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Luke knew for sure that he didn’t fall asleep soaked in water, and yet here he was, soaked in water. He blinked a few times. He didn’t feel tired like he usually did after waking up… odd.
He placed his hands on either side of himself to sit up, but instead of pushing against the softness of the couch he fell asleep on, he felt… grass? It was wet, squishing grossly under the palms of his hands, and he looked down. Definitely grass.
He looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings, but ultimately failing. He was in a rainforest. There’s no rainforests in LA. The trees towered above him, and the plants all had the weird waxy texture that made them look fake, even though they definitely weren’t, which Luke tested by plucking a leaf off of some kind of bush.
He groaned, where the hell was he? It was dark, so he knew it was still nighttime, which only made matters worse. It definitely couldn’t be safe to be here at night, even if Luke couldn’t see or hear anything else besides himself and the trees. It was odd, he expected at least a bug or two to make an appearence, but no, he really was alone.
Despite the smarter side of himself saying otherwise, he continued to walk around the forest, hoping for some kind of shelter or even sign of life that wasn’t a plant. He wasn’t sure how long it’d been, and he doubted it’d been that long, but he took a break once his legs started to hurt from the exertion, leaning cautiously against a tree.
He shut his eyes for a moment. Maybe he was dreaming. He just needed to wake up and he’s back in the living room of Awsten’s apartment, back on the crappy couch he owned.
He opened his eyes again, and he felt his heart sink immediately. There were green lights. At first, he couldn’t decipher where they were coming from, they were so bright in front of him, but there was nothing there.
He turned around, snapping a twig off of the tree he was leaning against as if it would do anything, only to be met with a face. A familiar face.
“What the fuck?!” Luke practically screeched, scrambling back, only to hit the side of the tree. Just his luck. He squinted, his eyes adjusting to the light, as the thing, whatever it was, got closer and-
Oh. It was Awsten. Well… kind of.
His (?) eyes were gone, in there place were to green glowing crosses, one of which was upside down, and behind the Awsten-Creature were two massive wings, which were also glowing green.
“What the hell are you…?” He mumbled, still scared to get any closer to the creature in front of him, even if it looked almost identical to Awsten.
“I am St*rfucker. Come with me,” The creature, St*rfucker, said almost completely monotone. They stood up completely straight, stepping away from Luke.
“Wha- AAAATT?!” He cut himself with a scream as he was suddenly lifted off of the ground, St*rfucker lifting him up with ease. He looked up, noticing the now extended wings, and then looking back down.
Oh shit.
“What the fuck?!?!” He screeched, his hands scrambling for purchase, landing on St*fucker’s sides as they flew the two horizontally. Luke’s feet kicked in the air wildly, “Put me down!! Please!”
He held tighter to the creature above him, shutting his eyes tightly for a few moments before opening them back up again. He was breathing heavily, and he felt like he was going to pass out at any moment. He looked down again, they were so high up he could see the top of the forest he was just in. It was huge. There was no way he could’ve gotten out on his own. But still…
“W-Where the fuck am I-?!?” Luke yelled, trying to be louder than the wind rushing through his ears and the torrential downpour that was around them.
“Save your questions for later.” St*rfucker said, taking a sharp turn that only led Luke to grip onto him tighter.
He didn’t fight back, just closing his eyes and praying for this whole flying thing to be over, or to just wake up. He let out a sigh of relief as he felt St*rfucker get slower, slowly lowering the two, dropping Luke on a wooden deck without warning.
“What the- Ow?! What the hell? You couldn’t have done that any gentler?” He gripped the shoulder that he hit, rolling it slowly and wincing in pain before standing up. He looked around, taking in his new surroundings.
He was on the deck of a house, although cabin would be a more accurate description, it was almost completely made of wood, although it didn’t look too bad. He could still see a bit of the trees from the rainforest from here, although the front area of the house was filled with broken signs shoved halfway into the ground and scraps of wood and metal.
Luke turned around, seeing St*rfucker standing there with another similar looking creature. This one also had no eyes, but instead of green crosses they had red glowing stars on their face. They didn’t have the fancy wings or halo like St*fucker, just two red horns protruding out of their hair, curling a bit in the middle, kind of like a ram. They also had a tail that was spiked at the end, and it was also red and glowing. Unlike St*rfucker’s hair, which was black with red bangs, they had fully red hair.
Luke sighed, they both looked uncannily similar to Awsten. It was freaky, both of them watching him.
The red one turned to St*rfucker.
“He’s not one of us… is he?” St*rfucker shook their head.
“No, he’s the blonde one.” St*rfucker explained, and although it didn’t make any sense to Luke, the red one looked satisfied with the answer.
Luke cleared his throat, “So… where am I…?”
St*rfucker looked over at the red one, who nodded, and they began to speak.
“You’re in The Property. I am St*rfucker and this is Soulsucker.” Soulsucker held their hand out at Luke, to which he reluctantly shook, only to immediately retreat at the burning sensation upon contact.
“Soul!” St*rfucker snapped, turning to them sharply. They looked down at the ground.
“My apologies.”
Luke held his hand against his chest, which was still throbbing. The property… like Awsten’s album..? He remembers Awsten telling him about the ideas behind his current albums, and it seemed to line up almost perfectly.
“So you guys are like… the characters Awsten plays on stage?” He asked, looking between the two. He wasn’t exactly sure where to look, considering the fact that neither of them had eyes.
“Yes and no,” Soulsucker began, looking at Luke, “We were here long before Awsten put us in the real world.”
Luke nodded, although still confused, he doubted he’d get a direct answer even if he tried. He looked around the place again.
“And… why am I here? What do I have to do with anything? I’m not even in Awsten’s band.”
St*rfucker sighed, the lights on their crosses flickering a bit.
“We aren’t entirely sure. How Awsten’s mind works is sometimes a mystery even to us, but… we think you can help,” St*rfucker supplied, wringing their hands together.
Luke was confused. Help Awsten? Wasn’t he already doing that …? Hell, he spends the majority of his time at Awsten’s place taking care of him… was he still not doing enough? Was Awsten only getting worse? Is that why Luke was brought here, a last ditch effort to save someone who Luke wasn’t even entirely sure could be saved at this point.
He shook those thoughts away. It’s just a dream, and even if it isn’t, he needs to be optimistic, if he can still save Awsten, then he’ll take his chances.
Soulsucker and St*rfucker could sense his running thoughts, interrupting his internal dialogue.
“Just think about it, okay? You need to return to the mortal world. We hope to see you soon.” Luke tried to respond one last time, but he felt his thoughts get pulled out of his mind as he went from standing up to sitting up once again, just like he did in the forest, but this time he was on a couch.
He was on Awsten’s couch in Awsten’s apartment.