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Soap was fucked.
Extremely, majorly, royally fucked.
It started when he decided to make some stew for dinner. Nothing too hard, simple yet delicious. He set everything up. A giant pot, bowls, seasonings, spices, all of that extra stuff.
But he was out of the most important ingredient: mushrooms.
Now, why did he not check for mushrooms before he started making something with mushrooms in it? Not even he knows, but he was already so set on eating it he decided to go search for some.
He peeked his head out the window, it wasn't too dark out which meant he had plenty of time to search for as many as he needed.
Soap stuffed his coordinates device into his favourite satchel and headed out the door, light snowfall crunching at his feet. its pretty rare for it to snow considering where he lives, so he thought of it as a good luck charm.
He trudged through the snow and dirt, looking at all the landmarks hes scouted out when he was a child. He walked past a giant cobblestone rock, a destroyed ruins path and a large amount of dead berry bushes before he scratched is head in confusion.
Usually mushrooms were everywhere, so he doesnt know why hes having such a hard time finding some. maybe because of the snow? And its too cold? its a possibility that he slightly doubts it considering its always wet and humid.
He took a right onto a different path.
In retrospect, it was entirely his own fault for getting off track. It took him only five minutes of searching to get distracted, but you cant really blame him. Who wouldnt stop to play with a friendly wild wolf? After his mini playdate he stopped to look at the dark forest trees. the trees where he lived were giant and old in age, casting dark shadows over his little cottage and home village.
It wasnt very different here, but it was definitely more dark, the casted shadows and the trees.
The good thing was that he was away from the snow and dirt and was now on grass. Maybe hed reach the plains if he walks far enough? He hasnt visited Kyle in a few weeks, maybe he can go catch up with him?
So maybe Soap wasnt good with time management or thinking straight, but hes smart enough to realise that its basically pitch fuckin black now and he can barely see a damn thing.
How long has he been walking? Its only felt like a few minutes so how did it get dark so quickly? He unleashed his shovel from its pocket and held it to his chest. With his luck hed run into a few mobs with no weapons at all.
Thinking about every possible situation he scoped around the area, squinting for better vision.
It was silent. The usual calming ambience of the woods turning eerie and frightening, the cold slowly seeping through his small layers of clothing and biting at his skin.
His rapid blinking was doing no good, he held his breath incase he missed something.
The leaves crinkled with every gust of wind.
The trees stool tall and strong, no different to their own shadows. Everything looked dark and muddy, slowly sloshing together into one big picture of brown.
He was five seconds away from giving his pants a golden shower.
With a heavy sigh and shaking hands, he decided it was best to try and find his way to Gaz's house as soon as possible. He didnt even bring a light source with him, he was just stranded in the dark.
So fucking stupid, the scot ridiculed himself in his head, shaking it in the process. Might as well lay on the floor stomach up while screaming 'Please, come kill me!'
Moving forward was scary. Soap held his shovel out infront of him incase there was something there, his eyes starting to become strained.
He continued to walk for a few miles, slowly over time he was loosing hope of getting to his destination.
A low growl could be heard from his left side, he didnt give it any time to figure out what it was, all he knew was that he needed to get the fuck out of the forest.
He bolted as fast as he could, colliding with many trees on his way. This was going to hurt like a bitch once the small dose of adrenaline wears off, he can already feel the small splinters poking at his fingers.
He nearly fell over when he came to a wide clearing- the end of the Dark forest. He got out.
He let out a breath, looking over the plains as he scrubbed the bottom half of his face with his hand. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Stay here and wait for the mobs to reach him? Climb a tree and wait until the sun rises?
Feeling slightly defeated, he sat on a rock and pondered.
Johnny was exhausted, dehydrated and starving.
Instead of doing the smart thing and trying to retrace his steps, his stubborn ass convinced himself he could try and find a different path to Kyle's house to stay the night.
His best bet was making his way through the plains, deeply regretting the fact that he forgot to take his map with him. He doesnt even know why he brought his stupid fucking device with him anyways.
He slapped the coordinates box in his palm, wracking his brain on how the hell he was supposed to use it.
As he walked the numbers changed, being way too absorbed on the box he didn't notice the edge of the cliff until he lost footing, hitting the ground hard before his body met with an unforgiving river of water.
The coldness of the water engulfed him, fuck his instincts i guess because instead of trying to swim like a normal creature he thrashed. He started to panic even more, trying to let out a scream but immediately getting a mouth full of water.
Choking on something your surrounded with is not a pleasant feeling, he kept trying to gasp for air (silly him).
His body was pushed around by the current, miraculously not hitting any random rock or curve, he struggled to hold onto anything that would keep him in place, it felt like the tip of his fingers where going raw from the excessive grabbing.
It all happened so quick, he was confused and weak, so he gave up easily, going limp in the water. The last thing he felt before going unconscious was a pair of hands wrapping around his arms.
-
Johnny didn't expect to wake up, so when he did he heaved roughly, turning over into coughing fit. He half expected to throw up a shit ton of water, so when that didn't happen he was bloody confused. He took deep breaths, placing his hand on his chest in panic.
Looking around, he realized he had no idea where he was. Not only were his clothes suspiciously dry but the area around him was possibly the driest place he's ever been to.
How the fuck did he get to a desert? One moment he was drowning in a river and the next he was sitting on a random cot in a sand house? Speaking of sand house, he looked at his surroundings. The place was huge, the room he was in empty, bare of any life except a small chest in the corner with a little table sat next to it. On top was a small cacti plant.
Rubbing his eyes he stood, his body feeling ten times his usual weight because of how tired he felt. His entire system was screaming at him to lay back down and sleep until he felt cure of all illness or probably get thrown into a water in lung filled coma.
He made his way across the room to the chest, running his hand along the lid before lifting it open.
Inside was a small note and his coordinates device. He quickly shoved the box into his pocket, now becoming very aware that he did not have his satchel with him.
He sighed, so much for having that thing for years. His mum is going to be pissed when he gets home, if he ever gets back.
Looking down at the well aged paper, in neat handwriting wrote a small message.
Stay as long as you need.
Whatever that note tried to achieve it did quite the opposite. He wanted to get the fuck out of there as fast as he could.
He slowly turned the handle, the door groaning and creaking as it slowly opened.
Peeking his head out he only saw a few doors lining the walls, hallway dimly lit by the lanterns hanging from the ceiling. This was proper spooky. It's not like he had a reason to be scared, whatever thing captured Johnny already had him in its weird cave, and usually people don't survive the second location.
He cautiously walked down the hall, the place didn't even have proper floors, just hard dirt underneath covered by rugs. Turning the corner, he was met with a rather odd sight.
A giant figure clad in black was hunched over a small table, grumbling to itself in what sounded like frustration. From the side you can see its gloved hands moving, reaching over to different items on the table before going back to its main task.. to which Johnny is now figuring out that its his satchel its tinkering with.
He took a step deeper into the room, hearing a small click and feeling his foot sink-- a pressure plate. Before he can see what it was for, he was met with a door smacking into his ass.
He yelped, jumping in shock as he tried to stop himself from falling onto the floor. Fuck all since his cover was already revealed his eyes quickly darted over to the creature, which was already turned to face towards his direction.
He swore he saw a faint glow in its eyes before it faded away. He was proper fucked. Whatever this thing was it was surely going to kill him now, torture him to death, probably even eat him, so he stood in a defensive stance, holding his fists up.
The thing just huffed--a very human sounding huff, and shifted in its seat before scooting to the opposite end of the bench. Was it offering him a seat? From this angle he can see what it was doing on the table, which made Soap kind of feel bad that he thought so many bad things of the creature.
Sat on the table were various of sewing supplies, his satchel laid limp and empty in the strangers hands.
Even though the thing didn't do anything to harm him yet, he was still suspicious as fuck. He stood his distance, clearing his throat.
"Who the hell are you?"
it sounded more weak than intended, considering his sore throat, but it got the job done of getting the thing to fully turn to him. It didn't speak, just held out his bag.
After a minute of no sound or movement from Soap, the stranger made a low rumbling noise, groaning quietly with growing frustration.
"Are you going to take the bloody bag or not?"
The stranger, which he assumed was a male based off of how deep and gruff his voice was, held out the bag in a more aggressive manner, standing inhumanely still. With caution John slowly approached, quickly snatching the satchel from the strangers hands and stepped back.
"You didnae answer my question. Who are you? How did i get here?"
He tried to stand tall and make eye contact but it was nearly impossible considering the cloak the stranger wore, covering majority of his face and casting a shadow over the rest. Standing tall was also a joke, the thing nearly sat as tall as Johnny stood.
That fucker was big, but he thinks he can get away with a few scratches. The people of his village didn't call him Soap for nothing, after all.
The stranger stood, standing two heads taller than John, making a beeline towards the window to which he pointed out of. Soap followed, curiously looking out the window to see a small stream of water in the distance.
"You were struggling. I didn't want the dead body of some random bloke washing up on my front lawn."
He turned away, Johnny turning with him. To say he was confused was an understatement. The guy walked back and flopped himself back on the table bench, this time putting away all of the supplies. Not much of a talker, he assumes.
That doesnt stop him from trying to make him talk more.
"I guess this is where i say thank you for savin' my life, then?"
He tried his best to stay somewhat positive in this situation, something he's always been a little too good at. Its good enough that mister tall dark and mysterious hasn't murdered him in cold blood yet, so he might as well thank him for that.
All he got was a grunt in response.
Well, thats not quite what he was going for, so he took another step closer.
From this close he can make out each layer of fabric he wore, all either deep brown or black, caked in dust with dried mud gathering at his boots. The hood he wore seemed more like a cape, torn at the ends and brought together at the front with a small iron clip. He also had a piece of cloth wrapped around his nose and mouth, a pattern sewn onto the front.
What a strange guy.
Before he could get a better look the man turned, causing him to flinch embarrassingly hard as he staggered back. They stared at each other for awhile before the other broke eye contact. The guy looked in his general direction, but never in the eyes after that.
"Well.. Not ta say yer house isn't nice n' all, but i really should be headin' off, I have no idea where i am-"
Before he could even finish his sentence he was cut off, "The door is right in front of you. You have your little box there. Use it."
He stood in silence for a bit, calculating in his head on how hes going to break the bad news.
"ah, dinnea kin how"
It was embarrassing to admit, hes a grown man yet he didnt know how to do one of the very first things your parents teach you to do. It should come as a second nature, almost as easy as chopping wood or picking flowers, but he never had the gift of being able to focus on things he was never interested in.
His confession got him looked up and down, the other tilting his head slightly as to question him.
"Mind translating?"
The man stared at him boredly.
"Fucking... I dont know how."
He spoke slowly, trying his best to remove his accent from his voice so the thing would understand him.
He was frustrated, in his mind he was thinking how could he not understand me? Most people have the same strong accent as Soap, if not stronger.
But a little more critical thinking made him realise, this guy had an entirely different sounding voice and vocabulary, somewhat similar to Gaz's. Maybe he used to live in the plains?
"You're how old and can't read coordinates?"
"Och, why dont you stop being a nyaff and help me out?"
"dont know what that means, but I'd say I already helped you plenty."
The man stood, once again towering over Johnny as he made his way over to him.
He had a weird tone of voice, on the verge of threatening, but also condesending in a way that made Johnny shiver. He took a single step back.
"You need my help further? You're putting yourself in quite the debt, traveller."
His voice was quiet and deep, Soap could almost feel the rumbling of his chest from up this close. These were...weird thoughts to have. He tried to shake it out of his head, so he just nodded.
"I do want you out my home, though. you being here for three days stunted my schedules."
Hearing that, johnny sputtered out but before he could say anything, the man cut him off.
"I'll help you, under the condition that you do not tell anything or one about my whereabouts. Understood?"
This time he looked into Johnnys eyes, soaps own widening in surpise.
From up close, one of the strangers eyes were an unnatural shade of purple, they seemed to shift in a slow circular motion. like a galaxy, different shades of light and dark, they glowed softly with small white specks.
His other, though, was a dark murky green colour, reflecting the purple light his other eye emmited.
It was... beautiful, he thought. His own boring flat blue paled in comparison, he wondered if eyes that majestic were even real.. If he looked a little closer, he could see-
The stranger broke eye contact.
Johnny flinched, the silence was so loud.
"Yeah, yeah. Won't tell a soul, promise. Cross my heart hope ta die, or whatever."
He mumbled, clutching onto his satchel tighlty.
The man seemed a little.. startled? He huffed, pushing his dark cape out of the way of his belt, pulling a map out of a bottle stapped on his thigh.
He gently rolled the paper out, pinning the corners to the wooden table.
"Where do you live?"