry .
The sky has darkened, thunder shakes the ground. Alice stares up at the sky, bewildered. "That's not normal," she says, before turning back around to look at where Carter is seated. Jane kneels in front of him, trying to inspect the cuts on his palms. "I need water, or something,'' Jane says, voice shaking. “I have to clean these out.”
"That won't be necessary," the Wood says, suddenly standing in front of the trio. Jane stands up so fast she stumbles, putting herself between Carter and the Wood. "Now, Janey, there's no need for that. I won’t hurt him," the Wood says, stepping forward. “Can’t let my little bird sit there with a broken wing.”
"No- you need to leave ," Jane shoots back, hands curled into fists. She frowns at the nickname, when did they become that familiar? Carter cries harder on the ground behind her, and the Wood is next to him in seconds, pulling him close.
Jane and Alice watch in stunned silence as the Wood gently holds Carter's hand, brushing their fingers over the bloody cuts. As they do, the wounds close, and the blood seems to evaporate, like it was never there. "It's alright, bluebird, I'll take care of you," the Wood murmurs, only loud enough for Carter to hear. Carter nods, tears still streaking down his face.
"My back hurts," he says, voice a plaintive whisper. The Wood pulls him close, back to their chest, an arm snaking around Carter's waist. "It'll be alright," the Wood replies, the wounds on Carter's back already beginning to close.
Alice looks away, while Jane stares at the pair of them in disbelief.
The Beast of Gevaudan hides in the underbrush like a kicked dog, Carter’s blood staining its claws.
Jane and Alice’s argument was doing more than just putting Carter on edge. They had long since wandered into the Cŵn Annwn’s hunting grounds, and the spectral dogs were known to attack anything that was loud enough to draw their attention.
And their barking was soft and distant, Carter knew that meant the hounds were close. But Jane wouldn’t stop .
“YOU got us lost,” Jane yelled, attempting to stare Alice down. “You said you knew how to get to the Watchtower, and we haven’t gotten ANYWHERE close.”
“It’s not my fault, the woods have changed,” Alice retorts, arms crossed. “I can’t find it because it moved . We just have to keep looking.” Jane kicked a tree, yelling in frustration. And the dogs’ barking sounded far, far away.
One of the dogs leaped into the clearing, going straight for Jane. Its fur was white as the moon, and its ears were red as blood, snarling so softly it was almost comical. If it didn’t mean Jane might be a second away from getting her face bitten off.
In the split second before the dog actually made contact, Carter pushed Jane out of the way. The dog sinks its teeth into his forearm, and the rest of the pack descends on him like a tidal wave of white furred bodies. Nine vicious hounds, knocking him down and forcing Jane to stand there in shocked silence, unless she wants the both of them to be dead on the ground. They can’t see Carter under the dogs.
“
WOODS!
” Alice screams, and the wood whispers carry her voice on the breeze.
“Alice, I never thought I’d see the day,” the Wood says, voice echoing through the trees. “What could you possibly…” They pause, one hand resting against a tree trunk.
In a flash, the wood whispers have restrained the Cŵn Annwn, leaving Carter bloodied on the ground. The Wood is next to him in an instant, pulling Carter into a hug. Jane stomps forward, grabbing their shoulder. “Get away from Carter. Those dogs did enough,” she growls, fingers digging into the cloak of white birch leaves around the Wood’s shoulder.
“You might think this doesn’t matter, because you can go through that door again and it’ll ‘fix’ him,” the Wood replies, voice low and dangerous. “But the more you reset, the more everything breaks apart. You need to stop this.” Carter groans as his wounds begin to knit back together, scrunching closer to the Wood. “I told you, if he gets hurt because he’s smitten with you, it’d be your fault. This is the second time you’ve let him take the hit for you, Jane.” The Wood tucks a lock of hair behind Carter’s still bloody ear, hand lingering over his face for a moment. The bite over Carter’s throat has healed, leaving behind a scar in the shape of the dog’s teeth. The other bites have healed to the point where it looks like they were never there, but that one wouldn’t fade.
“‘M okay now,” Carter croaks, patting the Wood’s shoulder. “You don’t have to stay.” Jane crosses her arms, staring down at the blood - Carter’s blood - soaking into the dirt. “He said he’s fine. You can leave now,” she says forcefully, avoiding looking at the both of them.
The Wood doesn’t leave, this time. Instead, they lean down, capturing Carter’s lips in a kiss. They pull away after a moment, smiling softly at Carter. “Hey, bluebird. The Cŵn Annwn are gone, you’re safe now,” they say. Carter smiles back, cheeks tinted faintly pink. “Thank you… Rowan,” he says, voice crackling slightly. The Wood laughs, petting Carter’s cheek. “I’m a birch forest, birdie. You can come up with a better name when you’re not recovering from a dog attack. Get some sleep.” Carter nods, tucking his face against their chest and promptly passing out.
Jane has never looked more betrayed.
Much to Jane’s dismay, the Wood is still there, and Carter is still asleep.
“I told you, he needs to rest for a while. He almost died , Janey,” the Wood says, giving Jane a look. “If you had been injured, he would have let you rest.”
Jane stood up from the tree stump she was sitting on, glowering at the Wood. “Yeah, that’s di-”
“It is not different, and you know that,” they reply, cutting her off. “You’re causing these problems for yourself. You know what would break the chain.”
She sits back down again, grumbling to herself. Alice watches the three of them from the side, leaning against a tree. “What’s with all this Woodsie? You’ve never been this interested in a human before,” Alice says.
The Wood certainly did not blush at being found out, turning their head away from both women. “I’m allowed to have a favorite.” Alice bursts into laughter at that, pointing at the Wood. “He’s more than just your favorite, we all saw you kiss him. Right, Jane?”
“I wish I hadn’t,” Jane replies, arms crossed against her chest. “You shouldn’t kiss people without their permission .” The Wood stares at her for a moment, eyes narrowed. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t kiss him earlier. At least mine had actual feelings behind it.” Carter stirs, shifting so that his face is pressed against the Wood’s throat, still dead asleep.
Jane clenches her jaw. “You aren’t human, what do you even get out of this?” she snaps, standing over the Wood so they have to look up at her. “Can you experience emotions? Can you even have favorites? You’re just a sentient purgatory we’re all fucking trapped in.” The Wood rolls their eyes, and maybe a few birch trees around the clearing do as well. “I’m sapient and sentient, thank you for asking. I can feel emotions just like you can, Janey,” the Wood says, one hand now resting over the back of Carter’s head, playing idly with his hair.
“You’re manipulating him. That’s what you do,” Jane fires back. “We’ve all seen you force the Puritans to do whatever you want. I’ve seen you controlling some of the cryptids. You just want to play dolls. Well, newsflash, idiot! You can’t just make people do whatever you want!” The sky darkens, and just as the Wood starts to answer, someone else cuts them off. “Woods isn’t manipulating me. I like Woods . Maybe if you treated me like a person, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Carter says, turned slightly to look at Jane. “They’ve been kind, and treated me like I have feelings. Which is more than you’ve been doing.” Jane stares down at Carter in shocked silence, before going scarlet. “I cannot fucking believe you,” she replies, tone harsh and biting, before stomping off into the woods.
The wood whispers are leading Carter somewhere, to a part of the forest he’s never seen before. It’s like a perpetual twilight, the sky was nearly fully dark, with faint stars shining through the leaves. “Where are we going?” he asks, not really expecting an answer. ‘ Dreaming, dreaming… ’ comes the response, sounding like someone was whispering in his ear. “Am I supposed to know what that means?” He stumbles into the clearing, suddenly bone-tired. He rubs at his eyes, trying to force himself into wakefulness, as the wood whispers push him forward again. They push him to the large tree at the center of the clearing, where the Woods is… sleeping. Something tugs Carter’s sleeve playfully, suggesting that he climb the tree and join. Might as well , he thinks, picking his way up carefully.
The problem arises when he tries to lay down, not wanting to squish the Wood. Carter places a hand near their face, steadying himself as he settles into the hollow of the tree. He yelps softly in surprise as the Wood bites down around his wrist, not hard enough to hurt. “
Hey
, stop that,” Carter whispers, tugging his wrist from their mouth. The Wood reaches up and pulls him down, tucking him against their chest.