𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄 ❃ coraline au

019: as the world falls down

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CHAPTER NINETEEN OF TWENTY

❝ AS THE WORLD FALLS DOWN ❞

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SWALLOWING HER FEAR, (NAME) PUT ON A FACE OF BRAVERY AND DETERMINATION. Her shoes squeaked under the floorboards. The further she got to the living room, the house behind her became destroyed. The wallpaper peeled and pictures fell to the floor. She ignored it. She approached the living room, which had the poisonous green light spilling from it.

The fire burned in the fireplace burned a venomous green. The bug furniture looked decrepit and greyed. Their once-illuminative glows were now flickering, like a faulty lightbulb. As if they were short-circuiting. Their legs and wings twitched uncontrollably. This made (Name) pity them a little.

She nervously entered the room, to find the large bug-shaped loveseat sitting by the fireplace. Eros was sitting on it. No longer was he the charming, sweet, raven-haired man with kooky button eyes, but rather a towering, eight-foot-tall monster. His skin looked completely burned and his button eyes shone darkly. One hand was human...the other was elongated and clawed, with sharp talon-like nails.

His face was hidden. "You're back..." Eros said. His voice wasn't coated with his sugar-sweet tone. His voice sounded scratchy, baritone and tired, "And you brought...vermin, with you, my dove~". He faced (Name), who defensively moved her bag so the animals were protected from Eros' deathly stare.

"No..." she corrected, "I brought friends,".

He reached his clawed hand to cup her cheek, poking her nose. "You know I love you," he said, almost flatly and void of emotions, he toyed with her hair, which was mussed and wild with cotton candy, dust and cobwebs "I've said it once. And I say as many times as I need to get the message in your head. I. Love. You,".

She pulled back from his touch. "No," she firmly said, "This isn't love. This...is an obsession. You're not in love with me...you're in love with the idea of me. You love how I'm different from the other women you've taken. You just want to sew buttons into my eyes and eat up my life, then just leave me to rot in the little room behind the mirror,".

Eros almost looked offended. "I love you," he firmly insisted, completely brushing off her statement, "Just look at how I've treated you so much better than Eric ever had! He had an affair with another woman-".

"And it's his own fault!" (Name) snapped. The Incubus was silenced, beckoning her to elaborate, "Well, I was pregnant. Okay?! Eric and I were expecting our first child. When I was seven months along, they told me that the baby didn't have...a heartbeat. I had to carry the baby in my stomach for the final two months of pregnancy and then give birth to my child...dead. I pushed away Eric for months. I just was hurting so much. And I'll admit...I don't love him anymore and I finally plucked the courage to leave him. But that doesn't mean I love you either. You changed my life, Eros. I would've given you a chance...had you not become...this monster!".

He pursed his lips. "So...where are they then?" he asked, changing the subject, "The ghost eyes...they were the main discovery of your little treasure hunt, my dove~".