Hey, One Question: What The Hell

Now Would Be A Good Time To Be Anyone But Me

What in the FUCK was that.

Sweat beaded your forehead despite the cool night air, a raw panic welling up and threatening to take over as you clawed frantically at your chest. You didn't realize you were crying till something wet splattered onto your arm, drawing you out of the haze of fear long enough to notice that you had gouged several stinging red stripes across your chest. A pins-and-needles feeling spread out from where it had burrowed under your skin, radiating across your torso and down your arms. You could feel it moving, settling into muscles and around organs.

Almost-black veins wove across your hands just under the skin and they froze, hovering a few inches away from your damaged skin.

What the hell? You tried to move them, but it was like they had disconnected from your brain. Your knees gave out and you slid down the wall, tears coming faster as you continued to struggle against whatever was keeping you from moving your hands. You were shaking like a leaf, on the verge of a panic attack when you heard it.

Calm down. Your cortisol and adrenaline levels are high.

You jumped, slamming your head into the wall as your eyes frantically darted around, looking for the source. What the HELL was that. The voice was dark and low and decidedly not human. A constant stream of shit shit shit this is bad swirled frantically through your head. The back of your skull throbbed, but you barely noticed it as your breathing dissolved into rasping gasps, black spots crowding the edges of your vision as the panic finally won out.

Just as you started to drop into unconsciousness, something moved under your skin and you could breathe again. Somehow, your lungs were drawing in air on their own, even though you should probably be happily unconscious at this point. You slowly sat up, relived to find you could move your hands again. Wincing at the ache on the back of your head, you reached back to poke it, but instead of hair you got a handful of slime. What the-

You yanked your hand back with a yelp as a sharp pain lanced through your index finger, blood bubbling out of what looked like a tiny bite mark. There was pulse and the darkness oozed out of your pores, covering the the tip of your finger and the cut.

Stop poking. It's annoying.

You barely choked back a scream, a wave of fear rising as you started struggling again, trying to stand but failing as whatever you had been body-snatched by kept you sitting firmly against the wall. The tingling numb feeling spread past your chest, winding down your outstretched legs and up your neck.

I meant it when I said calm down, (y/n). If I were going to hurt you, I would have done it already.

"H-how am I supposed to calm down!? What even are you and why can't I move an-" you froze. "And how the hell do you know my name?"

I'm in our head, dumbass.

"You-you're in my head?" You did your best to ignore the 'our', relieved to find you could move slightly as you shifted your weight, trying to quell your terror. "Please don't eat my brain."

It chuckled. Why would we do that? Fully compatible hosts are rare and it would be a pity to waste one.

"Uh... host?" Well that's not creepy. "So are you like, a paras-" you were cut off when something warm and vaguely damp slapped across the lower half of your face. There was a squishing sound, a warm, pulling-away feeling on your chest, and all you could see were blank eyes and a grinning mouthful of teeth that was pulled straight from a child's nightmare.

Oh. My. GOD.

The stench of blood rolled across your nose as it spoke."I AM NOT A PARASITE. DON'T BE RUDE." If you weren't petrified, you might have laughed at the thing that had taken up residence in you scolding you for being rude. As it was, the best you could muster was a muffled whimper.

Whatever was gagging you pulled away, allowing you to speak. "What-what the fuck are you?"

"I AM HAVOC. AND YOU ARE MINE." It narrowed what looked like eyes, cocking its head like it was thinking. "BUT IF YOU WANTED TO GET INTO THE SPECIFICS, YOU COULD CALL US A SYMBIOTE."

"Wait wait wait," you protested, "I'm yours? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I CANNOT SURVIVE IN YOUR WORLDS ATMOSPHERE WITHOUT ASSISTANCE. YOUR BIOLOGY IS COMPATIBLE WITH MINE. IT IS NOT A DIFFICULT CONCEPT TO GRASP."

"But I don't want this!" Your stomach was churning, bile rising in your throat as you grasped the meaning of its words. "You have to let me go. Please. I-I don't want to be a host or whatever." A mantra of 'no no no no this can't be happening this is NOT happening maybe I'm just having a nightmare and it'll all be over when I wake up' looped through your head as you started struggling anew. All you succeeded in was exhausting yourself after a few minutes, sagging weakly against the wall, your cheeks stained with tears for the second time that night as it looked on dispassionately.

It-no, Havoc, leaned forward, almost touching your forehead with its own. "YOU WILL GROW TO ACCEPT IT. AND IF YOU DON'T, THAT IS NONE OF MY CONCERN." You shuddered as a long, prehensile tongue slipped out of its toothy maw and wiped the tears from your cheeks. "WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, WE ARE BONDED, AND YOU ARE MINE."

You choked back a sob as it licked your cheek again, tongue rough on your skin as it left a sticky trail of moisture that smelled of death. "But-"

"YOU DON'T WANT IT, SO YOU'VE SAID. AND WE ARE HAPPY TO CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION LATER, BUT RIGHT NOW WE'RE HUNGRY. NEED TO HUNT."

"Hunt? What do you mean by hunt?"

Warmth crawled up your neck, burrowing into the skin at the base of your skull. You could almost feel something in your head, poking around before you sagged weakly, all the fight leaving you as your eyelids drooped, words slurring. "Wha' did you do to me?"

"I STIMULATED YOUR PINEAL GLAND, CAUSING YOUR BRAIN TO RELEASE MELATONIN. YOU NEED SLEEP, I NEED TO HUNT. MULTITASKING IS GOOD."

You tried to protest, but your mouth wouldn't work. You were so tired you almost didn't notice it spiraling down your legs and up over your head. In the space of a few seconds you were enveloped in what felt vaguely like slime. The faint shreds of panic tugged at the edges of your mind, but the urge to sleep was stronger and the comforting darkness pulled you under and out of a world that no longer made sense.