From the Vast

Chapter 11: Guilt

"~Open the door you FUCKING WHORE!~"

Anne hyperventilated as she watched the door to her room shake inside the weathered frame holding it in place, her father's every bang threatening to finally make the old, slightly moldy wood give in and leave nothing between herself and the result of whichever minor slight it was that upset him this time. Every loud noise made her try to back into the corner further, to little effect beyond the heat getting drained out of her frail body even faster as it pressed itself into the outer wall.

"~Once I get in there I'm gonna fucking KILL that RAT of yours, OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!~"

As much as the girl was panicking though, most of her thoughts that weren't suffocating fear at her own parent were worrying about Ember instead, the teeny Fennekin bundling in as close into her front as she could, trying to find refuge from the hellish world that awaited her outside of Anne's embrace. Her human tried desperately to think of something, anything to do, she could've sworn there should've been a window on the outer wall but there wasn't, there never was, they were cornered and only had as long to live as it took the drunkard mere meters away from them to break down the final barrier in front of him. Each shouted bang that followed was accompanied with its own slam, each fiercer and more savage, wood chips and paint flaking off every time-

"~OPEN!~"

A large crack sprouted from the top of the door, reaching almost halfway through, the girl letting out an involuntary squeal of horror as she held Ember even tighter, helping her look away from the unfolding terror, doing whatever she could to provide the lil' fox whatever comfort she could in their final moments.

"~THE!~"

The crack expanded massively under the second strike, breaking away enough of the rotten wood to let Anne get a peek of the furious, bloodshot eyes on the other side of the doorway, and the bared, rotten teeth underneath them, the sight horrifying enough to the point where all she could do is close her own eyes and curl up even tighter, bracing for whatever was to follow.

"~FUCKING!~"

"I don't think you need to see any more of this...~"

"~DOOR!~"

The strange, whispered voice made Anne look up just in time for the final strike to connect and break the door in half- followed by the rest of the reality around her, the whole scenery breaking apart into colorful, sparkly glitter before fading away into utter darkness, leaving her staring at nothing as her dream-numbed brain tried to process what it was even seeing. In an instant, it was only her, Ember, and someone else left, the girl's shaky gaze slowly turning to take a closer look at the Mismagius that had been hovering in the void beside her for an indeterminate amount of time.

As terrifying as that sight would normally be, the unreality of everything around her heavily dulled its impact, limiting Anne's reaction to just a quiet gasp and a brief stare before looking back down at the fox she'd been trying to comfort all along- only to find her too to be very different. Larger...? Taller...? Was she wearing something...? She was thankfully too dumbfounded and shellshocked to pay enough attention to the sluggishness of her thoughts to get frustrated by it, but the genuine confusion that underlied them was still there, trying to make heads and bushy tails out of the bipedal fox resting their head on her lap, ultimately seeming unable to.

"Hmmm... I suppose it won't hurt...~"

The whispers made her look back up at the ghost again and try to at least crack that odd mystery, their innately crooked smile growing that much wider in response, yellow eyes starting to glow the more she looked at them, the darkness around her starting to warble-