Chapter Text
Sterile, almost blindly white lights lit up the entire hallway. At the very end stood a heavy metal door, the kind you’d see in the entrance to a bunker. The kind of door that was built to keep things out.
An almost ominous silence had settled over the four as they sat huddled around the small table stuffed away in the basement. “Something’s coming.” Ross finally broke the tense silence, looking at the others through the gaps in his messy black bangs.
Or used to keep something in.
“Something hungry for blood,” His voice was reminiscent of the tone his father spoke in on camping trips as everyone huddled around the campfire. Dark and threatening.
It flew open and out came stumbling a scientist. One of many. An alarm blared endlessly in his ears, dwarfing all other sounds in the building with it’s screech alone.
“A shadow grows on the wall behind you,” Ross mumbled. “Swallowing you in darkness.”
He reached the elevator at the other end of the hall, repeatedly slamming his thumb against one of the buttons. The lights flickered behind him, every single light. They hadn’t been replaced too long ago, they couldn’t be dying. They were flickering because-
Robert, sitting right across from Ross, leaned forwards in his seat a bit. “What is it?” He asked in a hushed tone.
-Because it was coming.
“Is it the Demogorgon?“ Susie asked quickly, looking towards Ross intently. She was sitting on his right. “We’re so screwed if it’s the Demogorgon,” She added, more to herself than anyone else.
Finally the elevator doors opened, and he stumbled inside. Taking one final glance down the hallway as he pressed the up button.
“No way!” Roy half-shouted. He was frustrated, nothing new, today it was because he’d accidentally blown himself up earlier and taken a lot of damage.
There was nothing behind him. That was good, right?
The table clattered as Ross slammed a small handful of figurines onto the board, “An army of troglodytes charges into the chamber!” He shouted.
..What.. What was that noise? He swore he could hear-
“Troglodytes?” Susie raised an eyebrow, a bit disappointed at the result (even if this was a much better outcome than the Demogorgon).
He looked up.
“Told you,” Roy said smugly, which prompted Susie to stick her tongue out at him in response.
Oh.
“Wait a minute..” Ross suddenly whispered, glancing behind himself. “Did.. Did you hear that? boom-“ Ross slammed his fists against the table for emphasis as he turned his head back towards the party. “That didn’t come from the troglodytes.” He continued after a moment. “It came from-” Ross slammed a figurine down on the table. “-the Demogorgon!”
Would anyone even hear him scream?
And there it stood. The Demogorgon stood upright on two legs, it’s feet more bird-like than anything else. The way it stood rested all the Demogorgon’s weight on it’s talons, like how an animal with digitigrade feet might. Instead of arms the demogorgon had four long- not tentacle-like more, snake-like things attached to it’s body. It’s neck split down the center, branching off into two separate heads. The faces themselves were, weird, to say the least. A bit dragon-like. There was a large, thing, on it’s head, sort of resembling the dorsal fin of a dolphin.
“We’re so screwed,” Susie mumbled to herself in utter defeat.
“Robert, your action!” Ross shouted over at the blond.
“Uhm-” Robert glanced down at his character sheet, scanning through it for a good move. “I-I don’t know!”
“Fireball him!” Roy ordered.
“No-” Robert gestured vaguely towards his sheet where it had his abilities written down. “-I’d need a thirteen or higher!”
“Way too risky,” Susie agreed as she tapped her chin. Taking a brief moment to think of something Robert could do instead. “Cast Protection.” She finally decided.
The way Susie and Roy spoke to Robert was very different. Susie suggested he cast Protection, Roy ordered he fireball. It was a small difference in their tones but it was obvious that Roy kiiind of ordered Robert around.
“Don’t be a pussy, Robert, fireball him!” See?
Susie just rolled her eyes as roy repeated himself, “Cast Protection,” She told Rob.
“The demogorgon is sick of your bickering,” Ross shouted Roy and Susie before the two could start arguing and get carried away. “It stomps towards you, boom-”
“Fireball him!” Roy shouted in between Ross’ words.
“Another stomp, boom!”
“Cast Protection!” More panic had settled into Susie’s voice by now as she watched Ross push the Demogorgon figurine towards Robert.
“Fireball!” Robert finally decided, throwing his die down and- fuck.
Everyone shot out of their seats as the die clattered to the floor, scrambling and talking over each-other in the search. as Ross knelt down at the bottom of the steps and searched for the dice beneath them, the basement door opened up. “Ross-“ Jaune tilted her head to the side at seeing him and his friends searching the basement in a frenzied panic. “-what are you doing?”
“We’re in the middle of a campaign-” He glanced over at Roy and Susie who were pushing each-other out if the way to find the dice. “-Robert dropped the dice.” Ross added with an almost sheepish smile.
“You mean the end of a campaign?” Jaune pointed to an imaginary watch on her wrist. “It’s almost 8!”
Ross let out a frustrated groan, standing up to chase after Jaune as she walked back to the kitchen. “Mom- just 20 more minutes, please?” Ross pleaded, trying to put on his most innocent expression in hopes she’d break.
“It’s a school night, Ross.” Jaune ignored ross’ expression as she began cleaning off the island, putting that night’s dinner into some containers for leftovers. “You can finish next weekend.”
Ross sighed dramatically before turning around, “Dad-“ he began.
Aaron was standing in the living room, messing with the TV when Ross called him. “Hm?” He hummed in acknowledgment, not looking away from the TV.
“-Don’t you think 20 more-”
“I think you should listen to your mother,” Aaron replied, which got a satisfied hum out of Jaune. “Damn thing-” He mumbled to himself, hitting the side of the static-filled TV.
Ross, again, groaned in frustration. He tried bargaining with his mother for a bit as the party downstairs dawned their coats. Of course, it didn’t work. Jaune was just as stubborn (if not more) than Ross was. She’d never budge.
~ ~ ~
Susie, Roy and Robert had made their way to the garage. The door was almost always open, and it was the main entrance the kids used (mostly because they could park their bikes there). As Ross stepped out into the garage, he couldn’t help but notice Ethan, his half brother, climbing off the roof. And neither could the others.
“There’s something seriously wrong with them,” Susie said as they watched Ethan walk down the lawn to their car.
“They’re such a jerk,” Roy agreed.
“You’re just now realizing that?” Ross raised an eyebrow in annoyance as he looked over at Roy. “They’ve always been a jerk.”
“Eh.” Roy shrugged his shoulders a bit as he got onto his bike. “Agree to disagree.”
“They used to be cool!” Susie called out as her and Roy started riding off down Ross’ driveway.
“Whatever.”
…
“It was a seven,” Robert suddenly said. He was standing next to Ross, half-sitting on the bike as he spoke.
“What?”
“I rolled a seven, the Demogorgon got me.” Robert let out a small grunt as he properly hoisted himself onto the bike. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” He called out while biking down the driveway after Roy and Susie.
Ross let out a hum of acknowledgment, standing in the garage for a moment longer until the lights began to flicker. “Ugh,” He groaned softly. Flicking off the lights before heading back inside.
~ ~ ~
Roy, Dustin and Robert were biking down the street. In the center of the road (there were barely any cars, so, they were free of that risk).
“Good night, ladies!” Roy called as they neared his house, turning his bike to ride up the driveway.
“Kiss your mom goodnight for me!” Susie called back before turning to Robert. “Wanna race back to mine? Winner gets a comic.”
“..Any comic?”
“Yeah,”
Robert grinned before taking off on his bike, leaving Susie behind him in the dust.
“Wha- I didn’t say go!” Susie huffed as she tried to keep up.
“I’ll take your X-Men 134!” Robert called back in a sing-songy tone.