The Hanging Tree

n i n e

a/n: guys, it's official. i'm in love. srsly. if you're a #Dancy shipper (i know you are), go check out the freaking amazing video by JessR11 above! even if you're not (you totally are), check it out anyway. she's got some major skills! go check out her profile, she has a book for trailer making and stuff like that. it's hella rad. hella.

alSO THE GIF TO THE SIDE IS MAKING ME CRY

-

NANCY SWAN WAS IN A STATE OF panic. What the hell was Damian doing, meeting up with their captors in the middle of the night? Worst of all, why was he being questioned about the captives' plans? Was he working with them?

She hadn't been able to hear the rest of the conversation, which was something that was deeply bothering her. She wouldn't know if Damian gave them valuable information or told them to shove off. She crossed her fingers and hoped that it was the second option. She didn't know what she'd do if it were the first. She had blindly trusted him - and look where that had gotten her.

She had made the mistake of trusting someone out here - on the path to her demise.

-

"I trusted you!" Zoe shouted, hurling a pencil at her younger sister. "You promised you wouldn't tell!"

"I don't remember ever saying that," Nancy replied, taken aback by her sibling's rash anger. "You just threatened to kill me, and I said nothing in return."

"Yeah, well, one part of that statement is correct. I am going to kill you!" Zoe growled menacingly.

"Chill out, Zoe! I only gave them the Peyton one," Nancy pleaded - knowing her sister probably would follow through with her threat, and that she shouldn't have turned her in. "So you can still go around and be Carolyn and Amy."

"I don't care," Zoe confided. "I'm still going to kill you. I'm going to murder you, when you least expect it."

"Take a deep breath," Nancy told her, needing one herself. "You're acting like a total psychopath."

"How are we so sure that I'm the psychopath here?" Zoe countered, not making much sense.

"What is that even supposed to mean? As far as I know, you're showing all the signs. For god's sakes, you're threatening to murder your own sister over blabbing to her parents! Are you on drugs or something?"

"Nancy, just know that in this world it's kill or be killed."

"Zoe, what the actual fuck are you talking about? You don't have to kill to survive. This isn't The Hunger Games. This is everyday life."

"Not really, no."

"Does this have to do with the fact that Britney was killed this month?" Nancy asked, taking a seat at her sister's desk. Britney had been her sister's best friend, but now she was just the victim of a cruel murder.

"No, now get out of my room! I never asked for a sister, especially a nosy one! I wish you were never born! Which is exactly why I won't hesitate when taking your life! And remember, it's when you least expect it. That's when I'll be coming." Zoe shouted threateningly, and Nancy backed out of the room, frightened by the harrowing outburst.

-

Back then, she had laughed it off, told herself it was nothing. Zoe would never hurt anyone on purpose, right?

Now she knew that no one could be trusted - and definitely not her sister. Could this be it? Nancy hadn't been expecting it.

So she added Zoe to the mental list she made of people she couldn't and shouldn't trust. Maybe she couldn't even trust herself.