Chapter Text
Somewhere in Mystic Falls…
When Hope emerged from Malivore, Ryan crawled out after her. Blood and mud clung to their skin, but Hope still shined in her glory. Ryan was less magnificent, gray skin and sunken eyes, a shadow of a man. He stood behind her, staring at the long line of her red hair, and wondered if he’d ever see her face again. He didn’t deserve to, and he made his vows in Malivore. He had no right to look upon her again.
But like Orpheus, Hope turned around to face him. “Clarke?” she asked, unsure of herself.
Ryan swallowed thickly and got to his feet. “I will keep my word,” he reassured her.
Something in her eyes flashed dangerously, as if she wanted him to stay, but that couldn’t be the case. Things didn’t change for them.
“I will leave you be.”
“What if...” Hope looked down at her feet. He could feel her pity, taste her power cloying in the air. Bitterness raveled inside of him.
“C’mon, Hope,” Ryan grinned sadly, “we both knew how this would end. You’ve got Landon to go back to and I’ve got,” nothing, absolutely nothing waiting for him. Hope wouldn’t want to hear that. It would make this harder. “Go, Hope,” Ryan said again, “be free.” Before she could reply, he got as far away from Hope Mikaelson as he promised.
In the Dark…
The darkness was revolting.
Ryan didn’t need to sleep often and when he did, he had either nightmares of the pit or fuzzy dreams of forest wanderings. In his nightmares, memories more like, he was shown his worst moments. His father rejecting him with his silence, the anger that chained Ryan to his cell, and the revulsion of having Ryan Clarke as his child echoed inside the lonely pit. Ryan has spent decades in the darkness to appeal to his father, to beg for his mercy, but he was met with nothing but the dull beat of his heart.
To be forced back into this nightmare by Hope Mikaelson of all people overwhelmed his despair with anger. He needed to get out of this monstrosity. His father must’ve known he was there and in doing so, would surely punish him as soon as he got his claws into Ryan’s chest. He needed to find a way out of this hellhole.
When he saw her, he almost couldn’t believe it. The fury clung bitter to his teeth, but the sharp relief that flooded through him was just as powerful. Hope Mikaelson was here with a glowing orb of light in her hands. That wasn’t good. If she kept that kind of magic up for much longer, a swarm of monsters would come for them.
“Hello?” she called out into the darkness.
Ryan approached with a false easiness in his step. “Fancy meeting you here,” he greeted.
The Mikaelson girl whirled on him. “Whoa, what the hell are you doing here?” she demanded. What a feisty one. Didn’t surprise him. He’d done some research into the Mikaelson family over the years and their viciousness must’ve passed on to her. Before he could open his mouth, horror flashed across her face and she continued, “No. I'm supposed to be in-in peace. Okay, you are not peace. In fact, you're the opposite of peace. So, where are we?”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Come on. Do the math.” And this was the girl that had bested him and almost bested his father. Pathetic.
“Okay, well, it’s completely dark and distant screaming and you're here. Oh, my God,” Hope paused, “we're in hell.”
“No such thing.” Ryan paused. There wasn’t a hell as far as he knew, because if there was one he should’ve ended up in there by now, or his father really. Still, one could never be sure. “I think. Go on. Take your best guess.”
“No.” She looked liked she was gearing to hex him again. Although unpleasant last time, was still amusing to watch her rile up.
“Why not?” he taunted, unable to resist.
“Because I'm not gonna give you the satisfaction of telling me that I failed.”
“You mean you don't want to hear you're in the Blackness? That you've been consumed by Malivore?” That they were in Ryan’s worst nightmare?
“No.” Were those tears in her eyes? How human of her.
“You don't want me to point out that all your romantic heroics were for nada? That the big bad lives to see another day and all your friends have forgotten you ever existed?” No one would care that Ryan was gone. And how could they? Ryan was worthless.
“Stop talking.” Definite tears in her voice. “If I were you, I'd make peace with that.” She started walking away.
“Hope. Wait,” he hated the begging in his voice. “I can help you.”
“I don't see how.”
“I spent years inside this place, and while you cannon-balling into the belly of Malivore didn't seem to destroy him, it has changed things.”
She stopped. “Okay. I'm partially listening.”
“Every creature consumed by my father used to exist in total isolation from one another,” well, meeting another monster meant your time was over. Total isolation was felt for the first decade or so one was stuck down here, “but here we are, talking to each other. Your presence here has opened the space. If it can do that, that means there’s a way for us to escape.” Ryan knew how to escape from Malivore, but getting there was next to impossible, but with a witch on his side... “So what do you say? Partners?”
She answered without hesitation, “Pass.”
Ryan had to resist the urge to strangle her. “You are such a child. No wonder you failed.”
“Says the guy whose entire life has been about failing Daddy,” Hope mocked.
Ryan clenched his fists angrily at his side.
“I don't trust you, okay?” Hope continues. “And I never will. You're the one who brought me into this mess.”
He scoffed. “If you'd just let me meat-puppet my loser little brother, then we wouldn't even be in—”
“Imitantor pupulis!” she shouted and gestured with her hands. He suddenly felt a familiar zing of magic along his skin. As she slapped a hand over her mouth, Ryan couldn’t help but do the same. She smirked at him and lowered her hand, Ryan’s hand doing the same.
“Not again,” he sighed.
“Your old friend, the mimic spell,” she reminded him. “You will do anything I intend you to do, and it is my intention that this is the last conversation we will ever have.”
Fuck!
“If I were you, I'd make peace with that,” she said smugly. Then she turned away from him. He couldn’t help but turn away as well.
“Hope, we can work this out!”
They started walking away from each other and further into the darkness.
“Don’t do this to me,” he begged. “Listen to me, whatever’s down here, it’ll come for you. Destroy you. Rip you apart!”
She didn’t answer.
He tried dragging his feet as he walked, but resistance weighed heavy on him. The darkness from before greeted him again. As they walked away from each other, he felt the thread of magic between them pull taut and unravel the further they got. She may have had control over him at first, but the distance made it hard to keep control over the other. But still, he couldn’t turn around to see her. The monsters would be coming for them soon, and when they did, it’d be over for the both of them.
The Road to Mystic Falls…
Ryan stood at the edge of Mystic Falls. He could get a bus out of here or walk another thousand miles to get out of here. He could steal a car, he could hitchhike, he could run. He could do all sorts of things. When Ryan first came to Mystic Falls, he stashed a cash box somewhere in the town, a habit he’d picked up over the years on the run and working with Triad. Each town he saw himself returning to in the near future, he buried a box of cash, a fake ID, and a couple of knives. Expensive? Time consuming? Effective? Yes. Money wasn’t the issue, nor was his time as he was an immortal. Besides, he’d rather be potentially rare. This method made it so that Ryan could dig out a parcel of cash in various towns up and down the east and west coast. Back in 1834, Ryan had been on the run and managed to pick up a cash box in a line of five towns up and down the Mississippi.
Using the cash from Mystic Falls, he could make his way to Richmond. From Richmond he could get a train or car to D.C., and later, a way to Baltimore. He had a few home bases across the country: Baltimore, Providence, Dayton, Santa Fe, Portland, and Mobile. He also had a home in Kentucky, closer to Triad Industries, but that would’ve been ransacked by now. He also had a few places to stay in Europe. As soon as he got to his Baltimore home, he could figure what contacts were burned and make his next move.
But that would mean leaving.
Ryan stood next to the Mystic Falls welcome sign, holding three thousand dollars in his sweaty hands, his shirt torn, and unable to move any further. Each time he tried to step over the line, he felt something in his gut pull taut. Hope’s spell. It couldn’t have lasted much longer now that they were free of Malivore, and yet he could still feel her magic, the tingle of warmth ghosting along his back. Her magic was familiar to him now.
He wanted to try and leave again, but decided he couldn’t. There was no point. Ryan already knew what he was going to do. Baltimore was nice and all, but Ryan had to lay some things to rest. There was still much for him to do in Mystic Falls. But he would keep his promise. He had to be a man of his word, at least once in his life.
Malivore…
He was still walking in the darkness. A couple hundred yards and the spell would be broken, but that far away and he might never see her again. Ryan might be capable of finding his way through Malivore, but he’d never make it out. The Mikaelson girl would die before she made it through the dark void. There was much more to make of Malivore, but one could go crazy from it.
Her scream pierced through the darkness.
Monsters.
“Hope!” he yelled, still walking away. He could feel that he was no longer mirroring her, but still performing her tasks. “Hope!” He heard more shouting. He twisted his head around and saw her distantly surrounded by three monsters. Flashes of sunlight struck through the darkness as she struggled to fight the creatures. “Please break the spell!” he begged. He now stood frozen. She was busy trying to defend herself. “Let me help you!” he cried. “Hope!”
The spell unraveled between them.
Ryan twisted around and began running. If he could help her, maybe she’d trust him, maybe she’d help him, not for him but for her own survival. They could get out of this if they worked together.
“Clarke!” she screamed as a gigantic hairy creature swiped at her. The skin of two of the creatures was a muddy green, while the third being had molten purple skin. He recognized two of the creatures as cyclops as he got closer. The third one would have to be sorted out later.
Ryan wasn’t much of a runner when wearing his suit and dress shoes, but he’d have to make do. He managed to get to the Mikaelson girl fast enough. She struggled in the arms of one of the green creatures, casting fire spells at the green creatures. Only the purple monster seemed to flinch at the flashes of light.
“The purple one’s a troll!” Ryan told her as he came upon them. A green one turned on him. “Conjure some sunlight and it’ll turn to stone!” The green one swung it’s fist at him. Ryan ducked and delivered an upper jab. He kneed the monster in the gut, making it huff at him. It didn’t matter, he knew how to kill a cyclops. “Do you have a knife?” he asked.
“A little busy here!” she shouted, still struggling with the green monster. She chanted something in Latin and light burned in the dark for a single moment, the troll turning to stone.
“Well this sucks,” he decided before rearing his fist back from the cyclops. It tried to hit him again, but in one quick motion, Ryan slammed his hand into the space of where the eye would be. The monster screeched beneath him as Ryan wrapped around the slimy eye and ripped it out from the cyclops’s head. The creature fell to its knees. Ryan crushed the eye, gagging at the disgusting sight, further killing it.
He turned on the last creature. Hope looked pleadingly at him as she struggled in its arms. She tried kicking it, with some success, but the cyclops didn’t let her go. He saw the stone statue of the troll nearby and kicked it over. The rock shattered into a thousand pieces. Ryan picked up a nice pointy stone and tested it in his hand.
He looked at the tribrid. “If I save you, will you work with me?”
“Are you serious right now?”
Ryan grinned. “Deadly.”
“Kill it and we’ll talk,” she said.
“Hm…” Ryan tapped his foot. “I’m not sure if I like that deal.”
The cyclops let out a roar and tightened its grip on her arms.
Hope cried out and struggled again. “Fine!” she yelled. “Just kill it!”
“Gladly.” Ryan took a step back and then launched the rock shard forward, directly into the eye socket and skull of the cyclops. The monster let out a wail let go of Mikaelson, falling to the ground with a large thump.
The girl rubbed at her arms and tried to dust off her jacket, looking at the creatures around them and not at them. Ryan stood there in their silence, waiting for her to look at him. When she didn’t, he cleared his throat and began, “So, partner, we really should get going soon.”
“About that…”
“You’re not seriously trying to break out of our deal already, are you?” Ryan scoffed. “I thought you Mikaelsons kept your word.”
“I’m not baking out,” she said, voice low, “I just want to clarify a few points before we move on. Like how we aren’t partners, because I don’t trust you.”
He shrugged. “Fair enough.”
“Tell me now, why should I help you get out of here? Is there even a way out of here?”
“There is,” he confirmed. When he didn’t continue, she gestured at him to elaborate. “Well, you see, there’s really only one way to escape Malivore: if he lets you. This whole place, it’s a maze down here. The closer we get to the center of Malivore, the closer we get to the exit. Me? I know how to navigate the space. If you were human or one of the other creature’s, you’d never make it past the black void.”
“Past the black void?” She frowned. “What else is there.”
“There are…four rings of Malivore. When we get to the center ring, we’ll be able to get to the portal out of here. It’s the only way out. Malivore can only keep one portal open, but he makes it impossible for anyone to get to it without his permission.”
“Is this portal always open?” He nodded. Hope frowned. “Then why aren’t everyone just escaping Malivore? I can see how it’d take some time to get through the maze, but you would get there eventually, why not leave.”
“The ocean surrounding the exit is...painful.” Ryan tried not to think about the last time he’d been in it. “People drown before they reach the exit. But with your magic, we can change things, you can be the key to getting out of here.”
“So why do I need you?” she asked, crossing her arms. She raised a brow at him.
Ryan wanted to laugh, because she really was so stupid and naive. “Did you not hear me? The maze is impossible to get through without me. I know Malivore, I know how to walk through it.”
“So? It’ll take some time, but I have forever.”
“You’re forgetting the monsters,” Ryan reminded her. “I know how to stop them. Without me, you’ll be dead within the week. Your magic, although very useful, is also a beacon for monsters everywhere. You’re going to need help fighting all the monsters.”
“Okay then.” Hope nodded. “Why should I let you escape Malivore?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I need your help, sure, but I can’t let you out of Malivore. What’s to stop you from trying to get to Landon again?”
“I’d rather go another three hundred years before I see that dweeb ever again.”
“Okay, in three hundred years, you’ll be back to your same old tricks.”
“What do you want me to say, Hope?” he asked, his arms waving. “I’m done with Malivore. I wanted to raise him so I didn’t have to fear him anymore, now I just want to leave and never turn back.”
“Promise me that then,” Hope said. “Make me a deal.”
Ryan rubbed his eyes in frustration. “An oath?”
“Yes. Or I’ll put another mimic spell on you again and I’ll never see you again.” She already looked like she was about to do it. Ready to walk away from him. Ready to go back into the void alone rather than deal with him.
“Fine,” Ryan growled. “I promise, Hope Mikaelson, that when we get out of Malivore, you will never have to see my face again. I swear to you, that I will never go after you, your friends, or your precious Landon ever again. Okay?”
“Okay.” She nodded.
Ryan suddenly grinned. “Let’s shake on it.” He held out his hand to her.
She looked down on it. “Ew no! You killed that cyclops with it.”
“A deal is best made when it’s shaken on,” he said with a smirk. He hated most of his life right now, but this? He could enjoy this moment. “I insist.”
“You’re a monster.” Hope grimaced, but then she reached forward and shook his hand. A deal forged in blood. Neither would ever forget it.
Forbes Rd, Mystic Falls…
Ryan sat in one of cafes of Mystic Falls. Not in the grill, as that was well frequented by the members of the Salvatore School and Hope herself. He didn’t know if she actually liked to eat there, but he couldn’t risk it. He felt bad enough that he was still in town, he couldn’t break any more of his promise. Hope was capable of protecting herself, he knew that well, but it didn’t stop him from tensing when he learned through the police scanner, deductive reasoning, and some magical understanding, that there were monsters loose in Mystic Falls.
Dad was up to his old tricks it seemed. Hope would be dealing with it, but he had yet to understand fully what her real plan was. She couldn’t keep stopping monsters in town and not get noticed by Saltzman. It would only take a matter of time before she desired for everyone’s memories to return or something else that would link her directly to Malivore.
He could feel their link. The strand of magic would shift throughout the day, growing stronger and weaker depending on how the other tampered with it. Ryan had a good inkling that it was either him or Hope that kept the link intact. When one of them thought of the other, the bond reignited. With time, he was sure her thoughts of him would fade away so that only his strand towards her would remain. He doubted he’d ever live a day without thinking of her again. He didn’t understand why she hadn’t just ended the spell. She was more than capable and it was the other proper way to break it, but she hadn’t. Why? Either way, Ryan was grateful or her magic. When their bond tightened and grew, he could see flashes of what she saw, especially when she did magic, and he knew she was safe in those moments.
He worried about what she saw in those moments. Which is why he was cooped up in a boring cafe, nondescript enough that it could be mistaken for any other place to eat. It was so close to looking like a Starbucks too, that it made identifying him nearly impossible. The only thing that gave him away was the newspaper in his hands.
Ryan would need a place to stay if he was going to be here for a while. There weren’t really any hotels and that was a temporary solution. Despite his time as a Triad agent, Ryan had never truly liked the lack of a home. Even centuries after being on the run from his own father, Ryan wanted a place of his own. To make roots even if he really couldn’t. But Mystic Falls could be a place for that, even if for a couple of months. It would take time to destroy Malivore. He had books scattered among his safe houses that he could get, but he’d need more help eventually. He’d spent a couple centuries actively avoiding thoughts of his father and later ones trying to research ways to destroy him, before giving up hope and deciding to free him instead. Maybe with all he’d learned in the past couple of months, he could finally destroy him.
Ryan circled one house option and looked at a couple of apartments. Those might be better to keep together, but there’d be less stashing places. Ryan would need to contact some people, namely Florence as she was a no questions ask kind of vampire. They had met in the seventeen hundreds and she mostly kept to herself as he did, but they’d exchanged favors over the years. As he knew there could very well be a day when she forgot him, he had entrusted her with a few choice notes that would prove their previous ‘relationship’ of one another.
Either way, Florence would be given access to his Dayton home, as he had no inclination to return there any time soon. He’d revoke the deed so she could enter. He would also forward her a couple hundred thousand dollars, some of his treasures, and a supply of his blood (the few vampires that had fed off of him had found him to taste strange, yet alluring) in return for the items stashed in his Dayton home and for burning it after the fact. Florence had a strange adoration for receiving letters through the classifieds from one of the Swedish newsletters. After he finished finding the proper accommodations, Ryan would send her message shortly.
The Dark Zone…
“Are we there yet?” Hope asked for the fifth time today.
“No,” Ryan gritted. The shard of rock in his hands, taken from the remains of the troll, was tempting him to do horrible acts to one Hope Mikaelson if she asked him one more stupid question.
“How do you even know we’re going the right way?” she asked. She had her own shard of rock in her hand, but she, being a witch, had transformed it into a knife. She could easily kill him that way and he wasn’t tempted to fight her any time soon. After she’d gained the knife, a group of ghouls had tried to eat them before Hope had put up an invisibility spell.
“You see that?” Ryan pointed at the ground, where there was a faint streak of blue.
“No, what are you talking about? There’s nothing there.”
“There’s his mark, right there. I can see it because I’m one of his sons, you can’t because you’re not. Just trust me on this. Now, will you just be quiet.”
“I don’t see how I can trust you,” Hope scoffed. “For all I know you’re leading me directly to your father so he can kill me for once and all. I wouldn’t be surprised, knowing you.”
Inside he was seething, on the outside, he remained calm. “I don’t think that even if I gave father your head on a plate, that I would make it out of here alive. It’s much better for me to get out of here and never return than face him.”
“So when we get out of here, you’re not going to help stop him? After you raised him?” Hope asked pointedly.
“Why would I?” Ryan scoffed. “We made a deal. I leave and never come back. Fighting Malivore can’t be done across the world. Do you want my help to defeat Malivore or to never return, Hope?”
“I mean, you must know something about defeating Malivore. You’ve had centuries to figure it out.”
“You already know that a witch, werewolf, and vampire are needed to wipe away his mark. And the blood of the tribrid could stop him.” Ryan shrugged. “Not much else to be said.”
“There has to be some way.”
About thirty years before Ryan went into the pit, he had heard rumors of powerful spells that could destroy monstrous beings. All theoretical. It would require several species to work together, which in itself was impossible to do. Ryan had never really gone down that path, and until he’d met the tribrid, Ryan had thought it was impossible to defeat his father.
Being in the pit had changed his ideas. He knew his father’s body was down here, that his core was hidden deep inside Malivore. If Ryan was stupid, he could try and drag his body out so a set of magical beings to wipe his mark away. But Ryan wasn’t about to die on the off chance he killed his father. No, it was better for him to escape intact and figure out another day, if he wanted to do that. He could just as easily spend the rest of his days on the beaches of the Caribbean, or preferably, cooped up in some Icelandic mountainside with a good library.
“There isn’t,” he said, voice final. “We need to focus on the now, not on the future. There’s a lot riding on if we can get out of here.”
“And how long will that take? How long have we even been in here?”
“Who’s to say?” Ryan shrugged. “Could be days, weeks, months, maybe even a year. I didn’t know how long I was here until I was gone. Fifty years or so had gone by.”
“Fifty years?” Hope’s face crinkled. “I can’t be here for fifty years…” In fifty years her friends would be old and wrinkly. At least her precious Landon would still be around.
To be honest, he’d spent most of his time in the blackness. The other zones had been much easier to cross once he got to them. Besides, with Hope nagging him, they’d be out of here in no time. The moment he escaped would be all the more sweeter without her bothering him every minute. It wasn’t that she wanted to know him, she wanted to know Malivore. That was all he was to her. And it wasn’t like she let him ask any questions about here. They were on a mission after all.
“It’s been quiet for a while…” They had run into another goblin, a pair of gargoyles, and a set of ravenous chupacabras in the oncoming days or hours. Father wasn’t normally this quiet. “I think we better prepare for--”
There was a howl in the distance.
Both Hope and Ryan tensed. Hope glared at him. “You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?”
Mystic Falls Complex…
Ryan unlocked the front door to his new apartment, carrying bags from the local Target. Florence would be coming by later in the week with Ryan’s items. The apartment itself was small, with a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchenette. The place was pre-furnished, so Ryan only had to buy some other necessities like bedding, groceries, and toiletries. The only item that he bought for his own comfort were the set of candles in one bag. Ryan didn’t understand magic all that well, but the comfort a plain candle provided him was one akin to a hug. He’d never known what comfort really meant until he was in the pit with Hope.
Ryan unpacked his bag of items.
As he’d gotten older and watched history repeat itself across nations, Ryan had been caught between two sides of the same coin. He knew, like he knew the mud that created him, and that he wasn’t human, but a monster. He was worthless, as his father had told him many times, because of infertility and because he couldn’t do magic. Ryan was a shadow of a monster, yet still a monster. He wasn’t human. And yet, he also was wracked with human dilemmas. Desire, despair, and shame, he knew those elements well. Other human emotions he had not succeeded, not without a deep price, but Ryan knew that monsters could experience such humanity and remain monsters. But he was a monster.
Being in the pit with Hope hadn’t made things clearer, if anything, the lines became blurrier. He tried not to think about it often, but he couldn’t resist thinking about it while he lit a candle. No monster would feel comfort from a simple candle. The light outside was bright enough, but there was something peaceful at inhaling the tiny tendrils of smoke, like one of the bonfires he used to attend back in the old days. He liked those bonfires. Those that had been laid to rest and their bones burned, were at peace from what the elders used to say.
Ryan couldn’t ever be at peace.
As he was putting his yogurts in the fridge, he felt his shoulder snap suddenly. Ryan cried out as he leaned against the kitchen counter. Blinking rapidly as a series of sharp pains traveled up and down his spine, along every bone in his body.
Hope.
She must’ve been transforming into a werewolf. This had been the first time since they were bonded for this to occur. He hadn’t realized that the bond would allow pain to cross through. He would need to be careful, so as to not give himself away anytime soon. The bond, in Hope’s wolf form, also became clearer to access. In Hope’s wolf mind, things must’ve been clearer and sharper, no need for the background chatter that a witch’s mind suffered. For a moment, Ryan could visibly see his own brother staring back at him, confusion written across his stupid face. Ryan felt himself growl in warning, probably at him. Ryan didn’t realize Hope would be able to hear him.
Then, behind Hope, he saw a monstrous wolf-like creature. He had hunted one of those centuries ago.
It’s a Shunka, Ryan thought. Go for it’s throat and then stab it in the brain. He wasn’t sure if she could hear him through the bond. Maybe only emotions were felt through the bond. Or maybe she didn’t want to hear anything from him. He’d broken some of his promise, she had a great reason to despise him.
But then he felt something like thank you simmer across his skin and he knew everything was okay.
He blew out his candle and smiled.
The Edge of the Dark Zone…
Hope was insistent on facing the creature to kill it before it killed them. Ryan thought it’d be better for them to keep moving and follow the path. In the end, they both got their way. Malivore’s maze of darkness led them directly to the problem. In the distance, he could see the tree line of the next zone of Malivore. The barren birch forest was much better than the empty blackness, but they wouldn’t be able to reach it without facing whatever creature was on their path.
Or creatures, if Ryan was judging the number of sounds in the dark.
Ryan saw a tell-tale image of fire and gripped his stone shard tightly. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not be toast.”
“I know how to kill dragons,” Hope muttered. “Go for the throat.”
“I hear four creatures. We were lucky with the trolls and cyclops, but I can’t take on four dragons at once. And even though I’ll come back from the dead, I don’t think you will.”
Hope rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a baby.”
Ryan gritted his teeth, watching her walk closer. They came upon the monsters and Ryan fell short. The dragon, in its animal form, flew angrily over the other creature. At first Ryan thought it was a Bernese Mountain dog.
“How did a dog end up in here?” Hope asked. “Please tell me Malivore doesn’t eat kittens and puppies for breakfast.” She gripped her knife in her fist.
Ryan watched the dog run in circles around the dragon as it spewed fire at it. Ryan thought the dog was running around strangely and then he saw another head, and then another head. Ryan shifted uneasily. “Hope, that’s Cerberus.”
“Cerberus?” Hope gaped. “The guardian of hell? But it’s just a puppy!”
“I don’t know how to kill it,” Ryan admitted. “The last time I got one of them down here was by luring a pile of dead bodies to the pit like chew toys.”
“And who were those bodies of?” Hope glared.
Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know, they were unclaimed at the morgue.”
Hope looked like she wanted to leave him unclaimed at the morgue.
“If worse comes to worse, we could take off one of it’s heads and see what happens.” He doubted it was a Hydra situation, but there was only one way to find out.
“I don’t know if I could look myself in the mirror again if I killed such a cute dog,” Hope said. “Only a monster could do that.”
At that exact moment, one of the heads let out a yowl as another one bit the wing of the dragon. Ryan shuddered at the thought of those hellhounds’ teeth.
“Last time I faced one, I almost lost my hand,” Ryan said. “Their bite is poison. I think that should mean it’s okay to kill them.”
“If that was the criteria, I could’ve gotten rid of Alyssa Chang years ago,” Hope muttered darkly.
“Who?” Ryan squinted. Either way, he was glad he wasn’t her.
Before Hope could continue, the dragon had caught sight of them and was now trying to breath fire in their direction. Cerberus ran laps around them and bit at the dragon where he could. Ryan tried throwing his rock into the neck of the dragon, but missed.
“Distract it!” Hope yelled. “I’ll kill it!”
Ryan was about to grumble about his suit and how it’d probably burn before she got to it, but Hope was already running towards Cerberus and he had no choice but distract the dragon. Ryan found his stone shard on the ground and picked it up again, this time aiming for the body of the beast, to draw it’s ire. Ryan waved his hands frantically, catching its attention. As it began to follow him, breathing fire at his feet and the back of his neck--he could even feel some of his hair starting to singe--he saw Hope approach the Cerberus. He ran towards her, worried that she’d get herself killed.
Playing into her plan, as Ryan ran towards her, the Cerberus now carrying Hope ran towards him and the dragon. Ryan dove for the ground just as Cerberus leaped. Ryan rolled on the ground just in time to see Hope jump from the Cerberus’s back and towards the dragon’s throat. She rammed her knife into its soft spot and fell onto the back of the Cerberus again. The dragon let out a warbled screech and crashed into the ground near Ryan. Dead.
Ryan got to his feet slowly, hip bruised from flinging himself to the earth. The Cerberus approached him, Hope still on its back, and stopped before him. Ryan tensed, fearing that it would lash out and bite off his head because of its glowing orange eyes and gigantic sharp teeth. Instead, the Cerberus’s heads licked him on the cheek, one after the other, in a slobbery kiss. Ryan immediately wiped at his face, scowling at the drool that now stained his shirt. Hope laughed as she got off the creature and came around to face him. She pet the Cerberus gently like they were old friends.
“See? Cute dog.”
“Hellhound,” he corrected.
Hope laughed.
He didn’t think he’d ever heard her carefree before. It was strange and yet, also a bit warming…
“Thanks to this little buddy, we got the dragon.” Hope shrugged. “I say we keep him.”
“It’ll turn on us,” Ryan told her. “It’s going to eat us later while we sleep.”
“You don’t sleep,” Hope scoffed.
He did sleep. He didn’t need it often or for long, but he did sleep. Still… “Fine then, it’ll eat you when you sleep, and I won’t do anything to stop it.”
“Hush,” she said with a grin. She scratched behind the ears of one of the heads. Cerberus looked like it was in heaven. “We make a good team, don’t we,” she cooed at the creature. “Don’t we, good boys?”
Cerberus drooled in response.
“Excuse me,” Ryan cleared his throat, “but I am a part of that team too.”
Hope looked at him strangely. “I guess so.” It was like she was seeing him for the first time. He hated not knowing what she saw. “Good work, Clarke.” Hope didn’t trust him, he knew that, but he also knew there was begrudging respect in her eyes, like she could learn to trust him as the number of monsters grew. He didn’t think he cared about having her trust until he saw an inkling of it in her eyes.
Cerberus sniffed Hope and Ryan’s heads, each getting another wet kiss on the cheek, before running off into the void, barking happily away.
Hope looked sad it’s departure. He couldn’t blame her. He knew it sucked to hang out around him. “Do you think every creature down here is a monster?” Hope asked.
“Malivore was designed to eat monsters,” Ryan said.
“Yeah, but Triad fed people to it, right?” Hope shrugged. “Alaric met a dryad who was harmless, and there was that Gorgon that was nice. What if there are other good creatures down here that shouldn’t be here?”
“I try not to think about it,” Ryan admitted. If he did, he might develop a conscious and an ocean of guilt. She looked like she wanted to say more, but Ryan pointed in the distance. “Come on, we’re almost out of the void zone.” He led her through the dark shadowy plane.
As they approached the dead forest zone, the ground became less flat concrete and speckled with moss, then grass. The dead forest was an empty sea of birch trees, leafless and devoid of life. The only thing here were trees and the grass. Bushes, vines, and fallen trees were nowhere to be found. This place was orderly and neat, bizarrely empty yet full. .Ryan had spent a huge chunk of his time here in the dead forest because he hadn’t known there was more to see. When he came upon the desert, he knew there was more to be seen in Malivore, and if he followed the blue strand of Malivore’s magic, an exit.
“One down, four to go,” Ryan said.