Chapter Text
The night is dark, the sky is covered with clouds. Not a single star makes it to shine through the thick, grey layer that locks away the deep blue and the bright sparkle behind it. It is the middle of a forest, every single branch is like a hand desperately trying to grab their prey, and the leaves now look like big black masses blocking the view at the sky. There is only the constant noise of the breeze rustling leaves, the howl of a wolf in the distance, but most important, the buzzing of a big swarm of bees in the middle of a clearing in the centre of the forest.
Your name is Dave Strider, and you will soon have to fight a monster because of those damn bees.
It all started a few weeks ago. Out of nowhere, something you and your brother call “dark creatures” have begun to appear out of nowhere. It wasn't long until Bro created a device to track the dark energy that they spread wherever they go, and you began to start hunting them – that is normal Strider business. You have hunted and killed dark things before. Those dark creatures, or as you like to call them, “darkies”, are just another kind of monster. There's one you already caught that for some reason didn't even run, just sat on the floor and looked kind of...scared. For a second, you even questioned your work, but then quickly pushed that thought away. Dark creatures are dark creatures, and until you haven't found out anything more about them, it is only the best for everyone to keep them somewhere where they can't hurt anyone.
As for the research, you're not the one responsible for that. Rose Lalonde is. She is quite fond of everything dark, which is why you have always found her kind of creepy. However, you also realized that she is a good person to hang out with and that you can trust her in any kind of matter, and finally that she is actually a very good friend. Even though you still find her somewhat creepy.
There is another dark creature you wanted to capture, but it got away. It's a female with a disturbing laugh and red glowing eyes. You almost had her, but you weren't prepared for having to put up with someone who fights so well with a cane. Now she's still out there.
One more dark creature is running around freely as well, the first to ever be seen. You have never met it, but you believe that you will hunt it down as well. From what you've heard it's very strong, with long black hair and the grey skin all of them have. You also know that it has the orange horns typical for those creatures, but you don't know any more details. And that doesn't really matter right now. What matters right now, is the clearing and those bees.
Honestly, you have no idea why the bees are so important, but your brother said that there was a mass of dark energy in this particular clearing, so you just watch. The bees seem busy with something, and their hive is unusually big. Actually, it's fucking gigantic. You doubt that that is natural.
You hide behind a tree on the other side of the clearing, waiting for something to happen. There must be a reason why there is so much dark energy here, and if a new creature awakens, then you will take the chance and capture it immediately. No hesitation. And if you can't capture it, then you'll kill it and bring home the corpse. Rose will happily dissect it. All you have to avoid is letting it get away, or letting it kill you, and that most certainly won't happen. You run your fingers over all the weapons you have with you: a sword, a gun, and some kind of technical stuff you need to capture the creature as soon as it appears. Everything is ready. All you can do now is wait.
And then something happens.
The bee's hive moves a bit, and then falls down the tree. It cracks, and honey drips onto the forest ground. You grab your sword, getting ready for a fight. You step next to the tree you were hiding behind, just in time to see the hive collapse entirely. Honey is flowing in all directions. And rising from that honey is a grey hand.
Something in the honey moves, and an arm follows the hand. Other parts of a body become visible in other spots, knees, an elbow, feet, and finally a face with pointy teeth. The creature sits up, still full of honey, and looks around. It has short dark hair, four of those typical orange horns, one of his eyes are red and the other one is blue, and it is wearing some clothes. You're kind of glad about that, you aren't particularly keen on seeing it naked.
It rises from the honey, and you decide that now is the time to capture it. Quietly, you come closer, but that doesn't make much difference, since it's already looking into your direction. You take out the capturing gear and throw it before the creature could even know you're about to catch it.
The gear stops in the middle of the air, only inches away from the creatures. It's surrounded by a red and blue energy, and that is the exact moment you realize that you might have a problem.
The gear drops, and the creature glares at you. It stands up fully, and you go a few steps backwards as you watch its feet leave the ground. It can float. Holy shit, it can float. You had no idea that dark creatures had the ability to float.
You decide to forget the capturing, and go right to the killing part. You grab your gun and point it at the creature, but before you can shoot a single bullet, the gun slips out of your fingers, moved by the same energy as the capturing gear.
Shit.
You grab your sword and dash towards it, but it just floats a few metres upwards, out of your range. For a second, it just looks at you, then simply floats away. You run after it, but it gets faster soon and after a few minutes, you lose sight of it. Oh fuck, you let it get away. That's awful. That's really really awful. Why did it not even fight you? You can't help but be bothered by the way it looked at you. It didn't seem angry or scared, it rather looked kind of...annoyed. And you could swear you heard the words “I'm too tired for this” before it floated away.
You let a dark creature get away because it was too lazy to fight you. How are you going to explain this to your brother? You sit down onto the forest ground, sighing. Well. Looks like you fucked up. Bro isn't going to be happy about this, another dark creature running around freely. But what were you supposed to do? It levitated away. This makes you wonder, why did neither of the other two? You guess you'll see.
The school bell rings, and you don't hesitate a single second to get up. School is boring as hell. You wished you could do some hunting instead, even though you guess it's nice to have a break, and an excuse to go to sleep. John, Rose and Jade aren't in as much of a hurry as you. “Come on guys, don't take forever!”, you say impatiently while they are still grabbing their stuff. Finally all of you walk to the cafeteria together. Rose and you both have dark shadows under your eyes, but yours are covered by your awesome shades. The two of you have been up long yesterday, you were on a hunt and Rose was waiting for you as well as trying to get some information out of the dark creature you already captured. Apparently he didn't run because he's paralysed. That didn't make you particularly feel better.
Luckily, nobody has the slightest idea why the two of you didn't have enough sleep. No one ever questions that, and if they do, Rose just plays it down and says she didn't sleep too well. You are never asked anyway because you don't have any problems hiding it. That's good, the lesser questions, the better. No one should ever find out about your hunting. You aren't even allowed to tell John, even though he is your best friend. And Jade? No way, you don't want to bring her into danger. No way she is strong enough to handle something like a demon, or a ghost. (You choose to neglect your knowledge of her rifle skills, and have of course never seen her actually kicking ass, otherwise you would never come to this conclusion.)
School lunch is gross. Luckily, you have your own lunch with you. No one ever buys school lunch, no fucking one. That's the law of all fictional high schools: lunch is inedible. Why it's made anyway, nobody knows. There are probably some assholes who like to throw it at younger students. You never really thought about it, and you do not right now.
“So, how was that super important thing you were doing yesterday?”, John asks as the four of you sit down. You hate the way he asks it, because you know why he does. He invited you to come to his place but you had to turn him down – once again. The two of you didn't get to spend much time together the past few weeks, and you can only hope that John won't get mad at you. But, let's face it, you're just being delusional. He's totally gonna get mad at you. After all, as his best friend, you are supposed to spend time with him.
You sigh and answer: “Look, I really would've loved to come over but I couldn't. Next time, okay?” He doesn't answer, but if he did, you know he would point out that you said the same thing the last few times. Damn, you just hope you get to kill those darkies soon and spend time with your best bro again.
Rose quickly changes the topic. “I cannot believe that we have to read this utterly boring book. Really, even I do better writing.” And with that, everyone's attention is drawn to something else. You don't participate much in the conversation, neither does Rose, instead you just let John and Jade do the talking. They do enough of that anyway.
Sometimes you really just feel like telling them everything. Hey guys, just so you know, I hunt incredibly dangerous supernatural beings in my free time if you ever wondered. It's not much of a big deal, I've always done that. Learned it from Bro. What I hunt? Every kind of thing. Demons, ghosts, vampires, things like that. Recently been having trouble with some new kind of thing of that we don't know much. We just call them Dark Creatures. Yeah, John, that's why I haven't had much time lately. Sorry. Ah, I'm glad you understand. Oh yes Jade, I know I'm soooo cooool.
Yeah, that's probably not at all how that would go. Also Bro strictly prohibited you and Rose from telling anyone, so you just keep silent about it instead.
“Dave?” You realize John's trying to talk to you. “What about tomorrow? It's a Friday, we can have a movie night.” You hope that you can somehow convince your Bro to let you go. “Yeah, sure.”, you answer, knowing that that is what you say every time. John smiles, and you suddenly start to miss him. The two of you haven't had bro time in a while. With a bit of luck, you can catch up a bit tomorrow night.
Unfortunately, luck isn't on your side.