Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lou has no idea what he was doing. He would ask his wife but she was not here… Terminus took her, because the corruption got her. Which was why he always carried a lighter. 

Lou tried to take his mind off his mourning, he watched his son play in the backyard, entirely ignorant to his father's dilemma. The fact that he had a son at all still baffled him. A child, an actual child made by him, something not even from the realms and the woman who tried to make him meet the End when they first met.

The village he, then an it, found his host in was small… Everyone knew everyone, which made it the perfect hunting ground. The host he found was a twenty something woodcutter, not that it mattered, no one but one would remember him the same. 

Lou remembers the moment he stole the man's face, and every change he made. Blonde to brunette, humanoid to feline, human to Oni, born to adopted. 

Oh how he loved the new grounds, and the choices to play with! Oni, Serpentine, Merlopian, Formling, it didn't matter what changes he made, in the name of the Stranger! He could make the universe remember a man as an anthropomorphic crocodile and the only thing the corpses-to-be would ask was what the wildness was like.  

The one to remember was the woodcutter’s sister, a young kid no older than ten. She was powerless to stop him as he worked his way through the village. He found stories about others like him and how to spot them, but they were clearly long forgotten. As every adult dismissed the little girl’s pleas for investigation.

No one thought about looking into him, even after the villagers found the mauled corpses of their compatriots. Clawed, half skinned corpses. 

It had only come to Lou’s attention that he had miscalculated when the, unknown to him at the time, Elemental Alliance had come to his hunting ground to investigate rumors of a serial killer. 

It took them two days to realize that one of his kind was there and another two days to get their experts on the case. After that it wasn't long until they found him. 

It was the final villager, the final stretch to victory, the last course and then he could leave, find a new host and repeat. His favorite part was interrupted by a dagger to what he assumed was supposed to be his kidney. 

He felt himself cough up sand and he felt it leaking from the wound. It was hard to die of kidney failure when you have no kidneys. He'd swung his clawed hands, catching the master of mind. The attack left him open to the master of Earth's scythe. 

And that's how the fight ended, not even ten minutes later Lou was pinned to a wall, the outer edge of the master of Earth's scythe to his throat and a wasted meal of a carcass to the side.

He couldn't even reveal in the fear, as any had soured into that of the End as the last holdout bled to death. 

The master of earth smelled of… wet earth, as you'd expect, but she also smelt of Choke. She huffed, opening her mouth slightly before closing it. Lou remembered the action, it was usually done by avatars to get more sensory input about a situation or just to use a comprehensible sense. 

“Gravebarer” 

Gravebarer was an old term, it was to the Buried as ‘weaver’ was to the Web. He hadn't uttered it in cycles. The Buried hadn't been a major player in so long the word had fallen out of use.

“Ok, you heard it talk too? Right!” The master of earth seemed to panic, she stared at the faceless thing at the mercy of her scythe. Quickly the fear melted into curiosity but it too died as the master of light began asking questions. 

But first, the gluttonous Beholder, the master of the mind, pulled out a tape recorder. 

“Who are you?” 

“You assume I am a who?”

After the First question Lou had wanted to laugh! Part of him still snickered at the thought. His wonderful wife's companions had asked the faceless thing who it was.

The second question was better. 

“Why are you here?”

“Fear” 

“Why are you so passive?”

“She” he pointed at the master of Earth “has fallen to Forever Deep Below Creation, and you” he shifted his claw towards the master of the Mind “have fallen to It Knows You. I do not wish to start a war.”  

The master of the Mind asked the next question.

“Are you of the Powers?” 

Lou remembered the feeling, the truth rising in his throat like Bile.

“Yes…”

And the rest was history, he was their prisoner, fell in improbable love, had an impossible kid. In the name of the Stranger, what was this cycle!

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the back door. Cole wandered in covered head to tail in dirt, the eight year old ran face first into Lou's torso. Covering every piece of his clothing in a suitable film of grime while also purring and giving Lou a hug. 

Lou returned the favor before grabbing a trash can and telling the kid to spit out the mouth full of dirt he knew the little dirt muncher had. Cole, not going down without protest, gave Lou the dirtiest look an eight year old could muster before hesitantly spitting a sizable mouth full of mud into the trash can. Then meandering towards the bathroom for a bath. 

“Be there in a minute buddy.” Lou began to prep for the fight of the week. He put the muddy clothes in his hamper and threw on a pair of old shorts and a tank top. He grabbed a small fishing cooler full of ice popsicles, just ice with specialty plastic sticks and he found himself in front of the bathroom door. Lou prayed to the Stranger, the Buried and the First Spinjitzu Master if he'd answer.

Regardless, no higher power would save him from multiple bite wounds and a broken nose. 

Chapter Text

There were always avatars at the front door. Whether it was Ray and Kai or some other avatar didn't matter; they were always avatars. 

This group though, were the strangest. They didn't come in guns blazing, Leitners open, hunters chomping at the bit. They simply knocked on his door and asked for information… It was a nice change of pace.

Now they sit in his living room, sipping tea and coffee.

“Mr Brookssssstone…” the fangpire of the group seemed nervous, she flicked her tongue out, tasting the steam rising from her coffee. “Oh, please just call me Lou, you're the most respectful group to ever come to me for information.” The group seemed to have calmed at Lou's casual demeanor. 

“Beyond how you address me, what information do you need?” The group held a conversation with their eyes before promptly asking Lou something he wasn't prepared for. 

“We want to know if The Fears have invaded a place like this before? And if so, how do we stop them from doing it again?” Lou paused for a second, just processing the question. 

“Do you want the nice, neat answers or the ones that make you think? And do you want it from the very beginning?” after slight deliberation the leader of the group, a formling Hunt avatar came forward. “We want the whole Truth.” Lou sighed. “So be it then…” Lou poured himself a cup of tea from the teapot on the coffee table and began. 

“In the beginning, The Fears were more The Fear. Some primal version of The Hunt, when the humanity of the original universe could comprehend no more than a rabbit. Then came The End, the cold months came to an End and so could they. After The End came The Dark as you know it, opposed to the fear of the teeth and claws in the dark it was the fear of the Dark itself. From The Dark came The Spiral, the fear of their own minds twisting reality beyond the truth. Then The Spiral spawned The Eye, the fear of knowing too much. 

They eventually found community beyond just the family unit, from which created The Stranger and The Lonely. The fear of the unknown individual and the fear of solitude. Soon after they mastered fire, The Desolation gorged itself on the horror of pain and destruction.

Then they begin to cauterize The Fear, too describe and categorize. The Fear was cleaved apart, cut and broken. From their blood came new wonderful dreads. The Corruption came first as the humanity of the original universe began to learn of the squelching, moist horrors, the tiny things that burrowed into and made you home. The Buried came next as they learned of the mechanics of their own body's and their need of air.

The Vast then The Web with The Slaughter not far behind. They built factory farms, with them came the fear of The Flesh and the realization that you and what you eat are both, inarguably meat. It could be your kin on your plate and you'd be none the wiser. Last but not least is The Extinction, The Extinction grounded them, reminded them of consequences, that the planet has its limits. They polluted their waters, they ripped their land apart and ran their rivers dry. They might’ve been insignificant but their actions weren't. 

Though no one knows who was the first ava…” they all heard the doorbell ring, whoever was there slithered in. Lou recognized the footsteps, “Hi Jay! Cole's upstairs. Though might I ask, what are you doing in town?” The Little hypnobri gave a sharp-toothed grin “Ma and Pop said I could play while they were at the store!” The black leather book fastened to his waist in a holster thudded against the kid's side as he ran. The smell of raw meat and blood lingered in the air. 

“Now where were we? Ah yes, no one knows who the first avatar was. But it doesn't really matter, there was a tear in the barrier between The Fears and humanity. The Fears used this hole in reality to ooze their way in, to finally meet the minds who made them. And they gave them monsters…” Lou knew the smile on his face wasn't the smile of a suburban single father. It was the smile of a faceless thing that stole faces for survival. “Faceless things that steal your identity and then warp and distend it to something entirely new. Mindless things that rip your throat out and leave you bloodless. Incorporeal things that fill you with violent, bloodrunk rage. 

The Web chose its scapegoat, and she played The Eye for all its worth. The Eye brought the world face to face with the horrors they would've very much liked to be blind too. Though The Fears were flushed out with the help of a murderous but emotional demigod and a lighter. The Fears found themselves here and now you're sitting in my living room. Anything else?” 

The group of avatars seemed anxious. “Yesssss, but how do we contain them here?” Lou thought back to the Mass ritual, he wondered what Elias had done differently? Between every ritual under the last sun, why did Elias’ work? Lou remembered all three Unknowings, hell he'd performed in one, Nicola was a tool and a half. But what did Elias do?

“I don't know what ended the original universe exactly, or at least what caused the ritual that ended it to succeed, but the man that ended it was named Jonah Magnes, along with his Archivist. A man named Jonathan Sims. If I had to describe them, they'd be like the First Spinjitzu Master and his kin. Archiving the weird things around Ninjago.”

The Fangpire froze, as if she expected the man himself to appear out of nowhere and drag Lou to the underworld. “Don't sssssay thingsssss like that! Do you want to die?”

Lou looked at the fangpire, really looked at her. “You know, that's how I thought about The Stranger at first.” The Fangpire was still anxious, but curiosity won out. “How so?” 

Lou took a sip of his now lukewarm tea. “That it could see everything I did, and I agonized over whether it would approve of my actions.” The serpentine was less tense than before but still on edge.

“ But that makes no sense, The Stranger doesn't have the mind to agree with anything…” “and the First Spinjitzu Master is dead” Lou interrupted. “It doesn't matter what a corpse thinks, nor does it matter what a half sentient fear god of the uncanny valley thinks. I am where I am because I see The Stranger as my creator not my God, a creator is tangible, flappable, a god is divine. Treat that curious cadaver of a man like your creator, not your god. Because all he was a man with power, just a man who wanted to stop a war.”

Lou was honestly confused why they hadn't left yet. That was when he realized that it had been far too quiet for far too long. Cole being quiet was just Cole, but Cole and Jay being quiet meant the sky was falling and someone was bleeding out.

Rushing up the stairs, Lou was met with Jay silently panicking at what could only be assumed to be his own rib on the floor. Cole two feet away hind paws in the air, kicking his legs, tail flicking absentmindedly, sucker in his mouth, reading the citations in Jay's twisted book. Which were written in English not Ninjargon. What in The Name of the Things That Were Fear was this cycle?!