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Pump grunts and growls. The music was starting to grate on his ears, it flowed around them, energetic and invigorating. He loved it. HE HATED IT. He wanted nothing more than to rip out that blue haired bitches throat right now and that little sluts too.
The thought revolted him.
The thought excited him.
He wanted to be left alone… he wanted to go home…He felt like his very soul was being ripped apart as the two parts of him raged and fought for control.
His thoughts were muddled, and his emotions were all over the place, a more feral and animalistic part of him screeched inside his mind as the blood-stained claws and gory thoughts that had held him for so long began to lose its grip on his mind. Nausea built up inside him as he feels all of the savage emotions slowly fade, leaving him tired and burnt out. He just wanted to go home. To Skids moms house, to watch T.V. and play and pretend like it was Halloween every month. He had felt like a puppet for so, so long, dancing on strings that tangled his mind and controlled his body like a twisted marionette.
“It’s working!” he hears someone call; excitement thick in their voice. He thinks it was GF, the one that they were sent to capture for the Lemon Demon, and sighs. why had they agreed to that again? Ever since meeting him everything had gotten worse and worse. The music suddenly spikes again causing his thoughts to stutter as the pitch and tempo rises, sending waves of confusion through him. Whatever GF and BF were doing, it was working, he was beginning to feel like himself again. Slowly, inch by inch, the oozing slime that covered his mind receded, but it was doing its best to hold on as long as possible. It almost hurt, feeling it being ripped away, but he couldn’t cry out, not with vocal cords that didn’t belong to him right now. It felt like an eternity, an eternity of being jerked around and shoved mentally aside, but eventually, with a final screech, his mind became his own again.
“You did it!” Gf cheers, he has been right, it was her who was speaking earlier and..oh. His nausea just got way worse, it was worse than the time he and Skid had tried to eat all of their Halloween candy in one go and they had thrown up multicolored goop all night. Pumps singing lists off as he suddenly finds he has control over himself again and he feels the weight above him jerk as it stills in confusion as to why he stopped. He doesn’t bother looking up, its only Skid, probably scared out of his mind, he vaguely remembers tears and blood through his hazy memories and feels his tummy twist in guilt. He’d have to make this whole ordeal up to him later. Maybe get some candy cans to share and rent their favorite spooky movie.
“We still have to help the skeleton though!” he hears a male voice say before the music continues, it reverberates through his mind pleasantly, but it only confuses him further. What were they talking about? Skid was fine last time he saw him. The weight above him shifts forward suddenly and he feels claws grip his mask on either side of his face, the plush pumpkin head keeps any damage from reaching his skull but the feeling of them pricking the outside of his mask sends shivers down his spine. Before he can react or call out the claws jerk his head up forcing him to make eye contact with his best friend. He feels the shout of surprise die in his throat.
He shrieks.
“Pump?” Skids voice is high and shrill as it speaks his name, a grotesque parody of his friends normally warm and playful tone. “Why’d you stop?” Skids eyes, or where they used to be anyways, bore into him filling his vision with magenta as the X’s that replaced his eyes consume his vision. “Aren’t you having fun anymore?” Skid pauses, staring straight through him with some sort of caricature of confusion crossing his warped features. “Why are your eyes blue Pump?” he laughs, and the sound sets his teeth on end. “Are you afraid of me?” At some point the music had stuttered to a stop and silence rings around them. He hears someone shift, as if they were preparing to rush over but he can’t tear his eyes away from Skids to check. The claws inch closer to his eyes, the wickedly sharp points just glinting off the edge of his vision, twitching dangerously. “Maybe I should get rid of them? Then you can be just. Like. me!” he giggles.
Pump moves before he can think, falling back he dislodges Skid from his shoulders, wincing as he hears the small figure hit the ground with a dull thud and whips around to face him as he scrambles away. “S-Skid?!” He was finally able to get a good look at his friend, but he wished he hadn’t. Skid was covered in a black ooze that swirled and throbbed on his body, his once bright eyes had been replaced with glowing X’s and his mouth stretched into jagged points to force him into a permanent smile. The worst part though was the blood, he could see splotches of it dotting around his face with a large smear of it just above his mouth on the left side of his face. Was Skid hurt? Why else would he be bleeding?
“Why’d you do that Pump?” Skid stands, wobbly and jerky, like a puppet with broken strings, as he takes a step forward. “I thought we were friends.” His grin grows, stretching wider as blood trickles from the corners of his mouth and down the black jagged teeth. “Don’t you wanna be friends with me anymore?”
Pump backs away, he has to figure out how to fix this, but his panic is starting to overcome him. What should he do?! His want to save Skid battles with his need to get away. He didn’t know what to do! Suddenly he feels someone jerk him away and yelps in fear as he’s dragged back, putting some distance between him and his friend. He whips around to face BF, who’s holding up his hands placatingly when he spots the fear and panic in his gaze. “Stay with her.” He nods at GF who gestures for him to come over, he nudges Pump in her direction and turns to face Skid, who had paused his advance towards them with a tilt of his head. “I’ll fix him.”
“No.” Pumps is shaking, and a hot pressure was starting to build in his eyes as he turns away from GF to face Skid again. “I want to help.”
Keith purses his lips. “If we lose,” he starts carefully. “we’ll be corrupted again. It’s safer with-”
“I don’t care!” He sniffs. “I want to help! He’s my friend, I have to help!”
Keith still hesitates and glances at GF for support, but she only looks thoughtfully at him. “The spell might be more effective if he helps,” she points out gently. “since they care about each other it might be enough to pull him out of the corruption.”
“But he’s just a kid!” BF argues.
“There’s no sure way of telling if the spell is enough to break the corruption.” She points out and Pump feels his stomach twist again at the implication that they might not be able to save Skid. “He willingly took it on by staying near his friend, it might have a stronger grip on him.” Pump doesn’t hear what they say afterwards, doesn’t want to hear it, static fills his ears as he processes what she had just said. He whips around to stare at Skid again, he had stayed? Why? He feels tears prick at his eyes but swallows them back. That was a stupid question, he knows why Skid had stayed. He was Skid. Kind and trusting to a fault Skid. The one who befriended Eyes and had faced Muloch without batting an eyelash. Skid who had apparently stayed with him even though he was corrupted and dangerous and mean. Pump makes up his mind, he wasn’t leaving, couldn’t leave, not without Skid.
“How do we fix him?” he cuts off the two arguing behind him and turns to face them. BF still looks uncertain, and Pump feels an unusual flare of irritation rise within him, “I’m helping whether you want me to or not! I’m not leaving without him!”
BF purses his lips and looks as if he’s weighting his options in his head. Pump meets his eyes with a determined stare, or what he hopes comes off as determined, right now all he feels is afraid and sick. “We aren’t asking you to leave. Just to let us handle this.”
“I don’t care!” he snaps back.
BF looks taken back by the outburst, he and Skid almost never yelled at adults and for a moment he feels guilt worm its way into his belly, but he swallows back his apology. He needed to convince them to let him help, he could say sorry later. He hears BF sigh wearily “Music.” When Pump gives him a confused look he elaborates. “we have to outmatch him. We got a spell from GF’s parents that purifies the corruption.” He nods at the woman to the side.” But, if we miss a beat or hesitate, then he can overcome it and turn the spell back on us to spread the corruption again. Get it?”
He doesn’t. Everything is too confusing right now and his head hurts, but he nods anyways. All he needs to do is keep up with BF and keep Skid from winning, right? He could do that. “Yeah.” he answers thickly. BF nods and throws him the mic; Pump catches it reflexively.
“Alright, we’ll have to cooperate, but with two of us it should be a cinch to fix him. Ready?” Pump nods. The teen still looked uncertain, like he waned to keep arguing, but Pumps glare kept him from doing so. "Promise me you'll leave if it gets tough." Pumps mouth tightens into a hard line but the look the boy sends him is enough to keep him from arguing further and he nods. Bf, satisfied, nods and straightens. “Alright then, let’s do this.”
***********************************************************
The battel was slow, painstakingly so. Pump couldn’t find his rhythm; his entire tempo was thrown off without Skid and more than once he missed his beat. He flinched as he felt a cold prick at the tips of his fingers. Corruption. He was sure of it, fear kept him from looking though, knowing would only make him mess up more and fear wouldn’t help Skid. Pump grits his teeth hard and hunches in on himself as he feels a hot pressure build up behind his eyes after he mises another que. This wasn’t working! It all felt so wrong. He glances back at Bf. The blue haired teen looked exhausted, he had been struggling to make up for any of Pump’s mistakes to keep the corruption from spreading to them, but it didn’t look like he was going to make it much longer.
It was his turn again, he needed to work with BF to clear the corruption but all he could think about when he looked at Skid was that he refused to leave, that he was like this because of Pump. His voice trembles a bit on the next verse, what was he going to tell Skid’s mom if they failed? Was she already looking for him? He misses a beat and flinches a wave of negative magic slams into him. His thoughts felt so muddled, like they were covered in mud. what were they doing again? Where were they? He flinches when he feels a hand on his shoulder and turns again, surprised to find GF next to him suddenly. The young woman was giving him a gentle look before leaning down to his level. BF kept the beat going above them and he flinches when he hears a screech come from Skid’s direction.
“It’s not your fault he’s corrupted.” He hears her speak, a melodious tone that he can hear easily over BFs singing despite how loud and overpowering it is.
He flinches and looks down. “It is.”
She gently cups his face to make him look at her. “It’s not.” Her tone was firm and left no room for argument. “He stayed with you because the thought of leaving you was unthinkable, just like how you refuse to leave him now. There’s nothing you did that made any of this your fault.” He feels her swipe a thumb under his eye and realizes a stray tear had managed to tear through his walls. She moves her hands from his face and grips is shoulders instead. “You CAN do this. You love him and he loves you. That alone is enough to break through the corruption, just focus on getting him back instead of blaming yourself. Can you do that?”
Pump feels his throat tighten and he’s forced to nod instead. GF gives him a smile, small and encouraging, before she stands and makes her way over to the side again and Pump hastily scrubs his eyes to clear any liquid from them. He looks back at BF and the blue haired teen gives him a thumbs up and an encouraging smile. With renewed vigor Pump takes his mic and turns to face Skid, he could do this, he was going to save his best friend!
Pump finally found his tempo, it still felt off and awkward without Skid to accent it, but he was able to stitch together a sort of new beat. He finishes his verse and breaths hard through his nose, it was exhausting reciting the spell and constantly fending off the counter spell, he distantly wonders how BF was able to do it by himself for so long. He looks up when he feels BF nudge him from behind, the blue haired teen gestured at the small skeleton and Pump whips around to face him.
It was working! Pump feels a thrill of relief and happiness rush through him. The corruption was receding slowly, he could just barely make out one of Skids eyes, wide and terrified, as he sings. They were doing it! He pauses as BF takes over to sing his part of the song, Skid looked completely out of it, his eyes, while terrified, were glossy and unfocused. He shivers as he remembers coming to while still partially corrupt, the nasty thoughts that had filled his mind still branded his memories and made him sick. He hums a little to clear them away and gets ready for his turn again. Skid was next, his turn to try and turn the corruption on them, but instead of starting, he just pauses. His one eye stares straight through him and as Pump puzzles over why he stopped. He gets his answer not to long after as a long and stick thin arm comes out of the shadows to rest against Skid’s shoulder, Pump’s chest twists as he watches the Lemon Demon step fully into view, his toothy smile and bloody eyes bore into him.
He hears BF growl lowly under his breath and Pump unconsciously takes a step closer to him. Unfortunately, his movement doesn’t go unnoticed, and the Lemon Demons eyes drop to meet his. He flinches violently as the creatures’ smile stretches further. “Little snack~” he sing songs. “why are you afraid?”
Pump shivers and feels BF place a hand on his shoulder to glare at the monster. “What do you want?” BF snaps. The creature doesn’t even acknowledge him, instead he continues watching Pump.
“Don’t you want your treat little snack?” he laughs, and the noise makes him sick as fear worms its way into his belly. Pump’s throat feels clogged up and dry, and he can’t speak.
The demon tilts its head to the side curiously at his silence and somehow smiles wider. “Are we not friends?” and Pump flinches at that, a direct quote from Skids earlier accusation. The creature’s claws, which rest dangerously close to Skid’s throat, twitch. “Maybe I can have this one instead?”
That gets him moving, all fear thrown out the window, Pump finds himself stepping closer, arms outstretched in panic. He doesn’t make it too far as Bf grabs his shoulder to drag him back. “Stop! Please! We’re sorry!” he doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for. Skid’s mom told them to always say sorry if you did something wrong to someone else, but he doesn’t think they did anything to the Lemon Demon, if anything, he should be saying sorry to them. “Just leave us alone!” BF’s grip tightens on his shoulder as if he were afraid Pump would rush over. He feels tears begin to bead in his eyes as Lemon Demon laughs. “We just wanna go home!”
“But little snack, you haven’t given me my treat. Does that not mean I get a trick instead?” his grip tightens slightly around Skid’s shoulder and Pump gasps as the corruption spreads, completely engulfing Skid again and covering his lone eye. “No!” he cries. “Stop!”
“Why? ~” the demon coos. “You didn’t bring me my treat little snack. It’s only fair I get something.”
“That isn’t..” Pumps struggles to find his voice, conjuring more bravery than he felt. “That isn’t how it works! That’s only on Halloween! And you don’t get to trick people! Its mean!”
The monster only tilts its head at him. “You were the ones who insisted on the rules, my friend.”
“I’m not your friend.” He mutters under his breath. Louder he says. “Just let him go, please!” he resorted to begging. “We’ll never come back! Please!” he says again. His eyes drift back to Skid and zone in on the claws that rest too close to his throat. “We just wanna go home!”
The creature seems to consider it, and for a relief moment Pump feels a flash of hope rise in his chest but its quickly extinguished when Lemon Demon laughs again, wicked and cold. “No, little snack. He’s mine.”
“He’s not!” but the creature doesn’t listen, and Pump feels the air light up with magic as the corruption spell is ignited.
“He is.” He insists wickedly. Pump isn’t given a second to argue before the spell is thrown at them, it stings, and he has to clench his teeth from crying out. It was stronger than before, when it was just Skid it was barely a tingle, now with a truly powerful demon chanting it, it felt like a thousand pins and needles dancing across their skin. BF squeezes his shoulders.
“We got this, just don’t let it get to you!” he encourages as he repeats the beat to turn the negative magic into positive. Could he do this? Already he feels a cold emptiness fill his chest. They could barely hold on with just Skid. The cold spread to his arms now and he shivered. He feels eyes on him and looks up, Skid is looking right at him, and if he looked hard enough he could almost swear he was shaking. Pump feels a surge of guilt rise in him. This wasn’t fair, Skid didn’t deserve this. Pump starts his verse and somehow manages to hit his beats. They should have never come here. They should have just stayed at home, away from all of this. If they did get home, he was never leaving town again, he’d tie Skid down if he had too.
He shifts his gaze from Skid to the Lemon Demon again. The creature was still staring at him, Pump wasn’t sure if he had ever stopped, and he scowls right back at it. Slowly he feels the cold and tingly feeling recede as he returns the spell back at them. He was done with this whole situation, but more importantly, he was done with the Lemon Demon! BF joins him at some point and their voices meld together to create a loud and overpowering tempo. It reverberates through the room. Skid screeches and crouches to cover his ears with his hands, Pump winces but keeps it up. They push harder, not letting the demon or Skid have any room to counter. Finally, they hit the final verse. The room rings as silence overtakes them. Pump shakes his head slightly to clear the haze that seemed to settle over his mind.
Lemon Demon snarls, drool dribbles from his mouth like thick ropes and he takes a menacing step forward, the movement sends a thrill of fear through Pump and he involuntarily takes a step back but fights the urge to move further. Skid was still over there, a small heap standing too far into the shadows for Pump to confirm if he was okay or not. He swallows back his fear. “Yo-you lost!” he yells at the monster. “You have to leave now!”
Lemon demon snarls at him again, anger bright in his bloodshot eyes as he drops down to all fours. “Not without my treat first little snack!” he sneers back. Pump freezes up as the demon takes another step forward, intent on lunging at him. Suddenly, GF is there, a hand rests on his shoulder, a grounding weight that keeps his fear from climbing any higher.
“He’s right. You’ve lost.” She sounds angry and he can vaguely spot a red gleam coming from around her head. “Its time for you to leave, and to never come near these children again.”
The creature snarls again, animalistic, as he lunges forward, teeth bared and aiming for her throat, Pump squeezes his eyes shut and grabs the hand still resting on his shoulder, ready to feel her being jerked away as his throat clogs with fear, but he never feels an impact. A screech that sets his hair on end permeated through the air that’s abruptly cut off with a sharp pop. He feels GF shiver a bit and peeks his eyes open to look up at her.
The air tastes sour and his eyes water as the sharp smell invades them. He squeezes her hand and looks around carefully. “What did you do?” he whispers.
She sighs, turning she squeezes his hand comfortingly before gently pulling her hand back, he lets her and moves away to give BF space to support her as she continues to shake. “I banished him.” She says simply, her eyes wander over the space around them, looking for things he couldn’t see. “We need to make sure your friend is okay.” She murmurs quietly.
That’s right! Pump is suddenly hit with the realization that they hadn’t heard anything from Skid since the end of the battle. He whips around to the spot where he saw the skeleton collapse and take a small step towards him. “Skid?” The skeleton was partially concealed by the shadows and was completely limp, he didn’t even twitch when Pump called out to him.
“Skid?” Pump calls again, dropping his mic with a dull thud, he hesitantly steps closer. He spares a glance back at GF and BF and the two wave him on, too weak and tried to do much else in the moment. Fear keeps him rooted in place though, fear that he may not be fixed, fear that the spell wasn’t enough to really get rid of whatever was controlling him. What would they do if he wasn’t fixed? The horrible thought flashes through his mind and he swallows thickly, what could they do if it didn’t work? Too late he realizes the tears he’d kept at bay the whole time had slipped through and he impatiently wipes them away. “Skid?” he calls once again, desperation clear in his quivering voice. Silence. Pump was shaking now. What if they’d killed him!? He couldn’t tell if he was breathing from where he stood and a part of him was terrified to find out. What would he tell Skid’s mom? Who would he hang out with? His throat clogs up and he clenches his eyes shut. Did he kill his best friend? This was all his fault! “Skid please!” he shouts, bordering on hysterical as he stays rooted in place. He almost turns there, too afraid to really confirm the worst when sudden movement from the small figure shocks him. Slowly, Skid was moving again.
The skeleton groans and shoves himself up with one hand while using the other to rub at his aching head, his makeup is smeared, and he can see faint splotches of skin through the black and white paint. The two make eye contact and both freeze as they take each other in. “Pump?” his voice was hoarse with overuse and he could barely croak out his name.
His name was all he needed though and before Skid can say another word Pump is already moving, Skid already has his arms out to catch him and the two tumble back as they collide to squeeze each other fiercely. “Skid!?” Pump hiccups, he’s shivering and his voice shakes. “What happened?! I woke up and you we-were” he swallows thickly remembering the jagged teeth and wicked claws twitching inches from his eyes. “…scary.” He whispers. He doesn’t get an answer, instead his friend latches onto him in an even tighter embrace. “Skid?”
Skid was crying, weak gasps manage to claw their way out of his throat through harsh sobs. The little skeleton was nearly inconsolable as he gasps out words in between his cries and shakes just as hard as Pump. “I thought you were gone forever!” he sobs. Pump tightens his arms around him as he continues to cry and hiccups a few whimpers of his own as he tries to console his friend.
“I thought-“Pump feels a sob break through and swallows it down. “I thought you were too.” He tightens his hold on Skid and grips the back of his hoodie between his fingers. “I thought we wouldn’t be able to get you back! What happened? They-they said you stayed! Why would you do that!?” He wanted to know and didn’t. He knew why Skid had stayed, but he also couldn’t wrap his head around why?
Skid only shakes his head though, face still firmly pressed into the crook of shoulder and neck. “I couldn’t leave you.” Skid whispers, trying to wipe away at the still falling tears. His voice catches slightly, and he leans back to look him in the eyes. “I just wanna go home Pump.” He hiccups and the tears threaten to fall again as he squeezes his eyes shut to rest against Pump’s shoulder. “I just want-I want my mom. Please, can we just go home?”
Pump’s breath hitches, he wanted Skid’s mom too. He wanted her forehead kisses and warm hugs just as much as Skid. He wanted the comfort that he wouldn’t find anywhere else. With a slight tremble to his bottom lip, Pump nods and takes Skid’s hand and squeezes it comfortingly. There was a lot to talk about, but right now neither of them was up for an argument. Right now, all they wanted was to go home.
“Okay, Skid. Let’s go home.”
*********************************************************
Pump shivers as they make their way up through the dark streets, still wary of the demons that could be lurking in the shadows just out of sight. They had only been walking for a short amount of time, maybe 30 minutes, but his legs ached as he made his way up a particularly large hill. Skid was also lagging behind, but Pump only gripped his hand tighter and pulled him along, he whined a bit at the pull but picked up his pace to match Pumps.
Pump looks ahead and can just barely make out the shadows of BF and GF farther up the hill. He huffs a bit when he sees how far they still have to go but swallows any complaints. The two had kindly offered to take them home when they hesitated to leave. It was pitch dark now, probably around midnight if he had to guess, and the thought of trying to find their way home alone in the dark made him want to curl up and cry, something that had never happened before when they went exploring alone. They didn’t even know where they were, the town was unfamiliar and the few people even out at this time were less than desirable. They were stuck and afraid.
Gf had approached them then, she gently offered to let them stay the night, but both of them adamantly refused. They had been gone for too long and the thought of staying in this house for even one more night sent shivers up Pump’s spine. She pursed her lips then and shared a concerned look with Bf before offering to take them home themselves instead. Skid had refused at first, something was wrong with him, there was fear when she came too close and he clung just a bit tighter to Pump when she offered to take them back, but he eventually conceded when Pump pointed out they didn’t even know where they were, though he sill refused to get too close to the duo. And so, they found themselves walking in the dark with the two teens, tired, hungry, and frustrated as they try to make their way back home.
“Are you two doing ok?” he hears Gf call back to them, the two had reached the crest of the hill and had turned to wait on the two kids as they stumbled after them.
“We’re fine.” He huffs when they finally reach them. “Can we take a break?” he asks.
The two share another looks and Gf glances at the sky. He doesn’t know why they did, it’s not like it was getting any darker, the opposite actually, the moon was starting its path of going down now, though the sun wouldn’t start to rise for hours.
“There’s still a long way to go…”
“Just for a minute? Please?”
She hesitates, she clearly wanted to keep moving, for whatever reason something was pushing her along, but Pump was too exhausted to question what. They probably wouldn’t tell them anyways even if he asked, that’s what all the adults did whenever they asked about something ‘grownup’. She exchanges a few words with Bf and the blue haired boy nods once before she turns back to them. “We can’t stop, I have to discuss some matters with my own parents, but we can carry you instead, that way we can keep moving. Is that alright with you?”
Pump hesitates, he had only ever been carried by Skid’s mom, and even then he rarely ever took her up on the offer, like Skid, he liked to run and jump and explore without being held back, but right now the last thing he wanted to do was run around, he was so tired, his legs ached and his back hurt. He turns to Skid. “Do you wanna?” If Skid wasn’t comfortable then he wasn’t going to leave him alone to walk. The skeleton eyes the two teen warily, some left over apprehension from his earlier encounter with their corrupted forms had kept him from allowing them too close, but he was exhausted too, and the thought of the long journey ahead had his legs wobbling. He purses his lips and looks up at Gf cautiously as the demon gives him a small smile and steps back.
“Are you sure they aren’t corrupted anymore?” He whispers to him.
“They saved us Skid. I don’t think they would have done that if they were.” Pump points out quietly. “Its okay if you don’t wanna, we can just keep walking by ourselves.”
Skid looks at them again and Pump feels him shiver a little, but he nods after a moment. “Just for a little while.”
“Ok.” Pump squeezes his hand before turning back to the two. “As long as you’re okay with it.”
“I wouldn’t have offered otherwise.” She smiles and Pump reaches for her as she scoops him up, he wraps his arms around her neck and watches Skid slowly approach Bf. The blue haired boy smiles but makes no move towards him, waiting for Skid to reach for him first.
Skid looks uncertain at first with just a smidgeon of fear gleaming in his eyes. Bf stays patient, willing to wait until Skid was comfortable before picking him up. Eventually Skid swallows thickly before cautiously reaching for him, seeing this as permission, Bf quickly scooped him up as well. Skid stiffens at first and flinches at the contact but slowly he relaxes and also wraps his arms around the boy’s neck.
“Are we ready then?” with a nod from each of them they take off again. Pump doesn’t take his eyes off Skid, whatever happened between them when Pump was corrupted still seemed to be affecting Skid. It was worrying, he’d have to talk to him about it later.
“Thank you for carrying us.” He whispers in Gfs ear as his eyes drift upward. The stars wink at him as he does, and he feels just a tiny bit safer under EYES ever watchful gaze.
Gf smiles at him and nods but doesn’t say anything else. She seemed to have a lot in her mind too as her gaze flickered periodically though the shadows, whatever she was doing seemed to be taking all of her thoughts and he quickly finds his mind drifting back to his own problems. Lila was the first thing that comes to his mind and he feels his eyes prick again with unshed tears before he blinks them away. They hadn’t even told her where they were going. And he and Skid had lost their cellphones while they were gone, she must be worried sick. He swallows against the lump in his throat. He’d make it up to her too. He’d make sure her and Skid didn’t have time to think about this awful night, whatever it took. He sighs quietly, he didn’t really wanna think about it either if he was being honest. Every time he closed his eyes he sees sharp claws and bloody teeth grinning at him. Where even did the Lemon Demon go? And was he gone for good? There was a lot of questions filling his head about the creature that had tried to corrupt and kill them. Were they really safe?
“Is he gonna be able to come back?” he asks aloud suddenly.
“Who?” Gf asks as she glances at him.
He bites his lip. “The monster. The one who did all this.” He holds his breath as she hesitates to answer but sags in relief when she shakes her head no.
“Not for a long while at least.” She explains gently, hiking him up on her hip a little. “And even when he is able to crawl back up here, we won’t let him near either of you.”
“How can you promise that?” he still feels vulnerable here, the dark shadows seem to stretch out to him, ready to drag him away and feels himself shiver involuntarily. “You can’t always be there.”
“No, we can’t.” she agrees, and gently shushes him when he tries to speak. “We will know when he returns though. As long as neither of you openly invite him around or try to find him, he won’t be able to find you.”
“Will he try to?” Skid speaks, abnormally quiet from his place in BFs arms he grips the boy’s shirt a bit tighter at the implication that the demon would hunt for them. “Is he going to try and find us?”
GF hesitates as both boys look at her, she purses her lips before finally answering. “I’m not sure.” She admits. “He’ll be more inclined to hunt for me and BF than you I believe but…” she trails off as she tries to find the right words.
“He might want revenge?” Pump adds. She glances down at him and her hard eyes soften. She doesn’t want to lie to them, but even the harshest truths need some softening from time to time.
“Not against you, little one. He has more pressing things to worry about.”
“Like being in Hell?” Skid asks and BF splutters a bit and looks down at the skeleton in his arms, always one for few words, the blue haired man gives Skid an incredulous look which Skid matches with raised eyebrows. “What!? We’ve summoned a demon before! He told us all about Hell, said he would bring us there sometime.”
“You willingly invited a demon into your home?” GF asks with a raised eyebrow, the comment about bringing them to Hell would have to be addressed with whatever entity they happened to summon, right now though, the absurdity of it was enough to have her pause.
“It was alright! He was our friend!”
Gf looks down at Pump and he shakes his head, he didn’t want to rehash that old argument with Skid right now, not when his friend finally seemed to be feeling better after everything that had happened tonight, but he also didn’t want GF and BF to bring Muloch back if they thought he was actually good. Skid could think what he wanted, but Pump knew better, he was hurting Skids mom, he was going to hurt them. He huffs, he hoped he never saw that bully ever again, it was a mean thought, but he meant it wholeheartedly. Dealing with one demon was enough for one night thank you very much. She giggles a bit at his exasperated expression before turning back to Skid, pursing her lips to hide her smile.
“He sounds lovely, maybe you can tell us about him sometime.” She hums quietly, obviously weighing her next sentence carefully before continuing. “but we should really have a talk about inviting strange demons into your home. We don’t want another repeat of tonight.” It was said lightly, almost like a joke, but it quickly sobered Skid and he fell silent again. Pump looks up at her accusingly, but she can only give him an apologetic look in return.
“He needs to understand.” She whispers to him under her breath.
He huffs and looks away from her with crossed arms. Just because he needed to didn’t mean she had to basically threaten him. He feels her pat his shoulder lightly with her free hand as means for apology, but he continues to pout. He hears her chuckle lightly under her breath and feels even more offended. Was she laughing at him?
“What exactly is this ‘Spooky Month’? you two seem to enjoy so much?” She adds after a moment, a small smile graces her delicate features that only grows as Skid and Pump jerk around to giver twin looks of shock.
“How do you not know what Spooky Month is?!” Skid asks, waving his arms around as Bf struggles to keep him from tumbling from his grip.
She shrugs. “My family never really celebrates, really this is the first time we actually partook in it. Besides,” she continues with a gleam in her eye. “My parents really just wanted it as an excuse to mess with Bf.”
At that the blue haired teen whips around to look at her. “I knew it!” he says with so much offense it makes Gf burst out laughing.
“Ohh, so you guys tricked him, huh?” Pump asks and twists to look at Bf, he cant help but join in on Gfs laughter. “Was it a good one?”
“No!” Bf exclaims.
“Yes!” Gf laughs. “They threw a few demons and such at him, he was practically shaking by the tome you two showed up!”
Bf sticks his tongue out at her, but a smile is slowly starting to break through his pseudo annoyance. “And what about you, huh? You were practically shaking when it started storming!”
“I only acted scared to make you feel better!” she snarks back.
“Yeah right!” he laughs back. They continued like this for awhile it was nice. The tension from the earlier battle was slowly bleeding from their minds as the two young adults bantered. Pump found himself drifting into a doze, the sound of the two helping ease his anxiety, and he was really tired after everything. He’d only sleep for a second, just so he’s awake enough to face Skid’s mom when they got home. Yeah, only a few minutes.
He woken up by Gf jostling him lightly to wake him up.
********************************************************
“Mmm, what?” he asks groggily as he blinks the sleep from his eyes.
“We’re here.” She says lowly. Turning he realizes she was right, they were on the street in front of Skids house.
“How did you know where to go?” he asks, twisting back around to give her a confused look. She doesn’t answer, only gives him a small smile, and looks at Bf.
“Did you manage to contact her?” He nods.
“She knew we were on the way.” He adds. Skid is still asleep in his arms, but he’s slowly being jostled awake by the conversation around him.
“I thought you didn’t have phones?”
“We don’t, we passed a small store on the way here, they allowed us to use theirs.”
He raises an eyebrow. “She has a car, why couldn’t she just pick us up?” Not for the first time, Gf bites her lip worriedly and doesn’t look at him, he sighs internally, this was the part where they try to lie to him.
“Its not…entirely safe yet.” She admits quietly, sparing a quick glance at the drowsy Skid.
Pump blinks. “I thought he was gone?”
Some fear must have bleed into his tone because she’s quick to add. “He is!” she promises “There are still threats nearby though. You can’t banish a demon that powerful and not expect smaller fish to come check it out. She was safer in her home, just as you two are safest with us right now. Ill explain some precautions to her that should drive away any lingering dark energy.”
He swallows thickly at the implication that they were still being hunted, suddenly all of Gfs constant watching and his feeling of being watched made sense. “But-”
He cuts off suddenly when the door to the house is suddenly slung open. It seems they hadn’t been quiet enough for Lila to miss their conversation happening outside. “Kids!” is all she says as the four of them snap to look at her.
Lila comes running to meet them then, a mixture of emotions run through her face but eventually she settles on relief as she finally reaches them. She runs for Skid first, who is fully awake now, is already reaching for her with outstretched arms. Bf gives him up willingly and, with a happy sound that sounded on the verge of crying again at the back of his throat, Skid is swept up into her protective arms. Pump finally relaxes when he sees her and sighs a little as he wiggles in Gfs arms to be let down so he can meet her, but he doesn’t even get one leg down before he’s quickly swept up again, this time though its Lila who was holding him. Holding him close in one arm and Skid in the other she buries her face in the tops of their heads. He’s confused at first, it must be hard holding both of them, but she holds him tighter when he attempts to get down, so he gives up and snuggles into her shoulder with Skid. He felt safe with her and a warm feeling spread through him at the hug. “I was so worried!” he hears her say, it sounded like she was crying but he can’t tell from this angle. “I looked everywhere but I couldn’t find either of you. I didn’t know what to think.”
Pump feels guilt sit hard in his belly as he and Skid look at each other, neither one of them had thought to tell her where they were going. They had thought they were only going trick or treating, but then Lemon Demon had approached them, told them if they brought Gf to him they’d get some great treats, the best they’d ever seen, but everything had fallen apart after that, they had been trapped in limbo for who knows how long, the realization suddenly hits Pump. “How long have we been gone for?”
He feels her shiver slightly before she shakes her head and looks at them and oh…he was right, she was crying. With a whine, Skid reaches up to wipe a stray tear from her cheek and she smiles warmly. “You’ve been missing for a few days, no one in town knew where you went on Halloween and it was hours before we found out you were missing.” She sighs and somehow hugs them tighter. “I’m just so glad you’re safe. We’re having a serious talk about running off without telling me you two. Half the town was out looking for you before we had to give up. Where did you go?”
Pump meets Skids eyes. How could they tell her what happened? So much had happened and they only barely made it out. “We…got lost.” Pump says quietly.
“Yeah! we went to the next town over and couldn’t find our way back. You told us never to talk to strangers, so we tried to find our way back by ourselves, but we got even more lost.” Skid adds but falters at the look she gives them.
Lila raised an eyebrow at the two and pursed her lips. “Really?”
“Yeah!” Pump knew they were losing this battle; she clearly didn’t believe them but that wasn’t going to stop him from trying. “We ran into these two though and they said they help us get home! They brought us all the way from Gnaw Bone! We got to see so many spooky things! Black cats! Big cars! It was super cool!” Lila continues to give them a quiet calculating look as they hold their breath to see what she’d say next, her eyes wander over their tattered clothes and Pump feels his breath hitch when they land on a blood stain on Skid’s shoulder but, though she flinched slightly at the sight, she did not comment. Finally, she sighs and smiles, its strained and he winces at the disappointed look in her eyes.
“That does sound super cool kids. Tell you what? Why don’t you go get changed and start your favorite spooky movie while I talk to your new friends?”
They share a look again and Pump feels his tummy tighten, would they tell on them? He bites his lip before turning back to face her with a smile. “That sound like fun! Can we say goodbye first?”
She nods before placing them down on their feet. “Of course, but be quick, I’m sure they need to get back home too.”
“Thank you!” grabbing each other’s hands they turn and dart over to the other two spectators, well aware of Lila’s gaze sitting heavy on their backs. “Thank you for helping us! Next year you should come with us for Spooky Month, we can show you how to be spooky and how to get the best treats! Skids mom always gets super scared when she takes us so maybe you can take us instead!” he tries for a laugh and as they look up at them with pleading looks, the excuse sounded stale, but he couldn’t think of any other way to ask them to keep the secret. Gf and Bf meet eyes before facing them again.
Gf smile warmly and nods. “That sounds like fun, we’ll let you know alright?” Pump nods back, he wasn’t sure if the message got across or not, but he had to hope they didn’t reveal what really had happened over the last few days, for Skid’s mom’s sake at least.
“Thank you.” He whispers quietly before he turns with Skid as the two scamper past his mom to the house. Once they make it to the porch Skid swings the door open cautiously, he flicks on the lights, still wary of going into any too dark rooms, and steps inside. Pump pauses in the doorway, he turns to watch as Lila talks quietly with the two, her face is scrunched up in the way that only happens when she’s really worried about something. He can barely hear what they’re saying but he catches the words “demon…salt…protection…my father.” He debates sneaking closer, what if they didn’t keep their promise? He takes a single step off the porch but freezes when Gf looks at him, she gives him a small wave and he’s already darting into the door before Skid’s mom can turn around, he really didn’t want to be lectured on eavesdropping tonight on top of the lecture they were going to get about wandering off. With a sigh he begins making his way up the stairs that lead to Skids room. Skid throws a pair of PJs at him when he enters the room and the two quickly change out of their filthy costumes. With a sigh, the two share a tired look before turning and stomping back downstairs.
They were already a quarter of the way through the movie when Skid’s mom came back in. The movie Skid had chosen wasn’t a spooky movie, they were both too burnt out on spooky stuff right now, so he had put on one of the old fantasy movies they used to watch. It was something about a boy having to go on some big journey to defeat an evil wizard, but they were too tired to really focus on it. Both had abandoned their tattered clothes in the laundry room and his Halloween mask hung from the back of the couch. Not long into the movie Skid was completely out cold, he was snoring softly as he absentmindedly threw the big blanket they were sharing off. Pump, though he was just as exhausted, was still wide awake. This was how he heard Lila quietly make her way back inside. He stilled when he hears her make her way over to them, he debates pretending to sleep for a moment as he watches her. She took the remote from the coffee table and switched the T.V. off before turning to face them. She quietly grabs Skids end of the blanket before pulling it back around him and tucking it tight to keep him from throwing it off again. She pushes his bangs out of the way and plants a kiss on his forehead before turning to face Pump. She pauses when she sees him watching her.
“Everything okay?” she asks quietly.
He nods quickly but at her insistent look he finds himself shaking his head. “I’m sorry-“he pauses as he struggles to find the right words. “I’m sorry we lied.” He whispers. “We just didn’t want to scare you.”
She laughs a bit before she cards he hand through his curls to push his bangs out of the way to give him a kiss on the forehead similar to Skids. “I understand why you did.” She says. “When you’re both ready, you can tell me, but until then I’ll let you figure out how to. Whatever happened must be a lot to process, and I’m willing to wait as long as you need me too to tell me what happened.”
Pump feels his throat get tight so he can only nod. With another smile Lila moves to leave but Pump latches onto her hand before she can make it far. When she looks down at him curiously he swallows through the lump in his throat to ask. “Can you leave the light on?” he whispers quietly. “The dark…” he isn’t sure how to continue. Lila looks confused for a second but its only there briefly before she squeezes his hand comfortingly.
“Of course.” She smiles before gently taking her hand back and turns once again to leave. “Goodnight. Call me if you need anything.”
“We will. Goodnight.” He yawns an answers in return and with that she was gone, already his eyes feel heavy as his lack of sleep and awareness leaves him. Some part of him is still afraid to sleep, afraid he’ll wake up as a puppet, or with Skid still corrupted, but eventually his exhaustion wins over the fear and his eyes close. It wasn’t too bad though, somewhere in the house, he hears Skid’s mom quietly humming nearby, a soft tune that clears the bad thoughts away. The song lulls him into a warm haze as slowly consciousness leaves him, he doesn’t dream of demons and corruption.