Duskwood & Moonvale one-shots

Sparks (Jake x MC)

Jake:
Liana, do you remember? You promised me you won't go to Duskwood.

Liana:
Jake, sorry... I... I can't keep my word this time.
[Photo]

Jake didn't respond to the messages anymore, though the two blue ticks proved that he had read them. Liana sighed and put the phone back in her pocket. Jake was upset and probably offended, she could understand that. She could understand that she had just confessed her treachery. She should have sat down somewhere in the corner of the room, wrapped her arms around herself, and shivered in silent tears, because knowing that it was her choice and entirely her fault didn't stop her from feeling empty. She had promised Jake that she would stay in her own city, not interfere so openly, not take any risks. But could she afford to risk the lives of others? If this game is so dangerous now, she is ready to become a piece in this live chess game and take the blow herself.

So, taking off her shoes and pulling on her gloves, she ducked under the police line. The police didn't catch the man without a face, didn't find Hannah. And surely now the house they'd found had no leads or anything like that. But she could show that she had gone against the rules of the game he had started, that she was no longer just an observer who could be intimidated. She is no longer the kind of person who can be manipulated by threatening her friends.

Because losing someone else is beyond her.

Liana shivered - it didn't look like the rest of Duskwood, near this abandoned house. It was as if every part of the wall here was saturated with despair and fear, which settled on her shoulders, making her doubt her actions. She moved closer to the house. Two of the windows are still boarded up. Either that room hadn't been explored yet, or they had been done very carefully.

The dead grass was crushed under foot, and socks were wet from the recent rain in Duskwood. She thought about it. The door is probably closed, so it's unlikely that she can just walk into the house. But then Thomas had found a way. So her way was to the barn, too.

The door creaked when she tried to open it. Liana crept slowly through the old house, shivering either from the cold or from the unpleasant memories of the discovery in the basement and the call after the escape of the guys, leaving wet footprints on the floor, like a real mermaid.

So where are you, a living legend? Come here and keep your word!

This house is not comfortable at all. The windows were shattered, their fragments still on the floor, the wind permeated every cell of the body.

What did she want to find here? Why was she so sure he would see her here? Nothing, nothing seemed to be happening tonight. She crouched down, picking through the shards with her hands, as if she might actually find something the police hadn't noticed.

"Damn it," Liana hissed as the shard slid across her palm, cutting a glove leaving a long gash.

The last straw. Liana sat down on the floor, hugging her knees. Shivering, her eyes closed, she began to cry softly for the first time since she had intervened in the investigation into Hannah's disappearance. Too many events for a girl accustomed to a peaceful life. All these threats to her friends and to her, the danger hanging over each of them like a heavy cloud. And here she is again in the midst of an explosion of events. Here she was again trying to save everyone. Just a small key that tried to open a huge barn lock and seems to have sunk into the keyhole.

When the footsteps rustled behind her, she didn't even move, even though she knew she had to jump to her feet and run, her heels flashing. Who could have met her here? Of course, not Saint Nicholas.

"Will you kill me now?"

The rustle of clothes. Someone pressed his chest against her back, touched her neck with cold and somehow trembling fingers. Liana thought fingers would come together like a necklace at her throat, and everything would finally end. After all, at least in her own death, she probably will not be to blame.