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

Chapter 9

          Panicked and with my feet dangling in the air, I clung to Jack's arms, who kept on backing away jerkily. In all honesty, I was feeling awfully powerless, helpless as I found myself caught between those two masters of horror. Suddenly, I felt something closing itself on my leg and, in an instant, I was jerked out of Jack's embrace. Still, I held on to his arm for dear life.
With a quick and violent movement, Jack drew me back to him and sliced what had ensnared my ankle. Unfortunately, and just like when playing the tug-of-war, the sudden weight he had brought to keep me by him, made me fly through the air. As I saw the ground coming rather quickly 'towards' me, I prepared my arms for any type of shock but, to my greatest surprise, I fell head first on my bed.



Since my 'return' in the bedroom, my brain was a buzzing hub of ideas, thoughts, doubts... if this thing was, what had provoked those nightmares and visions, and if it wanted to take me away from Jack... then why didn't it do it before? Why did it as far as coming to the enemy's lair and take... silly me... it WAS the idea! Show the overlord that there was a significant competitor!

Now that I thought about it, the situation I was in as they both pulled on my limbs looked an awful lot like two children fighting for the same toy ; with one wanting the other one's toy and, if ending in a draw, by tearing the subject of their envy till they won't want it afterward... 'well, that's flattering!'

And Jack was the one talking about a 'mindless toy', surely he was in a good position t-
At that moment, my heart sunk as I remembered his words, his indignation, his wrath... I was feeling guilty, so guilty... guilty to death!

He had never done anything to me, or at least not directly... only two or three scratches and Liz hadn't said a thing about it, not a single cut or bruise... not even a memory of it! Indeed, he had been chasing me everywhere since the opera, but never did he try to kill me... hell, he even gave me a 'week-off'.. and... he had saved me...? 'OH NO! KEEP YOUR SHIT TOGETHER Y/N, YOU'VE SEEN WHAT HE'S CAPABLE OF! YOU'VE SEEN WHAT HE HAS DONE TO THOSE CHILDREN, TO THEIR CADAVER... HE DOES NOT DESERVE ANY SORT OF PITY!!!' I scolded internally.

Yet, my tears wouldn't quit rolling down my face... why was I torturing my mind over this... GUY?!! HOW COULD I EVEN FORGIVE HIM?! AFTER ALL, A GOOD DEED ONCE IN A LIFETIME WASN'T REALLY A WAY TO REDEMPTION! HE WOULDN'T ERASE A LIFE IF MURDER AND HORROR BY PLAYING THE LOVEY-DOVEY! I EVEN DOUBTED THAT, TURNING INTO MOTHER THERESA WOULD BE SUFFICIENT TO REDEEM HIM!!

BUT IF SO, WHY WAS IT HURTING ME LIKE THIS?! Why did his words get to my heart so easily? Why did I feel this urge to vouch for him... this want to see the tiniest part of humanity in him... this need to see something else than a monster... 'why?' I cried as I buried my head in my hands. A sob escaped me and, suddenly, a knock on the door was heard.

-"Y/n? May I come in?" asked Keith' voice from behind the door. I got up from the bed, opened to him and, when he saw me, his eyes grew wide. "Man, I.. uhm I've heard cryin"s comin" from ya room and... well, I thought that since ya had listened to me..." he stuttered shyly. I smiled at him as best as I could and let him in. We sat down on the bed and he looked me straight in the eye, his expression as serious and concerned as it could get.

-"I don't know if you'd be able to understand..." I said whilst entwining my fingers with one another.

-"I can always try to... ya didn't judge me for what I am... why would I be different from ya?"

-"Well, let's just say that it's a bit... uhm complex.. and that, even I don't really know what to think about all this..." I stuttered. However, he seemed quite determined to get to the bottom of it and, not wanting to hurt his feelings, I summed up this last four years in a nutshell... whilst leaving the macabre and grotty stuff out.

-"Well, that's one hell of a shitty life! Now I get it... so, all those nightmares... they're just reminiscences of what happened..." he asked. I nodded as I sat, crouched on the bed.

-"Yes, but the matter now, is that I've seen him once more... and I don't know what to think anymore... I don't even know what to do or who to believe in..." I sobbed.

-"Ok, so about this 'Jack' fellow... let's make a quick list of what he did to ya, shall we ; he forced ya into a game to death, caused ya four whole years of never endin' nightmares, which only got worse with time, and now that another freak is on a booty huntin', he's playin' the white knight... me think it's too fucked up, even for a bad twilight fanfiction... It'll bite ya in the butt someday." he sternly said. He had a point, but without letting him know about everything that truly occurred, his statement was bound to be flawed.

-"If only this was so simple..." I said, letting my head rest on my crossed arms.

-"Ya just keep goin' over it all... and if ya really have a thin' for the guy ; stay guarded... this really looks like a good old Stockholm syndrome to me... oh well, I may be wrong.. after all, I'm not in ya head." He said before he departed, I took a look at the watch ; he was off to school.



Avalon had once more send me to the Nisa to get groceries so, after I managed to find my way to it, I entered and bought everything that was written on the list she had given me. However, as I passed by the summer's articles' special offers, I saw a tiny extinguisher, some furniture for gardens, heat resistant gloves... Suddenly, as I made my way towards the cash desk, I saw something red 'crawling' on the white paving. Intrigued, I let my eyes follow the trail, which soon mixed with a rather massive swarm on the wall. As I readied to flee, I saw that, those insects were actually forming letters.. and soon, a whole sentence :

'If you want to see you're friend alive,

go immediately in Deptford and then...'

'Follow the bugs'. I wasn't quite in the mood of doing a scavenger hunt, and certainly not to get into the devil den without even knowing a thing about it's weaknesses... but if by 'friend' it was referring to Keith... could I really take the risk to let him die? Could I only be able to look upon myself in a mirror whilst knowing I had let a child die? 'No.. I wouldn't even be as good of a human being as Isaac at this point...'. Finally decided, I grabbed a pair of heat resistant gloves, payed for the whole thing and once the car loaded with all the goods, I send a message telling Avalon that I'd probably be late ; and now, to Deptford!