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

Chapter 10

          I followed the A200 and thanked the odds to permit me to close the distance between the Nisa Local and Deptford... if this 'friend' it was talking about was Keith, I would have better gotten there quick ; who would have known what could have happened to him... Around a good three-hundred feet before me, stood St Luke's Church and, something weird on its facade caught my eye ; little moving red points. I approached and saw them make their way to the belfry.

I parked my car, followed them to the main door but stopped on the threshold, my hand ready to pull the clench down still, it was shaking a bit. 'Come on y/n, it's no time to ease off-' But once more, what told me that somebody really was in there? What if it was just tra-
At that moment, my phone rung. I looked it up and saw that Avalon had send me a message :

-"Ok, but can you please go to the high school, Keith hasn't gotten back. Just give me a call when you'll come back."

Oook.. Keith hadn't come back, he hadn't even send a message and there's an small 'chance' for him to be here... but what if he was just lat-

Suddenly, the gigantic double doors shot themselves open. However, I stood there, static and, as my pendant started heating up, I felt the floor moving slightly under my feet. I lost balance and found myself on all fours on a carpet of little robin insects ; I thought I recognized them as red cockroaches.

But strangely, they didn't even try to attack me and just started moving forward as to force me into the church. After the doors had shut themselves, and that the roaches had laid me on the concrete floor, I found myself in complete darkness. At first, it had seemed really odd to me not to see a single spot of light entering a church... yet, some could argue that there were some insects obstructing the stained glasses, Why? ; no idea, but I wasn't really wanting to know about it.

Still on the ground, I took the now too-hot-to-be-worn crank off and held it in my now glowed hand. Suddenly, and as the area seemed to be deserted, I heard a giggle mixing with the noises the crawling bugs were making. Yet, it couldn't possibly be Jack's, his voice was way deeper and raspy than this one. Worried, my fingers only tightened their grasp on the crank's handle as my eyes tried desperately to see in the dark.


-"Ahhh, here comes our white knight... tell me ; whom did ya come for... y/n?"asked a voice that, even through the multiple buzzing noses sounded pretty familiar to me...

-"BE A MAN! SHOW YOURSELF! UNLESS YOU'RE TOO MUCH OF A PUSSY TO FACE OF A 'DEFENSELESS WOMAN'!" I spat in a mocking ton as I tried to sum up the very last threads of courage I had left. Right after, I felt something brushing against my ear,

-"Oh believe me, if I still was a man, there'd be so many things I'd do to a 'defenseless woman'..." it cooed into my ear, it's voice dripping with venom. OK, there was no point denying it, Jack was disturbing, but this for sure wasn't far behind! "However, ya still haven't answered my question... y/n ; who did you come to rescue?" asked the voice for the last time before disappearing in the echo.

-"I'M HERE FOR THE BOY AND I WON'T GO BACK WITHOUT HIM! YOU HERE ME? I'M ONLY HERE FOR HIM!!" I announced, my voice more confident then I would have expected. The silence took over ; then a giggle erupted from it and, seconds by seconds, this once quite sound build up into a maddened howling, only to die in an instant.

-"Ow~she only did come for the brat... ya here that old pal, ya could spend ya life coverin' her with all ya own and protect her sweat ass.. she'd never reciprocate it..." it said after a moment. 'Wait up, who's he talking to?' I wondered, intrigued."Ahhhh love~ what a pity... I never thought ya to be as weak and gullible... ya've changed a lot since I died... Jack..."

At that moment, the main stained glass lit up and a crucified shadow then appeared before me. Jack was there, his limbs immobilized by candlesticks, that were actually piercing through his ankles and wrists and into the stonewalls on both sides of the stained glass.
His head was hanging low, his eyes were hidden underneath his shaggy jet black hair and his smile was absent.
'Jack...' I murmured out of incredulity. Why was he here? Who did he get caught?! In an instant, coming out of the shadows, a swarming and almost human shape went to stood by him, its back leaning on Jack's shoulder.

-"Told ya old sport... weather they're frigid or bitches in heat, they're all the same... bones and flesh only good enough for making a classic Chesterfield..." he said in a morbid ton.

-"Oh well, since ya only came for the pipsqueak," it started before it performed a move of its arm, that seemed to have triggered the advance of a bug's wave. Whilst approaching I did manage to here some pained moans ; Keith?
They brought him at the same level as the shape ; Keith and Jack, hanging on both sides of this strange entity. "ya won't see no harm in finishing this good ol' Jack. Ya for whom he's nothin' more than despicable and lawless being... eh? tell me, who'd get ya favor? A brat ya barely even know or the one responsible for this whole nightmare?" it asked in a giggle.
I didn't know what to say ; Granted, I didn't know Keith for that much time, but the poor thing wasn't deserving of being caught in such a crossfire! Whereas for Jack... I really was ashamed of myself, no... I was disgusted in me ; he had given me a whole week off, a whole night of sleep... he had saved me....
Lost in my thoughts, a blood curdling scream suddenly brought me back to reality. I rose my head and saw, that the cockroaches were lowly attacking Keith and Jack.

The reverberation of the holly place was such, that the screams and cries of pain as well as the buzzing and munching noises all managed to effortlessly reach my ears. Sometimes, un sob snuck itself in ; Jack was suffering too...

-"Shut ya bloody gob kiddo! Ya shrieks only make my pants tighter.." said Jack, a weak smile stretching on his inky lips ; his eyes finally visible. My fists tightened on the crank ; how to choose?
Should I have betrayed Jack once more and saved an innocent or just forget what he had done and gave him a second chance whilst abandoning the kid...?

However, Keith screams only gotten louder and, shading a tear, I let my heart choose.

-"Soo~? We don't have the eternit-"

-"LET THE BOY GO!..." I shouted, my fists tight and my head low. Once more, his chilling laughter mixed with the pained cries ; I shuddered. I couldn't possibly look Jack in the eye... I was so ashamed of what I had chosen....
In an instant, the screams had ceased, letting the buzzing noises and laughs alone in the entire space... but somehow, I still couldn't give a name to that voice... it was so familiar....

-"Fair enough, I'll let this brat go... and in exchange, I want ya to kill Jack first...."he excitedly said. "I won't release the boy until his heart has stopped, so y/n... still up for destroyin' the source of ya pain?" he asked, his red glowing almond-shaped eyes wide open.

I said nothing, my eyes glued to the ground, my joints getting white from the tightening of my fists and the strong taste of blood dripping down my throat from biting my treacherous tongue ; I was being the executioner for once.

-"Silence means consent!" it joyfully said. Then, the cockroaches forgathered before Jack and formed a stair reaching leading to him. I was still glued to the floor, trembling and feeling sick. Destroying a bow was one thing but stabbing a living person... a person that did help me many times at that... it was a whole different story! "Come on y/n, off to work... ya wouldn't want his sufferin' to resume, would ya?" he asked, his voice then followed by some pained squeaks ; I had no choice.

With my teeth clenched, I got up the stair ; one step after the other, I was getting closer to murdering a man I just had gotten used to...

-"Tic, tac, little girl.... tic, tac..." singsonged the mocking voice whilst Keith screams echoed in the place. I couldn't take it anymore and rushed up the last few steps, brandished my makeshift weapon and cut through the flesh ; mine.

-"I'm sorry.... so sorry..." I murmured in between sobs. Time seemed to have stopped ; no more sounds except for Jack's breathing. Suddenly, I felt something cold and wet on my forehead and, as I raised my head up, I met with eyes I had never seen before.

More than the vision I had of Isaac's childhood, more than during the death of Pyrame and Thisbe, I started to cry. Not for the pain cursing through my arm due to the crank I had stuck in my hand ; hand that, in an instant, had frown itself before his heart and taken the blow for itself. He smiled to me, his nose brushing mine ; for once, he wasn't the only one wanting for this proximity. Hesitantly, I tilted my head to the side, the tip of his nose brushing against the scar on my cheek.

-"AHAHAHAHAHA FINALLY! FINALLY THIS CUNT HAS KICKED THE BUCKET! FINALLY, I, ISAAC GROSSMAN, WILL REIGN AS ONE! I'LL BE THE MASTER OF ALL THEIR NIGHTMARES!!! AND, FROM MASTER OF THEIR FEARS, I'LL ELEVATE MYSELF TO THE ONE OF THIS SWARMIN' AND GROTTY ANTHILL!!! AND ALL OF THIS, TO SAVE A FREAK OF BLOODY NATURE JUST TO SAVE ANOTHER ONE!!!" he howled out of laughter. I stopped for all the tenderness I had felt right before had left my body ; that was it!

-"This swarming and grotty anthill'..." I repeated through clenched teeth. He went on laughing. "'this cunt'..." I snarled as my hand tightened itself around the crank's handle. "A FREAK OF BLOODY NATURE'?!!!" I shouted as the wooden handle broke under my grasp. "YOU DARE LOOK THEM DOWN EVEN THOUGH THE ONLY THING S THAT DID TAKE YOU IN WERE SHIT-EATERS! IF THERE TRULY IS A 'FREAK OF BLOODY NATURE' HERE, IT'S THE ONE I'M FACING RIGHT NOW!! THE ONE THAT IS, BOTH, LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY, A HUGE PIECE OF SHIT!!!" I shouted angrily.

-"Ouuuuh is the little trollop wantin' to fight?... fair enough, come and face ya fears SHOW ME WHAT YA MADE OF!!" he laughed. I was ready but, before it all, I gave a quick kiss on Jack's cheek and rose up to my full height ; he wanted a show and blood ; he was in the right place!

He attacked first, the cockroaches forming a kind of organic whip. He barely missed me but, with he's speed wasn't really out of norm... I had my chances. Dodging one more lethal blast, I tried gaining some ground over him for an attack. But, as I was only a few feet away from him, a enormous wave of bugs rose up and came crashing right were I was standing just a instant before. At that moment, and for a splint-second, I saw that this action had stripped him of the cockroaches that covered his skull ; 'if I could attack him in such a moment...!'. However, it still was hard for me to think of a plan in such a battle were every blow could cost me way more than just some scratches.

It would be for the first to wear the other off and, personally, I hadn't a lot of knowledge about how long a skeleton with roaches as icing could fight.. 'Wait up, yes that's it, the roaches! If he's got no visible weaknesses, so his minions surely must have some. Having a friend that once had been invade by such insects, I resumed in my head all the ways we had used to get rid of them. Sadly, all the ways I remembered would be taking far more time and gear that I had in the moment... I had to find something! Suddenly, a blow struck my shoulder and was send flying onto the cold hard ground. However, the fact that the roaches were now fleeing from me and just encircled me...encircled ; 'yes of course! Cockroaches hide from the light... why didn't I think about it earlier?!'.

Now with a plan, all that I needed, was to put it in action ; lead him in the light and stab him to death... well, as much as it could possibly be. Yet, I had the feeling that he wasn't stupid enough to just step were his minions wouldn't dare to go... or... I took quickly my phone, put the flash-light app on and made my way through the swarm.

Soon, I found myself face to face with the other nut-bag and, whilst dodging every attacks he threw at me, I made my way to my improvised trap. Sadly, his ability to attack from afar, wasn't truly doing anything for me for it spared him the running-after-the-prey part.
So I've had to improvise ; I worked things out so I could grab a cobblestone whilst running, then rushed for the rose window above the front door and waited their for him to come.

-"Ow~ exhausted? Already? Could it be that ya surrendering?~" he said in a honeyed ton. I was letting him approach. 'More..., a bit more...NOW!' I summed up all my strength and threw the cobblestone against the rose window.
My heart dropped ; it had only made a little hole in the glass...

-"Hey, that's vandalism... y/n~" he murmured in my ear. I barely had enough time to turn around that his swarming hands were tightening around my neck. Seeing that the roaches were crawling towards my mouth and, as I closed it as much as I could, I heard something rather big crashing against the rose window ; light was finally pouring in and Isaac was now bare.

Without loosing any time, I stabbed him where his heart should have been ; it got stuck there. He lowered his head, looked at the objet and started to 'laugh' menacingly... or rather made his upper and lower jaws collide against one another loudly; giving a beat to his voice that seemed to come from anywhere in particular.

-"A skank with a brain, not bad... but ya know..." he giggled as he ripped the crank from his rib cage. "to stab me in heart, IT WOULD NEED ME TO HAVE ONE TO BEGIN WITH!!" he howled out of laughter as he brandished the metallic objet. I was thrashing in his grasp, clawing, kicking but, out of instinct, I closed my eyes when the metallic glow of the makeshift weapon quickly entered my sight.
But out of the blue, a scream erupted and a vile pain shot through my mistreated left shoulder. Right after, I was laying on the ground and, when my eyes shot open, I saw, that Isaac was being held above the ground by a gigantic taloned hand.

-"Tell me Isaac, how many times did I tell ya that everythin' that has a 'J' carved on it" he pointed at my face. "is mine? And that I especially hate to share..." he snarled, his voice dripping with venom as his hand tightened its grip on the skeleton's head producing horrible cracking noises from it... "and don't ya dare grab her!" and with this last sentence, the pressure he exerted on Isaac's skull increased suddenly, making his braincase explode.
The body was inert and, when Jack threw it on the ground, all the cockroaches fled from the church ; 'looks like the rats are leaving the sinking ship'.

I rose up and, looking around, I saw Keith' body laying on floor between the rubles. I rushed towards him but once before him, he disappeared in a puff of smoke and soot.

-"He's fine, I send 'im back to his mama... In fact, they'll both forget 'bout this whole day..." he said with great calm as he laid a hand on my shoulder.

-"How can you even talk about this like it's the most common thing ever?! After all that happened today you coul- Hmpf"

I didn't get the time to finish, for his lips had crashed on mine. Shocked at first, I soon let myself go to the madness of the moment...

Kiss me quick – I'm off – goodbye,

Pop ! Goes the weasel !

'Now I think I get what 'crazy in love' means'