[DISCONTINUED] ❝Ante Mortem❞ 【Sally Face】

【xxxi ; truth be told】

【Author's Note : hhhhh i'm all fired up since the planned plot is finally here, but it will come just as slowly as it did for the first arc ^w^ hope you enjoy!】

Pain. Excruciating, numbing, pain. All over your fucking body.

That's all you're feeling right now as your bones have probably cracked from your fall. Although with the constant presses Sal forces upon different parts of your back, you can tell that there's none as it doesn't hurt that badly. Your body just aches from having fallen onto a rocky slope completely, luckily the back of your head is still safe. You can feel Sal running his fingers among the cuts and wounds you received from your fall, goosebumbs rising where he's touched you.

With the skin contact, you can find yourself being a flustered mess, hesitantly asking Sal whatever he's doing.

But that's not the case right now as you stare at the only other girl in the group, Minako Katayanagi, standing in front of the four of you. The entire situation is a damned interrogation, and it's called for it since you still don't know the reason why the hell she followed the lot of you in the forest.

Sal had come to an accusation, pointing out her attire. You only noticed it when he had mentioned it, she doesn't look like as if she was just having a walk in the night as you eye the cloak she wears. It's suspicious.

"Well?" Sal speaks up, already impatient of the situation. "Speak up, or we'll assume that you actually are part of the cult."

"It- It is- I am not-" Mina takes a deep breath as she stumbles over her words, "It is a complicated situation, something that I can not disclose to you so easily.."

"So you are part of the cult?" You whisper, already feeling your heart starting to break. She had been a friend to you, one of the closest girl friends you can ever have in Nockfell! Was she only deceiving the lot of you? 

"I am not part of the cult, please believe me," She pleads, her accent becoming more and more apparent as she grows frantic. She tries to catch each of your attention, looking at everyone's faces. It's not helping that no one really wants to catch her gaze, except for Sal who didn't want to stand down. She visible gulps as she catches his eye, her voice shaky, "Please believe me.. I would never deceive you guys, you are my bestest friends.."

No one said a word, not one reaction even when the tears had started to drip down from her eyes. You hesitantly look up, a hurt look on your face. 

"Is that why you dated me?"

Everyone turns to look at Larry, him seeming to be affected most by the situation. His eyebrows are furrowed, you could see the emotions swirling in his eyes. It switches from hurt, to worry, to anger, to fear, to disbelief, and the cycle continues until it all turns into one ugly feeling. 

"N-No!" Mina exclaims, pressing her hands against her masked lips. She chokes back a sob, saying, "What I felt back then is true, that- that I.."

You could see the rest of her sentence in her eyes, your own widening as you realise that neither of them never really stopped caring for the other. 

It's cheesy as hell, and the sudden tension between the past lovers had caused Sal to turn away and gag in secret. It wasn't that much of a secret as you bore witness to his reaction.

She takes a deep breath, reaching up to wipe the tears from her eyes. 

"I apologise, I really do. I did not mean to frighten each of you, it's just that.. I am only doing my job, what I do every night." Mina explains slowly, her voice still a bit shaky. "Please- please trust me just this once, that I am not part of the cult. I abhor it just as the rest of you do."