- Ch. 22: Dread Flower's Queen -

13 0 0
                                    

 ! TW: gore !

Julianne felt her body rumble in turmoil, groaning and buckling over in pain. Walden's eyebrows raised as he looked down at the demoness. He had never seen her in pain. She grunted under her breath, nails digging into the floors like lightning bolts. "Dammit, Julie.."

She snapped back, screaming in agony as her body writhed and shivered. Her spine bent apart like a zig-zag, left and right, right and left until her flesh grew thin. Her skin began to snap apart, her flowery face opening through the middle to reveal her teeth along each wrinkled petal as she screeched. She lunged forward, hurling onto the ground. Ink and blood were all that came out of her broken mouth

Like petals falling from the branch, Julianne fell apart to reveal Julie and [Name]'s unconscious bodies. Walden let out a grunt of terror. He collapsed to their sides, holding [Name]'s head in his hands. "How do you always get in trouble." He hissed, shaking his head as he hurried her body onto the couch.

He then picked up his wife in a bridal style, her head dangling back as she let out a small moan of discomfort. Walden rested her on their bed, her body sweat-soaked all over again. "You reek of piss and blood." He slowly shook his head as he held her head to his chest. 

"Don't leave me, Julie. I won't let you."

🌼~🌼~🌼~🌼~🌼~🌼~🌼~🌼

In plumes of hellish smoke, Harold made his presence known. The white pupils of his eyes gleamed through the darkness as he entered Walden's home. Walden leaned against the counter with his necktie unraveled into distressed knots. His white button-up was unbuttoned three times over.

Harold couldn't care less about the worry in Walden's expression as the cloud of smoke encoded around him. Harold grabbed him by the jaw, looking him in his sorry eyes. He kept his thumb pressed against Walden's pulse point just to remind him of his place. "What happened to her?"

It was obvious who he was talking about. Julie was in a bad enough state when Julianne had encaptured her body several times before. Not only was [Name] stuck for the first time, but she was inhabited with Julie. That made their presence more of a risk.

Walden winced when Harold held his jaw. "She's fine, trust me. It's not as bad as it looks."

Harold decided not to listen when he saw the state of his daughter. Her hair was stuck to her face, drenched in cold sweat. Her breathing was uneven and coming out in disheveled huffs. Her face was bony and pale as if she had seen a ghost. Worse, even. Like she had seen the eyes of Satan.

He rushed to her side without another word, holding his daughter's head in her hands. In his eyes, she was still the three-year-old girl he had found curled up under an old tree. Seeing her hurt was a pain he thought he'd never feel again.

He scooped her up, curling his fingers around her head. He placed a soothing kiss on the widow's peak of her head to bring even a fraction of comfort. He shot an icy glare at Walden while speaking in a hollowed voice. "I don't know why you despise her so, but you will never forget that she was once a sister to you."

Walden held his head down as he began to stammer and trip over his words. "I...I know, Harold..I di-didn't mean for her to get hurt." His hands clenched the edge of the counter. "I thought you lost your stammer years ago." Harold's voice was as cold as the depths of the Artic Sea, without an ounce of emotion behind his icy demeanor.

Walden did. He did lose his stammer. But like Julianne, it was hidden deep beneath the surface. Only to be brought back up for air when he felt like a child again. "Keep yourself and your wife far away from my daughter." He held onto [Name] tightly, so terrified that she'd fall off of the Earth if he let go.

With his child in his arms, Harold left the house.

Julie leaned against the hallway wall, watching as [Name]'s arms dangled like loose branches. This was her doing. She had undone her progress and let her hatred for Walden overflow into [Name]'s life.

Walden addressed her but decided not to look at her. "Are you feeling alright, Julie..?"

Without addressing him further, she walked towards him with a menacing glare. "What happened between you and [Name]?"

"Would you really like to know?" Walden pushed his head back, smoothing through his hair with his sweaty hand. Julie would not take this up for debate. "Yes. If you don't tell me, I'll ask whoever it takes to know."

"And why does it mean so much to you?" He tilted his head, his jawline popping as he ran his calloused hands down his throat. "I want to know what the sweetest woman in the universe did to deserve your hatred."

Walden looked at her with an expression filled with dread. He had never explained this to anyone, not even to Harold. "Could you sit down for me?"

🌼~🌼~🌼~🌼~🌼~🌼~🌼~🌼

"Come on, baby, please." Thymia sat in front of her three-way mirror, doing her best to make sure her makeup looked perfect for her performance. "You look like you've killed someone." She turned around briefly to look at her son.

Cod was in pieces, terrified about losing [Name] once he saw her limp body as Harold cast them all out. He looked at the ceiling and grumbled. "I'm about to."

Thymia laughed out of her nose as she continued applying her makeup. "You get your rowdiness from Calon. Cheer up, honey." She tried her best to keep Cod out of his carnage fantasies. "How could anyone hurt [Name]? She's flawed, yes, and annoying as fuck sometimes, but she doesn't deserve..." He stopped himself when he thought about her.

He let out a breath, hoping the exhale would let his frustration fall out. Thymia stood up, the sequins on her dress reflecting light from the mirror as she sauntered over to Cod and put a hand on his shoulder. For a moment, Thymia's sugary-sweet smile faded.

"Listen to me, Cod." She looked at him with a look that made her seem to have daggers for eyes. "You go to work and you do what we've always done to get this far in life."

The look in her eye, the gruffness of her voice, a glance at the scar over her missing eye, Cod remembered it well. A woman who worked her way up to this point in her life using nothing up her fists and mouth.

"Use your words."

[authors note]

follow lady @arbitouette on instagram to get artwork/snippets of my work ! <3 Lady Arbitouette works hard to publish not only artwork, but AI bots on both Character AI (SH4NKSNSH4RKS) and Janitor AI (sheet_cake)

(P.S.A: you will find none of my adult or minor OCs on Janitor AI)

©️ L1TTLE_R0TTEN



Making her Joyful Again || RF Julie x FEM reader || L1TTL3_R0TT3NWhere stories live. Discover now