femme!reader x Laughing Jack : arc 2 Paranoia (English)

Chapter 8

          To my greatest relief, I found myself in my bedroom in Otterswiller... so.. all this; Keith, England, the opera, the cran- At that moment, I felt something hot on my torso... Wait up, if this crank only reacted to Jack's presence... then why is it it didn't burn me when he was literally all over me?! Why now?!! 'Hello, here's a delivery for 'Miss Logic'... Ah sorry to disappoint but there's no Logic at this adresse!' I told myself out loud.

At that moment, I heard footsteps and saw that Liz had stopped before the bedroom's door. I smiled at her, Rose to my feet in a heartbeat and pounced on her, my arms holding her as close as possible. Right after I closed my teary eyes, I heard something break and, opening them immediately, I saw that everything, form the floor to the ceiling was covered in cracks. Then, in an instant, all those gaps came together and, in a cristalline clinging noise, everything broke down only to leave us both in complete darkness.

-"y/...n..." she called weakly. Somehow, I swear I did hear a eerie echo mixed up with her voice. I then felt her tiny fingers tightening around my sleeves ; finally she had accepted me. I was so glad... I could've died from sheer happiness... "You prefer him to me don't you...?" she asked, her voice turning cold.

-"Ow, Liz... who could I prefer to you? You're my little sister! The one and only L-" I didn't finish for I heard her cry.

-"'Who could you prefer to me?', don't tell me you have no idea...y/n" she said, her voice getting colder by the minutes. "YOU DARE TO TELL ME THAT YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF WHO IS BIT BY BIT TAKING MY PLACE IN YOUR HEART?!!" she shouted as her nails dough into my skin. At that moment and, as the crank was burning my flesh raw, I saw her little head move away from mine just like a cobra ready to strike. Instinctively, I punched her hard in the jaw but, to my horror, this only made her head do a half-turn.

-"y/...-n...~" she singsonged, her voice definitively echoed by another one. Reacting quickly, I grabbed her arms and tore her off of me with all my might. Once her fingers off my bloodied flesh, I gave her headbutt, which made her fall in reverse, her face to the ground, I pounced on her to put an end to this madness. I snatched the crank from my neck and brandished it like a dagger ; this time, I wouldn't let myself get soft over those pesky illusi-!

-"Sis..." she called, pleading. Suddenly, her head turned back to me and, surprised, I found that every single features visible were those of Liz ; she had returned.... At that moment, I felt my hold on my makeshift weapon loosen ; I was trembling. Why would I even think of killing my own sister?!!!
I lowered the crank but, at that moment, I felt the burning of the metal biting at my hands. 'It wasn't Liz... this THING wasn't my sister, THIS FUCKING THING WILLNEVER BE LIZ!!!' I shouted internally. But, even with that, my arms didn't budge an inch. I-I couldn't.... how... how could I bring myself to do it.... a tear dropped ; mine.

Suddenly, I felt something encircling my waist,

-"Gotcha~..."

I the opened my eyes to see that her legs had broken free and were encircling my torso. Without giving me time to react, she twisted them and made me fall to the floor, which was now gooey and sticky ; I was sinking.
Just like the quicksands, this thing engulfed me whole in a instant, living me only with a lone gulp of air. Maybe, surviving was the greatest agonie...

As I held my breath, I felt something grabbing me and, as it dragged me deeper and deeper to the abyss and, when this thing wrapped itself around my waist and crushed it. My mouth opened up from the shock, letting all this disgusting mixture in my lungs ; I woke up suddenly, my hands wrapped around my neck.

-"That doesn't compute.... it does not compute... that can't happen, it couldn't be her... it couldn't be..." I murmured as I crouched even more, my head resting in both my hands.

-"When ya've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth..." Said a voice right above me. I shot my head up ; I had stayed in the same place... only Jack's legs had moved a bit.

-"But those books weren't even written in your time..." I pointed out.

-"You can't pretend to be an artists if you don't seek for inspiration... and with my level of reading, I never made it past this line... rhaaaa all those damn words ; can't they always have the same meaning?! And for god's whore's sake, why can't they keep the same spelling?!! It just makes me want to slaughter a whole orphanage!!" he exclaimed pouting. To be honest, and cutting off the whole 'children massacre', his behavior rally was... 'cute', but refrained myself from telling him... I was too close to be goofing around with such a nut-bag.

After that, silence took back its place and, as I had almost forgotten about the ninny behind me, I felt something heavy resting on my shoulder. I gave it a quick look and saw Jack's oddly peaceful sleepy face.

No scowl, no wolfish grin... not even a single frowning eyebrow... for once, he seemed perfectly sound and... could I say... normal...?

In that instant and, as I readied myself to do something beyond foolish, the thought of him, waking up in one of his murderous moods and killing me in the blink of an eye, didn't even pop up in my mind.

Slowly, I brushed a stand of wild hair that was tickling me and, without thinking, I started approaching my trembling fingers from his left eye... the image of his cracked face, still vivid in my mind. I retraced its line.. but never did touch the white and smooth surface. 'What the fuck am I doing!? This nut-bag has been throwing me around, slamming me into walls, had chased my sister down, made my life into a living nightmare and now, the icing on the cake ; He just organised a 'date' and I didn't even have a word to say about the invitation! The faster I get rid of him, the faster I'd be freed of his illusio-... wait up 'hi' illusions?'
True, he hadn't tried anything harmful on me and one of those nightmares had just happened in his presence... and he hadn't even acknowledged it... nor laughed or even giggled... Moreover, the crank had only burned me when living this hallucinations... something that never happened even as I had been sitting in his arms... could it be that, he had told the truth? Could it be that he wasn't to blame for those hallucinations?

The more I thought about it, the more I believed him to be innocent ; if he really wanted to destroy me, he would have had all the time in the world! Still, he hadn't...

However, Jack was quite fond of mental tortures as well as physical ones... and suddenly, my eyes darkened ; those kind attentions, those heavy-handed and creepy approaches, this overprotective behavior... could it be that... 'No! He surely was up to some mischief!' Je turned my hate-filed eyes to his peaceful face, 'He's playing with me, with my mind... wiith my -'

-"I never thought ya were the kinda creep that watches good people sleepin' y/n~" he giggled, his eyes still closed.

-"I was only keeping an eye on a potential danger..." I argued after I turned my face from his.

-"The worm sharin' ya blood's fine if that's what's buggin' ya..." he mumbled after burring his face in the crook of my neck. I shivered but, instead of being disgusted, I felt heat rising to my face.

I couldn't possibly... no! It' wasn't even an option! It was already difficult enough to hate him while feeling compassion... but THIS!

'OH HELL NO! I'M NOT FALLING FOR THAT SHIT! IF HE WANTS ME TO DRIVE MYSELF INSANE OVER THAT, HE CAN GO WHISTLE FOR IT! I WON'T FEEL ANYTHING MORE THAN PITY FOR HIM! NEVERMORE!' I shouted mentally.

-"No need for you to play the reformed guy with me Jack ; no interested kindness is gonna make me change my mind about you!" I said, my heart strangely sore. I soon regretted my words and, after being punched, I collided with the floor, my face ans arms, cut open by whatever laid down here.

-" To 'pay the reformed guy'?! Interested kindness?!!! SO THAT'S ALL I AM?! A TOY ONLY KILLING WITHOUT A REASON?!!!! WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE ME!? WHO ARE YOU TO TELL WHAT I CRAVE AND WHAT I FEEL?!!! MY HEART MIGHT BE ROTTEN TO THE CORE, BUT AT LEAST I GOT ONE!!!" he shouted, shards of rage delivered to me with every word he had spoke.

He marched towards me and, as his hand was reaching for my neck, his eyes grew wide... as if something had greatly shocked him. Suddenly, I heard something crawling behind me and the crank started to heat up.
I didn't get to make a move, I found myself once again within Jack's taloned hands, eyes looking straight into two glowing red ones.