Fortnite: Island Bonus Stories

The Troublesome Trio

Set between Fortnite: Island Prologue and Chapter 1. Enjoy!

  Raz was sat on a beach, somewhere he'd never been before. It was long since dark and the shadows from the ghostly curled behind the towering palm trees. Maybe this place felt more tropical during the day, but the only aura Raz felt was the itching feeling that some unseen force was watching him.
  Raz never wore a shirt - he had no idea why, really, but he wishes that he did because he was chilled to the bone. His body was covered in small scratches from various forms of debris, and his baggy, white trousers were marked with both mud and the scars of his last battles on the island Apollo.
  Normally, Raz didn't spend his time alone on beaches, blowing his slightly longer than average black hair out of his eyes and sighing under his breath. He had both a friend and a boyfriend, who were the light of his life. Skye was brimming with the need for adventure, and often getting Raz and Mothy, the aforementioned boyfriend, intertwined with her curious escapades. Mothy was different around different people (Raz could say the same about himself), but around Raz and Skye he was bubbly and was the glue that held the group together, as if they even needed glue, the three were very close.
  But today, the two were gone. On Apollo, there had been a certain incident involving evil giants and Apollo flipping over like a pancake to reveal a new island; the one he was currently on. But during the whole thing he'd lost his friends, and now he was alone on murder island with nobody to back him up in a fight.
  "Damn, are you ok?"
  Raz jumped up and instinctively reached a hand to his pockt to find a gun that wasn't there. There was a woman stood behind him, for how long he didn't know. She was maybe a 25 to 30 sort of age and had shoulder-length, neon red hair in bangs, ending in bunches. Her pale face was freckled around her ocean turquoise eyes and her nose, which actually had a sliver ring in it, adding a mild touch of aggressiveness. She was wearing red armour plates attached with rusted copper-coloured fabric.
  "Hello?" she added after a while of Raz glaring at her.
  "Are you local?" Raz asked simply.
  "Local? Dude, the island flipped over, I don't think anyone's local." she extended her arm to him, "Walk with me."
  Raz accepted the hand, "I have nothing better to do."
  "You probably do but hey, who am I to judge?" the woman shrugged, disappearing into the thick jungle behind her.
  "Whether or not you can judge me depends on who you are." Raz followed her, remaining cautious to signs of attack.
  The woman stopped and turned around, "They call me the Imagined."
  "Who's 'they'?" Raz asked, trying to get her information.
  "Well, my friends, my colleagues, my allies, whatever you wanna call them - the Seven." the Imagined explained.
  Raz stopped in his tracks and his mouth went slack before he regained his composure and jogged on after her, "I thought those guys were a myth!"
  "Well, we're real. Yo." the Imagined smirked, "And we're in a really bad spot right now... and so are your friends."
  "You know where they are?"
  "Yeah, one of your friends suffered an attack from the Caretaker things." the Imagined scowled at the lazily blowing grass. Raz assumed that Caretaker was the name for the giants, "He should be fine, but my friend is keeping an eye on him."
  Raz's throat went dry, "He?"
  "Yeah. Moth-looking thing. 'Bout my height, you met him?" the Imagined appeared impartial, like she had no emotional attachment. But Raz knew more.
  "Take me. Quick." Raz snapped.
  The Imagined turned around, shocked by the sudden outburst but didn't press for information. She just turned towards a set of rounded buildings behind some hills and started to walk a little bit faster. Shaking his head, he began to follow suit.

***

  It had only been ten minutes of walking, but that was enough time to wake up the sun. It had started to climb the horizon; slowly but surely. The Imagined sighed, out of breath, but Raz continued on.
  "Hey. Slow down." the Imagined grumbled, stumbling after Raz.
  Raz did not slow down.
  "Hey!" the Imagined called louder.
  "Mothy means a lot to me, I cannot just leave him to die!" Raz shouted.
  "Geez, he'll be fine! But you won't be if you drown in your own sweat, so just take it slow, kay?" the Imagined panted.
  Raz stared down the Imagined but it was clear that she wasn't going to budge. He tried with all of his might to fight that angry and yet apologetic glare but building up inside of him was a sour feeling that he was the one in the wrong.
  Raz plopped himself down beside a tree and sighed. The Imagined looked at him, eyeing him like an owl, before sending herself to join him. She looked mildly disgruntled but shrugged it off and joined him. She started to smile.
  "Who is the guy you want to see?" the Imagined asked curiously, "I'm sure he said but I forgot, heh."
  "Mothy. He's... my partner. Please understand my stress, I swear I'm not normally like this." Raz frowned, his eyes looking at the floor, not merting her gaze.
  "Damn. I just assumed he was a friend or something, sorry." the Imagined shrugged.
  "No, it's fine."
  "Ya sure?"
  "Very."
  The Imagined hopped up, holding out her hand, "Well, we best be off, then?"
  Raz took her hand and smiled solemnly. She began to stroll towards the ever closer domed buildings and he walked next to her, the newly born sun hanging in the cloudless sky.

***

  "Raz!" Skye shouted.
  The domed buildings reflected the bright sun off of their domed, navy blue roofs. The grey concrete was patterned with red markings, and sat beside one of the buildings on the outskirts of the place was Skye, ushering the pair over to her.
  Skye had shoulder-length brown hair, with a comforting woolly denim jacket over her simple butter yellow shirt. Her jeans were grey with earthy stains on them, and her black boots were scuffed with the legacies of her adventures. Her sky blue eyes shone at Raz and the Imagined, but the eyes of her pale red, yellow winged beanie Ollie remained shut. According to Skye, he was going through changes and he needed energy. But Ollie wasn't who Raz wanted to see.
  Skye hopped up and hugged Raz, "Where were you?! Me and Mothy have been looking for you everywhere!"
  "I heard something bad happened to him, is he ok?" Raz withdrew from the hug but still held her shoulders.
  "Well, yeah, about that..."
  "RAZ!" Mothy shouted, leaving the building which Skye had been sat next to, spotting him and running in that direction.
  Mothy was known as Mothy because of the moth helmet he always had on, with its beady yellow eyes and black, spherical base. He wore the same black on his long-sleeved shirts and puffy trousers. Atop these, he wore a matching army green jacket to his boots.
  Mothy squealed, "I got stabbed by an alien!"
  Raz turned to the Imagined, grimacing, "That's worse than I thought it'd be."
  "At least it can't get any worse?" the Imagined shrugged.
  "And it's poisonous! Isn't that exciting?!" Mothy ran straight into Raz and hugged him tight.
  The Imagined's eyes widened and her mouth opened a little before she turned towards the building Mothy had just left, "SCIENTIST!"
  "Oh, um- Imagined- I-" a man left the structure and jogged towards them. The supposed Scientist. He wore armour, like the Imagined, but it was black and bulkier, giving off a menacing aura. He also wore a helmet.
  "Is he..?" the Imagined breathed.
  "Going to die? Probably not." the Scientist shrugged, stopping jogging beside the Imagined and catching his breath, "Shanta's working on the stuff I can't be bothered to do right now."
  "No wonder she hates you." the Imagined frowned, "Can't ya just be serious for one second?"
  "No. I tried it once, it was awful."
  "You're not just the background guy anymore, Scientist! These people need you. And I'm guessing they need me too. The only difference is that I care." the Imagined glared.
  "I do care!" the Scientist looked offended, although Raz figured that it might have been an exaggeration.
  "Then prove it."
  The Scientist sighed, "I'll do my best."
  "Thank you." the Imagined smiled before turning back to Raz, Mothy and Skye, "So then, troublesome trio. Where should we begin?"

To be continued...