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There are caves on the edge of town. High up along the winding pathways of the mountains, dotting the face like black holes. The darkness of them is almost startling until you check the position of the sun. The cliffs run east to west so the caves have never seen natural light.
Many people who have gone in have never come out. Although ask anyone outside of town and they’d tell you that that’s how most caves work. That their danger is almost entirely natural. However, that logic doesn’t stop the townsfolk from spreading their rumours. Ask anyone where the uneasiness surrounding the caves comes from and they’ll all point to stories their parents told them. But you might manage to find the one person who will tell you stories about ghosts and creatures called Dreamons.
Regardless of why, most people in the town avoid the caves. The ones not citing superstition instead cite the structural integrity and the high amounts of missing persons cases connected to the caves.
Ran and Jackie, however, are not those people.
They stand outside a cave roughly in the middle of the cliff, the sun setting beside them. Jackie is crouched over a bag and pulling items out. Ran is standing next to him, occasionally bending down to take the items handed to him. He is currently grabbing a torch.
“What does this have to do with Halloween?” Ran asks, flicking the light on to check it works before turning it off again to save batteries.
“Well it’s not traditional or anything but it’s spooky!” Jackie zips the bag up and slings it onto his shoulder as he stands up. “You do scary things on Halloween. Like check out haunted places. And this,” Jackie dramatically gestures to the cave in front of them, “is supposed to be haunted according to the people down there.”
“Right.” Ran hands Jackie a torch. “I think the scariest part will the potential for a cave-in.”
Jackie frowns and nudges him. “You’re no fun. I’m doing this for you, you know.”
“No you’re not. You said – verbatim – ‘normal Halloween stuff is boring let's go check out the caves’.”
“But!” Jackie points an accusing finger at Ran. “Only because you wanted to do something for Halloween in the first place.”
Ran sighs. “I suppose.”
“Now.” Jackie scoops up the two mining helmets and hands one to Ran. “We should put these on though because I think these caves are ready to collapse literally any second.”
Ran stares at his helmet, disdain clear on his face, but he clips it on. “We could just do something else.”
“We already trekked all the way up here, right?”
“Yes.”
“So let’s go!”
Jackie flicks his torch on. It barely pierces the darkness in front of them. Neither move.
“I thought you said these were good torches.”
“They are!”
Jackie shakes it a little but it does nothing to improve the strength. Ran tries his and gets the same result.
“It’s probably because it’s still light.” Ran offers.
He doesn’t want Jackie to declare that they should turn around because of technical difficulties. As much as he’s worried the cave will collapse on them, he is curious. Besides, Jackie put so much effort into planning this for him. Ran would hate for it to go to waste.
But when he turns to look at Jackie, he’s grinning.
“It’s probably because it’s haunted.” Jackie says, in a mock ghostly voice. “Now, c’mon.”
Jackie hooks an arm around Ran’s and pulls him across the threshold of the cave. The first thing Ran notices is that it’s a lot colder than outside. The heavy weight of muggy air disappearing. It’s nice for second. But then the chill really sets in and Ran starts wishing he brought warmer clothes.
But the lighting situation seems to have improved a little. And as far as they can see, the cave looks untouched. There’s no evidence of the previous explorers’ tracks. Something inside him twists uncomfortably at that realisation.
Jackie doesn’t unlink their arms. But he’s not dragging Ran behind him anymore. Their footsteps slap against the dirty rock floor. It sounds oddly loud. The background hum of spring insects not reaching the inside of the cave.
“So, thoughts?” Jackie’s voice is a stage whisper but it still echoes along the walls.
Ran’s honest thoughts is that he feels uneasy. But he’s been told that’s how these Halloween adventures are supposed to go. And the chill of the cave has Jackie pressed against his side so it’s not all bad.
“It’s interesting so far.” Ran settles on. “And yours?”
“Shoulda brought a jacket.” Jackie grumbles.
Jackie’s arm tightens around Ran’s and Ran notices how tense he is. He hopes it’s just from the cold and that Jackie isn’t too uncomfortable.
“We can go back if you want?” Ran suggests.
“No, no.” Jackie waves him off. “I can power through it.”
“If you insist.”
The cave floor starts to dip and the walls start to press in. There’s still no evidence of previous cavers. Ran thought that maybe there’d be a mark of some kind by now. They supposedly picked the most explored one.
They follow the decline, careful not to slip on the loose rocks and dirt as they go.
“I was reading up about caves earlier.” Jackie says.
Ran doesn’t bother suppressing a smile as he asks, “what did you find out?”
Jackie launches into action. Ran can tell he’s trying to keep quiet, but his excitement is making it difficult. And Ran feels himself smiling the whole way through. Even if the information wasn’t interesting, Jackie’s genuine enthusiasm would have Ran hanging off every word the same as he is now.
Finally, they reach a fork in the road. One path seems smaller and tighter with the other one only a bit better. For once, Ran finds himself thanking the gods that he’s short for an enderman.
“Bigger one, yeah?” Jackie asks as he pulls out some chalk.
“Probably best.”
Jackie marks the entrance with chalk, an arrow pointing back the way they came. Ran wonders if that’s what the previous explorers did. If maybe their chalk marks just eroded away due to time. The theory makes the absence of anything man-made feel a little bit better. Although Ran hopes it took a while before the chalk disappeared.
They continue walking for a while, making sure to mark off each turn. The tunnels and caves vary in size but the one constant is that they’re always heading down. And as they go deeper, the walls and roof get damper.
Eventually they run out of options and have to pick a path that requires them to crawl. Jackie gets down with hesitation. Only stopping to mark their path. Ran is a little more apprehensive. He certainly didn’t wear his nicest clothes but that doesn’t mean he wants to get them dirty.
But it feels too late to call Jackie back now.
Ran gingerly crouches down and follows Jackie. His torch clutched tight in his hand as he shuffles along.
“Oh!” Jackie exclaims. “Roof is getting smaller.”
Then he shuffles onto his stomach and proceeds like that. Ran's beginning to wish he never brought up the idea of doing something for Halloween.
When they finally reach the other end of the tunnel it opens up into a large cave. The biggest they’ve seen so far. Jackie’s mouth drops open a little as he looks around at everything and they wander further into the centre of it.
It’s not all that different from anything they’ve seen so far. Untouched rocks, damp cave walls. A dusty footstep free floor. But there’s various openings lining the walls – even some up off the floor. It looks like a lot of other tunnels feed into this cave. It doesn’t feel like they should be the first people to make it here.
Ran shudders. And if it wasn’t for the hard material of the helmet his spines would be practically standing on end judging by the way the ones without anything blocking them are.
“Jackie.” His breath comes out in a fog. “I think we should leave.”
“I-“ Jackie spins around, his previous look of awe contorted into a frown. “Yeah, yeah. This is just… yeah.”
Jackie grabs his arm and they head back to the exit. Ran can feel him shivering.
“I’m one to trust my instincts generally you know that. And this place is just weird.” Jackie rambles. “It is supposed to be haunted so I guess it makes sense. But sometimes you just gotta cut your losses instead of fucking around and finding out, you know?”
“At least there hasn’t been a cave-in.”
Their torches flicker and die and they’re plunged into darkness. Jackie freezes next to him.
“Please tell me endermen can see in the dark.” Jackie whispers.
“We can.”
“Alright," Jackie pats his arm, "you’re leading then.”
The sound of rocks falling behind them makes Ran turn. And he sees… well he’s not sure what. His eyesight should be good enough to make out what they are but all he can see is dark shapes of indiscernible creatures pooling out of the tunnels. They seem unhurried. And there’s a dragging, shuffling sound as they move. Ran can tell when Jackie hears it because his fingers tighten around Ran’s arm.
“Run.” Ran tugs on Jackie’s arm. “We’re running now.”
They burst into a sprint for the tunnel they entered in. And as they do, the sounds of displaced rocks and shuffling gets louder. Quicker and more frequent. Like the things are chasing them.
Jackie goes first. Blindly throwing himself onto his stomach and crawling forward. Ran hurries after him. And he barely starts crawling before those things start touching him. Grabbing at his shoes, his trousers, his legs. He tries to kick them off but he’s not making contact with anything. His heartbeat drums quick in his chest and all he can hear is the sound of the blood rushing through his ears and his and Jackie’s panicked breathing.
“Out!” Jackie exclaims.
And Ran sees Jackie push himself up onto his hands and knees, his crawling faster now. When Ran does the same, the things tugging at him start to fade away. Which either means they’re very slow or they’ve given up. And he’s not about to gamble.
They get out into the other smaller cave and Ran fumbles for Jackie’s hand so he can lead them out. This next tunnel is bigger thankfully but there are some parts of it that look unstable. Perhaps due to another tunnel underneath or some kind of animal burrow. Or whatever is chasing them.
Just as Ran makes it across Jackie’s hand gets torn from his with a startled exclamation of his name. And Ran spins around, heart in his throat and expecting the worse when he can’t immediately see Jackie. The floor had given away out from underneath him, but luckily the pit he fell in is fairly shallow.
There are rocks under and on top of him. Ran watches as he shifts most of them off. But there’s a couple of large ones pinning his lower leg and Ran jumps down to help move them.
Jackie’s breath is coming out short and sharp. And Ran almost wants to drop everything and comfort him but he can’t do that and move the rocks at the same time. Not in the limited time they have. And whatever that was could still be after them.
So Ran starts shifting the rocks. Tries to ignore Jackie’s winces.
“There’s something clawing at me!” Jackie hisses suddenly. His voice is thin and high-pitched. “Ran there’s something-!” He cuts himself off with a yelp of pain.
Ran finally lifts the main rock up just enough for Jackie to snatch his leg out. He keeps holding it up until Jackie scrambles to his feet and leans up against the wall. Then it drops to the ground with a muffled thud, but Ran’s too busy assessing Jackie to process it.
His shoe is gone. And the bottom of his jeans and his sock is ripped to shreds. There’s no blood though, thankfully. But Jackie is clearly preferring his other leg and there’s probably going to be dark bruises appearing in the next minute or so.
“Fuck.” Jackie grits out. And then, ever the general, he nods up at the tunnel above them. His voice surprisingly steady as he says, “you climb out and then help me up.”
It’s easy enough. Ran can reach the top fine and uses the natural indents in the wall to help pull himself up. Then he reaches down and drags Jackie up. Who leans heavily against him once they’re both standing.
They hurry onward. Slowed by Jackie’s limping. But once they reach the maze-like section of the tunnels they come across another glaring issue.
“There’s no chalk.”
“What? What do you mean?” Jackie looks around, but his eyes don’t focus.
He’s still not used to the dark yet then. Ran tries to turn his torch on. Nothing.
“I marked these, right?” Jackie asks, a desperate tone to his voice.
“You did.” Ran’s tail flicks in agitation. “Exits and entrances – you marked both every time.”
“What the hell!”
They both freeze when they hear that shuffling scraping sound in the tunnel behind them.
“Okay,” Jackie’s voice is a whisper, “pick the tunnels that seem the easiest to go through. As long as we’re going up we’re okay.”
It’s a slow process. And they don’t talk apart from hurried whispers to check in with each other. But as long as they’re keeping whatever that thing is away they’ll be fine. That’s what Ran keeps telling himself at least. But smoke is starting to fill his chest and he wishes more than anything that he could teleport. That he could pick Jackie up right now and bring them both to safety. All he can do instead is ready himself to carry Jackie and run if the thing decides to go faster.
When they finally emerge from the tunnels they’re in a different place from where they went in. The sun has long since set but Ran hopes at the very least that the moonlight is helping Jackie’s vision.
The scraping sound that terrified him too much to truly become a background noise stops suddenly. All Ran can hear now is static. The rush of his blood in his ears and the overwhelming sound of silence.
Ran turns back. Even for his eyes, the cave is strangely dark. But he can still make out the shapes of those blurry figures. There’s more than he thought. Standing in a ring a couple of metres away from the entrance. And then slowly, one by one, they leave. Fade back into the depths of the cave.
And before Ran can try and process that, Jackie cries out. Leans entirely on his non-injured leg and Ran.
“Shit!” Jackie’s voice is strained. “Can you… can you take a look at it?”
Ran shifts them both so they’re sitting down. And he doesn’t need to look for long to see blood has completely soaked through the bottom of Jackie’s jeans on his injured leg.
“Okay.” Ran exhales the smoke from chest only for it to immediately be replaced by more. “Okay that’s not… good.”
“No shit.” Jackie hisses.
His hand tightens almost painfully around Ran’s arm as Ran lifts the material away from his leg. He blows more smoke out. He can’t believe he ever thought he’d actually manage to go through with killing Jackie when seeing him even a little bit hurt makes him feel ill.
But this isn’t just a little bit hurt. Jackie has deep gashes in his leg – almost like claw marks – and they’re bleeding heavily. Ran doesn’t know how either of them missed it. He’s so sure Jackie didn’t have any wounds like this when he first checked over him. But they do line up with the tears in his jeans so it’s unlikely they’re from anything else.
“This is…” Jackie’s voice sounds wet and when Ran looks up he can see tears pooling in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I know you just wanted to have a good night and I suggested something I knew was dangerous and everything went to shit. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Ran fumbles around for Jackie’s hand and squeezes it. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t do this.”
Curse humans for crying water. He wants hold Jackie’s face in his hands and wipe his tears away until Jackie is smiling again. And he could technically. It would sting, but he could do it. He doubts Jackie would let him though. So, all he can do is pick Jackie up – keeping his leg somewhat elevated – and make his way down the mountain.
Jackie needs medical attention over comfort anyway. Ran can give him the latter once his leg has been cleaned and bandaged. Once he’s sure Jackie isn’t going to bleed out in front of him.
Luckily, the place they exited was further down in the mountain. It’s not that long of a walk before he’s made it back into town. Jackie doesn’t speak the entire way. Ran isn’t inclined to fill the silence either. The fear that he needs to stay quiet or those things will get them hasn’t quite left his mind yet.
As Ran hurries past the residential areas of the town it’s impossible to ignore how empty the streets are. They were so busy when him and Jackie left. But apparently it’s late enough that all the trick or treaters have gone home. And judging by the lack of any lights on in the homes he passes they’ve probably all gone to bed too.
The only lighting is the dull, flickering streetlights sparsely lining the sidewalk. And the only sign of life in this entire town that Ran can see is the bugs that cloud around them.
His heart beats quick and his ears strain to hear any kind of noise. Proof that the townsfolk are still here. Or… or that awful sound from the caves again in case he needs to run. Ran never thought a town could give off the appearance that it hasn’t even been touched by anything living but maybe they never left. Maybe this is all just some awful hallucination. Maybe they fell through a portal of some sorts.
And for End’s sake he really needs to find a building with someone in it before he starts actually believing any of that. He doesn’t fancy himself becoming a conspiracy theorist.
The portal idea is at least grounded in reality, what with the existence of Terminus, the Nether, and the Overworld. But if there was some portal to a… “mirror world” or whatever his paranoid mind is suggesting he would think he’d have heard about it.
After what feels like hours Ran stumbles across the hospital. The stark white of the lighting is almost blinding, but after having to rely on his night vision for this entire trip it’s extremely welcoming.
Jackie has been slowly dozing off to sleep every couple of minutes and seems to be doing so now. Ran shakes him a little again and his eyes snap open before becoming half-lidded. Oh well. At least they’re here now and the professionals can take over.
It’s a little awkward getting through the door with Jackie in his arms but he manages.
“Excuse me.” Ran says as he storms up to the counter. “My friend needs medical attention right now.”
For one horrifying second the person doesn’t react to him. And then they lift their head up and jolt, hastily taking out earphones that Ran didn’t see at first.
“Sorry, sorry it’s usually pretty slow around this time of night!” She laughs, completely oblivious to Ran and Jackie’s frazzled states. “What can I do for you?”
“My friend needs medical attention.” Ran nods down at Jackie. “Now.”
When they clock the wound their eyebrows raise and they whistle in disbelief. “That’s a pretty nasty wound!”
“Yes.” Ran says through gritted teeth. “He was attacked by an animal. Can you please help him now?”
“Sure, sure.” They stand up and wave at Ran to follow them into a back room.
Which he does. He’s practically on her heels but she doesn’t mention it.
“I need you to clean it thoroughly and check for any broken bones.” Ran lays Jackie gently down on the bed. “And poison. Check for poison. Venom. Everything.”
They laugh softly as they put on a pair of disposable gloves. “Respectfully, I know how to do my job, kid.”
“I’m an adult.”
She flashes a smile at him. “My apologies.”
Ran ignores them in favour of assessing Jackie. Who is weakly holding his hand right now. In the piercing light of the clinic he looks incredibly pale. And it’s easy to see now that the blood hasn’t stopped flowing. Ran thought it would’ve congealed by now. It’s definitely been long enough that it should’ve.
“The wound happened a while ago.” Ran informs the doctor.
“Huh.” They grab his leg and Ran squeezes Jackie’s hand when he winces. “Definitely doesn’t look that old. Can you give me an estimate?”
“No. I… lost track of time. But more than ten minutes ago I’d say.”
“Hmm.” She turns away from examining the wound to look up at him and give him what he supposes is a comforting smile. “I’m going to need to stitch this and it’s going to take a while. You should get some rest. I can take you to one of the empty rooms and you can use the bed.”
Instead of answering, Ran shifts closer to Jackie. “He needs more blood. He’s lost a lot.”
“I know.”
The look they give him is extremely condescending. Although Ran supposes the correct word for it is sympathetic. And, well. The word wouldn’t have “pathetic” in it if he wasn’t being pitied in some way.
“There’s nothing you can do for him now except rest up so you can take him home, okay?” Her voice is soft. It’s annoying. But that combined with the talk of sleep and the adrenaline abruptly leaving his body is making him start to sway on his feet. “I know you’re worried but he’s in good hands. They would’ve shut me down by now if I wasn’t competent, yeah?”
The logic is sound, he supposes.
“Whatever you say.”
Ran carefully extracts his hand from Jackie’s and takes a step back. Jackie doesn’t seem to be in any distress. But Ran’s sure that if he wasn’t very out of it due to blood loss, being alone with a stranger while he’s extremely vulnerable would upset him.
“His blood type is A.” Ran takes a seat in one of the chairs. “And if you don’t mind, I’ll stay here.”
“As long as you’re resting, ki- sir, I don’t care what you do.”
Ran scowls. But lets his eyes slip closed, keeping an ear out for any danger.
The next thing Ran knows he’s awake. The first thing that hits him is that his neck is incredibly sore. The second thing that hits him is that his back is also incredibly sore. Actually, now that he thinks about it, everything hurts. He stretches, trying to alleviate some of the pain. His hands brush the wall behind him and his shoes slide across the tiled floor of his-
Wait. Ran’s eyes snap open to bright white lighting and Jackie sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed in front of him.
That’s right. The hospital.
Ran stumbles to his feet, his legs feeling somewhat dead from the awkward sleeping position and all the running the night prior. But he makes it to Jackie’s bedside and-
And yes. Jackie is sleeping peacefully. His chest rising and falling evenly. His mouth parted slightly, drool painting the pillow below him. The colour is back in his cheeks. And when Ran loosely wraps a hand around Jackie’s wrist to feel his pulse – beating strong and steady – his eyes flutter open and he swallows. Absently pulls his hand free to wipe at the drool on his face.
He is alive and he is the most beautiful thing Ran’s ever seen.
“Damn.” Jackie croaks out. His eye flit around the room, taking note of everything. “That really happened huh? Fucked up.”
“Yeah.”
Ran goes to grab Jackie’s hand again before remembering that it most likely has drool on it. He settles his hands awkwardly on the side of the bed instead.
“I’m sorry-“
“If you’re going to apologise for things out of your control I won’t be happy.” Ran interrupts. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Jackie beams at him. “Couldn’t have made it without you! Quite literally, I would’ve bled out on the side of that mountain probably.”
“Right.” Ran grimaces. “Let’s not talk about that right now.”
“You’re right! Maybe in the future when we can laugh about it though.” Jackie laughs to himself, as if already imagining it. “I think they put me on drugs by the way.”
“Yes, probably to stop the pain.”
“I wouldn’t need it, pain doesn’t bother me.”
“That's the drugs talking.” Ran sighs and collects himself to leave. “I’ll go get the doctor.”
Just as he’s moving, Jackie’s hand snatches out to grab his wrist.
“Don’t leave, please?” Jackie isn’t looking at him. “There’s a lot happening right now honestly and I don’t really know how to deal with it.”
“Okay.” His voice is soft. “Let me grab a chair though.”
“Bossman this bed is not big enough for both of us but we can manage.”
Jackie shuffles over, wincing slightly. Then he pats the bed. Ran tugs the pillow out from underneath him – ignoring Jackie’s whines – and flips it over. He is not lying down on a drool patch thank you very much. No matter how endearing Jackie is.
Then he carefully climbs into the bed, trying not to jostle anything. There’s all these tubes and lines connected to Jackie and Ran knows if he accidentally pulls them out it could be very bad. Luckily there aren’t many that close to him and he slots into bed next to Jackie.
Jackie hums. Laces their hands together and closes his eyes.
“I’m going back to sleep.” He murmurs. “You should too.”
And Ran’s never been able to refuse Jackie. Not on something like this. So he closes his eyes and lets himself drift off to sleep.