Until It Hurts | Part 4 x reader

6

^^ our first fan art for this lovely book! thank you, Filia, i love it so very much!

this chapter is dedicated to you, my friend!

as a thank you for blessing such a small fic with such great art, i'll be making this chapter extra, extra long!

i hope you enjoy it!

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"food-fetching time... again." (y/n) grumbled, sauntering out of the decaying cabin and into the thicket of woods again. 

all was as it normally would be. birds chirping a mornings hello, insects gnawing away at both leaf and bone, and wild animals scurrying about in the bushes.

as usual, they stumbled upon tina again on their daily walk, and bid the corpse hello. 

"my, oh my, you look rather lovely today!" (y/n) giggled, crouching down to brush some hair from hair face-- which only weakly fell from her head in a clump, still attached to a portion of scalp. "oh, goodness... apologies."

not wanting to feel any worse about the situation, the loner left, and continued forward on their routine journey for the only food they had nearby.

once near the little crossroads again, (y/n) paused, and looked into the woods, the sensation of something watching them drilling into their skull, and leaving them frozen in wonder. yes, not fear, just curiosity.

this something, as aforementioned, never made what it really was obvious, but it could always be felt staring into passerby's. maybe it was some starving animal, stuck under something and left to starve as it stared longingly at potential prey, or maybe its one of those... things.. that had yet to die off.

dismissing the something just as they normally would, (y/n) marched forward and into the desolate town, just as usual, and came upon the same tent as before. this should be the tent that shizuka lives in, they thought, i wonder if she's here.

despite how rude she'd been toward their darling tonio, it's not like it could be helped. he's always been somewhat intimidating, though he's a kind person at heart, so maybe she just go the wrong impression of him! yes, that had to be it!

twigs shattered beneath their sneakers as they creeped toward the tents opening, hoping not to startle the poor girl if she were to be inside. slowly did they peel back the entrance of the tent, cautiously peeking their head inside without a word, only to find that no one was in there.

she must be out again, perhaps exploring the small distance that vivre island had to offer.

it's not like it mattered, though, (y/n) was simply curious about the poor girl and prayed she was ok before moving on.

continuing the routine burned into memory, they proceeded down the beaten path and came upon the same convenience store, taking a moment to pause before entering to stare at the body frozen in time next to a tree.

"yo, angelo!" they chirped, grinning.

there was no response.

~

same old store, same old things. 

the pens that were littered across the ground were left exactly as they had been the day before, the poor function of the air conditioner was the same as ever, and the blood on the door in the far back had yet to be cleaned. 

as (y/n) shuffled over to the white, rusting shelf with all of the gross, canned meat, they wondered, 'had shizuka ever come here?'

nothing looked any different, nor out of place. all of the cans seem to be in the same amount as last time when they had taken some, and each of the pens on the floor had yet to be touched.