Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The worst part of the phantom dimension wasn’t the prospect of being slaughtered in a grotesque manner It was the banshee like screeching. It seems like the phantoms just decided to surround the graveyard then scream to their hearts content making his night even worse. It was the type you’d only hear in slasher flicks after the killer guts out the rich pompous jackass in the group.

Oh how he wishes that would happen to his little “friend” group

And now he found himself unable to think with his skull being pierced by the cacophony of noise, responsibilities and complaints rendered to him by the human and non human members of this dimension. Personally he would argue some of the former could be moved to the latter group but anyways...

The main thing Tyler Hernandez was beating himself to death mentally over was the fact that scholarship and college boards wont exactly be impressed by the “wasted” afternoons of his youth. And if he did try to explain that he was training to fight demons from another dimension they would probably recognize that he has psychosis instead of listening to the excuse.

He mulled it over sitting in the skeletal remains of a rusted bus with his back pressed against hard leather providing little comfort in addition to the itchy plain matching shirt he has on just being a cherry on top to his already sunken ship. Even if this nightmare ended he’d have no scholarship, no money and no way out. He still has time after all. He has to. No needs to end this as quick as possible to get back on track.

But what to do is the question of the hour? He grabs a baseball out of his bag and just starts bouncing it off the rather drab seat ahead of him.

The familiar motion and repetitiveness of it all grounds him back to reality. He has an epiphany to end this once and for all and this time he wont be stopped by the little democratic charade Ashlyn has set up. 

He lets the ball smack across the hard leather one more time with a loud ‘thunk’ sound before getting out of the bus walking to back to the rest of the group briefly glancing at the red moon ever glowing, ever present with it cascading the graveyard in a cool yet familiar light.

He was at one of the little “planning sessions” the group had at lunch in the cafeteria and he was storming off with his better half in tow down the hallway which isn’t an unusual occurrence by any stretch of the imagination with it happening far too many times in the past than he would like to admit.

They both sauntered their way down the bustling hallway to the outside of the school near the idyllic courtyard that was basked in the hot Georgian sun with a cherry blossom tree in the middle surrounded by flowers and other floral fauna. No students were around with it being practically deserted. A perfect place to just hold a conversation and that's what she did.

“Tyler” Taylor said in a rather stern voice with a hint of disappointment in it

“Tyler” he replied back mockingly in a high pitched voice with an airy tone to it

He promptly gets a light slap to the face

“Jerk” 

“Ain’t give you right to assault me though” 

“Its self defense from a verbal attack! But Tyler seriously we need to talk though”

“About what? Everything’s going fine isn’t it? Its not like your dying on me now?” he said with his usual cocky flair and smirk

“You cant just keep leaving when things don’t go your way. The only way we can get out of here is by working together” She replied optimistically with a titled face in order to appeal to the common sense portion of his brain.

Tyler however disconnected that quite a while ago with him becoming incandescent at that simple notion of “cooperation” Frankly it’s a contradiction to everything they’ve done so far. Every single choice that “they” made for him. That remark sparked a deep resentment within him.

Its not like he's the type to take marching orders from his peers after all

“Theirs six of us Tay” He explained condescendingly like if he was talking to a child.

Perhaps she was wasn’t she?

He cut that thought as quickly as it came in. 

“Think about it Aiden's just Ashlyn's little jester so they always band together and with that comes Ben who cant speak up both metaphorically and literally so he goes with Aiden. That’s an automatic tie in any decision.” He spits out venomously in a matter of fact tone 

“Now that leaves one and Logans not exactly the most strong willed person is he now? So he goes with the ‘majority’ decision like a lemming” He says with his face morphing back into the usual grimace that he has on

“Tyl-"

Before she could get a word off the bell rings in a familiar 3 toned melody.

“Saved by the bell yet again”

“What can I say?” He muttered dryly 

“Catch ya later alligator” He said sporting a smirk waving his hands dismissively while turning around to go to class

“Im going to kill you after school”

“Assault and murder on the same day is a bit risqué of you isn't it?" He yelled out getting farther away heading to his class.

“Shut up you don’t even know what that means” 

They never did pick up the conversation again. It would’ve went nowhere she's just too trusting and kind. That’s what he loved about her but god could it make things irritating. He was currently situated in a random bus sprawled across a leather seat in the phantom dimension cleaning the makeshift baseball cleaver he and Taylor made. It was genuinely quite sturdy thanks to her craftsmanship with it saving his life many a time. 

In the corner of his eye he could spot a few locks of blonde hair and before he knew it Aiden was popping his head like a gopher in an opened window at the front before diving into it headfirst and smacking himself across the leather seats rather comically like a scene out of loony tunes

“What a entrance” Tyler spat out sarcastically with a slow clap to boot

“I try my best, Halfwit.” The blonde said before bowing down theatrically like he was in a opera house

“What do you want now?” He replied glaring at the now bruised blonde

Aiden was a personification of everything Tyler despised. A neurotic rich kid with too much money to care shirking his responsibilities and with such a sense of self entitlement he couldn’t care less about how his actions affect others. If he wanted to kill himself go for it but sadly he would go about it in such a way as to drag down everyone around him.

“Well” he says in a drawn out stupor akin to a actor before a big number at a musical

“Me and Ashy need you to come by the Centre for a vote”

“On what?” 

“You’ll see”

And just as quickly as he came in through a bus window he left as quickly through the same bus window like spiderman kind of except if he was pathetic and not very gymnastically inclined. Probably got some bruises off that.

Chapter Text

After Aiden's display of “athleticism” he decided to head over to the center to see what the vote was on with his sneakers dragging the rough dirt of the graveyard out of pure fatigue. He’d sit or “flopped” if you asked Taylor rather unceremoniously near his usual bus seat by his sister directly opposite to Ashlyn.

He glanced over at the group and saw Ashlyn deep in thought with furrowed brows staring at something off in the distance. In direct contrast Aiden who was beside her was attempting to balance a fidget spinner on one finger and looked to be actually succeeding. Logan was practically in the fetal position leaning back against his emotional support tire with Ben by his side. Relatively it was peaceful.

“So Ashlyn?” Logan was the first to speak up in a stutter.

The redhead glanced at the light brown haired boy with somewhat of a relaxed gaze before speaking up. Or as relaxed as she could ever look considering her personality.

“Well we need to vote on what we discussed at the last planning session at lunch.”

“Care to fill me in?” Tyler grumbled hesitantly.

“Maybe if you didn’t act like a petulant toddler you’d know.” Aiden added sharply with his red eyes locked on Tyler’s fishing for a reaction.

If Tyler Hernandez was a better man than maybe he would’ve ignored the snide comment but alas he was not a better man.

“When you bleach your hair do you ever think your brain absorbs it? It would explain a lot Aiden”

Before the blonde could fire off a comeback. Ben exchanged a worried glance with him and then he uncharacteristically stopped for once in his life. Which was a surprise but a welcome one. The imaginary scoreboard that both sides were well acquainted with would see an added tally for Hernandez. How relishing.

Before Tyler could savour the feeling of winning an argument against Aiden he could feel his twins eyes bore into him like drills. Obviously disappointed in him a slight glance confirms as much.

Its not like he was the one who started it now was he?

“Well, we were talking about going to the gun store and grabbing actual weapons to arm ourselves.” Ashlyn remarked apathetically clearly disinterested

He decided he might as well just broach the idea of his newfound plan to end this so they can get along with a normal life. Or as normal as they can be after surviving literal demons from hell every night.

“We need to go back to Savannah.”

“Its our only lead on getting out of here and I have a plan to get there”

“And how do you plan to do so?” Bens harsh robotic text to speech chimes in.

“Think about it. A 30 minute drive away is the Savannah river its still navigable we just need to head to shore to use canal locks and then sustain ourselves on our little boat trip via foraged supplies from the surrounding areas near the river.”

“Sounds well but where are we going to get a boat and a car?” Logan chimes in genuinely interested in the idea

“Easy Ashlyns jeep and your going to find at least one boat at a port would you not?”

“We cant drive Ty” Taylor adds

“Can't we learn? It can't be that difficult going to the river with no traffic.”

She seemed pleased with the answer and gave him a little nod of approval which strengthened his belief in his own plan.

“I think we should stick to Ashlyn's idea” The blonde speaks up whose been shockingly silent for the conversation

“I'm sure theirs some random gun store we can plunder on the way to the river” He adds to hopefully calm Ashlyn’s worries as well as completely ignoring Aiden in the process 

“Well?” He said looking at Ashlyn for an answer

Ashlyn's whose been rather disinterested in the whole conversation audibly sighs and shakes her head not even giving Tyler the common courtesy of a verbal answer.

“Do a vote” He said pointedly and all too quick showing his urgency.

He would glance at Logan to read his expressions on what he was going to vote for but instead he would see the light brown hair boy stare back leaning against his tire. He tried to give a signal via a nod but Logan seemed deep in thought or too socially inept to understand what he was gesturing at. Not a bad sign necessarily.

“Those who say ‘Nay’ put your hands up” the red head perks up in a monotone voice

Aidens hand of course shoots up unnecessarily quick followed by Ashlyn's

Though surprisingly Bens and Logans hands remained down and of course Taylors was down.

“Seems like the ‘Ayes’ have it” He remarks smugly with a grin plastered on his face like he just hit a homerun.

“Don’t get too cocky or my hand shoots up” Logan retorts

Tyler would raise his hands in mock surrender amused.

Aiden seemed completely confused at the outcome of the result. Though it was quite petty of him but he enjoyed seeing that smug grin of his move down to a forced grimace. Ashlyn however showed no reaction to it which Tyler was slightly disappointed in.

It’s not like being petty is a virtue now is it?

He was absolutely buzzing. Taylor would swear that its the happiest she's seen him since the start of this whole thing. It was the first time he had his ideas actually listened to and now enacted. Also it wasn't a downside seeing Aiden absolutely bewildered at him winning the vote.

Unfortunately the logistics of the whole thing was a lot. Ashlyn had to practically beg her dad to let her take driving lessons a year earlier for "practice". Aiden had to buy boat supplies for a “fishing” trip or that’s how he explained it to his parents.

Logan and Taylor were both glued to each other researching different types of firearms as well as doing “aiming” practice sessions with Aiden's BB guns in his backyard which can't be that much of a help realistically. Personally he thinks it's just Taylors excuse to spend time with Logan.

Consumed by his thoughts and excitement of the whole operation he mindlessly walked through the bustling halls maneuvering past the hordes of students and slow walkers to the lunch table they all sat at glancing at it before sitting down noticing an absence.

“Where's Logan he was just with me in English?” Tyler said with a undertone of worry mixed by curiosity

“No clue” Bens robotic text to speech reads out

“He's not a stray cat he’ll turn up” Aiden remarks with his mouth full of French fries producing a rather disgusting squelching sound. Looks like his mother never told him to not talk when you have food in your mouth.

“He might be having trouble with Barron again” The robotic voice emanating from Bens phone uttered

“He fights literal demons in what's essentially hell every night but cant stand up to a guy with a bad mullet? Seems rather pathetic.”

Ashlyn and Taylor who were at the far end of the table engrossed in their own conversation had Taylor quickly mutter something under her breath to Ashlyn with the redhead shooting him a glare for the remark. However truthful it wasn't exactly "nice" per say as Taylor would most likely scold him later in the day for.

“Oh well lets go find him then” He comments apathetically with a shrug of his shoulders