Chapter Text
you grabbed his axe (which was previously your axe anyways) from the floor where he dropped it.
he had already turned to dust by the time you stood back up.
great.
now you have to clean up both the weird blood and the dust that's giving you allergies.
after that, you decide its time to jump into bed comfortably and peacefully for the first time in.. what? a year?
that night you had the best sleep of your life. when you awoke you had drooled on your pillow.. at least not cold sweat from your usual nightmares.
the nightmares were gone.
and it stayed like that for about a week.
you had begun attempting to move on, though you still turned around at every sound, stared a little too long at every shadow, flinched and fell back every time a rabbit jumped at you from the bushes.
"he's gone." you said out loud, trying to believe it. "its over."
though after a while, after days of silence, you started feeling weird.
peaceful but weird.
the nightmares came back, different this time. nightmares of you being alone.
oh and yeah, you did go to the village the next day...
all of them were gone.
you were completely alone for miles and miles.
and you needed that damn village. it started snowing and your crops had all died. thankfully you built a barn just in time so your animals didn't freeze to death inside those simple fences.
it started getting scary. you started hallucinating.
hallucinating mostly him.
in the corners of your home, at the barn, in the forest.
every time you almost had a heart attack, then you went closer and once you blinked, he was gone again.
present day, at your house, laying on your bed, thinking.
thinking about him.
your thoughts all jump over one another- they interrupt each other- they scare you.
"is he really gone?"-
"what if he comes back?"-
"he's not normal i wouldn't be surprised if he could respawn."-
"is he as smart as he looks?"-
"is he smarter?"-
"is he dumb enough to be considered an animal or monster?"-
"is he human?"-
"is he still alive."
"is he watching.."
"is he behind you..."
he's behind you.
you jump upright and look over your shoulder.... the fucking wall.
you're on your bed, THE WALL IS BEHIND YOU, YOU DUMBASS.
you sigh dramatically and lay back down.
you close your eyes and before you even realise, you've fallen asleep.
eventually, you open them back up, look at your surroundings, its still night?
all of a sudden your eyes lock with the shadow in the corner
"there's nothing there." you whisper to yourself
but you glance lower and you see shoes. he's standing in the shadow..
then he takes a step, then another, and another until he's standing right in front of you.
he crawls into the bed on top of you, knife in hand going upwards towards your throat. you gasp then hold your breath instinctively.
he leans in closer to your face, with that shit eating grin on his fucking face. and mumbles with that rough voice
"you really tried it, huh? its not that easy to win against me."
you're frozen in place. not kicking him away, not grabbing the hand he holds the knife with. just still.
"you genuinely thought you killed me?!" he snaps "what a pathetic idiot you are."
he pulls back the knife, now holding it over his head and ready to stab.
"wake the fuck up."
you open your eyes. for real this time.
this was the type of nightmare you used to have before he died. though now you wonder if he really did.
whenever he disappeared, he left back only smoke and dust. why did his body disappear after he supposedly died? it didn't make much sense.
but i guess so does your body when you die and respawn-...
he respawned. somewhere. you don't know where or when he'll be back. you just know it isn't over yet.
a few days pass and as you come back home after a long day of fixing up the lazily and quickly made barn you have, you notice a sign outside your door.
"sorry it took so long to come back!" it read.
for fucks sake when would this nightmare end!?
then you think.. "does it matter?"
you enter your house, lay on your bed and wait for the inevitable.
knock knock knock
you sigh, looking towards the door that you just remembered you forgot to lock due to your disappointment.
he enters, the same old knife he used to have before he stole your axe.
you're expressionless, you're not scared, just tired. at least you're not alone.
he notices you're not trying to fight him anymore and his smile drops just a little bit right before he walks up to you.
"just kill me, man, i don't care, it's not like this is a hardcore world." you say, rolling your eyes "i'll just respawn and the cycle will repeat."
now his smile is gone, he looks at you with and angry expression and suddenly stabs your shoulder.
you're in pain, you show it, you're not trying to act nonchalant you literally just don't give a fuck anymore.
he pulls the knife out and stares at your expression for any sign of fear. all he sees is acceptance as you grab your shoulder in pain.
at this point he has also accepted you're done. he exhales dramatically and walks to the kitchen to steal some more of your food.
when he returns with a whole loaf of bread, snacking on it, he sits on the bed next to you.
"so... the game's over. this is disappointing." he observed
"yes. so what now? you're gonna kill me? torture me till i show any sign of wanting to fight back again? steal more food and decide to finally leave me alone?" you suggested
he didn't respond, he looked lost in thought. it couldn't possibly end this way, right? that was just too shitty of a way to end this.
"you want to be left alone?" he asked "cause you didn't seem too lively while i was gone"
"i.. well, uh.. no. not really, i don't want to be alone again. but i don't know how else this could possibly go. i'm not scared of you anymore."
"it doesn't have to be real for you to play along. you don't have to be scared for it to be fun"
"fun? for you maybe. it hurts me! physically." you exclaimed
"wouldn't get hurt if you were better at fighting." he mocked
"is that a challenge?"
"you know it!"
and so you felt excited. not scared like before, this time it felt better.
his smile came back as yours did too.
then you notice he left his knife on the bed while you two were talking. unfortunately, so does he.
both of you reach for it, but you're faster!
and then he gets stabbed in the stomach, smile never leaving his face as he looks into your eyes
"gh-reat job." and right after, he vanishes
now this is gonna be interesting!