Left for Carnage (Twisted Wonderland x Reader) (PAUSED)

Prologue: Unstable waters

WARNING the following chapter contains: mentions of skipping meals, exhaustion, blood, and a toxic family.

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Three days after Sigurd (L/N)'s disappearance

It had been raining non-stop since the early hours of the morning, the sky was constantly gray and the air was too cold to even move properly. The misty weather has made it even more difficult for the various search parties to find any clues as to what might have happened to Sigurd.

As the many volunteers trudge through the woods, they whisper that it's useless to look for the fourth child of the (L/N) house here, since he was last seen at the train station, which is on the other side of town. But the words of the eldest daughter of the house, Astrid, echo through their minds: she wanted every nook and cranny of the village of Sleepy Hollow to be searched. "Leave no stone unturned!"

You had been walking aimlessly through the cold forest for who knows how long, your shoes completely muddy, your throat parched from all the shouting and your body shivering from the low temperature and the rain. And yet you never stopped to take a breath, skipping meals and pushing your thoughts and sorrows so deep that you know they will surely surface with a vengeance in a few hours.

"I feel dizzy," you mutter under your breath as you take a short break and lean against a tall oak tree. You stare up at the leaves and watch as your warm breath turns into a small cloud of steam. This weather... your mind can't help but drift to the thought of what must have happened to your sweet brother.

Sigurd is your older brother, the fourth child of your family to be specific, while you are the fifth and last. Since the rest of your siblings were already in their teens when you were born, it was only natural that you and he became close, being only two years apart in age.

He has a heart of pure gold, altruistic by nature, with an outgoing and charismatic personality. He was your opposite, the extrovert who could walk into a room and talk to anyone, while you preferred to be the wallflower. You even joked that silence and solitude were your closest friends. But he was always there to help you come out of your shell and encourage you to be more open to others.

Your late mother used to joke that the two of you were like yin and yang: joined at the hip, yet completely opposites.

He was your best friend, your partner in crime, the one you would sneak out with late at night to stuff your face with junk food or seek comfort with when you had to kill your first mutated human. You were his confidant, and you were aware of most of his secrets, problems, and sorrows.

The key word is "most." You respected his privacy, and though you always wanted to be there when he wanted to share some of his troubles, you sensed that there were certain topics that he wouldn't budge on, no matter what. Deep down, you feared that the reason he was missing had to do with one of those secrets.

A few weeks before he went missing, he looked sickly pale and he would bite his fingers, to the point of drawing blood.

You came back from the guild, hoping that you could talk to him and vent some feelings about quitting the job. The decision was forced and it didn't feel right.

His room was messy and smelled awful.

He ushered you out, not letting you speak a single word even when you banged on the door, crying for him to come out.

Why did you not tell me anything?

What were you hiding?

What were you planning to do?