Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“-Forcast show chances of rain early tomorrow morning-“ Clicking the tv off, you snuggled deeper into your couch, a yawn stretching over your mouth as you threw your arm over your eyes. You should get up and turn off the lights and go to bed. But you were sooo comfy. Moving your arm, you beadily glanced up, waving an arm around where you were sure you had tossed a blanket before. Fingers brushing against the blanket, you grabbed the faded green and blue yarn blanket, your favorite one, before throwing it over yourself and rolling onto your side with a sleepy mummer. 

“I’ll just close my eyes for a minute.” You mumbled to yourself, knowing you weren’t going to get up and turn the lights off. Your body relaxed slowly, sending you into a deep and easy sleep. 

Crash 

Jolting awake at the sudden noise, you looked around wildly, eyes wide and heart thumping a mile a minute inside your chest. 

Crack 

Jolting, your eyes flickered towards the window as a flash of light caught your eyes. Slipping off the couch, you clutched your yarn blanket around yourself. A shiver ran through you as your feet touched the hardwood floor, before you slowly started walking towards the window. 

Crack 

You flinched again before pushing your curtains back. Your shoulders sagged in relief, seeing the storm going on outside. The fan from the light in the living room had drone out the sound of the rain. You stood there for a moment, watching the rain start to come down faster and harsher. Humming slightly to yourself, you turned back around, nearly tripping over your cat. 

“Slushy, watch where you’re going.” You scolded the cat. The orange tabby just gave you a look of pure disdain before turning around and showing you his butthole. You snorted at the cat’s antics before walking pass the cat and into your bedroom. You lived in a small apartment so the walk wasn’t very far. Flicking on the lights, you passed by your desk on the left side of the room which was filled with sketch papers and pencils. You glanced down, eyes focused on the sketch you had attempted to do of Slushy. You just couldn’t get his face right. Grabbing the paper, you crumbled it up with a grumble, remembering now why you had to take a break from drawing and watch the news. It looked just all wrong! Throwing it in your trash can beside the desk, you walked over to your bed, that had a giant window with curtains overlooking it. Flipping open the curtains, you checked the latch. You always kept the window there latched as there was a fire escape just outside it. Flopping down onto your bed, you turned over, drawing the comforter over you with a yawn. 

You started drifting back to sleep, the thundering turning into soft background noise, just before a high keening caught your attention. You tried to ignore it, as the noise was almost completely drowned out by the rain, but the longer you waited the louder it started to become. Your eyes flickered open as you realized it was someone screaming. It sounded like it was coming from downstairs. Sitting up, you flinched as you heard frantic knocking at the door. Stumbling out of bed, your heart raced as you heard even more screaming. You paused at the door, hesitating to open it, before you glanced inside the peephole. A familiar flair of red hair greeted your sights before you swung the door open. 

“Jake, what-“ The ginger shoved you out of the way, walking inside, before slamming the door behind him. You took a step back, fear fluttering in your chest. Yeah, Jake was always a little flirty but this was starting to get a little scary. 

“Have you seen them?!” Jake said, grabbing ahold of your arms as his green eyes flashed with panic. “Oh stars, they’re inside the building! They’re in the building (Y/n!) We’re all gonna die! We’re gonna die!” Jake was practically hyperventilating at this point, flinching hard as the next onslaught of screams began. 

“Jake you’re scaring me, what’s going on?” Your voice wavered between fear and frustration at Jake’s babbling. 

“The news, the news, turn on the news.” He mumbled, eyes flickering around the room as if he were a trapped animal. You tried to move away, but Jake was still clinging to you, trembling all the while. He kept mumbling about something coming. Forcing his grip on you to loosen, you wiggled out of it before racing over to the remote and flicking on the tv. 

“Warning: All residents of Ebott City are to remain indoors at all times. An attack of unknown creatures of origin are killing citizens. If seeing something that look inhuman, do not engage. Again, do not engage and remain indoors. We are asking for help from the National Guard.” You stare blankly at the television as the message repeated again. 

“Jake, what’s down there?” You demand, turning to face the hysterical redhead. Jake lived on the bottom floor, whatever was coming closer must have come from his floor. Jake looked at you wide eyed and horrified, tears seeming out of his emerald green eyes. You were shocked he was crying. 

“Monsters.” Jake whispered, a shudder running through him. “I sa-saw a skeleton kill my mom. It-it’s how I got away. Th-they were eat-eating my mom.” He choked out, more fresh tears cascading down his face. You looked at him mystified, wondering if you heard him wrong. 

“A… skeleton?” You ask, suddenly your head snapped towards the door that Jake had just come in from. The noises had stopped. Taking a deep breath, you started towards the door. Your trembling hands reached out before sliding both the bottom and top lock close. You waited for a heartbeat, ears still straining for anymore screaming. Just then you heard a rasp of knuckles across your door. 

“knock knock.” A deep barren male voice sounded from the other side of the door. Before you could answer, Jake had jerked you back away from the door. 

“Don’t answer it, it’s the monster.” He practically sobbed. 

“that’s not how it goes. you’re supposed to say who’s there?” The voice started again, this time with a slight tinge of annoyance in it. Shrugging off of Jake’s hold you hesitantly approached the door. Ignoring Jake’s voice begging you to stand back you leaned in to look through the peephole again. Curiosity had won you over, you just had to know. Looking through it, your breath couldn’t help but halt in your chest. It really was a skeleton. A huge, large, grossly deformed skeleton. He was wearing a blue hoodie with a white fur trim that was covered in blood, shorts, and a pair of fuzzy pink slippers. You could see that it was holding a heavy looking rusty axe loosely across it’s shoulder. Looking up at him, you could just make out a shattered hole on the right side of his head that looked unnatural and painful. His teeth were sharp, stained red with what you assumed was blood, and stretched into a huge grin. Just then a red glowing light flashed to life into his right eye socket, seemingly looking right at you. You gasped, jerking away and trying, and failing, to get the image of it’s blood soaked teeth out of your head. Now you were shaking just as bad as Jake. 

“ignoring me? now i really got an axe to grind with ya.” The skeleton chuffed at its own joke before you heard the doorknob rattling fiercely. You had no doubt that creature could rip the door right off the hinges if it so wanted to. Not even realizing when you had grabbed onto Jake as you two shook in each other’s hold. 

“Stay Out.” You suddenly found yourself screeching. A string of curses could be heard on the other end of your door much to your fearful confusion. Were they like vampires, unable to enter without permission? The hallway outside your door went silent for several long long seconds. You were half tempted to sneak back over to the door and peek back through the peephole before a sudden deep, dark laughter filled the halls outside. A shudder ran through you as you wondered what had amused the creature so much. 

“won’t you please let me in, little miss mage?” The voice chuckled, confusion coloring your face as you and Jake silently backed away into your bedroom. Slowly and quietly you closed the door to your bedroom before sliding against the door with your back pressed to it. You were still shuddering all over. If you survived this, you would be having nightmares for the rest of your life. 

“What the-what the hell was that?” You whispered, gazing up wide eyed at Jake. He had sat at your desk, before putting his face in his hands. His shoulders were shaking a little and you had to look away. He had said that that… thing had ate his mom? A rush of grief ran over you. You had met Mrs. Gray a few times and she had always been nothing but pleasant to you. 

“I’m sorry, I’m really truly sorry.” You whispered, your fingertips brushing against your cheek, feeling wetness where you touched. Standing, you walked over to Jake and wrapped your arms around him. His shoulders stiffened for half a second at your touch before slowly relaxing into another sob. You held onto him, sympathy rising up inside you. At least you both were alive, for the moment. 

“knock knock.” Knuckles rapped against the glass panel above your bed and you felt Jake stiffen all over again as you froze. Your wide eyes looked up at the window. Your eyes went even wider, feeling like they were about to pop out of your skull at any given moment. The skeleton grinned a wide manic smile, lifting a hand to wave his fingers at you. A crack of lightening suddenly flashed behind the skeleton, just adding to the horror of this creature in front of you. He seemed unphased by the rain or thunder and lightning as it happened around him. Suddenly the red flash of light in his eye socket jumped to Jake and his grin disappeared as did the red orb lighting in his eye socket. 

“you better let go of him little birdie or you’re gonna have a bad time.” His voice seemed to echo through the whole apartment and you threw yourself back, back hitting the wall as your heart thumped hard against your chest. You heard rather than saw Jake dart out of your room, but not once did you take your eyes off the monstrosity in front of you. He was just on the other side of the glass, with one swing of his axe he could easily get in. Hell, he could probably use his fists instead if he really needed to. You should run too, get as far away from this skeleton as possible, but your legs just couldn’t seem to obey. You waited with baited breath for the skeleton to smash the window in and tear you apart with his teeth. Instead he just smiled and pointed at the window. 

“do you mind opening this for me?” The creature asked, the smile growing as you just gawked at it. You silently shook your head from side to side, clearly signaling no. Maybe it really was like a vampire. 

“that’s okay.” The monster said, leaning against his axe as he looked you up and down. “i’ll just wait until your juice runs out.” Your eyes widened at that comment. Juice? What juice? Your electricity? A shudder of fear runs through you at the thought. That was your worst nightmare right there. 

“Wh-what?” You finally sputtered out. His grin grew even sharper at the sound of your voice. He chuckled to himself, bringing a hand up to his face and closing(?) his eye sockets as he laughed into his hand. Then he dropped his hand and was back to looking at you. You wished he wouldn’t. You felt like you had to use a full bar of soap and scrub at your skin to get the feeling of his eyelight off of you. 

“do you even know you’re a mage? how rare and precious that is?” The monster asked. A mage? Like wizards and such. You quietly shook your head no again, not trusting yourself to speak again. The creature seemed disappointed when you didn’t voice your answer, grin dipping back down into a frown, but quickly raising back up into a grin once more. 

“your so cute, i might just keep you all to myself. well, me and my brother.” He chuckled, looking away bashfully. Your face paled at that sentence. He and his brother were going to eat you? After your ‘juice ran out?’ You inched closer to the door Jake had slammed shut on his rush to get away from the monster. 

“don’t.” The skeleton spoke, his voice holding that same deep barren voice as before as his eye socket went completely pitch black. You froze, your hand retreating away from the doorknob. You watched him carefully, seeing how he relaxed as you stayed put as both his smile and eyelight returned. 

“Why- why can’t you get inside?” You whispered, so softly you were sure the monster hadn’t even heard you over the rain. The monster just hummed, seemingly pleased at your question. 

“you’re a mage little birdie. you created a barrier when your soul sensed danger. monsters can’t get into barriers.” He said, chuckling as you let out a breath you weren’t aware you were holding and sagged against the wall on your back. You could physically feel your heart slow down as you tilted your head back and closed your eyes. 

“don’t look too relaxed little birdie. it’ll only be up for, at most, two weeks.” Your eyes snapped back open as you glanced back at the skeleton who just started laughing at the renewed fear in your eyes. 

“and when it’s gone. i’ll be here, waiting.” 

Chapter Text

Closing the bedroom door behind you slowly, you walked out of it somewhat dazed. You were a mage? You had some sort of magic? But not enough apparently to keep these monsters out forever. Shuddering, you barely noticed when Jake was standing right in front of you.

“Why didn’t the creature break in?” Jake asked, squeezing your shoulders. You shrugged out of his hold, trying to tamp down on the rush of annoyance that ran through you. Jake had just- ran out to leave you to die! Your shoulder’s sagged. Really, what else had you expected from him? It’s not like Jake could defend you from that thing. He’d be tossed around like a rag doll.

“It said I made some kind of shield or whatever that won’t let him in.” You mumbled,  glancing at the ground as you felt Jake let out a sigh of relief. “But he also said the ‘barrier’ would break in about two weeks. A-and, I don’t know how to make another one.” You stammered out, your eyes still on the ground. Jake froze, his breath hitched in his throat but he swallowed thickly.

“Th-that should be fine.” He reassured you, squeezing your shoulders once more in an attempt to comfort. You just closed your eyes, leaning into his touch. You were glad you at least weren’t going to be alone when you died. ‘What a terrible thought.’ You scowled yourself in your head.

“Seriously (Y/n,) don’t worry about it! The National Guard should be here soon. They’ll take care of these creatures with no problem. Who knows, by the end of the week we should be on the news as one of the few lucky survivors of this attack. A-and if we do survive this, I want to take you out. Like on a date.” Jake said, stammering out the last question. Your head snapped up, gazing up at him incredulously. How could he think about dating at a time like this? A shudder ran through you, but a tiny bit of hope had made it’s way into your heart at Jake’s words. You relaxed some, letting out a breath of relief. How could you forget? The National Guard was on their way. They’d wipe out these horrible creatures in one fell swoop. They may be bigger and stronger, but we humans had weapons that would wipe the smirk right off that skeletons face. 

“I might have to take you up on that offer.” You giggled, almost feeling dizzy with the relief that suddenly swarmed over you. Jake smiled, his arms wrapping around you in a tight hug.

“I’ve always liked you, but now you’ve literally saved my life (Y/n.) I’m gonna make it up to you. I swear.” Jake promised, as you laid your head down on his shoulder and closed your eyes. You guys stood like that for a few seconds before hearing a heavy, hard, knock at the door. You both jolted apart, looking at each other and then the door. 

“knock, knock.” The voice came once more and you shuddered.

“Let’s just ignore him.” You whispered to Jake, keeping a wary eye on the door. “Since we’re relatively safe, I could desperately use a drink.” You mumbled, walking past Jake into the kitchen. Thankfully you had just done some shopping at Sam’s Club so you were very well stocked on everything you needed for a while. You and Jake didn’t have to worry about starving. Opening the fridge door, you drew out a large bottle of Jack Daniels.

“Hope you like whiskey.” You chuffed, before heading back to Jake.

*****

The rasping of knuckles droned on as you and Jake drank. Jake was putting down the alcohol, much quicker than you could keep up. Before you knew it, he was face first on your couch, only occasionally letting out grunts and barely audible mumbles as you talked to him. Pouting a little, you grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniels and stumbled over to the door that led out into the hallway. You passed Slushy, who was giving the door a large birth. She must have amazing animal instincts. Unlike you, who was drunk. And approaching a door. With a killer skeleton on the other side.

“What’s your name?” You slurred out, leaning heavily against the wall as you did. You didn’t even know if monsters had names. But they spoke english, so that was a good start. A heartbeat of silence answered your question for a long while before he spoke. 

“horror.” 

You couldn’t help but let out a nervous giggle at that. Which turned into a full blown laughing fit. Gasping for air, you wiped at tears forming in your your eyes as you tried, and failed, to swallow your giggle fit. 

“It- fits- you- so- well.” You gasped between laughter. Thankfully the creature just chuckled on the other end, seemingly not offended by your comment.

“and you?” The creature, Horror, asked before you hummed slightly in response. “your name?”

“(Y/n.)” You replied simply. 

“Do you drink?” You slurred out, slumping down against the wall by the door. “Can monster’s get drunk? I bet it just goes right through you.” You mumble out, taking another swig of the Jack Daniels as you wonder how the creature ate if it was a skeleton. Maybe only half of it was a skeleton and the rest, that you couldn’t see over clothes, was a rotting corpse. Like a zombie.

“yea, i drink. you got any ketchup in there?” The skeleton asked, his voice suddenly edged with excitement. You let out a snort of laughter, the alcohol making you feel unnaturally calm while talking to the creature that was going to kill and eat you.

“You drink ketchup? Why not just rob a store instead of kill us humans.” You muttered out as you stood and walked over to the kitchen. You heard the skeleton laughing after you and wondered if he had heard what you said. He must have amazing hearing to be able to do. You opened the fridge door, seeing a half empty small thing of ketchup. You grabbed it before hesitating in the kitchen. Should you really be giving this creature your food? How would you even get it to him? But maybe, maybe if you fed him, he’d go away so you and Jake could escape. Plus it was only ketchup. Stumbling back to the living room, you walked back over to the door. 

“you really gonna give me your food?” The skeleton asked, a strained sort of excitement in his voice as he asked. He was practically panting on the other side of the door. You grimaced at the sound. It was only ketchup. It’s not like you were offering to let him munch on you. Looking down at your door, your eyes caught on the cat flap you had installed a while ago. It had cost you a pretty penny, but Slushy loved exploring the hallway whenever you were home. And it had a latch on it so you could lock it whenever you felt like. Setting the ketchup down in front of it, your hand reached for the latch. You would have never done this if you were sober. But you were drunk as a skunk. Still, you had some wits about you, so as soon as you unlatched the cat door, you jolted back like it had stung, putting some distance between you and the door. 

“You can grab the ketchup now.” You said, slightly swaying on your feet as you looked curiously at the cat door flap, waiting to see his skeletal arm up close and personal. The skeleton huffed a sigh of irritation.

“you’re gonna have to open the flap. i can’t with the barrier.” He said. You frowned at his words, wondering just what were the rules to this ‘barrier’ of yours. Grumbling slightly to yourself, you walked back over to the door and reached down to grab the ketchup. Looks like you weren’t going to share a drink with the creature. You were kind of hoping to get it to lower its guard so you could ask it some questions. Your fingers had just barely brushed the side of the ketchup bottle when a skeletal hand burst from the flap, latching onto your wrist. You screamed, trying to throw yourself back, but the hand held firm, dragging your arm through the flap until your shoulder and face were pressed up against the door. You let loose another scream as you felt his boned finger tips trail up and down your arm, wondering if he was going to break it. 

“your really twisting my arm here.” Horror said, doing nothing to calm those fears of him breaking your arm in half. 

“Please just take the ketchup, Don’t eat me, Please, please, please, please.” You babbled away, feeling tears and snot all over your face as you desperately tried to scramble away from the door. Pulling you further into the door, you let out a groan of pain as he stretched your arm to the limits. Wondering dizzily, if he was about to rip your arm off. Suddenly you felt groping hands on your shoulder, that trailed down to your breast and cupped each one of them. His other arm was through the cat flap, touching your body and squeezing whatever fat it could feel.

‘Probably seeing if I have enough meat on my bones to pick apart with his teeth.’ The hysterical thought did nothing to quail the fear that was rising up over you as you sobbed over and over again. Again the wandering hands cupped each of your breasts, squeezing them roughly, before disappearing back on the other side of the door. His grip on your wrist suddenly dropped and you were halfway across the room in a hot second, panting like you had just ran a marathon. You watched, dazed, as the arm came back through the door, patting along the ground before grabbing a hold of the ketchup bottle. He hummed in triumph before withdrawing his arm with the ketchup firmly in your hold. You sat there, arms wrapped around yourself, as you shivered. Fear was coursing all through you. Your hand rubbed at the arm he had touched, scrubbing at it to try and get the feel on his wrist and fingertips off of you. Standing, you stumbled towards your bathroom to take a long hot shower and scrub every inch of your body that the monster had touched. 

*****

Horror paced outside your door, his soul pumping excitedly in his chest. He glanced down at the bottle of ketchup, a gift from you to him and couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. He wished you would come back to the door and talk to him. Ever since he had grabbed your arm and had touched as much as he physically could, you had been ignoring his knock knock jokes. The male one, the one he was going to gut like a fish for touching you, had come over once and told Horror to shut up, obviously boldened by the fact he had your fancy barrier to protect him. Horror had then detailed how he was going to cut as many pieces off of the boy as he could before he would be begging Horror to kill him. Then he would force feed the boy flesh from his mother. The boy went silent after that and Horror could tell he had walked away from the door. He heard your soft voice comforting him much to Horror’s annoyance. You really didn’t know how much worse you were making it for that boy. His death would be fun. 

Sighing, Horror tipped the ketchup bottle back and squirted some into his mouth. He hummed in approval at the taste, finding some nostalgic comfort in it. He knew there was a time, a long, long, long time ago when things were normal. He was just a funny, pun slinging skeleton with a hunger for ketchup instead of blood, flesh, and bone marrow. But that was so many thousands of years ago, that it felt fuzzy in his mind. Still, he remembered he loved ketchup. And it was as delicious as the last time he had tasted such ketchup. He used to drink ketchup that was watered down with either water or blood if he ever found any, but now he could drink the stuff as it was, with no worry of it running out. Sighing again, Horror relaxed against the door. He’d plant tomatoes now that they were on the surface, and he’d have all the ketchup he could ever want. Rubbing his finger tips together, Horror couldn’t help but let out a light shudder as he remembered how you had felt. You were so soft. And the way you had struggled against his hold on you had gotten Horror so excited he had to remind himself that you were someone to mate with, not hunt. It’s been so long since he mated with someone. Maybe that cute little bunny a few hundred years ago? But she was dust in the wind now. He wondered if he really had to share you with the others. Ah, but it was the pack rules. Everyone would get a turn with you. A grin forms on Horror’s teeth, pulling up, up, up. 

But he would be able to have you first, since he found you and all. That meant him and his bro had first dibs. Horror would try to be gentle with you, humans so easily broke. He didn’t want to cause any lasting damage on you. But maybe just, maybe one little bite won’t hurt. Grinning, Horror closed his eye sockets as he leaned his head back against the door. He could imagine you big and pregnant with his cubs. 

He hoped you would at least give him three on the first hatch. 

Chapter Text

Jolting upwards out of bed, you gasped for air, fist clutching at the front of your shirt as you panted, struggling to breathe normally. You could still feel phantom boned hands touching your body. A shudder ran through you as you remember the nightmare from this night. You had been running through the forest, a deranged axe welding skeleton hot on your tail. When he had caught you he had chopped off your arm. Your hand brushed over, gripping the arm, still remembering how Horror had pulled you through the cat flap with that arm. It still was left unlatched as both you and Jake were far too afraid to actually approach it. Getting out of bed, you checked the clock that was on your night table, seeing it was just after midnight. Still in the wee hours of the morning. Jake would still be asleep. 

Walking over to your desk, you plopped down, the lights already on so you didn’t need to worry about seeing as you peered down at the paper in front of you, a scowl in place. Taking up a pencil, you replaced the picture with a blank new piece of paper and began to sketch Horror. You almost had it. You just couldn’t get his hole right. You knew it was on the right side, but how many cracks did it have again? You almost wished you could ask the monster to stand outside the window as you sketched him. With a sigh, you dropped the pencil and buried your face in your hands. Why were you doing this? What was the point of drawing him to get him out of your head when he was constantly stalking right outside of your barrier? Peeking at the half sketched drawing of Horror, you couldn’t help but lean back. None of this felt real sometimes. It felt like when you were watching the effects of war through your phone or tv screen. It felt like it wasn’t happening to you. Like it couldn’t happen to you. But Horror reminded you every day that it could. 

“knock knock.” Horror’s voice sounded outside your window along with a rasp of knuckles against the glass. 

He also reminded you every day that it would. 

Drawing up your legs, you couldn’t help but wrap your arms around, a light shudder rippling through you. You know why you were so scared of Horror. It wasn’t just dying. It was having a slow and painful death that scared you so badly. Silence met Horror for a long time as you assumed he waited outside the window. Thankfully you had drawn the curtains before going to sleep just for this exact reason. You hadn’t wanted to wake up to see a monster towering over you outside your window. 

“What do you want?” You sighed warily, finally breaking the silence. You could hear Horror shuffling around outside your window, pacing. ‘Like a fox trying to get into a hen house.’ You pushed that morbid thought out of your head as you waited for a response. 

“just miss talking to you is all. it’s been two days.” Horror mumbled as another shudder ran through you. Two days? It’s been two days! You kept getting reminded that time keeps moving. And the longer it was, the shorter amount of time you have to live. That made it what, ten- nine more days you had? Oh stars, what were you going to do? You suddenly felt a flicker of annoyance towards Horror, momentary pushing aside your fears. 

“You don’t get dinner and a show. Pick a damn lane.” You grumbled, fingers clutching so tightly against your arms they turned white. This was all just amusement for Horror. Toying with his food before he ate it. That’s why he had grabbed you, he probably wanted his meat as tasty as possible and you had heard that fear and pain could make meat taste better. If you survived this, you swear you would never eat meat again. You would become strictly vegetarian. Horror’s chuckle ringing through the room just confirmed your theory. 

“i like talking to you. you’re funny. i’m glad i found you before any of my other pack mates did. that means i get first dibs on you. still have to share, which kinda sucks. but i’ll still enjoy it.” Horror said, excitement plain in his tone. Ripples of fear went through you as he spoke. There were more like him? Or were they different kinds of monsters? Still, the way his voice had lit up with glee at the idea of taking the first bite out of you really made you scared. 

“Can I ask you a favor?” Your voice was soft and low, too scared to bring it above a whisper. You heard Horror pause in his pacing and you felt like, for a moment, he was staring right through the curtain and looking straight at you. 

“depends on the favor.” Horror said, his voice oddly strained. 

“Can you make it painless?” You felt a tear slip down your cheek, trying your best to ignore the fear bubbling up inside you. “Wh-when you do what you’re going to do with me and Jake. Could you make it painless?” There was again a heavy, long silence but this time it was Horror being quiet. 

“i can try with you, but it might still hurt a little. but i’ll make the boy’s death painless.” Horror finally spoke and you let out a breath you didn’t know you had been holding. 

“You promise?” You asked and immediately felt stupid for asking. This creature was a monster, a human killing machine, why would you ever trust a promise out of his teeth? 

“yea, i promise.” Again, Horror’s voice sounded oddly strained. Still you felt somewhat calmer on hearing him promise to make it painless. Or at least, somewhat painless for you. You grimaced. 

“Why is it different for me and Jake?” You asked. 

“huh?” Horror replied. 

“Why can you make it painless for Jake but you aren’t sure if you can make it painless for me?” You said, morbidly curious about the answer. Maybe you would still be ripped apart slowly and painfully. But at least you had guaranteed a painless death for Jake. 

“because you’re a mage.” Horror replied simply. You wait for him to continue, explain further, but he didn’t. Letting out a huff of breath, you glanced over at the curtains that covered your window. 

“Do you creatures hate mages or something?” You asked, once again that morbid curiosity reared its ugly head. 

“mages are the ones who locked us away for thousands of years.” Horror said softly and your eyes widened. So they did hate mages. He must be fighting the urge right now to rip you apart. A shudder ran through you at the thought but you didn’t leave just yet. A part of you, a small part that you tried to ignore, felt almost grateful to Horror that he would try and resist his instincts to take revenge just for you. But who were you kidding? It was probably an empty promise. Another plan to toy with you and make your meat taste as delicious as possible for him and his pack mates. 

You never even realized that he hadn’t really answered your question. 

*****

“Turkey sandwich? I know they’re your favorite.” Jake asked, digging around in your fridge for food. You were still baffled at how you still had electricity, seeing as how the monsters had killed everyone in town. That gave you a little hope. Maybe that meant there were more humans hiding out and surviving, maybe some over by the power plant. Maybe there were even more mages like you. At Jake’s question, you couldn’t help but make a face. The idea of eating meat was quickly becoming more and more sickening as the days passed. 

“I’ll stick with a salad.” You muttered. Jake chuckled for half a second before his face dropped into a somber one. He nodded, understanding, before he reached in the fridge for the ingredients to make a salad. 

“I’m still gonna eat meat.” Jake mumbled, half to you, half to himself. You hummed in response before glancing back over at the tv. You were sitting on the couch and you had a dvd player, so you and Jake were watching your movie collection to pass the time. You hadn’t told Jake about what happened early this morning, or the promise Horror had made, you didn’t want to freak him out. He still thought the National Guards were coming. But each passing day, no, each passing hour, you were slowly losing more and more hope that you’d make it through this alive. That’s why you asked that favor of Horror. You didn’t want to die torn apart and bleeding out. You didn’t want to suffer. A few minutes passed before Jake was back in the living room. A bowl in one hand and a paper plate in the other. Handing you the bowl, Jake sat down to munch on his chicken sandwich while you poked at your salad. At least the dressing gave it some more flavor. Hearing the signature two knocks at the door, you couldn’t help but let out a growl of frustration. Before he could say ‘knock knock’ you turned your head to the door and hollered. 

“I’m eating.” Your voice held more bite in it than you meant for it to, and you regretted it almost immediately. You didn’t want him to have more reason to torture you to death. 

“can you come to your bedroom? i want to show you to someone.” Horror’s voice came through, much to your surprise. He usually left you alone when you were eating. You assumed he was wanting to fatten you up as much as possible before killing you. Again, that ugly morbid curiosity flared up and you started to stand, right before Jake’s hand flashed out and grabbed your arm. 

“Are you crazy!?” He hissed out, eyes flickering between you and the door. “You know you don’t have to listen to him, right?” Jake asked, his voice edged with annoyance. 

“I’m actually kind of curious.” You replied sheepishly. As much as it pained you to admit, you kind of hoped it was another monster you could draw. You were stuck on drawing Horror and needed new inspiration. Plus, what could be scarier than Horror? That creature screamed nightmare fuel. Letting go of you with a sigh, Jake waved you off. You slowly approached your bedroom, still a little wary despite your curiosity. Opening the door, you heard Horror mumbling something to what you assumed was another monster. Walking beside your bed, you gripped the curtains and pulled them back. 

Your heart stuttered in your chest at the sight. There was Horror and then there was this monstrosity. Maybe you had just gotten used to the look of Horror. Maybe it  was because at least Horror somewhat looked like a human skeleton, as morbid as that was. Maybe you had just forgotten how terrifying these monsters were. But as you crane your head further up, your mouth slightly hanging open, you could feel the fear well up and burst out all over again. This thing was tall, taller than any human should ever be. He made the large Horror look like a toddler next to him. The creature was wearing some kind of uniform. A chest plate with some weird symbol on them, a Speedo, and a red cape that was strung along its back. That would’ve almost been comical to you if weren’t for its teeth. Sharp, ragged, and crooked, they spilled out from every opening of its mouth. You imagined those teeth clamping down on your throat and just knew Horror had lied to you. They wouldn’t make it painless. This creature looked like a thing out of nightmares, something that thrived on pain and suffering. You backed up slowly, hearing the creature speak. It was loud, much louder than Horror. But you couldn’t hear it over the sound of blood rushing in your ears. Not taking your eyes off the new monster you backed up out of the room and slowly closed the door. Then you slumped down onto the ground, hand still gripping the doorknob as tears welled up in your eyes. You had gotten so relaxed around Horror that you had forgotten how dangerous he was. The only thing keeping him from ripping your throat out was his barrier. 

“(Y/n,) are you okay-“ Jake started, you could feel his hands on your shoulders and realized you were shaking. He didn’t get to finish his sentence before Horror’s voice cut through the air. 

“that wasn’t very nice (y/n.) get back in here before you make my bro cry.” Horror’s voice practically vibrated through the door you were leaning on and another shudder went through you. He was pissed. You had just upset his ‘bro’ And now had pissed off Horror and probably said ‘bro.’ You should probably go back in there, smooth things over, pray for a quick and painless death and for them not to hold it over your head that you had slighted the crooked toothed monster. Still, for the life of you, you couldn’t move your body. You were frozen with fear. 

“He can’t get through the barrier right?” You mumbled, half to yourself, half to Horror. Horror let out an aggravated sigh, obviously frustrated with you. 

“just get back in here.” He hissed out, his voice low and not so angry as last time. You finally found the strength to stand, hand still on the doorknob but you just stood there, not trusting yourself not to scream if you walk in the room. 

“Hey.” Jake whispered, squeezing your shoulder. “I’m right behind you.” 

You let out a shuddering sigh, feeling some of the tension and fear relax some in the pit of your stomach. At least you had Jake. You could get through this as long as Jake was by your side. Two humans against a city of monsters. You could do this. Twisting the doorknob, you and Jake stepped into the room. 

Chapter Text

Both you and the boy enter the room. You were still shaking all over, your wide eyes focused entirely on Jaws. You were utterly terrified of his bro. Usually your fear made Horror excited but now, looking over at his brother and seeing that crestfallen look on his face, Horror couldn’t help but get a little annoyed with you. You were usually so kind, why were you looking at his bro like that? Jaws was the sweetest guy around, sure his teeth were a little messed up, but he was still the coolest guy. And the boy just couldn’t stop himself from letting out a strangled gasp at the sight of the two. That did lift Horror’s mood a little as he flashed his teeth into a sharp grin as he glowered at the boy. Eyes flickering between the two, the boy’s gaze settled on Horror, seeing him grinning and glaring at him so hard. The boy’s eyes flickered down but much to Horror’s annoyance, his hand stayed firmly on your shoulder. 

“go on and greet the humans bro.” Horror said, nudging the skeleton beside him. Jaws suddenly straightened, puffing out his chest as he did so. Horror grimaced when he saw you flinch back, hoping Jaws hadn’t seen that. 

“GREETING HUMANS, I AM THE GREAT JAWS AND AM HONORED TO MEET YOU! I’M SO HAPPY TO MEET YOU MISS MAGE, IT WILL BE SO MUCH FUN WHEN YOUR BARRIER GOES DOWN!” Jaws proclaimed loudly. Your face paled and Horror couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at that. Your eyes flickered over to Horror for a split second before locking back on Jaws. You were so cute, and clueless. Horror found it hilarious that you hadn’t yet figured out what was in store for you. You still thought they were going to kill you. Horror couldn’t until the day the barrier went down. He could imagine you shaking as he finally got his claws on you. Begging him not to kill you. Maybe he’d act like he was considering it. Offer a deal. You help him out with his problem and he wouldn’t kill you. You didn’t need to know that he had never planned on it after learning you were a mage. 

“Fucking disgusting.” Horror heard the boy mumble, eyelights flashing over to him to see he had said it in your ear. His eyelight flashed with anger, thinking he was talking about his bro for a second but then realized that both the human and mage were staring right at Horror. 

“what?” He grumbled. Your eyes were wide and fearful. 

“You’re uh… drooling.” Your voice shook as you spoke, obviously misunderstanding. He had been looking right at you as he had started to drool. You didn’t need to know for what reasons just yet. Horror took a moment to wipe at his face, making himself a little more presentable. 

But even though Jaws was speaking so excitedly at you, your eyes kept flickering back to Horror. It was both amusing and frustrating. You really should be paying attention to his bro. Jaws had been so excited when he had told him about you being a good mate for both Horror and Jaws. And he supposed for the rest of the pack too. Horror took his eyelight off of you, watching his bro speak so enthusiastically. Jaws had always wanted to make friends with a human, and Horror had humored him, letting him talk with the humans that fell in the Underground before Horror had to slaughter them. Horror had even considered keeping a human or two alive out here now that they had plenty of food to go around. Thankfully he had found the perfect friend for Jaws. The dude looked ecstatic to be talking to you. 

He just hoped you behaved and didn’t hurt his bro’s feelings. 

He- he might get a little mad if you do. 

*****

“AND MAYBE I COULD MAKE YOU MY WORLD FAMOUS SPAGHETTI! IT WOULD BE NICE FOR YOU TO TASTE THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE.” 

‘Before you die.’ You finished the unspoken words behind Jaws’ sentence but quickly shoved that out of the way as you frowned. 

“You know what spaghetti is?” You asked, confusion coloring your face as your gaze flickered between the two ‘bros.’ You have yet to figure out if that meant they were brothers or just friends of the same species. Both the idea of a monster having friends or families baffled you. 

“OF COURSE! IT IS ONLY THE BEST CUISINE IN ALL THE LAND, DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE SWAYED BY BLUEBERRY’S AND BLACKBERRY’S THOUGHTS ON THE MATTER. THEY ARE WRONG.” Jaws replied excitedly, his eyelights growing larger the more he talked. He seemed almost like a little kid, it was almost cute. You just hoped he didn’t like playing with his food. Running a hand through your hair, you let out a huff you didn’t realize you were holding as you scratched at your scalp, trying to massage away the headache that was starting to form. He was just so loud. 

“Who are Blueberry and Blackberry?” You asked warily, not wanting to know really. But again, that ugly curiosity of yours just wouldn’t let it go. It was probably more monsters. Or Horror’s ‘pack mates’ He had talked about. 

“OH THOSE ARE OUR PACK MATES! I’M SURE THEY’LL BE REALLY EXCITED TO MEET YOU!” Jaws exclaimed and you couldn’t help but wince at the implications. You still weren’t too sure why they were so hung up on you of all humans. Haven’t they killed enough in the city to eat for months? Plus it’s not like Ebott City didn’t have its share of stores and restaurants they could raid. They could obviously eat human food, so why did they feel the need to eat humans? Maybe it was a revenge thing. They hated humans and hated mages even more. Shifting uncomfortably in your seat at the desk, your hand unconsciously reached for a discarded pencil. You drummed it on the desk for a second, ignoring Jaws as he droned on and on about the delicate art of spaghetti making. Shifting aside the papers on your desk, your eyes caught on the picture of Horror you had been drawing. Peeking over at Horror, you could see his eyelight was only on Jaws, listening intently as the other skeleton spoke. Drumming the pencil on the paper, you pursed your lips, mumbling a ‘yeah’ or ‘huh’ every time there was a pause in Jaws' long winded conversation. You were pretty sure Jake was about to fall asleep standing up as he leaned against the wall next to the door. 

Well, while you had him there. Spinning the pencil around until the lead was facing the paper you began working on the sketch. You kept peeking over at Horror, just quick little glances for half a second at a time, as you began really being able to picture it on the paper with the model right in front of you. Thankfully, Horror seemed engrossed in Jaws’ stories that he didn’t take notice of you glancing his way from time to time. You finished the sketch and began working almost feverishly on the outline, making sure to capture the horror of Horror perfectly. If you only had some colored markers, you could improve it even more. It took you a moment to realize you had stopped responding to Jaws and were instead hunched over your desk, drawing furiously. You only noticed when you took another quick peek over at Horror to find his eyelight locked on you. You froze, realizing Jaws had stopped talking and was also staring at you. You suddenly felt very nervous under the twos intense eyelights. Horror reached up a hand, fingers curling around the hole in his head, his grin twitching upwards as he looked at you. 

“you drawing me little birdie?” Horror asked, his voice teasing you as his eyelight brightened. You suddenly felt embarrassed about it as your hand moved to cover the picture. 

“Uh yeah, I’m a bit of an uh… artist.” You mumbled, your eyes dropping to the ground. You heard Jake moving towards you and turned your head to see him lean over to see what you were drawing. You moved your hand out of the way and Jake let out a whistle. 

“It looks good (Y/n,) you really captured how messed up he looks.” Jake said, shooting daggers towards Horror. Your eyes widened, staring at him in disbelief. Jake was doing his damnedest to make these monsters want to kill them even more than they already did. 

“But really, you should’ve chosen a better model. I would’ve sat still if you had asked me to.” Jake said, your lips twitched up in a smile at that. Maybe you should ask him next time. It might be nice to leave behind a memory or something. For when you both were gone. Your small smile started to fall. 

“yea, but she didn’t ask you. she wanted to draw me.” Horror’s voice sounded through the room and you looked over at the skeleton with surprise. He had almost sounded… jealous? You quickly pushed that ridiculous thought out of your head. 

“OH, COULD YOU DRAW ME NEXT!” Jaws asked, eyes widening in what you assumed was supposed to be a pleading look. But just made him look like he was eyeing up which part of you was the best part to tear into first. Your gaze flickered from the skeletons and Jake incredibly confused. You weren’t an amazing artist, what was getting into these monsters. It made sense why Jake wanted you to draw him. He actually likes you. Looking down at the half finished drawing of Horror, you have to admit it looked good. Probably your best work to date. Maybe the monsters just weren’t too familiar with artwork and yours looked like the Mona Lisa to them. Tapping your pencil against the desk in thought, you kept staring at the half done drawing. 

“Yeah, I can draw you.” You whispered, a plan beginning to form. Maybe you could draw all the skeletons, get them to feel some kind of positive emotion about you. You might have a chance of keeping you and Jake alive if they wanted something from you. 

You never thought you’d have to draw for your life. 

*****

Shutting the door behind you, both you and Jake walked out of the room. Your fingers were massaging your other hand, a slight grimace on your face. With your life on the line, you felt compelled to draw as much as physically possible for the two skeletons. You had finished both drawings, still silently bemoaning the fact you didn’t have coloring markers. Then you had used a walking stick you had been gifted after your grandpa’s death, you had always loved going on walking sticks and that was his favorite stick to take, and had slid the papers over to the cat flap without getting too close to it. You had informed them that you could draw the other skeletons too if they wanted to be drawn and Jaws had hollered that he was going to inform them right away. Much to your confusion, Horror had cursed quietly to himself as Jaws’ thundering footsteps went down the hall. You went back in the room to then close the curtain and now here you and Jake were. 

“(Y/n?)” Jake said, his voice oddly strained as you walked past him. You hummed, leaning down to scratch along Slushy’s back. The orange tabby looked at you with glowering green eyes as if asking why it took so long for you to give him attention. “(Y/n,) look at me. I have something important to tell you.” 

You immediately straightened, turning around to face him. Jake looked lost in thought before his eyes finally met yours. He took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. 

“I think… I think those skeletons want to… do things to you.” Jake stammered out before glancing down at the ground. You stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate before letting out a huff. 

“I already know.” You sighed, watching as Jake’s head shot up and his eyes widened. “Horror pretty much told me how much he wants to torture me and eat me alive.” You let out a shudder, wishing you two could talk about anything else. You flinched a little when you felt Jake gripping your shoulders. You glanced up, seeing Jake stare hard at you, his lip pressed in a thin line. 

“No (Y/n,) you don’t get it. I think those things want to… have their way with you.” Jake said, his eyes narrowing as he looked at you. “I saw that creep Horror eyeing you up and down like he wanted to-“ You couldn’t help but burst out laughing, completely cutting off Jake as you howled at the very thought. Giggling to yourself, you raised a hand to brush away wetness at the corner of your eyes. 

“Jake,” You said, almost breathlessly. “They’re skeletons. What would they do, stick a bone in me?” Jake relaxed some, letting out a sigh. 

“I guess I never thought of it like that.” He said sheepishly before letting go of your shoulders. 

You turned around, still chuckling slightly to yourself at the very idea. 

*****

Horror was sitting, leaning against the door that led into your apartment, listening as you teased the boy again about how he thought that the skeletons wanted to mate with you. You were so sure about it, so confident. The boy was mumbling about how you were right. Horror couldn’t help but feel his grin grow bigger and bigger as a delicious shudder ran down his spine. 

Oh stars, he couldn’t wait to prove you wrong. 

Chapter Text

You were pacing around the room, a nervous jitter to you as you kept passing Jake, back and forth, back and forth. Jake sighed, sitting up from where he had been laying down on the couch. You paused in your pacing to look over at him with a tinge of concern in your eyes. 

“Maybe we could try running.” Jake whispered, his eyes flickering towards the door as you both paused. You walked over to Jake, sitting beside him so that you both could talk softly to each other without any outsiders listening. You suddenly wished this barrier thing was soundproof. 

“Where would we go?” You hissed out softly, your eyes flickering down to your hands. Turning them over you could see the smudge of pencil lead on the side of your hand. You had been drawing so much lately you were sure you were going to stain your hands with pencil lead. And would you look at that? You did. 

“I don’t know, out of the city. Maybe towards a military base. You don’t actually think your drawings are making them reconsider killing us, do you?” Jake said, his voice softening as he asked. You suppressed a shudder at that question as you continued to stare down at your hands, biting furiously at your bottom lip. This had to work. The whole city was overrun by monsters. You and Jake would never make it if you ran. 

“They can speak and have some sort of intelligence.” You spoke, finally glancing up at Jake with wide eyes. They did act human enough, besides the whole eating humans thing. “Maybe they can be reasoned with. Maybe we could make a-a deal or something with them. There’s gotta be something they would want that we could get them. If they’re hungry, we could get them food. They might not know how advanced humans are, maybe we could tell them about medicine and electricity.” 

Jake stared at you, uncertainty written all over his face. He looked nervous and scared, unsure of what to do next. Your eyes softened and with a sigh you leaned over, resting your head on his shoulder. 

“We have to try at least.” You mumble, feeling Jake tense as you did. “I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to die.” 

“Neither do I, neither do I.” Jake reassured you, patting your back before gently pushing you off him. His hand went up into his hair, running in his fingers through the ginger curls as frustration flickered in his eyes. He was glaring over at the door as if it had personally wronged him. 

“I don’t think I’ll be much help in befriending them. Especially Horror. Not after what he did to my mom.” A shudder ran through Jake and you hummed sympathetically. You would never have asked Jake to do something like that anyways. Looking up at Jake, you couldn’t help but see the tears tugging at the corner of his eyes. With a huff, he quickly wiped at his face. Your shoulders slumped, wondering if you were being too optimistic. Could you really reason with these creatures? What did you have to offer to them to keep them from killing you and Jake? Feeling a brush of fur against your back, you reached behind you, scratching along Slushy’s back as he started to purr. You supposed Slushy too. Although you felt guilty to admit, you would put you and Jake first. 

“Sorry Slush.” You whispered, feeling guilt wash over you at the thought. Jake looked at you, confusion in his eyes. You closed your eyes and shook your head slowly before standing up and starting to pace again. You were restless, trapped in your apartment. You had lost track of the days and were nervous every time you fell asleep, wondering if the barrier would fall while you were asleep. It kept you awake at night. A sudden yawn came over you and you felt your eyes water as your mouth opened wide. You covered your mouth with your hand while yawning. A sigh left your lips afterwards. You felt so damned tired. 

“knock knock.” Horror’s voice rang through the apartment and you had to stop yourself from groaning out loud. You couldn’t have a moment's rest with these creatures. Jaws had followed his ‘bros’ footsteps and now also waited outside the door. By the looks of it, you’d soon have a hoard of skeletons waiting right outside the door as soon as your magic gave out. A shudder ran through you as your arms wrapped around yours and you stepped towards the door. You made sure to keep a safe distance away from the cat flap, even further than you usually did. You had seen Jaws arms, he had a much bigger reach than Horror’s and you weren’t going to risk it. 

“Yeah?” You asked, wincing as you heard the utter exhaustion in your voice. You sounded so tired. And you worried that would affect the barrier somehow. Stars, you just really wanted to sleep. Another yawn threatened to overtake you but just inhaled deeply, pushing it back. You had focus. Make nice with the skeletons. Find out more about what they want and make some kind of deal with them. They weren’t mindless animals. You could reason with them. Standing there, you realized Horror had said something and was waiting for you to respond. You had been so caught up in your thoughts that you hadn’t even heard him. A sigh left your lips as you rubbed at your eyes. 

“I-I’m sorry what?” You asked, trying to force yourself to be more aware and in the moment. If you had known monsters would have trapped you in your apartment and you would suffer from sleepless nights you would’ve stocked up on energy drinks. Or more alcohol. 

“i said you have some more art requests.” Horror said and you nearly groaned out loud. They were starting to take away your love for the craft. You felt absolutely nauseous seeing your pencil and sketch paper. A part of you just wanted the barrier to fall so you could get this all over with. Whether you had actually made progress with the skeletons or they just killed you almost didn’t matter. You just wanted an actual break. 

“you good in there little birdie? you sound tired.” Horror spoke again and you felt a flare of anger rush through you. You almost wanted to yell at him, ask him who’s fault it was that you were so worried about dying that you couldn’t even sleep properly. Sometimes you just wanted to snake that annoying smile right off his face. But in all honesty, that would probably hurt your hand more than anything and then you’d have to worry about a pissed off skeleton. Shoving the anger down, you massaged at your forehead, willing yourself to calm down. Being this tired was dangerous. You had to be careful not to snap at any of the skeletons. 

“I’m fine, just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” You mutter out, not quite lying. “Are they on the fire escape?” You quickly changed the subject, not wanting to focus too much on your sleeping habits. It would just make you angry. 

“yea, they are. they even brought their own props.” Horror said, his voice oddly amused. You mumbled something in acknowledgment before heading on over to your bedroom. Jake watched you, concern in his eyes, but he didn’t try to stop you as you entered the room. You glanced across the room to see the curtains were still drawn. 

“MUTT, I TOLD YOU THAT I WANTED THEM ARRANGED LIKE THIS YOU IDIOTIC NIMWIT! CAN’T YOU DO ONE THING RIGHT IN YOUR MISERABLE LIFE?” The loud voice was already giving you a headache as soon as you entered the room. You just simply had to get through this. 

“sorry m’lord. i’m jus’ too bone-tired to do anything right.” A rough soft voice spoke after the loud demanding voice had gotten done insulting the other one. You started walking towards the curtains. 

“Hello, I heard you wanted me to draw you?” You asked, uncertainty in your voice. 

“YES, YOU SEEM TO HAVE SOME VALUE ASIDE FROM THE VALUE HORROR HAS DEEMED OF YOU. SO YOU WILL DRAW ME WITH ALL MY TROPHIES YOU SOMEWHAT WORTHLESS HUMAN.” Your hand was on the curtain and you winced at not only the name calling but just how loud he was. He was louder than Jaws. 

“Trophies?” You echoed just as you moved the curtains aside. As soon as the curtains open, a gasp ripped itself from your mouth as you threw yourself back. Your legs crumbled out from beneath you as you looked at the scene in horror. 

There were two new skeletons. One was tall, not as tall as Jaws but still much taller than you. You could tell that with him even as he was sitting down, eyelights watching you. The tall one was wearing dirty white socks and sandals with black and white shorts, a purple heavy jacket, and strangely enough a purple spiked collar around his neck. The other one was short. You’d have to stand side by side with him to see which of the two of you were shorter. He was wearing black spiked boots, brown pants, a chest piece with that same strange emblem you saw on Jaws’ chest piece. And he also had a dark blue ragged bandanna wrapped around his neck. The sight of them wasn’t any more terrifying or intimidating than Horror or Jaws, it was what they had brought to the fire escape that had you paralyzed with fear. 

Heads. Human heads. They were scattered along the floor of the fire escape. Most of their eyes were open, you couldn’t stop yourself from look directly at one that just seemed to be staring right at you. The smaller skeleton was posed, one booted foot stepping on a human head, one hand on his hip, and the other hand holding up what looked like a fresh human skull, judging by the pieces of flesh that still clung to it. 

“IS SHE CAPTURING MY MAGNIFICENT LIKENESS MUTT?” The shorter creature barked out, still holding the pose. 

“naw, she’s uh… throwing up.” The taller one spoke. And you realized you were, indeed, throwing up. You were hunched over on yourself, spilling bile onto your carpeted bedroom floor. The images of those heads were seared into your mind even as you squeezed your eyes shut, walking them. Tears were flowing down your cheeks and you made no move to wipe them away. You just realized how sheltered you had been to think you could reason with these creatures. They hunted humans for fun. This was all just a game to them. Play with the little mage and her friend until we could rip them apart and take their skulls as trophies. Another gag overtook you and you clutched your stomach to try and calm it. 

“IS SHE SICK? OH THAT WILL NOT DO AT ALL! LOWLY HUMAN, YOU MUST GET BETTER BEFORE THE BARRIER FALLS. I REFUSE TO NURSE YOU BACK TO HEALTH. IT IS BENEATH ME.” Covering your ears with your hands, you curled even further into yourself, trying to disappear from this nightmare you seem to have found yourself in. You wished this was just a nightmare. That you would wake up and everything would be normal again. You didn’t react when you heard the door open behind you. You were just trying your best to calm down. 

“Holy shit.” You heard Jake whisper behind you, his voice cracking as he did. 

“oh, it’s the male human horror’s gonna kill.” The taller skeleton mumbled, almost to himself. You heard Jake move past you and the curtains shuffling. 

“HOW DARE YOU CLOSE THOSE CURTAINS ON US! THE MAGE HAS NOT PROVIDED US WITH HER ARTWORK YET!” The smaller skeleton seemed to yell as you felt hands on you, urging you to stand up. You stood, Jake keeping you steady as he walked you outside the bedroom. You could still hear the shorter skeleton yelling behind you, but your mind was racing so much that you couldn’t make out what he was saying. All you could focus on was Jake’s arm wrapped around your shoulder as you shivered uncontrollably. A whimper tore through your throat as you squeezed your eyes shut. Suddenly you were sitting down on the couch with Jake beside you. You could feel him shaking too. 

“We’re screwed.” You gasped out, your eyes flickering open to latch onto Jake’s. He was looking down, his gaze seemed far away at the moment. Like he was trying to disappear. Your hand flashed out, grabbing ahold of his hand. He looked up slowly at you, his eyes wide. You didn’t want him far away, you wanted him here. It was such a selfish desire, but you really didn’t want to die alone. 

“They’re going to kill us.” Your voice was grim and resigned as you slumped into the couch, your eyes looking up towards the ceiling. “We’re going to die.” Again your voice sounded so dead. So hopeless and empty. Suddenly Jake was grabbing onto and shaking you roughly. 

“Don’t think like that (Y/n!)” He hissed out. Your gaze flickered back to him, watching as his emerald eyes flared with what looked like determination. You tried to shrug out of his hold but he held you fast. “We can’t give up! We have to keep trying. Find a way to survive. At least one of us has to survive, to tell the story.” Jake’s voice and eyes suddenly softened as he looked at you. A hand reached out and gently tucked a bit of your hair behind your ear. “If I die, you’ll still tell my story, right? You’ll still remember me?” You stared at him for a long few seconds before nodding slowly. 

“Yeah.” You whispered as you sat back up. “But we’re both gonna survive so it doesn’t matter.” Your voice was shaking. And even Jake could tell you didn’t believe that. 

Your determination has been shaken. 

Chapter Text

“you don’t mind drawing us, do you?” The soft lazy voice drifted across your room, causing you to jump on the spot. You had been staring down at a blank sketch paper, pencil tapping furiously on the desk. The voice caused you to pause your tapping as you looked up at the two new skeletons. Skeletons. Skeletons. Skeletons. These damn fucking skeletons. They were a smaller duo than you were used to. The smaller of the bunch looked shorter than you, by about a head, he was wearing what looked like had once been bright blue boots, along with black pants, a grey shirt, and grey shoulder pads to go with it. His gloves and bandanna had that same faded bright blue that the boots had. You tried to avoid his gaze as his eyelights kept turning into bright blue stars. 

Your eyes flickered over to the taller one, the one who had spoken. He looked about as tall as Horror, which meant he would probably tower over you. He was wearing dirty red and white sneakers, a pair of black shorts with white strips down the side, and a ragged orange hoodie. He was looking at you, waiting for you to respond. 

“Yea, I don’t mind.” You mumbled, gazing back down at your paper as you forced yourself not to start shaking. You had no idea why you were doing this. They were still going to kill you. Gripping the pencil so tightly, it looked about ready to snap, you pressed the lead point against the paper and just… froze. Images of human heads entered your mind and you had to squeeze your eyes shut tightly to keep from screaming. 

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT HUMAN MAGE?” The shorter one asked, you think he said his name was Blueberry. Opening your eyes, you caught the sight of your hand shaking with the pencil between your fingers. It had caused you to create a little light scribble on the paper. You quickly flipped the pencil over and erased the scribbled mess. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” You mumbled, looking back over at the skeletons. You flinched slightly, seeing both of their gazes on you before quickly glancing back down at the paper. There was a long stretch of silence before the taller one, Stretch he called himself, sighed. 

“sorry uh, about blackberry.” Stretch mumbled out. You stiffened at the name, eyes clenched shut as you tried to bury the image of that particular skeleton holding up a bloodied skull. “out of all of us, he knows the least about humans. he probably wasn’t trying to scare you.” You very seriously doubted that. These skeletons seem to feed off your fear. “he most likely was just trying to impress you.” 

You stared back up at the skeleton, your expression puzzled. Impress you? Why? Shaking your head as you dismissed the thought of that skeleton away, you instead tapped your pencil a few more times on the desk, staring at the two skeletons. Blueberry seemed to puff up at the attention and struck a pose. One hand on his hip and the other hand formed in a fist pumping into the air. You almost smiled at the scene, almost. But you didn’t. Instead, without another word, you started drawing. 

You felt your shoulders relax as you started sketching the two skeletons. Blueberry was posing while Stretch had decided to lay down and close his eyes. You sketched the two side by side, making sure to get every detail. But as you started forming the final draft, you found yourself drawing the skeleton with…. softer edges. Less ragged and tired. Cleaner newer clothes. You weren’t sure why, it just felt right. As time went on, you felt yourself relax a little as your pencil danced across the paper. You kept glancing up, studying the two skeletons for a long time, before continuing with your drawing. When you were finished you almost felt too embarrassed to show them. It didn’t look like the two skeletons outside your window. They somehow looked… younger? Staring hard at the drawing, you glanced back up to see Blueberry still holding his pose. But one of Stretch’s eye sockets had opened and a bright eyelight was looking at you curiously. 

“It’s finished.” You said, grimacing slightly as you turned the paper over and holding it out for the two to see. Blueberry let out a gasp and Stretch’s other eye socket opened and he sat up rather quickly. They stared at it for a long while in silence, making you feel weirdly self conscious. Did it look that bad? 

“Papy.” Blueberry whispered, tugging at Stretch’s arm, his wide star shaped eyelights locked on the picture. You were surprised to see what looked like blue fluid peeking at the corner of Blueberry’s eye sockets. Was he-? Was he crying? 

“yea, i see it bro.” Stretch mumbled, patting Blueberry on the top of his head before clearing his throat as he looked up at you. “looks nice, we really like it.” Stretch said, giving you a small wary smile. Placing the paper down on your desk, you stood, stretching out your body as you did. Your muscles ached in protest, still angry at you for not sleeping properly. Reaching across your desk, you grabbed a glass of water you had sat there earlier and hadn’t touched before bringing it up to your lips. 

“it’s really nice of you to do this, all things considered.” Stretch said. You took a step away from your desk, tired of sitting, as you leaned up against the wall. You couldn’t stop the bitter laugh from escaping your mouth at Stretch’s words. 

“Yeah, considering you all are gonna kill and eat me anyways.” You muttered under your breath, looking down as you took another sip of your water. 

“kill you?” You flinched at Stretch’s question, surprised he had heard you before looking up to see both Blueberry and Stretch giving you a puzzled look. 

“WHO TOLD YOU WE WERE GOING TO KILL AND EAT YOU?” Blueberry asked, leaning closer until he was practically touching the glass that separated you from them. Now it was your turn to look confused. 

“Well, I mean, I assumed. And Horror’s made no effort hiding how much he wants me dead.” You glanced between the two skeletons as they looked at each other, Stretch shaking his head with a sigh. 

“horror’s messing with you, we’re not gonna kill you.” Stretch said, sounding annoyed. With you or Horror you couldn’t tell. But all that mattered to you were his words. You weren’t sure if this was another trick off there’s, if they were lying, or if Horror would kill you anyways no matter what these two said, but you felt your body relax for the first time in days. 

“Are you serious?” You breathed out the question, feeling a rush of emotions overcome you. You could feel tears, happy relieved tears, prick at the corner of your eyes. Maybe you drawing for them hadn’t been stupid after all. Maybe they did have a change of heart. Hell, you’d even draw Blackberry if it meant they wouldn’t kill you both. “You’re really not going to kill me Jake?” Stretch’s eye sockets widened while Blueberry looked away from you, scratching at his cheek. 

“horror’s still gonna kill your friend.” Stretch said with a grimace as he looked down. You gaped at him, your heart clenched in your chest. You couldn’t just watch your friend get killed. 

“Wait what? Why? Why would he kill Jake and not me?” You found yourself asking. You didn’t want to die. But you also didn’t want to see your friend die either. You two had gotten so close being stuck in this apartment together while the world ended outside. The thought of him dying literally made you feel like your heart was breaking. You couldn’t even be happy over the idea of you getting to live. You both had to survive. 

“didn’t horror tell you?” Stretch asked, and you were surprised to see what looked like orange sweat running down his skull. He looked nervous. 

“Why would you keep me alive and not Jake?” You demanded to know. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that was making you so bold. There was a long stretch of silence as the two skeletons did everything but look at you. Now you were getting annoyed. Why were they acting like that? They weren’t planning on keeping you alive just to torture you were they? Your heart thumped heavily in your chest. Horror had said he’d make Jake’s death painless but couldn’t promise the same for you. Were they planning on keeping you alive so they could torment you because you were a mage? 

“well, you’re a mage.” Stretch started, doing nothing to stop your worrying. “and that means you’re compatible for uh, monsters.” Stretch was looking more and more nervous the more he talked. You looked at him funny. Compatible? What were they talking about here, dating? That obscure thought almost caused you to snort out loud before Stretch spoke again before you could. 

“and for uh, breeding purposes.” Stretch finished. You just stared at him for a long time, not quite putting the pieces together. Maybe it was because you didn’t want to. Maybe it was because you were so sleep deprived. Your gaze flickered over to Blueberry to see he had a sheepish smile across his face and what looked like a blue blush across his cheeks. 

“Breeding?” You repeated the word, still just confused. “You’re skeletons.” You stated, looking at Blueberry and Sketch as if they weren’t already aware of the fact. Your brain was working through foggy sleepiness to try and connect the dots. 

“we have the… equipment.” Stretch said, his expression starting to relax as he watched you. “you’re taking this surprisingly well for-“ Stretch flinched as the glass you had been holding just a moment in your hands cracked on your carpeted floor. You were staring down at the cup, your eyes wider than they had ever been before and your face pale. They were going to… breed you?! Like make you have their babies?! There were so many emotions passing through your head that you just numbly turned around and walked out the door. You stood there, outside your bedroom door for what felt like forever, staring down at the ground as numb horror started to creep over you. You flinched when you felt a finger tap your arm and looked blankly up at Jake. 

“Whoa hey, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” You could barely hear Jake’s voice over the sound of blood rushing in your ears. You stared up at him, unable to find the words before you heard that oh so familiar knocking at the door. 

“knock knock little birdie, don’t tell me you spill your guts again today.” Horror’s voice came through amused and carefree and you felt yourself start to shake. Not from fear. But rage. Pure unfiltered rage. 

“Shut up Horror.” You found yourself spitting out, pure venom in your voice. Jake actually jerked back, staring at you with wide eyes as you glared hatefully at the door. You were so damned tired. Too tired to be scared of this prick. There was a heartbeat of silence on the other end of the door, as if Horror was shocked by your sudden outburst as well. 

“that wasn’t very nice little-“ Horror started to say but you had shrugged out of Jake’s hold and walked towards the door. Even as angry as you were, you still kept a safe distance away from the cat flap. 

“You can take your nice and shove it up your boney ass!” You snarled, kicking the wall, wishing so desperately it was that smiling skeleton’s skull. You really wanted to put another hole in his skull. “Breed me? You want to breed me? What the hell is wrong with you disgusting, demonic looking, creatures?” You practically screamed, feeling like whatever sanity you had managed to keep was slipping through your fingers. But who could blame you? Murderous human eating skeletons wanted you to bear their children. You were shaking so much with rage that you were practically vibrating. 

“What the fuck?” You heard Jake whisper beside you. 

“who told you? i-i was gonna ease you into it. i promised i’d try to be gentle with you, didn’t i?” Horror said, sounding unusually nervous. You froze, remembering his promise. That he’d try not to hurt you. 

“That’s what you were talking about?!” You screeched, rearing back and kicking the wall once more. You could feel angry tears welling in your eyes as you screamed in frustration. 

“Fuck you.” You hissed out. “I’d sooner die than breed any of your half-demonic spawns.” You spat out just before you felt Jake’s hands on your arm, tugging you away from the door. You were still shaking as Jake led you to the one place you couldn’t hear the skeletons, the bathroom. He sat you on the toilet before crouching down and looking up at you. Through tears in your eyes, you could see he looked very very concerned. 

“What the hell was that (Y/n?) What were you talking about? Breeding? You and the skeletons? What’s going on?” Jake’s voice was so soft and comforting that you felt all your anger drain out of you immediately. Burying your face in your hands you just started sobbing. This was too much. Just too much. These damned skeletons just kept ruining your life. 

“Th-they said I’m com-compatible for breeding, breeding, with th-them.” You sobbed into your hands, your shoulders shaking as you did. Jake’s hands squeezed your knees as you just continued to cry out all your anger and fear. 

“How- how does that work?” Jake asked, nervously curious but you just shook your head roughly. 

“I don’t want to find out.” You moaned, moving your hand to run it angrily through your hair. Both you and Jake sat there in silence before you suddenly burst into giggles. Jake looked up at you once more, his emerald eyes now holding serious concern for you. You brushed tears away from the corner of your eyes as you started laughing hysterical. 

“Sk-skeletons want m-me to carry their b-babies.” You choked out through laughter. Jake suddenly stood up, enveloping you into a hug as you continued to laugh hysterically. Jake squeezed you into him, patting your back as your laughter slowly developed into more cry. You buried your face into Jake’s shoulder as more sobs wracked your body. You wrapped your arms around Jake, clinging to him like a lifeline. You’d go absolutely crazy if Jake wasn’t here for you.

You didn’t know what you’d do without Jake. 

Chapter Text

You were still sitting on the toilet, your legs up and your arms wrapped around them, when Jake came back in the bathroom. He gave you a small smile before nodding his head towards the door. 

“I think they all left, it’s been quiet at least.” Jake said, his tone trying to reassure you but all you could do was shudder and tighten your hold on your legs. 

“They’re going to kill you, they told me that.” You whispered, burying your face in your knees. You didn’t see the way Jake stiffened but you did hear him let out a shaky breath before feeling a shaky hand on your shoulder. He squeezed your shoulder before retreating his hand. 

“Come on, we can go talk in the living room.” He muttered. You stood and immediately started swaying on the spot. Jake reached out, grabbing a hold of you and steadying you. 

“Fuck (Y/n,) when’s the last time you slept?” Jake asked, real concern in his voice as he gazed at you sympathetically. You smiled sheepishly in turn and shrugged one shoulder. 

“We’ll talk tomorrow, you need your sleep.” Jake said as he guided you out of the bathroom, and towards your bedroom. Inside your bedroom, you sat down on the bed, staring at your hands as you did. 

“Could you stay until I fall asleep?” You mumbled the question, feeling your cheeks burst into red as embarrassment coursed through you. You heard Jake shuffle from foot to foot as he looked at you. 

“Of course.” He whispered, his voice soft. “Now lay down and get some sleep.” 

You did as you were told, climbing under the covers, clothes and all, and settling down. You didn’t immediately close your eyes, instead watching as Jake took a seat at your desk. He sat there, propping his chin on his hands. He looked as troubled as you felt. With a deep sigh, Jake looked over at you and caught your gaze. You two stared at each other before you scooted over and patted the other side of your bed. Jake’s lips twitched up into a smile and stood up from the desk. He went to the other side of your bed before climbing in, laying on top of the covers. You turned over and faced him while he laid on his back and stared thoughtfully up at the ceiling. 

“When we get out of this, I want our first date to be somewhere outdoors.” You whispered, Jake turned his head to look at you, a soft smile on his lips. “I’m really tired of being indoors.” Jake chuckled at that comment, mumbling his agreement. 

Without warning, you reached out a hand and placed it on Jake’s cheek. He froze, staring into your eyes with such fear and longing in them. You smiled softly, wondering what life would be like if the monsters hadn’t taken over the town. Would you and Jake still have these feelings for one another? It didn’t matter you suppose. Because this was your life now and the only one you could count on was Jake. Leaning forward, you pressed your lips gently onto Jake’s lips. He stiffened before turning over completely and wrapping his arms around you. One hand pressed against your back while the other ran its fingers through your hair. You both kissed each other like you were starving, like you were desperate. You both were desperate. Desperate to be together, somewhere else. Where it was safe. You broke away from the kiss gasping for breath while Jake buried his head in your neck, trailing soft kisses across them. 

“I love you (Y/n.)” Jake said between kisses and your heart felt so full as tears gathered at the corner of your eyes. 

“I love you too Jake.” You choked out, clinging onto him as if you could lose him at any moment. Because you could. He would die and you would become some breeding toy for a bunch of monsters. You started crying even harder and Jake just held you, whispering soft empty promises that you both knew would never happen. In Jake’s arms, you cried yourself to sleep, sleeping deeply for the first time since the monsters attacked. 

If you had known what was to come, you would’ve clung even harder to Jake. 

*****

“knock knock.” Hearing a rasp of knuckles against the glass you couldn’t help but let out a long irritated groan. You had been sleeping so peacefully. What did this freak want? You rolled over, searching blindly for Jake only to find him not in the bed. Still chasing that lingering feeling of sleeping peacefully, you kept your eyes firmly shut as you rolled back over with a huff. 

“What do you want?” You grumbled out, your voice still thick with sleep. 

“wanna here something funny?” Horror said, his voice oddly excited. You curled around yourself, wishing he would just go away. 

“Not really.” You hissed out. You heard a sharp pop and silence for a moment. You started to relax, thinking Horror had gone away. He always did seem to silently appear and disappear whenever he wanted. 

“the barrier’s down.” You heard Horror say, but this time his voice was clearer. Louder. Like he was in the room with you. Your eyes flickered open just as you felt a boned hand placed gently on your cheek. You stared up, dumbfounded as Horror smiled fondly down at you. You stared up at him, your whole body and brain frozen as if the whole world had stopped and was holding its breath. 

“weird, you said you’d rather die than breed with me.” Horror chuckled, brushing his thumb up and down your cheek. “but look at you here, alive.” 

You slowly started to sit up, watching him carefully. Horror didn’t move his hand on your cheek as you sat up, he didn’t move or say anything for a long time. You two just sat there, frozen, staring at each other. Then everything seemed to catch up to you all at once and you started shaking. Horror’s grin stretched even further and he reached up his other hand until he was cupping your face in both hands. Tears started forming in your eyes and Horror let out a sigh before leaning forward. You flinched back but he held your face in place with his hands. He leaned his forehead on yours, closing both his eye sockets as he relaxed. 

“you’ll do perfectly.” Horror cooed, the words sending a chill down your spine and had you choking on a sob as you suddenly grabbed his hands, trying to pull them off you so you could… what? Run away? Fight him? Suddenly Horror let you go and you fell back before scrambling off your bed to put as much distance between you and the skeleton as possible. Your eyes flickered to the door, and in a desperate plea for help you yelled for Jake. 

“Jake!” You screamed. Shaking, terrified. But why were you calling for him? He couldn’t protect you. No, you’d just get him killed if he tried. Suddenly, Horror was besides you and grabbing your arm, tugging you towards the door. 

“yea, i still need to take care of the boy.” Horror said, pure glee in his voice as he dragged you out of the room. Your heart stuttered in your chest as you started shaking your head vehemently. 

“No, no, no. Don’t kill him, please. I-I’ll do anything you wa-want. Just please don’t kill Jake.” You didn’t care anymore. If they wanted to breed you, you’d let them. Just as long as they didn’t kill Jake. You couldn’t live with yourself if Jake died. Horror just chuckled at your words as he dragged you out into the living room. You saw all the skeletons gathered with two new additions you haven’t seen before. The shorter one was wearing red and white sneakers with yellow socks poking through. Black and yellow shorts, a red sweater, and a black jacket with grey fluff on the hood. He was wearing a spiked red collar around his throat and had a golden tooth just like Blackberry’s friend. You never got his name. The other skeleton was tall like Blackberry’s friend. With bright red thigh high boots with heels on them, black pants with a yellow belt on it, and a spiky black chest plate that only came down to where his belly would start if he had one. He also had a ragged vibrant red scarf across his neck. 

Although you took note of the two new skeletons. Your eyes immediately swept over them and latched onto Jake. He was tied up in rope with a piece of cloth stuffed into his mouth. His eyes widened and muffled cries came out as he saw you. He jerked towards you, trying to get to you. You immediately started pulling at the hood on your arm, desperate to get to Jake. You were surprised when Horror suddenly let go. You stumbled forward, before rushing towards Jake. Falling down on your knees you started untying the cloth with shaking fingers before finally getting it off. 

“Did he touch you?” Jake whispered as soon as the cloth was out of his mouth. Too choked up with tears you just silently shook your head. 

“don’t worry little birdie, we’ll have plenty of time for that later.” Horror’s voice sounded in front of you. You didn’t bother looking up at him. Instead just gazing down at Jake as another sob ripped through your chest. Horror crouched down, looking at Jake with malice. He held something in his hands. Rolling it between his fingers thoughtfully before showing it to Jake. 

“it’s a monster drug. strong enough to kill you, but don’t worry, it won’t hurt.” Horror said. You reached out and grabbed a hold of Jake, shaking all the while. Jake clenched his teeth shut, glaring daggers at Horror even as you felt him tremble under your touch. 

“i made a promise to (y/n) i’d make it painless for both you and her. if you don’t let me make it painless, then i can’t promise i’ll be gentle with her when the time comes.” Horror said, his bright red eyelight staring down at Jake. Jake stared up at him before slowly opening his mouth. You sobbed harder, hands reaching over to try and push Horror away as he started to place the pill in Jake’s mouth. But Horror just caught your hands with one of his own as he shoved the pill back into Jake’s throat. Jake was forced to swallow and started coughing at the rough treatment as Horror let go of your hands. He stood up and backed away as you clung to Jake. His eyes were already growing heavy. 

“Jake no! Stay with me! Don’t close your eyes.” You begged desperately, already knowing it was too late. Jake looked up at you, a slight smile on his lips before his eyes trailed down to your lips. You sniffled, your own small bitter smile entering coming across your lips as you understood what he wanted. 

*****

Horror watched the scene in front of him, his amusement growing as he watched the tears spill down your cheeks. His arms were crossed and he was grinning because he knew he had won. You were all his. And his pack mates as well. He’d have a fun time with you. It’s been so long since he mated. His urges had been pushed aside for hundreds, if not thousands, of years as he focused on getting food and surviving. His eyes passed over all the skeletons around him before his smile dropped down into a scowl. If he hadn’t tried fixing that machine to get him and Jaws somewhere better he wouldn’t have had to share you with anyone but his bro. 

“you didn’t have to kill him, you know that right?” Horror turned his head to see Stretch was talking to him, a slight grimace on his face. Horror just glared at the skeleton. Him and Blueberry were the newest of this world. They had only been here a few hundred years. And from what Horror had heard, they came from a very cozy, and weak, timeline. So their options mattered very little to the pack. Suddenly Stretch’s eye sockets widened and you heard an irritated growl that sounded like it came from Red. Horror followed Stretch’s gaze to find he had been looking at you. Horror’s eyelight flickered out as he saw you leaning down and kissing the boy. Horror suddenly teleported behind you, grabbed the back of your shirt, and yanked you off of him. You struggled in his grasp, trying to wiggle your way out. 

“I hate you.” You suddenly hissed out softly, under your breath. Horror turned you around before slamming you against the ground and towering over you, his teeth bared as he snarled you. 

“what the fuck did you say to me?! say that to my face!” Horror growled out, feeling his soul pump painfully in his chest. To hear his mate say that about him was painful. He wanted you scared of him, yes. But not to hate him. 

“I hate you! I hate all of you freaks! You screamed, kicking and struggling against Horror’s hold. Suddenly Horror felt hands grabbing at him, dragging him away from you. Glaring over his shoulder, he could see Red and Mutt dragging him away. Stretch had a hold of you as you kept screaming about how much you hated them, struggling against Stretch’s hold, you looked up at him, staring Stretch in his eyelights as you sneered at him. 

“Let Me Go.” You hissed out and a bright flash threw Stretch back and away from you. You collapsed on the ground, your eyes drooping ever so slightly before you slumped forward unconscious. 

“well shit, that’s not good.” Red muttered as Horror just stared at you in wonder. 

*****

“it’s not like how you said it was. she’s a lot stronger than you said horror.” Stretch said, crossing his arms as he glared daggers at Horror. His HP had gone down by half and his whole body stung, but Stretch couldn’t help but feel a little pride at you. His face twitched up in a grin as he looked at Horror. Now things wouldn’t be able to go his way. 

“what’ th’fuck are we supposed ta do now! she’s gonna try and kill us in er sleep, i jus’ know it!” Red hissed out, pacing the floor as red sweat droplets formed on his forehead. 

“CAN’T WE JUST TRY AND BE NICE TO HER? I’M SURE SHE’LL COME AROUND EVENTUALLY.” Blueberry suggested, his voice hopeful as he glanced around at the others. 

“ya, that’ll work. she’ll totally wanna fuck horror after he killed her little boyfriend.” Red scoffed as Stretch glanced over at the body in the living room. It was useless meat now because of the medicine Horror gave him. It was unusual of Horror to waste food like that, but he assumed it was his way of showing mercy. Shaking his head, Stretch sighed. 

“blueberry’s right. we can’t force her to do anything. we have to convince her to let us-“ Stretch glanced down, glaring at the ground. “breed her.” He hissed out through clenched teeth. He hated this. Absolutely hated it. Stretch couldn’t even look in the mirror nowadays without feeling some level of self disgust. Glancing over at his bro, Stretch let out another sigh. Thankfully he had Blueberry to get him through this. Stretch tried to protect him as much as he could from this world. Killing any humans that Blueberry caught so his bro didn’t have to. But still, every day they’re here in this god awful timeline, he can see it affect Blueberry. He’s harder, meaner, crueler, and more bloodthirsty than before. Eyelights flickering over to Horror, Stretch scowled. At least they weren’t too far gone. 

“i’m gonna go check on the girl.” Stretch said, stepping away from the group as they continued to bicker among themselves. They barely even gave him a glance as he spoke. He walked over to the door before hesitating. Should he knock? No, the amount of magic you used earlier had knocked you out cold. You should be fast asleep for several more hours. Quietly pushing open the door, Stretch opened it slowly before glancing inside. He froze, his eye sockets widening at the scene. 

The bed was empty. The room was empty.

The window was wide open.

Chapter Text

Your shoes slapped against the concrete of the sidewalk, not bothering to slow down, not bothering to glance behind you. You had to get out here. Find somewhere to hide. Maybe make another one of those barriers. It wouldn’t last forever but hell, anytime spent away from those things was worth it. 

They killed Jake. 

Feeling tears form at the corner of your eyes you roughly pushed them away as you ran. There was a house, not too far away from your apartment. Mrs. Donavan’s house. She was on vacation right now, lucky her, and had been paying you to come over and water her plants. The key she had given you was still in your apartment, in one of the kitchen drawers. But you knew where she kept an extra key for emergencies. If you could just get there, maybe you could breathe for a moment. You continued to run, even as exhausted as you felt. Ever since you had done… whatever that was, you had been feeling drained. When you had woken up in your bedroom the only thing that had got you moving was the adrenaline currently coursing through your veins. 

You rounded another corner before skidding to a sudden halt, stopping dead in your tracks. Your breath caught in your throat and your eyes widened. There were more creatures. They weren’t skeletons, which did give you pause, shocked at the completely different type of monster before you. They looked like werewolves. Scarred, armor wearing white furred werewolves. They stared at you, looking just as surprised to see you as you were of them. 

You made the first move, turning around and darting back the way you came. Hearing the thundering of footsteps behind you, you ducked into an alleyway, hoping you could lose them quickly. Running down the alleyway, your heart dropped in your chest as you came to a dead end. 

“No, no, no, no.” You mumbled to yourself as you whirled around on the spot, eyes desperately searching for a way out. Turning, you spotted the dog-like creatures entering the alleyway. You stood there frozen to the spot as one large creature bolted forward so fast you didn’t even have time to scream. He tackled you and you landed on a pile of full trash bags, if that had been the concrete, you would’ve surely cracked your head open. You looked up at the growling, drooling from its teeth, eyes wide as it started parting its jaws. You squeezed your eyes shut, a weak whimper coming from your throat as you waited for it to tear into your flesh. 

“Wait!” One of the creatures howled. You laid there, a moment passing in silence before you felt a furred hand grabbing at your arm. Your eyes snapped open, eyes watching as what looked and sounded like a female dog creature took your arm and brought it up to its nose. She sniffed along your arm before glancing at you with an annoyed grimace. 

“It’s the Butcher’s prey, let her go.” The wolf spoke, looking at the one who was still on top of you before glancing down at you and baring her teeth at you. You tried to shrink down in yourself, suddenly wishing you could disappear into the trash below you. 

“How unusual for him to let his meat run around free like this.” She hissed out, glaring daggers at you. You could only assume she was talking about Horror. Could she smell his scent on you? Could the skeletons track you by scent? Surely not. I mean, these were dogs and those guys were skeletons. They didn’t even have noses. ‘You didn’t think they had the ability to fuck you either.’ A shudder ran through you as the dogs started to leave, grumbling all the while. You laid on the trash pile for a few seconds, your heart still pounding in your chest. You had almost died. You felt tears fall along your cheeks but you found the strength to push yourself up out of the trash pile and stood up. You had to get moving. You couldn’t let a near death experience slow you down. Something worse was waiting for you around the corner if you didn’t get moving. 

You started moving once more, slower this time, being careful not to run into any more of those creatures. You did have to duck down behind a trash can once as some weeping floating ghost like creature floated by. It was bemoaning about how hungry it was. You sat on the ground, covering your mouth with your hands as it floated past. You stayed hidden for a few moments longer before you darted you moved. 

You made it to the house, glancing around you as you did, twitchy and jumpy, thinking you’ll find a skeleton staring back at you. Kicking the doormat away, you sighed in relief at the sight of the key. Grabbing it up quickly, you looked behind you once more before unlocking the door with shaky hands. You quickly moved into the house, closing and locking the door behind you. Then you turned around, heart pounding in your chest as you placed your hands on the door. Now was the most important part. Taking a deep breath, you let it out slowly as you closed your eyes. You could do this. You could do this. 

“Stay out.” You whispered. “Stay out.” You spoke again, trying to keep your voice from shaking, as you hoped, prayed, this would work. “Stay Out.” You hissed out before backing away. You stared at the door anxiously. Had it worked? Was there a barrier around this house now? You wouldn’t know until something, or someone, came looking for you. You started pacing the floor in front of the door, nervously biting at your fingernails as you kept glancing at the door. Any moment could be the moment Horror and his group showed up. You should hide. But really, there was no point. If the barrier thing hadn’t worked and they had tracked you to this house, you were as good found anyways. Even as exhausted as you were, you wouldn’t, couldn’t, sleep until you knew for certain. So you kept pacing. Every moment feeling like an eternity. Alone with your thoughts, they couldn’t help but turn… dark. You wondered what the skeletons had done with Jake’s body. Had they eaten him? A shudder ran through you and you couldn’t help gag at the thought. You were sure they wouldn’t have the decency to bury him. If you could’ve taken him with you, you would’ve. Pushing back tears, you continued to pace, trying to ignore those morbid thoughts. Then you suddenly heard loud banging on the door. You jolted, heart hammering in your chest as you looked at the door with wide eyes. 

“open the door little birdie.” Horror’s voice came from behind the door. Angrier than you had ever heard him before. Your legs crumbled out beneath you, not from fear but from utter relief, as a surprised laugh burst from your lips. Covering your mouth with your hand, you tried to swallow the giggles that forced their way out from your throat. Muffled laughter filled the room as you started hysterically laughing to yourself. It had worked. It had really really worked. 

“it’s not funny, now open the door this instance. i’m getting real tired of this waiting game.” Horror hissed out, but all you did was flop back, laughing freely as you held your sides, unable to even breath properly from how hard you were laughing. Tears formed at the corner of your eyes, before spilling down your cheeks. You laughed, and laughed, and laughed until one laugh choked into a sob. And then you were curled up, sobbing loudly, not even caring if the skeletons heard you. Jake was dead. He was really truly dead. And now you were alone. You had no one now. All you had was this barrier and it wouldn’t last. It was just buying you time until your inevitable fate. You stayed there for a long time, just staring at a wall blankly as tears cascaded down your face. Somehow, after a while, you found the strength to get up. You stood before making your way to the stairs. You wanted to get as far away from that door as possible. Flop onto a bed and just sleep. 

Walking up the stairs you couldn’t help but freeze as you thought you heard movement upstairs. You slowly shook your head, realizing you were probably spooking yourself out for nothing. No monsters could get into this barrier. The door had been locked and intact. There was nothing here that was going to get you. Walking up the stairs you came to a long hallway, you passed the guest bedroom and went straight to the master bedroom. Opening the door, you walked straight over to the bed and flopped onto it with a groan. Why were you so freaking tired? Was it because you had blasted that skeleton with magic? You hoped it had hurt something fierce. Rolling over onto your side, you let loose a deep sigh as you closed your eyes. Finally, you could sleep. 

You were halfway to falling asleep when you heard a clatter that sent you bolting up, eyes wide. You heard noises, what sounded like whispered voices and your heart started pounding in your chest. Had monsters already been in here when you made the barrier? Could that happen? Slowly, you got up from the bed before making your way to the door. You crept over towards the stairs before hesitating on the first stair. If you ran outside now, you’d be caught, no doubt about it. Clenching your fists together, you started towards the guest bedroom where you could hear the whispering. Maybe- maybe it was a friendly monster? At the very least hopefully it wouldn’t breed and/or eat you. You stood with your hand around the doorknob before taking a deep breath. You were a mage for crying out loud! You had magic powers! You could do this! You let out the breath as you turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. The whispering hushed as the door swung open. 

Your legs nearly gave out in relief at the sight before you. Two humans. What looked like a mom and her son. They stared at you for a while before the mom burst into tears. 

“We thought you were one of them!” She cried out, clutching her boy tightly against her chest as if he’d be snatched away at any moment. You stepped into the room, hand over your chest as you felt your heart start to slow down. 

“Me too, I thought you were monsters too.” You said with a shaky laugh as you looked around the guest room in wonder. Who were these people? How had they gotten into a locked house? 

“Do you know Mrs. Donavan?” You asked, looking over the two. They did look like they could be related. The woman shared Mrs. Donavan’s blonde hair and pale freckled skin. But her green eyes were different. Maybe a cousin? A daughter? Or something? 

“She’s my mother.” The woman spoke, finally releasing her son, who looked no older than seven. He was the spitting image of his mother. A thin wiry blonde with green eyes. He stared at you in wonderment and you realized this is probably the first ever other human they’ve seen besides each other since this all started. You chuckled. At least you had Jake and didn’t have to share all your time with a kid. You might’ve gone crazy if you did. Suddenly you froze, breath caught in your throat as you looked over the two humans with growing panic in your eyes. You took a stumbling step back as if you could escape for the horrible realization you just had. 

“What, what’s wrong?” The woman asked, concern in her eyes and voice. Silence answered her question for a long time as you fought back the utter panic coursing through you. You looked first at the woman and then at the boy, before settling back at staring at the mom. 

“They’re gonna kill you.” You finally croaked out, watching as her face paled at the comment. The boy rushed over to his mother and buried his face in her shoulder. Your comment had obviously scared the two before you turned around, your body shaking. You knew what you had to do. 

“Don’t worry.” You said, your voice sad and defeated. “I’ll-I’ll make sure they don’t touch you.” You started towards the stairs, the boy’s quiet sobs giving you all the determination you needed.

You knew what needed to be done. You couldn’t watch another person die because of you. You just couldn’t. So you walked down the stairs and stood before the door. You raised your fist before hesitating. You really didn’t want to do this. But you had to. If you had to watch more humans get killed it would absolutely break your heart. And maybe your mind. So taking a deep breath, you knocked on the door. 

“yea?” Stretch’s voice came through as you turned around and leaned your back against the door. “what’s up kiddo?” You took another deep breath. 

“I want to talk to Horror.” Your voice sounded resigned, empty even. You knew Horror was something like a leader among these skeletons, so he was the one you needed to talk to. It just so happened, that he was also the one you were scared most shitless of. 

“horror?” Stretch asked, his tone surprised. 

“Yeah, I need to talk to him about something.” Your voice shook that time, you couldn’t hold in the fear. You were about to offer yourself up on a silver platter to the hungry wolves. 

“um, okay. i’ll go get him.” Somehow Stretch sounded concerned and confused at the same time but you shook your head at the concern part. Just another trick. Just another lie. You waited by the door, your heart thumping fast in your chest. 

“what do you want little birdie?” Horror’s sudden voice caused a ripple of goosebumps to spread out across your arms. He still sounded pissed, but less so. Now he mostly sounded curious. Gathering your courage, you tried to calm your thumping heart. 

“I want to make a deal.”

Chapter Text

Horror leaned against the door, placing his hand against it. Almost as if he willed it, his hands could reach across this barrier and door and touch you. But a deal? You wanted to make a deal with him? Oh, this was interesting. He needed to know what you wanted before he could consider his options. What were you willing to give up to get what you want? 

“i’m listening.” Horror couldn’t contain the excitement in his voice. Maybe he wouldn’t have to do this waiting game for much longer, maybe he could have you in his hands in a matter of moments. 

“There are two humans here.” You spoke, your voice low. “I-I’ll come out if you promise not to hurt or kill them and promise not to let any of the other skeletons hurt and kill them.” Your voice was shaking, obviously terrified of leaving the safety of the barrier. Oh what a little sacrificial lamb you were making yourself out to be. You were willing to throw yourself at a bunch of hungry monsters to save two useless humans. How precious. 

Horror wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip through his fingers. It was just too good. You were desperate to protect these humans. And desperate people made the best deals. He just needed to push a little. Yes, he wanted you out, now, but he could be patient and wait.

“i think i’ll just wait until your barrier falls again.” Horror laughed, he could practically feel the air tense from the other side of the door. “it’ll be nice to have a little extra food to share with the pack. and i’m not in the mood to make it nice and painless like i did for the boy.” 

“What do you want?” You asked, your voice sounding shaky and defeated. Horror laughed again. He knew he had you in the palm of his hand and you knew it too. 

“you know what i want.” He purred, just imagining you trembling on the other side. He wanted to reach out and touch you, pull you against him and feel your skin jump and tremble against his boned hands. How much were you willing to give him was the question. 

“On-only once.” Your voice shook as you stuttered out of the words. “And n-no one el-else. Just you.” You sounded like you were on the verge of tears as you spoke and Horror just hummed as he considered your offer. He could work with that. 

“i’ll breed you just once and the humans get to live? that sounds-“ Horror started. 

“No!” You blurted out, sounding horrified. “You ca-can- I mean- fuck! Only o-one ni-night. You get one night.” Horror reared back, scowling at the door. Only one night and he had to give up two fresh meats? That hardly seemed fair. But from how firm your voice had been, Horror didn’t think you would budge on it. That’s okay, Horror would just have to make that night really count. 

“alright, i can work with that.” Horror mumbled. “now come out little birdie, so we can talk face to face.” 

“Promise first.” You said firmly. You were smarter than you looked. You had figured out that Horror was a skeleton of his word when it came to promises. Horror chuckled. He still had one more promise to keep to you. And he couldn’t wait to fulfill it. 

“i promise that i, or my pack, will not hurt or kill the other two humans in this house as long as you come out and let me breed you for one whole night.” Horror spoke the last words slowly, savoring them, liking how the smell of fear wafted out from behind the door as he talked. You were terrified. Oh, this was going to be so much fun. There were a few seconds of silence before Horror heard the click of a lock turning. And then the door was open and you were standing there, trembling and looking down at the ground. Horror grins widened as he gestured for you to step closer. You did and Horror grabbed the back of your neck before guiding you forward. You were shaking in his grip and Horror could feel your heart pounding in your throat as you walked forward. They walked slowly towards the house next door, Horror savoring the fear wafting off of you. 

Horror guided you into the house and you froze, your breath halting in your throat as you saw all the skeletons around you. Red was grinning and already sweating as he stared at you. Edge had his arms crossed and was refusing to look at you. Blackberry was scowling at you, obviously still pissed you hadn’t drawn him, while Mutt was staring at you curiously. Blueberry was staring at you with wide eye sockets, bright blue stars in his eyes as he not so subtly tried to edge closer to you. Stretch was in the back of the group, leaning against the wall and glaring daggers at Horror. Horror just rolled his eye sockets and pushed you towards the skeletons. 

“you’ve met most everyone except mutt and red.” Horror said. You flinched when Red stepped forward and offered his hand to you. 

“heya sweetheart, m’name’s red.” Red said, looking at you hungrily as he waited for you to take his hand. Red was probably the most excited about having you as a mate, besides Horror. From what Red had said, his timeline made it to the surface and Red had taken to human women. He obviously had a fetish. Tense silence stretched out between the room as you stared at Red’s hand. Finally, after a long time, you reached out a trembling hand and lightly grabbed onto Red’s hand. Red immediately grasped your hand with both of his, causing you to jump. 

“fuck, yer so fuckin soft.” Red groaned lewdly. Horror saw a shudder go through you and watched as your face paled at his words. He had to physically stop himself from laughing out loud at your expression.

“DON’T BE DISGUSTING!” Edge huffed out. 

“leave her alone red.” Stretch said, sounding irritated. 

Glancing over at his brother, Red saw Edge giving him a warning glare. With a sigh, Red let go of your hand and stepped back. Edge stepped forward, you looked up, wide eyes looking up at Edge as the taller skeleton glared down at you. 

“MY NAME IS EDGE HUMAN, DO NOT FORGET IT.” Edge looked you over, eyelights critical. “YOU’RE NOT VERY MUCH TO LOOK AT, BUT YOU’LL DO I SUPPOSE.” Horror saw you bristle at that comment and your lip twitch into a sneer as you glared up at Edge with utter hate. 

“Good, I’d rather not be much to look at to you.” You suddenly spat out, your angry eyes flickering between all the skeletons before settling on Horror. 

“I hate you all.” You hissed. 

Horror’s eyelights flickered out and his smile dropped. Before he knew it he was taking a step towards you. But Stretch had taken a shortcut and was standing between Horror and you, his hands out as if to hold off Horror. 

“come on, calm down horror. you really shouldn’t hurt her. even you know that.” Stretch said, taking a step back, stepping closer to you as if he could protect you from him. Stretch knew if it came to a one on one between the two skeletons, Horror would be standing by the end of it and Stretch would be dust. So he really couldn’t understand why Stretch was standing in his way. Suddenly Horror’s eyelights returned and so did his grin. Horror shifted until he could see you peeking around behind Stretch, your eyes still filled with hate in them. 

“that’s okay little birdie. we’ll have plenty of time to talk about how much you hate me tonight.” Horror cooed, taking pleasure in the way fear overcame the hate in your eyes. You glanced away from Horror, looking at the ground instead. Horror just hummed in amusement. 

*****

“horror, we said we wouldn’t force her to do anything. we agreed-“ Stretch said, still standing between you and Horror. You couldn’t stop the relief that flooded you when Stretch suddenly appeared in front of you, stopping Horror from getting to you. But at the mention of tonight, you couldn’t help but feel dread at his words. You did glance up, eyes flickering with surprise at Stretch’s words. That did bring a slight bit of relief. Although yours and Horror’s ‘deal’ hardly felt consensual. It still felt like you were being forced into it. You had watched as Horror held a gun to someone else’s head and forced a ‘yes’ out of your lips. You just hoped he kept his promise about trying to be gentle. 

“she agreed, we made a deal.” Horror said, still grinning at you. You avoided his gaze and instead stared at Stretch’s back. His hoodie looked old, and there were a few stitches where he had probably ripped it in the past. 

“so you blackmailed her is what i’m hearing.” Stretch growled out before crossing his arms. You couldn’t see his expression but you could imagine him glaring at Horror. You almost wanted to believe this skeleton was on your side, but you doubted it. This was probably his way of getting you to trust him just so he could fuck you. Your hand rubbed at your other hand as a shudder ran through you. You could still hear Red’s lewd voice as he held on tightly to your hand. A shudder ran through you as you glanced behind you, looking over the skeletons until you saw Red. He was staring at Horror with what looked like jealousy. As if sensing you were looking at him, Red’s eyes flickered towards you. You saw red droplet’s form on his forehead as he grinned at you. You glanced away, staring once more at the back of Stretch’s hoodie. 

“if she wants to say no, she’s more than free to.” Horror said and you couldn’t stop the scowl that came across your face. If you said no, Horror would no doubt drag that mother and child over here and kill them slowly right in front of you. Stretch half turned, looking over his shoulder at you and you lifted your head to meet his gaze. 

“you sure that’s okay with you?” Stretch asked, his voice full of such concern. But you knew it was all just fake. He was no different than Horror. He was just trying things from a different angle. You dropped your head and nodded silently, not daring to look Stretch in his eyelights. Horror chuckled and you just wrapped your arms around yourself, trying to find some comfort. You could feel Stretch’s gaze on you for a heartbeat longer before he let out a soft sigh and moved away. You were escorted to a room with a big bed, and notably no windows. When you were alone, you quietly checked the door to find it was locked. 

You paced the room, your heart hammering in your chest as the seconds ticked by. It was midday when Horror had walked you over to this house. That meant you still had hours until nighttime. The time seemed to drag by and go too fast at the same time. Every moment you were reminded that time was still ticking by filled you with dread. How did skeletons… do it? You had once made a joke to Jake about them putting a bone up you. You hoped to god that wasn’t what would happen. Chewing on your nail, you continued to pace. Maybe breeding for them was more magical than physically. Maybe that was it. It wouldn’t be anything like sex. Maybe you drank like a potion or some shit and boom, you were pregnant. You still shuddered at the thought of getting pregnant by these creatures. 

You froze in your pacing as the door suddenly swung open. Blueberry skipped inside with Stretch right behind him. You backed away as they approached and Stretch grabbed Blueberry by his shoulder to keep him from walking towards you. 

“we’re just bringing you food.” Stretch mumbled, not looking you in the eye as he spoke. You glanced over at Blueberry and noticed for the first time that he was carrying a plate of food in his hands. Blueberry looked up at you and smiled wide. 

“I’M SO HAPPY YOU DECIDED TO STAY WITH US (Y/N.) I’VE NEVER HAD A MATE BEFORE BUT I’LL BE SURE TO TREAT YOU VERY WELL.” Blueberry beamed at you before thrusting the plate out for you to take. You just stared at the smaller skeleton for a very long time before slowly stepping closer and grabbing the plate from him. You stepped back as soon as Blueberry handed you the plate. 

“Thank you.” You mumbled, glancing off to the side so you didn’t have to look at either of you. So their game was to play nice to get you to trust them. Too bad for them you weren’t stupid. Since you made that deal with Horror, you had to go through with it tonight. But learning you can tell them no meant you never had to do it again after tonight. With any of them. You wonder how long it’ll take before they just get frustrated and kill you. 

Maybe you’d see Jake again after that. 

You sat down on the floor and ate quietly. Blueberry tried to engage you in conversation, asking you question after question about yourself but you just stayed silent, not even looking at either of them. Eventually Stretch convinced Blueberry to leave you alone and they both left. You finished eating and curled up into a ball in the corner for the rest of the day. 

“knock knock.” A rasp of knuckles on your door had you swallowing dryly before Horror opened the door. You were already shaking before he had even fully stepped inside. 

“time’s up, time for your end of the deal.”