Over the River and Through the Woods (Adventures!AU Book 2)

Ch. 8 ~One Misstep and It's All Over~

Weeeeee here's the second half of what's technically chapter 7 but got split.
We all need some angst. Don't insult my loyalty, and don't insult my sailor boys. I will come for your neck.

Don't worry, the kid I mention falling in was saved by someone downstream but I'll never get the image out of my head.

Also I am VERY sorry for the lovely cliff hanger but you know how it be. See y'all in a week or four!

Warnings:
Language, canon character peril.

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It didn't take long for any of us to finish off the containers before we were off once again. Backtracking to the trail, I got out the knife and ran my fingers over it as we walked.

How could Trevor have even gotten this? Sure he was literally op, but to bring something from one fandom adventure to another... Then again I'd had Multi-verse ground zero set up in my old fanfiction and it was that universe my sailor adventure had even happened in. He could have gotten it through that way. Maybe?

"That's a cool lookin' knife!" Wrecker said.

"Yeah," I laughed softly. "It's definitely a cool one."

"What so special about a knife given by that feral Halfblood?" Crosshair asked dismissively.

My tail bristled. "It's not from Trevor." I looked back down at the knife again, a reminiscent smile spreading across my face. "It's from one of the sailors."

"The ones who hit you with a speeder."

First of all, that was my own fault . "It was more complicated than that."

"Why aren't you with 'em if you cared about 'em so much?"

Watch it, beansprout. "Careful, Cross. You're searchin' for landmines with a hammer right now," I warned, skin prickling with irritation. "I would have stayed... but they got into some big legal trouble and it was better for both if we split up."

That was the shorthand at least. The major shorthand. Couldn't really explain "yeah and now I just go visit them in my dreams whenever I want because for some reason I can just fully immerse myself fully into my headspace and by the way this is probably also in my headspace and I'm having one long elaborate dream sequence that gives me physical scars like some wacky Dark Forest-Place of No Stars bullshit. Yeah, couldn't really explain that. Or even begin to think of a way to accurately shorthand that.

"So you just abandoned 'em when it got rough?"

I stopped dead and turned to face the sniper, fist clenched around the switchblade. "One more strike of that hammer and a landmine is gonna blow you sky high, long limbed bastard," I hissed, tail twitching furiously. "Back the fuck off now ."

For a moment, hesitation flickered across the man's face. But it was gone so quick I couldn't be sure. "You don't scare me."

"I should." It was cliché and tropey as hell, but I was too pissed to care. I was chill, unless you attacked my loyalty. That was something I prided myself in, and I wasn't about to let the sad excuse of a popsicle stick tear it down.

Hunter got up and moved between us. "Easy. Crosshair, stand down. Shadow, you too."

"You are not my superior, Hunter," I reminded him. "Can't order me around."

"I said stand down ," he ordered, voice turning stern.

Markings gleamed across my skin as the ground beneath us rumbled. "Or what ?"