You Bunch Of Animals (A TF2 Story)

Chapter 1

The vast forest became soaked under the freezing rain. The trees blew around loosely as the winds knocked them about. Most of the woodland creatures took shelter in their own burrows or nests. Many of which are getting ready for hibernation. With the end of November quickly approaching, this kind of weather is not unexpected. Other than the blinding flashes of lightning, the only source of light for miles was the castle that belonged to the Scottish wizard.

The storm outside raged on, the booms of thunder shook the castle. It was loud outside yet deathly quiet inside of the large castle that Merasmus called his home. The dark building, that used to be nicely kept, now lay almost in ruin. Merasmus laid all of his workers off, his chef, all his maids to keep the place clean, his butler that he grew rather fond of, they all are gone. One day, without even the slightest warning, he told them it was their last shift and that they will be paid for the rest of the week.

As he stumbled about his large library he wondered how long it has been since they left. A few weeks? A month? He can no longer tell day from night, he keeps the blinds closed at all times, the sun started to hurt his eyes a few weeks ago. Torches on the wall and candlelight is the only way for him to see anymore.
The dark comforted him yet also made him incredibly tired, though he knew he wouldn't be able to rest. Picking up a fourth book and analyzing it, he added it to the few books he was already holding. Even in the dark he knew he looked terrible, though he never bothered to even glance at a mirror for the longest time. He stumbled to his desk where about 20 other books lay. As he sat he picked a book at random and started flipping through, looking for answers.

¨Come on, come on...¨ His words were meant to be a mumble but they echoed throughout the large dark library. When he found nothing he slammed it shut and opened another book, doing the same thing. The actions repeated for a few hours. The only thing that was able to distract him from his studies was an exceptionally loud boom of thunder that appeared every now and again. Merasmus was growing desperate, after finding nothing in the last book he got up from his seat slowly and began to walk through the isles of the library. Climbing ladders to look for more books. One of them had to have an answer, some sort of help for him.

The search caught up to him quicker than he had hoped. He fell to the carpeted floor and vomited. He promised himself that he would clean it later, but the several other stained areas of the carpet proved that to be a lie. He tried to stand up slowly to no avail. He laid there for quite some time before he had the strength to move again. As he sat his mind raced, there had to be something to help him right? Or maybe....

......someone?

His eyes widened. Maybe there was someone.

As a bolt of adrenaline hit him, he sprain up. For the first time in a while a small smile appeared on his face. There was hope for him after all. He ran to another part of the library, though these areas started to seem foreign to him as he spent so much time in the one section. His legs were killing him and his entire body was screaming to stop. He desperately needed rest but Merasmus did not care. He had to keep going, all he needed was a location, a picture even, that's all he needed and he could be saved.

A part of Merasmus knew this idea was foolish, hell foolish was an understatement, but at least if he tried he knew he had done everything he could. He scanned the shelves before he found it, the newspaper section.

¨Merc Scum to Hang!¨ read one of the papers, he found the right area. The back of his mind always wondered why he saved these newspapers of the mercenaries. Now, he couldn't be more grateful that he did. His searching became frantic as he tore through the piles of photographs and papers. He could feel his legs begin to give out on him once more, but he knew he had to keep looking. With one swipe, he pushed everything to the floor as his legs finally gave up on him. The papers all fell into different directions on the floor, luckily this made looking for what he needed easier. He started searching more feverishly on all fours. Beads of sweat dripped down his nose as he whipped them away. The last thing he wanted was the faithful picture to be ruined by his own doing. He froze, he found it. He held the photo of the Merc up to the candlelight, just to be sure he was looking at the right person. It definitely was him.