Taking Back What's Ours || Cookie Run AU

Chapter 3

➳ WIND ARCHER'S POV ➳

The night is dark and quiet, besides the night owl critters making noise. He remembers that his brother and Fire Spirit took him to bed, but he can't tell how much time had passed. Considering how dark it is, he assumes that it's been hours since then.

He doesn't remember the last time he had proper sleep. Being the protector of the forest, sacrifices like sleep were made to protect the forest and its residents, especially the millennial tree. Now with the Candy Kingdom, he visits once a month, protecting the people isn't a heavy burden to him.

He admits that he still doesn't trust that flaming spirit to take over his patrol, but with Clover and Herb nagging on about rest, it would be cruel to say no to them. And that thought is what awakes him now.

But it's not just that, he can feel the burning sensation in his head coming back. He doesn't know why it's not going away and it irritates him. Assuming the logic that the healers would use, sleeping more helps. But he can't exactly do that if the headache is bothering his sleep.

Gradually it starts getting worse. Not only does it feel like a burning sensation, but he can also feel as if his head is being squeezed. He couldn't take it anymore as he drops to the ground, holding on to his head with a pillow for dear life.

He screams into the pillow, trying desperately to not wake anyone up, especially in the middle of the night. He thinks he can handle it from here, but with extra pins and needles on his head along with the worsening squeezing, he eventually tosses the pillow to the side and groans.

He wanted to continue to scream so bad, but something is stopping him. Is it because he's so used to it that he's getting numb? Or maybe he doesn't have the will to raise his voice anymore because he's in extreme pain.

His vision is aggressively spinning that he can't even find the balance to stand up and reach out to Herb or Clover, leading him to just squeeze his eyes shut to make it stop. Enduring the pain becomes useless now, it's far too intense for him.

"Don't resist..." a voice is heard in Wind Archer's ears... or is it his head? Everything is disoriented to him now; he can't see or think straight and his throat gets drier, unable to let out anything but groans. "I'll endure it for you." the voice persuades again. Wind Archer feels... charmed by it, even if it sounds like him, but more menacing.

That charm in its voice makes the archer numb to all of his surroundings. His limbs grow weaker and he can feel himself detach from his body. In turn, all the pain he experienced before is gone. He feels himself fall into the depths of a dark abyss, and as he opens his eyes slightly, he sees a crimson red glow.

"Succumb to the darkness... Wind Archer..."

♧ CLOVER'S POV ♧

Clover jolts up from his sleep, terrified. He tries to take deep breaths to calm down, but he just grows more anxious. He couldn't believe it, he jinxed his own words.

That nightmare 2 days ago, the scenes that play out in that nightmare, he dreamt of the same thing again. That means he has every right to panic about what's to come.

Clover gets up from bed and paces around his room to try and calm down. The more he does it, the more ridiculous he feels since it's not helping, so he decides to get some air by opening the balcony door.

Walking out of his bedroom and hanging on to the railing to feel the night breeze calms him down a little. But unluckily for him, the peace didn't last. The wind blows stronger in his face and he can hear faint groaning, and it's a voice he recognizes immediately.